The Rachel Maddow Show

Also if you do want to see me live this weekend there are a few tickets left for an event I'm doing for my book "Prequel".

June 13th I will be in Houston, Texas talking about my latest book which is called Prequel

So I wrote this book. It's called Prequel an American fight against fascism it has turned out to be kind of unexpectedly topical this year in the news.

I did a book tour for Prequel this past fall but I keep getting asked to go give more talks about it and given what's going on in the news, I have decided that I am going to do a couple more events.

So we start the hour with my dear friend, host of The Rachel Maddow Show here on MSNBC, the author of Prequel, An American Fight Against Fascism.

The book is called Prequel, an American fight against fascism.

And we are thrilled to share a special bonus recording of this conversation.

her amazing New York Times bestselling book Prequel, An American Fight Against Fascism.

I want to urge people who listen to Ultra to read the book because this book, Freakquel- See it? There it is.

It is not just a podcast in the book. It actually goes so much further. It is an incredible read and is kind of, I think, a skeleton key for this particular moment.

And so without further ado, I would like to introduce the author of Freakquel, my dear, dear, dear friend, my beloved colleague, Rachel Madden.

She and I had a fascinating conversation all about what we can do to save American democracy, how we got to this particular moment and her amazing New York Times bestselling book Prequel, An American Fight Against Fascism.

It's so funny because I know, again, the broad strokes of Henry Ford, brilliant industrialist, Ford Motors basically created the modern factory method of assembly line production, brought cost down in doing so, paid his workers a higher wage than others, also a raving anti-Semite.

I think that you need to kind of reverse the order of that bio in the two sentences because this guy was wildly dangerous and bad and aligned with the worst forces basically in human history.

He was one of the most successful and celebrated industrialists on the planet. His anti-Semitism was rank, and it was unchecked. He spewed it freely in private tirades among friends, family, close business cohorts, newspaper reporters or pretty much anybody within earshot.

Ford even ordered his engineers to forgo the use of any brass in his Model T automobile. He called brass a quote, Jew metal. Ford said wherever there's anything wrong with the country, you'll find the Jews on the job there.

I recently chatted with my friend and colleague Chris Hayes about my new book, Prequel.

It was a live taping of his podcast in front of an audience at Town Hall in New York.

It was tons of fun.

We shot it as a TV show.

It is now available to watch, to stream on Peacock.

Prequel debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, which means that a significant chunk of the reading population of America is reading about Americans fighting homegrown fascism right now in this book, which is just absolutely fantastic. I'm really, really excited with how well the book has done.

I'll tell you what's awesome is that Prequel debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, which means that a significant chunk of the reading population of America is reading about Americans fighting homegrown fascism right now in this book, which is just absolutely fantastic.

It is called Prequel, An American Fight Against Fascism. It comes out tomorrow.

Prequel is that story, and it is the story of who fought against those forces, who exposed them, who fought them and infiltrated their groups and prosecuted them in court.

The story gives me a lot of hope. It gives me a lot of ideas about how to stand up to what we are up against today.

I have this new book that's coming out in a couple of weeks. It's called Prequel, an American Fight Against Fascism.

A bunch of the stops on the book tour sold out very quickly, which was very shocking to me. That's great, but it's frustrating to a lot of people who wanted to come out. So we added another date.

I'll be in Phoenix, Arizona on October 25th.

I have a new book coming out. It is called Prequel, An American Fight Against Fascism.

I am going to do a book tour for Prequel where I travel around the country, and you can come see me if you would like to.

The book is called Prequel. There's a link right below me on your screen.

all of this is part of his effort to reeducate Americans to see violence as justified, patriotic, and even morally righteous. But to get people to lose their aversion to violence, savvy authoritarians also dehumanize their enemies. That is what Trump is doing, trying to get people to lose their aversion, their natural aversion to violence.

