Morning Joe - Trump's DOJ Expands Settlement to Cover Audits

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

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We're not trying to give money to anybody who attacked a police officer. We're trying to give money, not give money. We're trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them. They were mistreated by the legal system. Let's turn the page on this thing that we did under the last administration where we tried to throw people in prison because they had the wrong politics. Let's throw people in prison who broke the law. I think this fund is a good part of getting justice for the people who are wrongly treated.

What are your thoughts about this organization fund from the president at this point? I'm not a big fan. And I'm not sure to that from how they think you use it. But my understanding is just announced. And I don't get you to know. Senator, Senate Majority Leader John Thun with that criticism. Before that, Vice President Janey Vance, actually defending. this. And he went on and on saying, I just don't understand why we help some people who get arrested,

but not rioters who tried to overthrow presidential election. Protesters, protesters. This is, of course, I believe the same J.D. Vansu who said, oh, no, no, no, we would never, we the president, I'm sure, would never, ever pardon people that beat up cops. Well, not only to do that, but he, pardon them and now he's created a slush fund. Yes, you've got to assume a $1.8 billion slush fund for people that beat the hell out of cops. Why do we say that? Because Donald Trump was asked, Mr. President, is this going to be even for people who beat the hell out of cops? And the president said, oh, we're going to have a fine commission to determine whether these people, including those who beat the hell out of cops, are able going.

to get this mind. I mean, Mika, this is just, again, it's just so extraordinarily outrageous. You have the president talking again about this billion-dollar Marie Antoinette ballroom that we, it was perfectly fine. We had security. We had facilities to keep the president secure. And then he tore down the east wing. He said, oh, it's not going to cost anything. Now it's going cost over a billion dollars. They can say it's for security, but it's happening because the president wanted to create a Marie Antoinette ballroom. And now, on top of that, well, people are struggling to pay their groceries. The people are struggling to put gas in their cars. People are struggling to pay their rent. We got this billion-dollar Marie-Antoinette ballroom now that they're talking

about funding. And a billion-dollar-plus sludge fund for people who beat that. hell out of cops. It is a slush fund, a weaponization slush fund for supporters of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and the Republican Party. And again, you've just got to say, with all-time low, hey, Republicans, listen, you have all-time low approval ratings. You are getting wiped out by Democrats in every poll that's coming out. And you're blindly going along with a Marie Antoinette ballroom for these taxpayers who can't afford groceries are going to have to fund with their own tax dollars, a war that keeps going on and on and on and on that they're going to have to fund, even though they can't afford to put gas in their car.

And you've got a billion-dollar-plus slush fund that I guarantee you will go if the past is prologged to people who beat the hell out of cops. for people who beat the hell out of God. Take your support the blue flags down because you're just full of it. You're full of it. Because unlike me, who supports cops,

whether they're at the Capitol or whether they're on Main Street in any U.S. town, you just kind of support cops when Donald Trump tells you to support cops. Right. But not the Capitol Hill cops. You were such cowards.

You were. to even put up a plaque honoring the dead, honoring the dead, honoring those cops that were so brutalized and torn to shreds that they went home and had PTSD and killed themselves. Because you sat there and coward, and now you won't support them. And now you're going to pay the people who killed the people. The cops. That's twisted. Good morning, America.

Yeah. I hope you're doing well, because I will tell you, Republicans in Congress aren't doing well. If they sit back and allow this slush fund to move forward, like they're allowing the Marie Antoinette Ballroom to move forward, like they're allowing continue funding without any oversight of this war. How many billions? How many billions are we at right now that taxpayers are paying for? This war that nobody really wanted, that the overwhelming majority of Americans are against, just billions and billions and billions of dollars. And the president, Mika, as I said yesterday, he could go out and explain this.

Instead of just like, you know, landing in front of a microphone, he can sit down and have a speech and talk about the dangers of a nuclear Iran. And the sacrifices it will take. He just won't do it. He won't do it instead. He's got his plans out. He'll talk about the Marie Antoinette ballroom. He'll talk about the Golden Arch.

He'll talk about a slush fund for cop killers. He'll talk about all of those things. And by the way, if you don't think they're cop killers, little boy with your podcast, if you don't think they're cop killers, talk to their wife. wives, talk to their sons, talk to their daughters, talk to Brian Sittnick's mom, talk to their families, and they will tell you the very people Donald Trump wants to give billions to are cop killers. Ask them who killed those cops on January the 6th. They'll tell you, Mika, it's just, it's beyond, beyond disgusting that these Republicans sit back and do not

Nothing. Do absolutely nothing when they know what he is doing is wrong. We're also going to run through new details that we're learning about the extraordinary use of executive power that could effectively help shield President Trump from additional scrutiny of his finances and legal conduct. That's another big story we're following this morning, one of many on this Wednesday, May 20th. With us, we have the co-host of our 9 a.m. hour staff writer at the Atlantic. Jonathan Lemire. MS now National Affairs analyst John Heilman. He's partner and chief political columnist at Puck. U.S. national editor and columnist for the Financial Times, Ed Luce, writer at large for the New York Times, Elizabeth Bue Miller, and senior writer at the dispatch and a columnist at Bloomberg opinion. David Drucker joins us this morning. And Joe, there's a lot to get to. And it is staggering. how small the voices are. I mean, Republicans are beginning to push back here and there.

