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tom nichols joins us now.is a staff writer for "the atlantic" and professor emeritus of natioional security affairs t the u.s. naval war college. also joining us for perspective is republican strategist shermichael singleton. tom, let's start with you. you also write in this article, she has no qualifications as an intelligence professional, literally none. she has no significant experience directing or managing much of anything. if this moves forward in your view, what would the impact be? >> well, the impact would be both domestic and international. first of all, i don't think tulsi gabbard, given her political leanings, which is to say that she's an admirer both of bashar assad of syria and an apologist for vladimir putin of russia, and has a long record of statements about that, is not someone that you would want to trust with america's secrets. and the problem is that our allies certainly wouldn't want to work with her as someone they would trust sharing their secrets with us. these are -- these are posit

tom nichols from the atlantic. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.rs and a 45—year—old man have been convicted of murdering two boys in a case of mistaken identity. mason rist and max dixon, were attacked with machetes during a planned retribution attack. neither had any links to gangs. their families have said it's impossible to put in to words how they feel. laura jones reports from bristol. two beautiful boys. grew up in the same area, with each other every day. never been in trouble in any way at all. an ordinary saturday night injanuary, and best friends max and mason are each at home playing computer games. later, they realise they are hungry and so decide to change out of their pyjamas and made up to get some food. it was just after 11:00pm and you can see 16—year—old max here on cctv calling for his 15—year—old friend. his dressing gown is on the bed and you can see where he got undressed to go out that night. and ijust so wish that he put his pyjamas back on and just stayed in. i mean, i wish he'd just... he didn't go out. the boys head off

tom nichols, thank you for joining us.to have you. >> thank you. >>> alex jones' conspiracy laden company infowars has been sold to the auction block. the new owner is the onion. yes, the onion, the satirical news publication. the onion bought infowars to benefit families impacted by the sandy hook shooting. they tried to go to infor wars.com, you will get this, site unavailable until further notice. the news release from the onion announcing the sale was written in the voice of the ceo of global a fictional evil company created by onion staff. >>> coming up, alex padilla from the judiciary committee on what is going to happen with these nominees. don't go anywhere. to happen wi nominees don't go anywhere. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. f

back with me are joyce vance and tom nichols.hony coley, msnbc contributor and former head of affairs at the doj. joyce, i want to get your reaction first on trumped selecting matt gaetz for u.s. attorney general, and although we have learned so far about the house ethics committee report on his misconduct, how do you see that report, which has not yet been released, fitting into these broader concerns about gaetz's qualifications for this top role at doj? >> yeah, you know, that's just the right question. because we don't know what is in that report, although there has been a suggestion that it is not particularly favorable to gaetz. and i think if it were, he would be the one advocating for its release. the senate may never get the report itself, but that is not to say that they won't have access to the same testimony that the house committee was able to get. so i think that they will know in substance much of what is in that report. as for gaetz himself, melissa, it's really tough to find any evidence that he is qualified to r

tom nichols and others may take it a step further. the country? >> every federal employee every year has to sit through insider threat training to recognize people they think might be hazards around classified material. part of that is people who are deeply critical of the united states and its foreign policy, who seem to have a lot of affinity and meetings with foreign nationals. i mean, there is all kinds of alarm bells that go off here, and this nomination sets them all off. this is not somebody that you would say, sure, you know, i'll hand the crown jewels of american intelligence to someone who, as you pointed out, she is completely unqualified for the job, this is somebody who has consistently taken the side of people like bashar al assad and vladimir putin, even when she was a member of congress. there is absolutely no way that in any normal universe we'd even be having this discussion about trusting tulsi gabbard with the american intelligence community. a reminder for people watching, the dni sits on top of all of america's i

you can read tom nichols, you can read tom bunch. a lot of things on which we don't share ideological views but i consume everything that you write because i get smarter for it. will, what is the tool for the average person who wants better news and better information. >> the thing is people will always want information and they will always get information. the problem that tom diagnosed pretty well is that the ways that people get information have changed. there has been so much talk this year about the influence of tiktok or sites like that. people in the media business are trying to figure out how to we package news for people that are getting news incidentally or when they are going to sites for other things. how do we break it down to smaller snippets because people want information and people are obviously getting information someways it's just right now for the most part they are getting bad information. i think the onus is on us to try to find people where they are. that will take a lot of outside the box thinking. >> and res

