Morning Joe - GOP leaders sound the alarm on Texas Senate race

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

September 3, 2026 – 6am:GOP leaders sound the alarm on Texas Senate racePOLITICO: Republicans are not flocking to Trump’s midterm conventionBloomberg: Trump’s popularity has reached a critical pointBreaking: Gloria Steinem dies at age 92Iran fires on Gulf neighbors after U.S. strikesSecretary Bessent: Ukraine causing high gas pricesMayor of Danbury, CT on recent ICE arrests in his cityCrowds march against ICE arrests in Danbury, CT  To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And, you know, we have a guy named Ken Paxton, and some people don't like the way he dresses, or some people don't like the way he interviews or talks. But you know the one thing about him? He was the best Attorney General in this country for the last 10 years or more, the most effective, the hardest working. He was the best Attorney General in the United States. And so I don't care about an interview, and I don't care about the way he dresses. We're going to go to Texas and work for Ken Paxson, who's a great guy.

I mean, so Ken Paxson, you might not like the way he dresses. And I say this. It's so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country, perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country.

And that speaks a lot louder than the suit he's wearing that doesn't look. great. President Trump redefining the backhanded compliment talking about Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, trying his best to endorse a guy whose look he doesn't really approve of. We'll explain why there is a Texas-sized freakout among some Republicans ahead of the midterms. Comes as many Republican candidates are telling Politico this morning, they will not attend the president's midterm convention in Dallas next week, in part because they're busy campaigning, and they have to pay 25 grand a pop just to show up. Plus, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is blaming Ukraine for high gas prices here in the United States.

We'll show you his new comment. Good morning. Welcome to morning, Joe. It is Thursday, September 3rd. I'm Willie Geist. The co-host of our 8 a.m. hour staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire, senior writer at the dispatch and columnist at Bloomberg opinion, David Drucker, contributing writer to the Atlantic, Eugene Robinson, and co-host of The Weekend and Washington reporter for MS Now, Jackie Alamani. Good morning to you all.

Let's dive right in with that dinner last night. President Trump hosted in the Rose Garden. You just saw a part of it for a group of Republican lawmakers facing tough election fights this fall. Some of the guests included Congressman Mike Lawler of New York, Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia, who's running for Senate. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Iowa also running for the Senate, several dozen others. It comes as many Republicans have pressed the president to use his massive war chest in some of those competitive races. At the dinner, President Trump pledged to spend time campaigning in battleground states. All the way to November 3rd and beyond, we're going to be helping you. I'm going to be going around and doing a lot of speeches.

I think I helped Darlene quite a bit. We went down to South Carolina, made a speech, and it worked. So we're going to take that little, that final 30 days. You don't want to go too much before that because people forget. But we're going to take that final 30 days, Mr. Speaker. I'm relying on you guys to give me some names where I say is either tied or you're winning by a little bit or you're losing by a little bit. In some cases, you can be losing by a lot and we'll bring you over the line. But mostly it's if you're close and I think we'll get all those people elected, but I'm going to have to work.

One of those places where it's very close is Texas. A growing number of Republicans are voicing concern about that closely watched Senate race between Republicans. Ken Paxton and Democrat James Telerico. A race MS now's election desk currently considers a toss-up. Here's some of what Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Republican strategist Carl Rove had to say. Yeah, look, Texas is a very serious fight and I'm very worried about it. Virtually all the public polling shows Talariko leading, typically one to two points, but ahead a little bit. More broadly, and this is a Texas problem, but it's a problem in every one of the states we talked about. The left is energized. They're pissed off. They hate Donald Trump. They are showing up.

