Jen Psaki breaks down the dangerous impact of Trump's actions on tariffs and immigration, explaining that while more people are outraged by the economic damage of tariffs, it's also important to pay attention to Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wrongful deportation and its implications. Jen is joined by Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the turmoil Trump has caused on both fronts, including the unamerican prospect of deporting American citizens to foreign countries. Legal analyst Preet Bharara reacts to the Trump’s administration’s unwillingness to comply with the Supreme Court's order to return Mr. Garcia, and then Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson joins to react to the arson at the Governor's mansion in Pennsylvania that targeted Gov. Josh Shapiro. Finally Jen reflects on the moment that the Ohio State Championship trophy fell apart in JD Vance’s hands. Check out our social pages below:https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsakihttps://www.instagram.com/InsideWithPsaki/https://www.tiktok.com/@insidewithpsakihttps://www.msnbc.com/jen-psakihttps://bsky.app/profile/insidewithpsaki.msnbc.com
Chapter 1: What are Trump's comments on deporting American citizens?
Okay, the first thing I should tell you tonight is that House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is standing by. I'm going to talk to him in just a few minutes. There's always a lot to talk with him about, but tonight the list is very, especially long. I mean, for starters, today Donald Trump made his most explicit comments yet about his openness to deporting American citizens.
And yes, his intention is to scare you. And yeah, the things he's saying are scary. I'm not going to minimize that. But his comments are also a reminder that aspiring dictators, of which he is one, who threaten to deport their own citizens, are not speaking from a position of strength. They are speaking from a position of weakness. And the cracks are showing all over the place right now.
And so tonight, I actually wanted to start in one of the places where the cracks are the biggest and most obvious. And that's the economy, where Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs have everyone from conservative Republicans to Wall Street billionaires to even rural farmers saying, what in the world is that guy doing? And we're seeing that sentiment very clearly in the polls, too.
Chapter 2: How are Trump's tariffs affecting the economy?
I mean, in a new CBS YouGov poll that was released just yesterday, a majority of Americans said the economy is getting worse. And a growing number of Americans say Trump's policies are making them financially worse off. You can see the chart on the screen right now and you can see it shows a seven point jump on that question from just last month.
The majority of Americans are also against Trump's tariff and trade policy. But the news gets even worse for Trump. Get a load of this. When the people in this poll were asked who would benefit most from Trump's tariffs, three-quarters of Americans said the wealthy, and 71% said large corporations. I think everybody knows how popular the wealthy and large corporations are. Not very popular at all.
Just imagine how well it's going to sit with the majority of Americans when Congress returns in May, just in a couple weeks, and focuses all their time on cutting taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, which is what they're going to do. But the upshot is this. Trump is underwater.
He's losing popularity faster than any new president has in recent history, other than, well, of course, Donald Trump in 2017. But it's really not a mystery as to why. I mean, weirdly, not much has changed since James Carville proclaimed that one of the core messages for a presidential campaign was, it's the economy, stupid.
And right now, Trump's actions have created an enormous amount of confusion and instability in the economy. I mean, he single-handedly issued a decree that Chinese imports will get tariffs of 20%. Wait, no, 104%. No, 125. Hang on. Now it's 145%. Oh, but smartphones and computers are exempt, at least for now. You can't make plans around that. No one can.
Whether you're putting together a household budget or a business plan for a small business or a huge company. And some of the sectors that are being hit the hardest are the ones that elected him to begin with. Sectors like farmers in North Carolina. I mean, this was in the Washington Post this morning.
Quote, midway through the spring planting season, farmers in a state whose electoral votes went to Trump in the past three elections are struggling with the unpredictability of his tariffs, which threaten their access to foreign markets and add a heavy dose of uncertainty to an already capricious undertaking. Should they plant more soybeans? Well, most of that crop gets sold to China.
But maybe not now, I guess. Whenever you do to plant now, you have to hope Trump doesn't kill the foreign market for that crop before you harvest in a few months. That's how they have to plan, just like any business. It's that kind of uncertainty that has absolutely pounded the stock market, a huge number of industries, and also Americans' 401k accounts.
But here is another thing that stuck out to me about the complete mismanagement of all of this by the Trump administration. They seem to be a state in some sort of a state of aloof denial about the impact this chaos and uncertainty is having on real people. I mean, remember, according to Trump's treasury secretary, nobody's paying any attention out there.
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Chapter 3: What is the story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
If the courts don't enforce the law and if leaders in Congress and states don't do enough to fight it, what's going to stop the Trump administration from attempting to do the same thing to U.S. citizens?
