Latest news with #TheRachelMaddowShow
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Frost on ‘Alligator Alcatraz' visit: ‘I saw myself in those cages'
Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost (D) on Monday described the conditions immigrants are being held under at the Trump administration's newest detention center known as 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The lawmaker visited the site over the weekend and said he could see a reflection of his image while looking at the individuals being detained in the Florida Everglades. 'Looking at the hundreds of men in there, I saw myself in those cages. I saw people who were my age, people who looked exactly like me,' Frost said during a Monday appearance on MSNBC's 'The Rachel Maddow Show.' 'And I thought when we were walking out of those doors of the — of the internment camp, I thought, I'm one of the only people that looks like me and that's my age that's going to actually walk out of this place without being deported or without being a staff member that's not allowed to really talk about what's going on in there,' he added. Frost is of Puerto Rican, Lebanese, and Haitian ancestry, according to his official website. He has railed against the Trump administration's efforts to detain and deport large numbers of immigrants in recent months citing his own ties to various migrant communities. The Florida lawmaker has specifically taken issue with what he says are the 'Alligator Alcatraz' site's inhumane conditions. He also described the facility as an 'internment camp.' 'Everyone's using different language, different names. I'm going with internment or even prison detention center because this — and this isn't even a detention center, right? The thing people have to realize too is when an immigrant is being detained, they're being detained because they're going through the legal process of deportation,' Frost told Maddow. 'They are not — have not been convicted of a crime. They're not serving a sentence for a crime. And so they should not be treated in this way. And to be honest, even if you're treated as a — even if you've been convicted of a crime in this country, you don't — you shouldn't be treated this way as well. The conditions were horrible,' he added. Lawmakers in California have also flagged poor conditions and overpopulation at detention centers on the West Coast. Frost said the Trump administration is using immigration enforcement as a means to racially profile and remove unwanted immigrants. 'They want more people behind bars. They want to incarcerate more people. And they want to ethnically cleanse — cleanse this country of certain types of immigrants. Because here's the thing, they're not going for every person here that's undocumented,' Frost said on Monday. 'Because when I was in that internment camp in the Everglades, I didn't see any Europeans who overstayed their visa. I saw nothing but Latino men and Haitian men. And as we look at these operations going around the country, they are targeting specific types of people. And it's the type of people that look like me.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Frost on ‘Alligator Alcatraz' visit: ‘I saw myself in those cages'
Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost (D) on Monday described the conditions immigrants are being held under at the Trump administration's newest detention center known as 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The lawmaker visited the site over the weekend and said he could see a reflection of his image while looking at the individuals being detained in the Everglades. 'Looking at the hundreds of men in there, I saw myself in those cages. I saw people who were my age, people who looked exactly like me,' Frost said during a Monday appearance on MSNBC's 'The Rachel Maddow Show.' 'And I thought when we were walking out of those doors of the — of the internment camp, I thought, I'm one of the only people that looks like me and that's my age that's going to actually walk out of this place without being deported or without being a staff member that's not allowed to really talk about what's going on in there,' he added. Frost is of Puerto Rican, Lebanese, and Haitian ancestry, according to his official website. He has railed against the Trump administration's efforts to detain and deport large numbers of immigrants in recent months citing his own ties to various migrant communities. The Florida lawmaker has specifically taken issue with what he says are the 'Alligator Alcatraz' site's inhumane conditions. He also described the facility as an 'internment camp.' 'Everyone's using different language, different names. I'm going with internment or even prison detention center because this — and this isn't even a detention center, right? The thing people have to realize too is when an immigrant is being detained, they're being detained because they're going through the legal process of deportation,' Frost told Maddow. 'They are not — have not been convicted of a crime. They're not serving a sentence for a crime. And so they should not be treated in this way. And to be honest, even if you're treated as a — even if you've been convicted of a crime in this country, you don't — you shouldn't be treated this way as well. The conditions were horrible,' he added. Lawmakers in California have also flagged poor conditions and overpopulation at detention centers on the West Coast. Frost said the Trump administration is using immigration enforcement as a means to racially profile and remove unwanted immigrants. 'They want more people behind bars. They want to incarcerate more people. And they want to ethnically cleanse — cleanse this country of certain types of immigrants. Because here's the thing, they're not going for every person here that's undocumented,' Frost said on Monday. 'Because when I was in that internment camp in the Everglades, I didn't see any Europeans who overstayed their visa. I saw nothing but Latino men and Haitian men. And as we look at these operations going around the country, they are targeting specific types of people. And it's the type of people that look like me.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Maxwell Frost Shares Ominous Findings From ‘Alligator Alcatraz' Visit
