Trump Reignites Iran War Amid Troubled Economy

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0:36Monday.com was built for that gap. The AI work platform designed from the ground up for people and agents to work side by side and deliver more together. Drafting the brief, flagging risks, running a competitive scan. Your agent can do it all. And the best part, anyone can build one. Even you. Try it. Create your first Monday agent today at Monday.com. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Antonia Hilton in tonight for my friend Ari Melber. And we have a big show tonight. We're going to talk to Melissa Murray about Trump's new attack on free speech and Kristen Welker, plus a live interview with the Democratic candidate for Senate in Florida, Angie Nixon.

1:15And by the end of the hour, why even the right is accusing Trump of Godfather style corruption? Godfather Part Two, that is. But we are going to start with war reigniting in Iran and Americans souring on Donald Trump's economy. For the first time in weeks, the U.S. and Iran were back to trading attacks over the weekend. U.S. forces striking two Iranian rocket launchers. Iran says they retaliated by launching strikes at American fighter jets and bases in Jordan. A source telling MSNOW Iranian missiles were intercepted by American forces and there are no reported casualties. Remember, at its start, Donald Trump told this country this would be a quick war.

1:56Just a couple weeks long. But weeks ago, at that point already months into it, he said, well, he would be low-keying it. And now here we are, six months in. And critics say this administration has boxed itself in with no clear goals or strategy to bring all of this to an end. The Washington Post now reporting that military leaders are warning Pete Hegseth against prolonged, large-scale operations that could spread our military tooth in and weaken the U.S. elsewhere. But it's not clear anyone in the White House is hearing those calls because today Trump dialed the rhetoric back up, this time sharing an AI-generated scene of Iran's Karg Island being blown up.

2:38J.D. Vance was asked about this today. on iran the president tweeted um some ai generated video of bombing of karg island was that meant to be a warning or what was the messaging there why did the president tweet that well you know like the president likes to switch it up on social media a little bit uh he would be the first to say he doesn't make an announcement about military actions on social media but i think that he's sending a message to the iranians switch it up on social media might be the understatement of the century. Meanwhile, here, the midterms are just months away, and polls show Americans turning on Trump and his economy.

3:17Trump now pushing a message maybe best described as being divorced from reality, telling Fox News inflation is taken care of. I've largely taken care of inflation. By the way, the gasoline is going to go down, the oil is going to go down like a rocket going in the opposite direction as soon as we win that war. Rockets are supposed to go up. So that was maybe not the best rhetorical picture to paint in the middle of an unending war that is making your voters' lives more complicated and more expensive. And in the backdrop of all this, Democrats are expanding their map for control of the Senate, putting Republicans on defense in areas they typically dominate.

3:59Politico reporting on Trump and the GOP's problems in the heartland. One senator saying, quote, Trump is in serious trouble in farm country. Politico adding the triple whammy of tariffs, expensive diesel and fertilizer, and now imported beef has created a crisis for agriculture state Republicans. That is where we begin. Trump reigniting a war that threatens an already fragile economy just weeks before the midterms. And joining me now is Reverend Al Sharpton, host of Politics Nation here on MSNOW, of course, and president and founder of the National Action Network. Rev, it's always good to see you.

4:35Good to see you. So I guess let me start with these recent claims for the president and your take on them. The president keeps pushing this idea that he's defeated inflation. And that is so, so far out from not just what we are hearing from voters about what their kitchen table issues and realities look like day in and day out, but it's far from the data. It's far from what the Fed has told us their goals are here. And researchers are consistently finding that these tariffs are actually contributing to the high cost of living, to the inflation we're all living with. Is this president in denial, Rev?

5:10I'm wondering if it's between somewhere between denial or this old thing of if you tell a lie so many times long enough people to believe it. And let's remember his mentor was Roy Cohen, who mastered and never admit a mistake, never say you're wrong. And Roy Cohen was a famed mob lawyer here in New York. So I don't know if it's one or the other or both, but it does not work in politics. It might work dealing with contractors at your real estate firms that you're building buildings or trying to negotiate with unions. But it does not work in politics. And he does not seem to understand that he practices the political cultism philosophy.

5:55Follow me and otherwise you'll be punished. And everybody got in line when he won in 16 and got back in line in 24. And this is the first time he's starting to get pushback, even from the MAGA crowd, even from some of the people that really believed him. And I believe he does not know how to handle it because his mind is always work one way forward. Go ahead. Don't stop. Don't admit to anything. And if you tell a lie long enough, it will become the truth in people's minds. And he's doing it at the expense of his own Republican colleagues that have to run in the midterms. You know, one of the things I always appreciate about you, Rev, and I like to talk to you about is the connection between the sort of economic challenges we face in this country and the continued justice and civil rights related struggles and the way in which those things are, you know, sometimes people like to treat them like they're separate, but they're often really one in the same.

