- 2 days ago
The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle 12826 MS NOW Today Jan 28, 2026
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening once again. I am Stephanie Ruhl and
00:05welcome to the Midweek Nightcap. Check your calendar because we are now 278
00:10long days away from the midterms and tension in Minnesota is still high high
00:15The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that investigators are now reviewing
00:20new footage of an altercation between someone who appears to be Alex Preddy and
00:25law enforcement 11 days before his death. We have obtained the video from the news movement.
00:30We do not have any context as to what led up to the interaction.
00:35This is a moment the news movement filmed on January 13th in Minneapolis.
00:40Showing a man who appears to be Alex Preddy interacting with federal immigration agents.
00:4511 days before Border Patrol shot and killed him.
00:50The footage was analyzed by the BBC whose facial recognition technology confirmed his identity.
00:55to a 97 percent degree of accuracy.
01:00Please remember this was 11 days before Preddy was shot dead by Border Patrol agents.
01:05while he was peacefully protesting. There's currently no indication that the office.
01:10officers on Saturday recognized him from the earlier incident.
01:13We also have learned that the two agents
01:15who shot Alex Preddy have been placed on paid administrative leave.
01:19They will be out of work.
01:20for three days on desk duty as the investigation proceeds.
01:24As backlash is.
01:25continuing over the response to the shooting.
01:27Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat down with our colleague Jacob.
01:30Soberoff to talk about the arrival of Tom Holman in Minneapolis.
01:33Here's a clip.
01:35Tom Holman called me not something bravino or gnome or whatever.
01:40were due but the fear I have with that is.
01:42property wirds.
01:43the vírus
01:44the vírus
01:44the vírus
01:45the vírus
01:46the vírus
01:47tic
01:49the kazoo
01:50the vírus
01:51the vírus
01:52the vírus
01:54the vírus
01:56the vírus
02:00and
02:05the vírus
02:06theí
02:07to stop because it's tanking their approval ratings and according to the
02:12president it looks bad meanwhile the Star Tribune reports the
02:17the FBI has taken over the investigation into the attack on representative Ilhan Omar
02:22during her town hall in Minneapolis yesterday where a man lunged at the congresswoman and
02:27sprayed her with some sort of liquid all right let's bring in our nightcap Jason Johnson joins us
02:32and he's also an MSNOW political consortium
02:37Daniel Koh, former White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary during the Biden administration.
02:42Running for Congress in the state of Massachusetts, Peter Goodman joins us, Global Economics Correspondent.
02:47For the New York Times, journalist Sean Avalon, he is the host of the Bulwark podcast.
02:52Listen, how to fix it with John Avalon.
02:56Okay, yesterday, President...
02:57President Trump suggested that he will de-escalate things in Minneapolis.
03:02Today, he said that the mayor there was playing with fire.
03:06Is he serious?
03:07John, about de-escalation, or is he merely saying that yesterday because the country...
03:12He's fired up, but his mission and his message, well, that's not changing.
03:17Donald Trump has never been the adult in the room in this conversation.
03:21Well, he's old.
03:22Yeah, he's elderly, but not an adult.
03:26I mean, he's always been...
03:27Tone comes from the...
03:27What ICE has been doing in the streets are because Tom Trump has set that tone and it filters down...
03:32down through Stephen Miller and Christine Elm to Bovino and the folks on the street.
03:37He's concerned about what's been happening in Minneapolis.
03:39It's all about me, not we.
03:41And so...
03:42Don't take for one second him sincerely trying to say he's trying to de-escalate.
03:47If he could...
03:47If he could de-escalate, he could order a stand-down.
03:49He hasn't done that.
03:50In fact, they're just trying to get voting records.
03:52Through Pam Bondi and the coercion and Freedom Caucus talking about the Insurrection Act.
03:57We're going to get to both of those things.
04:01In that same vein...
04:02Joaquin Castro, Congressman Joaquin Castro posted this image today of visiting this...
04:07Five-year-old boy and his father who were detained last week by ICE.
04:11They're currently in a...
04:12Texas detention facility.
04:14So Greg Bovino may have left Minnesota, but...
04:17Images like this are going to do nothing to make the American people feel like...
04:22This mission has been dialed back in any way.
04:24Absolutely not.
04:25And look, this president likes to talk about America first.
04:27Nothing since it's America first like shooting Americans in the face.
04:31Okay?
04:31He ran to stop the chaos.
04:32But he's instead sewing it.
04:34And to your point, he has this messiatic complex that everyone's going to see him...
04:37As a savior and no one's buying it anymore.
04:40He's murdering protesters in the street while they're exercising their...
04:42First Amendment rights.
04:44You know, he's claiming that inflation is solved on TV yesterday.
04:47Inflation is not...
04:47Not solved.
04:48It's still at 2.7%.
04:49And he's threatening our NATO allies with ridiculousness like...
04:52Greenland to try to distract from the Epstein files, right?
04:55So, you know, he tries to think of himself as...
04:57And his approval ratings show that Americans aren't buying it with 37%...
