Democratic voters ready to unite ahead of November midterms

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0:55Welcome to The Beat. I'm Vaughn Hilliard. In for Ari Melber, we've got a big show ahead. And later, Donald Trump's niece, Mary Trump, who says her uncle is noticeably declining, will join me live. But we start with Democrats aiming to retake power in D.C. by overthrowing what they see as an obsequious Republican Party enthrall to an unpopular demagogue. That goal is spurring new calls on the left today for a broad coalition to form a unified front following headline-driving victories by a series of left-wing primary candidates, including in battleground in all-important Michigan. Today, progressive Abdul El-Sayed formally declared the winner of last night's Democratic Senate primary in Michigan.

1:40This morning, El-Sayed staying on his campaign message of affordability. They want to tell us that here in Michigan, we're a purple state. When really up and down the state, what you hear is, I wonder how I can afford my rent. I wonder how I can afford my groceries. I don't know what will happen if I get sick because I can't afford my deductible. We are not a purple state. We are a state in need of a movement to take our politics back. Today, top Democrats in Washington who supported Al-Sayed's opponent, Haley Stevens, calling on the party to rally behind him. Senate leaders Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand saying Democrats are united and ready to win this seat in November.

2:33Before the race was called, my colleague Peter Alexander talked to a Democratic voter in Michigan hitting similar themes. What do you say to those national Democrats right now? So what do you say to Democrats? What do you say to Democrats around the country right now who are watching this race closely? Have faith in their voters, listen to their voters, and consider all aspects, not just big employers and what those dollars look like for them, but what the small businesses and how what their decisions are doing are impacting us. So one month in, your advice to anybody looking to start a business right now?

3:07Do it scary. You can absolutely be fearful, but you just fear less. It seems like there's a message in there for Democrats right now, right? Absolutely. move forward with what we know needs to be done, and stand 10 toes deep in it. To retake the Senate, Democrats need to gain four seats. The path gets a lot easier if they hold on to Michigan. It comes as party strategists see a golden opportunity. Nationally, Democrats have an 11-point edge on the generic midterm ballot. A recent Fox News poll showed voters preferred Democrats to Republicans on most issues, including foreign policy, where Trump's war of choice in Iran has damaged him with voters.

3:47As the war drags on, exclusive new reporting from our colleague MSNOW's Priya Sridhar is creating tough new questions for Trump. Multiple military families report that some sailors on extended missions because of Iran are being subjected to dangerous and unsanitary conditions. They describe moldy showers, food shortages, lack of supplies of basics like toothpaste and deodorant and deteriorating morale. One sailor's stepfather saying, quote, I voted for Trump because he said he wasn't going to go to war. In response, the Pentagon said the troops have adequate supplies. As the war enters its sixth month now with no end in sight, Trump and his party may be facing a reckoning.

4:30Joining me now is Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and MSNOW political analyst and Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Adam, I'm going to start with you because you and I, we first met back in Iowa, back in 2015. You were on the ground trying to help elevate the early progressive momentum behind Senator Sanders when he was taking on Hillary Clinton. I went back and found you telling The Guardian at the time, quote, I don't call ourselves left, and part of the reason is the center of the country agrees with us. Choice hotels get you more of what you value.

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5:05Eugene Robinson:It's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct at storieshiltales.com. Hey, everybody. It's Rachel Maddow here. I wanted to tell you that more than a dozen of us from MS Now are going to be in Texas on Saturday, September 26th. I'm going to be there. Lawrence O'Donnell will be there. So will Jen Psaki. A whole bunch of us are all going to be there in Texas. Tickets start at just over 30 bucks each. And if you buy a ticket, you will get access to our new MSNOW membership free for a year. Tickets for Texas are on sale now. You can learn more at MSNOW slash together.

5:44Hope to see you in Texas. Do you view this moment in Provo State, Michigan, 11 years later, as the opportunity to finally prove that? Well, first of all, I completely agree with myself in 2015. Great quote. Yes, absolutely. I mean, we are trying to prove the concept in 2026 that a bold, shake up the system economic fighter can win in red, purple or blue states. And Michigan is a prime example. I would put Maine and Nebraska as others. And not only do we think that a bold, shake up the system economic fighter is electable, we think they are more electable than somebody who is associated with the political inside.

6:22Someone who's associated with corporate money being backed by crypto and APAC and AI and stuff like that. So we are very confident that Abdul will win in November. We're thrilled with the results last night. Eugene, meanwhile, Al-Sayed is going to be taking on Republican Mike Rogers, who nearly lost by about 20 ,000 votes in 2024. But I want to let you take a look at the response of some Republicans to his candidacy. Take a listen. These are actual communists. The comic card's a gamble. Look, these communists hate America. They hate capitalism. Top Democrats now echoing the DSA's radical agenda.

