jewish. what do you feel and think as a jewish watching all of this play out in these last hundred days? >> well you know, chris, what i would hope and would like is i would respond accordingly, if this was taking place in italy, or in ireland, i would feel the same way. i have to tell, you having spent months in israel as a kid, knowing the history of antisemitism and the holocaust, to see a right-wing israeli government create this kind of misery, in gaza, it is extraordinarily -- it. >> thank you for your time tonight. appreciate it. that is all in on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight begins right now. we're back in the same room. i like it. >> no one likes it more than me my friend. thank you for a great show. and thanks to you at home

for joining me this evening. the last time the republicans had a contested presidential primary was the year 2016. and no it seemed sort of impossible to imagine now the party was kind of divided about trump's victory all the way to the convention floor, and you saw that no more clearly than when senator ted cruz went to the podium in a prime time speaking slot, i might add, and refused to mention trump's name during his convention speech. and boy, oh, boy did people notice. >> if you love our country and love your children as much as i know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience. vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom. god bless each and every one of you, and god bless the united states of america.

>> prior to that moment, before all those just deafening boos, ted cruz and donald trump had been going at each other for months. relations between these two men were not good. trump regularly went after ted cruz's family during the primary. he weirdly and baselessly accused cruz's father of playing a role in the kennedy assassination. he insulted cruz's wife, heidi cruz, for her appearance. and senator ted cruz was quite obviously furious over it. >> donald doesn't like strong women. strong women scare donald. i don't get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time. donald, you're a sniveling cowered, and leave heidi the hell alone. >> but ted cruz was not an outlier that year. other candidates running against

trump were also able to muster some amount of courage to speak out about him, to maybe even stand up to him and his candidacy. senator marco rubio was running against trump in 2016, and this is what marco rubio had to say. >> donald trump is a con artist. guys, we have a con-artist as a front runner in the republican party. we cannot allow the conservative movement to be taken over by a con-artistch you all have friends thinking about voting for donald trump. friends do not let friends vote for con-artists. >> that was the last time trump had a contested primary and what a difference eight years milwaukees. senator marco rubio who spent a fair part of 2016 calling donald trump a con-artist has this week endorsed trump for president despite the fact now trump has actually legally been proven to be a con-artist by a federal judge. in september judge arcter engoron ruled trump was guilty

of defrauding banks and defrauding insurance companies, that he's been gaming the system. and that judge is right now as we speak deliberating how much money likely millions and millions of dollars donald trump must pay for his swindling. but marco rubio hasn't said anything about that con this time around. meanwhile, ted cruz who made some real waves back in 2016 calling out trump's fear of strong women and urging republicans to vote their conscience, last night ted cruz also endorsed donald trump for president. and he did so in the very same week that mr. trump is sitting in a new york courtroom having been found civilly liable for defamation of a woman strong enough to take donald trump to court, a woman that the civil court says donald trump sexually abused. but senator cruz had nothing to say about strong women or

consciences this week. the loyal judgments republicans once made about donald trump apparently do not matter. the fact donald trump said 12 days ago, 12 days ago ted cruz he shouldn't even exist, i could have destroyed him but i let him live. even that did not matter to ted cruz. what we're seeing right now is the near complete capitulation of the republican party to donald trump. in addition to those senators i just mentioned, trump has locked up 23 other endorsements from senate republicans, probably a group of republican most at least inclined to be resistant to his lawlessness, nikki haley and ron desantis for their part have collected zero senate endorsements between them. over in the house trump has endorsements over 100 members. ron desantis who served in the house has five.

nikki haley has one. it's not just elected republicans, though. it is the moneyed republicans who helped get them elected. all of them are also falling in line. according to the website puck news trump campaign has put out the word to gop voters if they're not on the trump train by next month it will be noted on their permanent record and that forgiveness will get harder thereafter. the threats have apparently been effective. the hotel entrepreneur who previously gave $20 million to desantis' super pac has recently signaled to trump allies he's now supporting donald trump for president. ed mcmullen, a trump fund-raiser who served in trump's administration described a tidal wave -- a tidal wave of republican donors rushing to make amends and secure their place among trump's allies. i've never had the experience of people reaching out in such

large numbers to do a mea culpa and say how can i support the president. this is what is happening right now inside the republican party. and the reality is that at this juncture the only person meaningfully standing between donald trump and the republican nomination is nikki haley. now, donald trump has already begun ramping up his attacks on haley, dusting off the racist birther play book that he used on president obama and similarly referring to nikki haley by her first name as if to prove that i guess she somehow doesn't belong here. and in response? well, governor haley cannot even muster the kind of responses that marco rubio and ted cruz managed against donald trump just eight years ago. >> how do you feel about your

