Trump Promotes Hardliner Stephen Miller

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0:57Tonight, so much for the pivot. Donald Trump promotes the architect of the policies that sent MAGA back to the minority. It is a colossal mistake. And the last thing we need, 72 hours after the ass whooping we got on Tuesday. Plus, the White House threatens thousands of conservative groups to watch their criticism as MAGA media starts to splinter. There is a thin line between being impervious to bad criticism and being totally out of touch. Also, 75 % of the country is on the verge of being run by liberals. So what will the left turn look like? And Republicans used to call Democrats anti-Semitic for wanting to end aid to Israel.

1:38They don't want to fund Israel. You vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people and you're being very disloyal to Israel. But now Trump is the one cutting it off. Israel is a very thriving country that are needed. Live at the table, Adam Mockler, Jason Rance, Ashley Allison, Lydia Moynihan and Terry Moran. Welcome to a special edition of Newsnight Midterm Fallout.

2:24Good evening. I'm Lulu Garcia Navarro in New York for Abby. Tonight, if Republicans dug themselves a hole, Donald Trump may be making it deeper with his first major move since his party's historic midterm losses. The president just promoted one of his most controversial loyalists, naming Stephen Miller chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Miller, of course, is the architect of some of Trump's policies that Americans overwhelmingly rejected, including the ICE raids. He's also been one of the president's top defenders on TV. Wiles becomes the first domino to fall after the nation's rebuke, which sources say made Trump furious.

3:04In fact, Wiles is one of the people he's blaming for the wipeout. Reacting to the Miller News, one Homeland Security official said Trump's got his MAGA mojo back. RFK Jr. voiced his support in a tweet, writing, it's time to unleash the Kraken. Over at the White House, officials expressed some skepticism. One saying, Susie kept the trains running on time. I don't know what this looks like moving forward. But Trump says his White House shakeup might not be over. After a big midterm defeat like this, do you expect to fire anyone from your team? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit? I love my cabinet.

3:43I think they're good. But I'll be doing maybe a few changes. We saw Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the hall. He was meeting with you just before now. His name has come up a few times as someone people have called for his resignation. Do you have confidence in him? I do. Look, we've won two wars. We've won Venezuela and taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars already. And we won that war in less than one hour. And you credit Hegseth. He was killed. You credit Pete Hegseth for that? No, but he was a part of it. Before we open it up to the table here, we invite you at home to join the debate.

4:23Head to CNN.com slash Abby and weigh in. We'll get to some of your comments throughout the show. It has been a long week. Thank God it's Friday. Adam, I'm going to start with you. Double down. That is what the president is doing here. That is the signal that he is sending by putting Stephen Miller into the most powerful position in the White House, apart from the president himself. What do you think is going on and what do you think it signals? Yeah, let's look at some numbers here for a second. Republicans just lost Latino Americans by a 28-point swing towards Democrats. They lost Asian Americans with a 17-point swing towards Democrats.

5:00People are rejecting Donald Trump. And after this overwhelming rejection, he decided to double down and promote the most extreme, hateful, white nationalist, insane person to the chief of staff position in the White House. He is doubling down on the hatred, doubling down on the extremism. And rather than trying to reach out to the minority voters that he just lost in huge swaths, he is deciding to go down that path even further. It's going to be a dark few years, and Americans are going to reject this. Lydia, I mean, to Adam's point, it does seem like Stephen Miller is Donald Trump's spirit animal.

5:34I mean, it's like his id unleashed in some ways. He could have made a number of different choices that might have signaled a different path. But instead, he really chose someone that is widely disliked and isn't known for his conciliatory overtures to the left. So first, there is some important context on election night. Trump actually kind of extended an olive branch that he wanted to work with Democrats. And then in the last 72 hours, we've seen, you know, the base just wants to go after this son of a bitch, as Carville said. We've seen numerous tweets about lawfare, putting people in jail. And so I think that has certainly informed Donald Trump's decision.

6:12He recognizes he needs somebody who's going to be a fighter amid all of these investigations. One other point on Stephen Miller. You know, obviously, we know him best for his fiery moments on television. But he is actually involved in a lot of different facets of the administration. He's well-liked by the Maha Group. He was involved with UFOs, some of the doge efforts. And he's been on Capitol Hill. He understands the ins and outs of policy. He spent his entire life doing this. So I think he is an important asset for the president. One other point I want to make, you know, obviously following a bloodbath for Republicans, there's a moment where I think they're reevaluating what did and more so what didn't work.

