Trump's Iran War Threatens Global Economy

16:13Jason Johnson:tomato paste, Calabrian chili, season a taste. Order Blue Apron today.

16:27Jason Johnson:Tonight, serious new questions about Trump's strategy or lack thereof in Iran. Today, for the first time, Trump calling for Iran's, quote, unconditional surrender. As New York Times reports, it's yet another shift in the goals of the U.S. military actions, one that could pretend a much longer conflict. Also today, the Washington Post reporting the cancellation of an army exercise is fueling speculation within the Defense Department that soldiers specializing in ground combat and a range of other missions may be sent to the Middle East. Days ago, Trump pointedly declining to rule out sending U.S.

17:06Jason Johnson:troops, quote, if necessary. Pete Hegseff also asked about it. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran?

17:17Ari Melber:No, but we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.

17:24Jason Johnson:Sources telling MSNOW the war is now costing the U.S. $1 billion per day. For context, the war in Afghanistan costs$300 million a day. So, so much for Trump stopping inflation. Meanwhile, Trump asked bluntly whether Americans should fear Iranian retaliatory strikes in the United States. His answer, quote, I guess. Adding, quote, but I think they're worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it. But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die. All this as Trump becomes the first modern president to take the United States to war without public support.

18:12Jason Johnson:New polling shows just 44 % support for the war in Iran. Compared to 51 % support for Clinton's actions in Kosovo, 53 % for Reagan's mission in Grenada, 83 % for H.W. Bush's war in Iraq, and 90 % for W. Bush's war in Afghanistan. Joining me now to discuss is Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat from Massachusetts. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a Marine Corps of Combat veteran who served multiple tours in Iraq. Congressman, I'm going to start with this. I usually avoid the what's the most terrible thing that Donald Trump has done this week. But what is your response as a veteran, as an American citizen to the president of the United States when asked if people could die?

18:57Jason Johnson:He shrugs his shoulders and says, yeah, I guess.

19:01Seth Moulton:Donald Trump has never respected the troops. Never. I mean, not when he dodged the draft, making up a sore foot to avoid going to Vietnam and understandably sending someone in his place. It's not like there was just an empty seat. Someone went in his place to when he called John McCain a loser for getting captured. American hero, his own chief of staff, Marine John Kelly, documented that he called troops losers for signing up and suckers for getting killed. I mean, this is someone who has just never respected the troops of their families. And apparently he doesn't even really care about American civilians who could very well get killed in this crossfire as well.

19:46Jason Johnson:So I want to make clear that the impact of this war from a humanitarian standpoint is problematic, but also from a geopolitical standpoint. The Washington Post reports that Russia is helping Iran. Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces. Officials say the targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the official said. Now, you know, Russia and Iran have long had a relationship. I believe it's Iranian missiles. some of what Russia is using and their war against Ukraine. But how does the fact that Russia is assisting Iran complicate our ability to essentially fund or navigate two wars, a war in Iran and a war sort of protection or a proxy war in the Ukraine?

20:32Seth Moulton:Well, look, it just ties us down in the Middle East in a way that's incredibly helpful to our adversaries because we can't be as focused on Ukraine. We don't have the munitions to support Ukraine in a war that actually is really beneficial to us because they're doing the tough work against the Russians. It means we can't have a posture in the Pacific to prevent a war with China, which should be the number one threat everyone is concerned about around the globe. And so the point is that as bad as this looks in the Middle East, and let me be clear, it looks terrible. And this is not going well for us in terms of achieving any of the goals that the president even laid out.

21:12Seth Moulton:And it's going to get worse before it gets better. But a lot of the focus is just on what's going to happen in the Middle East. This has huge geostrategic implications. We heard about the economic implications earlier, but there are major national security concerns as well, which is why we've heard, you know, through the grapevine, a lot of concern among the general officer corps, among senior officials in the Pentagon, even among the chairman of the joint chiefs, even from the chairman himself, very concerned about doing this. It's pretty clear that this was either Trump's idea or Bibi's idea, but not the general's idea to go into Iran.

21:49Jason Johnson:I want to play you a quick soundbite and get your thoughts on the other side of the president talking about his potential next target for the U.S. military.

21:58Seth Moulton:What's happening with Cuba is amazing. And we think that we want to finish this one first, But that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba, hopefully not to stay. We want you back and we don't want to lose you. We don't want to make it so nice that they stay. That was another one that wasn't supposed to happen.