party's front-runner being held liable for sexual abuse? >> i mean, first of all, i haven't paid attention to his cases and i'm not a lawyer. all i know is that he's innocent until proven guilty. and when he's proven guilty and he's sitting in a courtroom that's exactly what i'm talking about. you've got investigations on trump and biden. >> forgive me, but a lot of people in the republican party blow it all off and say that it's all a witch hunt -- >> i think some of the cases have been political. >> this case in particular? >> this case i haven't looked at. but, look if he's found guilty he needs to pay the price. he needs to do what he's supposed to. >> joining me now is staff writer at the atlantic and author of "thank you for your servitude, donald trump and the price of submission." also mark buoy at "the new york times." thank you for joining me. mark, let me start with you first. does the speed of capitulation, the speed which dominos are

falling, does it in any surprise you given the sort of unknown "x" factors that remain in donald trump's ability to stay out of a jail cell. >> the only known here is that they always capitulate. it is stunning to hear nikki haley -- i think capitulation implies she was actually putting up a fight to begin with against donald trump. it's such a passive resistance to begin with, and then to hear that, you could diagram that answer as far as i haven't been paying attention. dana bash just like read her the headline. i mean he was found liable of sexual assault. and then i haven't -- basically i didn't see the tweak, that's sort of a later day version but i didn't see the tweet. and, look, nikki haley is not going to put up a serious fight based on just what we saw in that clip. and it does look like we're sort of in the middle of white flag week, which is in so much as there's any campaign or

resistance, and i still think nikki haley is somewhat well-positioned in new hampshire, it's not going to look anything like what we saw in 2016 or really any other contested campaign. and you're right they've all capitulateled and done it again eight years later. it's frankly disgusting to watch and seen it in a million different way. i guess to see it play out in what could be the last weeks of potential opposition to donald trump in the republican party really puts a new bow on it. and i guess this is sort of like the future that the republicans continue to choose for themselves. >> well, and it seems the incentive structure is double pronged -- is forked, if you will. on the one hand there's the incentive of i guess personal material gain, which explains the donors that are blocking to the president in their allotted time frame before they get their

reputations harmed on their personal trump scorecard or political annihilation, right? at least that's the suggestion from trump land. i think one of the most stark examples of that is the house freedom caucus chair bob good endorsed ron desantis. he now faces a primary challenger, and the trump team is like explicitly threatening him. i think a senior trump advisor said bob good won't be electable when we get done with him. it's everything short of the horse head in bed. but it tells you how the modern day republican party is run. >> right. my view of this is this has basically been baked into the cake ever since february 2021. when the republican majority -- not majority. when republicans in the sen

chose not to impeach trump, when they did not get the requisite votes that guaranteed what we're seeing now. that was the one opportunity to actually knock him out of the process. but since that didn't happen it was an inevitability he was going to regain the stature before. what i find so strange about it is trump does have this real power within the republican party. he -- and bob good is actually my congressman. i think trump could -- and his allies could make life difficult. one of the features of trump's reign in the republican party, he's actually an electoral drag in competitive general elections. candidates who tie themselves very closely to trump in a competitive race don't do very well. so it's strange you have

republican politicians who presumably care about winning elections unwilling to disentangle themselves from a guy other than 2016, other than the surprise win in 2016 has not been particularly successful for the republican party merchandise. >> mark, jamal raises a really fair night. donald trump has some big l's on the board. in terms of actually getting people into office he isn't that successful, which i think begs the question is it just the personal threats that are so resonant with elected republicans, the idea their house is going to be -- they're going to be the victim of a swatting attack, the headache of going up against trump if not the actual, you know, primary challenge or losing of the seat?

