The Dictatorship
The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe: From “Narco-Terrorists” to “Distressed Mariners”
This is the Dec. 10 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter.Subscribe hereto get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
The president is perfectly fine. Just ask him. He took a cognitive test.
“Person, woman, man, camera, TV.”
In a Truth Social rantlast night,Donald Trumpchanneled his best Joseph Stalin, calling The New York Times the “enemy of the people.”
What set him off? A story that he nodded offin last week’s Cabinet meeting. That was enough for him to brand the reporters — who had the facts right — “Enemies of the People.”
It’s worth remembering where that language comes from. After 30 years of show trials and the endless slaughter of Soviet citizens,Nikita KhrushchevcondemnedStalin’s cynical use of the term “enemy of the people,” warning that it enabled the “most cruel repression” of political opponents, facts be damned.
But this is America, and Trump would never want violence to befall employees of the Times. Would he?
After calling the reporters “seditious” and “even treasonous,” Trump then shifted into Jan. 6 mode, declaring that because the Times is made up of “true Enemies of the People, we should do something about it.”
Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!
But wait, there’s more. The president’s post then bragged about “taking what is known as a Cognitive Examination,” insisting that “few people would be able to do very well, including those working at The New York Times,” and reminding his followers that he “ACED all three of them” in front of numerous unnamed doctors and experts.
Person, woman, man, camera, TV.
Trump’s declaration of fitness came days after another clash, when he lashed out at an ABC News reporter for quoting back what he had said just days earlier.
“I never said that,” Trump groused. “Fake news.”
After being reminded that he had, in fact, said that exact thing a few days before, the cognitively perfect president mumbled something about following the Pentagon’s advice.
And then, of course, last night’s Truth Social screed.
Maybe the president was exhausted after traveling to Pennsylvania yesterday for the White House’s carefully crafted Affordability Tour, where Trump proceeded to mock concerns about …affordability,telling members of his audience they were doing better than ever.
After all, are they going to trust Trump or their empty wallets?
No wonder his approval rating has sunk into the 30s.
No wonder Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in almost 30 years.
No wonder Republicans keep getting hammered at the ballot box over affordability while Americans grow increasinglyuneasyabout their own economic futures.
But Trump is undeterred. He rants on into the night about creating “the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country.”
Nope. Not out of touch at all.
Person, woman, man, camera, TV.
“He’s a sleepy son of a bitch who destroyed our country.”
President Donald Trump,seeming to project in the direction of his predecessor,Joe Biden
SOURCE: Politico/Public First2,098 U.S. adults online, Nov 14-17
At the top of The New York Times last night: a stunning reportabout how the Trump administration is quietly repatriating survivors of its Venezuelan “boat strikes.” According to the Times, Trump officials are going to extraordinary lengths to prevent these men — endlessly labeled as “narco‑terrorists” by Trump officials — from entering the U.S. legal system, where their identities and stories could face public scrutiny.
The administration’s workaround, according to multiple officials who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity: quickly sending them back to their home countries before courts or reporters can ask questions, referring to them in some cases as “distressed mariners.”
It’s a revealing twist: Men once branded dangerous enough for lethal first and second strikes are now treated as hapless sailors in need of rescue.
And here’s why that matters: A trial on U.S. soil could undermine the administration’s justification for these attacks — and open the door to war crimes charges. And if they’re not the terrorists Trump claims? Then those war crimes investigations could turn into murder cases.
Real narco‑terrorists would be rushed to the United States and prosecuted for crimes against America. Instead, these men disappear into thin air with the assistance of the very people who tried to kill them at sea just weeks earlier.
All to keep Americans from learning the truth.
EXTRA HOT TEA
TROUBLE IN COAL COUNTRY
While President Trump was onstage last nightin the key swing state of Pennsylvania, Miami elected its first Democratin a generation. Not exactly the split-screen image the campaign dreamed of.
And the political signs aren’t looking much brighter in the Keystone State. Just next door to Mount Pocono — where Trump held his rally at a casino resort — sits the swing county of Luzerne.
Two years ago, Republicans controlled 10 of 11 county commission seats there. After the latest election? They’re down to just three.
A CONVERSATION WITH VAUGHN HILLYARD
Vaughn Hillyardwas on “Morning Joe” today to report on President Trump‘s speech in Pennsylvania last night. Hillyard, a veteran of covering more than 200 Trump rallies, said the president’s message was more disconnected from the political realities on the ground than he had ever witnessed.
Willie Geist: What was the reaction to the president’s speech last night from some of his supporters you spoke to?
VH: I’ve covered almost 200 of these speeches over the last 11 years, and this one had the highest cognitive clash I have seen over the course of this Trump era.
Mika Brzezinski: Why?