22:23Jason Johnson:Venezuela, Iran, threats to Greenland, threats to Canada, now potential threats to Cuba. But what does this do, Congressman, also about our ability to maintain information sharing and relationships with allies? The other people who we supposedly share military intelligence with have to be looking at this country and saying, I can't share things with these guys anymore. They're attacking everyone.

22:43Seth Moulton:Yeah, this is apparently his path to a Nobel Peace Prize, president of peace right there. He's just completely untrustworthy. And it's trust with our allies, of course. I mean, that's pretty obvious. and we've already had some of our closest allies withhold intelligence from us, that puts Americans in danger. I mean, just be clear, Trump's actions put Americans in danger because we're able to protect American citizens in part from the intelligence we get from our allies. But maybe what's less obvious is the fact that our enemies don't trust us either. My first Marine Division commanding general was James Mattis, who would later, of course, become Trump's Secretary of Defense.

23:22Seth Moulton:And our division motto was no better friend, no worse enemy than a United States Marine. Now, that meant if you were our friend, our ally, you could trust us to the end of the world. But it also meant if you are our enemy, you could trust us. You could trust that we would put up the worst fight you've ever seen. And so the point is that Russia and China are laughing at this. Xi Jinping is saying this will be great if they use all their missiles in the Middle East. Russia is saying, wow, Americans have been using their intelligence to target our troops. Now we get to target theirs. This is a great boon for our adversaries.

24:02Seth Moulton:And it's really bad for our troops.

24:05Jason Johnson:Congressman Moulton, thank you for laying this out to our audience tonight on the beat. Thank you. Good to see you, Jason. Good to see you soon. Still ahead, Barack Obama eulogizing Reverend Jesse Jackson today and warning of the assault on democracy. Also, the other big story this week, Democrats dreaming big in Texas after surging turnout. I talked live to the candidate running to turn the governor's house blue and a Kristi Noem angered Trump and why the new pick is already triggering backlash. We'll be back soon. Jason Johnson on the beat.

24:43Jason Johnson:We turn now to the firing of Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem. She oversaw a string of controversies and abuses, including the killings of two Americans in Minneapolis. But reports suggest Trump only got angry when Noam told lawmakers he personally approved a$220 million ad campaign.

25:04Seth Moulton:The president approved ahead of time you spending$220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently. Yes, sir.

25:16Juanita Tolliver:We went through the legal processes. Did it correct? Did the president know you were going to do this? I'm not saying you're not telling the truth. It's just hard for me to believe knowing the president.

25:26Jason Johnson:Noam is the first cabinet member ousted in Trump's second term. She'll be reassigned to a previously unknown job, special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. It sounds like something out of a Marvel movie. Here's how it played out on late night.

25:42Seth Moulton:Before we find out any more information about what happened, I just want to say with absolute certainty, she is a domestic terrorist who deserves to go to Gitmo. I'm being told that is not true, but you know what? I acted on the information we had at the time. You know it's a promotion when the job was just invented six minutes ago using refrigerator magnets. Even the FIFA Peace Prize is like, that sounds made up. That sounds, that doesn't sound like a real thing. Yeah. It sounds less like a job, more like a title of a Borat movie.

26:17Jason Johnson:Coming up, Trump making his presidential debut at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year. The first time since taking office. But first, Democratic turnout surging in Texas primaries this week. I'll talk to someone at the center of it all when we're back on The Beat.

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27:31Seth Moulton:Subscribe to MSNOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content to all of MSNOW's original podcasts, including the chart-topping series The Best People with Nicole Wallace, Why Is This Happening, Main Justice, and more. Plus, new episodes of all your favorite MSNOW shows ad-free and ad-free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, including Rachel Maddow Presents Burn Order. Subscribe to MSNOW Premium on Apple Podcasts.

28:05Jason Johnson:midterm primaries are now officially underway and the story this week was turnout democrats had record turnout in texas with those gains particularly pronounced in latino majority areas on social media voters are sounding off about what all this might mean for the midterms

28:23Juanita Tolliver:this fall when texas turnout for democrats was high congratulations james tallarico and gina

28:29Seth Moulton:I do think you guys can turn Texas blue.

28:33Justin Wolfers:There is a viable pathway to success for Democrats in this country, even in deep red areas.

28:38Seth Moulton:The voter suppression in Texas, that's how Texas stays red. Then five other Hispanic majority counties in South Texas,

28:44Ari Melber:Tallarico and Crockett combined for more votes than Kamala Harris got.