We're hearing Senator John Thune say that he has his own opinions that may differ from the president. But it is hard. It is really hard to fathom the concept of the J6 rioters who defecated on our nation's capital. Yeah. being called protesters and being tried to, tried to be told that they somehow are being treated unfairly. I mean, come on. Yeah. And these people, these people who go and go and lie just repeatedly, like, I wasn't an insurrection. They were trying to overthrow a duly elected president. Yeah. That's, that's an insurrection. If we could put up our August panel again, and I just want to explain a little bit. I came on a little hot. I want to apologize.

for that, but I knew that if I gave Elizabeth B. Miller the microphone without expressing that rage, that Elizabeth would have gone off. And I just want to protect her because you know, the New York Times. They don't like their people screaming like that, Elizabeth. So I wanted to do that. For you, she would have torched it. She would have burned this place to the ground, I tell you. Elizabeth, do you know the exact number? If not, we'll ask our intrepid reporter, Jonathan Lemire, for the exact number. How much money has the United States spent thus? for on the Iran war? 25 billion or 29 billion, depending on who you ask.

But that is, it's an enormous amount of money. And there's no end in sight. And it was interesting yesterday or Monday, Trump, you know, once again, we're sort of in this endless stalemate where the president says, oh, we're about to attack, we're about to attack. And then sometimes in the same day, he will say, well, we're holding off because of a negotiations. There's no clear evidence that negotiations are going on, but it is just this back and forth that we, you know, he does not want to attack again, given what's going on with the economy,

given his low approval ratings, given how unpopular this war is. But he's kind of stuck in a corner. He, it's a real, it's a real problem. I just like to point out a story in the New York Times this morning by my colleagues, including Mark Mizetti, about how the U.S. had planned to install Mabun, Dimajad, who was a name from way back when, way back when from the Bush administration, as the, you know, leader of Iran. That went south.

But it just shows you how unplanned. And by the seat of their pants, this war is. Yeah, Heilman, you know, Bud McFarland could never find the moderates in Iran. To thank God the Trump administration did. it ended up all the time. The moderate was Ahmadinejad. Who would have known they were going to blow him out of prison? Almost killed him, of course.

This is like, this is, this is straight out of, this is straight out of a South Park episode or a movie. What was it, what was the movie where they had the American heroes and saved Paris by blowing up the Eiffel Tower and everything else? A great movie a couple years ago. But anyway, that's what, that's what we were doing. But, but again, you look and see the, The numbers are just extraordinary.

You look at the poll numbers, and Republicans are so upside down. They have to know they were in big trouble. And then Donald Trump comes out and he endorses basically the Hershal Walker of Texas, except that's an insult to Hershal Walker, great former Georgia Bulldogs running back. Ken Paxton, they have just put Texas in play if Paxson. in fact, wins. But let's take it a step further because, you know, people always say to me, Joe, you're playing not seven-dimensional layer chess.

You're like nine or ten or eleven. Let's take it beyond that. Not only do they put Texas in play and give Tala Rico a shot to make it competitive by putting it up that runaway beer truck right there that you're looking at. Put that runaway beer truck up and wanting him to win the Senate. If he beats Cornyn and he. most likely will beat Cornyn with Trump's endorsement in Texas. You now have millions and millions of dollars that would have been spent elsewhere being

spent to try to save a seat that Corny could have probably won two, three, four points. But not only that, look what Bill Cassidy did yesterday. He voted with Murkowski and others on the War Powers resolution. So now you're going to have him. You're likely going to have John Cornyn. You're likely going to have Tom Tillis. You're likely going to have other senators. Thank you, Senator Bill Cassidy. Such courage, such courage. I wish you would have shown it for RFK Jr. But anyway, you know what? I'm a Southern Baptist. We take converts and we can get them, even if it's the 15th verse of just as I am. You're welcome into the family. Thank you. God bless you. And now go and sin no more. But here we are. Think

about it. You're going to have three. four, five senators that are on their way out, John, that are going to pretty much stop a great deal of what Donald Trump does because they're unchained. Joe, you know, one can't predict the future, but if you look at what Tom Tillis has done, that should be a reasonable indication of what Bill Cassidy and John Corny may now do, both of whom, frankly, have been, you know, constrained severely over the course of the last two, a year and a half by their fear of precisely this thing that has now happened to them, happening to them. They've, neither one of them is MAGA in their heart.

