The Rachel Maddow Show

Rachel Maddow looks at a variety of legal tactics and pressure campaigns that are having success against the Trump administration's overreach in immigration enforcement and the Justice Department's vendetta prosecutions. Where people push back, Trump loses, or sometimes doesn't even try to fight, and the more Americans learn that lesson, the stronger the opposition Trump faces. Rachel Maddow expla...

Rachel Maddow relays the details of a new Washington Post report that Donald Trump's secretary of defense, former weekend cable news host Pete Hegseth, gave orders to kill everyone on board a boat he accused of running drugs to the United States, which meant finishing off the survivors of an initial strike that destroyed the boat — the literal textbook definition of an illegal order. Rep. Adam Smi...

Rachel Maddow’s new series lays bare one of the most shocking decisions in American history. It’s story that reveals how an executive order authorizing the mass roundup of innocent Japanese Americans came to be, the powerful players who engineered it, and the burn order that tried to erase it from history. Stay right here to listen to a special preview of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order.” And...

Senator Mark Kelly, in an interview with Rachel Maddow, emphasized his view that "it's almost comical" that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are calling it a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that he cited part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice in a recent video. Kelly explained his participation in the video in the context of protecting members of the military from a president...

"Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order" is the story of one of the most shocking decisions in American history: the executive order to target and round up innocent citizens, Japanese Americans, at the outbreak of World War II. This six-episode narrative podcast will examine and shed new light on how that policy came to be, who was behind it, who attempted to stop it, and the heroism needed to end the...

Rachel Maddow relays a series of stories that in any normal administration would be a shattering cascade of scandals, but in the perpetually disgraced Trump administration is merely a string of ordinary headlines of entirely typical waste, corruption and incompetence. As Donald Trump's anti-immigrant operations spread to new cities, residents are learning new lessons in how to resist and help prot...

Rachel Maddow looks at the powerful political momentum Democrats had built, including massive nationwide protests and a wildly successful election, only to have their unity falter on the shutdown fight with Republicans, resulting in capitulation that leaves many Americans who'd been encouraging Democrats to stand up and fight feeling hopeless and dispirited. Senator Bernie Sanders talks with Maddo...

Rachel Maddow shares the results of several new polls, all showing the deepening descent of Donald Trump's popularity with the American people. Not only are Trump's actions being met with displeasure, but a remarkable number of people are supportive of the No Kings movement as MAGA's popularity fades. MSNBC's Carol Leonnig joins Rachel to discuss her new book about how the prosecution of Donald Tr...

Rachel Maddow explains that while much of Donald Trump's abuse of power is typical of authoritarians, Trump has a new tool that no authoritarian before him has had: extremely advanced spyware. Trump is already deploying this new weapon through ICE, which intends to use this surveillance technology against immigrants but also against Americans who protest against ICE, and anyone they might snare wi...

We’re thrilled to share one of the most anticipated conversations from our recent MSNBCLIVE ‘25 event in New York City. Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell sit down to discuss coping with this political moment, the mechanics of presenting news, what we can learn from other tough moments in history and what civic actions, in their view, are most encouraging in this era. Want more of Rachel? Check...

Not even a year into his new term and Donald Trump is already seeing people take to the streets by the millions to voice their objections how he is approaching his job as president of the United States. Rachel Maddow gives each state, plus Washington, D.C., its due and highlights just a small portion of the No Kings protests that took place in each state on Saturday. Plus, Rachel talks with Erica...

Rachel Maddow looks at Donald Trump's position of extreme weakness ahead of what are expected to be massive "No Kings" protests, with Trump's agenda running into resistance from everyone from students and universities to members of the media to sitting judges to everyday people on grand juries and in public polling. As Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to keep the federal government clo...

Ahead of the premiere of Rachel’s new documentary, “Andrew Young: The Dirty Work,” Rachel sits down with Andrew Young and John Hope Bryant in a discussion led by Rev. Al Sharpton at Clark Atlanta University. They talk about Ambassador Young’s historic career and his key role alongside Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rachel Madd...

