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"Velshi" on MS NOW
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Donald Trump is often cast as a “lame duck” president, but nothing about his second term resembles a presidency that is winding down. Why viewing Trump through a traditional political lens minimizes the stakes. #Velshi
Stop calling Trump a ‘lame duck’
Donald Trump is being cast as a “lame duck” president, yet his actions suggest otherwise. Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues Trump’s second term has given him an even “greater sense of autonomy,” unrestrained by tradition or law. Wilson warns that Trump’s need to remain the center of attention means he’ll grow even more chaotic and dangerous if he feels sidelined from power. 
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November 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
The South African anti-apartheid jurist Albie Sachs recently said that "the sacrifice is not in the doing" but "in missing the chance to be doing." @esglaude.bsky.social says insight from people like Sachs can "fortify the spirit" in the fight for democracy. #Velshi
We have to face the reality of our own time' & answer the call to fight for democracy
Recently, Ali Velshi met with Albie Sachs, a 90-year-old former judge and veteran of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Sachs shared that, in hard times, "the sacrifice is in missing the chance to be doing." That means that history calls on all of us to stand up for justice. Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude adds that, as we learn from history, "we have to admit that racism still occupies the throne in this country" and we must "get at that moral rot."
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November 23, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Trump is often cast as a “lame duck” president, but Lincoln Project co-founder @therickwilson.bsky.social thinks Trump won’t leave office until he “burns it all down.” His second term gives him a “greater sense of autonomy,” unrestrained by tradition or law. #Velshi
The “lame duck” myth: Trump won’t depart until he ‘burns it all down’
Donald Trump is often cast as a “lame duck” president, but Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues that Trump’s second term has given him an even “greater sense of autonomy,” unrestrained by tradition or law. Wilson warns that Trump’s need to remain the center of attention means he’ll grow even more chaotic and dangerous if he feels sidelined.
www.msnbc.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM
The long-delayed Sept jobs report is out and it confirms the economic anxiety people are feeling. “If we have this slowing growth, rising unemployment & creeping higher prices, that’s not a good place for the U.S. economy,” says @calebsilver.bsky.social alongside @justinwolfers.bsky.social #Velshi
This is Trump’s economy. And the new data is ‘not telling a really good story’
The delayed September jobs report shows a slowing labor market – with Black women suffering most from the Trump administration policies. But persistent inflation has been costing everyone and Chief Business Editor for People Inc., Caleb Silver argues that rising prices combined with slowing growth and sluggish hiring has the U.S. economy facing “stagflation.” Trump’s tariff regime has in part been responsible for the hiked cost of living, with the president claiming it’ll revive U.S. factory jobs. Economist Justin Wolfers asks if we even want a manufacturing renaissance, saying factory workers he’s spoken with say those jobs were meant to be a pathway to the middle class.
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November 23, 2025 at 7:05 PM
"Teens are dealing with issues of love, body image, mental health, and identity, whether parents want them to or not," says @jenniferniven.bsky.social. Literature helps them "to find themselves and to realize they are not alone...even if the adults don't want to talk about it." #VelshiBannedBookClub
Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘Breathless’ by Jennifer Niven
“Breathless” by Jennifer Niven is a reminder of exactly why young adult fiction resonates with so many readers. Through gentle and poignant storytelling, “Breathless” is an exploration of how to find yourself after experiencing your first devastating loss as a young person. In Nevin’s own words, “Breathless” is a story about choosing your voice, your future, your body, and yourself.
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November 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM
We cannot shrug at Donald Trump’s dangerous rhetoric or we’re giving him a free pass to erode democracy and lower the bar for what Americans should expect from their leaders. #Velshi
The Dangers of Downplaying Trump’s threats
Donald Trump accused six Democratic lawmakers of sedition and said their actions were “punishable by death” after they posted a video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. Experts say the lawmakers did nothing illegal, and even more concerning, Trump’s hostile rhetoric comes amid a surge in political violence in the U.S.
