Maddow: Trump in retreat as disastrous anti-immigrant campaign becomes political catastrophe

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The Rachel Maddow Show 46 min 4 speakers 8 chapters transcribed
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What factors led to the escalation of Trump's anti-immigrant campaign?

Rachel Maddow 0:00
The U.S. military deployed on the streets of America. Whole communities targeted for removal.
Unknown 0:06
There was tremendous anxiety as they saw neighbors and friends being taken.
Rachel Maddow 0:11
And when accountability finally came knocking, the burn order to cover it all up.
Unknown 0:17
I never believed that America would be doing this.
Rachel Maddow 0:20
A stain on this country, one that we said we would never repeat. Rachel Maddow presents Burn Order. All episodes available now. Really happy to have you here tonight as President Donald Trump and the Trump administration bend and then break under pressure that it turns out they cannot handle. They underestimated the people of Minnesota and the strength of feeling in this country right now in support of the people of Minneapolis. Tonight, the Trump administration is pulling Border Patrol official Greg Bovino and some number of Border Patrol agents out of Minneapolis. We do not know if this is the end of what they've been calling Operation Metro Surge, this sustained, very large-scale paramilitary attack on the cities of Minneapolis and St.
Rachel Maddow 1:13
Paul. We don't know if it is the end of that Operation Full Stop, but we know it's the end of something. Our latest reporting here at MSNOW per our reporters Carol Lennig and Mark Santia is this, quote, "'According to two officials briefed on the matter, Gregory Bovino is expected to be removed from commanding the operation in Minnesota possibly as early as tomorrow,' meaning Tuesday." There will also be a reduction of Homeland Security officers and agents in the state. Again, that's new reporting from MSNOW. We're also aware of new reporting in The Atlantic tonight. And this is reporting that we have not confirmed ourselves, but I'll tell you that reporter Nick Miroff, who has an excellent reputation at The Atlantic tonight, he reports this under the headline, quote, "'Greg Bovino loses his job.'"
Rachel Maddow 2:02
Quote, Greg Bravino has been removed from his role as Border Patrol commander at large and will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a Homeland Security official and two people with knowledge of the change. Bovino's sudden demotion is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reconsidering its most aggressive tactics after the killing Saturday of 37-year-old Alex Preddy by Border Patrol agents under Bovino's command. Nick Miroff reports, quote, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her close advisor, Corey Lewandowski, who were Bovino's biggest backers at Homeland Security, are now also at risk of losing their jobs.
Rachel Maddow 2:51
Miroff citing two sources to advance that story about Kristi Noem and Lewandowski potentially losing their jobs as well. Again, reporting from reporter Nick Miroff. He's formerly of The Washington Post, but he's now at The Atlantic. Tonight, the Homeland Security Department spokesperson said that Bovino, quote, "...has not been relieved of his duties." Chief Gregory Bovino has not been relieved of his duties. It sounds like pushback, but if you think about it, it doesn't exactly answer the question. I mean, that assertion that he has not been relieved of his duties might in fact be quite consistent with the reporting in The Atlantic that Mr. Bovino has been sent home to California where he is expected to retire soon.

How are communities in Minnesota responding to federal actions?

Rachel Maddow 3:38
That could also be true, while tonight he has not been relieved of his duties. I don't know. We don't know what heads will roll or exactly in which direction they shall roll. We shall see. But clearly, President Trump and the Trump administration are in retreat on what had been a violent attack occupation, I think it's fair to say, of a major American city that they essentially hoped to be the front page news headline that everybody remembered about the Trump administration at this time at the start of Trump's second year in his second term in office. They went big with this on their own terms. Nobody asked for this. Nobody put them up to it. They decided to launch this in order to show off what they could do.
Rachel Maddow 4:27
And now they are in full retreat, with it being viewed both as a practical debacle and a moral debacle, and they are paying a considerable political price for it.

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