6:52Are they? But one point, though, that I just want to make. You're citing the Doge effort as a success here. You're sort of giving a litany of things that led to this catastrophe for the GOP. were, that's the reason why Republicans lost. If you look at the immigration issue, surprisingly, that was one issue where Republicans were trusted more than Democrats. Yeah, not anymore. So I think at their, I think, no, this exit poll. These were in the exit polls. I think Republicans discard immigration at their peril. I think, look, the way that that has been enacted, particularly under Kristi Noem, where you have deportation Barbie taking photos in front of prisons, that was not effective.

7:31If Miller can actually get this agenda done in an effective way that doesn't rely on ASMR and deportation videos, that's going to work. What agenda, Lydia? What agenda is Stephen Miller actually going to get? I'm pointing to the exit polling that shows voters prefer, shockingly, Republicans to Democrats. That's the only issue. On immigration, but I think you need to dissect that immigration policy. No one, I don't think, will disagree that, yes, people did like the way Donald Trump secured the border. And there have been Democrats in that that won this cycle that said as much. But you cannot sit here and honestly think that the killing of Alex Preddy, the snatching of people, the man who did family separation, which in the first Trump administration is when polling started to go against Donald Trump on his policies, immigration.

8:23That is Stephen Miller. And Stephen Miller also is a part of the immigration overreach that they went into cities and they snatched nannies. and they took kids away from their parents and they separated families. That is Stephen Miller. And that is, I think, also a part of what litigators. Just one second, Terry. I mean, what I'm curious about here is that you have had a historic loss. I mean, this is just not even a shellacking. This is I don't even know the word that we can use anymore to describe that now 75 percent of the country is going to be governed by Democrats. This is an enormous rebuke.

8:54And the president seems to just be impervious to that. What is he thinking is going to play out here for him, do you think? Well, I think one of the things he wants Stephen Miller to do is fight the oversight that's coming his way, and Miller will do that. He's a lawyer, and he's going to be ferocious and just turn down and try to tear apart any effort by the Democrats to get at what was one of the top issues in the campaign, the corruption. The other thing he's trying to do is give a shot of energy into a demoralized movement that he began 10 years ago that he saw disintegrating in front of his eyes.

9:26And the way to do that is to say we are still here. The problem with Stephen Miller being the guy for that is that, you know, corruption and affordability and corruption, the top two issues. But within that, if you listen to people, the craziness, the daily Wagnerian gutter dameron, you know, of insanity, of rage, that politics is dead. And Stephen Miller was the public face of immigration until the president looked at the polls and realized people hate this guy. Well, then the Democrats should be celebrating this because at the end of the day, they've got control of the House and they have the control of the Senate.

10:02What I think the pushback is from Democrats is the fact that they actually have to go up against this guy. He does, in fact, get the base of the MAGA movement excited. And that was a key issue going into these midterms where they weren't as enthusiastic. And today, if you look at how the MAGA base has responded, they're quite enthusiastic. They like this. And the other issue here with Susie Wiles, number one, it's not unheard of, obviously, that you make changes after a midterm loss. So pushing that part aside, Susie Wiles is not comfortable going on camera. She's not comfortable fighting for the president in public.

10:37She does a lot of the work, all of the work in the background. Stephen Miller, quite the opposite. And you might not like his policies. Yeah. He's a policy wonk. And he knows how to put together policies. Here's the one thing I'll say is that do the Republicans like this, though? They do. The Republican Party, you're talking the more conservative. Let me just say this. After the election, a lot of people came on and said, I think this is the end of MAGA. Well, if we're still trying to revive MAGA, everyone, the 25%, the remaining 25 % that are still in Congress, because the senators who weren't on the ballot, right, the governors who weren't up this, does Stephen Miller help them in 2028?

11:15Does he help J.D. Vance? Does he help Marco Rubio? Does he help Ted Cruz? Does he help Josh Hawley? He actually helps J.D. Vance, but I don't think J.D. Vance can ultimately be helped, at least not in the short term. I mean, we're talking about this as if there's some big master plan, and I am a little skeptical of this. I want to play what actually Trump said about why he wanted to elevate Stephen Miller. There's people describing Stephen Miller as your wartime consigliere. Do you agree with that characterization? Charlie's a great fighter. He's been with me right from the beginning. 2015. He's with me from before 2016, 2015.

