Rachel Maddow Show producer, MaddowBlog author, MSNBC contributor, and author of Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past
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On the one hand, Trump keeps boasting about the “respect” he commands abroad. On the other hand, France’s Macron is talking about Putin “once again” playing Trump, foreign officials are taunting the White House, and polls show Trump’s global standing in the toilet. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
For all of Hegseth’s chest-thumping about being “laser-focused on warfighting,” his Pentagon finds time for other priorities — such as restoring Confederate names, reinstalling Confederate monuments, and rehanging a portrait of a Confederate general at West Point. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As Republicans try to shift the focus from guns to antidepressants, remember: There’s a difference between bad arguments and unserious arguments. Republicans aren’t just wrong, they’re not even trying to be right. The goal is to survive a news cycle, not win a policy debate.
As Trump revokes Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection, she has a lot of company. He’s also pulled protective details for: - Anthony Fauci - John Bolton - Mike Pompeo - Brian Hook - Mark Esper - Biden’s adult kids www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The most important thing to know about the “comprehensive crime bill” Trump touted earlier this week: It doesn’t appear to exist outside of his imagination. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time he’s pushed made-up legislative efforts. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Around this time eight years ago, after Susan Collins helped derail her party’s ACA-repeal plan, she was greeted with spontaneous applause at her local airport. Now, she’s being greeted in Maine with heckling and booing — ahead of her re-election bid next year. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As chaos grips the CDC, its director is fired after less than a month, and our public-health infrastructure unravels, @murray.senate.gov had a compelling pitch: “We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
With a tenure that didn’t quite last a month, Dr. Monarez is out at the CDC after 2.4 Scaramuccis.
The good news is that the Trump administration's policies on food safety only matter to those who eat food. For everyone else, however, there’s cause for concern. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As the Trump administration has National Guard troops picking up trash in DC, consider - why they’re picking up the slack for laid off Park Service employees - how this contradicts Hegseth’s “warrior ethos” - and what the reaction would be if a Dem did the same thing www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
In Trump’s first term, his groveling White House Cabinet meetings became a national punch-line. In his second term, they’re even more cult-like. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
In the aftermath of the 2024 elections, the conventional wisdom suggested that Republicans had entered an era of electoral dominance. The more Democratic candidates flip red seats and overperform in 2025 elections, the more those assumptions unravel. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
I'm not saying you should read all of my posts, but I'm not not saying that.
Jonathan, as it turns out, just a few weeks ago, one of these yutzes really did insist that Trump deserves a Nobel in economics: www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
At a WH event, Trump shared imaginary details about a conversation with Wes Moore that didn’t happen, embraced “the president of Europe” label, and falsely claimed he stopped 7 (and 10) wars. Maybe now’s a good time to renew the whole “cognitive decline” conversation? www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Why should people care about Trump’s offensive against the Fed’s Lisa Cook? At issue is an attempted White House power grab, launched by an authoritarian president, that ignores the rule of law and puts global economic stability at risk. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
"If Trump wants people to stop marveling at his degrading weakness when it comes to the Russian president, he’ll have to start avoiding embarrassing displays like these..." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Over the course of three days, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, and Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser told the public the truth. Each faced threats from Trump soon after. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
"The House Freedom Caucus isn’t just losing, it’s evaporating..." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Vance's understanding of the end of World War II sure is different from mine. (Allied forces did not negotiate settlements with Germany and Japan, and at no point did the United States consider letting Axis powers keep territories they seized by force.)
The Defense Intelligence Agency told the White House what it didn’t want to hear. Soon after, Hegseth fired the head of the DIA. The point wasn’t to deliver a message to Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse — it was to deliver a message to everyone else about the consequences of failing to toe the line.
When the world saw the unforgettable image of a Chinese student standing in front of tanks, Trump picked a side - and rooted for the guys in the tanks.
Obviously, attire is vastly less important than presidential actions, threats, and declarations. But the fact that Trump did this Oval Office event while wearing a hat that said, “Trump Was Right About Everything” — in a big, all-caps font — added a Mad King vibe to already bonkers circumstances.
Yeah, it's one of those zombie lines that seems to fade, only to reemerge from the dead for reasons unknown.
