ben rhodes, i want to go to you on this because, you know, germany is in this moment too, with us.n, we're not alone. like one of the things that actually makes me feel better is to know that we're not going through this alone. this sort of crypto fascist movement is moving all over the west. and for a lot of the same reasons, i think, as ruth said, neoliberalism has not helped people. and so people turn to populists because they hate the economy the way it's working. can you talk a little bit about germany? because germany, the afd party that elon musk touted, it, got about 19% of the vote, but they didn't win. they won't be part of the governing coalition. does that give you hope? and how do we sort of process the international the internationalization of this, i would say sort of global apartheid movement. >> no. i mean. >> joy. >> this is something. >> that i've. >> been looking at. >> for over. >> a decade now, which is essentially you. >> had. >> a backlash. >> around the. >> world. not just in the west. >> but principally. >> in the. >> west. to. >> globalization, to neolibe

. >> now is ben rhodes, former deputy national security advisor during the obama administration. he's also an msnbc political analyst. and co-host of the podcast pod save the world. ben, good morning. >> to you. i was talking. >> to anne applebaum. >> about an hour ago. >> and she said 1938, 1939. >> are actually the. >> wrong examples. appeasement is not actually the question, even though that's. >> something that. >> that jd vance has brought up this week. she said it's more like 1944 the united states is discussing. we're not into this war anymore. it's not winnable. and we're leaving. this is this is worse than appeasement. >> this is being insulting. >> and pulling back out of it. >> yeah. >> i think. >> i mean, there's so much that's gone on. it's kind of dizzying. and it's right to search for analogies. i think. >> you're right to frame it around. >> the fact that this is bigger than trump. just having a different approach to trying to end the war in ukraine. this is the. united states withdrawing. from the postwar order that it built. withdrawing the. >> not just. >> milit

ben, ben rhodes, peace.again or restore a lost post-world war two order. there will have to be new ideas for how the united states can constructively engage people around the world and peacefully coexist with other nations. to reach that future, however, we must look inward. it's not enough to defend the idea of foreign assistance or oppose territorial aggression. we must also become the kind of nation that is able to see our own self-interest as connected to something larger than the whims of strongmen. now, you know, i love ben. he writes well, but that that had echoes of eddie glaude. >> i. >> i completely agree with everything he said. and in order for us to do that, in order for a new america to become a possibility, we're going to have to tell ourselves the truth. but right now, i must admit, i'm grappling with an intolerable bitterness of spirit. there's something that feels like this place might be irredeemable because it's an unpardonable thing that we're experiencing. because we should know better.

ben rhodes, to many people. let me just speak for myself.will you give us that real quick? >> yeah. >> and it's. >> not just the things. >> that you. >> read off, nicole, which. >> you. >> know. >> most americans. might think of as. worthy humanitarian objectives. there's very significant national security objectives tied to usaid. >> it's not just. >> textbooks for ukrainian children. >> it was. >> the. >> kind of sustainment. >> of the ukrainian government when it. >> was in its most dire circumstances that u.s. usaid carried. out in areas where we have. significant counterterrorism. >> challenges, places. >> like somalia. >> where you have al. >> shabab, it's. >> usaid money that tries to. >> build up a. >> local. >> capacity that can. >> deal with long term security challenges. obviously, to take a recent. >> example. >> pandemic preparedness. >> usaid is out in the field. >> trying to. >> stop epidemics before they reach american shores. so there's. >> a. whole range. of dangers that. >> usaid is meant to address by making by being esse

joining me now is ben rhodes, msnbc political analyst and former deputy national security advisor to ump line up with putin so directly that it almost as if putin writes his talking points. a european diplomat, this is the latest news, a european diplomat told politico. we now have an alliance between a russian president who wants to destroy europe, and an american president who also wants to destroy europe. the transatlantic alliance is over. do you think he's right? >> yeah, i do. i think that things have shifted. >> 180 degrees. >> in about. >> two weeks. joy. >> and the united states is no longer working. with ukraine, working with europe to. >> try to. >> repel a russian invasion and to. >> try to. >> restore the concept of ukrainian sovereignty and back that up with any kind of meaningful security guarantee. you have an. >> american president. >> who is saying the opposite and, as you say, saying this, zelensky is a dictator saying that he has 4% approval, which is a lie, you know, blaming the war on ukraine itself. these literally are the broadcasts of russian propaganda every