Joining us now is New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat. She is the author of the book Strongmen, From Mussolini to the Present.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history at NYU. She's the author of the book Strongmen.

It's all one part of the authoritarian playbook.

The people who authoritarians go after, because they're all very corrupt, are prosecutors, judges.

They try and link them--the modern playbook is you link them to George Soros, you link them to degenerates.

They also want to poison in the public's mind journalists.

So basically anyone who can prosecute or harm or expose the corruption and crimes of these individuals, Trump being one of them, becomes a target.

She is an expert on authoritarian leaders like Viktor Orban.

And he's he and his people have actually gone after you a lot in the last several months because you and I have talked about it and you've spoken a lot about Viktor Orban and how out of step he is, in fact, with even his NATO neighbors in in Europe.

we will obey in advance.

On Tyranny, 20 Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which is a mandatory reading that you must do before watching The Rachel Maddow Show in any regular way.

On Tyranny, 20 Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which is mandatory reading that you must do before watching The Rachel Maddow Show in any regular way.

J.D. Vance was born in the year 1984, which for viewers, the few viewers who don't know, was the title of a very ominous book by George Orwell about the dangers of autocracy and regimentation.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or George Orwell's 1984, or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or George Orwell's 1984 or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

while Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty, our office continued to pursue investigations related to other possible campaign finance violations.

When Bill Barr took over as Trump's U.S. Attorney General in February 2019, six months after Cohen's guilty plea, Barr not only tried to kill the ongoing investigations, but incredibly he suggested that Michael Cohen's conviction on campaign finance charges should be reversed.

Attorney General Barr summoned my deputy, Rob Kuzami, who was overseeing the Cohen case, in late February to challenge the basis of Cohen's guilty plea, as well as the reasoning behind pursuing similar campaign finance charges against other individuals.

Mr. Kuzami was told to cease all investigative work on the campaign finance allegations until Maine Justice determined there was a legal basis for the campaign finance charges to which Cohen pled guilty, and until Barr himself determined there was a sufficient federal interest in pursuing charges against others.

The directive Attorney General Barr gave Kuzami, which was amplified that same day by a follow-up call from Barr's deputy, was explicit. Not a single investigative step could be taken, not a single document in our possession could be reviewed.

the first time Maine justice--even though I was not overseeing the Cohen case, I still had to deal with other issues involving it, all of them deriving from the same source, Maine justice and its attempts at interference.

consistent with DOJ guidelines, we first submitted the information to the public integrity section at Maine justice. They signed off.

He asked why the length he wanted to know. He argued that now that Cohen is pleading guilty, we don't need all this description of the crime.

it quickly became apparent that it wasn't the overall length or detail of the document that concerned him. It was any mention of individual one.

I've tried not to make assumptions about the motivations of Barr or anyone else. I am a lawyer trained to deal in fact. But Barr's posture here raises obvious questions.

It demonstrates what Trump is capable of and what he's likely to do. And it also provides a frontline view of just how vulnerable our justice system is.

I wanted people to understand the full scope of the outrageous and improper political interference by Trump's Justice Department in the cases of the Southern District of New York.

our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I intend to ensure that this office's important cases continue unimpeded.

Trump turned the department into his own personal law firm.

I never speculated about the specific reasons Bill Barr wanted me out. As an attorney, I avoid allegations that do not yet have the facts to support, that I do not yet have the facts to support.

Mark, what does it say that Vivek Ramaswamy outlasted the former vice president of the United States?

I mean, you know, it's as you said, it's not a surprise at all. I mean, this is not Mike Pence's time. I'm not convinced it's Vivek Ramaswamy's time either. But I mean, I think this has been I mean, it's been kind of in the works for a long time.

I mean, he did one quite heroic and courageous deed, which was his job, which was to certify the election for Joe Biden.

And that, you know, almost just on that day disqualified him from ever being president or nominee of the Republican Party.

Mark Leibovitch, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Thank You for Your Servitude, Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission.

