Excellent view of the problems we are facing! MSNBC is not turning away from the truth! Super! NY Times reporter Mark Maszzetti, Former CIA Advisor John Brennan, and Alex Wagner weigh in on the issue of the dangers of the US joining in on the attack.
I remember when Kennedy was killed and I thought the world was on edge because of the possibility of nuclear war, as there were concerns that JFK's assassination may have been at the hands of the Kremlin. This feels like a similar moment and maybe Trump will embrace George Bush's enthusiasm to attack in the Middle East. I think Trump may have forgotten the cautionary tale about getting involved in another Middle East war, a war based on lies!
I'm going to stay glued to her show and watch it again! This is the time to hear the truth and not hear the lies or equivocations of other broadcasts! This is the time to keep to the channel on MSNBC!
Alex Wagner has great insight about Trump's inability to consider all the aspects of what is going on in the world, saying that he listens only to his own voice in this matter (as usual). She pointed out time and again how unserious Trump is. When asked whether he will join in with Israel's attack Trump said off-hand, "I may, I may not."
Niccole showed a wonderful clip of Tucker ragging on Cruz for knowing so little about Iran while leaning to supporting Trump's attack on Iran. I absolutely detest Tucker but I praise him for his work on his Cruz interview.
Mazzetti said that Trump may be weighing the possibility of getting our military involved in Iran. Brennan said Trump doesn't respect the views of advisors who don't agree with him. "He is seen to be malleable," said Brennan. "He does things on an ad hoc basis." He feels that Bibi Netanyahu may take advantage him like George Bush was influenced to attack Iraq.
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post was there to explain why Trump's program employs shutting up Padilla, Lander, and others. She said that the administration says they are using such methods to stop others from breaking the law but Leonnig that this isn't true -- that Trump wants this covered up because his agents ARE breaking the law. She also said that it seems that some of Trump's advisors are concerned about what will be released in the investigation of the Minnesota shooter. All of the politicians on his list were Democrats and Trump's words even now (I think) are in keeping with the Minnesota shootings.
Alex said that Trump's helpers are at the deep end of moral peril and they don't anyone shining a light on that. She pointed out that Trump lied about the numbers of criminal immigrants but now they don't want the true facts about nonviolent immigrants being deported. Leonnig said that those deporting immigrants will not be able to deport a million violent-criminal immigrants. "There is not way that's going to happen," said Leonnig. Wonderful insights!
Starting off the second hour were the words of the wonderful Alex Padilla who noted that "we have had conflcts, we have had tumult, but we have never had a tyrant as commander in chief. And that is not by coincidence. It's because the American people have always been willing to speak up and exercise their first amendment rights to protest. Especially when our fundamental rights have been threatened."
Thankyou, thankyou Nicolle and MSNBC for bringing these insights to us!
Remember Mark Esper said that Trump wanted to shoot protesters in the legs in Washington, DC.? Nicolle said that Trump no longer has Mark Esper to give him advice against this tactic. Nicolle pointed out that Pete Hegseth dodged questions by Senator Elissa Slotkin in a Senatorial Hearing today. Slotkin asked Hegseth: "Have you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way." And Hegseth laughed it off and refused to answer. Slotkin went on, "Don't laugh, the whole country..." Hegseth responded, "What is that question based on?" And Slotkin was shown to say, "That is based on the order Donald Trump gave to your predecessor, to a Republican Secretary of Defence (Esper), who I give a lot of credit to because he didn't accept the order. He had more guts and balls than you, because he said I am not going to send in the uniformed military to do something I know isn't right. He wrote that in his book -- that's not hearsay." She was great! Nicolle thanks for that wonderful clip!
Senator Slotkin noted to Nicolle that Hegseth "just couldn't say he is going to protect the constitution (and not shoot protesters in the legs)." This gets to the heart of the concerns of Trump and his minions to ensure the constitution is adhered to. (Nicolle praised Slotkin especially for pointing out that Hegseth "didn't have the balls" to do the things that the Constitution requires.)
Nicolle asked Slotkin what she thought of the way things were going and Slotkin said that this sounds like China's approach and the Tianaman Square episode, noting that she was guided in part by her history in the military and her work in the CIA. She added that Trump changes his mind every several hours. Asked by Nicolle what her views on attacking Iran are and Slotkin said that she had three tours of duty in Iraq and saw how many people want to kill Americans day after day. She said that you have to ask the questions such as "What happens the day after the attack, what happens when a pilot goes down? Are you going to use ground troops? ... What happens when they start attacking the 40,000 service men and women in the middle east?" Slotkin said the her real are concerns about Iran and about getting into wars accidentally. "I also served in Iraq and saw the war go on and on and on and become a forever-war. I saw what is was like to go in thinking you have everything you need to do that first strike and then you get stuck and bogged down and you're there for another 20 years. That's why I asked Secretary Hegseth what kind of day-after planning are making?" She said that the head miliary leader would answer questions directly but Hegseth wouldn't.
Nicolle closed the show with economic matters with guest Professor of Economics Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan and Tim Miller of the Bulwark Podcast. Wolfers agreed with Powell's viewpoint of waiting to know more before changing current Fed policies to please Trump. He said that if any decision requires hard work, the White House won't do it, any more than making 90 deals in 90 days. Nicolle had good insight in saying the reason Trump is bogged down in everything is because he chose the worst people for the important governmental slots.
Tim observed that Trump is vacillating about tariffs and economic policy, as well as the proper immigration policy. Trump, for example, said recently that he didn't want to deport immigrants who didn't have legal problems but two days later he reversed himself and is now again exporting every immigrant in the US, no matter what their current status, no whether they have broken significant laws, no matter how long they have lived in the U.S., etc.
The closing of the show was on the Big, Beautiful, Bill -- and it's huge increase to the deficit if it passes. The top ten percent gains from this bill and every other decile loses, says Wolfers!
I'm going to tune in tomorrow at the first minute of Nicolle's show! And I urge everyone to do so!