hefty bonuses to staff and crew throughout the entire tour. in the end, she gave over $197 million in bonuses. the eras tour was the best selling tour of all time. and taylor swift knew she could not have done it alone. some very inspiring displays of gratitude take us off the air tonight. on some nights i take a deep breath because i'm stressed and overwhelmed but i think we should take a deep breath together. and just give a little bit of thanks. on that note, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late with me. i'll see you at the end of tomorrow.

>> tonight, we start with a huge development in the world of cable news. >> may i announce matt gaetz and the matt gaetz show coming next month. >> that's correct. matt gaetz is becoming a host on the one america news network. but that is not the big news. in fact, that may actually be the very small news. matt gaetz will join the likes of these people. now, okay, you may not recognize any of them because despite networks like oan trying their hardest, fox news is still the conservative network in the united states and it is fox we have big news about tonight. now that donald trump is headed back to the white house, if you want to shape american politics, fox is the place to be. right now, at least 12 of trump's cabinet picks have

either been fox news hosts or contributors and this use of fox as effectively a staffing agency extends far beyond just fox hosts and paid contributors. lots of trump administration picks are just fox news regulars. guests. who appear on the channel hundreds of times a year. some like trump's pick for energy secretary have now government experience at all. and only caught trump's attention because of his appearances on fox news. there is no institution as critical to the trump presidency or to the american right as fox news. in the last 24 hours we got news that the net work's conservative mission could be facing an existential threat coming from the very top. but let me back up. are you familiar with the show succession? you should be. i hope you are. it is a fictional depiction of the murdoch family. the family that hones fox news and the new york post and the

wall street journal and the whole show is sort of a who is going to take the throne king lear style family saga. it is an incredible show. if you have not seen it or not finished it, i'm about to reveal a fairly large spoiler so mute your tv for a minute or so if you would prefer to watch your succession in peace. okay. at the end of the show, the last episodes, the patriarch of the family t show's version of rupert murdoch dies unexpectedly. but instead of being able to process their father's death like normal people, the fictional kids in the show immediately start squabbling about the family business. >> you know, regardless of our personal feeling of loss in a

business position,. >> oh, the market. yes, will something please think of the market? >> i'm trying to do my job. he is like 12 feet away and i knew him for 40 years. we are not pulling anything here. >> we just thought since you were estranged we thought that. >> we are not estranged. we weren't estranged. >> all right. i just simply meant. >> we had a family function last night in fact. estranged is a strong word and not accurate. >> according to new reporting from the new york times the real life murdoch strategy started after that episode went on the air. life imitates art. the episode prompted one of murdoch's daughter's

representatives to write a succession memo intended to help avoid a real life repeat of a tv show. you can't make it up. i mean, maybe you actually can. there is real drama surrounding what happens to fox and the murdoch media empire when the real life one eventually dies. the real life succession plan of the media empire is based around an revocable trust that would divide control of the media empire equally among rupert's four eldest children. after the elder's death. while lockland who is already the executive chairman and ceo of the fox corporation, while he is a staunch conservative like his father, his other children are reportedly not. so the times reports that in recent years rupert and lockland has become concerned that james, elizabeth, and

prudence are planning some sort of coup. a coup that would change the editorial vision of fox news and maybe make it less of an audition space for trump appointees or an echo chamber for conservative par noah. the paranoia. they started a legal battle to try to change the rules of the family trust. reportedly, this legal battle was not overtly about money. the changes to the trust wouldn't have diminished any of rupert's children's financial stakes in the company. as the times puts it, this legal battle was about the future control of the world's most powerful conservative media empire. the way they reportedly planned to win that battle was to appoint a whole bunch of new members to the family trust gives peopling them the power they needed to dilute the power of the less conservative