11:53And he's very loyal, smart. He does a great job. He's been an MVP every year. He's been just great. So we're very happy with him. I mean, there it is. He's an MVP. He's a fighter. And, you know, what we do understand, but let me finish. What we do understand is that Trump still wants to pursue his agenda and wants to do it through executive action. sort of bypassing the Congress. There's reporting to suggest that. And if that is your view, you don't want to cut deals with the Democrats coming in. You don't want to, you want to pretend that this election basically didn't happen. I guess Stephen Miller's your guy.

12:32But none of that is accurate. He said he wants to actually negotiate, but the Democrats have indicated just within the last two days that they're actually not interested in doing that. So what you have to have happen is have someone there ready to enact your agenda if you need to enact it in a more aggressive way. This idea that, of course, he wants to go down the executive route. Well, yes, because he doesn't have control of the Congress. Was this a mandate on Tuesday? Did Democrats get a mandate? I don't believe in mandates in the sense that you're talking about. And again, when you look specifically at the exit polls and when you look at what actually passed, there is undoubted truth.

13:10You don't have to persuade me whether it was a mandate. I just want to know where you are. Do you think Tuesday was a mandate? No. For progressive ideas? Democrats. No, I think what the election was about was a rebuke of President Trump and the agenda that did not work for him. Did you think 2024 was a mandate? No. No, again, so the way I generally look at these things is... I think any politician who thinks any victory is a mandate is very short. So you never thought 2024 was a mandate? Yeah, Adam. I think it's short-sighted. You're elected to serve the people to think that you were a president.

13:42I don't buy this. I'm presenting you believe that it's a mandate for the Democrats to pursue, you know, whatever policies that they would want to pursue over the course of the next few years. But again, if you look at the specific issues in which people actually voted. I think it's impossible for them to deliver for the people. You have two deeply blue states, Colorado and Washington state, saying no to biological boys competing against girls. You have voter ID laws that were passed. And this is why we have that at 25 % of government power. You have California saying no. You could be deputy chief of staff right now.

14:12Can I promise? California is saying no to a billionaire tax. Hold on. So some of the biggest Democrats can be done. Jason, we're rejected. You are using the same points that just caused Democrats to win Texas. You are repeating the same points of transgender people that made Democrats win. I am telling you how they actually voted when the issue was in front of them. Let me point out. In a number of loose states. Let me point out really quickly. Stephen Miller's appointment as chief of staff is going to backfire on Republicans. Americans voted for less corruption and unity. You should celebrate it.

14:39Listen, let me finish. James Tallarico ran on a message of unity in Texas, and he whooped the ass of your guy. Unity, and now he wants to end the filibuster. So what do you make up all of the lawmakers? Wait, can I ask you, do you agree with Stephen Miller? Let me ask you a question. No, no, no, I have a question. What do you make of all of the lawmakers who are saying, prepare to go to jail, lawyer up, the lawfare begins? But do you know why? But do you know why? Because corruption... Wait, wait a second. Because corruption was one of the top issues for people. and they wanted to see a check on this administration that they felt had run amok.

15:13And that was very clear in every single bit of polling. Do you agree with Stephen Miller when he said that Rene Good and Alex Preddy were domestic terrorists an hour after they died? I thought that Kristi Noem said that. No, Stephen Miller said that directly. No, I don't agree with that. I was on this show, I think, that week saying no. Oh, so you think he's extreme. Do you think he's radical? I think that statement was extreme. Do you think Stephen Miller is radical himself? No, I don't think he's a radical himself. I know you think he's a white nationalist because it gets... He was on white nationalist websites in 2019.

15:40It is. Look, if you want to suggest, hold on, that Stephen Miller has animus towards, in particular, Latinos. Are you saying he's a white nationalist? He was on white nationalist websites. Next, the White House is now threatening conservative groups against criticizing the president. And MAGA media is starting to splinter. Plus, the blue tsunami keeps growing tonight as more seats flip. And the Democrats' lead is widening in the stunning Senate race in Mississippi. Stay with us.