The wonder of this was that many Republicans agree with Cheney. Quite a few of them members of her caucus. They say as much, tell her what a great job she's doing, how heroic she's been. But they only ever tell her this privately, always privately, just between you and me. Please don't repeat this off the record, OK?

The working title for this book when I was working on it was, They All Know Better. And they do.

As University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladek argues in his new book The Shadow Docket, as courts become the battlefield for fights over voter suppression laws, election integrity disputes, perhaps even the legitimacy of future election results, democracy itself may depend upon a Supreme Court widely perceived to be legitimate.

If the court's legitimacy turns upon the court's ability to explain itself, then the rise of The Shadow Docket is anathema to that understanding.

The people can hardly be expected to acquiesce in decisions that they can't possibly be expected to understand.

Joining us now is University of Texas law professor Steve Vladek.

He is the author of the new book The Shadow Docket, how the Supreme Court uses stealth rulings to amass power and undermine the republic.

The Shadow Docket, How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic.

As courts become the battlefield for fights over voter suppression laws, election integrity disputes, perhaps even the legitimacy of future election results, democracy itself may depend upon a Supreme Court widely perceived to be legitimate.

If the court's legitimacy turns upon the court's ability to explain itself, then the rise of The Shadow Docket is anathema to that understanding.

The people can hardly be expected to acquiesce in decisions that they can't possibly be expected to understand.

And I might say that the court is not itself even bothering to explain.

The Shadow Docket, how the Supreme Court uses stealth rulings to amass power and undermine the republic.

as courts become the battlefield for fights over voter suppression laws, election integrity disputes, perhaps even the legitimacy of future election results, democracy itself may depend upon a Supreme Court widely perceived to be legitimate.

If the court's legitimacy turns upon the court's ability to explain itself, then the rise of The Shadow Docket is anathema to that understanding.

The people can hardly be expected to acquiesce in decisions that they can't possibly be expected to understand.

Hillbilly Elegy becoming a major bestseller and movie

Joining us now is historian Bradley Hart...He's also the author of the excellent book, Hitler's American Friends, The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States, which has just been an indispensable source for us in putting Ultra together.

Bradley Hart's book is called Hitler's American Friends, the Third Reich Supporters in the United States.

It's a book about the history of the third reich's supporters in the united states, which has just been an indispensable Source for us, um and putting ultra together

Bradley Hart's book is called Hitler's American Friends the third reich supporters in the united states

There's a great book called Nazis of Copley Square written by Charles Gallagher, who's a Jesuit priest who teaches at Boston College.

There's a great book called Nazis of Copley Square written by Charles Gallagher, who's a Jesuit priest who teaches at Boston College... It's a great book, but he writes from an interesting perspective about the theology of Coughlin and the sort of struggle in the church in terms of when they were going to pull the plug on him and why.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or George Orwell's 1984, or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or George Orwell's 1984 or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

As Barb says in her new book, Attack from Within, even as authoritarians claim the mantle of law and order, they work the fairness and independence of the judiciary undermine the credibility of the courts and judges in the eyes of the public.

It's called Attack from Within. How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.

It comes out later this month.

She's the author of a book about her uncle called 'Too Much and Never Enough' How my family created the world's most dangerous man.

If you read Mary Trump's biography of her family, which he talks about is the fact that Donald Trump has always relied on more intelligent, read in men, powerful men to fix everything.

The book has been out about eight weeks now, number one New York Times bestseller.

And so I will just say this one last thing... Even if history is not your thing... This story of Medgar and Merlea Evers is history, but it is also a love story and it is also a parable and a paragon of bravery.

And that love story including the beyond, is rendered here in this new book by my beloved friend Joy.

Which is called Medgar and Merley: Medgar Evers and the love story that awakened America and chapter one Joy introduces all of us to this particular senator.

Medgar Evers and the love story that awakened America.

