Trump rebuked at every turn; Courts and Congress show new spine as Americans take to the streets

Rachel Maddow rounds up a litany of recent court losses Donald Trump has suffered, as even some Republicans in Congress are agreeing to block or otherwise mitigate the damage Trump's policies are inflicting on their constituents, all while Americans rally in protest of abuses and outright crimes committed by Trump's ICE agents.Rachel Maddow reviews recent examples of ICE agents overstepping their legal authority and making a chaotic mess of the job they're meant to be doing, all of which paints them not as actual professional immigration enforcement, but as Trump's untrained secret police force dressed up in military gear.ICE agents dressed in paramilitary costume and terrorizing communities with heavy-handed tactics appear to have thought their abuses would earn them respect and obedience. On the contrary, Americans are only becoming more agitated and inclined to resist ICE's overstepping. Amanda Otero, co-executive director of Take Action Minnesota, talks with Rachel Maddow about organizing anti-ICE protests and other activism as Donald Trump surges troops of border patrol agents into her town. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen to this special invitation from Rachel Maddow and sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to take advantage of a 3-month free trial!With MS NOW Premium, you can get our entire suite of podcasts – everything from “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” to “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” – all ad-free. As a subscriber, you also get early access to select shows, plus exclusive bonus content – like a new episode of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order,” out Friday. Sign up right here, then search “Burn Order” to listen to that Premium episode.There’s a lot in store for 2026. So to celebrate the new year, we’re giving away 3 months free if you sign up by the end of January! It’s just $2.99/month or $29.99/year after that. Thanks for listening! Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow runs through the litany of excuses and justifications the Trump administration has presented to explain the military invasion of Venezuela, and points out that none of what has been floated holds up under scrutiny. Every principle the Trump administration claims to be defending comes with examples of the administration not caring at all about that principle. Even the popular idea that it was all for oil doesn't really make sense upon closer examination. But there is one reason that is consistent with Trump's behavior through the first year of his second term in office.Pete Hegseth, former cable news weekend host and Donald Trump secretary of defense, is moving to demote Senator Mark Kelly and also cut his military retirement pay because Kelly reminded members of the military of their duty to refuse to obey unlawful orders. Senator Kelly talked with Rachel Maddow about why that particular message bothered Donald Trump so much that he's still trying to punch Kelly for saying it out loud in public.Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump is reshaping the role of the U.S. military to suit his interests and ego. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow hosts a special conversation with guests from her "Burn Order" podcast, live from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles to discuss the fight against the race-based incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II and how lessons from that episode in American history apply today. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow shares a look at how outrage over government corruption in Bulgaria prompted massive protests and eventually the resignation of the prime minister and his government. And in the United States, for all of Donald Trump's unpopular policies being protested across the country, the self-dealing and corruption that has become his administration's hallmark may ultimately be what leads to Trump's downfall. Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald who first exposed the scandal of how the Jeffrey Epstein case was handed, talks with Rachel Maddow about feedback she is receiving from survivors of Epstein's abuse about finding their own names in released documents despite heavy redactions that appear to make a greater priority of protecting the identities and information of people involved with Epstein than to protect his victims as the law instructs.Rep. Jamie Raskin joins to discuss how an ownership change and recent editorial decisions by CBS News is raising concerns that Donald Trump and the billionaires who support him are making progress on building state media. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow reviews how poorly Donald Trump's policies are being received by the American public as Trump continues to appoint laughably unqualified sycophants to top agency roles, and leadership failures mount. As a result, not only are Trump's poll numbers tanking, but even Republican politicians are recognizing that it's not in their interest to tie their fates to Trump's sinking ship.As Donald Trump fills the leadership roles of the U.S. public health system with quacks and kooks, sane states are taking it upon themselves to employ actual experts with real public health administration experience to make sure the public has credible guidance even if that guidance is not coming from the federal government. Dr. Debra Houry, former CDC official and new senior medical adviser to the California Department of Health, talks with Rachel Maddow about this new shift in public health authority as Donald Trump and his clown show are simply ignored.And the FBI is suffering a similar fate, with Trump lackeys in leadership driving out the agency's qualified staff and leaving behind only incompetent Trump loyalists to run the sadly weakened organization. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow hosts a prime time special event with historian Timothy Snyder about the rise of authoritarianism and how we can meet the moment. (Recorded on November 21, 2025 at the Harris Theater in Chicago’s Millennium Park) Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow looks at a variety of legal tactics and pressure campaigns that are having success against the Trump administration's overreach in immigration enforcement and the Justice Department's vendetta prosecutions. Where people push back, Trump loses, or sometimes doesn't even try to fight, and the more Americans learn that lesson, the stronger the opposition Trump faces.Rachel Maddow explains that as Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives increasing credence and authority to crackpots, the authority and reputation of American medical expertise is suffering such extreme degradation that science-minded state officials are establishing new fact-based health alliances to advise the public on matters like vaccinations. Former CDC chief Dr. Richard Besser joins to discuss the crisis at the CDC under Trump and Kennedy."Iceblock" app developer Joshua Aaron joins to discuss his lawsuit to unblock his app, a community-based ICE raid tracker, from Apple's app store. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow relays the details of a new Washington Post report that Donald Trump's secretary of defense, former weekend cable news host Pete Hegseth, gave orders to kill everyone on board a boat he accused of running drugs to the United States, which meant finishing off the survivors of an initial strike that destroyed the boat — the literal textbook definition of an illegal order. Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee joins to discuss a new, bipartisan push to investigate Hegseth's orders.Rachel Maddow talks with Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of Russian dissident activism group Pussy Riot, about what it means that the Putin administration has declared her a member of an "extremist" organization, and the parallels to Donald Trump using a similar tactic to give himself the tools for targeting people he doesn't like. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow’s new series lays bare one of the most shocking decisions in American history. It’s story that reveals how an executive order authorizing the mass roundup of innocent Japanese Americans came to be, the powerful players who engineered it, and the burn order that tried to erase it from history.Stay right here to listen to a special preview of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order.” And for the full episode, search for “Burn Order” and follow the show. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Maddow Presents" feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.