Velshi

How the GOP is hiding the true cost of the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ from the American people; the good, bad, and ugly of the American economy; and why the attacks on America’s inclusive democracy is not just a political or constitutional crisis, but a moral crisis

Transcribed - Published: 6 July 2025

Judge J. Michael Luttig describes some ‘self-evident truths of freedom’ realized when the U.S. declared independence from Great Britain, and the truths of tyranny we face today; Rep. Madeleine Dean discusses exactly who gains and who suffers from the GOP’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’; how and why the OBBB is the biggest anti-abortion victory since Dobbs

Transcribed - Published: 6 July 2025

What’s behind the accounting gimmick the GOP is using to justify the expensive cost of their latest tax cuts in the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’, and how they’re paying for them with devastating cuts to healthcare; the latest on the search, rescue, and recovery efforts in central Texas following deadly flooding; the good, bad, and ugly of the current American economy; the vast consequences of the Trump administration diminishing America’s soft power

Transcribed - Published: 6 July 2025

Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now law and it’s set to devastate healthcare for millions of Americas. This country is moving backwards at a dangerously fast pace; what we can expect from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the White House and what it means for a potential ceasefire deal in the Middle East; and the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility opened in Florida this week to much fanfare from Republicans. But when did we become a country that celebrates the incarceration and deportation of others?

Transcribed - Published: 5 July 2025

The Trump Administration now plans to prioritize revoking the citizenship of naturalized Americans who disagree with its policies, which could upend the lives of millions; Texas officials give an update on the deadly flash flooding; Rep. Adam Smith discusses the consequences of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and the fallout from Trump’s recent call with Vladimir Putin

Transcribed - Published: 5 July 2025

Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" is now law and expected to leave nearly 12 million Americans uninsured. America’s notoriously inadequate healthcare system just got even worse; an update on the devastating flash floods in Texas that killed more than two dozen people; what to expect from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the White House and what it means for a potential ceasefire deal

Transcribed - Published: 5 July 2025

Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on working against the GOP’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’; a live report from NYC’s Pride parade; why unemployment among black women has been rising this year and what it tells us about the state of the American economy.

Transcribed - Published: 29 June 2025

Why the Supreme Court’s latest ruling on nationwide injunctions by lower courts couldn’t come at a worse time; fmr. FEMA administration Deanne Criswell describes the danger of Trump’s cuts to the agency as we head into hurricane season; the life and death implications of RFK’s new vaccine advisory board

Transcribed - Published: 29 June 2025

The future of Trump’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ hangs in the balance; The New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones opines on how Trump upended 60 years of civil rights in just two months; and Mahmoud Khalil and his wife sit down for their first TV interview since his release from ICE custody.

Transcribed - Published: 29 June 2025

As Republicans scramble to pass Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ Democrats are reportedly drumming up new tactics to slow down the process; NYC Comptroller Brad Lander discusses the importance of bearing witness to, and pushing back against, Trump’s immigration crackdown; and what the president plans to do with the new power the Supreme Court allowed him to seize from judiciary.

Transcribed - Published: 28 June 2025

How the Supreme Court helped President Trump seize power away from the judiciary, giving him an opening to move forward with a host of consequential policies; in the week since Donald Trump ordered strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, we have heard conflicting stories about how successful the operation was. Why we can't get a straight answer out of the Trump administration?; and today’s edition of the Velshi Banned Book Club dives into ‘World War Z’ by Max Brooks.

Transcribed - Published: 28 June 2025

What’s inside Trump and the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and why it’s even more devastating than initially believed; New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who was recently arrested by ICE while escorting an undocumented immigrant through court, explains what he’s learned first-hand about the impact of Trump’s immigration crackdown; and after winning the Democratic Mayoral Primary in NYC, it’s clear that Zohran Mamdani’s message of making the city more affordable has struck a nerve. Could it be a new inflection point in American politics?

Transcribed - Published: 28 June 2025

How Trump’s hot-and-cold approach to Iran, his back-and-forth on ICE raids, and GOP gridlock on his ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ is causing chaos everywhere; why Trump’s ICE raids, detentions, and deportations are changing not just immigration in America but the meaning of U.S. citizenship; and how the celebration – and the struggle continued this Juneteenth, amid the president’s anti-DEI crusade.