On the right, look, some of us, some folks on the right are demoralized or dispirited or angry or fighting back and forth. If conservatives and just common sense normal people stay home and the radicals and zealots show up in big numbers, that's how you get a terrible election and end up instead of 53 Republicans with 45 Republicans in the Senate. Paxton, remember, the week leading up to the 4th of July, he was in Washington the week before the 4th of July on that weekend. No fundraiser that I can find. And then on Tuesday, he was seen leaving for Iceland with his latest girlfriend. And then the two of them spent the 4th of July celebrating in London, England. Now, look, we have London, Texas. It's out in the

West Texas, not a big town. But if he wanted to go to London, he should have gone to London, Texas rather than London, England. Time is running out. If the president wants to have Paxton win, he needs to be tossing a lot of money, Paxton's way so that ads can be run that depict Calerico as the far left winger that he is. If not, Talarico is going to run the message of my opponent as the most corrupt politician in Texas history, all the way to the victory lane. That's Carl Rove talking there.

Who knows Texas politics very, very well. Jonathan Lemire, so much to talk through there. Let's start with the President of the United States, who can't really bring himself to say something nice about Ken Paxson, just attacking his delivery, his campaign stump speech, the way he looks, the clothes he wears, saying he was, though, the best Attorney General in the history of the country.

That's at the core of the problem, actually, as Carl Rove gets to there, that he's among the most corrupt attorneys general in the history of the country. How deeply concerned are Republicans actually about this race? Well, Roe, have you heard him? urging President Trump to spend some money on behalf of Paxton in Texas. I suspect that Trump would earmark those funds for a new war drug. I think that seems to you what Trump is very clearly about

and it's classic Trump tell that, oh, many people are saying, I know some people might very clearly. Donald Trump's on interview said this guy's outfit is terrible and that has colored his opinion of him forever. But yes, I mean, Republicans remember are the ones who try to impeach Paxton in Texas. He is, Tala Rico's a talented political figure, no doubt. But Texas is still Texas. It still leans red. It's been the white whale for Democrats forever. This race is closed, yes, Tala Rico, but more because of Paxon's flaws. And it is going to take some money there. Texas is an extremely expensive state. It's huge. There's major media markets. It will take a real push. And I think we are seeing the alarm being sounded. Ted Cruz has been saying this for a few

weeks now. And other Texas lawmakers as well, other colleagues in the Senate, who are partially informed because they're still so upset that John Corning got pushed out, they also say, look, this is a problem. And I also want to highlight something else Cruz said there. He's like, what the margin is now. It gives 53 Republicans now, but it could get down to 45. There is a growing sentiment that an election like this, which could be a wave year. If it breaks one way, it breaks big that way. And Democrats certainly aren't going to get ahead of themselves. They aren't going to start celebrating. But there is a scenario. We have seen this happen in cycles before where just the national moment as such where one party grabs it.

The public is angry at the party in power and it swings wildly one way. And Republicans are starting to get alarmed that they could be looking at that. And that alarm, David Drucker's spilling out into public. We've seen Senate Majority Leader John Thune go on TV. We've seen him go to the Oval Office pleading for Donald Trump to intervene in this race in Texas. He's sitting on that $400 million war chess with MAGA Inc. A couple hundred million more and other fundraising as well. They're saying, we've got to start this now.

It's a huge state. We need your money. We need your support. I believe, David, you said a month ago, correct me if I'm wrong, that Ken Paxson was the most corrupt politician you've ever covered. You can check me on that, amend that if you'd like to. But how concerned do you find Republicans to be about him? No fact check needed there, Willie.

I've been saying that for months. And Republicans are very concerned. I mean, going back to Ken Paxton's victory in the runoff, Republicans made it very clear to me, both operatives and otherwise, that they weren't going to expend a dime on this state. They wanted John Cornyn because as bad as this cycle is, guys, as bad as it is for Republicans, if John Corny's the nominee, the race might be close,

but it wouldn't be in doubt, and Republicans wouldn't have to spend a dime. But they've got so many priorities, including in states that are naturally competitive, that what they've told the president is, you wanted Ken Paxton, you broke it, you bought it. And because he has the money additionally,

they're like, you can spend. And so far, they've wasted a summer, meaning the president's team, and I doubt that this is their decision. I tend to think it's his decision. I think they've wasted a summer where they could have defined James Talleyico more succinctly and more clearly for voters, because even though the polling in Texas looks difficult for Ken Paxton, he still has a natural edge because of the way that state tends to vote. And so we're watching the suburbs. We're watching the real Grand Valley in those border counties that are majority Hispanic that the president flipped and went Republican for the first time in a century.