Both of them have in the past, the distant past, but the past, you know, maybe four, five, six years ago, been willing to go against the president on matters of importance, but they have basically put themselves under wraps. put their principles under wraps, put any instinct they had towards independence or moderation under wraps in order to try to get Donald Trump to be on their side in the primaries. Instead of being on their side of the primaries, he turned against them, has now turned against John Cornyn. And I think Joe in the end, you know, that race, of all the things that Trump has exhibited this kind of power in the last few weeks, from Indiana to Louisiana, now to Thomas Massey's seat

where he's flexing his muscle and proving to people that he still continues to have this vice-like grip over the Republican Party, and he does. But the biggest story of the day yesterday is the possibility that Donald Trump has just, if not given away, has certainly made the Texas Senate seat competitive in a way that it would have been competitive probably even if Cornyn had won the race. But if Ken Paxton wins the primary, Texas is not just in play, but there's an argument that James Taylorico is a favorite there, that could be ballgame for the United States Senate, given what we're seeing in terms of the national polling and the number of Senate seats now that we're supposed to be safe that are now in play where Democrats feel pretty strong.

This could be like that that's the big news of yesterday on the political front is that Paxton endorsement. There's the biggest news. All this stuff. And speaking, we're continuing the unchained melody, which, by the way, I expect to, you need to bump out on on that one instead of, of course, probably not the theme song to Team America because we can't do that. But those are all the reasons why Bill Paxton's weak Canada. But you know, here's the thing. I think John Lamere, with all due respect to fine, fine reporters covering these stories. I think they're getting the story right in front of them. Oh, Donald Trump's still very powerful with the Republican base.

Look how powerful. We must fear him. Really? He's like the guy that picks out the players who are on the Washington generals to play against the Globetrotters. Like, okay, yay, okay, great. Herschel Walker, you. Donald Trump picked you to go play on the Washington. Oz, Dr. Oz, you get to run for Senate in Pennsylvania.

Remember everybody made such a big deal about that? Mastirano. Mastirano, Donald Trump's supporting you. You get to run. I mean, they all lose. They all lose. And he's done it again. So the story is not.

Oh, Donald Trump, he keeps picking who wins the president. No, he keeps picking losers. It had like the Democrats, you know, Mastirano, Oz, you just keep going through all of it. And here he's done it again in Texas. And you've got guys and women in the Republican Senate, Senate, going, oh, my, look at that. Trump left fuming after at least 14 of his candidates, we're going to lose. Of course they lost the midterms. Donald Trump endorsed them.

And here he's done it again in the big. biggest prize, the state of Texas, where you have Tala Rica who actually knows how to win elections. So, Joe, you're telling me that President Donald Trump is acting in his own self-interest rather than for the good of the party. That would be the first time that's ever happened. But that's, but that is what's happening here. This is a personal vendetta from Trump. He is targeting his foes in the Republican Party, those who oppose them in Indiana. You know, obviously Thomas Massey, Bill Cassidy, voted for his impeachment.

And now we have, of course, John Cornyn, who he deemed a lukewarm supporter in Texas. He is taking out his foes, but hurting his party's chances while he does it. This is motivated by vengeance. This is the retribution tour. We've seen the Department of Justice do their part, going after his political foes, whether it's James Comey, Letitia James, and the like. Here he's doing it within the Republican Party. And sure, he's effective at that.

But you make a great point. the theme here is he's hurting his party's chances. We just showed a tweet a moment ago listing the number of ways that Senator Cassidy has defied Trump in the last few days since his primary loss. That's significant, including with the war powers resolution. Perhaps if Cornyn were to lose in Texas, he would do the same. But at minimum, here's the tweet here. Look, he said he's going to vote against Cassidy, vote against the Ballroom Project.

You know, he has said, he called Paxton a fellow. And then most significantly yesterday, the war powers vote. You know, also, Texas now in play. Now, it's long been the white whale for Democrats. Maybe Paxton still figures away to win this. But right now, he would be, you know, that's a toss-up. And he's at a significant fundraising disadvantage for Talariko, who has shown remarkable political skill. So, yeah, Joe, I mean, this is a theme here, is that Trump is doing what he wants to do, whether that's building the ballroom, whether that's,

that's having this January 6th slush fund, whether it's have the IRS, never be able to investigate him, his family, or any business. That's all for him. And these moves here for him, not the party. Yeah, the cop killer slush fund. Yeah, that ought to go over pretty well-focused groups in Gary, Indiana, and Peoria, and, you know, you just go down the list. Suburbs of Philadelphia, that should be fascinating.