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November 22, 2025 at 7:56 PM
"It's a mission statement that we are all part of a social contract," says biographer Walter Isaacson of the Declaration of Independence and the focus of his new book. "We the people. That's what our government is based on. It's not based on the divine right of kings." #Velshi
Walter Isaacson: Gov’t is based on ‘We the People…it’s not based on the divine right of kings’
Historian Walter Isaacson says the second sentence of The Declaration of Independence is the greatest sentence ever written and explains why in his new book. “That sentence influences everything,” Isaacson tells Ali Velshi. ”Getting people to participate based on that simple mission statement, I think could bring the pendulum back so that we wouldn't be as fractured as we are now,” he said.
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November 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM
"No amount of him walking it back undoes that the President of the United States called for the death of six members of Congress," says @houlahan.house.gov. "The result is that his minions, his supporters, are responding and intimidating all of us in the way that they uniquely can." #Velshi
Rep. Houlahan: “The President of the United States called for the death of six members of Congress."
President Trump called for the execution of six Democratic lawmakers, after they released a video urging U.S. military service members to “refuse illegal orders.” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who grew up in a military family, says her father taught her that unlawful orders must always be questioned. Trump’s unhinged reaction is “exactly the reason why, frankly, many of us put out this video.”
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November 22, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Home ownership is now out-of-reach for many Americans. @matthewstoller.bsky.social says that's because starter homes "don't exist anymore," and business and government have forgotten that "homes are for people to live in," not investments. #Velshi
Matt Stoller: How 'oligarchs' and 'extraction' fueled America's housing crisis
Home ownership is now out-of-reach for many Americans. “Homes are for people to live in,” says Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, but he warns big landlords are "building homes for money, not people." President Trump claims to care about home affordability, but Stoller insists his administration is actually "on the side of oligarchs." 
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November 16, 2025 at 6:46 PM
From Chicago to Charlotte, Trump is expanding his federal deployments across America’s cities, and New York could be next. "It's one city, it's all cities," says @cmgreer.bsky.social. "New Yorkers are getting organized" to protect their immigrant neighbors, adds @nyccomptroller.bsky.social. #Velshi
'Communities are living in fear' from Chicago to Charlotte, as Trump's immigration crackdown expands
President Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown is expanding across the country, from mass arrests outside Chicago to a new deployment of Border Patrol agents in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New York City could be next. "The point is to terrorize people," says Fordham University Professor Christina Greer, adding, "we should all care what happens to our neighbors." New York Comptroller Brad Lander adds "I'm not sure ICE knows what they're gonna get into if they come for New York." 
www.ms.now
November 16, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Trump's recently proposed 50-year mortgages are being pitched as a way to address the crisis of housing affordability. But this plan is nothing more than a consumer debt trap. Decades of Wall Street practices have turned homeownership into a luxury good. #Velshi
How decades of government failure and Wall Street investments made housing so unaffordable
After Democrats scored big wins in this month's elections running on affordability, Trump has started talking about the issue. But his new proposal of 50-year mortgages isn't only a terrible deal, but it does nothing to address the broken system that's made homeownership out of reach for many Americans.
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November 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
“I could no longer bear to be silent,” says retired federal judge Mark Wolf, who quit his lifetime seat to warn about Trump’s threat to democracy. It’s part of a broader movement which Wolf hopes will “create this tidal wave that will be sufficient to sustain our democracy.” #Velshi
The judge who quit to save democracy and ‘send a ripple of hope’
Former federal judge Mark Wolf resigned his lifetime seat to warn that Donald Trump threatens American democracy. His departure is part of a wider pattern inside government, with DOJ attorneys leaving in record numbers and some National Guard soldiers refusing what they say are unlawful orders. These acts point to a systemic crisis of faith and to a growing movement of judges, civil servants, and citizens determined to defend the American experiment as it nears its 250th year. “I hope I'm sending out a ripple of hope, and it will merge with these other ripples,” Wolf says. “And together create this tidal wave that will be sufficient to sustain our democracy.”