05:02The jig is up and no one sees this president as the savior that he hopes to be.
05:07Reminder...
05:07Side note, the Epstein files are now one month and I think two weeks overdue.
05:12We're still waiting.
05:14Steven Miller, who is all in on this...
05:17He did issue a statement last night starting to say that the CBP agents...
05:22May have diverted from a certain protocol before the killing of Alex Preddy.
05:27Does this show you that this administration is worried about how this is coming...
05:32across to the American people?
05:33You got the governor of Texas saying, hey, hold on now.
05:36Greg Abbott.
05:37When Greg Abbott is saying, maybe you guys have gone too far, it's an indicator that they're
05:42going to...
05:42too far.
05:43When Steven Miller feels compelled to say anything, it's a sign they've gone too far.
05:47Look...
05:47As everyone else said, the last time Trump deescalated is when he came down the stairs
05:51of Trump Tower to run for president.
05:52He doesn't...
05:52He doesn't know how to deescalate anything.
05:53He's not interested in that.
05:54But I do think that there are enough people and you...
05:57see it on the ground.
05:58Every single interview I've seen with business leaders and folks who didn't care about...
06:02politics and people who are clearly Republicans and gun owners are saying, this is crazy.
06:06You're attacking my...
06:07My neighbors.
06:08And if you're hearing that in Minnesota, then you're also hearing that in Texas and you're
06:11hearing it in...
06:12North Carolina and you're hearing it from business leaders.
06:14So that's what this administration is hearing.
06:16This is not popular...
06:17with anyone.
06:18And they finally have to backtrack.
06:20Now, whether or not shifting around the leaders is going to do...
06:22anything one way or another.
06:23I don't know.
06:24But I think that they realize that they have gone too far in this particular incident.
06:27And they've got to change the rhetoric.
06:28And they're probably going to have to change the policy.
06:30But are they really backtracking?
06:32The Justice...
06:32The Justice Department has already said it will not open a civil rights inquiry into...
06:37The Justice Department is killing.
06:38And I think it's important for folks to understand because I think we forget this.
06:42The Civil Rights Division does not just investigate discrimination in voting, education, housing...
06:47This group is specifically there, among other reasons, to investigate cases of...
06:52police officers using excessive force against civilians.
06:56The exact...
06:57The exact kind of incident we're talking about here.
07:00And they've said, no, no, no, no, no, no.
07:01We're not going to open that up.
07:02We're not going to open that investigation.
07:03Nothing to see here.
07:04He's trying to have it multiple ways.
07:05I mean...
07:06This is a...
07:07President, whose brand is extremism.
07:10I mean, this is classic populism, right?
07:12Not going to be defeated or impeded by decorum, precedent.
07:17I'm going to give you the people what you want, and certainly his base has really...
07:22been delighted by his extreme crackdown on immigration.
07:27However, we are now rubbing up against other issues that are very...
07:32significant to his base, such as gun rights.
07:35I mean, the idea that we're going to...
07:37justify what looks to most people who've seen the video like a brazen killing of a guy.
07:42And justifying that based on the fact that he happened to have a handgun, a handgun,
07:47he was legally...
07:47that he had to be permitted to carry in that state.
07:49That's not going to play well with certain...
07:52parts of his base.
07:54The same can be said about states' rights.
07:56I mean, this is not a...
07:57country, especially the further west you get, where large numbers of people are delighted
08:02by the...
08:02the prospect of the feds coming in, guns blazing, and taking over.
08:06So he's...
08:07cognizant of that, clearly.
08:09And, you know, is this really de-escalation?
08:12I'm with...
08:12you guys, de-escalation is not a big part of the Donald Trump playbook, but it's certainly
08:16an attempt...
08:17to at least distance him from some of the immediate consequences of this thing going
08:21badly around.
08:22Poor John, is this where Donald Trump ultimately was always going to take us to?
08:27Right?
08:27He started on the escalator in Trump Tower with Mexicans, our rapists...
08:32and drug dealers.
08:33There have been, I'm not going to say countless, but many, many opportunities.
08:37for comprehensive immigration reform in this century, and it hasn't happened in the last...
08:42few years, the Senate put forth a comprehensive deal, and it was Trump who said to Republicans...
08:47don't you touch that.
08:48So, should we not be surprised that under Donald Trump's...
08:52leadership, and knowing who he is, of course we would end up here targeting people...
08:57who look and sound different.
08:58Of course, this was the slogan and the signs at the convention...
09:02saying mass deportations now.
09:04This is exactly what was going to happen when people said that...
09:07your troops are going to be used against American citizens...
09:10in the streets.
09:11This was what...
09:12was warned about.
09:13In fact, this was what was promised, and that's one of the reasons why we got a...
09:17really make sure that we stop this reckoning right now.
09:20And if Congress wants to play constructive...
09:22abs không t Mitchism...
09:23don't you know, don't just freeze the ICE funding...
09:26pass the Comprehensive Immigration Reform...
09:27Build a wall with a big gate.
09:29Let's get this system fixed.
09:31Which citizens, business...