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17:06Okay, MAGA and many of President Trump's previous allies are having a little bit of trouble grappling with the party's crushing midterm defeat. Here's a taste. The Republican Party is in ruins. The coalition's totally collapsed. I mean, we lost whites. Whites! You can't do that. To me, it's pretty simple. They want things to get cheaper and they generally, I think, want things to kind of calm down. There is a thin line between being impervious to bad criticism and being totally out of touch. This was a spanking. They voted for Tala Freako, man. They voted for Abdul Muhammad. I mean, no one, no one can really wrap their head around that.

17:48We can say without hyperbole or gloating, this is the end of the Trump era. But the White House isn't taking too kindly to all the bad reviews. It's now reportedly putting the critics on check, issuing a memo to thousands of conservative groups with a warning that they're being watched. So I'm going to start with you, because clearly, as a member of the conservative media ecosystem, How do you take that? You're being watched and a warning that, you know, you shouldn't be able to criticize President Trump and what happened here. I think you're jumping to the last part a little bit too quickly. What I think this is about, because they're always watching.

18:33That's the same with with the Biden administration. Like they're aware, obviously, of organizations that are supportive because they're doing outreach and they want to get their message across. What we've seen specifically with Trump is that you've got a lot of people who will work there for a day and a half and then immediately get some job about how they used to work for Trump and now they hate Donald Trump. So I think really what this is about is making sure that you're not trying to gain access to the White House while claiming to be a supporter, while you're not actually supporting any of the agenda.

19:03And that's always been the case. But do you have to, but wait a second. Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop, stop, stop. This, no, come on now. What? But you have to support the agenda of the president. You have to go lockstep with the agenda. That's not what it's saying. It's saying don't know. You know, you just said that. That's not at all what I said. There have been people and organizations that have pretended to support the president because the second that they can then break from it. It's very lucrative. And that was similar in a lot of ways with some. I don't think this is not what this is about.

19:36Well, tell me. I mean, so can I say this is how conservative media is getting this right? Not liberal media. And they're doing that because I think they're trying. You say we do. So you're telling me that. I've never. I'm saying liberal groups get memos all the time. Yes, but they never say we're watching. Listen, listen, Jason, Jason, Jason, you are currently speaking like somebody who is worried that the president is watching you. I don't care if he's watching me. Let me just point out. He can watch all he wants. I've been consistent and I've criticized. What am I scared of? Because you'll never break with the president.

20:08What are you talking about? What about you, Lydia? Let me stop. No, no, no. I know you've got like these scripted moments. You're talking about trans issues out here, man. Thinking you're going to get some click. You just lost and you're talking about trans issues. You were scripted. Oh, my God. Because I come from a state, Washington, in which we quite literally just voted on this. We are a deeply blue state. Maybe pay attention to the country. Listen. Okay, yeah, thank you for telling me what my state is doing. Trump is notorious for intimidating people who dissent from him. How am I intimidated?

20:33No, I'm not talking about you. On a broad scale. Well, no, you just told me I'm scared. You do seem like you're riding this line. What line am I riding? You guys just lost and you're still defending him. Trump is notorious for intimidating people who disagree with him. Law firms, universities, media companies. I am not intimidated by literally anything, including the talking contact that is working here. Let's not forget that you could not have, I think, greater boosters that have helped President Trump than Fox News. And his closing message was to basically excoriate Fox for having Democrats on that channel.

21:05So it does suggest that this is a president who does not like any criticism from those he perceives should be supporters. That's been true for quite some time. This isn't some sort of new revelation. I will just say, to Jason's point, that memo, if you look at the language in that, that was sent around even before elections. But look, I think it's a fair point, and this is kind of an insane reaction to lash out at media critics for calling out the fact that there was a disastrous election, right? I think, if anything, the blessing in disguise here should be that the post-mortem is beginning now.

21:40Republicans now can begin the conversation of saying, here's what went wrong, and I think it's already creating a permission structure for people to say, this isn't working. Guys, we need to change tune, and that's something we would already have had to do. Trump has been the center of gravity for a decade. He's gone in two years. So now you're seeing folks like DeSantis, even J.D. Vance to an extent, kind of try and put their hand up and say, here's what went awry. And, of course, the White House wants to tamp that down. But I don't think you're going to see them be successful in that. I don't think there's anything wrong with messaging memos.