Laura Loomer wants to rewrite history and make Joe McCarthy “great again.” The White House’s Monica Crowley said the same thing last year. So did Steve Bannon. And then there were those weird comments Ted Cruz made about McCarthy when he first got to Congress. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Remember yesterday when Trump said he’d join “with the police and with the military” in the streets of DC last night? That didn’t happen. He instead spoke for 10 minutes about grass, ballrooms, AI, and how much he hates wind power. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Nope. He delivered weird comments for 10 minutes to uniformed agents and Guard troops, then returned to the White House.
After Bolton told the public that Trump is “unfit to be president”: - Trump tried to block his book from being published - Trump canceled his security detail - Trump revoked his security clearance - and now the FBI has raided his house www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Tulsi Gabbard isn’t just dramatically downsizing the national intelligence office, she’s also the gutting the Foreign Malign Influence Center. What does it do? It’s the office responsible for monitoring foreign adversaries that try to manipulate U.S. elections. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Remember in Obama's second term, when he also went out onto the streets of DC? Eleven years ago was a simpler time... www.msnbc.com/politicsnati...
I know it's easy to roll one’s eyes at the daily nonsense, but consider Trump’s line on Tina Peters in context: A sitting American president is threatening to impose "harsh measures" on an American state unless it frees a convicted felon that he likes. That's insane. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump’s line on being “a dictator” and Vance’s line on “power grabs” were effectively identical: They’re convinced the ends justify the means — even if their ends are made up. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Note the asymmetry between the parts of his answer. This echoes Trump’s line from last week on being called a “dictator”: Vance isn’t saying the accusation is wrong, so much as he’s saying the accusation is irrelevant — because in his mind, the (dubious) ends justify the (authoritarian) means.
The Supreme Court has already ruled against state-imposed Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. Republicans keep approving new state laws anyway. So far this summer, laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, and as of today, Texas, have lost in court. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As you see reports about Trump/Noem painting border barriers black, don’t forget the recent history: When Trump made this same demand five years ago, it was an expensive and wasteful failure. True to form, he’s repeating the same mistake, expecting a different result. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump’s militarization of DC is going great if we overlook the fact that it’s - a legally dubious fiasco - hurting local businesses - scaring local residents - failing to make much of a difference on crime www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Just when it seemed Trump’s offensive against the Smithsonian couldn’t get more ridiculous, he started whining today about its museums focusing on “how bad Slavery was.” www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
“In the six wars that I’ve settled, we haven’t had a ceasefire," Trump said. Problem 1: He hasn’t settled six wars. Problem 2: Most the resolutions he wants credit for have been the result of ceasefires. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Yes, it’s weird that the FBI will have two deputy directors. And yes, it looks like Dan Bongino’s troubled tenure at the bureau is ending. But let’s not brush past the scope of Missouri AG Andrew Bailey’s hyper-partisan radicalism as he joins the FBI leadership team. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
I’m mindful of the fact that this is obvious to the point of being reductive, but there’s a way to end the war in Ukraine that’s quick, cheap, bloodless, and easy: Russia could just withdraw. It’s a point that’s too often left out of the conversation. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
It’s easy to shrug when Trump talks about leading “a movement” against mail-in ballots and voting machines. But when he starts talking about imposing his version of “honesty” on the 2026 midterms, alarm bells start going off. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
On the surface, Trump’s "paid protesters" rhetoric is obviously absurd, but the subtext is worse: He believes Americans who side with him are real, while Americans who disagree with him should be seen as inauthentic, illegitimate, and the result of corrupt schemes. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump’s first summit with Putin was a national embarrassment. His second was even worse. With high stakes, the Republican didn’t just fail by objective metrics, he also failed by his own metrics. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump occasionally tries to deny showing weakness toward Russia, but his recent record speaks for itself.
"The whole point of the Jade Helm hysterics was conservatives seeming genuinely afraid of the federal government sending active-duty troops into local American communities — a step that conservatives, at the time, characterized as obvious authoritarianism..." www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump seems confused about why the Alaska summit is itself a win for Putin, no matter the outcome of the talks, but it’s really not that complicated. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Peter Navarro wants to know who’s more credible, he and his White House colleagues or mainstream economists. That’s a conversation I’m eager to have with the guy who, among other things, wrote books quoting “Ron Vara” — a fake person Navarro concocted. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump’s DOJ: Throwing a sandwich at a law-enforcement official is a felony. Also Trump’s DOJ: Encouraging a mob to “kill” police officers during an insurrectionist attack on the Capitol is fine — and won’t prevent you from getting a job at the DOJ. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
2015: Jade Helm leaves many on the right terrified of the idea of active-duty troops in local American communities. 2025: Too many Republicans *can’t wait* to send active-duty troops into local American communities: www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
One House Republican recently said the Smithsonian might be hiding evidence of secret ancient giant humans. Another House Republican claimed this week that there’s evidence of “interdimensional beings.” GOP politics sure is weird. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
I remember the last time I saw a military vehicle like that near Union Station in DC. It was on 9/11.