But Ted Cruz is right, and he's been through this before, and so he knows what he's talking about. David, why is the president not listening to John Thune and Ted Cruz and the laundry list of other Republicans pleading for him to get involved? Why is he sitting on almost a billion dollars of money that could be very beneficial to these candidates in tight races? Well, because he doesn't listen to people that tell him that he's the problem. And, of course, nobody's really telling him he's the problem, but they're kind of telling him he's the problem. And the president, even after a midterm... You know, the thing is, it's so funny, right? But the president, as many presidents do, but this one in particular, believes his own press and believes that he's invulnerable.

And to a degree, I understand it, because Trump ended back in the White House when, you know, as a matter of pure politics after January 6th and everything. you know, you just wouldn't think that would happen. But he has proven as an incumbent to be vulnerable and to be human, if you will, to not be Teflon. But he never believes that. And he hates to part with money in any event. He raised this money. It's his. He said that in interviews.

He has said, it's my money. I can do what I want with it. And so this is why many Republicans I've been talking for the past six months or so have been very skeptical about whether he's, one, going to invest the money. And two, invest it properly in terms of timing and the price that outside groups have to pay for ads, which is, of course, as you know, more than candidates. And to that point about the president being the problem, a new survey of more than 70 Republican candidates and party members reveals most either do not plan to attend

or undecided on next week's Republican midterm convention in Dallas headlined by President Trump and being called by some Trumpapalooza. Politico reached out to a number of Republicans ahead of that event, at 45 telling the outlet they will skip the convention, citing scheduling conflicts, personal obligations, or discomfort with the fact they have to pay $25,000 for the right to attend. Politico reports some other vulnerable Republicans are steering far clear of the gathering, reportedly nicknamed Trump-a-Paloose, as I said, due to concerns about associating closely with the president amid his slipping approval ratings. So, Jackie, other than the president of the United States, who is this convention? for exactly. Well, that's a really great question. You know, there are a number of lawmakers who are in competitive districts who have opted out, as you just noted, people like Congressman Tom Barrett of

Michigan. I think we're going to see a lot of other lawmakers who fit a similar profile, similarly opt out. I was actually surprised last night to see people like Mike Lawler so visibly present at the Rose Garden. But I think that's part of the situation that. That's, that's part of the situation that lawmakers are facing right now when they're waiting for this money that the president and his allies have promised to be dispersed to actually come their way because they do need it at the end of the day. And so they've sort of got to play along. But I think when you're looking to something like this convention, which seems to be a bit of an organizational mess and lacking in terms of the purpose that it's serving, you are going to see people more freely decide that actually

the best strategy here is not to go along with Trump's plan to make this election, either a referendum on him or about himself, and rather run a more individual race, especially as we're getting closer and closer. And Trump is running out of time, as Allie noted in the previous hour, to actually operationally carry out spending the money in a real and serious and strategic way, just in terms of even things as simple as reserving that airtime. But, Gene, why do you think they're holding this convention? You know, who is this convention for?

It's for Donald Trump. Yeah. I mean, maybe it also is singularly to save Ken Paxton because that is going to be, is Trump going to be the person that finally turns Texas blue? And that's an embarrassing stain on his record. That would be extremely embarrassing because we've been here so many times before. It is Lucy in the football. And, you know, I remember Beto O'Rourke and others have been close.