VH: Because of the conversations I’ve had over the last 72 hours in this community of 3,000 people in northeastern Pennsylvania. When you ask folks about the economy, health care premiums are skyrocketing, the price of groceries continues to increase, inflation is still where it was when President Biden left office, and they are really concerned.
WG: What other concerns did they talk to you about?
VH: Wage growth is a big issue here. It has declined, particularly among low-income and middle-class Americans. I was talking toDavid Metersa father of two, just yesterday, and he told me he’s having a hard time telling his kids that he can’t get them treats at McDonald’s at the end of the week — because his margins are so tight.
MB: Were others equally concerned?
VH: Yesterday before the rally started, I went up and down the line of folks going into his rally and asked about the report card they would give this current economy under the Trump administration.
WG: How did they grade him?
VH: President Trump gives himself an A plus-plus-plus. But I was hearing some B’s, D’s and C’s because the folks in that room are living an experience completely counter to the one that the president was painting last night at the rally. He says this is the golden age of America. It doesn’t feel that way, even to some of his strongest supporters.
This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
AUSTRALIA LOGS OFF ITS KIDS
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is illuminated in Australia. Australian landmarks are illuminated on the first day of the national under 16 social media ban coming into effect.
Today kicks off a bold new social experiment in Australia — or, perhaps more accurately, a socialmediaexperiment.
In a first-of-its-kind move, the country has banned usersunder age 16 from creating accounts on 10 popular platforms. The government says the restriction is needed to protect young people from the darker corners of online life: cyberbullying, heightened anxiety and the small but real risk of predatory targeting.
The consequences fall squarely on the companies. Platforms that fail to keep underage users out could face fines in the tens of millions of dollars. But kids who sneak on anyway — and the parents who quietly enable them — won’t face penalties at all.
And teenagers seem well aware of the loophole. A survey by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.of more than 17,000 Australians under age 16 found most don’t expect the ban to work. Three in four said they would keep using social media regardless.
Still, the rest of the world is watching. Several countries are already eyeing Australia’s law as a potential model as they weigh their own limits on youth social media use. In the United States, a Quinnipiac University poll last year found almost 6 in 10 voters would favor a similar ban.
MS NOW reached out to the companies behind all 10 affected platforms. Most said they plan to comply. Reddit did, too — though it voiced “deep concerns,” arguing that the rule could “make young people less safe online” and undermine free expression.
Australia has taken a dramatic first step. What remains to be seen is whether it sticks — or becomes one more rule teenagers figure out how to get past.
ONE LAST SHOT
Gene Simmons, a founding member of the rock band Kiss, testifies before the United States Senate. Why? Who cares? The dude who sang “Calling Dr. Love” is testifying on Capitol Hill.
CATCH UP ON MORNING JOE
SPILL IT!
Next week, actorSimu Liujoins us to discuss his upcoming spy thriller series“The Copenhagen Test.”Want to ask a question? Send it overand we will pick our favorite to ask on the show!
Did you enjoy this newsletter? Let us know what you think.
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls “revolutionary.” In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is “The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again.”
President Donald Trump celebrating his 80th birthday with UFC fights on the White House lawn was classless enough. Then Josh Hokit was given a microphone. After the UFC fighter won his cage match at Trump’s flamboyant celebration Sunday night, Hokit, who spoke mostly in disturbingly trite rhymes after his win, managed to further degrade the event. At the conclusion of his post-fight interview with announcer, podcaster and manosphere extraordinaire Joe Rogan, the athlete declared,“Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
Many in the crowd of thousands of UFC fans ate it up, and expecting anything less would require an exceptional level of delusion. Misogynoir and transphobia have been lobbed against Obama at least since 2008, when America elected her husband, Barack Obama, president.
Misogynoir and transphobia have been lobbed against Obama at least since 2008, when America elected her husband, Barack Obama, president.
Misogynoir was coined by academic Moya Bailey in 2008 to describe the intertwining of racism and misogyny that targets Black women. As pervasive as it is, it took 15 yearsfor Merriam-Webster to add the word to its dictionary. Even in writing this piece, each time I’ve typed the term, spell-check suggests I have made a typo.
While it’s tempting to categorize Hokit’s remark as random, it was fully on brand for the athlete. ESPN reported, “In his post-fight interview at UFC 324 in January, Hokit called WNBA star Brittney Griner ‘a man.’”
He’s the poster child for misogynoir.
But his statement was also characteristic of the machismo that drove the event itself. Trump’s entire political persona is crafted in the mold of a strongmanan archetype that couldn’t exist without toxic masculinity. And when he was elected to the presidency a second time, Trump brought back to the forefront an erroneous vision of manhood. Hokit, and a lamentable number of other public figures, have since been empowered to espouse misogyny and preach the shallow gospel of toxic masculinity.