28:48Juanita Tolliver:2.2 million Democrats voted in this primary and they outpaced Republicans.

28:52Seth Moulton:We are going to turn Texas blue.

28:56Jason Johnson:The governor's race is one of the marquee matchups with state lawmaker Gina Hinojosa facing incumbent Greg Abbott. The Houston Chronicle reporting, quote, Hinojosa, a relatively unknown challenger, is trailing Abbott by only single digits in a midterm election that is expected to be bruising for Republicans. Joining me now is Gina Hinojosa, Democratic candidate for Texas governor. Thank you so much for joining us this evening on The Beat. I'm going to get right to it. You have won your primary. Now you got to focus on going against the governor. What is your main argument to the voters? What are you telling voters that they need to know about you, about your platform to kick Abbott out of office and put you in at Austin?

29:37Justin Wolfers:What they will know about me is that I am going to be the governor who works for the people of Texas and not the moneyed interests we have with Governor Abbott, a governor who has done the bidding of the billionaires to line their pockets more and more. we are all paying the Greg Abbott corruption tax. After 12 years of Greg Abbott, people are struggling more, not less. He's had his time. It is more than enough. People want change. He offers more of the same.

30:07Jason Johnson:Representative, one of the things that I think a lot of people don't understand, you know, social media is full of people who want to pontificate about what's happening in Texas, but they've never been there. They never set foot in the state. They don't know the difference between Houston and Austin and San Antonio, but they have all these opinions. What's something that people should know, even consultants or volunteers who want to come to the state and work for you. What's something they need to know that's unique about Texas and Texas politics that you are going to be using to your benefit this fall?

30:33Justin Wolfers:Well, in Texas, we are a very proud people, right? We understand our worth. We know that we are a world economic powerhouse and there is pride in that. And it is the people of Texas who have made that power. But Texans are struggling. Our incomes are rising at a slower pace than the national average. We have more people who are uninsured, more children uninsured, more veterans, working people. Our electricity prices have skyrocketed after winter storm Uri, where Greg Abbott did the bidding of the gas companies instead of the people of Texas. Now we're all paying about$40 more a month on our gas prices, on and on.

31:15Justin Wolfers:Texans are struggling, and we shouldn't be because we create that economic power in this state, and we can turn that around. Right now, we're feeding into a system with our own money that is working against us under Greg Abbott. We need a clean slate and fresh start to build a government that works for the people of Texas.

31:34Jason Johnson:Representative, I mean, obviously, from the national standpoint, the top of the ticket was the primary waste with James Tallarico and Jasmine Crockett earlier this week. Even though you are the top of the ticket because you're running for the chief executive of the state, have you reached out to the Tallarico campaign and will you be working with them doing joint events, sort of barnstorming across the state as people who are trying to make sure that you don't necessarily turn Texas blue, but at least maybe flip it to purple?

32:00Justin Wolfers:Right. Yes. James and I are good friends. I'm great friends with Jasmine too. We've all served in the Texas House together. And there we have fought back against Greg Abbott's disastrous agenda for our public schools and for our communities. And yes, James and I will be campaigning across the state. We're already planning for rallies across the state and it will take all of us to win the gains we need. This might be our last best chance. And so we're all in and we need everybody all in, But our polling shows us we are in a statistical tie with Greg Abbott. As you mentioned, there was record turnout with Democrats showing up at numbers we haven't seen since 2008.

32:45Justin Wolfers:More Democrats by a lot than Republicans. That bodes well for November. So, yes, we are all all in, all working together to amplify and maximize this opportunity.

32:57Jason Johnson:Gina Hinojosa, thank you so much for joining us this evening on The Beat. And we should note Governor. Oh, thank you. And we should note Governor Abbott is welcome to come on the beat anytime. Happy to talk. Up next, Obama rips the greed and bigotry in Trump's America. More on that when we're back on the beat.

33:20Jason Johnson:This week, we saw a first from Donald Trump announcing he'll attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner for the first time as president. He might still be reeling from that time he got roasted by Barack Obama way back in 2011. No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest to ban the Donald.

33:42Seth Moulton:And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing?

33:54Seth Moulton:What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?

34:04Jason Johnson:It is a villain origin story. And now Trump is returning to the dinner, but in a seemingly safe space with a mentalist hosting, not a comedian. It makes sense as comedians and artists have often been some of the loudest voices in standing up to the Trump administration.