Beto, I didn't hire a pollster O'Rourke. Right. So, but no, I mean, look, look, we all know what Trump's going to do, right? He's going to give his thumb speech and talk about how wonderful he is. And the reason so many Republicans aren't coming is, you know, they don't want to be seen saying, I'm for the Iran war. I'm for $4 gallon gas. I'm for a ballroom at the White House as opposed to anything that might be affecting you,

as opposed to affordability, as opposed to the issues that are going to matter. And so the purpose of this, aside from, you know, glorification of Donald Trump, is to try to gin up some enthusiasm among Texas Republicans. If you can do that, it's a Republican state. But I don't know if they can do that. We'll see if they can do that this year. It hasn't been there so far. John, the candidates who have been asked to go to this convention are saying,

no, no, we need money from you to win our races. I don't need to come here, get off the campaign trail, and pay you $25,000 a pop to be at this convention whose purpose is unclear to most of these Republicans. Yeah, I mean, Trump wants us to be about himself for reasons of ego. But there is at least some thought that the idea, if people close to him say, Look, Trump voters often don't turn out when his name is not on the ballot. So they're trying to make this about himself. He's trying to nationalize his election.

Not only is with this convention where he's going to speak both nights, but also because of they want the mug of money they are going to spend. They've said they might. They want the ads to focus Donald Trump about defense of Trump's record. They think that will work. The problem of that, of course, is American people are aware of Donald Trump's record, and they don't like it. He's approving, his approval rating is an historic low.

So this is a problem. Republicans are growing really antsy. They don't like the idea of coming off of the trail for a couple of days. But Willie, I guess the saving grace is, because there are fears from Republicans that they're going to be spotted at this convention. The cameras will go on them. And that there'll be that much, you know, an easy campaign ad for Democrats to tie them that much closer to Trump. If there's footage of them like clapping and cheering while Trump is talking, is it probably no one's going to watch this convention anyway, in part because it goes up against the one thing all Americans care about. The NFL opener.

The two games that the kickoffs are Wednesday and Thursday nights, the exact same nights of this convention. the audience is only going to be so big. Bizarre, they didn't see that coming. You got a Super Bowl rematch on Wednesday and another great game on Thursday. I was speaking to an aide recently. There is some anger in the White House now. This was scheduled, and that was a blind spot. They did not realize it.

Now, of course, far too late to change. David Drucker, one of your new columns for Bloomberg is titled, Trump's popularity has reached a critical point. What do you mean when you say it's critical now? Well, the president's poll numbers are troubling for Republicans, right? He's in around 40% or so, and he's been that way for several months. And it's a situation now as we hit Labor Day that becomes very entrenched, right? I mean, I tend to think after 25 years of doing this, that if you're not turning things around by the time we hit the end of June, that Labor Day really doesn't matter because opinions are hardened, particularly in the kind of media environment we're in, where everybody is just bombarded with ads and news about politics, going.

back to the beginning of the election year. But the two things that are hurting President Trump the most, and I think this is why this has become such a concern for him and for the GOP, is one, the Iran war continues, right? And that is the thing, number one, that has spiked gas prices, perpetuated inflation, and it's also something that the American people broadly have never warmed to. The president hasn't done a good job of explaining it, but they've just never warm to it, and it continues unabated as we are now in September. Number two, you know, when I was talking to pollsters for this column and other Republicans, what they were explaining to me is that a key part of the president's coalition is really souring on him,

and that is what we like to think of as, you know, the normy Republicans, right? I mean, that's the term we use. The MAGA Republicans are there, the people that, you know, think of themselves as Trump first and Republicans second. They're sticking with them. Their numbers are solid. But for Republicans who have supported Trump because they are Republicans or because they don't like the alternative, these are the sorts of people that may not turn out in the midterm elections. And that is the sort of thing that the president is having a hard time holding onto, let alone turning around.