So David Drucker, it seems to me, I wish I had a spin wheel. we could decide. You could either talk about Paxton, talk about a Texas race, whether that's fools' gold for Republicans again. You could talk about the Harlem Globe Trotters. You could talk about what happened in Kentucky last night. But I am curious, what's your, what's your read on the Republicans right now being behind historically in these generic ballot test and them getting the news that it's likely they're going to have to throw millions and millions of dollars into a Texas race with Ken Paxson that they wouldn't if John Cornyn won. Yeah, well, the problem with being in a vice, Joe, is even when you know you're in a vice,

you're in a vice. It means you have a hard time getting out of it. And who knows? Look, maybe this slush fund will end up compensating Jim Comey and Letitia James. And then they can say, listen, we were serious about this. anti-weaponization thing. But otherwise, and you know, maybe they'll refer to the ballroom as a job's creating program. There's a lot of construction there. Abs and all of that, these are, as you have mentioned, really big problems for Republicans, and they know this. All right, they are saying

this in very subtle, careful ways, which actually is a big deal when you look at how, you know, Congress has been functioning in this second Trump presidency. But as I reported for the dispatch in a story that posted earlier this week, Trump, power in Republican primaries is such that when the first order of business to keep your job is winning renomination, you don't feel, and it's kind of true that there's not much you can do. And for instance, I talked to one Republican strategist who told me that when they test issues for candidates in Republican primaries to see what's going to move them ahead, various standard conservative issues will move you up by 20 points.

The Trump endorsement, if you tested, if this candidate had the Trump endorsing, This candidate has a Trump endorsement. That moves you up by 50 points. There is no single better way to win a Republican nomination or to avoid defeat than to say that the president is on your side. And so that's where these guys find themselves. I will say one thing about Texas because I can't help myself. And as I said last week, I'm just going to be wrong one day. I've been covering Texas for two decades.

It's the big red whale and it's really hard for Democrats to flip. do not do not expect if they're being honest and if they're going to stick to this don't expect party and party affiliated organizations to spend a dime there what they're telling me is that trump has plenty of money all of his groups you've got about 350 to 400 million dollars depending on how you count it and since he has the money and since as one republican insider told me you broke it you bought it they're going to say this is your project, we have more important, more pressing needs in North Carolina and Maine and everywhere else. But it is going to be tough for Tala Rico, even with Paxton, who I like to say

is carrying around a 10-piece luggage set of scandal just because of the lean there. But it is now in play. I wouldn't say Tala RICO's favored, but this thing is in play and it cannot be more. Yeah, I mean, Kent Paxson, my God, he makes Edwin Edwards look like Billy Graham. With all due respect to both Edward Edwards and Billy Graham there. I mean, he is carrying some heavy baggage. You bring up really interesting point about funding, too, and it's something that if you just scan, scan who contributed last night to races, there are these outside groups. And right now,

you've got these tech bros who have gone to decidedly far right, MAGA ride on woke issues. And right now you have Andreessen Horowitz being the largest contributors in American politics. And they're piling all their money toward MAGA candidates right now. Expect that money to be flying all over the place. Same thing in an Alabama primary last night for Senate, three unknowns, who came out ahead. The guy that had crypto bros dumping millions and millions of dollars in an Alabama race that nobody knows anything out about. Today, later on, we're going to have Riley Griffin with Bloomberg reporting on the largest data center ever made that's going to have enough power in an unknown part of Louisiana,

this quiet little part of Louisiana, that will generate enough power to fuel Manhattan. Like, this is the new political infrastructure where AI, tech bros, tech monopolist, crypto kings, they're coming in and they're buying elections. And they did it last night quietly. And you're right about Texas. The only thing I will say about Texas is you look at the history of Texas. I think Barack Obama lost it by 13. Hillary lost it by nine.

Biden lost it by five. breaking pretty well that way. I think somebody got within two or three points of Ted Cruz. That was better over a war in 2018. Beto got within a few points. I've been calling, like you, and like I called Pennsylvania's fools gold until 2016. I've been calling Texas fools gold. Well, looks like the Republicans may just pick a fool that may turn over the gold to Democrats. We shall see, Mika. Well, you know, if we could just put up the Ken Paxton graphic for a moment as I go to Ed Luce, but President Trump, of course, presidents always have a purpose behind their endorsements.

And as we look at the list of concerns one might have about this candidate, President Trump made this announcement saying Paxton is a true MAGA warrior. Read this and think about that. Yep, highlighting the Texas AGs. support for ending the filibuster and the so-called Save America Act. And by the way, he also posted as to why he didn't endorse Cornyn. He was not supportive of me when times were tough. Okay. So amid all this, Ed Luce, you're writing about America's ailing one-trick pony.

Tell us about it. Well, this is the ongoing situation in Iran. I mean, having talked about all the disturbing things happening at home, thank God we've got a well-fought war to turn to. But sarcasm apart, the continued emphasis by this Department of Defense or Department of War, as Hex-F calls it, by this White House on America's ability to blow people the smithereens. And the continued failure to realize that this doesn't intimidate Iran. It doesn't produce concessions by Iran. I think just underlines the fact that America has for too long believed that military superiority is a substitute for diplomacy. We had a deal here with the JCPOA in 2015 that took 20 months to negotiate.