6:49When there is constant economic uncertainty in this country caused by a president who cannot seem to make up his mind about what to do with a war, what to do about trade policy, when there is constant economic instability, who loses? When there's constant economic instability, the people at the bottom of the economic ladder lose because all of the rumbling at the top and the middle is pressing them down further. So not only is Donald Trump come in and say we're going to end DEI, which affects blacks and browns and women and gays. He's also now unconcerned, apparently, about goods that are being sold at supermarkets.

7:32He doesn't to tell us that we ought to be grateful to have lower grade beef that's going to put some farmers out of business. But it's lower grade beef. And at the same time, the price of groceries, the price of gas going up. Now you're beginning to unite poor and working class whites and blacks and Latinos and Asians. And I'm seeing that happen. We had the march on Friday around voting rights, National Action Network and Drummage Institute. We had a lot more diversity than we usually have because people say, I relate to this now. They're changing the Constitution. They're robbing me of my right to vote.

8:16And I can't do anything about my economic order. I was talking to white grandmas that were marching with us. And I think that in many ways he may unite the opposition that takes his party down. You know, there's some polling that I think might resonate with you. Trump voters are beginning to regret voting for him. This is Trump voters reflecting on the choice that they made back in 2024. Asked if they feel confident that they made the right choice. Back in April of 2025, 74 percent did feel like they did. Now, August 2026, down to 58 percent. That's still a majority, but that is a big drop in support.

8:56A huge drop. And this is those that were mesmerized in some degree, not everybody, but some of them, by Trump. Imagine if you're on the Republican ticket and you don't have anywhere near that kind of name recognition or positives, and you've got to run and carry that Trump baggage on your back. So if I'm running for Congress or for county executive or whatever, this could terrify me. If they're that dissatisfied with him and he's Elvis in terms of being politicians, what am I going to do on the ground? I'm going to get all the flack and get wiped out. And he doesn't care. That's what to me, what is so alarming, Antonio, is he doesn't care.

9:43He he believes in only one thing, and that's Trump. So everybody in public life has ego. Everybody. We all do. But we believe in something. There's something you want your ego to be built in. I stood for this. He stands for Trump. I want to ask you about the war and the role that you think it might be playing in just the American psyche right now, the way people are processing all of this. Because I've been thinking sometimes about the words of Dr. King, who eventually kind of came to the conclusion that you can't really address our problems here domestically, whether it's about poverty and justice and workers' rights here, without talking about wars that the United States was waging abroad.

10:22And so when you see what's happening in Iran in the Middle East, do you think there's sort of a similar moral argument to be made now? It's an absolute similar argument and identical argument, because let's remember you mentioned Dr. King. Dr. King's last fight was against the war in Vietnam and the Poor People's March to bring working class people together and fight the war at the same time. And leading civil rights organizations attacked him for coming out against the war, trying to combine them, saying that's not our issue. He said it is our issue because people are dying in Vietnam and can't get a decent job here.

10:59And you cannot just limit your morality. If you're a moral leader, you can't say it ends at the American border. It goes universal. And that's what Dr. King stood for. And that's the position many of us are taking now. Now, just like we're concerned about some hangings that are suspicious in Mississippi, we're concerned about people being shot in settlements in Gaza and concerned about what's going on in Ukraine. You cannot surrogate people that have tried to make the country open for everybody. Rev, it is always so good to talk with you. Good to see you. Thank you so much for your time tonight.

11:36And coming up next, why Chief Justice John Roberts says Trump's ballroom is, quote, likely unlawful. Plus, Melissa Murray on Trump's new attack on the free press. And later, our live interview with Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon. We're back in just 90 seconds.

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13:27I want to turn to big news from this afternoon. The Supreme Court clearing the way for Trump to move forward with White House ballroom construction just weeks after an appeals court halted that, saying Trump needed congressional approval. The Supreme Court was divided on the issue. Today's decision split five four. Chief Justice Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissenting, saying the construction is, quote, likely unlawful. This just after a judge ruling Trump must keep his name off the Kennedy Center for now. Trump unleashing on that judge over the weekend in a social media rant. Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beattie, a Kennedy Center Board of Trustees member, had this to say.

