WEBVTT
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President Trump says the United States is expected to start
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another round of peace talks with Iran this week as
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the war nears its eighth month. The president made that
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comment yesterday to Axios, with two regional sources confirming to
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the outlet they expect another round of indirect dialogue between
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the two countries as early as today. It comes after
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Trump on Saturday rejected Tehran's latest offer for a seven-day
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ceasefire aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming
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nuclear talks in exchange for U.S. concessions, including releasing Iranian
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frozen assets, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil, and lifting the
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naval blockade, shades of that memorandum of understanding that fell
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apart over the summer. Trump told Axios, quote, they want
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to make a deal, but it's not the deal that
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I want to make. It is what we would have
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agreed to maybe a year ago. They overplayed their hand.
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Iran's foreign minister, meanwhile, told NBC News yesterday, Tehran is
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fully prepared for the war to be resumed. But at
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the same time, quote, we stand ready for diplomacy. It
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is up to President Trump to choose. Meanwhile, we're also
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watching officials in the United Kingdom who say they arrested
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five men near a U.S. airbase yesterday on suspicion that
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they were preparing to carry out a terror plot. London
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Metropolitan Police say they got a call early yesterday morning
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that three suspicious vehicles appeared to be traveling toward a
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base that's currently hosting U.S. bombers conducting limited strikes against Iran.
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Authorities are investigating if there's a link between the arrests
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and the war in Iran. No evidence of the link
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has emerged so far, and no information on the suspect's
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nationalities has been released. All five men involved were arrested
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under the Explosives Act. This aerial footage from Sky News
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appears to show a bomb disposal robot approaching the vehicles.
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This is what the president had to say about it yesterday.
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The arrest in the UK was fantastic. Working with Britain,
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it was an amazing job. We had them under investigation.
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They were looking to do big damage to our port.
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And working with the British worked out great.
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And we'll track if any new information comes out on
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that thread as we continue the day. Then there's also this.
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We're learning President Trump offered to sell American weapons to
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That stunning statement is according to
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the American ambassador to China, David Perdue. In an interview
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with Fox News yesterday, Perdue portrayed the president's offer to
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Xi as a way to justify the pending U.S. arms
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sale to Taiwan, which Beijing opposes, by downplaying it as
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one of many sales the U.S. is making around the world.
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Watch.
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President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to
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other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi
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would he like to buy some at one point.
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Absolutely stunning.
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When asked for comment by The New York Times, the
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White House said through a U.S. official that the United
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States had no plans to sell arms to China. State
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Department said in a statement that U.S. law prohibits arms
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sales to China and there is no offer or plan
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to sell arms to the country. OK, joining us now,
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White House columnist for The Hill, Niall Stanage.
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All right.
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So the There is the law. There is what the
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State Department is saying. There is what the White House
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is saying. And then there's the fact that on Fox News,
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the Chinese ambassador came out and said, OK, all of
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that might be true, but we're actually Trump made this offer.
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I mean, that is stunning.
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Oh, it is absolutely jaw dropping stuff, Ali. The fact
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that the ambassador would say this so blithely, we assume
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he's accurate that the president did in fact say that.
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And neither of them seems to see any problem with this.
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When we're talking about the biggest adversary of the United States,
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I'm sure that China expends enormous effort trying to keep
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up to date with American armaments and American advances in
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that respect. And the president apparently out there saying, you
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want to buy some of this stuff? It's wild stuff.
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And as you noted in your introduction, the White House
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seems to be walking it back pretty promptly.
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Yeah, they're walking it back. But nevertheless, the president is
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the voice of this administration and of this country. And
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so if this is an offer that he actually made
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behind the scenes, I think that is stunning for all
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of the reasons that you've outlined. And to make the
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Chinese feel better about continued U.S. armaments of Taiwan, which
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has always been U.S.
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Policy.
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The other piece of this, too, and you've written about
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this for The Hill is. about the ways that this
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Chinese state visit, which was never planned to have any
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major deliverables coming out of it. We love two new
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pandas in Atlanta, but that's not one of the major
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things that we were looking ahead to. It was overshadowed
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by the way that this White House banned various news organizations,
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including MSNOW, and the ways that that is actually still
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in some ways going on. CNN being told they can't
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ride on Air Force One when they are the designated
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pool for that day, leaving us without pictures of what
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the president is doing, which continues to just remain so
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shocking to those of us who have covered the White
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House and Washington for so long. What do you make
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of where we stand in this moment and the fact
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that that was the argument we were having while the
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Chinese president was having the red carpet rolled out for
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him as he came here?
