is now host of white flag with joe walsh. also with us msnbc political analyst basil smikle, professor at practice at columbia university. joe, i'll give you a chance to respond, a long time never trumper. proud and as you told our team before tonight's show. why is that? what do you make of brett stevens, a fellow conservative colleague of yours as an op ed. >> this is really easy. you either believe donald trump is an existential threat to our democracy or you don't. clearly brett stevens doesn't. clearly, by the way, john fetterman doesn't. chill out? chill out? with everything trump is doing right now, you know, ayman it just fricking me off and i like a lot about what fetterman has said about a lot of other issues, but a never trumper, somebody who tells me to believe the threat to democracy to chill out when as you said at the top of this hour that donald trump led a violent attempt to overthrow an american election, i will never chill out as long as that's the case. we normalize this guy, ayman, trump, and our own dang

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thank you to former congresswoman donna edwards and joe walsh. >>> next on "politics nation" we'll speaks pardoned by president trump this week. he's already giving back to his community and he'll be here to tell us all about it. >>> welcome back to "politics nation." >>> on thursday president biden carried out the largest single- day act of clemency by pardoning 39 people and commuting roughly 1,500 sentences. among those pardoned by biden is 58-year-old johnny earl williams of denver who was convicted of a nonviolent offense. the white house has noted that williams has worked as a criminal justice specialist and addiction counselor since his conviction and that he also gives back to his community by volunteering and serving in his church and johnny earl joins me now. welcome to the show, johnny. mr. williams, congratulations first on your pardon. do you mind starting by sharing briefly what you were convicted for and when did it happen? >> yes. thank you, rev. i'm glad to be here. i in 1999 was convicted of a failure to report income on an income tax return and that was many years ago

joining me now is joe walsh, and april ryan, white house correspondent and washington bureau chief foro. i missed where you were talking to my colleagues on "the weekend, and they were saying what happens if johnson doesn't win it, and you were suggesting kevin mccarthy might actually resurface as the speaker of the house. i don't know if you're still thinking that way or what you think could happen or whether you think this trump endorsement was what mike johnson needed. what's your take on it? >> ali, good to be with you. trump did meet with mccarthy this week, and here's the one constant about donald trump. all he cares about is donald trump. the house can't conduct any business until they pick a speaker. there's business they need to conduct on january 6, monday, and that's certify the election result. my god, donald trump doesn't want that to go disturbed. and you and i and april, we all know trump has a very aggressive and cruel agenda he wants to begin to commence on january 20th when he's sworn in. the last thing he wants is any chaotic sort of speaker fight. so i think probabl

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>> david, was talking to joe walsh earlier about how you compare what's going on these 38 republicanswho sort of voted in opposition to mike johnson and what donald trump wanted to do versus the tea party. he was saying, it's not as organized back then but it was a little more organized than now making the point that right now everyone is in it for themselves. what you make of this republican opposition movement. why are they doing it and what are their goals? >> look, i think the evolution the last few decades is republicans went for the party of less government. if you think classic reagan to the party of no government which is the tea party. for now the party is the enemy. among the 38 and even more they see government as the enemy that has to be taken down. it's the scary thread that brings in this fake doge committee , musk and vivek ramaswamy, the contrast between two parties not giving equity to the two because the democratic party wants to help the american people and the majority of the republics, the direction they're going sees government as being in the way of ordinary peo

join me now, donna edwards, joe walsh of the great state of illinois, thank you very much for comingn hegseth, why shouldn't he be secretary of defense? >> let me say jonathan, i love the military, i grew up in the military, i shouldn't be secretary of defense.1st of all pete hegseth office resume was very light to begin with. then you add these problems that he has had, and i think particularly the problems around dealing with women, the comments he has made, the sexual assault allegations, these are all very problematic for any nominee, but especially the department of defense. there is 17% of women who make up the nation's military forces, and he would be in charge of all of that. and so i think it's really inappropriate, and i think it's going to come down to a couple of senators who are going to say this is a bridge too far, and donald trump even though he has expressed support for pete hegseth at this time i think he will quietly walk away from it. >> how significant is it that he, hegseth, is going to undergo an fbi background check? that puts him into some legal jeopardy if h