>> yeah, i wouldn't underestimate the sort of factor of worrying about their personal safety as a factor here. but i do think all the instances you just mentioned, these are statewide senate races in swingy states. and someone like bob good, mike johnson, they're not living in swing districts. they are not going to lose close -- these are not biden districts and that's true pretty much across the board. their biggest worry is being primaried. and again that's the explicit threat they're making against bob good here. i mean it's terrifying. they have this kind of power. it's a real kind of shakedown situation. we've seen it over and over again, and i think that's going to be the reality in the party. and i think you're going to have to find candidates who occasionally are not, you know, so terrified of losing and getting on the wrong side of donald trump and the base of the party. >> when you talk about a forgone

conclusion the gop would be in this position after 2021 the only thing that has really truly developed that might have changed that is trump's potential criminal exposure. i mean, there is an unknown future for this individual as it concerns the justice system, which is if anything maybe a cause for republicans to be just a little bit hesitant about put lg their chips on a man who could be, you know, in the process of a federal appeals process for criminal convictions. i mean there are 91 felony counts against him, jemele. does that lack of hesitancy surprise you at all? >> it doesn't surprise me, again, because i think that the people in the republican party do seem unwilling to make the decisive -- there's room. there's space theoretically to make this case against trump on this basis, right, that he is

criminally liable, that he may very well, you know, be convicted of serious crimes between now and november. and he's also bip a electoral loser. we should get rid of him and choose someone else. but you know that nikki haley or ron desantis seem at all capable of making that kind of argument. and not only can we not make a kind of pragmatic argument against trump but the statements are running to the political right. one thing in the previous debates basically reverting to 2012 era deficit fear mongering, and it's like what? like this -- donald trump notably was like i'm not -- i

don't care ability that stuff. that doesn't matter to me. and i feel like that's a cue follow, you follow that cue, try to make this pragmatic case that way. but they can't even seem to do that. it's very odd to me, very strange to watch. >> that is the understatement of the season. thank you both, guys, for your time tonight. we have a lot more to get to tonight. like donald trump doing his best to disrupt court proceedings today, which is a strategy? maybe? and senator elizabeth warren on an issue democrats would like to be front and center. she joins me live coming up next. d center she joins me live coming up next

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a few days before the iowa caucuses donald trump is asked about his position on abortion. >> for 54 years they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated, and i did it. and i'm proud to have done it. now, i happen to be for the exceptions like ronald reagan with the life of the mother, rape, incest. you have to win elections. >> apparently trump is both a supporter of the supreme court's decision to end roe v. wade but also a critic of abortion restrictions that could cost

republicans election wins. >> if you look at it, iran -- desantis his poll numbervise gone down to a level he's going to be out of the race very soon. it happens to coincide with that because a lot of people say if you talk five or six weeks a lot of women don't know if they're pregnant in five or six weeks. >> trump's incoherent message on abortion actually seems possibly to be working in his favor. on monday in iowa he was able to get 55% of the vote of those who favor a national abortion ban and 44% of the vote of those who oppose it. now, of course, this strategy has its limits. at some point donald trump will likely face a real question about where exactly he stands on the issue and whether he condones what is happening to women all over this country. to that end democrats in the senate today held a briefing on the state of abortion rights where victims described the painful consequences of

republican restrictions on abortion. >> are routine ultrasound showed devastating news. the brain and skull had not formed. and i remember looking at the ultrasound screen in complete disbelief. i can't believe i need another abortion, i thought. we have to flee the state. because of texas' new laws we were afraid to use a credit card or tell people where we were going. it was absolutely humiliating, and i felt physically and emotionally broken. >> joining me now is senator elizabeth warren, the democrat who is part of the senate abortion briefing today. senator warren, it's great to see you. thanks for making the time. i fiemd these stories from these women absolutely wrenching, and

i wonder how you think they may be changing what we think of is a traditionally partisan landscape when it comes to reproductive freedom. >> i think what has happened in the past 18 months since an extremist supreme court overturned roe v. wade has been like getting smacked in the face day after day after day after day after day. back when roe was in place, sure, there'd been a lot of efforts to chip away at it, but people had thought about abortion rights as something that we were guaranteed, spring court had spoken, that's what america want asked that's what america. then donald trump manages to get an extremist supreme court in place. they overturn roe, and we watch day after day as another aspect unfolds. a 10-year-old who needs an abortion and can't get it in her

state. a mother who desperately wants a baby but understands that this -- this fetus in her is badly deformed and she needs an abortion. another mother whose life is at risk and doctors stand beside her saying is she close enough to death for us to give her an abortion under local laws? so it's watching the reality unfold piece at a time, piece at a time, piece at at a time. and it's watching it unfold with a neighbor, with a sister, with a cousin, with a friend so that it spread across america. and we have truly come to see what it means to live in donald trump's america where politicians decide who gets access to abortion rather than doctors and patients.