that could mean theoretically, tom nichols, we are letting in people -- we have all kinds of tats.t know what kinds and what they signify. they are saying they don't like this femization of the military where they let trans people in, more women in. he has been very clear they want back a more macho old-fashioned military the way he thinks it could be, but that do mean letting in extremists. that's where we are headed. >> yeah. this is, you know, i mean, part of the -- where we'll end up is opening the doors wider for people that might have been disqualified for military service because pete hegseth is mad. because he feels that he was poorly treated. i mean, this is this constant stream of grievance that runs through all of these people that surround trump. if you look at all of them closely, you will always find there is someplace that's their origin story where they felt they were denied something that they were entitled to, that they felt they were judged unfairly, they are out to get even with everybody. this is coming back to the red pilling of trump. he has always bristled a

you can read tom nichols stuff. a lot of things upon which we don't share ideological views but i consume everything you write. i get smarter for it. >> the thing, is people are always going to want information and always going to get information. the problem is, i think tom diagnosed it pretty well, the ways that people get information have changed. so much talk this year about the influence of tiktok, for example. other sites like that. and you know, i think people in the mead business are trying to figure out, how do we repackage news for people getting news incidentally? or, you know, when they're going to sites for other things. how do we break it down into smaller snippets? people want information and people are obviously getting information in some ways. right now for the most part they're getting bad information. so i think the onus is on us to try to find people where they are and that will take a lot of outside the box thinking. >> and resources. the issue is, the financial incentives for beg a good news o

still us, lisa rubin, tom nichols and david french. david, this is your wheelhouse.in. >> impoundment is the idea that a president can refuse to spend money appropriated by congress. an extra double the constitution, but for years and years there was an occasional practice of impoundment. but again here is another name that comes up from earlier, richard nixon. he started to take this practice to the neck level. congress steps in, says, no, wait, there are limited circumstances under which a president can refuse to spend money that congress has told the president to spend. and so what the trump administration is trying to do is revive this impoundment idea that if congress says you have to spend x billion dollars on something, the president can just say, no, which places the president leapfrogs and vaults the president over congress in the constitutional pecking order and that's not the way the constitution is it's written. this is one of several areas where he is trying to walk in and say, i have more power than congress. i have more authority than congress when the

joining me right now, we have tom nichols, staff writer for "the atlantic," a retired professor at the u.s. naval war college. i welcome you, tom. we'll begin with the trump transition team's plan to potentially courts-martial officers involved in the afghanistan pullout. independent reviews have put blame on both the trump and the biden administration for the withdrawal. is there any necessary military justice protocol to find people responsible for those 13 american service members who were killed? >> no, there isn't. and we really have to drop the narrative that somehow this is about afghanistan. it has nothing to do with afghanistan. this is trump firing a shot over the heads of senior officers, telling them that from now on, loyalty to the constitution is not their oath. that from now on, it's loyalty to him. and he won't tolerate the kind of things that happen -- excuse me, in his first administration, where he had people like general mille and others refusing and right to talk him out of doing things like shooting protesters in the streets. this whole business about afghanistan

and humiliation, which is the whole point of his retribution torpid joining me now to discuss is tom nichols, thank you for joining me today. i'm going to start with this, your latest piece, i thought was fantastic. you laid out in particular four different members of the incoming administration who shouldn't be voted for, but in particular, i want you to talk a little bit about hegseth, the potential ahead of the department of defense, because the idea that this man would be in charge of investigating and purging the generals from the u.s. government is probably one of the most dangerous prospects that we face in the next two months. >> right, and the problem is that while he is doing that and while he is pursuing this trumpian fantasy of destroying the officer corps and rebuilding it as a non-woke, you know, spartan force, he is supposed to be running a department -- the biggest department in the government, and taking care of 2 million people in uniform. not to mention that he is also supposed to be helping to safeguard the security of the country by being the secretary of defense, being