Not appearing to do much to help either. He's going to lean in. He wants this to be about him. As we've been talking this morning, we had some breaking news. coming into us. The pioneering activist and feminist, Gloria Steinem, has died at the age of 92. According to her official social media page, Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her. Steinem, of course, a leading voice for second wave feminism during the 1960s, advocating for social justice, reproductive freedom,

domestic violence prevention, and gender equality. She died on Tuesday. We will have much more on the life and legacy of Gloria Steinem coming up in just a moment. Also ahead, we'll get to the latest in the Iran War amid new reports. Defense Secretary Pete Hegzith is quietly extending troop deployments to the Mideast into 27. Plus, what former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had to say in a farewell message on his last day at the Pentagon. And as we go to break, a look at the travelers' forecasts this morning from Ackyweather's

Bernie Rayno. Bernie has a looking out there. Willie, it's a steaming stormy Thursday across the Mid-Atlantic states and parts on the northeast. Boston, some rain this morning, New York City, Philadelphia, then a drenching thunderstorm this afternoon. Watch out for some strong thunderstorms around Washington, D.C., just hot in Chicago. How about 100 in St. Louis? Thunderstorm around Dallas today because of tropical rainstorm, Edward, and some drenching thunderstorms in the Florida Peninsula. It stays dry in Atlanta and Charlotte today, but there are the delays.

in Miami, New York City, and Philadelphia. They help you make the best decisions and be more in the know. Download. The act you weather up today. The Kuwaiti Army says this morning it was under attack by missile and drone strikes from Iran as back and forth strikes between Washington

and Tehran resumed earlier this week. This after President Trump again repeated to reporters yesterday, hostilities will not last in his words too long. Recent resumption of U.S. strikes in Iran have sent oil prices back up to $95 a barrel.

How long will this renewed campaign go for? I don't think too long. And also, given what you've said about having destroyed the Iranian military, what is there still left to strike and why? We've controlled, and we are controlling the Hormor Strait. We are bringing lots of boats out every day with millions of barrels of oil. We are, for the most part, doing it without trouble. every once in a while they shoot a drone and we knock it down.

But we have control of very strong control. As you know by now, that's categorically untrue. The strait is not wide open. There's a trickle of ships coming through. In a true social post yesterday, the president suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump straight, insisting it's open and under U.S. control. Despite his continued claims, only a handful of ships are making the passage every day. Iran regularly attacking vessels in the strait. Just this week, a Saudi shipping company said two

Filipino sailors were killed in an attack as their vessel transited the Strait of Hormuz. It all comes as the Wall Street Journal reports, Defense Secretary Pete Hegzith is quietly extending troop deployments and a sign the conflict could drag well into next year. That's according to people familiar with the matter. The journal goes on to report. U.S. officials have said Trump is privately having discussions with senior aides about whether to just declare the Iran war over noting Trump has said he favors that idea. The officials say Trump also tells AIDS he believes sticking with economic pressure will eventually force the regime either to dismantle its nuclear program or to collapse.

John, he's wanted to turn the page on this for several months and just make it go away. He can't do that. He hopes the economic pressure will help, will help. But what would it look like to just declare the war over and walk away? I mean, you're certainly right that he wants this to be done. I reported that Trump was bored with the war back in May. And here we are in early September. I mean, I think what I have heard is that, yes, I mean, he's eager to move beyond this,

that there is a sense that the Strait of Hormuz, despite his claims, there is acknowledgement within the administration. It's not actually open. There's a little more oil game through today than it was a few weeks ago? Yes, but it's still not a lot. They need to have the straight more open than it is now. But if they do that, that might be enough for Trump actually to say, this is over, we win, we'll turn the page.

And that's a problem for many in the region. problem for America's foreign policy strategy writ large because it would still leave Iran with at least some semblance of control of the straight of remorse and potentially still a lot. At the very least, they know they can close it at any time. It does nothing to affect regime change. That's not going to happen. In fact, the hard ladders in Tehran seem to be, have only tightened their grip on power. And it doesn't address the Iran nuclear issue, which was, which allegedly this was all about.

