Democratic strategist Chai Komanduri likened GOP leadership efforts to “make MAGA happen” to the characters in the hit movie “Mean Girls” who try to popularize the slang term “fetch.”
“It seems to be the GOP leadership is still very Trumpy and into MAGA,” Komanduri told MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Tuesday, pointing to former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Republican rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech.
“They’re sort of trying to make MAGA happen to use that famous phrase from ‘Mean Girls,‘” Komanduri said ahead of Sanders’ address.
“I’ve never heard a direct comparison from ‘fetch,’ which they were trying to make happen so aggressively as slang in ‘Mean Girls,’ and the entire MAGA movement,” responded Melber. “I think ‘fetch,’ while not a great piece of slang, is probably less dangerous to democracy though, Chai.”
“I agree, but I think it’s a terrible slang phrase and I think Regina George was quite right to make sure that it never happened,” Komanduri replied.
Raskin, in an interview with MSNBC on Friday, told writer Jordan Rubin that Trump is a “one-man crime wave” and suggested that he could face criminal charges beyond the four his panel recommended to the Justice Department.
“I’d rather focus on the idea that it’s almost inevitable that there will be charges because the evidence is just so overwhelming,” said Raskin, who then talked about Trump’s “complete and obvious and naked intent” for people to interfere with the counting of Electoral College votes.
“We think there will be charges probably on some things we didn’t even have, because we don’t have all of the prosecutorial resources that the Department of Justice has, and so we think they probably collected a lot more evidence than we got.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), shown here leaving the U.S. Capitol after the final vote of the week on Thursday, says it is difficult to watch as Trump escapes liability. Raskin has been sporting headwear as undergoes chemotherapy.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Raskin, who previously said Trump’s role in the deadly riot was not a question of “whodunnit,” added that it’d be painful for the country to never see Trump be checked by the criminal justice system.
“And it doesn’t make sense that more than 900 people can be charged and prosecuted and convicted and sentenced for things like assaulting federal officers and destroying federal property and seditious conspiracy, which means conspiracy to overthrow the government, and yet the guy who’s at the very top of the pyramid, who set all of the events into motion, somehow walks off scot-free. I mean, I think that is a blow to our justice system.”
Raskin noted that Trump is facing several criminal and civil charges in other cases around the country.
“He’s basically a one-man crime wave,” Raskin said.
“And so he might get his comeuppance in some other jurisdictions first, I don’t know about that. But ultimately we have to believe that the justice system is going to work.”
“Daily Show” correspondent Jordan Klepper has spent years at Donald Trump’s events speaking to some of his biggest supporters ― including many who believe in wild conspiracy theories.
And it’s not getting better.
“I’m still surprised at these events, which should be worrisome to everyone,” he told former RNC chair Michael Steele on MSNBC on Thursday. “The fact that there are still ideas out here that go beyond what I’ve already heard at many, many of these events, it deeply concerns me.”
Klepper attended a Trump event in South Carolina over the weekend where he found supporters who don’t believe Biden is really in charge; that he has a fake presidential seal; that there are two militaries, one of which is controlled by Trump; and that the war in Ukraine doesn’t exist and the refugees fleeing the violence are actors.
“There are folks out there that will deny reality to its face,” he told Steele on Thursday.
Steele asked later in the segment if he found the views among Trump supporters have evolved at all.
“No, there’s there’s no evolution of ideas,” he said. “There’s devolution of ideas, and that’s where the scariness arises.”
“They spent so much time spreading homophobic conspiracy theories insinuating that there was some hidden secret story behind that assault,” he told fellow MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin on Sunday. “And they were obsessed with wanting to see the body cam footage.”
Now released, that footage shows the attack on Pelosi by a hammer-wielding home invader looking for his wife, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was speaker of the House at the time.
The 82-year-old was hospitalized for nearly a week after suffering a fractured skull. Police say the alleged attacker, 42-year-old David DePape, wanted to kidnap the then-speaker, who was not at home.