6:59We're looking at Mao. We're looking at Che Guevara. This is literally a communist takeover of the Democrat Party. OK, so El-Sayed is a self-described capitalist. But do Democrats need to forcefully push back against this latest Red Scare in order to win this race?

7:20Eugene Robinson:Well, look, this is the Republicans' playbook this year, right? It's going to be Red Scare, Red Scare. They're commies. They're, you know, socialists. They're all the number one. I'll say that is not a democratic socialist period. And number two, I think Adam is absolutely right. I think the thing to do is not to let this race be framed in terms of left versus right. It should be populist versus establishment. This is a good year to be a populist. And that is the kind of campaign that it seems to me Al-Sayed ran. He ran against the establishment. And I think that's a very, very popular position that's held by many, not just in, you know, in Brooklyn and in Boulder, but in across the middle of the country in rural areas in the South.

8:13Eugene Robinson:You know, people are fed up with the establishment because the system as it is right now, as it is being run right now, is not working for a lot of people. That's what he said during the primary campaign. I think that's what he'll keep saying. Adam, we've heard this before in generations past. This idea of communism, socialism taking over the Democratic Party to be used by Republicans for many election cycles, dating back to Barack Obama, dating back to McCarthyism. But do Democrats need to forcefully take this on in a more meaningful way, especially knowing that their resources in terms of financial, the financial piggy bank that they have to work with compared to Republicans is going to be smaller?

8:57Well, I think you take it on by showing, not telling, by campaigning on economics in a way that appeals to everyday working people, by saying we don't want corona capitalism. We don't want employees that abuse their workers. We don't want corporations that jacked up prices on consumers unfairly. We don't want monopolies that squeeze out the small businesses trying to go off the ground. And we don't want someone like Elon Musk putting in$200 million to elect Donald Trump in the week after the election, seeing his net worth go up$200 billion. dollars. That's not capitalism. That is chronocapitalism.

9:28That's corrupt capitalism. As Elizabeth Warren says, let's believe in markets, but markets imply supply and demand and consumer information working a certain way. So again, I think we just campaign on the issues. Now, I would also say that I think that Republicans are going to shoot a lot of blanks this cycle. They're going to talk about academic terms, socialism, communism, this, that, while people like Abdul are really talking about things like putting more money in your pockets, getting corporate money out of politics, having Medicare for all, making life more affordable to your family. And when people hear these scare tactics, they're going to be like, I don't know what you're talking about with those terms, but that health care sounds pretty good and more money in my pocket feels pretty good.

10:04Eugene, you've got some Michigan roots yourself. You're a graduate of the University of Michigan. And I want us to go back to 1974 for a moment, because back in 1974, it was the midterm election where Democrats had the most house pickups in the last century, but it was coming right off of the Watergate scandal. The Democratic Party, to note, was far from unified in 1974, but amassed that pickup. When you're looking at, right, past election cycles, does the Democratic Party always, right, sort of had these sort of existence of factions? And how much should Democrats be concerned about having some of their voters alienated because they may have not voted for El-Sayed in the primary?

10:43Eugene Robinson:Well, pick a year. Pick any year. In 1974, find, You know, pick 2008. And there was bitterness between the Hillary Clinton camp and the Barack Obama camp. And the party came together. I mean, this is what the Democratic Party does. It doesn't always win, but it always does have factions. And there always is a certain friction between candidates that, you know, supporters of candidates that win the primaries and supporters of candidates that lose. The question is, look, number one, listen to the voters. The voters said El Syed. So you got to listen to the Democrats out there who voted in the primary.

11:23Eugene Robinson:And number two, if you're serious about the importance, the imperative of winning the Senate and winning the House and putting brakes on the Trump administration, then you have to come together. And you have to, you know, you've got to not just raise the money, but you've got to pound the pavement and you've got to get out the vote. You have a charismatic candidate in Michigan who won the primary. And, you know, that's a that's your start. So take your start and go win the election. Adam, this is not the first time that there's been a progressive movement in American history. back in the early 1900s, Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, Republican and Democrat, were essentially fighting over the progressive cause coming after the Gilded Age.

12:13And it's hard not to read part of Woodrow Wilson's writings in 1912 saying, I take my stand absolutely where every progressive ought to take his stand on the proposition that private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable in their will. I will fight my battle. As somebody in you who has been fighting this battle for a great many years. Where do you see the progressive movement going from here? And is this the year that you are able to convince Democratic voters that it is winning and potentially it can even win in battleground states like Michigan? Yes. Well, I think we've already convinced Democratic voters.

