The Rachel Maddow Show

Rachel Maddow runs through the litany of excuses and justifications the Trump administration has presented to explain the military invasion of Venezuela, and points out that none of what has been floated holds up under scrutiny. Every principle the Trump administration claims to be defending comes with examples of the administration not caring at all about that principle. Even the popular idea that it was all for oil doesn't really make sense upon closer examination. But there is one reason that is consistent with Trump's behavior through the first year of his second term in office.

Pete Hegseth, former cable news weekend host and Donald Trump secretary of defense, is moving to demote Senator Mark Kelly and also cut his military retirement pay because Kelly reminded members of the military of their duty to refuse to obey unlawful orders. Senator Kelly talked with Rachel Maddow about why that particular message bothered Donald Trump so much that he's still trying to punch Kelly for saying it out loud in public.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump is reshaping the role of the U.S. military to suit his interests and ego.

Rachel Maddow rounds up a litany of recent court losses Donald Trump has suffered, as even some Republicans in Congress are agreeing to block or otherwise mitigate the damage Trump's policies are inflicting on their constituents, all while Americans rally in protest of abuses and outright crimes committed by Trump's ICE agents.

Rachel Maddow reviews recent examples of ICE agents overstepping their legal authority and making a chaotic mess of the job they're meant to be doing, all of which paints them not as actual professional immigration enforcement, but as Trump's untrained secret police force dressed up in military gear.

ICE agents dressed in paramilitary costume and terrorizing communities with heavy-handed tactics appear to have thought their abuses would earn them respect and obedience. On the contrary, Americans are only becoming more agitated and inclined to resist ICE's overstepping. Amanda Otero, co-executive director of Take Action Minnesota, talks with Rachel Maddow about organizing anti-ICE protests and other activism as Donald Trump surges troops of border patrol agents into her town.

Rachel Maddow shares recent examples of prominent members of the clergy speaking out against Donald Trump's abuse anti-immigrant tactics and his belligerent foreign policy, and talks with Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, about defending immigrant members of his community and Donald Trump's dismantling of the moral role the U.S. plays in the world.

Rachel Maddow reports on a growing number of towns and communities that are speaking out and standing up to Department of Homeland Security plans to open ICE detention and processing facilities to take in immigrants being arrested in federal raids. The rejection of ICE facilities fits into a bigger picture of pressure being put on companies and organizations that have become tacit ICE resources, from Avelo Airlines conducting deportation flights, to Home Depot allowing arrests of day laborers in their parking lots.

Rachel Maddow shares photos of a giant replica of the naked woman birthday doodle that appears to have been from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday. The replica is meant to commemorate Trump's relationship with Epstein as Epstein's birthday approaches.

Donald Trump's anti-immigrant mission was already damaging his standing with the portion of Americans who didn't already dislike him, but the escalating violence and brutality and shocking on-camera killings have seen his opposition balloon from Americans protesting to a large swath of his own party, business leaders, clergy and Congress. Rachel Maddow outlines how the forces of democracy are imposing themselves on Trump.

Rachel Maddow points out the consistent, unrelenting, stalwart, peaceful opposition of the people of Minnesota to Donald Trump's brutal anti-immigrant tactics, flexing every democratic muscle, is steadily defeating Trump. The people of Minneapolis are showing that the way to save democracy is by democratic means, including peaceful protest.

Rachel Maddow reports on the expanding list of communities that are refusing the admit the Department of Homeland Security to install an immigration prison or processing facility in their area. Even across differences of politics and demographics, no one wants to be host to an immigration prison.

Rachel Maddow looks at the latest headlines showing Donald Trump backpedaling in the face of protests and plummeting poll numbers, taking a shocking loss in a special election, losing court cases, and watching resignations in protest deplete his Justice Department. The pushback against Donald Trump is happening everywhere he turns and grows ever more effective the more Trump wobbles and weakens.

Rachel Maddow looks at how communities around the country are finding ways to prevent Donald Trump from establishing immigration prison camps where they live. From pressuring real estate firms, to speaking out at town council hearings to revoking permits, Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security is having a hard time fulfilling Trump's vision of a nationwide system of "processing facilities" to house tens of thousands of immigrants.

Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri, talks with Rachel Maddow about his city's effort to block the Department of Homeland Security from opening an ICE immigration prison in his community.

Donald Trump appears to have overreached in his effort to control the information presented to Americans by arresting journalists. Georgia Fort, an award-winning independent journalist arrested while reporting on a protest at a church in Minnesota, talks with Rachel Maddow about the ordeal of being arrested at home by federal agents, and Donald Trump's efforts to bully, intimidate, and criminalize journalists in an effort to control what Americans are allowed to know.

Donald Trump is, of course, mentioned thousands of times in the Epstein files, as one would expect given his close relationship with notorious pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but Trump's association with many of the names in those files did not end with Epstein's arrest, or even death. Rachel Maddow highlights some of the mentions that are oddly still enjoying impunity.

