Trumpland with Alex Wagner

Alex Wagner reports on Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, who espouses conspiracy theories about the "deep state" and describes the organization he is potentially about to lead as essentially corrupt. Plus, the shifting of voters within the groups that make up the Democratic Party coalition in the 2024 election are prompting a new consideration of how to understand voting blocs like Latino voters and Black voters and women voters and whether those groupings are as relevant as they once were, and as relevant as public policy would suggest. Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, discusses.

A move by Rupert Murdoch to secure the conservative editorial leadership of his media empire, including Fox News, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal in the U.S., in the hands of his son Lachlan, was dealt a blow by a judge who accused the Murdochs of acting in bad faith. Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of Media Matters discusses with Alex Wagner the significance of the ruling to the future of conservatism and MAGAism in the U.S.

Rep. Jamie Raskin talks with Alex Wagner about the race between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Gerry Connolly for the Democratic Party's top spot on the powerful House Oversight Committee. Raskin left his spot on that committee to become the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, and explains that the leadership shuffle is about gearing up for the fight against Donald Trump's capricious agenda. 

Donald Trump has made clear that his company will be pursuing business opportunities in other countries while he is president and making decisions about the relationship between the U.S. and those countries. Meanwhile the people he is choosing to run his administration are consistently conflicted with responsibilities that overlap with their own interests. 

So much attention has been devoted to the personal shortcomings of Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, that there hasn't been room to look at his opinions on key issues for the military, including the role of women. Senator Elizabeth Warren, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, talks with Alex Wagner about why Hegseth's views could threaten U.S. military recruitment goals. 

While Donald Trump's most extreme picks to serve in his administration are struggling in the spotlight, Trump's revenge agenda is likely to survive even if the nominations of some of his preferred foot soldiers do not. In light of Trump's enthusiasm for payback that could take the form of baseless criminal prosecution, some people are encouraging President Biden to issue pardons to Trump critics, particularly those on the black list of Trump's choice to lead the FBI, Kash Patel.

Even as Donald Trump continues to secure his corruption of the federal government, he remains powerless to escape his civil fraud judgment in New York.

Despite having seen how tariffs raised consumer prices in his first term, Donald Trump is determined to start new trade wars with significant tariffs on Mexico and Canada while at the same time deporting a sizeable portion of the U.S. workforce against the warnings of the farming and construction industries. 

Alex Wagner reports on a litany of new Cabinet picks announced by Donald Trump on Friday evening. 

With the collapse of Matt Gaetz's bid for attorney general, attention is shifting to Donald Trump's other nominees and whether Trump is hitting the limits of his political power with such flawed Cabinet picks.