At minimum, it kicks the can down the road. And there's been reporting from a number of places that Iran is trying to ramp up construction sites around the nation, leading some to believe they may dip back in as to try to accelerate the program to try thinking that that might be the only deterrent from another war down the road. So this would be a disaster just to walk away from it, even if for Trump, it might have some short-term political impact because it takes the war out of the headlines for a while ahead of the midterms. And Iran should give the economic pressure some more time.

And Iran showed no interest in reopening the straight. That's the lever they have that they can pull, they know, and change the global economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on Fox News yesterday, partly blaming Ukraine for the global energy shock and rising gas prices as a result of this war. Prices are too high. The American consumer got blown away under Joe Biden, 21.5% stated inflation, probably much higher for working Americans. And we are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because, Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refine products. So that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis. And then the conflict in Iran.

And the conflict in Iran will end and prices will come down. Overall, prices are coming down. Core inflation is very under control. Again, they're not coming down. It is true. Ukraine has used long-range drones to hit Russian oil infrastructure in recent months. But the war in Iran has virtually closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocking about one-fifth of global oil imports. And again, blaming the victim here in the war.

The Vladimir Putin started Eugene Robinson in Ukraine. Another, I guess not shocking anymore, though it should be development from this administration. And just always deferring to Vladimir Putin, always deferring to Russia. Scott Besson, again, inviting the Russian finance minister to the G20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina this week, completely blindsiding European allies. Yeah. Actually, what Besson said was shocking to me. I can't believe he went there and said it's Ukraine's fault that we have such high gas

and oil prices. That's absurd. That's a historical. And it sounded, frankly, desperate. The claim that prices are coming down is clearly false. Look at the price of crude oil. Once again, it's inching. up into the 90s, it's inching toward $100.

And that's, that is certainly not prices coming down. And yes, there is always this deference to Vladimir Putin, whom Trump, let's face it, on some level really admires and wants to be buddies with. And it's described as, you know, strong and powerful and essentially a great leader. And that is absurd. And it's actually obscene to think of Putin in that way. It denies the reality of the war in Ukraine, which was unprovoked and unjustified invasion by Vladimir Putin of a sovereign country, Ukraine.

And Ukraine is trying to fight back. I mean, that's just what happened. And no amount of Trump or Bessent or anybody else claiming otherwise is going to change that. Eugene, I just think we should really emphasize and underscore your point that there is absolutely zero evidence that Ukraine is causing this and that it is the war in Iran that is the primary and most significant driver of this increase in prices. And actually, the output from Russia has remained pretty unchanged when you're looking at their oil imports. And they've been able to evade all of these sanctions. But, David, I'm wondering if there's any other real levers that the administration can pull here, other than these rhetorical games that they're playing to now try to blame Ukraine for their midterm headaches

and whether or not they can actually do anything in time for November. Right. So I don't think economically you're going to do much for November. I think from a message perspective, you can do some things on the margins, right? I mean, there is some value for Republicans for Donald Trump to campaign for them in certain states and in certain districts where on the natural, the politics favors Republicans and the president can motivate some people to show up, right? So we shouldn't totally dismiss that. And I would bet that his rallies this fall will be strategically placed in red states with competitive Senate seats like Iowa, where, again, even though Ashley Hinson has such a tough fight, the fact is Donald Trump, I think, can be very helpful to her there. where he's not going to be helpful, for instance, to Susan Collins in Maine, or even Mark Watley in North Carolina.

So that's one thing they can do. But the economics at this point are pretty baked in because this is a ship that takes time to steer and turn. And even if the Iraq War actually ended today, right? I mean, I'd like to just declare. By the way, I'd like to just declare myself the starting point of the Los Angeles Lakers for the upcoming 26-27 season. and maybe we'll just make it so. But even if the war actually ends tomorrow, it takes time for oil prices to come down.

