Bulwark Takes - Tim Miller: They Want This To Happen

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Tim Miller joins Alex Witt on MSNBC's Katy Tur Reports to unpack Trump's controversial deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles, exposing why Republicans see political advantage in escalating unrest rather than solving it. He also discusses RFK Jr.’s alarming CDC shakeup.

Hey guys, I was on MSNBC for almost a full hour with Alex Witt talking about all of the political implications about what's going on in LA and the RFK moves at the CDC and the way that he has lied to Bill Cassidy, my senator from here in Louisiana, with his promise to, you know, have oversight over and protect these vaccine implementation committees and he has failed to do so. So shocking. Who could have seen that coming? Anyway, stick around for me chatting about a bunch of shit. Tim, is there any risk of Trump or Republicans in general losing support among the base or independent voters by attacking an American city?

No, not really. I guess who knows how far things could go. I mean, we did see in 2020 that Trump overstepped in various ways in Lafayette Square and was the backfired against him before the election. So it is possible for him to overstep. But no, this is what his voters want. They know it's a political fight they want. And I just think the fact that he hasn't talked to Newsome

betrays the fact that they're not trying to solve the problem. I mean, I don't think that we're projecting too much into the minds of Trump and Vance and Miller and Homan and all them to say that they are happy that there is unrest in LA. Like they want this to happen. They're not trying to solve it meaningfully.

What they want is an escalation of it. If they're trying to solve it, they would be working with Governor Newsom. I get this the first time since the 1960s, since the civil rights uprisings that a president has sent in troops over the head of a governor. I don't think any rational person could look at this

and say this is equivalent to what was happening in Alabama in the early 1960s. These are some skirmishes. Obviously the rioting is bad. Obviously some law enforcement is needed for sure. Maybe some support is needed. But that's not what they're doing here. They're sending in troops over the opposition of the governor, not working with the local law enforcement to try to

solve the problem. Donald Trump's vocal support of states' rights have reached their limits in California. Now the president is forcefully asserting his federal authority. These clashes have surfaced yet another constitutional conflict pitting states against the executive branch. Matthew Contenetti, conservative author and columnist at the Free Press, writes that these conflicts are dangerous because, quote, illegal immigration is the focal point of outrage, and it has the potential to break the nation apart. Trump is positioned to win these debates and public opinion supports him. Outrage at illegal immigration fueled his rise to power twice. Immigration is his strongest issue. Social disorder benefits the right.

First of all, Tim, is Matthew Contenetti right? He is, I guess. Kudos to him for just saying it so bluntly that social disorder benefits the right. I guess kudos to him for just saying it so bluntly that social disorder benefits the right. I don't Know that that'd be something I'd be really bragging about if I was in the pages of the free press But I think that the observation is correct So there's there's something to be said for being truth for speaking truth being clear-eyed and I think it speaks to Trump's intentions So maybe Contenetti wouldn't say that I think again as we said in the last segment, there's value in disorder. They're not really trying to bring order. As far as the immigration debate broadly, I don't know. I think that Trump has certainly benefited from immigration in the past. It's been a key issue of his. It's been one that he's won on. I think at times though,

he's overstepped. His numbers really tanked around child separation, for example, during the first term, the Muslim ban was a disaster that he had to roll back. For example, these deport, these kidnappings really to El Salvador, to that prison, they had to stop. They did one round of three planes, which was horrible, but they were planning on sending more. They had to stop because of the outrage and the legal pushback. So he, so it's not as if Trump has like a Superman vest where he wins every immigration fight.

But I do think it's stronger ground for him than other issues, of course. But let me ask you finally, Tim, with Speaker Johnson having weighed in on the calls to arrest the duly elected governor of California. Take a listen to this. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tart and feathered. I'll say that. I mean, look, he's standing in the way of the administration and the carrying out of

federal law. What's your thought on that? It's just childish and dumb. Look, this is very serious. And I think that this is Mike Johnson trying to cosplay being a Trump type MAGA person that says this kind of stuff. It works for Trump. It doesn't work for these other guys really, because it obviously seems fake.

But again, I think that the whole premise here is that this, look, I agree with Governor Kasich about the fact that Democrats and everybody should be in favor of cracking down on rioters and people that are violently protesting. But the premise that Johnson and Trump are saying is that it was so bad that they needed to send in the troops over Newsom's head and that maybe Newsom should be arrested and that maybe should be tarred and feathered. And that is insane. We were not anywhere near that.

This was not the LA riots of 1992. The feds surely could have come in and support what was happening in the state from the law enforcement, but it's ridiculous to suggest that it was at all sensible for the federal government to send in the military over the objection of local officials based on what we'd seen over the last couple of days. Medical experts are worried about an aggressive move by HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

that could completely reshape the country's vaccine policy. The secretary writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed announced that he's removing all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That is an independent panel, which consists of medical and public health experts who make recommendations to the CDC

about who should get certain vaccines and when, including childhood vaccinations. So Tim, RFK Jr. made a commitment to Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. It was back in February. It was during his confirmation hearing that he would maintain ACIP without changes. So clearly, he has failed to live up to his word.

He's done precisely what he said he would not do. The senator now says he will continue to talk with the health secretary to ensure that ACIP will not be filled with vaccine skeptics, which would potentially reflect RFK Jr.'s own personal theories. Is there anything Republicans could do or be willing to do about this?

Well, sure. I mean, you could go back in time and they could have stood up to RFK, which many people were asking Bill Cassidy to do, which Bill Cassidy acted like he was considering. Do you believe this is my home state senator? There was a lot of discussion about this down here in Louisiana. He's a doctor. He is a longtime advocate for vaccines.

And he got the supposed commitment from RFK and then RFK pulled the rug out from under him. And so you would think that at some point, like these senators, these Republican senators would have some dignity. And this is not the only case of this. Pete Hegseth, you might remember, promised to Joni Ernst that there would be like kind of a sexual assault czar at the Department of Defense. Maybe that's happened under the radar.

We did some reporting at the bulwark looking at this and there's no evidence of that has happened yet. So there's several of these different cases where these guys told Republican centers something, promised them something in order to get their confirmation and then they haven't followed through. So look, and Republican senators are on these committees could do oversight. They could work with their Democratic colleagues and do oversight and put pressure on HHS. And you would hope that Bill Cassidy, having been lied to about this, might be willing

to work with some of his Democratic colleagues to be more aggressive in doing oversight over the administration, particularly on the vaccine issue.