Hasan played a supercut of Carlson demanding the body cam footage.
“We’re not the crazy people, you’re the liars,” Carlson ranted last year over the lack of footage.
Hasan wondered if Carlson will apologize now that the footage has been released and doesn’t support any of the conspiracy theories.
“No, of course not,” he said, answering his own question. “You simply cannot engage in good faith with these people.”
Mohyeldin agreed, saying the footage was eventually released to appease the “far-right loons” and debunk the conspiracies… to no avail, since they’re already spinning new ones.
“That’s the beauty, Ayman, of being a far-right loon, of being a conspiracy theorist,” Hasan concluded. “You don’t have to worry about evidence. Any evidence to the contrary just becomes part of the conspiracy.”
Michael Cohen, former President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer, weighed in on 45’s potential legal troubles and suggested that Trump has the capacity to sell classified information for “a package of stamps” on Saturday (You can watch Cohen’s remarks on Trump below).
Cohen, who himself went to prison after a guilty plea on tax evasion and campaign finance violations, told MSNBC’s Alex Witt that he thinks Trump will face an indictment but wasn’t as certain that the former president could face time in prison.
“There could be, based upon the fact that he’s a former president of the United States — it may not be a prison environment that he can ultimately get sentenced to, but rather a very strict home confinement scenario,” said Cohen, who served a portion of his three-year prison sentence while under house arrest.
Cohen’s comments come days after he met with New York prosecutors earlier this week as they look into the Trump Organization and a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair she had with the former president, sources told CNN.
Cohen, who noted that he’s a disbarred attorney, later ripped Trump for being a “very dumb person” that doesn’t have a strong memory and claimed that it’d be “inaccurate” to think he wouldn’t sell classified information for something inexpensive.
“Let’s not forget that for four years – despite the fact that he’s really a very dumb person and does not have a great recollection or a great memory – nevertheless for four years he still received classified briefings, national security classified briefings,” Cohen said.
“And if you think Donald wouldn’t sell any of that information, maybe he’s already done so, but if you think he would not sell it for a can of tuna or a package of stamps, you would be inaccurate. So I think for national security’s sake, I think they would put him in a very strict home confinement scenario.”
“He’s really a very dumb person.” Michael Cohen says Donald Trump will be indicted, and probably sentenced to strict home confinement as a former president. (Video: MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/melXFPzp4j
The Treasury Department needs Congress to raise that limit so it can borrow money to pay off the country’s obligations. Democrats want a “clean” bill, increasing that limit with no strings attached, but Greene and other Republicans say they want major spending cuts in return.
“I for one will not sign a clean bill raising the debt limit,” Greene insisted during a Fox News interview.
House members do not “sign” bills, as MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle pointed out on Wednesday night, causing Steele to erupt.
“She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about,” he said in disbelief as Ruhle did a face-palm. “This woman has no clue.”
Steele took Greene to school:
“If you understand how this works, Marjorie, then you know that this is about bills that have already been created, not new spending. So this is not a spending question. This is just paying the damn credit card of the country for the $8 trillion your president ran up between 2016 and 2020. So stop with the stupid.”
Steele called the refusal by Greene and others to raise the limit “Kevin’s problem,” referring to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“He’s gotta figure it out,” he said.
See the full discussion, which also includes former candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky Amy McGrath (D), below:
MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell interrupted NBC News’ Garrett Haake after he used the controversial term “pro-life” while quoting a Republican lawmaker during a segment on Thursday.
Mitchell had asked Haake to explain why Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) had expressed reservations about proposed GOP abortion legislation, while still voting for it. Haake said Mace had told reporters that “at the end of the day, she was, as she described herself, ‘pro-life.’”
Mitchell jumped in, telling Haake: “Let me just interrupt and say that ‘pro-life’ is a term that they, an entire group, wants to use, but that is not an accurate description.”
“I’m using it because that’s the term she used to describe herself, Andrea,” he responded.