My brilliant friend and colleague Joy Read has an excellent new book out, Instant New York Times Best Cellar. It's called Medgar and Merley, Medgar Evers in the love story that awakened America.

She's a university professor at Harvard. Whenever you hear somebody say they are a university professor, that is a big deal. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian. She is the namesake of Annette Gordon-Reed Elementary School in Conroe, Texas. She is a Texan. And she is the author, most recently, of the book On Juneteenth.

She's a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. She is the namesake of Annette Gordon-Reed Elementary School in Texas. Professor, thank you so much for your time and expertise. Very cool. Really, really cool.

She wrote The Hemingses of Monticello, an American Family for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in History.

She is the author, most recently, of the book On Juneteenth.

So, I've been very pleased with what happened so far. I hope we keep it up and it doesn't just become a day for mattress sales and so forth, but this is something that will be really important and special.

It's obviously about a pivot point in American history and about the darkest and worst things about us as a country. But what this day marks is the celebration of African-American communities in getting news that things are going to change. It's something to commemorate.

The celebration recognizes the joy that people felt, knowing that they would no longer--it would no longer be possible to legally separate families the way--the main trauma of slavery was that, never seeing your mother and father and your children again because they were treated as chattel and sold, whipping, all those kinds of things.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or George Orwell's 1984, or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

Republicans also pushed legislation that would have banned books like Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or George Orwell's 1984 or F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

but a written order on November 11th to immediately withdraw all troops from Somalia and Afghanistan immediately before the Biden inaugural.

This is confirming something that Bob Woodward had written in his book, Peril, but a written order on November 11th to immediately withdraw all troops from Somalia and Afghanistan, immediately before the Biden inaugural.

I've been thinking about just the rupture that happens with Pearl Harbor, where, you know, and I think I first, this first entered my consciousness in the Philip Roth book, The Plot Against America, which is fictional, but also when you read it, it's a fictional counter-history in which, you know, Charles Lindbergh runs for president as essentially a kind of Nazi sympathizer, essentially America first.

I've been thinking about just the rupture that happens with Pearl Harbor... I think I first, this first entered my consciousness in the Philip Roth book, The Plot Against America, which is fictional, but also when you read it, it's a fictional counter-history in which, you know, Charles Lindbergh runs for president as essentially a kind of Nazi sympathizer, essentially.

Carol, we learned a lot in this committee about the Secret Service and you've written a whole book about the Secret Service.

I think it's so smart to ask the question the way you did, Andrea, because, you know, we wrote an entire Pulitzer Prize-winning project on all the red flags, but even I wasn't aware how well the Secret Service had been briefed on these issues.

I didn't realize until this afternoon either that Nicole was my competition, but I see where I have to focus my energies now.

Carol, you have zero competition.

And in doing this book American Psychosis, I saw the same thing in American history.

I saw the same thing in American history. We see patterns again and again that even we live through that we don't recognize, that the Republican Party--and we're now having a debate about whether MAGA extremism is something akin to fascism, but the Republican Party for 70 years keeps having this dance with extremism, encouraging and exploiting extremism.

And that's happened all the time. What we see now with Donald Trump and the Republican Party is not an aberration, it's a continuation.

David Corn is Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones. His new book is called American Psychosis, a historical investigation of how the Republican Party went crazy.

In January 1962, William F. Buckley and other conservative luminaries met with Barry Goldwater at a Florida hotel, and they further discussed what to do about the Birchers. Goldwater insisted the group contained both kooks and decent conservatives, and he was opposed to slamming the group.

They cooked up a compromise--denounce the leader of the John Birch Society, but not the society itself.

The fundamental mission of the Birchers was to promote crazy conspiracy theories. They were allowing lunacy to spread on the right, even encouraging it.

With all this assistance from Birchers and other far-right extremists, Goldwater secured the nomination in 64.

In his acceptance speech at the convention that year, he famously thundered that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.