12:47We've had huge victories everywhere from New Jersey to Texas to Pennsylvania to New York to Illinois to Colorado and now in Michigan. Michigan not only did Abdul El-Sayed win in a very battleground Senate seat, but it and Will Lawrence won in a critical, flippable seat. And, you know, again, our theory of the case is that this is the most, you know, as Eugene said, economic populism, fighting for a little guy against the system itself and against corporations that are trying to abuse workers and consumers is the best way to win. And I would say that, you know, you mentioned the disparity. He overcame$70 million in funding from APAC and crypto and big insurance and big pharma and big energy companies.

13:28And I hope that every Democratic politician across the nation takes note that it is possible to cross these powerful interests and still win if the people are on your side. So our hope is that this just gives a gust of wind, a backbone to Democrats who wanted to do the right thing, but weren't sure if they could stand up to special interests. Abdul proved that you can. Adam Green, thank you, my friend. And I'm glad that you mentioned William Lawrence because we've actually got him coming up here a little bit later in the show. He is in that competitive 7th district in Michigan, one of those states that Democrats, frankly, need to win in order to take back the House.

14:02Adam, appreciate it. Eugene Robinson has agreed to come back later on in the show with us. And a quick note, Abdul El-Sayed will be on tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern right here on MS Now. Still ahead, why Elon Musk's new plan to boost the GOP in the midterms may backfire. Plus, a big update on the right-wing Oath Keepers, January 6th and accountability. Also, as MAGA starts to tune out Trump, Mary Trump is speaking out about his, quote, as she says, decline. Mary Trump is live on the beat here momentarily. We're back in just 90 seconds.

14:41Donald Trump's critics say he is losing a step, that he's becoming a less effective messenger, and that rhetorical tricks he has long deployed are no longer working. Today, the AP bluntly calling Trump out for continuing to push false claims that reflecting Poole was vandalized. This week, U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro had to go to the Oval Office to explain the Poole's problems are actually due to poor workmanship, a botched job in her own words. She pointed the blame at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The Times reports, quote, During the meeting, Ms. Pirro, her voice raised at times, directly confronted Mr.

15:18Burgum, accusing him of misleading the president. She made the case that Mr. Burgum had promoted a self-serving cover story to conceal his own missteps. But Trump is still dangling the idea he will fire Piro. I wrote a little song to remind you, Choice Hotels gets you more of the experiences you value. The Cambria Hotel's got it all. A rooftop bar, have a ball. Bring a date, your squad, or even your mom.

15:45Eugene Robinson:Book direct at choicehotels.com. Have you ever wanted to share your opinion? with MSNOW about our TV programs, podcasts, live events, and more? Now's your chance to have your voice heard. Join the MSNOW Insights community at ms.now slash insights. Well, I just think she was totally wrong. And I told her I was not happy. Are you going to keep her in the picture? I haven't made a determination. Democrats say Donald Trump has lost the plot of this. And it's not just one thing. Amid the Iran war, high prices, and atrocious approval ratings, Trump is focused on vanity projects and social media. The Daily Beast reporting on a, quote, unraveling Trump going on, a posting frenzy about polls, daylight saving time, his ballroom, and a whole bunch of memes.

16:36His recent speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner went over an hour, led to long tangents on his UFC fight and ballroom construction, and included mean, unfunny jokes. He often appears to fall asleep in public, most recently at Lindsey Graham's funeral, though the White House denies it. There are health questions. The Washington Post reports Trump sees 22 specialists. 59 % of Americans say he lacks the mental sharpness to be president. That's in polling. 55 % say his health is not up to par either. Then there are his numerous gaffes, which Democrats are already using in midterm campaign ads.

17:38Trump's niece, Mary Trump, says he is on the, quote, decline. that he no longer has the ability to, quote, read the room or control his impulses. Mary Trump has a lot more to say, and she is live with me next.

17:55And joining me now is Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, author of Too Much and Never Enough, and the substack, The Good in Us. She also hosts Mary Trump Media on YouTube. Mary, good evening. Thanks for joining us here. I want to start off with The Atlantic has an article out today that is titled The Once Shameless President is Deeply Embarrassed, written by my colleague Jonathan Lemire. In it, he writes, quote, Donald Trump has shown something else, an ability to be embarrassed. When that has happened, he has lashed out angrily and has been willing to deploy the levers of government and his compliant staff to menace those he blames for his humiliation.