But showmanshiprepressed emotionality and a desperate adherence to benighted notions of manhood alone don’t suffice. Toxic masculinity also requires an allegiance to the desirability politics that are often informed by white supremacy. And Hokit gave it a shoutout Sunday night.
If toxic masculinity is a declaration of what we are expected to perceive as a quintessential depiction of manhood, then completing that picture requires a similar declaration about what we are expected to perceive as a quintessential depiction of womanhood. As has historically been the case, the beauty of Black women, as a whole, doesn’t align with mainstream ideals of attractiveness. So a Trump supporter’s recycling of a racist trope about the first Black first lady being a man was a natural offshoot of Sunday’s glorification of problematic masculinity.
Obama addressed misogynoir-laden and transphobic insults, among others, that she has faced over the years in her 2018 book “Becoming.” She writes, “I’ve smiled for photos with people who call my husband horrible names on national television, but still want a framed keepsake for their mantel. I’ve heard about the swampy parts of the internet that question everything about me, right down to whether I’m a woman or a man. A sitting U.S. congressman has made fun of my butt. I’ve been hurt. I’ve been furious. But mostly, I’ve tried to laugh this stuff off.”
I’ve been furious. But mostly, I’ve tried to laugh this stuff off.
michelle obama in her book “becoming”
Hokit thumping his chest after a violent brawl per the request of a strongman-in-chief, then deriding a high-profile Black female figure as masculine and thus, unappealing, was a true full-circle moment for the manosphere. Notice that Hokit didn’t do a full stop after he insulted Obama. He asked, “Am I right, America?”
At least that part made actual sense — Hokit’s instinct to seek validation is yet another manifestation of toxic masculinity. His question offered a boisterous representation of the need for male approval that exists in the manosphere and the willingness of problematic men to give one another an outsized influence on their behavior. It wasn’t enough for Hokit to disparage a prominent Black woman. He wanted someone to say, “Well done.”
As for his question, the answer is “no.” Hokit was the farthest from “right” as one gets. But the derision of Obama surely scored him brownie points in the manosphere. What better way to secure a nod of respect from the community than to denigrate, arguably, the most high-profile Black woman in the United States while at an event teeming with hypermasculinity?
But neither Obama nor any other woman, Black or otherwise, should have to bear the burden of men insulting them in a desperate quest to secure approbation from other men.
Hokit appears to be developing a habit of ascribing masculinity to Black women. He would be better served by questioning why his idea of manhood includes belittling women for applause.
Zahara Hill is a coordinating producer for MS NOW. She previously worked as a front page editor for HuffPost and the deputy editor for Blavity News.
President Donald Trump, with the support of Republicans in Congress, signed legislation last week funding federal immigration agencies through the end of his term. Americans should know how millions of their taxpayer dollars are being spent on the active destruction of their fellow human beings.
As part of my constitutional oversight responsibilities in Congress, I have visited Delaney Halla privately run detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, four times. From the first time I stepped into Delaney Hall, my worst fears were confirmed.
The smell of sewage permeated the building. The air felt stagnant, and I questioned whether there was adequate ventilation for detainees or staff.
What I witnessed with my own eyes was alarming enough. The smell of sewage permeated the building. The air felt stagnant, and I questioned whether there was adequate ventilation for detainees or staff. In the cafeteria, I saw a space that appeared far too small to accommodate the number of people being held. When I asked how hundreds of detainees were fed, I was told meals were served in waves beginning as early as 4 a.m.
Detainees described freezing temperatures, poor sanitation, spoiled food, isolation and being required to clean bathrooms and showers contaminated with urine and other biological waste without proper protective materials.
The most alarming thing I have witnessed, however, is the treatment — really, the lack of treatment — of people with serious and chronic medical conditions. I believe what I have witnessed at both Delaney Hall and the Elizabeth Detention Center amounts to nothing short of medical abuse.
While the Department of Homeland Security leadership may try to wave away accusations of inhumane treatment, they cannot wave away the effect of their medical negligence — nor should they be allowed to. Every time I have visited both the Delaney and Elizabeth detention centers, I encountered detainees whose health was deteriorating because of the actions overseen by DHS employees and contractors. Individuals with chronic health conditions were not monitored, critical medications are given sporadically or not at all and there is little to no continuity of care for the medically vulnerable.
Individuals with chronic health conditions were not monitored, critical medications are given sporadically or not at all, and there is little to no continuity of care for the medically vulnerable.
One woman detained with diabetes told me she was receiving only a fraction of the medication prescribed by her doctor. When I questioned medical staff, they confirmed her dosage had been reduced shortly after she entered detention without first contacting her pharmacy or physician. They also confirmed blood sugar readings consistent with poorly controlled diabetes.
