Maddow: Three ways Trump is trying to rig the 2026 midterm elections

Democrats are looking to regain power, and there is a whole lot of warranted debate about what a winning formula looks like. “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” is a forum where those discussions take place. On season two of her podcast, Jen sits down with some of the biggest names on the left side of the political spectrum to talk about confronting Trump 2.0 and how the Democratic party can shape the future they’d like to see. New episodes drop October 15th. Search for “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” to follow the show. And subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad-free listening. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Donald Trump continues to terrorize urban populations with militarized ICE raids while trying every loophole he can find to justify using the actual military in U.S. cities.Illinois Governor JB Pritzker talks with Rachel Maddow about his threat to leave the National Governors Association of the group won't speak out against Donald Trump's use of the National Guard against U.S. cities. Pritzker explains how he sees the militarization of ICE and Border Patrol agents as a normalizing precursor to establishing a military presence in cities in time to interfere with the 2026 election. And as individuals find ways to assert peaceful resistance against the Trump regime, major corporations, like Apple, are giving up without a fight. Apple removed from its app store an app called ICEBlock that allowed people to flag where ICE raids were taking place. The app's creator, Joshua Aaron, talks with Rachel. 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 the Trump administration has made a practice of weaponizing access to personal data in order to attack people Donald Trump doesn't like, and talks with Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate running for governor in New Jersey who had her full, private military personnel record released to an ally of her Republican opponent without the proper procedure, not the necessary redactions.Oregon Governor Tina Kotek talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's bizarre impression that the city of Portland is a war zone that requires U.S. military occupation, and her frustrating efforts to dispel Trump of this wrongheaded notion.   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 former Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominiee for president, on the eve of the publication of her new book, "107 Days," to revisit some of the decisions and circumstances that shaped the 2024 election, and to discuss politics and activism in the second Trump term.Rachel shares her impressions of the interview with Lawrence O'Donnell at the end of the hour. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow points out that Donald Trump is following the "strongman" playbook so closely, and with such a lack of originality, that his behavior in his second term has become entirely predictable. And yet, for all of his aspirations to be a strongman, his leadership suffers from some profound weaknesses, from the economy to healthcare to criminal justice to immigration. Rachel Maddow talks with Jonathan Mahler, staff writer for the New York Times Magazine, about his reporting on the concerted effort by the Trump administration to destroy America's global leadership in cancer research. What constituency supports Donald Trump sabotaging work that not only saves lives but supports countless American jobs?Former CDC director Susan Monarez is set to testify before the Senate this week as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is stacking the vaccine advisory board with vaccine skeptics.And the Trump administration claimed to have burned a massive quanitity of contraceptives meant to be distributed in developing countries, with the false explanation that the contraceptives are abortifacients, only for it to be discovered that the contraceptives are still sitting in storage.Follow Rachel Maddow on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/maddow.msnbc.com  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The estate of Jeffrey Epstein released materials today to the House Oversight Committee, including the "birthday book" that Donald Trump disputed (and continues to dispute) includes a crude drawing and note he submitted with his signature. Rachel Maddow looks at this and other new revelations and how much energy Trump is putting into denying what seems plain about Trump's role in a disgusting scandal of historic scale. Donald Trump's poor choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his HHS secretary has cost him a leadership role in public health as Kennedy dismantles key departments and agencies, cuts funding and fires experts, leaving state leaders to take charge of vaccine availability and other health issues. Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, chief science officer for the Washington State Department of Health, joins Rachel Maddow to discuss. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow highlights the difference between Donald Trump's rhetoric and his actions and notes that taking the big picture of Trump's actions can illuminate significant trends. For example, moving an individual out of one position in the administration into another may not seem particularly noteworthy until it becomes clear that Trump is moving people into ambassadorships instead of firing them. Similarly, a pattern appears to be taking shape as high-level military and national security leaders are being dismissed from service.Donald Trump is acting as though he has the authority to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board and had attempted to do so with Governor Lisa Cook. Paul Krugman joins to explain the disaster Trump is courting.Constantly making a mess of the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case hasn't stopped the Trump administration from continuing to do so. Today a judge prevented his deportation to Uganda.And red states that have sent National Guard troops to serve in Trump's military occupation of Washington, D.C. have cities with higher crime rates than D.C., exposing the lie that these deployments have anything to do with fighting crime. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Donald Trump seems to move from one unpopular catastrophe to another. With people still in the streets protesting his military take-over of Washington, D.C., his disgraceful capitulation to Putin in Alaska prompted even deeper disapproval, with a new Pew poll showing his numbers steadily worsening. Meanwhile, in Texas, state Democrats have returned, enabling Republicans to restart their gerrymandering effort, another facet in Trump's effort to manipulate the upcoming midterms to preserve his hold on power.BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/maddowblog.msnbc.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/maddow.msnbc.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddowshow/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maddowshow  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow cites example after example of Donald Trump going out of his way to help criminals, including some really terrible ones, so the idea that Trump's concerns about crime are behind his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. does not seem to hold water. Looking more closely at what Donald Trump has done instead of what he has said points to the more likely explanation that Trump really likes pointing the U.S. military at the American people.Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for mRNA vaccine research, a move that has been widely panned by health experts across the political spectrum, including members of Trump's first administration.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rachel Maddow points out that the thing most Americans were dreading has come to pass, and the United States has changed profoundly in only six months of authoritarian rule. "We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country." With freedoms likely to continue to be curtailed in deference to Donald Trump's power, that means Americans have the most tools for democratic resistance right now. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.