“I understand,” Mitchell acknowledged.
There followed a short silence between the pair.
“Anyway, that was her explanation,” Mitchell eventually said before turning the conversation to beleaguered Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).
The Associated Press recommends using the term ― as well as “pro-choice” and “pro-abortion” ― only if it’s in quotes or part of a proper name.
Jen Psaki was in familiar territory last week, fielding questions from a room full of people on topics like whether President Joe Biden should run again and the recent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. She could’ve been behind the podium in the White House briefing room, but instead was at NBC News’ Washington bureau, being grilled not by the press corps but an eager group of desk assistants and interns—one of whom reminded Psaki how they’d gotten their badges together a few weeks earlier. At one point, the former White House press secretary was asked if working in the White House was similar to TheWest Wing. “On the best days, it can be very close,” she said, pointing to Ketanji Brown Jackson’s speech on the South Lawn. But more often it was like Veep, Psaki said. “There are a lot of Jonahs out there,” and “a lot of Dans,” she said. “Far too many.”
Minutes earlier, Psaki, 43, had appeared on Steve Kornacki’s election special, breaking down the midterm races. Later she’d chat in the hallway about early voting in Pennsylvania with veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell, whose office is just down the hall from her own, where an assortment of framed photographs—of her with former president Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign; with John Kerry, whom she worked for during his 2004 presidential campaign and later as State Department spokesperson; of her kids; on her wedding day. An unopened box of nails and a hammer rested on a cabinet. “Obviously I have a lot of moving in to do,” said Psaki. “But I’ll get there—post-election, I’ll get there.” She’s still getting her bearings in the headquarters, located in the same building as C-SPAN and Fox News. “You meet all sorts of people in the elevator,” she said.
This is Psaki’s new life as a budding TV news star. She made her on-air debut as an MSNBC and NBC political analyst in September and has dipped her toe into writing while getting ready to host a show launching next year on the streaming service Peacock. It’ll be new terrain for Psaki, who, while adept at answering questions—whether from reporters, anchors, or interns—has yet to host her own show. And it remains to be seen how she’ll structure the show and build her own audience on a streaming platform still finding its footing when it comes to news.
In the meantime, she’ll be spending election night at MSNBC’s New York bureau, where her past life in politics is sure to play as the results roll in. “Sometimes people have asked me on set—and I assume if it makes sense on election night, they would too—what’s happening in the White House now. I think my job in this role is to not guess,” she said. “What do I bring to the table? I bring contacts from 20 years in Washington, including people in the current administration,” she said, many of whom, she noted, she can “call, text, see at dinner.” A few minutes later, her phone buzzed. Dana Remus, the White House counsel, was calling. Did she want to get that? “No, it’s fine,” she said. Remus is just “a good friend of mine,” said Psaki, clarifying the nature of the call. “Like, we don’t have any business.”
MSNBC is quite literally playing up her insider status on election night, when, in addition to contributing to the anchor desk as results come in, she’ll be part of a panel of experts called The Insiders, along with some familiar faces, including fellow ex-Biden official Symone Sanders, who served as Vice President Kamala Harris’s chief spokesperson and a senior adviser and now hosts a weekend show on MSNBC, and political strategist David Plouffe, the architect behind Obama’s winning 2008 presidential campaign.
By Shannon Finney/MSNBC.
Most people know Psaki because, as White House press secretary, she was one of the most visible members of the Biden administration. But she cut her teeth at the White House during the Obama years, and has worked in private consulting and communications roles, along with serving as a CNN commentator. She didn’t work on Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, but after he’d won in November, the transition team asked her to come on as press secretary for the first year or so. “I knew I was only going to stay for a period of time,” Psaki said, noting that “hiring and building a team of people…who you could kind of hand the baton to” was part of the transition team’s pitch to her. “I had always wanted to do that job”—she’d lost out on the role twice under Obama—but “had already done so much government and so much public service” that she was ready for a new chapter. “I knew that before I started,” Psaki said. “So this last experience was like icing.”