I spoke with a man who suffered ongoing headaches and hearing loss after striking his head in a fall. He told me he feared seeking additional medical care because he had been warned he could be placed in isolation if sent to the hospital. When I raised the issue with facility leadership, they confirmed isolation was their policy.
Other detainees have described to me equally disturbing experiences, including a woman who said she suffered a miscarriage while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after being denied proper medical care when symptoms first appeared. Another pregnant woman told me she feared for the health of her unborn child because she could not obtain the specialized care her condition requires.
These were not isolated complaints. And together, they paint a picture of a detention system failing to provide adequate medical care to the people in its custody.
The Department of Homeland Security insists healthcare is available inside Delaney Hall. What I witnessed firsthand tells a different story. Detainees may have access to care, but they are not receiving the care that their conditions, diagnoses, doctors or even our own good conscience would warrant.
When I questioned Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about whether ICE tracks detainees with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, whether those conditions are regularly monitored and whether independent health officials are allowed to inspect the facility, I did not receive answers. That lack of accountability should concern every American.
The consequences of these failures could be deadly. Severe hypoglycemia can become life-threatening within hours. Heart conditions can rapidly worsen without medication. Untreated infections can become medical emergencies, and the disruption of medication can have life-threatening consequences in the short and long run.
What makes this even more troubling is who is being detained.
Despite the administration’s rhetoric about targeting dangerous criminals, the people I met at Delaney Hall were overwhelmingly low-risk individuals being held for civil immigration violations, not criminal offenses. Some said they had legal status until this administration stripped it away. Others described being picked up off the street, or where they work, or at laundromats, schools and even outside courthouses or routine immigration appointments.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the conditions inside these facilities. Nor can we ignore the role of corporations such as the GEO Group, the company with an estimated $1 billion contract to operate Delaney Hall. Taxpayer dollars are being used to inflict profound human suffering, all too often condoned because those detained are viewed as “other.” To make matters worse, the $70 billion that Congress recently approved for ICE and Customs and Border Protection is in addition to $191 billion previously allocated to DHS with a party-line vote.
The least my Republican colleagues can do now is demand answers about what is happening inside facilities like Delaney Hall and hear firsthand from detainees about what they are experiencing. If they truly listen, they will be moved to action. I know I was.
Because the people I met at Delaney Hall are mothers, fathers, workers and neighbors. They are human beings. They deserve dignity, medical care and due process.
No matter where someone was born or what their immigration status may be, their humanity does not disappear when they enter a detention facility.
The measure of any nation is how it treats the people in its custody. By that standard, what is happening at Delaney Hall is a moral failure that extends far beyond its walls.
And when we allow due process, equal protection under the law and basic human rights to be denied to some, we weaken those protections for everyone. The Constitution is only as strong as our willingness to defend it. We must seek to protect it, starting by closing Delaney Hall.
Analilia Mejia, a Democrat, represents New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House.
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Russia’s latest deadly attack in Ukraine: “A large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine killed five rescuers in Kharkiv and wounded at least 20 people in the capital Kyiv on Monday as strikes set apartment buildings ablaze and sparked a fire at one of the country’s most significant religious landmarks. The rescuers were killed in Kharkiv by a second Russian strike as they fought a blaze caused by an earlier attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. At least five other emergency workers were wounded.”
* From late last week: “A joint strike by the United States and Venezuela killed a leader of the Tren de Aragua transnational gang, President Trump and officials in both countries said on Friday, dealing a blow to a syndicate the Trump administration has blamed for an influx of violent crime and illicit drugs.”
* The right way to do it: “Hungarian lawmakers on Monday passed a constitutional amendment that would ban Viktor Orbán from returning to power. The amendment, approved by 135 votes in favor and 50 against, would limit prime ministers to just eight years in office if it becomes law. The amendment is written to apply retroactively, meaning that Viktor Orbán could not return as Hungary’s prime minister. Orbán served as prime minister for a total of 20 years.”
* A case we have been keeping an eye on: “A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to reinstall exhibits and signs on topics like slavery and climate change that it had removed from parks and monuments nationwide because they ‘do not align with its preferred narrative.’”
* Trump’s Department of Justice does what Trump wants: “The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has signed off on Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. The approval, first reported by Blue Light News, clears a major regulatory hurdle for a deal that has become one of the most closely watched media merger reviews of the Trump era.”
* Failing to make America healthy again: “A relentless measles outbreak in Utah has been spreading for nearly a year, putting the U.S. on a path to losing the measles-elimination status it earned more than two decades ago. Fueling the nearly 12-month outbreak: more parents opting not to vaccinate their children for school; infections hitting communities statewide; and lenient public-health policies on quarantining exposed students.”
* McConnell’s health issues persist: “Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, was hospitalized on Sunday, according to his spokesperson, who provided no details on the former Senate majority leader’s condition.”
See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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