22:12I think that that is the art of communication. I think if it was just a messaging memo, that would be one thing. But on the backdrop of an FCC chair trying to silence Jimmy Kimball on the back of threats to different outlets and media, this is a tactic of theirs of saying, don't forget. The last, what did they say at the White House tweet after they got hammered in the midterms is he's still your president. And that means I still will come for you. I still have the DOJ. I still I put my my pit bull in as my chief of staff. You just said he put him in because he's Stephen Miller. He's saying to some of these people, try me.

22:53You want to switch up on me now? That tweet was to Democrats. And the idea that Joe Biden was to Republicans. The last two Democratic presidents, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, could not issue that memo and get anybody to obey them. I mean, the Democrats are a famously disorganized party. But the more important thing is, or what? What you're going to do? Because there is a survival instinct that is kicking in for politicians and for media. and Trump has just demonstrated that he's box office poison. Maybe. But there is also the conservative media ecosystem, and I'll also say the liberal media ecosystem for that matter, partisan outlets have thrived off of this world now that we live in where you get an audience and they only want to hear what you're giving them and they don't want to hear dissenting views.

23:48And so if we're talking about MAGA for the moment, and I'm sure at some other point we'll talk about on the liberal side, but if MAGA media starts splintering, what happens to the audience? You saw Fox News in advance of this election. All of a sudden their ratings are going down. I mean, this might presage something more serious to just the media echo chamber that has really bolstered President Trump. Well, there are outlets or shows that have that only exist because of the president. There's no doubt about that. And they'll go away at some point. And there are others that have been supportive, obviously, because they're conservative outlets and they'll continue to do what they do.

24:25This, again, is going to conservative groups. It's intended to continue the support for the agenda because he understands. And he's right to be concerned about this, that it's going to be tough to move their agenda forward when you don't have the Congress. Again, a lot of these people, a lot of these groups, and a lot of the media outlets that you're talking about is about access. And that you don't have the megaphone. And you don't have the megaphone. Next, listen to this. 75 % of the entire country is on the verge of being run by Democrats. Democrats are happy about that. Others not so much.

24:54As the blue wave keeps growing tonight, including in Mississippi.

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25:25We have new numbers tonight on a handful of closely watched races. CNN projects Democrat Nancy LaCour, a retired Navy vice admiral, Admiral will flip South Carolina's first district to succeed GOP Congresswoman Nancy Mace. In Colorado, Republican Lauren Boebert narrowly trails the Democrat in the state's fourth district. In Mississippi's Senate race, Democrat Scott Colombe is widening his lead over GOP incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. And governorships remain on the line in Alaska and Kansas. With Democrats ahead in both states, those races are still too close to call. If those leads hold, Democrats will govern 75 percent of Americans.

26:12Seventy five percent. I'm going to start with you because one of the things that was so striking to me about this election was how many young people came out to vote. And how far they swung towards the Democrats.

26:29hopes of younger Americans are riding on some of these changes. What do you want to see happen in the first, you know, 100 days that these governors are now able to sort of take the reins of their state? I want to see Democrats in Congress aggressively push single issue bill after single issue bill that would help the American people. No more broad omnibus bills, but bills that we could probably all agree with. A federal ban on gerrymandering, ban insider trading in Congress and the presidency, maybe raise the federal minimum wage. Maybe we can provide health care for Americans. And if Republicans want to have the responsibility of vetoing those, that's on them.

27:07We're showing the American people what we are providing. That needs to be coupled with oversight into the corruption that happened. We just want law and order and accountability. And then our strongest communicators on the Democratic side, Ossoff, AOC, everybody need to be out there making videos about what's happening. When it comes to young voters, they voted for change in both 24 and 26. There is a generational compact that's been broken, where young voters were told if you get a degree, you do everything right, you'll get a high-paying job and live comfortably. But we're living in this weird place where you can get a degree for a job that may not exist in five years, get into debt, have housing farther away.

27:42Young people are just disillusioned with that. So that's the fundamental reality there.

27:48Lydia, some of the things, though, that these governors have talked about in their first days are not those things. Keisha Lance Bottoms has talked about repealing Georgia's abortion restrictions. You have Democratic governor-elect in Texas basically wanting to reshape schools, saying that she's going to do away with policies that she's calling divisive. That's not exactly affordability issues. Right, wants to end school vouchers. Yeah, I think, especially in Washington, I think over just about 50 percent of people said they voted for a House race because they wanted to send a message to Donald Trump.