Reflecting on critics who’ve called him a “dictator,” Trump didn’t say the accusations were wrong — just that they’re irrelevant. For those concerned about his authoritarian ambitions, this was part of an especially rough week. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As Trump and Putin prepare for their second summit, don't forget their first. John McCain called Trump's humiliating appearance in Helsinki "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. ... No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant."
In 2015, the right saw Jade Helm and was terrified of the idea of active-duty troops in local American communities. In 2025, some Republicans *can’t wait* to send active-duty troops into local American communities. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The Jan. 6 revelations surrounding E.J. Antoni have made his BLS nomination look cartoonishly awful. In a healthy environment, the WH would pull the plug on this fiasco. In our environment, Senate Republicans will be ordered to confirm him anyway. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
That's kind of you to say, Dray. Thanks so much.
Zeldin keeps pushing this absurdity, and it’s really not doing him any favors. It does remind me, though, of the House Republican who argued in all seriousness in 2009 that carbon pollution is a good thing because it's “plant food”: www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Surface-level problem: Trump is leading the Kennedy Center, personally scrutinizing honorees, hosting its awards ceremony, and approving an honor for one of his “special envoy” pals. Bigger problem: His authoritarian ambitions extend to American cultural institutions. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Didn’t Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can both come out in 2002? I'd put that combo relatively high on this list.
Trump could’ve at least pretended to condemn the latest suspected Russian cyberattack on the U.S., but he instead shrugged with indifference. He often wonders why his critics accuse him of being embarrassingly weak on Russia, but it’s really not that complicated. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Remember when Trump recently boasted that he’s cut the deficit in “half”? New data from his own administration shows how utterly bonkers this and Republican claims about “fiscal responsibility” are. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Oddly enough, when Trump’s approval rating started sinking a few months ago, he actually did argue that independent pollsters “should be investigated for election fraud” for releasing data he didn’t like: www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Old concern: On jobs data, maybe Trump and his team will cook the books. New concern: On jobs data, maybe Trump and his team will close the books and keep them hidden for much of the year. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Good @stevebenen.com on the glaring gap between what Trump says and what he did for insurrectionists www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo... Should be in the lede of every story, but instead they do stenography.
2024: Business leaders back Trump, assume he’ll deliver corporate tax breaks and deregulation. 2025: Trump delivers corporate tax breaks and deregulation — and then starts telling those same business leaders how to run their companies. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
If Republicans want Trump’s critics to stop calling him an authoritarian, maybe White House officials shouldn’t tell the Smithsonian that they’ll be reviewing exhibits to ensure the president’s views are reflected. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The day after Christmas 2024, the WaPo quoted a low-income Trump voter who said, “I think he knows it’s the poor people that got him elected, so I think Trump is going to do more to help us.” She came to mind after seeing the new CBO report on the Republican megabill. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The White House’s arguments are too often rooted in the idea that Jan. 6 either didn’t happen or has been forgotten. Take yesterday’s pitch on the DC power-grab, for example. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump said the Heritage Foundation’s E.J. Antoni, his nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a “highly respected economist.” That's not even close to being true — and the resulting dynamic creates genuinely hazardous conditions. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
On the one hand, the FBI is being destabilized by politically motivated retaliatory firings. On the other, agents are being reassigned for no reason to deal with local DC street crime. Taken together, all is clearly not well at Kash Patel’s FBI. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
For @murray.senate.gov to refer to Trump as “a pathetic wannabe dictator” struck me as interesting. The Democratic base routinely pushes for party leaders to be more forceful in taking public stands. There’s occasional evidence that Dem officeholders are listening.