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) is sounding the alarm over what he calls the 'horrible' conditions at Florida's new immigrant detention center, which members of President Donald Trump's administration have callously promoted and dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz.' Frost and other state lawmakers were given a guided tour Saturday. Last week, they were denied access to the facility, leading them to sue Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for what they called in a joint statement 'deliberate obstruction meant to hide what's really happening.' Frost shared his findings on social media Sunday and on 'The Rachel Maddow Show.' 'I don't need Ron DeSantis' permission,' he told the MSNBC host Monday. 'I don't need anybody's permission to pull up to an immigration detention center and do my job, which is to go and conduct oversight — and tell the public about what's going on.' Frost confirmed on Instagram after his visit that the facility holds 32 people per 'cage' and that they're forced to drink water from spigots attached to the only three toilets in each cell. He called the conditions 'horrible.' 'These people are being caged,' he said. 'You know, when I went in and we were standing at that door, looking at the cages, looking at the hundreds of men in there, I saw myself in those cages. I saw people were my age, people who looked exactly like me,' the Florida congressman told Maddow. 'I thought when we were walking out of those doors of the internment camp, I thought, 'I'm one of the only people that looks like me, and that's my age, that's going to actually walk out of this place without being deported or without being a staff member,'' he added. The Miami Herald reported Sunday that over 250 people held in the Everglades facility are listed as having no criminal convictions or pending charges in the U.S., and were only detained on immigration violations. On Monday, Frost firmly called it an 'internment camp.' Maddow played an excerpt of his social media video in which Frost said the detainees were sweating, in cramped conditions — and yelling, 'Help me, help me.' He doubled down Monday and said: 'The conditions were horrible, and it's nothing less than what I called it.' 'And I'd like to be very clear about things, because we have too much BS in this world and this politics, where people want to sanitize stuff,' he continued. 'We can't sanitize what's going on in the Everglades because it's going on around the country.' ICE reportedly announced Monday that it's declared millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond hearings, meaning anyone who ever entered the U.S. illegally can now be held for the duration of their immigration proceedings — which could take years. Maxwell called it 'a complete perversion of the law,' as immigrants detained in the U.S. used to be legally allowed to bond out, return to their families and continue to work while the legal process pertaining to their potential deportation continued. He noted that 1996 laws changed this by introducing 'mandatory detention' for those who committed a crime or are considered a flight risk, but that the Trump administration is now arguing it applies to everyone. Frost said 'it doesn't,' and that 'they're completely wrong.' 'But this points to something bigger,' he added. 'They want more people behind bars.' 'They want to incarcerate more people, and they want to ethnically cleanse this country of certain types of immigrants, because, here's the thing — they're not going for every person here that's undocumented,' Frost continued. 'Because when I was in that internment camp in the Everglades, I didn't see any Europeans who overstayed their visa. I saw nothing but Latino and Haitian men … that look like me.' Watch the full interview here: Republicans Fundraise Off Of Disgusting Joke On T-Shirts Karoline Leavitt's 'My Own Two Eyes' Claim About Trump Has People Doubting Her Vision Fox News Star Hits Trump With A Cold Truth About His Relationship With Putin
Fox News
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
MSNBC's Psaki struggles to fill Maddow's lofty shoes, trails CNN in key demo through two months in new slot
It has been a mixed bag for MSNBC's Jen Psaki, two months into her new gig. Psaki, the press secretary for former President Joe Biden — who has insisted she never witnessed signs of decline while she worked for him — saw an increased role as part of MSNBC's overhaul when programming changes were announced earlier this year. Psaki took over MSNBC's coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Tuesday through Fridays in May as "The Rachel Maddow Show" returned to only airing on Mondays. Maddow had temporarily returned to airing five nights a week during President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" averaged 1.1 million total viewers from its May 6 debut through July 3, losing 44% of the 1.8 million that Maddow – and a few January shows hosted by Alex Wagner – pulled in at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday through Fridays throughout 2025. Psaki wasn't expected to compete with Maddow, who is MSNBC's biggest star by a wide margin, from a ratings standpoint off the bat. However, "Alex Wagner Tonight," which aired in the 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Tuesday through Fridays throughout 2024, also topped Psaki. "Alex Wagner Tonight" averaged 1.2 million total viewers from May 6 through July 3 last year, which is 17% more than Psaki's 2025 viewership. Psaki also shed "Alex Wagner Tonight" viewers among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, as "The Briefing" has averaged only 90,000 viewers from the critical group. Last year, "Alex Wagner Tonight" averaged 123,000 demo viewers from May 6 through July 3. But MSNBC aired three primetime specials during that time and Maddow's presence on the panel shows significantly boosted "Alex Wagner Tonight" ratings among both total viewers and the demo. Through two months, Psaki has drawn less than half the audience of Fox News Channel's 9 p.m. ET offering, "Hannity," which has averaged 2.9 million viewers since May 6. Psaki has managed to thump timeslot competition on ratings-challenged CNN among total viewers, as "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" has averaged a dismal 543,000 viewers since "The Briefing" debuted on MSNBC. However, the former Biden press secretary is trailing CNN in the key demo. "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" outdrew MSNBC's "The Briefing" by managing 108,000 