members of the clan. that meant not just offering voting power to two of his children from another marriage but appointing conservative representatives like bill barr to their family trust. yes, that bill barr. once they had appointed enough members, their plan was to alter the rules of the trust to give all the power in the event of rupert's death to lockland murdoch and ensure the fox empire would stay safely conservative. that was the plan at least. as the times reports, at least at this juncture that plan does not afear to have worked. a court official said they had acted in bad faith to amend the rules of the family trust. in his decision, he wrote that mr. murdoch and lachlan's

representatives on the trust demonstrated a dishonesty of purpose and motive. he concluded the play might have worked but a showdown in a game of poker is where gamesmanship collides with the facts. at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up. so what does that mean for the future of fox news and what does it mean for the conservative movement of america? angelo, i thought about you when i first read this. in terms of the importance of rupert or lachlan staying in charge, how critical is it? how important is any one man in this scenario in your estimation? >> in this case, it is hard to separate now what fox news is

in terms of its larger place within the right wing landscape. and in this instance, they are one in the same. the evidence of that, just before january 6th, was thinking to himself that the only entity in the country that could correct the misunderstanding of false information that trump was pushing out there was fox news. that all came out as a result of the dominion lawsuit. that was a rupert murdoch decision. everything is a consequence of rupert and lachlan. >> the fact this ruling came down, how much import do you attach to the fact the other children, james, elizabeth, and prudence, may play a

significant role in determining the ultimate direction of fox news? do you believe that they will potentially steer the network in a less conservative direction? >> referee: don't want to pretend somehow they are saviors that will come in and sort of protect everybody from the destructive effects of fox news. that is not what i think. but there are real realities. fox news is as much about making money as it is advancing a political agenda. it is essentially a superpac in a way. that is evidenced by the fact they actually leave a lot of money on the table. all the advertiser issues they have had. they were not maximizing profits. they were losing money every day during parts of those years. leaving money on the table. but they let that happen because they were serving a political advantage during a

period of time. so what i think is likely, though, is that they see a future for fox news. james had big plans for fox news post 2017 when he moved in with lachlan. they were corunning the place. he had a big strategy for how they would expand their footprint internationally. to weaken the brand that fox news had built. it was a toxic brand globally. part of the reason they lost this satellite deal is that they were trying to have in the u.k., and regulators killed it, they were concerned about fox- ification of their own news over there so they squashed that deal. so james murdoch had big plans. so what do i think is that i think they see all the potential that this company

could be if you don't make politicians on par with making money. if you just makeit about making money, you eliminate some of the extremist politics. you don't make yourself one and the same with the trump administration. you focus on the business first and politics second or third. fox news is like a center of gravity for the rest of the right wing media. >> i would say, politics is one thing, lies are another. the defamation suit is costing them just as much as anything else right? the dominion voting systems lawsuit cost them $787 million.

in service of an extreme political agenda, it cost the network literally three quarters of a billion dollars. i wonder, angelo, when you think about the way in which fox remains holding pen for trump administration officials, the staging area, and echo chamber. and an audition platform. what is your expectation for the incoming trump administration in terms of the utility of the network given how big of a role it has already played in staffing? the trump white house? >> that's a really good question. my sense is it will not be the same as last time. in 2017, it was a feed back loop. sometimes donald trump would be leading fox news, sometimes donald trump would be leading fox news. they were deeply intertwined and overlapped. this time around, fox has sort of given up any of its own independent role and they are

functioning purely as a subordinate to what donald trump wants in his will and his agenda. what that means when you think about their potential for incubating new personnel, that will be really different. there were many instances in the last cycle where fox news got out in front of donald trump and pressured him to implement certain types of policies or push for certain personnel. they will not do that this time. they will be what used to be fertile ground, but not driving in the way they were and really then their major effect will be influencing the rest of the right wing media. and how much effort and energy they choose to put into carrying water for trump or some of his trump officials will then have an effect on the rest of the landscape. i don't think it is coincidence that we start today see the tides turn around the narrative on pete hegseth when fox news finally started to let its on