09:32Business leaders, Americans across the board have been asking for.
09:35But what Trump is doing is not creating divisions between...
09:37Business and non-citizens.
09:38He's creating divisions between people who look like him and people who don't look like him.
09:42Remember his Thanksgiving Day tweet where he talked about 53 million foreign...
09:47foreign people in this country being mostly gang leaders and mostly drug cartels.
09:52That census number he cited, 25 million of that 53 million are American citizens.
09:57He celebrated on CNBC when the jobs numbers came out that fewer foreign...
10:02workers had jobs.
10:04He said that was a good thing.
10:05This is a very protracted strategy.
10:07He talked about Somalians in general.
10:09Somali Americans saying that they were all garbage.
10:12It is not a...
10:12coincidence that Ilhan Omar is facing this kind of discrimination because that is exactly
10:17what Donald...
10:17Trump is doing dividing us on racial lines, on gender lines, on what you believe in.
10:21That is his vision.
10:22To sow that chaos.
10:24He's always been this guy.
10:25Like none of this is surprising to me.
10:27Everyone's...
10:27paying attention has seen it.
10:28But what I think the difference is and why I think we're seeing...
10:31Again, what I think is...
10:32some semblance of verbal escalation is because for once it is crystallized into a policy.
10:37that people are unhappy with.
10:39And this is an op-ed I just...
10:40You're like Americans.
10:40Yes.
10:41You know, you finally piss people off.
10:42Because here's the thing.
10:43Philando Castile, he had a right to have his gun too.
10:46People didn't respond this way.
10:47Right?
10:48I just wrote an op-ed for MSNOW.
10:5046%.
10:51This is YouGov back in November.
10:5246% of Americans say they want to abolish ICE.
10:56Not reform it.
10:57Not...
10:57Don't change it around.
10:58Abolish it.
10:59That is an extreme...
11:00And that was before these shootings.
11:01Okay?
11:02ICE is less popular than the IRS.
11:04And the IRS has a 125-year head start.
11:06Okay?
11:07So when you...
11:07You get to a point where the American people are saying, I don't just feel bad about this.
11:12I'm not...
11:12I'm not just upset about the images, but there is a policy issue.
11:15There is a policy division that I want...
11:17Because of this, that is why they're actually backing up.
11:20And I don't think it's going to...
11:22I don't think it's going to...
11:22I don't think it's going to end this, but I think it is why we're hearing people like
11:25Stephen Miller talk differently.
11:26Then try to make sense of this.
11:27The House Freedom Caucus, you mentioned it not long after the killing posted.
11:32If Democrat-run sanctuary cities continue enabling communist...
11:37Agitators assaulting ICE and federal law enforcement, then it is time to invoke the...
11:42Insurrection Act to maintain law and order.
11:46That's the headline, right?
11:47I mean...
11:47The fact that the Freedom Caucus is saying the president should invoke the Insurrection
11:52Act...
11:52What they have consistently threatened to do.
11:54This is the Stephen Miller Fantasia...
11:56You know, fantasy baseball.
11:57Yeah, they looked who the people are who are protesting.
12:00Right.
12:00Right.
12:01They noticed...
12:01People getting shot.
12:02They noticed...
12:02They look a lot like Donald Trump in terms of your...
12:05Well, this is a...
12:07You know...
12:07The law-abiding American citizens with no criminal record and the constitutional rights are being
12:12violated, but...
12:12The Insurrection Act is a real threat, right?
12:15I mean, put aside the angry absurdity...
12:17Of calling protesters communists.
12:19I got it.
12:19I got...
12:20I've got not a lot of time for communists.
12:22There's a real death...
12:22You're talking about Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.
12:25This is not people who are protesting the streets of Minneapolis.
12:27But then the Insurrection Act is a real-deal threat to American democracy.
12:31The fact that members of Congress...
12:32are floating that, encouraging the president to invoke it, that is something to be wide awake
12:36in America about.
12:37Okay, I want to know what the international community is saying, because now there are reports
12:41that ICE agents...
12:42Attempted to enter the Ecuadorian embassy in Minneapolis.
12:46That is...
12:47No violation of international law.
12:49One of the many reasons the United States is the superpower...
12:52that we are, that we are the most attractive country to do business in, to invest in.
12:57It's because we respect and follow the rule of law.
13:01That said...
13:02This has definitely taken a beating in the last few months.
13:06So I've been doing...
13:07I've been doing a fair bit of travel.
13:08The last couple of months I just came back from Davos, World Economic...
13:12Forum, got a chance to talk to a lot of European and Asian and Persian Gulf business.
13:17I mean, certainly this is furthering...
13:22the sense that this is a very different America than the one that we grew up...
13:27with, that sense of American exceptionalism that applies to the rule of law.
13:32The independence of the Fed, the fact that we have accurate statistics and therefore we're...
13:37a good place to invest.
13:38We now look like a great big economy with a lot of money.
13:42A lot of wealthy people and a lot of innovation and not a whole lot different from...
13:47every other country on earth.