Among the problems with Hegseth amplifying a video featuring Christian nationalists saying women shouldn't be allowed to vote: The Pentagon made no real effort to distance Hegseth from the ridiculous content. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump vowed to punish Russia on Friday (July 8). He failed to follow through — repeating a failure from January, March, and May. But now, Trump isn’t just failing to punish Putin, he’s also finding new ways to reward him. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
It is disappointing when people break right unexpectedly, isn't it?
Scandal #1: Trump’s Justice Department hired a Jan. 6 rioter who encouraged people to “kill” police officers. Scandal #2: The DOJ doesn’t much care, and it hasn’t fired the guy. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
There was that time you very nearly prevailed against the Jets, though.
Billy Long lasted roughly five Scaramuccis as the IRS commissioner — becoming the sixth person to exit the office so far this year. We don't know why, though it's notable that Trump has been eager to sic the IRS on his perceived political foes. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Two weeks ago, the official White House social media account published a weird item quoting Trump: “I was the hunted — NOW I’M THE HUNTER.” As he seeks vengeance against his perceived political enemies, the relevance of that line lingers. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The question isn’t just what Republican Rep. Cory Mills did, it’s also what House GOP leaders are prepared to do about the avalanche of allegations. The answer is ... probably not much, which deserves to be seen as its own controversy. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
A rising star in Florida Republican politics faced a serious criminal complaint. After hiring Attorney General Pam Bondi's brother, her case went away. If the DOJ wants to avoid awkward questions about cases like these, it shouldn’t have set its credibility on fire. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The problem isn’t just that Trump’s Justice Department hired a Jan. 6 rioter who encouraged people to “kill” police officers. The problem is also that the DOJ is shrugging with indifference about this — and it still hasn’t fired him. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Investing in Confederate monuments. Banning library books. Renaming bases and ships. For all of Pete Hegseth’s posturing about a “warrior ethos” and being “laser-focused” on winning wars, he sure does seem fixated on fighting the culture wars. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
According to Republican Sen. John Cornyn, the FBI has agreed to “assist” in tracking down Texas Democrats opposed to the state GOP’s radical redistricting scheme. If that sounds bonkers, it’s not your imagination. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Trump’s plan for a new census is: - unconstitutional - expensive - impractical - wildly unnecessary - an idea from the Republican fringe - part of an indefensible scheme to rig our democracy But other than that... www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Let me guess, in "two weeks," right? We'll probably see $2/gallon right around the time we see Trump's health care plan.
As public-health matter, RFK Jr’s moves against mRNA vaccines is a disaster. As a political matter, don’t just blame Kennedy — also blame the 52 Senate Republicans who were supposed to protect us from RFK Jr, but who voted to confirm him anyway. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Nine years ago, @hillaryclinton.bsky.social warned voters, “Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims, whatever it is, is ‘rigged’ against him.” I was reminded of the line putting together a surprisingly long list of things Trump has accused of being “rigged.”
That an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist is behaving like an unqualified, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist is painfully predictable. But the fact remains that 52 Senate Republicans were given an opportunity to protect Americans from RFK Jr. — and they failed spectacularly.
Republicans, eager to scare the public, spent the 2024 campaign season desperately trying to convince Americans that the U.S. was in the midst of a devastating crime wave. As new evidence from the FBI proves, they were brazenly lying. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
If the White House wants to talk about whether the latest economic data is “phenomenal” or not, I’m ready for that conversation. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
As Trump suggests immigrants are “naturally” designed for farm work, his preoccupation with immigrants and genetics — which, alas, is not new — seems to be getting worse. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
He could probably just rattle that off from memory, right?
I'd pay good money to see him start performing a Shakespearean soliloquy from up there. Quick, someone get him a copy of Macbeth!
Bondi’s DOJ can’t bring preposterous conspiracy theories into a courtroom. It also doesn’t want to enrage Trump and his base. So naturally the attorney general directed prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into claims that have already been discredited. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
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White House critics: Trump is basing pardon decisions on whether criminals are aligned with him personally. Trump: Yep, pretty much. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The White House’s four-part war on data: - Hiding data - Firing those who collect data - Firing those who release data - Lying about data www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
The glaring flaws in the new ethics investigation into Jack Smith: - He didn’t do anything wrong - This is obviously partisan retaliation - Since when does Team Trump pretend to care about the Hatch Act, which it’s repeatedly ignored? www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
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The 2020 number, covering the first seven months of the year, was a loss of 12.5 million jobs, but I sincerely believe it has no real value given the unique and historically unusual circumstances.