The people doing the negotiations were experts. There were a lot of very seasoned negotiators, State Department with their nuclear advisors. It took them 20 months to do that. That Trump thinks threatening Iran with more Stone Age scenarios is going to get it to change to the degree that within a two or three day period, Wikov and Kushner, can negotiate a better deal than Obama did in 20 months without, by the way, ever threatening to bomb Iran into the Stone Age,

just I think underlines the point here that the one-trick pony is having what Hegg-Seth calls lethality, precision, ability to blow stuff up, is no substitute for thinking. But I think, and, you know, I don't want to sort of make myself unpopular in Washington. Trump is part of a continuing tradition here. We saw this with the Iraq War. We saw this with the kill ratios that McNamara talked about in the Vietnam War. There is a tendency to confuse military power for strategy.

And I think Operation Epic Fury, therefore, is in a long line of situations where America wins battle after battle after battle and loses the war. Ed Luce will always be popular in Washington. Let's start with that. Elizabeth Bue Miller, let's try to connect all of this and sort of this one theme here. No doubt, President Trump's still very strong in the Republican Party, still able to flex within use the levers of government to benefit himself and his priorities here at home.

But even though that is strength, he's showing real weakness on the world stage with the war in Iran. He is showing weakness in terms of how he's perceived by the American public writ large. He may be just endangered the Senate majority for Republicans. And I think we're seeing voters look at this and say he cares about himself and his own priorities. He's not caring about us and what got him elected in the first place. And we're seeing polls reflect that he's consistently in the mid-30s, but risking dragging his whole party down in November. This is correct. He's still very strong among Republicans, but the Republican brand is not as strong as it once was,

largely because of President Trump. He is having, we had the times at a poll this week. He has the lowest ratings of both of his terms so far in the 30s, as you said. And he's also losing some support among Republicans, certainly on the economy. So what you see right now, I think, especially with this deal with the IRS, which would basically give Trump immunity from any audit by the IRS for the rest of his life and for his children. And you sort of see him preparing for trying to inoculate himself after he leaves the White House. He's made a fortune with crypto. He's now his net worth is estimated at $6 billion now. He's made quite a bit of money in the White House. all of these deals he's made. You think he sort of sees the end of his term, I think,

and is just trying to enoculate himself from future investigations, from future audits, and any kind of, and, and it's, you're right, it's all about the president, especially the other day when he said that I just don't even think about what this war is doing to the American people,

you know, and the financial, financial, hard times they're facing. So yes, this is all about President Trump. And you also see one last point. He is kind of, you know, with his focus on the reflecting pool, painting the reflecting pool, building the ballroom, building the arch, this Garden of Heroes. He's kind of, you know, he's looked, this seems to be his, he seems to be bored of some aspects of the presidency because he's so focused on these, these big building projects from, is there an earlier era. in his life.

Yeah, and so that's a fascinating you say that. I was just thinking the same thing a couple of days ago. My God, he's bored with his toys inside the White House. I really think I've been wondering about that. Yeah. This him yesterday, but

you know, there's not a war going on. So, anyway, but there's, Tom, look at this. Mom. Nothing to see here. Look, I got a new model. So, Lego. Well, listen. Elizabeth, we always love having you on. Writer at Larson, the York Times, Elizabeth Rue Miller, a legend.

And I hope you do appreciate the fact that I let it out. I invented a little bit so you could remain mindful and a bit stoic this morning. We always love having you. Thank you, Joe. So generous. You know, it's what I try to do, wise mind instead of emotion mind. Elizabeth, thank you so much. I hope you come back very soon.

soon. Mika, what do we have coming up? So very wise. Still ahead on morning show. We'll get to the growing questions surrounding a new legal deal that could prevent the IRS from auditing President Trump and his family. Plus, we'll be joined by someone who's publicly stood up to the president and is looking to take the fight to Capitol Hill, retired Army lieutenant colonel Alex Vindman, who's running for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida. He joins us straight ahead. And as we go to break, a look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Acqueweathers, Bernie Raina. Bernie, how's it looking? Miko, one more steamy day from the I-95 corridor to the coast, but your exclusive

ACU with a forecast, also calling for some spotty but strong thunderstorms this afternoon with downpours and gusty winds. Note the cooling in Chicago, 58 degrees. That heads for the East Coast tomorrow. Spotty but dredging thunderstorms, Atlanta, Central Gulf Coast states, watch South Texas as well this morning. And delays, we're going to have them. Atlanta, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia this afternoon. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the note. Download the ACUweather app today.

Welcome back. Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman became a key player in President Trump's first impeachment while serving on the National Security Council back in 2019 when Trump pressured Ukrainian president Philotemir Zelensky to investigate then Democratic candidate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election, Vindman and his brother Eugene,

who now serves as a congressman from Virginia, reported their concerns, sparking investigations. Now Vindman is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in Florida and has been making a concerted effort to reach out to Republicans and independence across the state. And Alex Vindman joins us now with more on his campaign.