13:48And in fact, increasingly, I've heard people say, we've...
13:52adopted the guise of the China that Trump has spent...
13:57a lot of his career criticizing.
14:00We've adopted the sort of bad part...
14:02parts of that model and not many of the good parts.
14:04Danielle?
14:05Well, look, Democrats...
14:06here's the most...
14:07frustrating thing.
14:08Democrats get a lot of heat, especially after 2024, for not focusing...
14:12on issues that people care about.
14:14Right?
14:15Is that heat justified?
14:16Well, we can...
14:17talk about that a little bit more.
14:18But I think in this case, for Donald Trump, let's take the...
14:22case of Alex being a veteran ICU nurse at the VA.
14:26The VA...
14:2779% of VA hospitals have nursing shortages.
14:31Last year...
14:32average wait times went up 20%.
14:34They lost 3,000 nurses.
14:37from FY24 to FY25.
14:38So what's Donald Trump doing?
14:40Is he focusing on really helping...
14:42veterans and empowering our veterans?
14:43Well, he's proposing to increase the defense budget...
14:46$500 billion.
14:47No, instead he's literally murdering ICU VA nurses that are desperately needed.
14:52This is a classic example of where his priorities are completely crooked.
14:55People understand that.
14:56They're picking up on that.
14:57and I think they're really frustrated by it.
14:58Internationally, one, that's leading to nurses from places like the...
15:02Philippines and Indonesia not wanting to come here, which is a huge thing.
15:05It's affecting students who don't want to...
15:07come here and don't want to pay any more money.
15:08And at a bigger sort of macro level, it's people not wanting to come here for...
15:12the Olympics.
15:13It's people not wanting to come here for the World Cup.
15:15Across the world, I literally was having this conversation...
15:17with a friend of mine who's a policy person over in England.
15:19And she's like, you know, we've got conferences in...
15:22things that we're rearranging as to whether or not we do want to go to the United States
15:26to do this.
15:27I'm talking to the mother of my goddaughter, who is in Mexico, who's like, hey, you know,
15:30the dollar has fallen from like...
15:32It was $1 is 21 pesos four years ago.
15:35Now it's $17.50.
15:36I have friends...
15:37all over the planet.
15:38I have colleagues all over the planet.
15:39Our reputation is mud.
15:40And it's not just mud.
15:42Because of Donald Trump, it's mud at a basic business and cultural level because they're
15:46like, how the heck did you...
15:47you guys do this twice?
15:48But it's also mud, not just that we did it twice, that Congress...
15:52is allowing for their responsibilities to be usurped.
15:55I'm going to say it again, the reason...
15:57people believe in the United States of America is because we have three separate but equal...
16:02except now.
16:03So they're saying, where are the other branches?
16:05That's another reason.
16:06And the conservative...
16:07conservatives are the ones who are dismantling the American exceptionalism that they always
16:10talked about.
16:11And that I believe in.
16:12American exception is being lit on fire by Donald Trump.
16:15The rule of law.
16:16This is something...
16:17the conservatives say they always support.
16:18There was a conservative George W. Bush appointee federal judge who said that...
16:22ISIS violated almost 100 court orders.
16:25In the month of January alone, more than...
16:27some agencies have their entire existence.
16:29So this isn't an accident.
16:31This isn't a...
16:32PR problem to contain.
16:33This is fundamental to who Donald Trump is and what he's doing to our country.
16:37I'll tell you who wasn't saying that, though, at Davos.
16:40Business people.
16:41CEOs.
16:42Not just of American companies, but companies around the world.
16:45Because the sense...
16:47is that rule of law can actually be a hindrance.
16:50And if you have a transaction...
16:52if you have a broken-minded president, you can buy your way...
16:55you know, oh, I buy some world liberty...
16:57financial crypto, and suddenly I can get advanced chips that previously I wasn't supposed to
17:01get.
17:02But that's even short...
17:02It's a short-sighted event.
17:03It is.
17:04They're gonna get what they want out of Trump today.
17:05But long-term?
17:06That's bad news.
17:07That's it.
17:08Well, maybe.
17:09But we can't expect any CEO to be long-term.
17:10Not these days.
17:11All right.
17:12Everybody is sticking around.
17:13Coming up later in the show.
17:14Stocks are at record highs.
17:17Jason...
17:17brought it up and the dollar has been plunging. We're going to break down the Fed's decision to hold interest rates steady.
17:22First, right after the break.
17:27The F.C. files, were they released? No, but today the FBI searched.
17:32The elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, one of the flashpoints of the 2020 election.
17:37A spokesperson for the county says the Bureau was executing a search warrant for records.
17:42Related to that election.
17:44MS now obtained a copy of that warrant.
17:47It was seeking all.
17:47All physical Fulton County ballots from the 2020 election, as well as the tabulating.
17:52Intertaped from the voting machines.
17:54Just last week in Davos, if you remember, the president...
17:57Again, claimed without evidence or an audience that even cared...
18:02The president said that the election was rigged and added the following quote.
18:06People will soon be prosecuted...
18:07for what they did.