and as tom nichols said, she doesn't have any qualifications. the director of national intelligence, that's a really serious position and very complex and complicated one that requires somebody who actually has an understanding of the intelligence community. it is like an orchestra conductor, of all the different agencies and departments that are involved in the intelligence process. and i don't think she understands the instruments involved in this orchestra, nor has she had any experience at the strategic level of running and leading a large complex organization. and the director of national intelligence is according to legislation the president's principle intelligence adviser, the personal responsible for making sure the president's daily brief is put together, in a very sound and forth right manner. the person who puts together the budget and priorities the intelligence community. so i know that this appointment is sending shock waves here in the united states, but also around the globe in terms of is this really somebody who donald trump i

this is the depth of expertise, this is what my friend tom nichols wrote about in his book, they don'tople who have expertise, they don't want people who respect our intelligence partnership with our allies, you think they are going to share intelligence with us with these unserious people? donald trump is trying to turn our country into a cross between celebrity apprentice and the hunger games, they are unserious. and these are people with grievances with their respected agencies, they are there to tear them down, steve bannon said he will take a blowtorch to them, that is why they are there. the way we are approaching this, it is frustrating the way the biden administration is approaching this translation now, because they don't want to seem as though there is a five alarm fire happening but there is, we have to stop treating this as if we are in a normal transition because we are not, these people want to destroy our agencies and institutions and installed donald trump as king. kash patel wrote a children's book about it. and our enemies are looking at this smiling, saying we are go

let's pick up with the conversation we were having just before the break. >> tom nichols, i wanted tole back to the tulsi gabbard selection with you. one thing i heard yesterday, a concern from those who are currently and formerly in the intelligence committee, it will have a chilling effect on our allies. because gabbard is viewed with such suspicion, there will be some of our european and asian partners who might not want to cooperate with us, who frankly may have had skepticism of trump himself who famously blabbed about the intelligence in the oval office. what is your concern? >> my concern about all three of these, gabbard, off the charts level of concern. of course it's going to affect our allies. they would be irresponsible in their duties to their countries if they were not concerned about her because when you're thinking of dealing with the top american intelligence official, you take your pick. you wouldn't want to work with her because she's not qualified for her job or because she is overly sympathetic to the president of russia and the president of syria, who, you know,

also staff writer tom nichols and senior writer at the dispatch and author of interim shadow, david drucker. what is he going to do in ukraine and russia? >> reporter: keith kellogg goes way back to when he was just candidate donald trump the first time in 2016 and served with him in some capacity. more or less ever since. he was selected because his views are in sabbatical with trump. he has written a paper about it, talked about the importance of bringing the conflict to a close with a settlement between russia and ukraine. he said this is not the kind of thing ukraine is likely to like but ukraine cannot fund a long- term stalemate. that sounds a lot like what donald trump has said about the war in ukraine. kellogg, a lieutenant general in the army before getting into this line of work being someone who is trying to bring those combatants to the table between russia and ukraine, something trump said would be a priority before he takes office which is a whole other conversation about what influence he may or not have, katy. >> why does he believe kellogg is the person for this role? he ha

gabbard nomination in national security risk, but also believes that the senate can't stop it, tom nicholshe most dangerous trump cabinet pics can be rolled back. >>> she was one of the most successful and popular authors writing today, she is also the author of the most banned book of the last school year. jodi picoult joins me to discuss her road map for the growing threat of censorship, the special edition of the book club is ahead and another hour of "velshi" begins right now.