air personnel do a lot more pro hegseth defense. donald trump pressured them and they started to run defense. and you are starting to see some cracks in the opposition to hegseth. and i think that will be the role they play. that is not good for their own power long term or their business. that is how it comes back to this case here. the real money and power is with the james and elizabeth strategy. >> james has been on the air with my colleague ari melber saying he thinks the person who has the most influence right now over trump's staffing decisions and the administration is former fox news host tucker carlson. and everyone from elon musk to jd vance are straight from the mind of tucker carlton. do you have any sense of the role he is playing behind the

scenes or a thesis or a hypothesis on who is pulling the strings? >> when you think about the right wing media, you basically have fox news and rush limbaugh. and rush limbaugh had the narrative. he had the world view and he was a story teller. when he died few people stepped into the void. the two that stepped in were tucker carlson, he had a narrative that he was driving, the otherring would be steve bannon. to james' point, he is right about one thing. that is that tucker carlson's world view and his narrative and the story he is telling about america and the rest of the world and it is not a good story, that a lot of the picks and the personnel and policies and the vibe of maga is coming from tucker's world view. they are dependent and related. that is where tucker's

influence really is. i don't think he is picking individual people but telling a big story that only certain characters can be casted for. >> the synthesizers. neither of whom is on fox news. angela, great to talk to you. thanks for your time. we have a lot more to get to including the arrest of the man suspected of killing a health care executive and the acquittal of the defendant in the new york city subway choke hold trial. what does the public reaction to those two very big stories say about us as a country? but first, donald trump is promising to make his critics pay. i will talk to a congresswoman about coming retribution next. n about coming retribution next. voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source.

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pete hegseth is a patriot. but the deep state is trying to stop his nomination. he is not backing down. call your senator today and urge them to confirm pete hegseth for secretary of defense. >> that is a new ad from the elon musk backed conservative group building america's future. now while the ad is set to run on national television and online, it will be particularly targeted to the state of iowa. the home of republican senator joni ernst who had expressed skepticism about his nomination. and now, senator ernst appear to be coming around on pete hegseth saying this in a statement monday. as i support pete through this process, i look forward to a

fair hearing. that position. that statement appear to be the result of a very public pressure campaign from trump world. just last week, donald trump jr. attacked her on x calling her a disgrace. now, according to politico, allies adopted an approach that is not novel for the president- elect and his followers. make life extremely uncomfortable for anyone who dares to oppose him. the swarm of attacks she has experienced is a warning of what's in store for others who express skepticism of his personnel choices. this all comes as trump is mounting another even more explicit campaign to punish his critics. over the weekend, trump told nbc news' kristen welker that he wants members of the house's january 6th committee to be put in jail. >> for what they did, honestly, they should go to jail. >> so you think liz cheney should go to jail?

everyone on the committee? >> anybody that voted in favor. >> joining me now is congresswoman pramila jayapal. democrat of washington state. she is the current chair of the congressional progressive caucus until the end of this year, congresswoman, there is no better time to talk to you than right now. what is the mood inside the democratic caucus as you have the president-elect name checking members of the house saying they should be thrown in jail? >> it is always good to see you alex. you know, i think the mood is we are ready to have this fight and take it to the american people and we are strategizing around all the different ways that our caucus will work together, stay united and make sure we push back on these outrage things that donald trump is saying and perhaps going to get his cabinet to do. i also think that they did some cleanup after that interview. you know.

