So much for loyalty: Red states ‘devastated’ by Trump cuts

The Briefing with Jen Psaki

NBC News

News, Politics

4.5 • 664 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jen Psaki is joined by former Senator Jon Tester and former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu to discuss the devastating effects of Trump’s government funding bill, which has slashed funding and staffing for both FEMA and NOAA, and the impact on red states suffering from recent tornado damage. NBC News Justice Reporter Ryan Reilly gives his reaction to what he witnessed in the courtroom earlier today after Trump defied a judges ban to deport Venezuelan migrants without due process. As Republicans continue to hide and avoid their frustrated constituents, Senator Reuban Gallego talks to Jen about his experience as one of many Democrats who have held their own town halls in red districts around the country and how that could affect the next election for Democrats. After Minority leader Chuck Schumer helped Republicans pass their funding bill last week in fear of government closure, Democrats are After Minority Leader Chuck Schumer helped Republicans pass their funding bill last week to avoid a government shutdown, frustration is growing among Democrats with the party's senior leadership and many are calling for new, unrelenting voices in Washington. And in his first national interview, rising Democratic star and Texas attorney Christian Menefee, talks to Jen about his congressional campaign.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, I was out last week. I started up a lot of thoughts about all sorts of things.
0:16.0	I did watch the whole government funding debacle from afar. It feels to me like it's about time for a really
0:21.4	honest conversation about Democratic leadership in Washington right now and what the heck is going on there.
0:26.8	So we're definitely going to have that conversation tonight. I have my own thoughts. I'm going to
0:30.0	share with you too. There are also some good things happening out there, no doubt. I mean, we're going to
0:34.2	talk about those two. Democrats like Tim Walls held town hall meetings
0:37.8	in red districts over the weekend. That's great. Senator Ruben Gallego held a town hall in Phoenix,
0:42.4	Arizona today. He's going to join me later tonight to talk about how that went. We're also going to
0:47.4	talk about the hearing tonight over deportations that just wrapped up. Ryan Riley was in the courtroom.
0:52.9	He's hustling over here to the studio,
0:54.5	and he's going to tell us about everything that happened in that room and what the judge had to say.
0:59.6	But I wanted to start tonight with what I kind of think is one of the unifying principles of this
1:04.5	administration. And that is basically their myopic view on owning the libs, as they call it.
1:09.9	They love to own the lips. To the extent that
1:12.1	they have one goal, owning the lip seems to be that goal. And by that, they mean doing anything they can
1:18.1	to offend, humiliate, or destroy things that anyone left of Sean Hannity may possibly care about.
1:25.4	I mean, Donald Trump visited the Kennedy Center for a board meeting today after seizing control of it
1:31.0	and making himself the new chair.
1:32.9	What a good use of time for a president.
1:35.4	The Kennedy Center now, I think all of you probably know what it is,
1:37.6	but it's been an arts institution here in Washington, D.C.
1:39.7	for over 50 years.
	...

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