Transcribed - Published: 21 June 2025

How MAGA infighting is leaving President Trump looking like The Undecider; the politicization of policing in America; and Kevin Henkes’ “Olive’s Ocean” is the subject of this week’s Velshi Banned Book Club

Transcribed - Published: 21 June 2025

President Trump’s impulsiveness and growing infighting among MAGA delivers chaos to a delicate situation in the Middle East; how Trump’s ICE raids, detentions, and deportations are changing not just immigration in America but the meaning of American citizenship; and where the GOP is trying to overturn voter-approved ballot measures protecting abortion rights.

Transcribed - Published: 21 June 2025

The high stakes question of what could happen if Donald Trump were able to wear down some of the features of the American military that make it a natural bulwark to authoritarian slide, what we’ve learned about the new resistance to the president after a massive day of protests, and what the military parade looks like up against the president’s record on the military.

Transcribed - Published: 15 June 2025

What we learned from a day of pomp and circumstance and protest, the true story of President Trump’s record on the military, and how recent ICE raids are coming to embody the same kind of cruelty that was a feature of the first Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Transcribed - Published: 15 June 2025

What President Trump’s latest travel ban is really about; why a Tea Party Republican just joined the Democratic Party; and what it means that President Trump has deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles against the wishes of state and local leaders.

Transcribed - Published: 8 June 2025

Rep. Lloyd Doggett and fmr. Rep. Charlie Dent discuss the bogus accounting Republicans are using to sell Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’; Fmr. Gov. Jay Inslee addresses President Trump’s decision to deploy national guard troops to Los Angeles; and the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos exposes the new Gilded Age that’s exploding into view.

Transcribed - Published: 8 June 2025

The latest on the situation on the ground in Los Angeles after President Trump sent in the national guard following anti-ICE protests; Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones explains how to fight for democracy during the era of Trump 2.0; and a dangerous new chapter in the post-Roe era marked by imperiled emergency care and prosecuting of miscarriages.

Transcribed - Published: 8 June 2025

Why Elon Musk’s expectation of gratitude is the most telling part of the Trump-Musk falling out; an on-the-ground report from UNICEF in Gaza; and author Téa Obreht discusses the classic novel “Animal Farm” in the Velshi Banned Book Club.

Transcribed - Published: 7 June 2025

How Donald Trump could build a more MAGA judiciary; what the math looks like when you add up Trump’s new steel tariffs; and Molly Jong-Fast discusses her new book ‘How To Lose Your Mother’

Transcribed - Published: 7 June 2025

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen weighs in on the explosive end to the Trump-Musk alliance; the story behind the USNS Harvey Milk and what it really means to be a warrior; fmr. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink on why she resigned her post in protest and whether she’s considering a run for congress; and an on-the-ground report from UNICEF in Gaza

Transcribed - Published: 7 June 2025

Listen to an excerpt from Nicolle Wallace’s interview with Jason Bateman for her new podcast, “The Best People.”

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2025

President Trump is spending his second term remaking America’s system of politics and governance in his own image, where everything is a transaction; the latest on Ukraine’s major drone attack deep inside Russian territory; and how to survive Donald Trump’s chaos economy.

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2025

How Trump is remaking American governance in his image; how the president’s trade war is endangering a key piece of NATO’s air defense system; and what’s coming for a Supreme Court that empowered a president who seems bent on diminishing its own authority.

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2025

What happens when campaign promises meet reality; an introduction to the pediatrician who is challenging Sen. Lindsay Graham in South Carolina; and Donald Trump’s brain drain

Transcribed - Published: 1 June 2025

What Americans can do to secure their democracy; President Trump declares a ceasefire is “very close” between Israel and Hamas; and the Velshi Banned Book Club features “Pride Puppy,” a children’s book by Robin Stevenson that is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case.

Transcribed - Published: 31 May 2025

President Trump tests America’s democracy and the limits of its legal institutions; why Americans on the right see Hungary as a model to emulate; and deporting migrants proves lucrative for American companies with ties to the administration.

Transcribed - Published: 31 May 2025

What Americans can do to secure their democracy; President Trump declares a ceasefire is “very close” between Israel and Hamas; and Elon Musk’s tenure in the U.S. government has come to an end, but is DOGE really done?

Transcribed - Published: 31 May 2025

An invitation inside Nicolle Wallace’s short list of the most inspiring people she knows.