some of these people said they will not really send those people to jail. we are in a situation where we should wait to see what attacks he actually levies and be ready to go after them completely together and make the contrast to the american people. we are not sure if everything we hear is what he will do but you have to be ready. >> you outlined what the next dnc chair should do. and it is based on several principles. i'm really eager to kind of expand a little bit on those principles with you. one of the things you guys, the first one is reform, restructure, and rebrand the party. from a practical standpoint, what does that mean? i talked to jamie raskin about this. that democrat should try to find avenues working with republicans who may very well

be executes on trump's agenda. the doge committee for example. a few democrats raised hair hands saying i can participate in that and cut government waste. what is your advice to progressives and democrats more broadly about seeking bridges to the maga coalition? >> first of all the principles were relative to reforming the dnc, the democratic national committee. how it functions, what it does. at the end of the day, the big take away for me has been there is a lot of deserved anger from voters across the country about their economic situation. when you look at the fact wages have stagnated. the fact that the economy has grown more productive, all the gain haves gone to the billionaires and alex, let me just say. i think it is now ten

billionaires to the cabinet that trump has nominated. $350billion of net worth for those billionaires. joe biden's cabinet was about $118 million. i think people are looking at what is going to happen to regular folks and the question of whether these cabinet members can actually defend policies that i know are going to be benefiting them and not working people is what democrats have to call out. republicans ran on supposedly blowing up the system rigged against working people and helping working people across the country to improve their lives. i think we have to point out strategically exactly how democrats are the ones that are standing up for working people, poor people. when there are opportunities to

do things across the aisle, that benefit working people, of course we will take them. i'm just not holding my breath. i'm always looking for those opportunities but not holding my breath. i'm not sure how a cabinet stacked with billionaires and people who lack government experience with the underlying premise that government is the greatest equalizer of opportunity for the american people, it is hard for me to imagine. does that mean we will close our eyes? no. we will look for those opportunities. we'll take them as they come. but we are also, we have to be very clear about what the democratic party stands for and how we are lifting up working people. fighting up against corporate concentration. against billionaires. taking all the gains for themselves. >> i'm glad you brought up billionaires because another plank in the recommendations is to embrace grass roots donors and reject special interest in dark money. i'm interested in talking about the dark money piece.

last week on pod save america, the leading lights of the harris campaign sat down with a post mortem. and tackled the issue of dark money and i want to play a little bit of the audio from that interview. let's take a listen. >> we have to stop playing the different games. love our democratic lawyers but i'm tired of it. they coordinate more than we do. i think among themselves, i think with the presidential campaign, i'm just sick and tired of it. clearly it is not legal what they are doing but we are at a disadvantage when our folks are playing by a different set of rules than they are. >> that would seem to be david saying we got to stop shunning the superpac money. what is your reaction to that? >> i think what he is talking about, there was an effort led by some people in the

democratic party to have those groups coordinate more closely. i think it actually led to more coordination. for us the question is where does our money come from. how do we make it clear to people we are not beholden to the corporate interest and at the end of the day, there is obviously going to be money in different places. i think we need to coordinate across our democratic organization to make sure that we are investing in the most strategic things. i don't think that is happening now. i know i have talked to a lot of state party chairs across the country. and i think what we need to do as a democratic party is go back to banning corporate pac money. make sure we are clear that we are actually investing in grass roots donors. and the dark money will be there. but we need to try and make sure that we are pushing it

away by embracing the core of our party. if we rebuild our state parties we will engage more grass roots donors and be able to draw a contrast. because like everything else, there are always some people on our side who want to run to the center or be republican light. but we will never be as good as the republicans if we try to be republican light. we have to be democrats. and we have to stand up for working people and poor people across this country. >> congresswoman pramila jayapal, it is great to have you on the program. please come back soon. there is so much more to talk about. >> always with you alex. always. coming up, two very public new york city murders are dividing the nation and leading the public to expressions of sympathy for the killers. we will discuss this particular american moment when i am joined by new york city's public advocate jomani williams. that's next. public advocate jomani williams. that's next. at harbor freight, we design and test our own tools. and sell them directly to you.