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So to take that element of it first, Ali, I
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think President Trump in a kind of self-inflicted injury in
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that respect. It was him who banned the outlets, including MSNOW.
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He then turned around and complained that they were refusing
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to cover the Xi visit. They weren't refusing, as you
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well know, to cover that out of some, like, we're
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just not going to cover the Chinese premier coming to
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the U.S., It was a direct consequence of the president's
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own actions. He was then defeated very clearly via a
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temporary restraining order in court. And he seems to have
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responded to that by ramping up the rhetoric further. Talking
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about the idea that the what he always tiresomely calls
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the fake news should be banned from the White House,
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shouldn't be allowed. It has cost a tremendous cost to
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the country. So the battle is not over, but I
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don't think it's going his way. And of course, he's
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enraged by that.
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Yeah, enraged by that and still trying to have some
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measure of control over an independent press and who gets
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to cover him where and when, which is just, again,
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not how any of this actually works. And so we'll
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continue to track that battle as well. But amid the
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backdrop of all of that, the president is hitting the
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campaign trail this week ahead of November's midterm elections. Despite
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promising to rally voters in some of the most competitive
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battleground races, Trump is going to begin his push for
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Republican candidates this in Oklahoma on Thursday before traveling to
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Alabama for an event on Friday. Red states both. The
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president won those states by 30 points or more in 2024,
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and both states' gubernatorial and Senate races are considered solidly Republican.
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Trump's decision to travel to the red states comes as
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a number of toss-up races moved in favor of Democrats
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ahead of the midterms. Meanwhile, a new taxpayer-funded television ad
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from the Trump administration is drawing criticism after airing during
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Fox News Sunday and several college and NFL football games
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this weekend. Take a look.
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This is the final battle.
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With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state.
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We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will
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drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists,
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and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class
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that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media,
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and we will liberate America from these villains once and
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for all.
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The 30-second spot ends with Trump staring into the camera
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and the words, paid for by the U.S. government, along
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the bottom. According to the organization Ad Impact, which tracks
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media spending, more than $ 300, 000 has been spent on airing
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that ad. It is just the latest in a series
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of taxpayer-funded ads featuring the president. The White House calls
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them public service announcements, arguing they promote patriotism and policies,
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not the president's campaign. But critics say the spots are
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inherently political and note past presidential PSA is focused on
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specific policies rather than promoting the president himself. In an
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interview yesterday, Republican Senator John Kennedy even argued against that spending.
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I don't think any public official, including President Trump or
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Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on
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on private money. ads for themselves. Now, the White House
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sees it differently, but I think there ought to be
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a rule that you can't, well, there probably is a rule,
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you can't spend public money to promote yourself.
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Kennedy, close to the president, talks to him often, also
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took Kristi Noem when she was DHS secretary to task
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over the taxpayer money that she funneled into ads that
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heavily promoted her as well as immigration policies of this
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White House. What do you make of the bipartisan backlash here,
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even as these are American taxpayer dollars at work?
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So I think the bipartisan backlash is entirely understandable because
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let's be blunt. This is government propaganda. The spot that
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you played had actually been used previously as a Trump
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campaign ad when he first began running for president again.
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The argument that the White House makes that these are
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public service ads. are absurd. There is no analogue between
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that and COVID advertising around the time vaccines were necessary
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or whatever. So I think that's the fundamental problem. The
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bigger picture is it's part of the president's propensity to
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just think that the government is there to serve him.
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And I suspect there'll be a backlash to this because
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taxpayer money going in to pay for ads that are
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plainly to aggrandize him and to help the Republicans' chances
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in the midterm.
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Exactly. Viewing the presidency as a place where he has
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multiple arms of government at his own disposal at a
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time that he is banning the press, at a time
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where they are putting out government propaganda. All of it
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tells a really, I think, shocking story. We've covered so
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much of it here this morning, but we will keep
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covering it, of course, as the days go by.
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On.
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White House columnist for The Hill, Niall Stanage, always great
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to see you.
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Thanks. Thanks, Ellen.
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Hey, it's me, Rachel Maddow. If you like the story
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you just watched, you should know about a new way
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to see even more from my show and from all
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of MSNOW, live or on tape. It's the new MSNOW membership.
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You can watch everything we do on your phone or
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your tablet or your computer. Plus, you can join conversations
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with me and the other hosts and with other folks
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who care about the news as much as you do.
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MSNOW membership. During September, you can sign up for just
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$ 40 a year, which is like just over three bucks
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a month. Just click on the MSNOW logo right here
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or go to ms.now slash membership.