joining me now, ben rhodes, former deputy national security advisor, the co-host of pod save the world and an msnbc political contributor. welcome, ben. always glad to talk with you. first, i want to get your reaction to the german election results that we're seeing that ralph was just talking about. look, we see the center right cdu, that's the christian democratic union win. but the far right afd, it close to doubled its votes from the last election. what does this mean for the future of germany's government and more broadly, ben, europe? >> well. >> alex, it tracks what we saw in the public. >> opinion polling, which. >> is certainly a shift. >> to the right in germany. >> and i think there are a couple of pieces to that. the first is, you know, germans are upset by cost of living, just like people in the united states were. they're upset about immigration, just like people in the united states were. so there's not a huge surprise that the incumbent party, the social democrats, lost. and you had the cdu, which was, you know, the party of angela merkel win in this election. however,

and ben rhodes was deputy national security advisor under president obama. he is also an msnbc political contributor. welcome, all of you. kelly, you first here. what do we know about this deal that the u.s. wants zelenskyy to sign? and where does it fit into the talks with keith kellogg? >> yeah. alex. so a proposal put forward last week would have the u.s. owning 50%. >> of ukraine's. >> rare earth. >> minerals. critical minerals. >> including graphite. >> uranium, titanium and lithium, a key component in electric car batteries. in exchange for continued military aid. now, president zelenskyy rejected that, saying it didn't protect ukrainian interests. the meeting today was meant to focus on a revised pact somehow. get these two sides together, find out what ukraine needs in return for getting on board with that rare earth mineral deal. president trump, as you heard, warned the ukrainian president yesterday that he better move fast to negotiate an end to russia's invasion of ukraine, or risk not having a country to lead. vice president vance today talked a

msnbc contributor ben rhodes is here. ben rhodes ahead of munich, a lot of national security officials were talking about just the abject weakness that this project's capitulating to putin. it feels like it's taken an even darker turn. i mean, making fools and sort of removing any credibility that men like lindsey graham have on the world stage in munich six days ago and told zelensky, again, you're the best kind of ally the u.s. has to fight our adversaries so we don't have to. feels like a feature, not a bug of this decision. >> yeah. i mean, this is a comprehensive shift across the board, nicole. i mean, i was in munich, too. and if you just think about what happened leading into and out of that, you have the united states essentially capitulating on the core issues, access, saying that russia can will have to keep the territory that they're currently occupying and that, you know, there'll be no nato security guarantee for ukraine. you have jd vance aligning the united states with the far right in germany. not exactly

ben rhodes. so much. hey there. how are you? thank you for coming in. this has been. okay. well, welcome to you all. and welcome to those of you watching on on c-span. so, terry, we're going to get into this book, which is a remarkable blend of your experience is your stories, your time working for barack obama and other people, but also kind of a manual for how to approach public speaking, how to kind of find your own voice. but as someone that worked with you for eight years in the white house, i did want to ask you a question that i don't think i've ever asked you before, which is. what is your favorite speech that you ever wrote for barack obama and why? oh, that's a good, good way to start. someone asked us this at the end of the administration, actually, the white house asked us all the speechwriters, what were your favorite speech to work on? and interestingly, most of them were no, none of the speeches any of you had ever heard of. they weren't the most famous barack obama speeches. they were all ones. what they had in common was they were the ones that mattered the

ben. >> rhodes, who says. >> president trump's policies so. >> far aren't necessarily what. >> he promisedd. >> trump america elected. >> morning joe will be back after a. after a. >> quick break. if you have heart failure or chronic kidney disease, farxiga can help you keep living life, because there are places you'd like to be. (♪♪) serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and bacterial infection between the anus and genitals, both which may be fatal, severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing or swallowing. tell your doctor about lightheadedness, weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness or swelling between the anus and genitals. ask your doctor about farxiga today. ♪ far-xi-ga ♪ (♪♪) so, what are you thinking? i'm thinking... (speaking to self) about our honeymoon. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great q