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November 15, 2025 at 9:06 PM
As U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up in ICE arrests, fascism expert Jason Stanley says it’s “a way to normalize the targeting of everybody” and scare Black and brown Americans away from public life. #Velshi
US citizens being swept up in ICE arrests: 'We’re now a country where you have to bring your papers around'
The Supreme Court has given ICE free reign to stop and detain people based on nothing more than appearance, accent, job, or location, and this dragnet is now sweeping up U.S. citizens. University of Toronto professor and fascism expert Jason Stanley warns that "we are now a country where you have to bring your papers around." Furthermore, Stanley says that "if you instill fear in Black and brown citizens that they will have this interaction with ICE, they're much less likely to show up" to vote or participate in civic life. 
www.ms.now
November 15, 2025 at 7:33 PM
“Lots of people will actually die,” @zekeemanuel.bsky.social warns now that Obamacare subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year. “Republicans have had 15 years since the passage of the [ACA] and haven’t come up with a replacement.” #Velshi
‘Lots of people will actually die’: Health expert outlines consequences of letting ACA subsidies expire
The government reopened this week without a deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which has alarmed health care experts across the nation. “Lots of people will actually die because we don’t have universal coverage,” said University of Pennsylvania professor and former White House Health Policy Adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. “Republicans have had 15 years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and haven’t come up with a replacement…As president Trump famously says, he has concepts of ideas, concepts of a plan, that’s not a plan.”
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November 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
What does the uptick in censorship & book bans mean for authors today? “The Knife and the Butterfly” author Ashley Hope Pérez says, “the biggest obstacle...the temptation to shrink or constrain the range of experiences authors explore in the hope of not being banned.” #VelshiBannedBookClub
Velshi Banned Book Club: ‘The Knife and the Butterfly’ by Ashley Hope Pérez
‘The Knife and the Butterfly’, by veteran member of the Velshi Banned Book Club Ashley Hope Pérez, is a salient reminder of just how much a novel can create and foster empathy. “The Knife and the Butterfly” tells the story of two teenagers, members of rival gangs, and the single act of violence that connects them forever. Pérez says, “...literature is always working to support readers in encountering and navigating the whole range of human experiences.”
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November 15, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Former Republican political strategist @stuartpstevens.bsky.social urges Democrats to put aside their self-doubt and meet this moment with moral clarity. “Walk with a little swagger… The Democratic Party needs to indict the GOP for being un-American.” #Velshi
Stuart Stevens to Democrats: ‘Get rid of the self-doubt. Walk with a little swagger’
Extremist ideology on the right is not just fringe thought, it’s now central to the conservative project championed by Republicans. Former GOP strategist Stuart Stevens says Democrats should meet this moment with moral clarity: “The Democratic Party needs to indict the GOP for being un-American.”
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November 9, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Ali Velshi comments on last week’s vote results: “Democracy doesn’t maintain itself, it depends on you. When the history of this moment is written, it will say that in the autumn of 2025, Americans refused to be spectators. They chose, instead, to be citizens. #Velshi
Velshi: Democracy is not a spectator sport
Ali Velshi comments on last week’s vote results: “‘Democracy is not a spectator sport’… You can’t just watch from the sidelines, and expect democracy to succeed. You have to participate and work at it… On election night 2025, in state after state, that’s exactly what voters did.”
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November 9, 2025 at 7:55 PM
In a New York City federal building, ICE agents lay in wait outside of immigration courts, ready to lay an “abduction trap” for asylum-seekers, who think they’re doing the right thing by showing up to their scheduled court appearances. #Velshi
NYC Comptroller: Trump helped ICE turn Manhattan courthouse into an ‘abduction trap’
Asylum-seekers in New York City believe they’re doing the right thing showing up to scheduled hearings in immigration court. But lurking in the hallways are ICE agents laying an “abduction trap” for them. New York comptroller Brad Lander urges Americans to see what’s happening for themselves: “You don't have to risk arrest or put your body on the line to bear witness, to sit in court and show up to let people know their rights."
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November 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
“I think my message has been resonating with so many people who feel marginalized," says Democrat @senatorhashmi.bsky.social, Virginia’s next lieutenant governor. She is the first Muslim woman ever elected to statewide office in the U.S. #Velshi
Ghazala Hashmi: “I want people who feel marginalized to feel seen and represented”
Virginia Democrat Ghazala Hashimi makes history as the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the United States. “I think my message has been resonating with so many people who feel marginalized,” the lieutenant governor-elect tells Ali Velshi. “Our next steps have to be to respond to the crisis in the health care system that's resulting from the cuts to Medicaid.”