>> you know, i think it's remarkable you call it donald trump's america because it is, in fact, of course the supreme court that he haped that overturned roe v. wade. but donald trump has somehow managed to kind of skate on both sides of the issue here by being very unclear as to being indecipherable his position on aabortion. is he going to get asked the tough question here? it's unclear if there are going to be debates in the general election season. and thus far -- go ahead. >> we don't need to ask him this question. i think that is absolutely the wrong way to frame this. he proudly put this supreme court in place. he proudly screened them for their position on abortion. and he is responsible for the state of abortion in this country right now. he is responsible for the fact

that 20 states make it virtually impossible for someone who needs an abortion to get access. he is responsible for the fact that now these courts may take away mifepristone, for example, and undermine access to abortion in california, massachusetts, and washington state and oregon and all of the places that have protected abortion. donald trump is responsible. i don't need a question to him. i don't need a debate from him. i don't need a clear statement from him. the facts are the facts. he is responsible, and abortion will be on the ballot in 2024. >> and i hear you on that. i am just going off the fact that 44% ofaucus goers who do not support aederal election for a federal abortion ban supported donald trump. he won on that issue. so clearly -- i mean the facts are the facts, but somehow they're not being communicated

to certain sections of the american electorate. >> let's remember those caucus goers are republican caucus goers. >> sure. >> who showed up in iowa in the middle of freezing weather to say no matter what i'm going to get there, and a big hunk of them said i'm going to support donald trump no matter what. i do not think this means he can pull the wool over the eyes of the prest of america, of the people who are out on the streets marching over abortion, over the people who showed up in kansas and the people who showed up in michigan. the people who said you give us a chance to vote on abortion, and we will make certain that access to abortion is protected. so i'm not worried. donald trump is responsible, and i believe regardless of what hard core republicans are going to do, i believe the rest of america is going to hold him responsible, and it's going to be one of many reasons that donald trump is going to lose in

november. >> are you confident that if the republicans game the senate it's not exactly a favorable map in 2024, that they are not going to do donald trump's bidding or the bidding of hard core anti-choice conservatives should they regain control of the upper chamber? >> oh, i think that if -- if the republicans had the house, the senate, and the white house. and please know but if that happened i don't think there's any doubt they're going for a nationwide abortion ban. they've made that clear. mitch mcconnell stood up and said as much. and many of them say that part -- the quiet part out loud. and they understand it is unpopular, so they don't want to be too overt about it, but they're looking for a nationwide abortion ban. and keep in mind the other half. so long as we don't make roe v. wade the law of the land, these courts can continue to undermine access to abortion everywhere in

the country. this decision that came out of a court down in texas that may take mifepristone off the market, keep in mind a place like massachusetts, about 50% of all abortions in massachusetts are medication abortions. they use mifepristone. and what they're trying to do is to say that wouldn't be available not just in the 20 states that have banned abortion, it wouldn't be available anywhere in the united states. so the attacks on abortion rights that the republicans are putting forward is both legislative, it's both at the state and federal level, and it's at the courts. in other words, wherever you are in america if you care about abortion right, if you care about protecting the right of people to have access to abortion, understand this.

donald trump and the republicans are coming for you. and your chance to beat that back comes in november 2024 when you vote down not just trump but every other republican on the ballot. >> senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts, thank you for your time tonight. we have a lot more thisey including the sale of a prustijs s newspaper to a right-wing media mogul and the implications of that on american democracy. and after that, donald trump's rage was on display for a new york jury today. we will recap the what you might call strategy there coming up next. strategy there coming up next

earlier today inside a new york courtroom former magazine writer e. jean carroll took the witness stand for the first time in her second defamation lawsuit against donald trump. i'm here because donald trump assaulted me, ms. carroll said. and when i wrote about it, he said it never happened. lied and he shattered my reputation. in this very courtroom in may a jury found i had indeed been sexually assaulted by donald trump. and by this by ms. carroll's

lawyer. has he continued to lie about you? >> yes, he continues to lie. he lied last month, he lied on sunday, he lied yesterday, and i am here to get my reputation back and to stop him from telling lies about me. donald trump was also in the courtroom today audibly making comments that jurors could hearsaying it was all a con job. the commentary got to a point where the judge threatened to throw trump out of the courtroom altogether. jum kaplan, mr. trump i hope i don't have to consider excluding you from the trial or from the presence. i understand you're probably very eager for me to do that. mr. trump, i would love it. kaplan, i know you would. you just can't control yourself in these circumstances. trump's strategy here is debatable, and what is at stake is considerable. joining me now is chuck rosenberg, msnbc contributor and senior fbi official. chuck, thanks for being here. we know ms. carroll is asking