joining me now is ben rhodes, msnbc political analyst and former deputy national security advisor tor what your reaction was and what you're hearing from friends and colleagues in the middle east. >> well, i mean, i think people. >> are just baffled. >> joy. >> he had. >> said the. >> part about. >> essentially the ethnic cleansing of. gaza before the idea that the 2 million people that live there that don't want to leave the leave there should just move to egypt or jordan. pretty remarkable that restating that position was not the most shocking thing that trump said. >> in that press conference. but when he. >> talked about the u.s. taking ownership of. >> gaza. >> recognizing that the people of gaza don't want to leave the people in egypt and the governments of egypt and jordan don't want to take in 2 million people from gaza. not clear exactly where the israeli government stands. obviously, the israeli right wing would like to see gaza depopulated, but don't necessarily want to see it as a real estate property of the united states. suffice to say, like nobody i've talked to thinks

. >> here to discuss ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser for obama. used to support usaid. he believed it furthered our national interest. today, he announced he's not even going to the g20. he doesn't like that. they want to talk about diversity and climate. what happened? >> i mean, marco rubio is clearly not the guy calling the shots when it comes to american foreign policy. it seems like he's learning about some of these steps as they're taken. if you had a plan to reform usaid, he would have talked about that in his confirmation hearing. right. stephanie, like if he was planning to be the de facto administrator of usaid, which is what he announced via a statement the other day, he would have mentioned that in advance. it just seems like there are different people in the white house who have plans, particularly at d.o.j, to overhaul the us government, and that includes gutting, if not eliminating, usaid. and marco rubio is kind of catching up to that. his announcement that he's not even going to the g20 will do nothing except isolate the united st

so in a powerful new york times op ed that's out today, former deputy national security advisor ben rhodesrump appears to be an aging strongman looking to cement his legacy, while the stripping of usaid may have other nations looking to china for steadier global leadership. how critical, sabrina, is the expression of soft power for american interests around the world is the kind of strength that trump projects actually going to weaken the us and our national security? >> well, it's incredibly important to have soft power and be that that be part of our national security interests. i mean, foreign assistance is critical to u.s. national security. and this administration came in on the idea and the platform that they're going to put america first. well, when you're fighting diseases all around the world, like in uganda, where you have an ebola outbreak, you can either fight and inoculate against ebola in uganda or you can do it in new york city. and we saw what happened in 2014, and we don't want some of those diseases to come over to the united states. that's why we have partners like usaid

and former deputy national security advisor ben rhodes, thank you as well.now to take a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. more than 200,000 people protested against far right extremism in munich, germany, on saturday ahead of the country's general election there. similar gatherings took place in several locations as well. recent polls have the far right, anti-immigrant alternative for germany in second place. voters will head to the polls on february 23rd, and flu cases are on the rise once again as a second wave of the virus spreads across the country. levels of influenza nationwide are now at the highest they have been since 2009. that's according to the cdc. so far this season, 13,000 people have died from the flu, while over 300,000 have been hospitalized. the cdc estimates there have been at least 24 million flu illnesses so far, and president trump said he was considering using the department of transportation to end congestion pricing, which he claims was stopping people from coming into new york city. trump was vague on

i'm going to be talking to ben rhodes about it.of donald trump's weird flip. flop on it's flip flop. it's never he's. >> never really been on the. >> right side of ukraine. >> but when. >> donald trump. >> first got impeached, the funding that he was withholding. >> from ukraine was not just congressionally. >> approved. >> not just congressionally approved on a bipartisan basis, but almost unanimous. there have. >> got to be pieces. >> of. the republican party. even elected. republicans in congress. >> who think what we. >> are doing vis. >> a vis. >> ukraine is wrong. >> and dangerous. >> yeah. and there are i mean, i think just in the last several days, we saw a variety of. >> congressional republicans. >> step up to say. >> that the. >> donald trump's position is simply wrong. >> when it comes to. >> defending vladimir putin. >> when it comes to. >> cracking down on ukraine or our ostensible allies in this conflict. i think that we're seeing some republicans saying. >> no, this is going too far. this is a bridge too far. this i