Is that what he's saying privately?

Ooh, that sounds like those guys Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show, just like dunking on whatever's happening on stage, whether it's good or bad.

Uh, the polls...

Put the polls aside for a minute.

The election has begun.

The early voting is well underway in many states, and listen to this data point, Katy, I got for you.

City of Detroit already at this point has 30,000 absentee ballots returned.

Do you see signs of, of this being addressed [laughs] in Congress? Are Republicans aware that they've got a real problem of perception?

President Trump introduced Zachariah as an attorney when announcing her appointment, but then there was this moment, and this was kind of awkward, too, because at least one of the reporters said, "Which state did she pass the bar?" And then President Trump kind of turns to her and looks at her, and then it sounds like she says something like, "I moved to China." What are her credentials, a- and, and what did we learn from that exchange?

Yeah.

That's a political problem for the administration if it's trying to t- to win over voters and constituents who live in states where China has decimated the economy.

Think of the Midwest.

Think of Iowa, Ohio, Michigan.

So you have a political problem if your new White House press secretary, uh, made her bones and made her law career in China, perhaps interfacing with the Chinese Communist Party.

But with the legalities of it as- or the, the politics of it aside, Jess, you've got a problem if the requirements don't involve deep muscle memory in answering reporter questions, being nimble, and being efficient with g- communicating government information.

Who did she call from? And, and from your experience and from talking to all your colleagues in DC, who is in that room these days?

President Trump introduced Zachariah as an attorney when announcing her appointment, but then there was this moment, and this was kind of awkward too, because at least one of the reporters said, "Which state did she pass the bar?" And then President Trump kind of turns to her and looks at her, and then it sounds like she says something like, "I moved to China." What are her credentials a- and, and what did we learn from that exchange?

Yeah, that's a political problem for the administration if it's trying to t- to win over voters and constituents who live in states where China has decimated the economy.

Think of the Midwest.

Think of Iowa, Ohio, Michigan.

So you have a political problem if your new White House press secretary, uh, made her bones and made her law career in China, perhaps interfacing with the Chinese Communist Party.

But with the legalities of it as- or the, the politics of it aside, Jess, you've got a problem if the requirements don't involve deep muscle memory in answering reporter questions, being nimble, and being efficient with g- communicating government information.

When she was asked about Ukraine and had no answer, I think she was given an answer or was briefed on an answer.

Who did she call from, and, and from your experience and from talking to all your colleagues in DC, who is in that room these days?

[laughs]

I think that's the only option they have because they are getting dwarfed with money, and it's, it's, it's, it's by orders of magnitude now.

They're just completely outgunned financially.

Not a huge surprise since Republicans have all the power.

They have more capacity to raise money than Democrats will, and they also seem to have f- deep-pocketed donors like Elon Musk at the ready too.

There is something to the argument that we are a little too late for the money to be doing anything.

I mean, how...

What's going on here?

That's what it was like?

Like Mike Ditka, only, uh, modern day.

I mean, jawing at the attorneys, and she didn't stop, and I think part of that was to emphasize a point of, "You're not hearing me.

I told you you can't do this.

You said you heard me when I said it, you couldn't do this, but you went ahead and did it anyhow." As the hearing developed, this was a three-hour court hearing over the tree toplings at a golf course in Washington, DC.

As the hearing developed, you could see nobody was taking accountability.

There was buck-passing, first of all, by the Trump administration lawyers.

Talk to us about that.

[laughs]

Um, the timing is of the essence for Kimberly Guilfoyle, in part because Congress is now launching its own investigations.

The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have demanded a series of records about Guilfoyle, her phone records, her financial records, and they demanded them in about a week.

Now, they don't have subpoena power now.

They don't have the ability to call her for a deposition, but they're clearly laying down a marker.

They're gonna do that in January if, as expected, they get those powers of subpoena and deposition.

So if the State Department's gonna move on the ambassador to Greece, they would want to do so in the next few weeks to perhaps ward off a formal Congressional investigation.

Uh, when you were speaking with the governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, Scott, she told you that that was the key, one of the key things to winning her race.

What did they tell you?

Hey, Jonathan, good morning.

Good to be back with you.

Um, in New Jersey and Virginia, it wasn't just that Democrats won in 2025.