for $10 million in damages plus untold punitive damages. it's unclear what the jury is going to decide, but i wonder how you think the outbursts here factor into the jury's process and indeed the judge's threshold for kicking trump out of his courtroom. >> great questions, alex. so at least the outbursts so far have not been in the presence of the jury. the jury has been out of the courtroom when those exchanges took place. although, they may have heard some of the things he said and that mrs. carroll's attorneys complained about. but the outbursts were in front of a judge, and so how does it affect a judge? courtrooms, federal courtrooms in particular are serious places. they're governed by rules and procedures. judges are used to having their orders abided. and so this may help mr. trump politically. it may help him in some world outside of the courtroom, but it's inconceivable, alex, that it helps him inside the

courtroom. >> well, can i ask though because there seems to be a tacit understanding on the part of the judge that trump would love to be kicked out of the courtroom. certainly for political optics, right, the system is rigged against me, they're kicking me out of the courtroom. but i wonder if you think there's any -- i hesitate to use the word strategy but i'll use it. strategy on the part of trump so he can be kicked out so he can use that on appeal. can that be in any way meaningful? good there's a difference between a strategy and a successful strategy. maybe it's his strategy, and maybe his goal is to try and foul the record so that on appeal he has something to argue. but two things you ought to know. one is that judges control their courtrooms carefully because it is guv respected by rule and procedures and judges care a lot about that and rightfully so. the second thing is courts of appeal on review give trial

court judges enormous discretion to do exactly that, to control their courtrooms. appel courts understand they're only seeing a black and white record, words on paper. but a trial judge is sitting there watching and hearing and seeing everything. and so trial judges have enormous discretion, and appellate courts have said that over and over to control their courtrooms. so if this is mr. trump's strategy to foul the record, it's a bad one. it's not going to work, alex. >> yeah, and i wonder how you think that behavior is going to potentially influence judge arcter engoron who's presiding over trump's case with the new york a.g. letitia james. that's a bench trial, so the judge is the only person to decide, and trump has antagonized judge engoron in a remarkable fashion. >> he hasch and the judge has an obligation to both parties to be fair and thoughtful, and that can be hard when you have a litigant in front of you, a defendant in mr. trump's case.

that just sort of tries at every opportunity to get under your skin. i don't know judge engoron. i imagine he's like all the judges in front of whom i practiced, alex, and he's going to try very hard to keep it down the middle. that's his job. that's what he has to do. so what mr. trump is doing by acting out, again, may be a valuable political strategy. it may play to some of his fans. it's not going to help him in court. it's not going to help him with the judges, and it's not going to help him if he continues to do this in front of a jury. it's not going to work. >> could be a very expensive january. chuck rosenberg, thank you again for your wisdom, chuck. i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. still ahead tonight, what would you do with $100 hill wherein? one conservative media executive who famously disdains print media just used that sum of cash to buy a newspaper, a really important newspaper. and that could mean some big changes. that's next. and that could mean some big changes. that's next.

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>> back in 2018 a media conglomerate called sip clar broadcast group gave all of their anchors the same script and ordered them all to work it into their broadcastsch the script largely followed a sort of sanitized version of trump's rhetoric about the quote-unquote fake news media. and the script was what was known at sinclair as a must run meaning states have to air it no ifs, ands and buts. sinclair owns about 200 local tv stations across the country making sinclair one of the nation's largest broadcasters with millions of viewers. and because these stations are local people trust them. and these are the folks people turn to for the weather and traffic updates and also conservative talking points. in addition to the must-run segments sinclair had their anchors read, they also aired must run pre-taped packages featuring the political analysis of former trump staffer boris

epstein along with ahistorical conservative segments like this one. >> how can americans especially blacks and latinos in america support hillary clinton? >> it's a surprising message coming from a black pastor but evangelical bishop aubrey shines is spreading a message why he believes hillary clinton's democratic party isn't good for black americans. >> a party that gave this country slavery. >> now, this week sinclair's executive chairman, david smith, bought one of the most important newspapers in the country, the baltimore sun. if you're not familiar with their work, "the baltimore sun" won a pulitzer prize in 2020 specifically on the strength of their local reporting. but in a tense meeting with the staff of "the baltimore sun" this week, its new owner, david smith, reportedly insulted the quality of the paper's journalism. smith reportedly has his own vision for this paper, and