They don't come down as fast as they go up. That's number one. Number two, people hired Donald Trump to fix inflation. And they can blame Joe Biden. It's a pretty standard practice for presidents to blame their predecessor. They can blame world events. That's also pretty standard practice.

But early in a presidency, people are going to give a president some time and say, yeah, you know, I mean, obviously there are things that happened before they were in office. Let's give them time. We're now 18, 19 months in. The voters we've seen from data are done giving them time. And I think that barring big mistakes by Democrats, which could still happen, the cake is baked and they are where they are. David Drucker, thank you as always. David's latest piece is up now online for Bloomberg. Jackie Alameda, great to see you. Thank you as well.

We'll be watching the weekend at 7 a.m. Eastern right here on MS now. Coming up, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Roberto Alves joins the conversation after dozens of recent ICE arrests across his city. Talk to the mayor about how he's dealing with that when Morning Joe comes right back. Crowds gathered last night in Danbury, Connecticut for a rally after ice agents arrested more than 60 people there last week. Hundreds joined the march through the downtown area, including both of the state's U.S. senators and the governor. The event capped what activists called a day without immigrants, where businesses

were encouraged to remain closed. Join us now, the mayor of Dan Barry, Roberto Alves. He also attended last night's rally. Mr. May, it's great to see you. Can you first, let's talk about what has happened in your city, which is this incredibly vibrant multicultural city in Connecticut. How surprised you were to see these ICE agents if you had warning that they were coming and then what happened when they did? So no surprise at all to see them. You know, with what we've seen having across the country in our diversity, we knew it was a matter of time. But how we feel, we're angry.

We're scared. Communities anxious. They're nervous. Kids are afraid to go to school. People are afraid to go to work. So it also bringing people together, but it's just a trying time right now. It's a bustling city, as I said, which is kind of during this time been a little bit of a ghost town. People are scared to leave their houses.

They don't know if they're going to be rounded up. We talked about some of the stuff happening at school bus stops where parents would drop off kids. And by the time the kid got out of school, their parent had been taken away. Can you describe some of what you've seen over the last week or so? Yeah. So it was just different tactics from the last year and a half, two years of the Trump administration. Last week was more of an intentional brutality to drive fear and division in the community. We had multiple, multiple detainments at grocery stores where families were shopping.

folks being detained with women and children in the car at the bus stop when a parent drops the kid off on the bus and then a bus driver sees what's going on and tries to pull out so the kids don't have to watch it this is not who we are an operation in front of a daycare three to five year olds looking at somebody getting thrown on the ground that looks like their parents what do we tell our children about who we are as a country we're not going after our most serious criminals the numbers show that already. Well, I was going to ask you about that. We promised the American public was promised during the campaign that ICE was going to go up to the worst of the worst to use their term, rapists, murderers, thugs, drug dealers, all that. Do we have any sense of the criminal records or lack thereof of the

people who've been arrested in Danbury? What we have is the lack of any information. They're not sharing anything with us. What we see are, what people are coming back, and then the research of activists and volunteers are doing on their own showing that folks don't have this. I grew up undocumented. I got my citizenship in 2017. These are my neighbors. These are folks who have that shared experience I have. The fear I had growing up of being undocumented is very different than the fear these kids have because of that use of force, people getting tased, windows being broken.

This is something different. This is something new. We won't stand for it in Connecticut. So decidedly not the worst of the worst. As the I say operations expand, talk to us about what sort of pushback you're able to provide here. Are you getting? I know Senator Blumenthal has stood with you. and those other city leaders.

You know, what is the federal government saying? Is there even any kind of dialogue being established here? Well, Congresswoman Hayes, Senator Murphy, Senator Blumenthal, everybody is writing strongly worded letters to the federal government. They're making phone calls, but what we need is a communication, a conversation, and answers back. What we're hearing are things like, well, we're not aware that this is happening. We don't, these aren't the things we do, but we're seeing it.