demo viewers on Tuesdays through Fridays since Psaki moved to 9 p.m. ET. Fox News' "Hannity" averaged 344,000 demo viewers during the same time period. Psaki also trails cable news competitors among younger viewers aged 18-49, averaging 62,000 compared to 219,000 for "Hannity" and 70,000 for CNN's "The Source." MSNBC insiders point to "The Briefing" being the network's No. 3 most-watched daily program despite only being on-air for two months as a sign that Psaki will find success at 9 p.m. ET. "The Briefing" has built on the audience of its lead-in, "All in with Chris Hayes," which "Alex Wagner Tonight" failed to do in 2024. This has occurred as MSNBC has lost viewers overall. Psaki improved in her second month in the timeslot, as "The Briefing" averaged 973,000 total viewers in May compared to a smidge over one million in June for an 8% uptick and gained 17% in the demo. Despite the loss to CNN, "The Briefing" is MSNBC's No. 2 program in the demo, while Wagner's show was the network's eighth best in the critical category during the same time period last year. Psaki served as Biden's first press secretary from January 2021 until May 2022, and her defense of the White House made her popular with MSNBC progressives before she landed at the network. CNN also had discussions about bringing her on board. The launch of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" coincided with a news cycle that wasn't particularly flattering for former Biden officials, as anticipation for the book "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," put questions about Biden's fitness for office at the forefront. It remains to be seen if Psaki can fill the shoes of Maddow, but the latter certainly hurt MSNBC by deciding "The Rachel Maddow Show" would only air on Mondays. Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rachel Maddow: As Trump melts down over L.A. protests, Americans prep for nationwide 'No Kings' rallies
This is an adapted excerpt from the June 9 episode of 'The Rachel Maddow Show.' What is the most important story in the country right now? In this moment, there is no question of what the United States is up against. The intentions of Donald Trump are not a mystery. There's no suspense. There's no ambiguity. We know exactly who he is and exactly what he wants. It's as plain as day. But the question we are contending with, the real black box, the real drama, the story that does need to be dug up and told in our country because it is as yet undecided, is this: Will he succeed? Will he get what he wants? That question will be answered not by Trump or his actions, but by the people of this country. And so the most important story of our time is this one: What is this country going to allow him to do? This is an attempted authoritarian overthrow of the United States Constitution and the U.S. government. This is the attempted imposition of a dictatorial regime. The question now is whether it will work. The answer won't come from the White House; it will come from the streets, the courts, the states and in Congress. The strength of the movement against Trump is what will determine our fate as a country. Because what we're seeing over and over again is that organizing against him works. Fighting him in court works. Pushing back works. Protesting in the streets works. On Friday, large-scale protests broke out in Los Angeles over the administration's militarized immigration raids. By Saturday, Trump was fulminating against those protests and announced he would federalize the National Guard, the first time a president has done that against the wishes of a state's governor in 60 years. (When it was done 60 years ago, it was to protect protesters, not to threaten them with military force.) The response of the American people to that move is exactly what you would expect: In Los Angeles, bigger protests than ever, and across the country, solidarity protests in Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Tampa, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; and in Washington, D.C., outside the Justice Department headquarters. There is nothing California-specific about what is going on here. When Trump issued his order to federalize the National Guard this weekend, it was not specific to Los Angeles, and it was not specific to California; he could use that order to send National Guard troops anywhere. On Monday, Trump took things a step further and announced he's sending 700 Marines to Los Angeles. That is a portrait of weakness. That is what you get when you have a supposed leader who cannot figure out how to get the support of his people, and knows it. That is what you get when you have a weak and unpopular president, who sees the people against him and can't defend his actions. But, despite what Trump wants, the protests won't stop. In fact, this coming Saturday, we will likely see the largest protests yet against Trump and his administration. As the president holds his military parade in Washington, people across the country are set to take part in what organizers are calling the 'No Kings Day of Defiance.' More than 1,800 rallies are planned nationwide — peaceful, organized and united. Trump already can't handle the number of protests against him, and it's about to increase exponentially. What we are seeing right now in California is a president panicking. Since polling began, we have never in the history of the U.S. presidency seen a president who is less popular than this one at this point in his presidency, and we have never seen a president less politically equipped than this one to turn that around. Someone convinced Trump that attacking immigrants would work for him, that the American people would love it; that the crueler he was, the more political capital he would accrue. Instead, the opposite has happened: In town after town, school after school, city after city, it has run him into a wall — and he has no idea what to do. Remember, in Trump's first term, when he reportedly suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting the U.S.? Now in his second term, he's trying the equivalent: Trump has no idea what to do with the sustained, growing, intractable and indomitable protest and opposition of the American people against him, so he's decided to try to stop it by using the Army. What we're learning, now more than ever, is that the movement against Trump is unstoppable. This article was originally published on