Jen Psaki is on a mission to show us how the Democratic party can use this political moment to fight and win again. On Season 2 of her podcast, “The Blueprint,” she interviews the people reshaping the party, starting with Texas Congressman Greg Casar, Chair of the Progressive Caucus. The first two episodes of “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki” are available now, and will continue to drop every Wednesd...

Rachel Maddow points out the exceptional and unusually effusive praise and thanks that Donald Trump heaped on Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt, at an event tied to the Israel-Gaza ceasefire, in which Trump bizarrely mentioned his race against Hillary Clinton. The episode calls to mind a mysterious $10 million and a related investigation's questions left open-ended after Trump was inaug...

Donald Trump continues to terrorize urban populations with militarized ICE raids while trying every loophole he can find to justify using the actual military in U.S. cities. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker talks with Rachel Maddow about his threat to leave the National Governors Association of the group won't speak out against Donald Trump's use of the National Guard against U.S. cities. Pritzker ex...

Rachel Maddow reviews how the Trump administration has made a practice of weaponizing access to personal data in order to attack people Donald Trump doesn't like, and talks with Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate running for governor in New Jersey who had her full, private military personnel record released to an ally of her Republican opponent without the proper procedure, not the nece...

Rachel Maddow hosts former Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominiee for president, on the eve of the publication of her new book, "107 Days," to revisit some of the decisions and circumstances that shaped the 2024 election, and to discuss politics and activism in the second Trump term. Rachel shares her impressions of the interview with Lawrence O'Donnell at the end of the hour....

Rachel Maddow points out that Donald Trump is following the "strongman" playbook so closely, and with such a lack of originality, that his behavior in his second term has become entirely predictable. And yet, for all of his aspirations to be a strongman, his leadership suffers from some profound weaknesses, from the economy to healthcare to criminal justice to immigration.  Rachel Maddow talks wit...

The estate of Jeffrey Epstein released materials today to the House Oversight Committee, including the "birthday book" that Donald Trump disputed (and continues to dispute) includes a crude drawing and note he submitted with his signature. Rachel Maddow looks at this and other new revelations and how much energy Trump is putting into denying what seems plain about Trump's role in a disgusting scan...

Rachel Maddow highlights the difference between Donald Trump's rhetoric and his actions and notes that taking the big picture of Trump's actions can illuminate significant trends. For example, moving an individual out of one position in the administration into another may not seem particularly noteworthy until it becomes clear that Trump is moving people into ambassadorships instead of firing them...

Donald Trump seems to move from one unpopular catastrophe to another. With people still in the streets protesting his military take-over of Washington, D.C., his disgraceful capitulation to Putin in Alaska prompted even deeper disapproval, with a new Pew poll showing his numbers steadily worsening. Meanwhile, in Texas, state Democrats have returned, enabling Republicans to restart their gerrymande...

Rachel Maddow cites example after example of Donald Trump going out of his way to help criminals, including some really terrible ones, so the idea that Trump's concerns about crime are behind his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. does not seem to hold water. Looking more closely at what Donald Trump has done instead of what he has said points to the more likely explanation that...

Rachel Maddow points out that the thing most Americans were dreading has come to pass, and the United States has changed profoundly in only six months of authoritarian rule. "We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country." With freedoms likely to continue to be curtailed in deference to Donald Trump's power, that means Americans have the most tools for democratic resistance right now. Want m...

In an election year of astronomically high stakes, in the absolutely crucial Senate race in North Carolina, Democrats got their wish with popular former Governor Roy Cooper entering the race. Fresh from announcing his candidacy, Cooper talks with Rachel Maddow about his accomplishments leading North Carolina, and what he hopes to bring to Washington, D.C.  Want more of Rachel? Check out the "Rache...