18:34Mary, are you seeing this in your uncle, the president, today? Yes. And first of all, it's great to be with you. I think this is a really important topic because we are watching the president of the United States declining across every category, physical, psychological, emotional and cognitive. and Donald is presenting an increasing danger to the people of this country. And what's really interesting is that he has spent his entire life trying desperately to avoid being humiliated. And now, on an almost daily basis, he's humiliating himself. And Donald has always been somebody who cannot take responsibility for anything.

19:21He is always looking for a scapegoat. We're seeing this now with Jeanine Pirro and Doug Brigham. But here's the thing. When it is so blatantly his fault, all of the myriad problems that we're dealing with right now, it's getting harder and harder to sell that narrative to people. Mary, he's still pushing the pool vandalism theory without evidence. And I think in a way that it encapsulates such an easy, disprovable thing, right? In some ways, conspiracy theories are oftentimes hard for us, especially as journalists, to decisively say, this is not fact. This is not real. But he was willing to have, Janine Pirro was willing to tell him that he was wrong.

20:05To what extent do you believe that there are other people like Janine Pirro that are standing up to the president? Is there anybody in his own family that is doing this at this point? I highly doubt it. And that's because all of Donald's relationships are transactional. So as long as somebody is getting something from him, or conversely, as long as he's getting something from them, they will continue to do whatever they have to do to get the benefit of the relationship. What's interesting, what we're seeing with Pirro is a new twist because we've seen a long line of people over the years who've been 100 percent loyal to Donald and he has turned around and destroyed them.

20:49or cut them off. Loyalty is a one-way street. But Pirro has reached this point because what Donald is asking her to do is risk disbarment by bringing fraudulent prosecutions against completely innocent people. So the reflecting pool may seem like a minor issue. And in some ways, I guess you could say that it's just representative of the malignant incompetence of the Trump regime. But on the other hand, we could also look at it as a core problem of this presidency. Donald is so desperate to change the subject. He is so desperate to be right all the time that he is wasting his time and taxpayer money on issues that are taking attention away from much more important things.

21:39He had a meltdown in the Oval Office, an incomprehensible meltdown about the reflecting pool for eight minutes. We are a nation at war because he chose a war against Iran, and he is completely obsessed with things that are relevant to nobody but him. One of the dynamics that we're all watching unfold is somebody who quite openly doesn't sleep. And we know that because Sean Hannity has said, quote, he's almost always awake, that he receives. Sean Hannity does calls from him at 2, 3, 6 in the morning. Secretary Scott Bessent, he said that he's received a call from him at 2 a.m. And I know some people can operate more on little sleep than others.

22:25But the extent of this, it really turns your head. My question for you as somebody that's had a lifetime of insight into him, is this how he's always operated? And you also say that he's losing impulse control. What do you mean by that? First of all, as to the sleep issue, my grandfather needed very little sleep. But my grandfather was also a very healthy person. He didn't drink. He didn't do drugs. He didn't smoke. He had a relatively good diet. And he's just one of those people who's lucky to be able to get by in four or five hours of sleep a night. But he also gave his children the message that needing sleep was weakness.

23:02and being weak was not something anybody could ever allow themselves to be thought of. So I think Donald took that to heart and feels like in order to be a tough guy, he needs to get by and break a little sleep. He's not healthy. We know that he drinks an excessive amount of Diet Coke. And of course, he's getting older. So this is going to have a serious impact on his ability to stay awake during the day, to focus. It's going to have a negative impact on his short-term memory. And I mean, this is all of a piece. You know, as I mentioned, he's obviously in cognitive decline. His father had Alzheimer's.

23:43We see that with the sleeping during the day. And impulse control or a loss of impulse control is also a sign. And Donald's somebody who's never had great impulse control anyway. So I think the

24:00Just all of these things are revealing who he's always been all along. And he says having a harder time hiding it from us. We should be clear that this is not a medical evaluation here, but this is one in understanding somebody that's known him for a lifetime. Mary, on that front, you've separated from your uncle years ago, but there were some folks that had MAGA megaphones in 2024 that really helped boost his campaign. They're deserting your uncle in the droves. I want you to take a listen. We've got to support Trump or the civilization will collapse. Those are quotes. And it's true. I'm calling for it right now.

24:4125th Amendment, impeachment, whatever needs to happen to get this front and center to get control of our country. I've been very open to the fact that I will be supporting Trump. I'm completely embarrassed that I supported Trump in the past because of, you know, the fact that he completely flipped on his entire base. I wish you the best of luck. Thank you very much. I'm a pleasure. I never even wanted Trump to win until he was the only guy to vote for. I became an active Trump supporter when they raided Mar-a-Lago. You and I and everyone else who supported him, you wrote speeches for him. I campaigned for him.

25:12I mean, we're implicated in this for sure. I want to say I'm sorry for misleading people.