That's what we're seeing on the ground. That's what the videos are showing. And hopefully things change. now the tactics change and we do get some answers. So to John's question, what is your recourse as the mayor? What is your recourse as a state? What is your recourse with a police force? You say we're not going to stand for this, which is many would argue the right stand to take. But what does that mean? How do you not stand for it? Well, after a week of fear, a week of uncertainty, a week of anxiety, what we had yesterday was a day of hope, right? What can we do? We stand together, right? Let's

explain to people what we do know, what we don't know, what we can do. We're not going to be out there. We can't sit out there and arrest ICE agents because we don't like what they're doing. We know that. What we can do is activate a base of volunteers. So now we have more people on more streets watching for ICE agents, warning folks of what's going on, rapid response team so they can help these folks after they get detained. Identify families right away, right? Take pictures, try to get some names so we can help them after. That's a whole other conversation that needs to be had on what's happening to folks after detainment. And then second, at the end of the day, and what I say over and over, we're only going to stop this at the ballot box.

We're only going to stop this. The first part is November, and then we have to limit or defund ICE, and then we have to beat the president to November from now. That's how we stop this. Mr. Mayor, a spokesperson for DHS responded to the last night's rally in Danbury

with this statement, quote, they should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from Connecticut, not vilifying law enforcement. While these people smear ICE, law enforcement is arresting criminals and saving countless American lives. What's your response? Last week it was probably about 70 that we know of, maybe even more.

Show us that they're criminals. I've been on the front line of this saying this from the beginning. If you're committing a serious crime, you get your day in court, you're allowed to process, and if you're proven guilty of serious crimes, then yes, let the process take place and deport these folks. But overwhelmingly, we are seeing that these aren't serious criminals. So I don't believe what they're saying is true. How can I trust an administration that is lied time and time again and given us just empty words?

And that's what that is. That's empty words. That's my response to that. Show us who they are then. Be open about it and they won't. We've seen in cities across the country, including Minneapolis, by ICE's own statistics, 75, 80, 90 percent of the people they arrest don't have criminal records. So as they move the goalposts in this administration about why someone here undocumented should be arrested,

I'm curious what you think as someone who came here as a child undocumented and earned his citizenship of the argument, though, well, they broke the law just by being here and that's enough for us to arrest them. What do you think of that? I think we have to address the problem that hasn't been fixed for decades now. Listen, even folks like me, we want secure borders. I came in, I was five years old. I had no choice. My parents didn't ask me what my opinion was. So we have to address that side of it.

But then we have to acknowledge the fact that folks are contributing to society. They're shopping at our stores. A lot of them are paying taxes. These are folks who then assimilate into American culture like nobody does all over anywhere else in the world and become proud Americans. So it's a return on investment that you don't get in any other area. So let's encourage, let's vet them. We've got to create some kind of path. Let's have that conversation.

And really we should note the White House is just leaning in on this right now. After a sort of a quiet summer, they've ratcheted up deep. They think this is good politics ahead of the midterm because it'll excite their base. Polls suggest otherwise. And it's, of course, towns like Danbury, but also here in New York City, just two days ago, DHS Secretary Mullen was here declaring the start of Operation Rotten Apple and they're going to have increased enforcement and deportation programs here in the nation's largest city. And there's talk of other cities as well between now and November.

The mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Roberto Alves. Thank you very much. Danbury, as I said, is a great city. It's vibrant. It's diverse. go to the mall, go to the lake, go shop downtown, go see Danbury, Connecticut. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much. Good to see you. Appreciate great seeing you again.

Still ahead. MS now contributor, Pablo Torre joins the table to talk about the big breaking news out of sports this morning. The NBA's massive punishment for the Los Angeles Clippers coming on the heels of his Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the franchise. Pablo joins us right after the break.