As Trump stokes fear to leverage his power, Jen Psaki weighs the cost of obeying his demands against the reward of resisting. Congressman Jamie Raskin joins the show to help to break down the ways in which the courts, lawmakers and the American people are standing up to Trump. Later, Jen welcomes former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov to reflect on the ways that Americans can prevent the country from backsliding into dictatorship. Jen also delves into RFK Jr.’s first press conference as HHS Secretary amid the deadly measles outbreak, in which Kennedy promoted claims about autism. Dr. Ashish Jha joins to discuss how the scientific community views Kennedy's agenda, and the damage it's doing to public health. Check out our social pages below:https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsakihttps://www.instagram.com/InsideWithPsaki/https://www.tiktok.com/@insidewithpsakihttps://www.msnbc.com/jen-psakihttps://bsky.app/profile/insidewithpsaki.msnbc.com
Full Episode
OK, there is a lot of good stuff happening right now. We're seeing some real fight from Democratic lawmakers. That's good. We're seeing institutions stand up to Donald Trump. That's definitely good. We're seeing courts stop him in his tracks. That's great. And this weekend, we saw more massive protests all across the country.
But I actually wanted to start today by talking about fear, because fear is clearly a major driver of Trump's brand of politics, always has been. And how we all respond to that fear in this moment is going to determine a whole lot about the future of this country. Congressman Jamie Raskin summed it up pretty well in the New York Times this week.
He said, there's a regime of fear that's been brought down on society. People need to see leaders and organizers standing up and speaking with authority against what's happening. Congressman Jamie Raskin summed it up very well there. He's here today. We have a lot to talk about. We're going to talk to him in just a moment.
But I also want to talk about a few other things, because this week we also saw at least one Republican acknowledge that fear too. I mean, during an event in Alaska this week, Senator Lisa Murkowski was asked what she would say to people who are afraid right now. And she was way more candid than I at least expected her to be.
What do you have to say to people who are afraid? Or who represent people who are afraid? We are all afraid. Okay. but we are We're in a time and a place where I don't know, I certainly have not been here before. And I'll tell you, I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real.
And that's not right. That's definitely not right. And retaliation is real. We've seen it. Those fears are real. We all know that Trump is vindictive, and he's betting he can gain a lot of leverage by creating even more fear. But at the same time, we've already seen that giving in to his demands gets you absolutely nowhere. I mean, when law firms cave, the demands don't stop.
The firms that struck deals with Trump are now learning that the White House will effectively be choosing their pro bono clients for them. And when universities cave, the demands don't stop either. Columbia's deal with Trump might now include a court decree giving the White House control over the university's management. And when media outlets cave, the demands definitely don't stop.
I mean, Paramount entered into settlement talks with Trump over a frivolous lawsuit, and Trump still pushed the FCC to revoke CBS's broadcast license. Point is this, capitulating to Trump won't save you. You'll just be targeted again and again. Because when you give in to Trump's demands, you're just sending the message his threats and tactics work. You're not putting the episode behind you.
You're just inviting more demands. That's how mob bosses work. And remember, fear is what Donald Trump sees as his most effective tool. In some ways, it's his only tool. Fear of retribution and fear of him weaponizing the powers of his office is basically what he relies on. And he's obviously relying on it to use that office in ways we've never seen before.
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