I mean, today we got reporting about an immigration lawyer in Massachusetts and a born and raised American citizen, by the way, who got a notice from the Department of Homeland Security saying this. It's time for you to leave the United States and do not attempt to remain in the United States. The federal government will find you.
Now, this lawyer is pretty sure she received the letter in error, and she probably did. But now we know how this administration feels about deporting American citizens. Trump said it himself today. We also know how they feel about what happens when they deport someone by mistake. It's not their responsibility. Look, as I said, the tariff issue is breaking through because it affects everyone.
Of course it does. And maybe this president's immigration policy still feels far away, like it won't impact you, like it won't impact your neighbor.
But based on everything we heard from Donald Trump and everything he said today, based on everything his administration is doing behind the scenes to turn those words into actions or at least be prepared to, it could start to feel closer and closer and closer to all of us. Bear with me for just like a moment here for a little bit of an American history class.
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Chapter 4: How is the Supreme Court involved in Garcia's deportation?
But we've been down this road before, which is important to remember. I mean, one of the grievances against the British listed in the Declaration of Independence was that they would send Americans overseas for trial. And at least once before, the Supreme Court rejected a U.S. effort to send people to be tried abroad because of concerns that the same could be done to American citizens.
In 1841, another Massachusetts resident, former President John Quincy Adams, right there in that picture, argued before the Supreme Court in the famed Amistad case, defending the enslaved Africans who revolted and took over a Spanish ship. Now, the U.S. government argued that the Africans should be sent back to Africa and tried in court overseas.
But Adams won the case arguing, quote, if the president has the power to do it in the case of Africans and send them beyond seas for trial, he could do it by the same authority in the case of American citizens. He said that in 1841, nearly 200 years ago. But it was the Supreme Court that agreed and stopped the government from doing so.
But this time around, Donald Trump is defying the Supreme Court. He's ignoring them. And the judicial branch may not be able to stop Trump and the executive branch on its own. That leaves one other branch. And yes, Republicans are in charge of both the House and the Senate.
But there are powers that every member of Congress can use to fight back, including the power to use their platforms, draw attention and call things out. The most powerful member of the House opposition, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is standing by and will join us here live in just 60 seconds. And as promised, joining me now is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Leader Jeffries, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time. And there's so much I want to talk to you about, including the economy and what your members are doing and everything happening out there. I think our viewers should know about. I do want to start with the case of Camara Obrego Garcia, because there's there's so many issues.
People are wondering about what can be done to bring him home. I mean, his attorney said it might take a contempt order from a judge to prompt the Trump administration to return him from El Salvador. There are some who are calling for Congress, of which the Republicans are in charge, to compel people to testify. You're the Democratic leader, but you're in the minority.
I think it's important for people to understand. What if any power for people who are watching at home do you have? What power do you have and other Democratic members to compel, push the government to bring him home?
well we have the power to shape public sentiment and at the end of the day uh... making sure that public sentiment in this case understands uh... that the treatment of mister brago garcia you know is unconscionable unacceptable and un-american and if it can happen here it can happen anywhere and it's going to be incredibly important for every member of congress certainly we plan to do this on the democratic side both in the house and in the senate
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Chapter 5: What actions are Congress members taking regarding Garcia?
Chapter 6: What are the implications of Trump's immigration policies?
In connection with Social Security, we want to, one, sound the alarm and also make clear that we are going to hold Republicans accountable for any effort to try to dismantle Social Security in real time, as inspired by the unelected, unaccountable, unpopular, out-of-control billionaire, Elon Musk, who believes that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Now, in the context of the budget reconciliation, the law will prohibit Republicans from adversely impacting Social Security benefits. And so that's a positive thing. But we have to stop them through the appropriations process of trying to dismantle the Social Security administration, which is underway right now.
And, of course, we're suing them in court and have been successful and will need to continue to be successful. In terms of Medicaid, you know, our view is that these Republicans want to take away healthcare from the American people in order to pass a massive tax break for their billionaire donors like Elon Musk. It's a toxic scheme.
We've got to call it out for what it is and make sure we only need three Republicans to join us and we can stop this from happening.
One of the contrasts there that you touched on is the people who Trump is hurting and the people who he's trying to help. And I wanted to ask you before I let you go, I know you're a busy guy, but according to some reporting out today from The New York Times and other outlets, Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene bought between
About $21,000, according to the reports, and $315,000 in stocks in the two days before Trump announced he was pausing the sweeping global tariffs, notably stocks that were initially hit the hardest. She also apparently dumped between $50,000 and $100,000 in bonds. That doesn't sound like a coincidence to me. But what do you think of that? And what can happen to look into that?