14:09This is a president that we know he likes tearing things down. He likes putting his name on buildings and he has lost in court because it's unlawful. But we know Donald Trump is acting like a spoiled kid. I didn't get my way. I'm throwing a tantrum. and now I will tear it down. So we're not taking it lightly. And joining me now is Ambassador Norm Eisen, former ethics counsel in the Obama White House, now executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund at the forefront of many of these legal battles. To the point, Norm, I don't know when you are sleeping sometimes, but I'm gonna start this conversation with your reaction to this news, the Supreme Court ruling on the ballroom.

14:56extremely close ruling five to four. I disagree with the majority here. They didn't reach the legality of the issue. They made a point of saying we're not deciding if Donald Trump broke the law by building this ballroom. And Antonio, the reason they said that is because he did break the law And they didn't want to admit it. They dodged it by saying that the plaintiffs in this case didn't have standing. That's silly. At Democracy Defenders Fund, we represented a group of conservative friends of the court in saying, of course, this should be stopped. It's yet another blot on the reputation of this Supreme Court.

15:48But fortunately, for the most part, courts are checking this kind of really corrupt activity. As John Roberts himself pointed out, it's illegal. And he joined the three court liberals in that four vote dissent. So, Norm, what's next for the ballroom then? Is this the end of the fight here? Trump is going to get his way. No, Antonio, because in the United States, the ultimate say on matters goes to the American people. And I think they are pretty mad. They elected Donald Trump to deal with the cost of living crisis, their gasoline, their groceries, their medical expenses. Instead, he's like Marie Antoinette.

16:36Instead of let them eat cake, he says, let them have ballrooms. Well, guess what? They don't want their money going for this ballroom. So this is going to continue to be a hot button corruption issue of Donald Trump's whims, together with our other cases like the Kennedy Center case and the Reflecting Pool case, both of which we won. This is going to be something that is going to stick in the craw of the American people. He would have been lucky if the Supreme Court let him off the hook. Well, you know, speaking of your Kennedy Center case, I want to read a little bit from the Democracy Defenders Court filing in that case.

17:17It included this. Defendants have not so subtly said, this is a nice Kennedy Center you have here, and what a shame should something happen to it. Trump has threatened to demolish the center if he doesn't get his way. So how realistic is that threat? How worried should people be? well um donald trump is under a court order here it's unlike the ballroom case because we we raced to court as soon as he began with his predations on the kennedy center we got his name removed uh and he's under a court order to keep the kennedy center open so he's not going to be able to demolish it. He'd be flouting the court's order.

18:02Now he wants to put his name back on it, not once, not twice, but three times. And we were in court last week and the judge, I think, is not going to let him get away with that. It's against the law. And it really spits in the eye of the court's prior rulings. So we're going to keep fighting and we're going to protect the Kennedy Center for our wonderful client, Representative Joyce Beatty, and of course, at Democracy Defenders. We do that with the great folks at the Washington Litigation Group. Fight, fight, fight. Well, I want you to take a listen to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick talking about the Kennedy Center fight.

18:50The president works all day, every day. And there are two things that he does for enjoyment. He plays golf on the weekend and he builds. He loves to build. So late at night, 11 o 'clock at night, he calls me and wants to talk about things he's building because it's fun for him. This is his enjoyment. When Lutnick speaks like that, is he helping or hurting the president in this case? I, you know, I think the president also enjoys trashing the Constitution and the rule of law. It seems to be a hobby or maybe even an obsession. He has no legal power to do these things to the Kennedy Center. Congress has said it must be called the Kennedy Center.

19:35Congress has prescribed that it needs to stay operational. And whatever the president's late night architectural fantasies, he cannot take them out on the Kennedy Center. He cannot rename the Kennedy Center. It's not just about a building as sacred as that memorial to a fallen American president is Antonia. It's about the Constitution and the rule of law, the separation of powers. Congress passes the laws. The president does not have the power to discard them, no matter his late night phone calls to Howard Lutnick. All right, Ambassador Norm Eisen, always good to see you. Thank you. Thank you.

20:23All right, coming up, Melissa Murray on Trump's new push to investigate polls that show he's deeply unpopular. And later, the new Trump scheme that critics say is straight out of The Godfather Part Two.

20:42Another day, another demand from the president that someone in the media be punished for coverage that he doesn't personally like. This time, his target is NBC's anchor Kristen Welker, who the president wants to see punished by the FCC over comments about the strength of his recent political endorsements. I want you to listen to what she said for yourself. Well, he's going to loom large over these midterms. There's no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He's had some mixed results. That was a simple, straightforward, verifiable statement. As The Independent put it, quote, Trump singled out Welker for accurately reporting that his endorsements have been met with mixed success.