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Hope to see you there.
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President Trump says the United States is expected to start
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another round of peace talks with Iran this week as
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the war nears its eighth month. The president made that
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comment yesterday to Axios, with two regional sources confirming to
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the outlet they expect another round of indirect dialogue between
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the two countries as early as today. It comes after
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Trump on Saturday rejected Tehran's latest offer for a seven-day
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ceasefire aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming
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nuclear talks in exchange for U.S. concessions, including releasing Iranian
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frozen assets, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil, and lifting the
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naval blockade, shades of that memorandum of understanding that fell
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apart over the summer. Trump told Axios, quote, they want
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to make a deal, but it's not the deal that
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I want to make. It is what we would have
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agreed to maybe a year ago. They overplayed their hand.
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Iran's foreign minister, meanwhile, told NBC News yesterday, Tehran is
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fully prepared for the war to be resumed. But at
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the same time, quote, we stand ready for diplomacy. It
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is up to President Trump to choose. Meanwhile, we're also
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watching officials in the United Kingdom who say they arrested
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five men near a U.S. airbase yesterday on suspicion that
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they were preparing to carry out a terror plot. London
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Metropolitan Police say they got a call early yesterday morning
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that three suspicious vehicles appeared to be traveling toward a
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base that's currently hosting U.S. bombers conducting limited strikes against Iran.
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Authorities are investigating if there's a link between the arrests
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and the war in Iran. No evidence of the link
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has emerged so far, and no information on the suspect's
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nationalities has been released. All five men involved were arrested
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under the Explosives Act. This aerial footage from Sky News
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appears to show a bomb disposal robot approaching the vehicles.
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This is what the president had to say about it yesterday.
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The arrest in the UK was fantastic. Working with Britain,
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it was an amazing job. We had them under investigation.
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They were looking to do big damage to our port.
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And working with the British worked out great.
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And we'll track if any new information comes out on
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that thread as we continue the day. Then there's also this.
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We're learning President Trump offered to sell American weapons to
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That stunning statement is according to
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the American ambassador to China, David Perdue. In an interview
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with Fox News yesterday, Perdue portrayed the president's offer to
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Xi as a way to justify the pending U.S. arms
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sale to Taiwan, which Beijing opposes, by downplaying it as
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one of many sales the U.S. is making around the world.
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Watch.
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President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to
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other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi
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would he like to buy some at one point.
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Absolutely stunning.
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When asked for comment by The New York Times, the
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White House said through a U.S. official that the United
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States had no plans to sell arms to China. State
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Department said in a statement that U.S. law prohibits arms
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sales to China and there is no offer or plan
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to sell arms to the country. OK, joining us now,
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White House columnist for The Hill, Niall Stanage.
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All right.
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So the There is the law. There is what the
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State Department is saying. There is what the White House
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is saying. And then there's the fact that on Fox News,
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the Chinese ambassador came out and said, OK, all of
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that might be true, but we're actually Trump made this offer.
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I mean, that is stunning.
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Oh, it is absolutely jaw dropping stuff, Ali. The fact
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that the ambassador would say this so blithely, we assume
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he's accurate that the president did in fact say that.
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And neither of them seems to see any problem with this.
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When we're talking about the biggest adversary of the United States,
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I'm sure that China expends enormous effort trying to keep
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up to date with American armaments and American advances in
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that respect. And the president apparently out there saying, you
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want to buy some of this stuff? It's wild stuff.
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And as you noted in your introduction, the White House
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seems to be walking it back pretty promptly.
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Yeah, they're walking it back. But nevertheless, the president is
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the voice of this administration and of this country. And
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so if this is an offer that he actually made
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behind the scenes, I think that is stunning for all
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of the reasons that you've outlined. And to make the
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Chinese feel better about continued U.S. armaments of Taiwan, which
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has always been U.S.
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Policy.
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The other piece of this, too, and you've written about
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this for The Hill is. about the ways that this
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Chinese state visit, which was never planned to have any
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major deliverables coming out of it. We love two new
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pandas in Atlanta, but that's not one of the major
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things that we were looking ahead to. It was overshadowed
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by the way that this White House banned various news organizations,
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including MSNOW, and the ways that that is actually still
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in some ways going on. CNN being told they can't
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ride on Air Force One when they are the designated
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pool for that day, leaving us without pictures of what
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the president is doing, which continues to just remain so
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shocking to those of us who have covered the White
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House and Washington for so long. What do you make
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of where we stand in this moment and the fact
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that that was the argument we were having while the
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Chinese president was having the red carpet rolled out for
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him as he came here?