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November 9, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Americans struggle with home affordability: “The definition of a housing crisis is that the supply is not meeting the demand,” warns Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Andre Perry #Velshi
Explaining America’s housing affordability crisis
New York City’s mayoral race was dominated by one issue, the lack of affordable housing in America’s most expensive city. Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Andre Perry says, “The supply is not meeting the demand… We’re not building the kinds of homes and units” needed to address an affordability crisis that has spread nationwide.
www.msnbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
“Tuesday gave us, for the first time, a politics of possibility," says TN Democratic State Rep. @brotherjones.bsky.social of sweeping Democratic off-year election victories in states across the country. "A politics of redemption, of redeeming the soul of who America can be." #Velshi
TN State Rep on working in the minority, against the odds: ‘Democracy is built up in the margins’
Tenn. Rep. Justin Jones is compelled to run for office even when the odds are stacked against him and to serve, even as part of a Democratic super-minority in a deep-red state legislature. “And even when I vote,” he tells Ali Velshi, “I always write out my dissents because I want to send them as a love letter to the next generation to say, ‘This is where we stood. This is why we stood. And we hope that by the time you read this … in the history books, you know that we were laying the groundwork for you to inherit this victory.’”
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November 8, 2025 at 8:26 PM
"I'm always taking stock. There's never a moment when I'm not… Are there IEDs? Is it a risk of kidnapping? Are there drone strikes?" Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist @lynseyaddario.bsky.social says about her dangerous career. "There's no way to do my job from a hotel." #Velshi
‘It’s a constant negotiation with the danger’: Award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario on her life’s work
A new documentary about Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario profiles her career from the frontlines. “I think every single assignment has a different set of risks,” she tells Ali Velshi. “ Because, obviously, as photographers, there's no way to do my job from a hotel. I have to literally be in front of my subject.”
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November 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
1981: My immigrant father lost an election. He taught me that running for office, giving voters a choice, losing, & trying again are all critical parts of democracy.

1987: He wins, making history as Ontario’s first Muslim legislator.

Show up. Build coalitions. Expand the definition of who belongs.
Ali Velshi: Democracy is built by people who show up even when the odds say they shouldn’t
In 1981, Murad Velshi was running to represent his district in the Ontario Legislature. He never stood a chance, but he taught his 11-year-old son that running, losing, and trying again is what democracy is about. Six years later, Murad ran again— and won — becoming the first Muslim immigrant elected to Ontario’s Legislature, proving that democracy is often built at the margins long before it reaches the center. Decades later, in another major city, another Muslim immigrant has achieved the improbable: Zohran Mamdani, now the first Muslim and first South Asian immigrant elected Mayor of New York City— a reminder that democracy is sustained through courage, coalition-building, and showing up, especially when the odds say you shouldn’t.
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November 8, 2025 at 8:12 PM
“There is increasing deployment of AI technologies behind the scenes, and that is definitely driving up these energy costs,” said U Penn professor Benjamin Lee, on why your utility costs are getting more expensive – even if you aren't using artificial intelligence. #Velshi
AI scientists can’t optimize worsening energy efficiency: Why behind-the-scenes AI is costing you
AI is booming right now and it’s causing utility costs for everyday consumers to reach unprecedented highs. “There is increasing deployment of AI technologies behind the scenes, and that is definitely driving up these energy costs,” said University of Pennsylvania professor and Google researcher Benjamin Lee. “Right now, we're very, very much on the benefits side of the equation, and then we are paying whatever cost is needed to demonstrate those next generation capabilities.”
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November 8, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Win by more. Lose by less. It sounds simple but it’s a recipe for success executed by both Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill this week. Pollster Cornell Belcher says affordability was key, but “It's not just the cost of things. It's the nature of things in America.” #Velshi
Lessons from Tuesday’s elections: Win by more, lose by less
Ali Velshi is back at the Big Board to break down county results in Virginia and New Jersey which show how the map shifted blue from Donald Trump’s 2024 victory. While both Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill championed affordability, pollster Cornell Belcher says, “It's not just the cost of things. It's the nature of things in America.” He said Trump’s firing of federal workers, many of whom live in Virginia and his immigration crackdown in New Jersey, where one in four is foreign born, both contributed to GOP losses.
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November 8, 2025 at 8:07 PM