They won in a blowout.

These were 14, 15-point wins in states that had nail-biters four years earlier in their gubernatorial races.

So there's something here Democrats think could form as an early indication of a blue wave.

Um, what do they say about to you about sort of these tensions within the party here, and do they think there's gonna be enough healing of, of some intraparty divisions? 'Cause we did have some pretty bruising primaries this year.

What proposals are they looking at to reign in this presidency?

A huge balancing act.

With 29 days till the election and prospectively a majority in January, there are proposals they have to reign in Trump, but they've gotta balance that, Katy, with proposals to get after affordability.

There are proposals they wanna offer on minimum wage, on dealing with the diesel price surge, on finding more ways to get people into more homes, and they also wanna check Trump, and they're making both promises to voters.

One of the bills that I'm hearing about today is a bill that would limit the defense secretary from more of these unilateral firings and purges of top officers.

Democrats in the House and Senate are gonna issue that proposal in the next day or so.

So they've gotta figure out what they wanna do to contain Trump, to defund any slush funds, defund the ballroom, change up what is causing a shattering of norms, but also speak to the affordability crisis.

In your experience, you've covered Congress much more closely than I, how, how ubiquitous is that sentiment? Is it really just about running and complaining more so than getting things done?

Is this part of the midterm voting calculation as well?

It's going to be a big issue in Maine, going to be a big issue in New Hampshire, where there are two competitive U.S. Senate races.

Food prices are bad.

Gas prices are bad.

Home heating oil prices, they're like really bad.

A 50 to 80 percent increase from last year when it was already high.

What does that mean to a family in Massachusetts or New York or New Jersey? About a thousand dollars more this winter than last winter, which is why Governor Healey in Massachusetts On Monday, he declared this energy state of emergency, which allows more people to apply for home heating assistance.

So what's the message here, Scott, that you can do whatever you want as long as you like Trump?

So I mean, again, the polling very tight here, which is kind of what I guess we would expect.

It's what we always expect, right, Neil? But it, it is a little bit of a difference this year.

It's a difference comparatively to other states.

Republicans won't say this, but they're giving up on North Carolina.

That's a state Trump won all three times.

They're giving up on that Senate race.

They think it's time to move the money elsewhere.

It- that's one component of the discussion, but does it even matter? When it comes to vote for elected officials at the state level, does a president's approval rating historically matter?

It- uh, that's one component of the discussion, but does it even matter? When it comes to vote for elected officials at the state level, does a president's approval rating historically matter?

Uh, it, it does in places.

It does in certain areas.

And let, let me to bring you to a different state first to explain what I mean by that.

In New York, the governor is up for re-election.

Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, Democrat, overwhelmingly Democratic state, has about a 10-point edge in the polls in her race.

It's kinda soft.

I'm wondering how many millions of dollars were spent on these ads, Scott, a- and if there was some bipartisan discussion or pressure even, uh, to do so, to pull back from using taxpayer funds in this way.

[laughs]

Um, in Grand Island, Nebraska, which isn't even the swing part of Nebraska.

Nebraska actually has a battleground race in the Omaha area, but Grand Island is actually in Hall County, Nebraska, which Trump won by 30, 3-0 points in 2024.

So what's at play here? I mean, there is a statewide US Senate race to protect for Republicans.

They thought that seat was safe, but there's a challenger who's giving the incumbent a bit of a run for his money.

But I think in, in the macro sense, McGraw, the battlefield is shifting in the final 29 days before the election.

If Trump is spending time in Texas, which he will again on Wednesday in San Antonio, if he's in Nebraska, if he's been in Alabama, that gives you an indication not just of where he can draw a crowd, that's fine, but where they want to deploy this resource as a party.

What do we know about this one?

What proposals are they looking at to rein in this presidency?

A huge balancing act with 29 days till the election and prospectively a majority in January.

There are proposals they have.

to rein in Trump, but they've got to balance that, Katie, with proposals to get after affordability.

There are proposals they want to offer on minimum wage, on dealing with the diesel price surge, on finding more ways to get people into more homes.

And they also want to check Trump.

And they're making both promises to voters.

What's the point of them if they're going to lose the power of the purse, Scott?