18:10Our nightcap is still here.
18:11I want us not to forget...
18:12that Donald Trump told the Georgia Secretary of State to find nearly...
18:1712,000 votes, basically to reverse Joe Biden's 2020 win.
18:22All of a sudden, we have the FBI seizing five-year-old ballots.
18:25Daniel, what's going on here?
18:27This is all...
18:27This is all a distraction machine.
18:28This is all part of it.
18:29Obviously, he has his own personal vendetta, but as long as...
18:32people are talking about this, they're not talking about the fact that the EPA just announced
18:36that they're rolling back a rule.
18:37That would allow smoke emissions to go in any state without any kind of regulation.
18:41He's basically legalized...
18:42He's basically legalizing secondhand smoke again, right?
18:44He keeps doing this over and over again.
18:46In the Department of Labor, where I used to...
18:47Trump has eliminated the Women's Bureau completely.
18:50The Women's Bureau existed to make sure that we were...
18:52fighting for things like equal pay, that we were getting pipelines and apprenticeships for women...
18:57in different industries, totally gone.
19:00He doesn't want people paying attention to that.
19:02He wants people...
19:02looking at all these distraction machines.
19:04And candidly, a lot of the media is buying that every single day.
19:06We can't get distracted.
19:07Yeah, the only thing I'd say is this is more than a distraction, right?
19:10I mean, you know, the reason that everyone...
19:12in the White House and DHS lies immediately about, you know, who they kill in...
19:17in the streets of Minneapolis is because lying has been the litmus test for loyalty in this administration.
19:22And the number one lie you've got to agree with is that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
19:27So now they've got the power...
19:27they've got the federal government, they've got the FBI reopening this,
19:29and-and-and-and so this is more than a distraction.
19:32This is... there is an institutionalized lie around the last election, at January 6th...
19:37that every single member of this government has got to, you know, raise their hand and say it's true, and that's the...
19:42sign of a declining...
19:43And we have an election coming in nine months.
19:46What does that...
19:47what message does that send to voters that federal law enforcement is now seizing ballots from...
19:52five years ago?
19:53It's a crafting of a narrative.
19:54Yeah, I agree it's more than a distraction because we...
19:57we can now say, as a fact, that the federal government, the department...
20:02of justice is looking into potential fraud in the last president...
20:07presidential election.
20:08That is now a fact.
20:09Now, it's also a fact that there's been no evidence that there's been any fraud...
20:12so this is a concocted narrative, but headed into the next election...
20:17at a time when fewer and fewer media outlets are actually...
20:22fact-based.
20:23That's now part of the conversation.
20:26So...
20:27this also feeds into other narratives where you have people who are not Trump supporters
20:31saying he's...
20:32trying to steal the 2026 election.
20:34That's what people take from this.
20:35And I'm...
20:36I'm gonna micro-target...
20:37I'm gonna put this down to Georgia.
20:38Georgia's had enough issues when it comes to fair voting.
20:41I mean, Stacey Abrams...
20:42and Brian Kemp, where you had a guy who was Secretary of State while he was running for office.
20:45There were all sorts of missing...
20:47voting machines and issues in Georgia in general.
20:49So when you have the FBI come in, it actually increases...
20:52the level of cynicism that people have there...
20:54that their votes are gonna be counted...
20:55that their votes are gonna matter...
20:56and that...
20:57anything that they're trying to do is going to matter.
20:59But in the grander scheme of things, what did Pam Bondi say?
21:02that you had to do in Minnesota in order to make Ice League?
21:05Give us your voter rolls.
21:06That's it.
21:07Give us your tax...
21:07tax information.
21:08This is part of a larger strategy.
21:10It ain't a distraction.
21:11It's just that they're...
21:12throwing multiple balls in the air...
21:13But what rationale does Pam Bondi honestly give...
21:17that if immigration is the number one issue...
21:19oh, we'll send them home if you give us your...
21:22voter rolls?
21:23In theory, in theory, she could be saying...
21:25we're trying to find people who...
21:27aren't here legally who are voting.
21:28I mean, it's nonsense.
21:29It's the kind of thing you'd find in some...
21:31weird echo chamber...
21:32But isn't somebody who's voting illegally...
21:34wildly different from who they claim they're going after...
21:36hard and...
21:37criminals.
21:38I can't imagine that MS-13 gang members...
21:42are lining up to go vote in Suffolk County, Long Island.
21:45The...
21:46the...
21:47the...
21:47we're doing this...
21:48we're trying to get voting records...
21:49and voting rolls...
21:50from numerous states right now...
21:51and...
21:52and...
21:52They ain't up to no good.
21:54It's got nothing to do with cracking down on Dr.
21:57C.
21:58It's got certainly nothing to do with criminality.
22:00We've got enough time, difficult time getting Americans.
22:03So this is not related to that.
22:05This is about a power grab.
22:07And they're creating, they're sowing the seeds of doubt around the 26th election.
22:10And they're trying to do their own.
22:11And citizens.
22:12They're trying to do their own, right?
22:13This is not the case.