The fight against Donald Trumps anti-immigrant agenda is being engaged with ferocity by ordinary citizens from all walks of life, including local who don't want their town to play host to one of Donald Trump's new immigrant prison camps. Rachel Maddow argues that major law firms who were made to look foolish cowering in the face of threats from Trump in 2025, would do well to seek redemption in 2026 by joining the effort to stymie Trump's plans of a nationwide network of immigrant prison camps.

Michael Wriston, co-founder of Project Salt Box, talks with Rachel about using records of government contracts to figure out what the Department of Homeland Security is planning as it looks to build a network of immigrant prisons.

Senator Jon Ossoff joins to talk about Doanld Trump's fixation on losing in Georgia in 2020 and the threat Trump poses to free and fair elections in Georgia as soon as the coming midterms.

Rachel Maddow shares highlights from a judge's remarks in rejecting Donald Trump's power to dismantle a national monument i Philadelphia to hide the fact that George Washington owned slaves. The judge compared Trump's censorious "anti-woke" edict to the mission of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984.

Independent journalist Georgia Fort talks with Rachel Maddow about ICE harassment of media and activists.

Rachel Maddow reviews the latest batch of terrible poll numbers for Donald Trump, including on issues that are meant to be his political strength, and points out that his familiar trick of making empty promises he has no idea how to keep are insufficient distraction from the cruelty of ICE and the paucity of his economic ideas that are turning Americans against him.

New Hampshire State Rep. Wendy Thomas joins to discuss the fight against a new ICE prison in the town of Merrimack, New Hampshire and the waffling indecision by Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte.

Rachel Maddow considering the tradition associated with the State of the Union address in which one member of the president's Cabinet does not attend the event in case something happens that prevents everyone in attendance at the speech who would ordinarily be part of the presidential succession from being able to serve. But in Donald Trump's case, his Cabinet is so full of scandal and disgrace, designating a survivor seems impossible.

Rep. Pat Ryan discusses rallying local resistance against Donald Trump's planned network of ICE prisons.

Rachel Maddow reports on an important sign of light for the rule of law: federal judges losing patience with Donald Trump's Department of Justice for repeatedly defying orders, particularly in immigration cases.

"They're not sending their best." Rachel Maddow reviews how the collection of unqualified culture warriors Donald Trump has put in charge of key facets of the United States national security apparatus is much worse than merely incompetent now that Trump has started a war with Iran and stoked a new level of threat against Americans and American interests.

MS NOW's Carol Leonnig reports on new firings at the FBI that included members of an elite counterintelligence squad specializing in neutralizing threats from Iran. The firings came just before Trump started a war with Iran, setting up a whole new threat environment for Americans and American interests.

Senator Tammy Duckworth joins Rachel to discuss Donald Trump's incoherent explanation for attacking Iran and the burden America's men and women in uniform are taking on for Trump's whim.

And Donald Trump's Justice Department under Pam Bondi is in trouble with a judge again.

In a rambling press conference full of bizarre answers to questions about the war he started against Iran, Donald Trump admitted that he is doing it "for the other parts of the world." Rachel Maddow looks at how Russia is benefitting tremendously from Trump's attack on Iran, even as it helps Iran target American interests, and how Trump has set off a global energy crisis of historic proportions.

Rachel has a conversation with Col. Jack Jabobs about the recent history of the dignified transfer of the remains of fallen U.S. service members.

Rep. Jim Himes joins to discuss the Trump administration's rationale for attacking Iran.

Rachel Maddow reports on how the horrifying stories coming out of Donald Trump's existing immigrant prison camps are not only tanking Trump's approval ratings with the American public but are hindering his ability to bring his nationwide prison camp plan to reality.

And the wheels are coming off Donald Trump's extremely narrow House majority as lame duck Republicans have less reason to show up for work as the year wears on and they move on to other things.

As Donald Trump flings the world into an energy crisis with his war in Iran, his administration is apparently trying to resurrect the ghosts of past environmental catastrophes with deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and an oil pipeline off the coast of California.

Rachel Maddow looks at how Donald Trump's fast talk and gaslighting can't change the reality of the mess he has made in the Strait of Hormuz as allies resist his bullying and rivals and opportunists take advantage of him to enrich themselves.

Donald Trump's avoidance of accountability or even having to give any real answers on his decision to go to war against Iran may be coming to an end as Senate Democrats are poised to bring the business of the Senate to a grinding halt by forcing a wave of votes on U.S. military action in Iran. Senator Cory Booker talks with Rachel Maddow about Trump's handling of his attack on Iran and the questions Senate Democrats want answered. 

And the disaster at the Department of Homeland Security did not end with the firing of Kristi Noem. Wall Street Journal reporter Michelle Hackman discusses with Rachel.