then, there is this from national security affairs expert tom nichols, writing for "the atlantic " in following, she has no qualifications for an intelligence professional, literally none. her appointment would be a threat to the security of the united states. join me now is john bolton, former national security advisor under president trump and former ambassador to the united nations. thank you so much, ambassador. tulsi gabbard, what are your thoughts this morning? >> well, i thought it was the worst cabinet level appointment in history, until i heard the matt gaetz appointment. really, my reaction was that this is like the legend of caligula, the roman emperor who wanted to nominate his horse as a roman consort. you have to be a roman senator at the time to be a consult, and it was intended to show how domain integrated the roman senate had become . now, we will see whether the american senate can stand up and reject two people who are totally unqualified , unfit professionally , and really lacking in moral characteristics the character you need to hold these jobs. i think this boo

tom nichols also read the books and says the one big thing that comes out to him, there is a lot, butne of the major things is there is no way that he can get confirmed or at least in normal times with what he has said itabout women in these boo, specifically women serving in the military in a combat position. do you see hegseth as a rocky confirmation? is this going to keep going? donald trump's backed off on gaetz, could he back off on hegseth? >> he could. i mean, i guess i'm the only atlantic staff person who hasn't read pete hegseth's books yet. >> better get going on that. >> obviously. what's clear, i always thought that hegseth, gaetz and to some degree kennedy and gabbard were big flexes by trump. they're all problematic in their own ways. i think probably gaetz first, because his own profile coupled with the ag job and how powerful and how big it is, but, yeah, i mean, i think all of these folks are problematic and potentially could be struck down, but i think that it does require a kind of collective action, which would be, you know, four senators, maybe more, just locking

special correspondent for bbc news katty kay and staff writer at "the atlantic" tom nichols. cy is not over. i'm going to get to that in just a moment. i first want to read liz cheney's statement on the results of this election. and she says -- she tweeted this out -- our nation's democratic system functioned last night and we have a new president-elect. all americans are bound, whether we like the outcome or not, to accept the results of our elections. we now have a special responsibility as citizens of the greatest nation on earth to do everything we can to support and defend our constitution, preserve the rule of law and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years. citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy. tom, your thoughts on the possibility that that can happen. >> well, strangely enough, i think i'm glad that trump won an outright majority because i don't think the country could have taken one more election where the electoral co

well, with me now, cnn senior law enforcement analyst john miller and tom nichols, a national securityff writer at the atlantic. good evening, john. let me start with you. here. i wonder what is the risk for people at home? what is the risk in bypassing the current background check system at the fbi and using private firms to run them instead? >> well, so first of all, just for to make it interesting, let's look at it from both perspectives, right. if you're donald trump and you spent four years saying the justice department is weaponized it's lawfare, they're committing lawfare against me. the fbi is the manufacturer of these phony cases that lead to phony charges that lead to phony trials well, it would make sense if you were a true believer of that that you would be very hesitant to hand over the people you're proposing as your closest aides and say, i want you to do the background on them because you would think i'm just putting them up for character assassination. now let's take a look at the other side of it, which is sure for the transition, you can hire a private firm that can

. >> tom nichols, thank you very much. adlines this morning. india's defense minister says his country has successfully tested a domestic hypersonic missile with a range exceeding 900 miles. a milestone that puts india in a small group of nations to test the technology. the u.s., russia, china and north korea have all tested hypersonic missiles and several others are developing the technology. >>> a new study finds that stress can disrupt memory formation and lead to needless anxiety. okay. researchers using mice determined that stress alters the way the brain forms memories resulting in an unnecessary fear response. the new findings published in the journal "cells" could help people suffering from ptsd. i could have helped them with that. >>> late betty white will be memorialized in a new postage stamp next year. the u.s. postal service announced one of its 2025 forever stamp offering will include an illustration of white calling her an icon of american television who shared her warmth with viewers for seven decades. white

let's speak to tom nichols staff writer at the atlantic, who joins us live from rhode island.about rokjunior tell you? it is this pic about rok junior tell you?— is this pic about rok junior tell ou? , ., tell you? it tells me that the president — tell you? it tells me that the president elect _ tell you? it tells me that the president elect is _ tell you? it tells me that the president elect is making - president elect is making spiteful pics at this point. he is rewarding loyalists, he is picking people that he thinks are enemies of the existing biden administration but the existing american government as it has been constituted for decades. and also, he is trolling, there is no other way to put this, he is intentionally throwing people up intentionally throwing people up specifically to generate drama and controversy and outrage because he thrives on chaos. he thinks when people are angry he is winning. this isn't a tv show any more, this isn't a tv show any more, this isn't a tv show any more, this isn't a rally, these are people's lives in the balance now and this particu