22:14This is not the case.
22:15But you know, journalism diminishes turnouts.
22:16Exactly.
22:17That's the part.
22:17If I think that if when I talk to young people who think that their vote doesn't matter, it's.
22:22When they see things like this, if they say, oh, gosh, you know, yeah, they're going to be off that.
22:27That's what they claim.
22:30The fact that we're so fired up about this is exactly what he wants.
22:33That's what I say by distraction machine.
22:34He knows that this is a third rail issue that Democrats love to get.
22:37He knows it can then allow him to do.
22:42All kinds of other stuff that he actually wants to do to disable our democracy, like what I mentioned about.
22:47The Women's Bureau, but also that people aren't talking about the Epstein file.
22:51Is it connected to Jack Smith?
22:52I don't think these things are either.
22:57Or I think these guys have always been very good at flooding the zone.
23:01I don't think that it's a.
23:02First off, I always say this.
23:04It's like it's like in Ghostbusters or like don't think about anything.
23:06Thinks of Stay Puft, Marginal.
23:07Whenever you say this is this is a distraction from the Epstein files, it means you're thinking about the Epstein files.
23:12Right.
23:13You can't distract people from something that they have cared about for six or seven years now.
23:17I don't think.
23:17Any of the stuff works as a distraction.
23:19I think what it does is it just keeps people of limited resources.
23:22The law firms that he's tried to push around, the politicians and the activists, it keeps them spread.
23:27So they can't focus on particular issues.
23:29But I don't think there is one thing that ever pops up in this administration.
23:32That's going to make people forget about Alex Preddy.
23:35I don't think there's one thing that's going to pop up in this administration that.
23:37Makes people not think about 2026 of the Epstein files.
23:40There is no such thing as a distraction in a society.
23:42That's addicted to these little machines.
23:44People can keep multiple ideas in their heads at once.
23:47This administration.
23:47It just thinks that they flood people enough, you won't have time to stop them.
23:50Well, the DOJ already tried to get these.
23:52Ballots last year through a subpoena.
23:54Fulton County judge refused.
23:56Them demanding it now.
23:57Is this just another example of them saying, we're not waiting, we get what we want?
24:02The entire idea behind this administration is that Mike makes right.
24:07That's what they're saying.
24:07They're doing.
24:08Is that what?
24:08Mike makes right.
24:09They've inverted Abraham Lincoln, right?
24:11You know, and.
24:12And that is the essential idea.
24:15I mean, Stephen Miller said it.
24:16Don Trump said it.
24:17Yeah.
24:17You are going to, you know, we're not going to comply with your court order.
24:19We're going to go and take it.
24:21But in this case.
24:22It's all about doubling down on a utterly discredited conspiracy theory because that.
24:27That's been the ticket for admission to everybody in this administration.
24:30It's the foundational lie.
24:32But the real danger is it's bad for our democracy.
24:35It is the foundational.
24:36I do remember during the transition.
24:37When Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon were charged and Howard Lutnick said the number one.
24:42Qualification for any person who wants to be in this administration is.
24:47Loyalty to Donald Trump.
24:49Not experience, not expertise.
24:51Loyalty to Trump.
24:52And that's what he.
24:52Nobody's going anywhere.
24:54When we return.
24:55Ah, it's Peter's turn.
24:57Chair Jay Paolo defends his decision to keep interest rates unchanged despite intense pressure.
25:02Time now for money power.
25:07Despite relentless attacks from the president, the Federal Reserve met expectations.
25:12And held interest rates steady today, meaning they did not cut.
25:15Chair Jay Paolo defended the decision.
25:17Saying, quote, the economy has once again surprised us with its strength.
25:21We should note that.
25:22Last year, the Fed cut rates three different times.
25:25Powell also offered some words.
25:27Advice to the next Fed chair, very surprising, who could be announced as soon as next week.
25:32Stay out of elected politics.
25:37Don't get pulled into elected politics.
25:40Don't do it.
25:41Our window in.
25:42Our window into democratic accountability is Congress.
25:47And it's not a passive burden for us to go to Congress.
25:52Talk to people if you want democratic legitimacy, you earn it by.
25:57Your interactions with our elected overseers.
26:02Okay, Powell has not sounded this optimistic about the economy in quite some time.
26:07That's true.
26:09The economy, despite all of the stuff.
26:12We've been talking about for months, tariff threat, uncertainty, chaos.
26:17It seems to be holding up fairly well.
26:21Unemployment still.
26:22Although the economy is growing dramatically.
26:25I mean, the question really is.
26:27Beyond that, beyond the next quarter, which is the only way that publicly traded corporate
26:32operations process reality, what is the long-term damage?
26:37When does the reckoning come for the erosion of faith in America?
26:42What is the long-term damage against American governance that underpins all of the stuff
26:45that we're talking about?
26:46You know, Fed independence.
26:47It's not a binary thing.
26:49It's not like either we have it or we don't.
26:50The fact that Jay Powell...
26:52feels the need to come out and say,
26:55hey, whoever you are, whoever's going to get this gig.