... or at least positioned herself as such, ha- has now sidled up next to David Crowley, and this, this has gotta be strategic to exactly what your point is here, Scott, right? So now you've got that disruptor with the guy who's running for governor on the Democratic side joining forces, indicating maybe David can go that way if needed, possibly persuading voters.

Yeah, Francesca Hong was making that argument during the primary, that we need a bigger change agent.

We're in a crisis right now.

We're in a cost crisis, an economic crisis, and a political crisis.

We need somebody who's gonna shake things up.

And I think part and parcel of that argument, Greg, was that she thinks that was gonna do well for her actually in northwest, uh, Wisconsin, in the Green Bay market, that that would actually have landed.

And we're seeing examples of that elsewhere, not just in Michigan, but in the handful of other communities where there's a real, um, very progressive, some would argue a, you know, socialistic-type nominee, where they're doing well in Trumpy areas.

I- is this something that's also happening elsewhere? Because people are like, "Listen, we're gonna do one debate, and that's it, and then we're gonna do our own thing and get the word out the way we want to."

And this, this has gotta be strategic to exactly what your point is here, Scott, right? So now you've got that disruptor with the guy who's running for governor on the Democratic side joining forces, indicating maybe David can go that way if needed, possibly persuading voters.

Yeah, Francesca Hong was making that argument during the primary, that we need a bigger change agent.

We're in a crisis right now.

We're in a cost crisis, an economic crisis, and a political crisis.

We need somebody who's gonna shake things up.

And I think part and parcel of that argument, Greg, was that she thinks that was gonna do well for her, actually, in northwest, uh, Wisconsin, in the Green Bay market, that that would actually w- have landed.

And we're seeing examples of that elsewhere, not just in Michigan, but in the handful of other communities where there's a real, um, very progressive, some would argue a, you know, socialistic-type nominee, where they're doing well in Trumpy areas.

I- is this something that's also happening elsewhere? Because people are like, "Listen, we're gonna do one debate and that's it, and then we're gonna do our own thing and get the word out the way we want to."

I mean, Scott, I would suspect, and of course you can confirm for all of us because you were there inside this hearing room, I suspect that the Republicans, with their stumbling and their inability to really land any type of blow on Jack Smith, Katie Britt's face was what the Republicans were feeling inside, even if they tried to have some bravado on the outside.

kevin put it right in the chat calling it the hawkeyes and i'll explain in a moment it kind of was katie britt's hawkeyes jack smith was a little bit disoriented by that whole sequence of events i'm going to describe because it could he's thinking to himself i suspect they can't be this dumb to be trying what they're trying here and about to see a blow up in their faces i'll summarize for those who didn't watch c-span late this morning Eric Schmidt, first term Republican from Missouri, deep Trump acolyte, former state prosecutor, had a line of questioning for Jack Smith that he thought was going to be a Perry Mason moment where he was going to get him on camera.

committing a crime or lying about a crime.

What Eric Schmidt had on a billboard poster next to him was some type of text message exchange between a Jack Smith deputy and Jack Smith about attending a basketball game, February 3rd, 2024, a Hawks basketball game.

Eric Schmidt believed or insinuated that Jack Smith was going to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game February 3rd, 2024.

Why would anybody care about that? That was in close proximity to a pivotal decision in Fulton County about the prosecution of Trump there for election subversion.

within 24 hours.

Talk about what you found when you were reporting and you were looking into and investigating what's going on with our nation's food banks.

The social contract, it's on us.

We are live.

Thank you all for your patience.

Sometimes on a Friday, the computers don't recognize you're trying to dial it back a notch.

Former Congressman Joe Walsh is here.

Again, thank you all for your patience.

We had some testicles.

And just like nobody even thought about Angie Nixon in the primary, we may be underestimating this energy on the left that that really may surprise a lot of people in November.

What are you seeing, Scott McFarland?

The lead story in the newspaper today in Long Beach, California, jumped out at me.

Like a cold shower, it just stung me.

They chronicled the story of a truck driver who paid the most expensive diesel fill-up in American history.

He filled up at $8.44 a gallon of diesel in Long Beach, and he called it a $1,350 fill-up per weekend at that price point.

And What the reporting shows is that that's obviously a pain for him, and I sympathize, but that's coming our way.