34:20Seth Moulton:Donald Trump's administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV. Carter is giving us a plane that Trump gets to keep. He's like the reverse Oprah.

34:41Seth Moulton:Okay, so then over here is where you're going to have the big golden pillars that you guys wanted. When your best friend was a pedophile and you're losing bigly in the swing states with an election coming up, what do you do? I'll tell you what you do. You fire the weapons of mass distraction.

34:59Jason Johnson:Joining me now is Dulce Sloan, an Emmy Award-winning comedian and actress who spent seven years as a correspondent on The Daily Show.

35:11Juanita Tolliver:Let's be clear about which trial this is.

35:17Justin Wolfers:Is it the classified documents trial? No. The January 6th trial? No. The Georgia Rego trial? No. The sexual assault defamation trial? No. The real estate trial? No. It's the poor money, hush, love, sex, music trial.

35:36Jason Johnson:Don't say thank you so much for joining us tonight on The Beat. Thank you for having me. This is your first time. It's your first time.

35:41Justin Wolfers:No, it was my first time with you. I did it with Ari in LA.

35:45Jason Johnson:Okay.

35:46Justin Wolfers:I was told he was to be here. Is he hiding from me?

35:48Jason Johnson:He is hiding from you. That's so rude. My mama is the biggest fan.

35:52Justin Wolfers:You thought my mama was coming and he brought you.

35:54Jason Johnson:Wow.

35:55Justin Wolfers:Oh, happy Black History Month. Thank you so much. Happy Women's History Month.

35:58Jason Johnson:He's an ally. He's an ally. That's how this works. I get two months. That's how this works. So I got to ask you. So this year we've got Donald Trump. He's actually going to show up. He's coming out of his cave. He's going to go to the White House Correspondents Dinner, which he had been hiding from before. When he was president last time. When he was president last time. Fun. Yes. OK. As just a comedian, what do you think is lost by the fact that we don't have a comedian there anymore? I mean, is it just because we have a humorless president? Does it really take something away from the public?

36:23Jason Johnson:because you've had colleagues who've who've done the White House Correspondents. What's your thought?

36:27Justin Wolfers:I think by not having a comedian host at dinner, then it's just what it always was, which is a boring ass dinner. And I think they started bringing a comedian because there are probably things that the journalists and everybody wanted to say. But it's like the king, the jester was the only person that could tell the truth to the king and not face any consequences. And so I think the reason that he doesn't want a comedian there is because the comedian is not going to care. And it's like, well, I'm saying this in jest. I told you the truth, but I said it in jest, so you can't be mad at me. But it's just another coward move.

36:59Jason Johnson:So it's interesting. I noticed it's like the White House Correspondents' Zone is now like the reverse Super Bowl. Like the Super Bowl ended with this mentalist that was so bad that they brought in Michael Jackson. And after years of comedians, we're now moving to a mentalist. As a comedian in this time where people are being threatened and shows are being canceled and things like that, do you think it's harder to do political comedy now when you've got this sort of authoritarian regime or you're just like, whatever, humor, humor, doesn't matter what kind of people are running the government.

37:23Justin Wolfers:It's so funny because when I was on Daily Show, it was when his first presidency and we would always get questions about how how much easier it must have been as a comedian to in the in that in his first presidency. Like almost we must be giving you so much material. And I remember we were in this interview and Kosta was like, no, it's not easier. It's not easier at all. Everything is hard. It's not easy at all. And y 'all keep asking us these questions and this is not easy. And then it's gotten even harder because it's so much. It's just so much worse than we thought it was ever going to get.

38:00Justin Wolfers:And there's just certain things you're just like, how do you add levity to another war? How do you add levity to another genocide? How do you add levity to what's happening in our economy? Because you can only be so funny until somebody is like, I'm legitimately hungry.

38:18Jason Johnson:I cannot listen to you about this. So you're in town to do a show. You're in town for the BlurredCon convention. I am. I am also going to be at. Yay! Blurred thing. Very excited. Yes. One of the things that when I talk to Sam's, they always say, you can read where the audience is. Like, you got your own pollsters. You can tell when a joke gets groans, when people are still with the joke. Like, how are people feeling about the state of the country right now? Are they just like when you go politically like, no, we'd rather you tell the joke about black women in Atlanta being in every country. Yes, we travel.

38:49Jason Johnson:Yeah. How are people responding to it now?