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it is completely out of touch with the american people and its lived experience. >> that was luigi mangione, the suspect in the killing of united health care ceo brian thompson on his way into pennsylvania court today. he fighting extradition to new york where he faces a murder charge. his lawyer says he plans to plead not guilty. despite the brutal crime he is accused of, mangione has been venerated in some corners as a

hero. for targeting the health insurance industry. a hero for whom his fans have created merchandise and given a superhero nickname. meanwhile, on the same day that mangione was arrested, a manhattan jury acquitted former marine daniel penny on a charge of criminally negligent homicide after he put a deadly six minute choke hold on jordan nealy. a homeless man who had been acting erratically and scaring passengers in a subway car last year. that trial divided the city's residence. joining me now is jomani williams. it is great to see you. i wonder how these two new york cases and how just emotionally charged both of them are. but first, let's start with daniel penny and your reaction

to jordan nealy's death and the fact that penny was acquitted. >> i think what people have trouble doing is holding competing thoughts at the same time. and people abuse that inability. i don't think penny intented to kill someone. i think he was responding to at least a perceived threat and you can't just kill someone. you should not be able to just kill someone without accountability. all of those things should be true at the same time and i believe if it was reverse, it was a black homeless man that choked a former marine who may have had a rough day, we wouldn't have the same result. we have to grapple with that. >> i also see two seeming systems that have failed people. and the rage around those. one is the city and its management of the homeless

situation and new yorkers may feel angry or reventful of that. and with mangione it is this institutional rage around american health care. and the insurance companies that manage it. do you see a common thread? it is a dark thread. i'm not suggesting that it is an optimistic one but i wonder how you grapple with the two. >> i do see that. there are some similarities not there. he will get justice and jordan nealy is not. and there is a lot of pain that is similar. i think what it shows is just the way we are thinking about who we are afraid of. who we are angry at. and the people exploiting that and take away from the decisions they are making and leaders thrive off of this in a

very morbid way. we need leaders who will try to help us unpack that so we don't misguide the anger. >> do you think, do you think anecdotedly, do you think anything comes of either one of these things? just the brutality of jordan nealy's murder? does that change anything about the way the city manages? and treats its homeless population? >> i think it could if we had a different mayor. i have been concerned about the comments the mayor has made. but we have to have a leader who can do multiple things at once, we have been ignoring people's anger and fear. and we can't do that because it has to go somewhere. i acknowledge you are afraid and why you are angry. but let's not point it at the wrong people. here is how we can address those concerns in a real way.

and people want to get lekked, all they want to do is pump up that fear and anger. and people are dying. in the case of jordan nealy, he was failed from beginning to end. there were so many things many of us have been talking about. how we can address the homeless situation and the mental health situation. if we put the money and structures in. we didn't do that and we are not doing it now. when you say daniel penny did what the city should have, that is repugnant. we have to find a way to unpack that. >> i think the other thing that is so disturbing is the desensetyization of death. right? murder. that murder is the recourse here. murder the homeless guy. and look, i think a lot of people understand the frustration and the pain and the cruelty in many cases of the insurance industry putting profit first and foremost over

human life. but should we be slaughtering people? >> that's the other piece. and, social media helps us to desensitize that. we lose the humanity of what's actually happening and our leaders and we just had an election based on leaders who feed off of that. and what we need and why i'm so disappointed in our mayor is leaders who will help push back on that. we have to acknowledge the anger. and the pain and put forth the resources to say this is how we are doing to address our homeless population. what we can't do is have people choking them to death. >> vigilante justice. >> we can't do it. when i was looking at it, i struggled with what is the actual charge that could happen. but i couldn't fathom no charge. i couldn't fathom that nothing

was going to happen and that is what happened. in brian thompson's case, someone will be held accountable as there should be. but the largest conversation is who are we protecting from and against, what are we afraid of? who are we angry at? how are we addressing those issues and getting to the issues of housing and mental health. >> we are having a conversation where we can see each other as human beings. >> that is so critical. we are losing the humanity of each other. >> well, you aren't. >> i try my best. >> jomani williams. thank you for coming on the program. >> thank you so much and thank you for this conversation. coming up, celebration in the streets of syria following the ouster of its former brutal dictator over the weekend. what it all means as donald trump's isolationist foreign policy begins to take shape. that's next. stay with us. e shape. that's next. stay with us.