26:57Next, stay out of politics.
26:59That underscores that we're all...
27:02already there in terms of the rest of the world,
27:05central banks...
27:07on the other side of ocean, sovereign wealth funds,
27:10thinking about where to...
27:12put their money...
27:14they've already discounted the U.S. dollar...
27:17as the sacred, beyond reproach thing that we all...
27:22grew up thinking of it as.
27:24This is the great danger.
27:26Whatever...
27:27surprise the next Fed chair gets.
27:30If they view it as a way to be popular...
27:32and compliant with this president,
27:34they're sawing off the limb they're sitting on.
27:37right, the real danger we're facing is down the road.
27:39We are saying...
27:40we're laying the groundwork for the...
27:42U.S. dollar to not be the world's reserve currency.
27:44When that happens, that's an economic...
27:47apocalypse that we have not ever had to deal with.
27:50And that's what...
27:51It's going to make the financial crisis...
27:52look like a happy Tuesday.
27:53Right.
27:54And...
27:55but what...
27:56all for the...
27:57for the sake of...
27:57things report...
27:58or a...
27:59or a higher...
28:00I mean...
28:01everybody knows this is B.S. what's going on...
28:02but the...
28:02the music playing...
28:03and they're all dancing.
28:04I mean...
28:05but you're...
28:06okay...
28:07you're running for office...
28:08the economy is complicated...
28:07right...
28:08because you have the S&P...
28:09topping 7,000...
28:10at the same time...
28:11gold is skyrocketing...
28:12but housing affordability...
28:13is an issue...
28:14obviously...
28:15healthcare costs are huge...
28:16it's complicated...
28:17and again...
28:18the dollar is falling...
28:19and... and Trump is underwater...
28:2018 points on the economy...
28:21he's underwater...
28:2228 points...
28:23on his management of inflation...
28:24so people aren't feeling...
28:25the so-called great economy...
28:26that's out there...
28:27and look...
28:28I think...
28:29it is ironic...
28:30and shows the sad state of our country...
28:31when people are giving...
28:32Powell praise...
28:33for basically...
28:34doing his job...
28:35as being an independent Fed chair...
28:36right...
28:37what's sad about this...
28:38is that...
28:39the Fed is the last institution...
28:40that Trump hasn't fully corrupted yet...
28:42right...
28:43you look at what's happening...
28:44with Congress...
28:45it's basically a rubber stamp...
28:46for Trump...
28:47same goes for the Supreme Court...
28:47you look at what happened...
28:48the State Department...
28:49and USAID...
28:50being gutted...
28:51our place in the world...
28:52and our place as a...
28:52leader...
28:53is completely gone...
28:54that is what people are seeing...
28:55they're horrified by it...
28:56this Fed is...
28:57basically the last stand...
28:58and it's very unclear...
28:59where it's gonna be...
29:00in the next few months...
29:01I don't...
29:02know...
29:03one person...
29:04who feels good about the economy...
29:05you can give me...
29:06all the fancy numbers...
29:07one...
29:08okay...
29:09I want to introduce you...
29:10to a few crypto bros...
29:11they feel great...
29:12I will say...
29:13and I've always talked about this...
29:14we talked about this on the show...
29:15how...
29:16you know...
29:17people make their...
29:17financial assessments of the world...
29:18by their friends...
29:19their families...
29:20their neighbors...
29:21what just happened during Christmas...
29:22where everybody was...
29:22tightening their belts...
29:23the feeling that you see...
29:25in the world...
29:26in the culture...
29:27in the music...
29:28it ain't one of people...
29:29feeling...
29:30like they have a lot of money...
29:31right now...
29:32kids are concerned...
29:33they're anxious...
29:34kids are concerned...
29:35they're anxious...
29:36and I will add this...
29:37because I think this is...
29:37a long-term impact...
29:38this goes into the whole problem...
29:39with affordability...
29:40right...
29:41everybody...
29:42whether it's...
29:42crypto bros...
29:43or finance bros...
29:44or everything else like that...
29:45every time you hear a Republican...
29:46or a policy person say...
29:47look at these great numbers...
29:48blah blah blah...
29:49and I'm not feeling that at home...
29:50it makes me more angry...
29:51it makes me...
29:52it makes me more anxious...
29:53it makes me think...
29:54you're not listening to me...
29:55and that's going to be a problem...
29:56you could tell me...
29:57if I go to work every day...
29:59gripping the desk...
30:00because I think I'm going to get fired...
30:01and I don't...
30:02I'm going to keep my kids in school...
30:03and I don't know if I can...
30:04help my daughter with her therapist...
30:05for her autism...
30:06and everything else like that...
30:07if that's how people are feeling...
30:08and that's what our culture is saying...
30:09it doesn't matter what the numbers are saying...
30:10can we go back to the fact...
30:12that Jay Powell...
30:13felt the need...
30:14at the podium...
30:15to say to that next Fed chair...
30:17stay out of politics...
30:18the fact that he needed to do that...
30:20has that already shown...
30:22that whomever is the next Fed chair...