28:29I understand that. I think voting for a governor who's going to make policies that will probably make life less affordable. Right now, if you look at the most affordable states, they've been historically red states because of the deregulation, a lot of other considerations. And so I think ushering in more of these restrictions is ultimately going to backfire. I think one of the things, and Jason, you kind of hinted at this earlier, that we saw was the delineation between the way that people voted on ballot measures and the way that they voted for people representing them. So obviously, lots of blue congressmen, senators, governors.

29:02And yet, when you looked at the ballot measures, things like voter ID, that was approved. Even in states like Ohio and North Carolina, the wealth tax in California, that was struck down. Again, boys and girls sports, as you mentioned, Washington, Colorado, that was upheld. So it's interesting to see. I think voters are still conservative. But I think this election, there was so much anger at the corruption and Donald Trump. I think they ultimately made decisions that are going to come back to bite them. It's really interesting, too, because when we're talking about affordability, it's certainly true that federal policy can influence that.

29:36But a lot of that actually comes from the locals. And voters constantly send different messages all the time on this. They say, it's too expensive, but I'm going to support this increase in sales tax here. Or I'm going to support this bond levy. And so now the Democrats who are in charge, at least in the places where they traditionally have not been, they actually have to show some results for some of the promises that they made. It's different from Washington in California and Oregon and New York, because you have a D next to your name, you're automatically going to be in office. But it's different elsewhere.

30:04But I actually think that's an important point that I don't think the federal government needs to govern like the state government. If you look at how these individuals ran their races, they ran them in their unique own voice. Gina Hinojosa went and said the fact that Greg Abbott and one of the reasons why Gina started to sorry, governor elect, my bad, put some respect on her name. Governor elect Hinojosa actually started to catapult was because of what Greg Abbott did to public schools and closing five day schools to four day schools, giving a no bid contract to folks around charter schools. Texas, in Texas, the public school system is the largest employer in the state.

30:45And people were livid. And that is why the margin was so big. Governor-elect Bottoms, she talked about abortion in her race. She talked about making it safe for people to have families and not having to leave the state. She talked about grocery taxes and gas taxes. So I think they did talk about issues. And voters did hear those issues. And voters elected them. Wow, John Ossoff ran a very different race. He went straight at Donald Trump. Tallarico went straight at Donald Trump. They ran different races and they get to govern differently. And I actually think that will be the harmony that people will be looking for.

31:23There's a huge opportunity, obviously, here for Democrats. That map shows it. And they'll be tested, right? And I feel like they're kind of groping past their famous disorganization and disputatiousness. Right? The old Will Rogers line, I belong to no organized political party. I'm a Democrat. What are they? You know, you've got the Democratic socialists. You've got the cultural issues. You've got working class members now. And I think they're groping toward a populist economic base. Make life better. And the rest of this stuff will figure itself out. If they do that, then Republicans are going to be in the shadow.

32:00Because the first party that does that is going to be in power for a long time. Yeah, but then enter, I'm sorry, the activist class of the Democratic Party. And I mean, I take your point and I do think the messaging during the midterms was incredibly consistent. And I have to tell you, if there is a leader of the Democratic Party, it's probably Bernie Sanders, because it was straight out of Bernie Sanders's book of, you know, talking about economic populism. But there are a lot of different groups at the base of the Democratic Party that want a lot of different things. And that has always been, when we're talking about the divisiveness, that has always been the pull.

32:38They are weaker today. With Adam Hamilton, with people across, with James Tallarico. The activists are weaker? Yes, they don't have the traction that they did. I'm just going to say, as someone who sometimes gets lumped into that activist category, I think there's a misread on what the activists actually want. They want cost and corruption out. They want cost down and corruption out. But some are driven by ideology. I'll tell you what Republicans are alarmed about. And they're not also all Democrats. Republicans are immediately hearing Democrats push to end the filibuster, push to potentially pack the courts, add states.

33:10It seems like they're getting power. And Elon Musk got a lot of hate for this tweet where he outlined this. But the concern is that Republicans have basically shot themselves in the foot, not passing the SAVE Act because they don't want to end the filibuster. They might not need to end the filibuster. Now we're seeing Democrats. Now we're seeing, no, there's been a lot of anger from Republicans. Now we're seeing Democrats float some pretty radical things. Ending the electoral college. That's what I was about to say. I have seen what I have seen since this whole governorship has come out is a lot of Democrats fantasizing about ending the Electoral College because they now perhaps have the capacity to do so.