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>> there have been celebrations in the street since the fall of assad. as syria's rebel forces have uncovered forces. they have also freed dozens of prisoners from the infamous prison where the regime tortured and executed political enemies. the biden administration has pledged support for a new syrian government. one that respects human rights and fights terrorism. but what happens in the incoming trump administration remains unclear. tulsi gabbard has supported with assad in the past. years after overwhelming everyday showed he had gassed his own people. today, gabbard refused to answer questions about her stance on syria as she met with senators just ahead of her

confirmation hearing. >> do you think russia is a primary adversary? has your trip to syria come up at all in the meetings? >> joining me now is michael weiss, investigative journalist who has covered the war in syria. michael, it's very good to have you here to make sense of all of this. who will acknowledge the brutality. this is not a subtle brutality that has been perpetrated upon the syrian people. the use of weapons on his own people, in the intervening years, can you sort of elaborate on the darkness that has befallen the syrian population under assad's rule? >> this is a half century of a

dynastic dictatorship. treating its enemies real and perceived with the utmost brutality. one of the nazi sadists went to syria and literally taught them on methods of torture. how to extract false confessions. you wonder if people were inventing them. they were so atrocious. there was a story of a 13-year- old boy who was kidnapped by the syrian police. this is a 13-year-old kid. he was tortured in the most horrific fashion. cigarettes put out on his skin. when they killed him, they mutilated his body, chopped him up. sent the remains back to the

parents and told the parents you have to lie about what happened. all right? and it is this kind of thing, you wonder is this true? what i'm seeing now coming out of this sort of complex of dungeons only confirms not only that, but worse has been perm traited. putting out lit cigarettes on the bodies of their torture victims. dipping them in acid. putting them in dungeons with fetid corpses rotted and listen to the screams of other people tortured. it is everything out of the darkness at noon, an indeed, the third reich was combined into a field manual for what they would do. so i'm seeing a lot of cynicism. what will happen to it?

will it become a jihadi safe haven. i just want to pause and get to a basic level here. what the syrian people have been through over 50 years, they cannot imagine anything worse. and we have to take pause and just give them that respect. people we have not heard from ever because they have been too afraid to express themselves are now going on international media describing what they have been through. >> it is such critical perspective but the reality is the biden administration is applauding this in many ways. it is a triumph. it is a defeat for russia and iran. in many ways. but the biden administration was towing a softer line with syria in recent months and years. >> absolutely. i mean look, i'm all for being opportunistic when it comes to geo political dynamics and it is a good thing. from a perspective that iran and russia have sort of taken it on the chin here.

but, the fact remains the biden administration was adopting a policy of creeping normalization with assad. putting pressure on congress to eliminate the anti- normalization bill which would have stopped our support for gulf arab regimes. they were trying to water down caesar, the sanctions act that was inaugurated several years ago. and ironically, the gambit was well, if we can get assad to sever his relationship with iran, we will dangle sanctions relief in front of him. this was the conventional wisdom. it is time to abandon these utopian conceits and put the humanitarian imperative to one side. iran severed relations with assad first because they saw the writing on the wall.

this man's regime evaporated into the air. i have never seen anything like this. it was quicker than what happened in afghanistan. and the reality is it has sent a lot of people into a scramble. a big question mark what happens in the trump administration. >> look, she went to damascus at the invitation of the syrian social nationalist party. their insignia is the swastika. this was at the time when assad was importing jihadis from abroad. he is not a friend of the united states. >> this is a person apologizing for him. who may now have a cabinet level position. >> indeed. >> michael, thank you for making the time sir. >> any time. >> we'll be right back. e. >> we'll be right back.

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that is our show for this evening. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, alex. i was just checking, fact checking, something in my ear about one of our guests tonight and the question was to our control room will this be senator schiff's first appearance on this network as a senator and the answer is yes. >> we need a little promotional thing that we