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So to take that element of it first, Ali, I
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think President Trump in a kind of self-inflicted injury in
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that respect. It was him who banned the outlets, including MSNOW.
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He then turned around and complained that they were refusing
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to cover the Xi visit. They weren't refusing, as you
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well know, to cover that out of some, like, we're
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just not going to cover the Chinese premier coming to
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the U.S., It was a direct consequence of the president's
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own actions. He was then defeated very clearly via a
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temporary restraining order in court. And he seems to have
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responded to that by ramping up the rhetoric further. Talking
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about the idea that the what he always tiresomely calls
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the fake news should be banned from the White House,
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shouldn't be allowed. It has cost a tremendous cost to
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the country. So the battle is not over, but I
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don't think it's going his way. And of course, he's
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enraged by that.
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Yeah, enraged by that and still trying to have some
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measure of control over an independent press and who gets
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to cover him where and when, which is just, again,
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not how any of this actually works. And so we'll
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continue to track that battle as well. But amid the
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backdrop of all of that, the president is hitting the
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campaign trail this week ahead of November's midterm elections. Despite
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promising to rally voters in some of the most competitive
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battleground races, Trump is going to begin his push for
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Republican candidates this in Oklahoma on Thursday before traveling to
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Alabama for an event on Friday. Red states both. The
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president won those states by 30 points or more in 2024,
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and both states' gubernatorial and Senate races are considered solidly Republican.
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Trump's decision to travel to the red states comes as
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a number of toss-up races moved in favor of Democrats
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ahead of the midterms. Meanwhile, a new taxpayer-funded television ad
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from the Trump administration is drawing criticism after airing during
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Fox News Sunday and several college and NFL football games
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this weekend. Take a look.
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This is the final battle.
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With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state.
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We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will
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drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists,
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and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class
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that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media,
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and we will liberate America from these villains once and
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for all.
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The 30-second spot ends with Trump staring into the camera
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and the words, paid for by the U.S. government, along
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the bottom. According to the organization Ad Impact, which tracks
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media spending, more than $ 300, 000 has been spent on airing
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that ad. It is just the latest in a series
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of taxpayer-funded ads featuring the president. The White House calls
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them public service announcements, arguing they promote patriotism and policies,
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not the president's campaign. But critics say the spots are
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inherently political and note past presidential PSA is focused on
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specific policies rather than promoting the president himself. In an
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interview yesterday, Republican Senator John Kennedy even argued against that spending.
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I don't think any public official, including President Trump or
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Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on
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on private money. ads for themselves. Now, the White House
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sees it differently, but I think there ought to be
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a rule that you can't, well, there probably is a rule,
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you can't spend public money to promote yourself.
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Kennedy, close to the president, talks to him often, also
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took Kristi Noem when she was DHS secretary to task
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over the taxpayer money that she funneled into ads that
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heavily promoted her as well as immigration policies of this
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White House. What do you make of the bipartisan backlash here,
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even as these are American taxpayer dollars at work?
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So I think the bipartisan backlash is entirely understandable because
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let's be blunt. This is government propaganda. The spot that
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you played had actually been used previously as a Trump
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campaign ad when he first began running for president again.
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The argument that the White House makes that these are
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public service ads. are absurd. There is no analogue between
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that and COVID advertising around the time vaccines were necessary
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or whatever. So I think that's the fundamental problem. The
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bigger picture is it's part of the president's propensity to
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just think that the government is there to serve him.
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And I suspect there'll be a backlash to this because
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taxpayer money going in to pay for ads that are
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plainly to aggrandize him and to help the Republicans' chances
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in the midterm.
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Exactly. Viewing the presidency as a place where he has
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multiple arms of government at his own disposal at a
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time that he is banning the press, at a time
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where they are putting out government propaganda. All of it
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tells a really, I think, shocking story. We've covered so
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much of it here this morning, but we will keep
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covering it, of course, as the days go by.
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On.
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White House columnist for The Hill, Niall Stanage, always great
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to see you.
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Thanks. Thanks, Ellen.
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Hey, it's me, Rachel Maddow. If you like the story
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you just watched, you should know about a new way
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to see even more from my show and from all
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of MSNOW, live or on tape. It's the new MSNOW membership.
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You can watch everything we do on your phone or
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your tablet or your computer. Plus, you can join conversations
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with me and the other hosts and with other folks
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who care about the news as much as you do.
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MSNOW membership. During September, you can sign up for just
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$ 40 a year, which is like just over three bucks
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or go to ms.now slash membership.
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Hope to see you there.