21:29And you don't even have to look very far back in the record to find some examples. Multiple Trump-backed candidates just lost their primary races. Take sitting Republican Congressman Corey Mills of Florida, for example. NBC News had this to say in a statement about Welker. Quote, Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her. And the lone Democratic FCC commissioner is calling Trump's threat, quote, dangerous. But there's more. On the same day, Trump attacked Welker. He also called for an investigation in two polls. Apropos of nothing, his approval numbers remain very, very low.

22:02And this has been a Trump project and pattern since day one. The president himself has called for networks to lose their broadcast licenses, accusing journalists of treason for their reporting on the Iran war. And the FCC has used their power to go after talk shows, networks, and of course, comedians. Joining me now to break down all of this is the Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor and MSNOW legal analyst. Melissa, what's going on at the FCC here? Well, I think what you have here is the president trying to maneuver around accountability institutions at a time when critique against him is really out of fever pitch.

22:39And, you know, one of those important accountability institutions is the media. And so he's trying to get around that. There are a lot of legal protections for the media. There is New York Times v. Sullivan, which is a huge Supreme Court case from 1950s. It basically says that if you're going to file a defamation suit, it's a very high bar to actually establish it. You have to show actual malice. That means if the media makes a mistake in reporting something, there's a minor snafu, unless you can show that they actually meant to do harm on actual malice, you can't really prevail on defamation.

23:08And that decision has really been the bedrock of a free press in the United States. The president hates that decision. He has railed against it for years. He's never really found a way around it because the Supreme Court hasn't granted certiorari on a case that would challenge it, although some people have tried in the last couple of years. What Donald Trump is doing, basically, is finding an end run around that. So he files these lawsuits in his personal capacity against George Stephanopoulos, for example, for making a misstatement about the nature of his charges against E. Jean Carroll and the resulting verdict.

23:39And that likely would have been a case that ABC would have won. Like, again, the bar for defamation is so high. But the president, by threatening other things and simply by the force of being the president of the United States, and there's no big media institution that wants to get into a fight with the president of the United States, they're running into problems. And so they settle. And that basically is an end run. You get the media institution to come to heel. You get what you want. And you manage to avoid criticism. And you send, most importantly, a deterrent message to other media institutions, other media actors who might be critical.

24:13So what is happening with Kristen Welker, I think, is a shot across the bow to other journalists. Don't come for this president. Don't say anything about his power. Don't say anything about whether or not he has coattails that can pull other primary candidates along. He's not here for it. I mean, this was maybe just the most like simple statement. Completely verifiable. Completely verifiable. Much harsher things have been said about Trump on the NBC network, on Meet the Press by critics of his who have been on that show many times. And so one, it just sort of struck me that this is the one that sent him over the edge.

24:48But I understand your point that like if you're Kristen Welker, you might not really have anything to be legally spooked about right now. No, she doesn't have anything spooked about. She's part of a major media institution that has vowed to defend her and has the resources to do it. But think about the smaller journalists, the freelance journalists, the Don Lemons of the world, who are also bringing these stories to light, also in the crosshairs of this administration, and who may not have the kind of legal defense apparatus behind them to be able to mount this. Because for this president, the process is the punishment, mounting a defense, getting lawyered up, spending the time.

25:22If you have to go to depositions, he's proven time and time again that he's incredibly litigious and he's happy to do this. If you don't have endless time and endless resources, this can be a huge impediment and you might maybe hold your powder. Do you think some of the statements, Brendan Carr, who's at the FCC, of course, leading the way there. Do you think some of the statements he's made could actually harm Trump if these cases continue to escalate? Because he just comes out and says this stuff on right wing media. He's like, I'll be surprised if we ultimately don't go down the path of revoking people's licenses.

25:50He's saying Trump is reshaping the entire media ecosystem. He's taken credit for things like NPR being defunded, PBS defunded, CBS having new ownership, CNN about to have new ownership. I mean, it's like he's giving the game away. Well, I mean, again, there's a lot to go into litigation. Like, there are already challenges to it. And I think if challenges were ultimately to come up to the court, a court, there would be a lot here that would, again, support a case of retaliation, maybe First Amendment violations. They're taking a chance now that people aren't going to sue, that they don't want to be in litigation with this administration, that they need the FCC to play ball with them because of their licenses, whatever.