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2025

How the House GOP’s passage of President Trump’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ set up a massive upward transfer of wealth in America, why the actions we are seeing right now from the Supreme Court are more confusing than usual, and policing in America five years after the killing of George Floyd

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2025

Judge J. Michael Luttig discusses the impact President Trump’s attacks on the judiciary is having on American democracy. And what’s exactly at stake in Trump’s battle against Harvard and why it’s more than just a fight against an elite school

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2025

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) discusses how the passage of President Trump’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ sets the stage for a major upward transfer of wealth in America, how Trump’s tariffs and cuts at the Small Business Administration are squeezing small businesses nearly out of business, and why the action we are seeing from the Supreme Court is more confusing than usual

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2025

How President Trump’s apparent disregard of due process and attacks on immigrants are an attack on us all, fmr. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) discusses how Trump’s policies are harming American farmers, and with the criminalization of miscarriage and the decriminalization of clinic harassment happening side-by-side post-Roe America is getting scarier

Transcribed - Published: 24 May 2025

How President Trump’s sweeping and unprecedented deportation crackdowns have landed him in the middle of multiple lawsuits and why it’s an alarming window into his assault on due process and judicial review. What Trump’s relationship with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu means for the future of the War in Gaza, and the author of “Fun Home” Alison Bechdel joins for this week’s meeting of the Velshi Banned Book Club.

Transcribed - Published: 24 May 2025

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) joins to discuss this week’s threats to democracy from President Trump, fmr. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) talks about how Trump’s policies are harming American farmers, and Trump’s retribution presidency continues to expand.

Transcribed - Published: 24 May 2025

What happens when the president is running a get-rich-quick scheme on the side; why Republicans’ plans to slash Medicaid would have consequences reaching far beyond even the 72 million Americans who rely on it for healthcare; and how the slash-and-burn approach to dismantling the government is having dire consequences for FEMA, heading into hurricane season.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2025

Ali Velshi is joined by Yale University Professor Jason Stanley, host of SiriusXM’s ‘The Dean Obeidallah Show’ Dean Obeidallah, owner of ‘Busy Baby’ Beth Benike, and MSNBC Legal Correspondent Lisa Rubin.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2025

The danger of a new normal, where profiting from the presidency is routine; plus former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reveals what the slashing of Medicaid would really mean, not just for Americans who rely on it for healthcare but for all of us.

Transcribed - Published: 18 May 2025

What comes next in the budget battle now that members of President Trump’s own party blocked his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’; why the damage of Trump’s chaotic tariff rollout can’t be undone; and Stacey Abrams discusses being targeted by Trump, being investigated by Republicans, and a new potential run for governor of Georgia.

Transcribed - Published: 17 May 2025

How Donald Trump’s return to the Middle East made him look less like the leader of a democracy and more like a visiting fellow monarch. Plus, a new photo-essay shows the desperation faced by millions suffering the consequences of Sudan’s civil war and the Trump administration’s cuts to humanitarian aid. And Malinda Lo, author of “Last Night At The Telegraph Club”, joins for this week’s meeting of the Velshi Banned Book Club.

Transcribed - Published: 17 May 2025

From tariff chaos to price hikes to a credit downgrade to the President’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ being blocked by members of his own party, how the practical impacts of Trump’s economic chaos is causing damage that can’t be undone

Transcribed - Published: 17 May 2025

Trumpism on the world stage, former Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) discusses the power of speaking up to save democracy, and how the president’s economic policy chaos is exposing cracks in the GOP

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2025

With the White House arguing that the U.S. is “drastically over-regulated”, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair discusses the dangers of living in a world without regulations. Plus, why the Trump administration is threatening to arrest members of Congress.

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2025

President Trump is heading to the MIddle East, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is in Switzerland negotiating a trade deal with China, as Trump’s budget throws the congressional GOP into chaos

Transcribed - Published: 11 May 2025

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman gives her first-hand account of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest by federal authorities outside an ICE facility, how President Trump’s talk of dolls is code for austerity, and Valeria Luiselli discusses her book ‘Tell Me How It Ends’ in this week’s meeting of the Velshi Banned Book Club

Transcribed - Published: 10 May 2025

What happens when a real crisis unfolds in the new Trump era, with the civil service gutted and career experts run off? Plus, the cautionary tale of the NC state election that almost beat democracy. And the anti-abortion movement’s backdoor plot to target medication abortion.

Transcribed - Published: 10 May 2025

What the president really means when he says kids can make do with two dolls, why the arrest of the Newark mayor is a flashing red warning light, and how the administration exposed the real reason for its war against elite universities

Transcribed - Published: 10 May 2025

The importance of courage when the only thing standing in the way of Donald Trump’s unraveling of democracy are the American people; how Trump’s crypto meme coin dinner is the latest sign of a new red flag to watch out for; the impact of Trump’s attacks on dissent, a pillar of American democracy

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2025