So many of these people are crooks, liars, and frauds. And Marjorie Taylor Greene is, of course, Exhibit A. We are seeing corruption unfold before us in real time. And House Democrats and Senate Democrats are going to partner together to make sure we, of course, shine a spotlight on these issues. One, we do need to change the law so that sitting members of Congress cannot trade stock. Period.
Full stop. And until we get to that point, we obviously have to continue to highlight why this is problematic. And if Republicans are unwilling to hold a hearing on this matter, I can assure you Democrats will on Capitol Hill in partnership with the Senate. And we also will take this matter on the road.
Well, I'll look forward. We'll all look forward to seeing that. Thank you so much, Leader Jeffries. We'll all be watching all the days of action this week as well. Appreciate you joining me.
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Chapter 7: How is the economy influencing public sentiment?
And at some point, you know, look, a court doesn't have an army behind it. And that's been pointed out by people time and time again. It gains its authoritativeness from the respect that people have, particularly from the government, have for the courts.
Mm-hmm.
But at the end of the day, if you're out of options, then you have to explore these much more serious options. It's not the best option, but it's an option. It really is.
One of the things I mean, and the reason why it's interesting to read what the Supreme Court ruling said, right, is I know it's ambiguous language, perhaps purposefully, as you kind of alluded to there, is that the way it's being interpreted, obviously, by the likes of Stephen Miller, of course, but even Attorney General Pam Bondi.
I'm not even she kind of is in a line with him on a lot of this stuff. She basically said that. If El Salvador wanted to return Garcia, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane. So they're obviously not acting in good faith. But is providing simply providing a plane meeting what, as you read the Supreme Court order, it was telling them they needed to do?
You know, again, going back to common sense principles. The administration should do that which makes sense to bring him back. There's a contract with El Salvador. Obviously, there's a relationship with El Salvador, with the president there. This person was sent in error. If a good-faith request was made to bring him back, he would be brought back.
And the administration in America keeps relying on their own interpretation that's helpful to them by saying, well, all they need to do to facilitate is to remove domestic barriers. And it's totally up to the president of the other country That flies in the face of how these things work. It flies in the face of what really happened here. And they're acting in concert with each other.
I mean, the president of El Salvador was here today and perhaps prompted by the Trump administration or otherwise is playing ball with him and not being forthcoming about sending this person back. That makes no sense.
It flies in the face, as I said, of the Supreme Court ruling, common sense, decency, rule of law, all these things that the Trump administration claims that they are in favor of and support. And it's all a lie.
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Chapter 8: What are the Democrats' plans to protect Social Security?
Well, I don't think the president of El Salvador has any desire, clearly, from what he said today to send him back. And Trump clearly is not going to do more to bring him back. Preet Bharara, thank you for helping us always understand the law a little bit better or the limits of the law or what the law should be doing. Really appreciate it.
Coming up, the images tell the terrifying story of the arson attack at Governor Josh Shapiro's residence. And now we are learning more about the motive. The story hits very close to home for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. She's now a candidate for governor herself, and she joins me next. Early Sunday morning, the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was targeted by an arsonist.
And hearing about it is one thing. It's awful, obviously. But seeing it is another. So I want you to take a look at some of the photos. I'm going to show them on the screen. So this one I'm showing right here is from inside the governor's residence after the attack.
Now, according to an affidavit, a man allegedly jumped a fence, broke into the home, and then threw a series of Molotov cocktails, starting a substantial fire. Governor Shapiro and his wife were inside the home during the attack but were safely evacuated.
The suspect also admitted to harboring hatred toward the governor and said that if he would have found him inside the home, he would have beaten him with his hammer. The suspect was arraigned in Pennsylvania just hours ago on charges including attempted murder and terrorism. Now, as for Governor Shapiro, he spoke outside of the Scorch residence just hours after the attack.
This type of violence is not okay. This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And I don't give a damn if it's coming from one particular side or the other. Directed at one particular party or another or one particular person or another. It is not okay. And it has to stop. We have to be better than this.
We have to be better than this. And as for President Trump, he didn't say anything about the attack proactively until he was asked about it in the Oval Office earlier today. And here's what he had to say.
The attacker was not a fan of Trump, I understand, just from what I read and from what I've been told. The attacker basically wasn't a fan of anybody. It's probably just a whack job. And certainly a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.
Not a lot of empathy for the governor and everything he went through, I'm hearing there exactly. Joining me now, though, is Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. She's also running for governor of Michigan in 2026. It's great to see you. Thank you for being with me. And we thought about who we wanted to talk to about this, and you were kind of the perfect person. So thank you.
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