april ryan and joe walsh are back with us. >> i mean, the facts speak for themselves. >> i'm just putting table, and anybody can free willy this all day long. who are they going to replace mike johnson with, because they are talking about i'm going to hold my power, this doesn't look good for him, well who are you going to put up instead? let me look, is it out there -- >> i think that is why president trump is holding his tongue until he makes a determination, we can play as many games and go to mar-a-lago and play golf as much as you want but if he doesn't like you, you are gone. especially in this second term, mike johnson is in trouble. and we are just waiting to hear from donald trump and we are waiting to find out who could be the replacement. i wonder if it might be somebody like byron donalds who is waiting to get some kind of nod from trump and some positioning. >> that ought to be fun. >> what is interesting about this, mike johnson has been in trouble before and the last time he was in trouble, democrats saved him, they saved his speakership, democrats are being very clear, apr

for me illinois congressman and 2020 presidential candidate, joe walsh, and my buddy, joins us at the table. mcmechen morning, nothing says saturday morning like an advanced clip of "meet the press. " let's watch this clip from our colleague and donald trump. >> it looks like pete is doing well now. people were a little bit concerned. he is a young guy with a tremendous track record, actually. with to princeton and went to harvard. he loves the military and i think people are starting to see it. will be working hard on his nomination along with a lot of others. >> since you bring him up, do you still have confidence in pete hegseth? >> i do. a very smart guy. i've known him through fox, but i've known him a long time. he's basically a military guy. every time i talk to you all he wants to talk about is the military. he's a military guy. >> have you got assurances that he will be confirmed? >> no, a lot of people call me up and said he did he is fantastic. >> you don't drink yourself, you talked about how devastating drinking can be. how concerned are you that the person you picked for

are still going to be in the arena trying to push back against donald trump and former congressman joe walshcome a trump critic, was on over the weekend talking about what this pardon means kind of in that context. let's watch that. >> so the next time any of us complain about anything trump does this. >> this pardon is just deflating nobody is above the law. >> we've been screaming well joe biden just made clear his son hunter is above the law. >> donald trump lies every time he opens his mouth we've been screaming, joe biden repeatedly lied about this the politicization of the justice system donald trump and his people have been screaming. well, that's exactly what biden said here so he's basically saying that they have handed the trump team an enormous cudgel with this. >> right, and expect democrats whether they're democratic governors democratic attorney generals democratic lawmakers here in washington they will be asked about this, and they will be put on the spot. and it's going to be interesting going forward. once we officially get into the trump administration, we know that that ju

and then joe walsh, who is a former congressman, republican congressman who has become a trump critic, he was on msnbc. he put it this way let's play it, because it's kind of a succinct way to look at it. take take a look. >> so the next time any of us complain about anything trump does this. this pardon is just deflating. nobody is above the law. we've been screaming well joe biden just made clear his son hunter is above the law. donald trump lies every time he opens his mouth. we've been screaming joe biden repeatedly lied about this. the politicization of the justice system. donald trump and his people have been screaming. well, that's exactly what biden said here. >> does he have a point? and what are you hearing from other democrats? >> this is the kind of thing that does breed cynicism in people, and it's that cynicism that in part, donald trump plays off of in making the moves that he does when he says look, it's all rigged against everybody the the justice department is politicized, right? and now joe biden has said that his justice department under his administration was what

they no longer have the -- joe walsh. i like one joe walsh. like the guy -- i like the guitar player from the eagles and james gang. the other one, i don't know how he got famous, but i think it is the people who made their living just hating trump, but he was, like, this is really bad. you can't really -- our old friend john harwood, did you see? >> i think there was something he posted several years ago. >> he did. he did. he did. it was vintage harwood. but we don't want to go there. though we already did. new moves by the incoming trump administration over the weekend, the president-elect will name real estate developer charles kushner, father of trump's son-in-law, jared, as ambassador to france. that's a darn good gig. you need -- you should be wealthy to do that because the wine, you can't serve, like, $20 wine. >> no. and you have to pay for it yourself. this goes back to the pardon bit. >> especially with dojo. how is this related? >> because trump pardoned charles kushner. >> he didn't do much. >> are you kidding? did you hear what c

walsh for i recognize mr. dean i from national air traffic controller association. >> good "morning joe" duckworth, chair cantwellranking member cruz. thank you for the opportunity to testify before you on this important subject. my name is dean iacopelli and achieve a step in national air traffic controllers association, and i'm retired air-traffic control with over 30 years of expense having been assigned to a facility responsible for separating aircraft in and around the new york city area. we take pride in her role as an aviation safety organization that stand shoulder to shoulder with congress, the executive branch and industry stakeholders to ensure that the financial airspace system maintains a safe is a most efficient in the world. the 20,000 air-traffic the 20c controllers and other aviation safety professionals represented by natca, department defense and the federal contract tower program are vital to use the economy, entry safe and efficient movement of billions of passengers and tons of cargo every day. our mission is to ensure the flying public provides home to their vacation, the business destinati