I want to also ask you about the situation in Ukraine in just a moment. But first, tell us about what you're hearing from Floridians and how your campaign is going so far. Good to be here with you, Miga. The campaign is going great. We are a little over three months old traveling the state from one end to the other. We are talking to Democrats, independents, and Republicans. in hearing the same concerns about the skyrocketing costs and frankly a system that's rigged for the billionaire class for special interests in concert with career politicians.

And the pressure is shifting to ordinary people. So that message is cross-cutting. For me, it's a privilege and an honor to fight for this state. This is the first place my wife, a daughter, and I could call home after 22 years in service nearly 22 years and combat veteran. and now I'm fighting to make sure that my daughter, who's 15 years old, ninth grader, when she becomes an adult as 18-year-old, she finds that Florida is a place she wants to call home,

that there are jobs here, that this is an affordable place to live. And if you are with me in this fight to deliver for the people of Florida, please join me at Alexvenman.com. You know, Alex, Florida is not a natural state for Democrat to run. I mean, when I was there, you know, Tim Russohn famously said it's all about Florida, Florida, Florida, because it was a swing state over the past four or five years. Any Democratic or Republican operative you talked to would say there's no way Democrats can ever win here. The Democratic Party just in the last election especially, just sort of pulled up stakes and moved out.

There was no organized Democratic party. And yet, a couple months ago, the first Democratic. mayor in Miami is elected since I think 1993. Emily Gregory, actually, Democrat, wins the state rep seat for Moralago. And I saw, I'm seeing polls showing you and also David Jolly in the governor's race getting closer and closer. And a couple of them actually have you all ahead. What's happening there that's making a state that went for Donald Trump by what, seven, eight, nine, ten points? Why is it so competitive now? That's exactly right.

This poll that came out just a couple of days ago, it has me up by two. And it's a run on a Trump plus 12 electorate. We modeled a Trump plus 12 electorate, so we didn't do a layup for ourselves. The reason that's happening is that the electorate is in a completely different space. This is a generational shift that we're seeing. That Democrats are out in force. They're showing up in large numbers. independents that are, you know, non-politically aligned that are not necessarily ideological

about who they vote for, are showing up for Democrats in a big way, moderate Democrats that are there to deliver on costs and ending corruption. And Republicans are crossing over. This is what I'm seeing. When I went to the villages just a couple of weeks ago, I walked that line before Donald Trump gave his rally. And what it was clear to me is that, you know, they're not going to say anything bad about the guy. But what was clear to me is that, you know, they are concerned about their parents on fixed income being able to continue to live in the state of Florida. They're concerned about their children having jobs in an affordable place to live. People across the political spectrum, this is the most important thing, are concerned about are really kitchen table issues.

And this administration has been crushing them with a war in Iran that's driving up gas prices. You know, I was at a gas station that was over $5. It's well over $4.4.4.4.000. and a half dollars on average across the state. So these are the issues that are forefront of mind. It is not ideological. It's about who is going to be the candidate that delivers some relief from these costs and breaks a broken system designed for the billionaire class, designed for the ultra wealthy, and while the burden's shift to ordinary people. Colonel Vindman, we have John Heilman with us. There's a slight delay here, and he has the question for you now. Hey, Alex, you're just talking about poll numbers. A lot of people in the political

world were struck this week by the depth of the president's difficulties as reflected in the most recent New York Times poll. And of all the numbers in that poll, you could look at the various groups where he is now underwater. One of those that really stood out was his standing with Hispanic voters where he's 51 points, 51 points underwater from where he was nationally with Hispanics since the 2024 election. We know that Latino voters are really important in Florida, but they're different from Hispanic voters in Texas and other places around the country.

Are you certain to see signs in Florida that the president's unpopularity with the particular brand of Latino voters that are in Florida is as bad as it is nationally? And how much do you think that will play in the statewide races in your state this fall? Yeah, what I'm seeing is, frankly, across the political spectrum,

You know, from ruby red to deep blue, a lot of the same issues resonating. Again, you know, we're cutting Affordable Care Act subsidies where the prices of gas are going up. Those types of it, we have the highest insurance rates in the country. My opponent, Ashley Moody, is tethered to all these things that are cost factors. So that's one of the things. I think for the Hispanic community, it's a deep sense of insecurity that is being introduced by the way the Hispanic community and the black community. communities kind of are under siege, under attack. So they're open to these kinds of messages. But unless Democrats are in a position to deliver that they are a proven fighter, somebody that's

credible and principled, that's not going to connect and translate. And what I'm seeing is, in my candidacy as a veteran serving this country in war zones at the highest levels, having reported corruption at the highest levels of power, that is connecting across the political spectrum. And it's really to me, you know, I think people are missing the real story about Florida. This state is in fact in play. These statewide races are in play. And that there will be a whole slew of good candidates that are connecting with the electorate in a way that people haven't seen around the country. So I'm seeing it in my campaign. I'm quite optimistic that we'll be able to score when I'll have to convert believers to make sure we come on board because we need