After nearly 16 months in the Brady briefing room, where she sparred with reporters—notably, Fox News’ Peter Doocy—and dropped innumerable “Psaki bombs,” as her fans on social media would say, Psaki exited the White House in May and enjoyed a summer off. “It took me a while to not feel completely exhausted,” she said. She traveled with her family and read books and did Transcendental Meditation training at the recommendation of former Biden COVID czar Jeffrey Zients’s wife. “I ran into her at his going-away party and she was like, You have to think about doing this when you leave,” she said. Does Psaki see herself going back at any point? She shut down the question before I could even finish asking it. “If somebody wants to wheel me out to be the ambassador to a warm place when I’m 100, I’m not gonna turn them down,” she said. “But I feel like I’ve had my government experience and career many times over, and I’m very grateful for that, but I am not looking back.”
That’s good news for MSNBC, which, like its competitors, has been navigating a post-Trump ratings drop and talent shake-ups. Psaki is one of the “clearest, yet most passionate, yet most knowledgeable communicators that I’ve seen in a long time,” said MSNBC president Rashida Jones. “We’ve seen her both on Meet the Press and on MSNBC talk about some areas where she thinks the current administration and the Democratic Party should be thinking differently, should be operating differently,” said Jones. “I think that’s what makes her so valuable to us. Because she’s an insider, she knows how those universes work”—what is “actually doable,” and “what should be thought about differently.”
Many on the right went into full meltdown mode last week after Grammy-winning artist Lizzo played a crystal flute once owned by James Madison.
And MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan couldn’t help but point out the biggest hypocrisy.
“We live in an America where conservative media stars don’t lose their minds when Donald Trump supporters do this to the United States Capitol in full view of the world,” he said, and rolled footage of the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
Yet they had a “collective breakdown” over a Black woman playing a flute once owned by the fourth president, he told fellow MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin.
Hasan noted it was part of an obvious trend among those on the right.
“For conservative media stars in America today, a Black woman cannot be cast as a queen on ‘Lord of the Rings,’ cannot be the Little Mermaid, and cannot play James Madison’s flute ― a flute none of them had ever heard of until five days ago.”
“This is about a proud, talented Black musician showcasing to her audience and the world a moment of her happiness and joy that just triggered the right wing,” he said. “The very same right wing that loves to call everyone on the left ‘snowflakes.’”
“Yeah, of course,” Newsom answered. “We had a different relationship with [Ex-President Donald) Trump when I was governor as well. I mean, we had an interesting, not-as-combative relationship. Even though we went at it on a lot of issues, we also found ways to get along.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) describes his relationship with his ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle — who he says he doesn’t talk to now — during the Trump presidency. pic.twitter.com/pJpYW5RjV8
Newsom had been discussing how he had close Republican colleagues and Guilfoyle came up in the conversation, Business Insider reported.
But the governor, seen as a Democratic presidential hopeful at some point, looked uncomfortable when Wagner raised the question.
Newsom and Guilfoyle were married in the early 2000s into his stint as San Francisco mayor.
But they would seem to be an unlikely pair now. Guilfoyle, a former prosecutor, worked for Fox News and served as an adviser to Trump.
In March, she was subpoenaed by the House Jan. 6 committee about her role in the 2021 insurrection after she backed out of an interview with the panel. She reportedly was with Trump in the Oval Office as he tried to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into overturning the election for him. She also spoke at the rally preceeding the Capitol riot, and was said to have arranged for many of the speakers.
In a 2018 interview, Guilfoyle said she’d always been a conservative and lamented Newsom’s progressiveness. “Gavin was not as far left as he’s gone now,” Guilfoyle said. “Sadly, now that he’s not under my tutelage and influence, he’s strayed.”
Gavin Newsom takes the mayoral oath in San Francisco with then wife Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom in 2004.
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images via Getty Images