38:51Justin Wolfers:Well, here's the thing. When I'm on the road, especially when I was on Daily Show, people would. People thought I was just bringing them like a mini Daily Show. And they're like, oh, we expect you to be more political. I'm like, no, that's Daily Show. I came to talk to you about my ministry of no longer sleeping with broke men. that's what i'm here is to share the good news of no longer being in situations with men with no money that's what the lord sent me out here you see what i'm saying to spread the good news yes um daily show does what they do i do what i do but you can see things in real time because also also i realize that sometimes if you're talking about a topic and that somehow inherently becomes political like miss my existence as a black woman in america um if you don't say the word Republican or Democrat, people don't think you're being political.

39:38Justin Wolfers:And so I had a lady, I was doing a club down in Phoenix and this woman very like kind of pushed to the front of the line, a woman who had never worked. So I was happy to talk to her.

39:48Jason Johnson:Goals. Goals. But also it's like

39:50Justin Wolfers:your brunette, calm down. And so she was just like kind of threw her arm around me. She's like, I'm just so glad you didn't talk about anything political. And I was like, I talked about the state of what's going on in the country. But OK, but I didn't say Republican or Democrat. So she didn't catch what I said because I didn't mention a political party, which means that people are looking for key words because they think if they hear Republican, Democrat, oh, that's the political thing. But I'm talking about, you know, gun violence in America and trying to process that with a joke or how we're talking about the economy and talking about how people, you know, people voting against their own interests.

40:30Justin Wolfers:You didn't hear me talking about people voting against their own interests and think that was political when that's very political. Right. But since I didn't say people who vote for the Republican Party, a lot of times they're voting for their own interests. You didn't think I said anything political. So I think sometimes people are only listening for those like big indicator dog whistle things and they can take your message in and don't realize they're taking your message in because you didn't say Republican or Democrat.

40:55Jason Johnson:What is say is there a buzzword that if you do say it, people groan? Like if you say ICE, if you say, you know, war crime or something, like is there a word that you've said on stage where people are automatically offended or have a problem?

41:10Justin Wolfers:I'm talking about my mom living in my house. So no one, if anything, just like I'm glad to be here because my mom's at my house. And I was like, oh, yeah. So I'm not political inherently. So I don't get I don't usually get a groan. If anything, I get sympathy. And a pat on the back and say, thank you for a good job. But no, I don't get a lot of groans because I don't, I'm not a super political comedian. I talk about how, if I'm talking about something political, it's how it affects me and people that look like me. And not always as a whole, because I think the audience that comes to see me wants to hear about my experiences.

41:46Justin Wolfers:And sometimes I don't need to speak on everything if I speak about myself.

41:50Jason Johnson:Dulce Sloan, thank you so much for being here. You're one of my favorite comedians. I'm super excited.

41:54Justin Wolfers:You're one of my favorite people. Thank you so much.

41:55Jason Johnson:Thank you.

41:59Jason Johnson:Still ahead, three presidents pay tribute to an icon and Barack Obama offers a warning about Trump's America.

42:12Seth Moulton:You know that everybody says keep hope alive because Jesse Jackson, you know, made that the major mantra of his mission. But it's not a coincidence that hope also became the major mantra of Barack Obama's presidential run. So this idea that no matter how things look today, what we think is possible today can be extended by the hope for what's possible tomorrow.

42:37Jason Johnson:Today was a historic day in Chicago as the last three Democratic presidents, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, were all in the same room to honor civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson. He was a monumental figure in the fight for progress and equality in this country. Today, Obama spoke about the challenges faced by people in Trump's America today.

43:02Seth Moulton:Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions.

43:13Seth Moulton:Another setback to the idea of the rule of law. Each day we're told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other. and that some Americans count more than others and that some don't even count at all. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength. We see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards every single day we see that.

43:56Jason Johnson:Despite both being power-based in Chicago, Obama and Reverend Jackson didn't always get along. But on Obama's election night in 2008, Reverend Jesse Jackson was seen in the crowd in tears. And today, Obama paid him tribute. This man, Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson,

44:17Seth Moulton:inspires us to take a harder path. His voice calls on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope, to step forward and say, send me. Wherever we have a chance to make an impact, what a great debt we owe to him. May God bless Reverend Jackson. May he rest in eternal peace.

44:44Jason Johnson:R.I.P. Reverend Jackson. That does it for me tonight. Start your day with the MSNOW daily newsletter.

44:50Seth Moulton:Sharp insights from voices you trust, standout moments from your favorite shows, and fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. Sign up at MS.now.