resources from every corner. But watch out for Florida. Floridians are coming back. It's people power that's going to drive this campaign. And we're going to win some big races in November. I want to, before we go, switch to foreign policy. Obviously, Ukraine has something that you've been connected with in many ways, personally, and also along with your brother back during Donald Trump's first impeachment. How would you describe? how this president is managing the situation between Russia and Ukraine. I'll put it that way. I think what we're seeing out of this administration is deeply misplaced priorities, whether that's sidling up to enemies and casting aside our allies,

drawing down forces to deter aggression from, you know, from Russia and other belligerent regimes. Same thing with regards to Iran picking a war there without any strategy. What I think the people in Florida deserve around the country deserve is somebody that's going to be thoughtful, is not going to be purely a rubber stamp for power that is not intimidated. That should be crystal clear. I'm in this fight to deliver for the people of Florida. My opponent is there as a rubber stamp. We need folks that are independent minded in the Senate to hold the administration accountable when their priorities are completely misaligned. When those priorities are driving up costs, when those priorities are, you know, triggering.

a proliferation or fraud, waste, and abuse. We need folks that hold this administration account, and any administration in the future, too. We can't have folks that are owned by special interests or ideologically driven. We need principled actors. And that's what you get with me. That's what I've delivered for this country.

And that's going to be changed priorities around our farm policy as well as domestic policy. And I'm proud to be in this fight for the people of Florida. Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida and former director of European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council Lieutenant Colonel, Alex Vindman. Thank you very much for being on the show this morning.

We appreciate it. And Ed Luce, let's pick up the thread about Ukraine. Obviously, there's some momentum here. Ukraine with advances in drone technology, has reversed some of Russian gains, has reclaimed some territory, has been able to strike deep within Russia, and seemingly Putin,

on Putin on his back foot. Now, he goes today, though, or he landed yesterday in Beijing. Just a week after President Trump had a summit there, now Putin does. And we know China has been at least nominally supportive of some of their war games. So give us your sense here about the precariousness, perhaps, of Putin's position. Well, it's interesting, Jonathan. I mean, all of a sudden, and it's not really all of a sudden, this has been apparent for a while, it seems that Zelensky is the one with the cards.

Remember, of course, Trump's saying he had no card. The extraordinary ability to innovate, produce at scale, to change should of designs based on real-time battlefield experience within hours, and then to become an export powerhouse to the Gulf, amongst other regions, for both interceptor and drone technology, has put Putin on the back foot. I mean, people comment that America has a great margin of error because, you know, it's flanked by oceans, benign neighbors,

got the most extraordinary military in the world, and that Trump has been using up a lot of that margin of error. Putin has used up all of his much slimmer margin of error. And this trip to Beijing, a very sort of nervous, insecure trip, following on from Trump's last week, just to check, you know, did he say anything about me? You know, what did you guys agree? I think is a measure of the fact that Putin is a very, very insecure.

He's in a very precarious position. What he's offering China, what he's trying to push on China, is a new pipeline from Russia to China that would deliver more of China's oil and gas. and China's not that interested. It doesn't want to become dependent on Russia for too much of its energy. And it doesn't like the price that Russia is offering. So I've no doubt that in these talks,

Putin's lowering that price and offering other inducements. But there's a whiff of desperation about Putin. And as I say, Zelensky's got a lot of cards. Yeah, you know, a year ago, and it'll be interested in this, a year ago when I went to London to interview the mayor. We had a roundtable talk about reporting.

I will say one of the things I didn't report, but something that everybody was talking about over lunch, all these reporters and military people, they talked about drone warfare. And they said, the things we're seeing right now, just mind-blowing, what's happening. And at the same time, I was hearing reports out of American universities. And I talked about Georgetown of students who were developing systems to detect drones and other things in the area. And those systems are obviously being used on the battlefield now. And that's happening at Stanford. That's happening at Georgetown.

That's happening at NYU. That's happening at Dartmouth. That's happening at BC. That's happening all across America. And so it's just a tidal wave of technology. that Putin can't keep it. There's no way he can keep up with it. And it is a difference between the West and the East. It's a difference between East Germany and West Germany between North Korea and South Korea. And we're seeing it play out right now on the battlefield. Let's go, though,

from the battlefield in Ukraine to the battlefield, David Drucker political battlefield. We talked about Texas. Let's talk about Florida. My Florida friends tell me that it's gone. long gone. They told me that the last couple of years. And yet we are seeing some polls. We're also seeing some weaknesses in Byron Donald's that just keep coming up that make you wonder

if Florida could possibly be in play, how bad could this tidal wave be if there is a blue wave? If there is a blue wave this fall. Right. And it sort of depends on how big is the wave? And is it a healthy swell or is it a wave?