30:24it's going to be assumed...
30:25their goose is kind of cooked...
30:27because for you to get that job...
30:29it's basically...
30:30it could be Kevin Warsh...
30:31it could be Kevin...
30:32has it...
30:33it could be Rick Reader...
30:34but from the sources I talk to...
30:35right...
30:36whether it's...
30:37Rick Reader...
30:38again...
30:39down at Mar-a-Lago...
30:40Donald Trump's not going to let...
30:41anybody have that seat...
30:42unless they basically...
30:43wink wink...
30:44nod nodded...
30:45you're my daddy...
30:46I mean...
30:47why has...
30:47the US...
30:48been seen as the ultimate...
30:49repository...
30:50for the world's savings...
30:52in large part...
30:53because of belief...
30:55that the Fed...
30:56they can get...
30:57they've gotten stuff wrong...
30:58they've gotten stuff wrong...
30:59lots in our lifetimes...
31:00but they're not...
31:01doing it for...
31:02political reasons...
31:03they're making an...
31:04assessment...
31:05that's based upon...
31:06their...
31:07understanding...
31:07there may be ideology...
31:08involved...
31:09but not...
31:10political pressure...
31:11and...
31:12that's God now...
31:13and...
31:14whatever happens...
31:15from here...
31:16that genie's...
31:17already out of the bottle...
31:18we have...
31:19experienced...
31:20a Fed chair...
31:21having to...
31:22stand up...
31:22to a president...
31:23clearly...
31:24trying to bully...
31:25and...
31:26last thing...
31:27on this...
31:27is that the CEOs...
31:28of financial institutions...
31:30in America...
31:31have...
31:32been...
31:33almost...
31:34entirely...
31:35silent...
31:36I mean...
31:37Jamie Dimon...
31:37who...
31:38used to cook...
31:39finally...
31:40when we have this...
31:41criminal probe...
31:42against...
31:42well...
31:43you know...
31:44Fed independence is good...
31:45didn't say much more...
31:46than that...
31:47got very testy...
31:48at...
31:47when he was pressed...
31:48very...
31:49to...
31:50to amplify that...
31:51so they've been...
31:52silent...
31:52and...
31:53and...
31:54that...
31:55is the tell...
31:56right there...
31:57okay...
31:58hold on...
31:59John...
32:00they've been silent...
32:01and last week...
31:57when I was calling...
31:58sources to say...
31:59who's in the lead...
32:00two different people...
32:01said to me...
32:02well...
32:03Don Jr...
32:02and Eric...
32:03are really pushing...
32:04for Rick Reeder...
32:05and no knock on Rick...
32:06I've known Rick for a long time...
32:07he's a great guy...
32:08but...
32:09what the hell...
32:10does Don Jr...
32:11and Eric...
32:12have to do...
32:12everything...
32:13no...
32:14this is...
32:15this is...
32:16this is...
32:17a khaki stock...
32:17I'm concerned...
32:18but...
32:19it's too much...
32:20of a dark satire...
32:21to deal with the U.S. economy...
32:22and of course...
32:23it's on all of us...
32:24yeah...
32:25the CEOs...
32:26who've been turning...
32:27a blind eye...
32:27you know...
32:28sucking up to Trump...
32:29because they can do it...
32:30in the name of fiduciary...
32:31responsibility...
32:32to their shareholders...
32:32the ones who...
32:33and who doesn't want to go...
32:34see the Melania movie...
32:35on a Saturday night...
32:36clearly...
32:37they're all gonna be doing that...
32:37um...
32:38but the real...
32:39the real deal also...
32:40is the growing gap...
32:41between Main Street...
32:42the real populist anger...
32:43is about...
32:44yes...
32:45and here...
32:46you can do...
32:47all the...
32:48you know...
32:49optimistic assessments...
32:50about the trajectory...
32:51of technology...
32:52but it's...
32:52it's gonna come out of...
32:53real people's eyes...
32:54the layoffs...
32:55we saw today...
32:56Amazon...
32:57you're getting more of that...
32:57and so...
32:58this is a really...
32:59dangerous...
33:00powder keg situation...
33:01for our country...
33:02for our culture...
33:03and for our economy...
33:04and the CEOs...
33:05who've been turning a blind eye...
33:06to the attacks on the Fed...
33:07are complicit...
33:07I'm gonna add to that...
33:08because this is...
33:09this takes us back to Minnesota...
33:10this stuff is happening...
33:11all over...
33:12it's...
33:12happening in Memphis...
33:13it's happening in Charlotte...
33:14businesses are shutting down...
33:15because of these ice rates...
33:16right?
33:17you've got people...
33:18you've got activists...
33:19right now...
33:20in Minnesota...
33:21saying...
33:22the government needs to do...
33:22on the first...
33:23because people haven't...
33:24worked in weeks...
33:25that kind of economic impact...
33:26is going to last...
33:27no matter what people...
33:27we'll see from Wallstar...
33:28but Jeff Bezos...
33:29had a hell of a time...
33:30with Paris fashion...
Comments