33:44So we shall see. Next, Donald Trump once suggested Democrats who opposed Israel are anti-Semitic. Now he's the one ending it. We'll discuss.

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35:06Donald Trump and Republicans once suggested anyone who opposed aid to Israel was anti-Semitic. Now the president is the one cutting off that aid. A reminder, here's what he said this week. We were giving them$4 billion. We are, but it gets cut off at the end of the year. Why? Why? Because they don't need it, Brian. I mean, I asked them because they don't need it. And because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El Sayyad when they don't need it? It's a bad talking point. Israel's our number one. We give them more than anybody else. And they no longer need it. We've been doing it for years.

35:47I've been doing it. But Israel is a very thriving country that are needed. That sudden change stands counter to what Republicans have been saying about Democrats for years. In 2023, Ted Cruz claimed Democrats caved to their radical anti-Semitic base by blocking aid to Israel. A group of House Republicans called it abhorrent. Their colleagues would vote against aid in 2024. Mike Johnson agreed and called Democrats shameful for opposing the bill. Back in 2021, Mitch McConnell said it baffled him that aid to Israel had become, quote, a thorny subject on the left. And in 2024, President Trump claimed Biden wanted to immediately stop all aid to Israel, adding that, quote, any Jewish person who votes for crooked Joe Biden should have their head examined.

36:36This is a very sensitive issue that is being debated actually on the right and on the left. You have on the right a very vocal group led by Tucker Carlson and others who believe that Israel is behind many of the problems that we faced in the United States. And then, of course, on the left, you're seeing a similar debate. I mean, just to give some context here, the U.S. provides Israel$3.8 billion a year of military aid. And basically, Israel is allowed to purchase U.S. weapons. So that aid actually goes back into the sort of defense economy. And this is the way it's worked. I mean, how much of a betrayal is it that Donald Trump is now saying, because of optics, I'm willing to throw my good friend Israel that he has touted and gone to war with under the bus?

37:25So a key piece of context is this came from Netanyahu. This was reported in May of this year. This is an idea that came from him. It was reported by 60 Minutes. It's been reported by Israeli media. This is not new. This is not him throwing Israel under the bus. What he is doing is responding to the anti-Semitism that's come from the left. He's saying, let's take this talking point, this disgusting smear. And it's not just the left. Thomas Massey has been pushing that as early as just a few hours ago. So he's taking that away. That's the context. Also, the context of some of his past statements that you read and the other statements that were being read was responding to Democrats who have said that we should be cutting off aid to genocidal Israel, to a genocidal country, while they were taking the side, some of them, of the Hamas terrorist attacks.

38:14Name one. In which there were base members. Which Democrats? Name a Democrat. Name one. Name one person. Name one person. You're telling me that the Democrats who have not come out from Pramila Jayapal to Ilhan Omar to other Democrats. Pramila Jayapal was on this network downplaying rape as if it's not that important, wasn't that big of a deal. To Dana Bash, who thankfully called her out for it. Please don't pretend that there hasn't been folks on the left. Advocating for Hamas in October 7th. Excuse me, let me finish my point. You cannot dismiss the fact that there have been voices on the left, some in Congress, a lot on the base, who have leaned into anti-Semitism, who have actively suggested that Israel is always in the wrong, that Hamas was never in the wrong, that it was hurt people hurt people.

39:02No, no, no, no. We have to respond to these feelings. So now Donald Trump is listening to the left base? Donald Trump is listening to Netanyahu. And so Netanyahu is the left base? No, Netanyahu is saying we don't need this kind of funding anymore. I don't want to take the bait and make this about the left. Donald Trump is not consistent on just about everything. And the fact that he is looking right now for things. Maybe this was reported. Maybe this is some new thinking for Donald Trump. We are in part of what I think is also important and why this election went the way it did is that people are frustrated about the cost of gas.

39:40And one of the reasons why gas and diesel is so high is because we're in a war with Iran. And things that haven't really been talked about recently is one of the reasons why we are in a war with Iran is because our allyship with Israel. We've stopped talking about that, but the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump helped us get into this war in Iran. And I think that that is also why some people are questioning about what our relationship with Israel. I don't want to actually take a policy position right now. I want to talk about the president and him for years saying that Israel was the greatest ally.