We're going to pay the price for that.

And all of a sudden now we've got all sorts of problems.

Scott, what are they doing?

Well, let me call your attention to the lead story in today's Long Beach, California newspaper.

I'm just going to bet you haven't read it yet.

You were going to, but here's what I got for you.

It profiles the truck driver who has the most expensive fill-up in U.S. history.

$8.44 a gallon for diesel in Long Beach.

It cost him $1,300 for two fill-ups, and he's making clear this is all coming your way.

Scott, what is Roger Marshall doing in the Senate right now?

What, what happened from a political and a factual standpoint, and then what happened with Judge Kelly going forward?

We'll start with the politics.

Um, there seems to be no impracticality loss for these media organizations.

They may have been sampled more during the blackout period.

There may have been more people pursuing the information of Politico, MS Now, and CNN based on the notoriety Trump gave them and the unique relevance Trump gave them by banning them.

There are a lot of journalists across the country who would love to be banned by powerful figures because all it will do is galvanize an audience they otherwise wouldn't have.

So in practicality, I'm not sure if the media was adversely impacted by this, but in principle, they very much are.

What do you expect to happen there?

What happened from a political and factual standpoint? And then what happened with Judge Kelly going forward?

start with the politics um there seems to be no impracticality loss for these media organizations they may have been sampled more during the blackout period there may have been more people pursuing the information of politico ms now and cnn based on the notoriety trump gave them and the unique relevance trump gave them by banning them There are a lot of journalists across the country who would love to be banned by powerful figures because all it will do is galvanize an audience they otherwise wouldn't have.

So in practicality, I'm not sure if the media was adversely impacted by this, but in principle, they very much are.

I mean, you can't have a president, a leader, unilaterally kicking people out because it sets a terrible precedent.

It's wildly undemocratic.

It's not at all in the spirit or the letter of the law of the First Amendment, and it just can't be.

The politics of this for Trump, I don't know where he is with his base at this moment in time.

What do you expect to happen there?

Are

we sure they want to appeal this? This ban is depriving Trump of his oxygen.

He's not going to talk about that.

Yeah.

I mean, we

watching this thing.

So that's not going to get the job done.

Catch Michael Steele on The Weeknight, Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern on MSNOW.

[laughs]

The plaintiff's attorneys referenced just that passage, and also made the argument that Team Trump seems to use national security as like a magic bean type of word.

We'll just throw it out there and expect it to sprout.

They do have some success doing so.

The White House ballroom project, when it was frozen a few months ago, was only partially frozen.

The judge allowed the underground national security work to continue, 'cause the judge didn't wanna be held, um, as responsible for stopping national security imperatives.

So they've had some recent success with this, but it's not just that Trump has said he's concerned about media bias or the reporting of CNN.

Right.

And Congress, Scott, as you well know, not holding this administration accountable.

And the president doesn't have surrogates in Congress defending this media ban.

If they are, they're awfully quiet about it.

And that tells the tale.

One thing that jumped out at me, though, Katie, when the White House issued a press release, a political statement in support of this ban, they argued with that type of Trumpy and random capitalization that the radical left – is infiltrating the media or that the media is doing the bidding of the radical left and that there's a 95% bias rate in media reporting on Trump.

Dubious numbers to be sure.

That's not what they put in their legal argument.

Why are we fighting it again?

Is that the reason for the distancing here a little bit to try and attack affordability? Because we know that's exactly what President Trump did to win the election last And that was a major part of his campaigning to win the White House.

Based on what we see in the polling, we know that's true.

We know that unequivocally voters are most concerned about affordability and they don't believe people in power, political power and business power, are doing enough about it or doing anything about it.

So we know that from the polling.

But I like to read where the campaign literature is, where the campaign ads are and where the money is going.

And the campaign ads, the campaign literature and the money are all going towards making an argument about affordability, gas prices, food prices, fertilizer prices, healthcare prices, college and housing prices.

And that means they're seeing internal numbers inside these campaigns that show they don't believe the voters are satisfied with how their government is handling affordability.

And then two, I was not surprised by this one, but that you had all the media outlets kind of coming together and saying, you know what, then we're going to come together and nobody's going to do the pool to cover you on TV.