surprising no one he thinks it should mimic one of his sinclair television stations. baltimore's fox 45. that station is known for segments like city in crisis, highlighting crime and dysfunction. a former baltimore sun media critic describeatize fox 45 coverage fits into a larger pattern of this is what happens when you let democrats run your city, it goes to hell. a quote from a sinclair must-run script unfortunately some members of the media are using their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. and that is extremely dangerous to our democracy. brian stelter joins me to discuss the erosion of the fourth estate and the rise of a right-wing disinformation next. right-wing disinformation next

this morning the baltimore sun guild, the union that represents the paper's staff

released a statement. it read in part during yesterday's meeting new owner david smith shared his vision for the paper, which he admitted he has rarely read. the editorial direction that he described focused on clicks rather than journallistic value concerned many of our members. that nearly 3-hour meeting between the sun staff and its new owner, david smith, the executive chairman of sinclair broadcast group, was described as tense. mr. smith who brought the paper last week at one point told reporters to go make me some money. when asked about job security smith said not so reassuringly that everyone has a job today. now, david smith is known not only for his right-wing broadcasting network sinclair but also for his supportive conservative causes and groups including project veritas, turning points usa and moms for liberty. as the new owner of a storied newspaper smith has claimed that precipitate media has no credibility and is so left-wing as to be meaningless dribble.

joining me now is brian stelter, special correspondent for "vanity fair." and a native marylander who's been writing about sinclair for decades. brian, thank you for being here. you know better than most that when conservatives take over media organizations they tend to make changes. what are your expectations for a paper that's essential as the baltimore sun? >> yes, i grew up reading the sun. oftentimes when i was in annapolis or baltimore covering a story the only other reporter there was from the baltimore sun. and although the paper has been shrinking for years like most precipitate newspapers across the country, it is still the default, the go-to media outlet for a major american city. so what's going to happen to it now, well, alex, i fear this is likely the end of the sun as a

nonpartisan widely trusted outlet, and there's going to have to be alternatives that pop up in its places. when these right-wing backers of media talk they talk in code. when they say fair what they really mean is the press is too liberal. when they say balanced what they mean is we want the media to advance our political agenda but cloak it in an all sides claim to balance. it's that kind of code language we're already hearing the new owner of the suns start to use. >> i wonder when you hear this psychological profile of someone who funds something like project veritas that carries out alleged string operations of media groups which says precipitate journalism has no credibility and then spends $100 million to buy "the sun" and a few other papers. is that the conservative agenda to bring the state to heel or is it the sort of the weird ego

maniacal fixation like folks like donald trump have in attacking the state? >> my understanding from sources at "the sun" and around maryland politics is that david smith has been really interested in trying to buy the sun for quite some time. he sits at home in his mansion in suburban baltimore, he watches what's going on in the city and he thinks he can somehow make a difference, and let's be clear make a difference means advancing a right wing agenda by buying up the only newspaper in town. this is old school newspaper outlets becoming zombies. they get taken over by these right-wing buyers, become shells of their former selves and become political machines. this is going to keep happening as print fades away. we can go and support the alternatives. >> yeah, and i want to get to that, but i do think it's important to note how the articulated fixation on crime

and police is a really important part of the ecosystem that in turn fuels the broader right-wing agenda. can you talk a little bit about that given your experience at fox news where they love talking about crime and backing the blue? >> 100%. you see attention on a city like baltimore only when there's unrest like we saw a decade ago, only when there's a surge in crime. you know, what happened in baltimore in 2023 dramatic reduction in the murder rate. you don't hear that on fox or across right-wing talk radio. you only hear these headlines when they are terrifying and with they are used to advance a certain agenda. and unfortunately i think that's a force to be reckoned with in this republican primary but also the 2020 election. it's kind of like a spigot always turned on and pumping in full blast every day no matter what's happening in the trend lines or data. >> you wonder how immigration

gets to be the number one topic and voting issue in a republican primary. this is huge part of what happens. >> what do we do? what are the alternatives? it's an amazing start-up in baltimore breaking news about the sun being taken over. they can support news, start-up ups, they can go out and create their own. that's going to be the solution to this problem plaguing the media outlets. >> buy a newspaper that's not a conservative mouth spees. support your local journalch. brian stelter author of "network of lies" it's always good to talk to you, someone so deeply entrenched in this essential topic. that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. she can't negotiate. she's a lousy negotiator. other than that, she's wonderful. she's a wonderful person, but if she wins, biden wins and i'm