40:11And for people who have been on this network and saying Israel is our greatest ally and need to be funded. And now we're sitting here defending somebody saying that he's going to cut off aid. That seems hypocritical to me. To be clear, the timing, he shouldn't. The deal we're talking about, the funding, ends next year. That's the policy he's talking about. It actually ends next year. He's doing it early, and what I don't like about that is it gives off the optics that he is doing it in concert with the anti-Semites. Again, some of which are on the right. Wait a second, Jason. You literally just said that he is doing it because of pressure from the left.

40:45So I'm just confused. No, he's doing it to take away that smear that's been used that has harmed the United States. It's harmed Republicans and it's harmed Jews. Let's also be clear. It is not just coming from the left. I've said that three times in this segment. No, no, but there's a very large wing of the Republican Party that blames Israel for getting the United States into a war with Iran. What is a large wing of the, you mean the base? There are, there are. The people that 70, the 79 % of people who helped elect these Democrats. Like, I mean, that's. Yeah, but that's not that you're not saying that, right?

41:18I mean, you're saying the Republican base, there's a large part of the Republican base that's anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli. There's a substantial part of the Republican base that is, that is against the war. But being against the war doesn't make you anti-Semitic. When you're going to come out and blame... What makes you anti-Semitic? Well, when you blame the Jews for absolutely everything, and you seem never to be... But the problem is we're discussing... Hold on. I'm a long-time Middle East correspondent, and the problem that I have with this... I'm a long-time Jew. Yeah. I think the problem that we have when we discuss this is that we conflate a lot of things all together.

41:53And so there is the war. There is aid to Israel, which precedes the war, might outlast the war. And there is anti-Semitism. And sometimes those things can cross over and sometimes they're not. They're not all messed up in the same bucket. Oh, I agree. And so, you know, you might agree now, but any time in the past anyone has said, I don't want to give aid to Israel because I don't think that this is a good use of American taxpayer money, which is a policy position, frankly, that now seems to be embraced by the president. The cudgel that has been used on the right is that the people saying that are anti-Semites.

42:33And so that is what I'm saying here, that everything sort of gets conflated. A policy discussion, which is just a policy discussion, you get labeled with anti-Semitism, which is pretty toxic, obviously. Can I just say October 7th was horrific and no one could contemplate that. Anti-Semitism exists on the left and the right. And Hamas is a terrorist organization. And it's awful, but what we're not mentioning here is that Israel is violating the rule of law, not only with the West Bank settlements, but also in Gaza, and this is horrific. Can you admit that the West Bank settlements are horrific?

43:01No, I'm not going to get into that in 20 seconds before the end of this question. That is ridiculous. Benjamin Netanyahu has destroyed the U.S.-Israel relationship as it was known for decades. He has alienated everybody under the age of 30, it seems, And by the conquest and the theft of land there and the disaster and the horror in Gaza, it will never be the same. And we'll see if he remains prime minister. Everyone, thank you so much for being here. We'll be back in a moment.

43:41Before we go, the Have I Got News for You crew is back with another new show tomorrow night. Here's a preview. Question. How is Donald Trump planning to steady the ship? Well, there was a little shakeup at the White House today. He asked Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, to resign, and he replaced her with a rabid bat. The president says he's got it all figured out. Let's see if he does. Breaking news from the White House. Longtime aide and mastermind of President Trump's controversial immigration crackdown, Stephen Miller will replace Suzy Wiles as President Trump's White House chief of staff.

44:19Clearly this audience has not checked their phone in a couple hours. That was like the sound they made when they announced that like JFK was shot before. Oh my God. This is, if you can get past the cruelty of the Trump administration, which is difficult, this is the funniest possible move we could have made. I mean, putting Stephen Miller in as the first response to the midterms is like the midterms or a referendum on how the Smurfs are being treated, and you're like, I've got the solution. It's Gargamel, baby!

44:54Do you know what's crazy? His first act as the new chief of staff was to deport Kash Patel. You can catch the all-new episode Saturday at 9 p.m. on CNN and streaming the next day with an all-access subscription. Thank you for watching Newsnight. I'll be back with you next week. And be sure to tune in tomorrow morning to Catch Table for 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern here on CNN. Laura Coates Live starts now.

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