Look, I keep your eye, number one on independent voters, right? I mean, I'm a broken record on this, but particularly in midterm elections, in all elections, but particularly in midterms, you look at the independent voters, and they're going to tell you exactly what's happening. And, you know, in 2022, I've said this before, Joe Biden's numbers were not good at all. They were horrible. Inflation was rising. People were concerned about public safety. It was a popery of political hay for Republicans. And the Democrats ended up gaining a Senate seat and only losing just enough House seats to lose the majority because their majority was so thin. Why? Democrats won independent voters by two points. Right now, Democrats are leading among independent voters and generic balloting in a lot of these races by double digits.

And in some cases, high double digits. And that just tells you how toxic the environment is for Republicans. And so what that's doing is creating competitive races or races to watch where there shouldn't be. And Florida is one of those places. So look, what I'll be looking for, Joe in Florida, you're going to know this better than me. You've done this before is do the Democrats do anything to rebuild the party infrastructure? I mean, one of the things that has really hurt them is that as Florida has become a red state, which happened during COVID and the migration of Republicans from other parts of the country into Florida, the strength of their party has disintegrated into almost nothing,

and Vindman is going to need some help there. He's also going to have to run as a center-left, but not far-left Democrat, and not get concerned about criticism on social media and other places that are going to want him to take far-left positions that are not going to go over well in South Florida with Hispanics. I'll end with this on Florida in particular. Back when it was still a swing state in 2018, I was talking to the mayor of Hialeah in 2019,

who told me he believed Andrew Gillum would have narrowly defeated Ron DeSantis if he wasn't a self-identified socialist. And I know Republicans throw this around all the time and Democrats think it's a joke. But in Florida, where a lot of Hispanics or their families fled from socialist regimes, particularly Cuba, you can identify somebody as a socialist and it can really kill their candidacy. So let's see what kind of a race Vindman runs. All right, senior writer at the dispatch and a calmness at Bloomberg opinion. And David Drucker, thank you very much.

Ed Luce of the Financial Times. Thank you as well, both Ed and David's. New pieces are online to read right now. And David mentioned Cuba. Cuba's president is warning of a, quote, bloodbath. If the United States were to attack the island nation, this comes after Axis reported earlier this week, that Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones

and could be preparing to use them. against the U.S. Last Thursday, CIA director John Radcliffe traveled to Havana and bluntly warned officials there against engaging in hostilities. Our next guest is renowned historian, Pulitzer Prize winning, for her 2021 book, Cuba, an American history that takes a sweeping look at more than 500 years of the island's story. Now, her next project, the author, Ada Ferrer, is using her historical prowess in a personal way in a new book, Out Now, titled Keeper of My Kin, Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter. Ada traces her own family history across generations and against the backdrop of Cold War politics. And Ada joins us now. It's great to have you on the show.

Thank you, congratulations on the book. Thank you. It's great to be here. Tell us why this story, the time is now for this story. Yeah, well, you know, it's a story of a family torn between two places, Cuba and the United States, over many decades. And it's also a story of family separation. You know, we talk the things you were talking about just now, you know, possible bloodbath in Cuba, the CIA visiting drone warfare, et cetera. You know, all these things play out on the ground for people in really intimate, how.

sometimes inescapable ways. And so here I tell a story over more than 50 years, 70 years of a family that is trying to survive and love and stay together against the backdrop of the coming of the Cuban Revolution, U.S. Cuban relations, U.S. immigration policy. So all those things really made our family. They actually broke our family as well. So, Otto, let's dive in a little deeper on that. You migrated to the United States to 9663.

year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Certainly the politics of Cuba played a huge role in your family. Tell us how that shaped those who left, but also those who stayed behind. Yeah. When my mother and I left together, I was an infant. I was 10 months old. And for complicated reasons, she had to leave her son behind, my half-brother. His father, her first husband, was a member of the relatively new Revolutionary Police, thought it would look bad to have his son go to the U.S., so again, their politics and history playing out in unexpected ways. So my mother left brought me, and he stayed behind. They thought it would be a temporary thing, you know, a year or two at most. Fidel Castro would fall or the father would change his mind.

And then that didn't happen. He didn't join us until the Mariel boat lift. Again, history kind of rearing its head and shaping the trajectory of this family. Tell us who you, really hope reads this book. Who's this book for, especially as immigration policies have gone to an extreme, maybe some would say, here in the United States. Well, you know, I didn't expect when I was writing this book for it to be so timely. You know, I was writing it, and then the deportation started and the immigration crackdown started, and then it became timely in a particular way, because the book tries to humanize the immigrant experience, right? People don't come here just to have a good time. People come here because they feel they have no choice

and they struggle to make things work. And now this year it's become timely for a different reason, which is the possibility of a U.S. attack on Cuba. So who do I hope reads it? I hope all immigrants read it. I hope all people deciding the fates of immigrants read it. I hope the people deciding the fates of Cuba read it. I hope people both in Cuba and the U.S. both, both of whom are deciding the fates of the island. You get to read it. The new book entitled, Keeper of My Can Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter is on sale now, author, historian, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Adda Ferrer. Thank you very much for coming on the show this morning.

We appreciate it. Thank you.