Regular MSNBC guest Elie Mystal called on other countries to sanction the United States, claiming that especially after the American military carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, “we are the bad guys on the world stage.” Mystal, who also serves as justice correspondent for The Nation, joined ex-MSNBC host Joy Reid on her new eponymous show to discuss the targeted strikes against Iran, and they both appeared to take the side of the world’s most prolific and eager state sponsor of terror. WATCH: Elie Mystal: “Our country is THE bad guy on the world stage. The world needs to stand against America. Sanction us.” pic.twitter.com/3OjPx52Ryn — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 2, 2025 “Joy, I’ve argued — and I don’t say this lightly — but our country needs to be sanctioned,” Mystal declared. “We are the bad guys on the world stage. We are a menace to not only free people everywhere, but we are a menace to peaceful people everywhere at this point.” JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free “And I’m not even gonna say that we’ve only been a menace for the past three or four months, right? Like when does the international community decide that enough is enough?” Mystal continued. “I know we’re rich. I know we’ve got a lot of money. I know that people want to buy things from our country because we’re rich, or want to sell things to our country because we are rich. But at some point the international community has to stand up to us because we are a bad guy on the world stage, right? And so we should be sanctioned. We should be sanctioned and rebuked.” Mystal has also claimed in the past that all laws passed prior to 1965 — specifically, before the passage of the Voting Rights Act — should be considered “presumptively unconstitutional.” “Before the 1965 Voting Rights Act, we were functionally an apartheid country. Not everybody who lived her could vote here,” Mystal told the hosts of ABC’s “The View.” “So why should I give a **** about some law that some old white man passed in the 1920s?” Just two months before President Donald Trump won his second term in the White House, Mystal argued on Reid’s now defunct MSNBC show that Trump only had a following because he’d rallied around supporters “just as despicable.” “The reason why it doesn’t end his career is because his supporters are just as despicable, all right?” Mystal said. “Like Trump’s whole thing, he’s a narcissist, right? And so his whole thing is to have a complete lack of compassion and empathy for everybody else. It’s all about him. It’s all about him, him, him, me, me, me. He’s probably the least compassionate president we’ve had in 200 years since Andrew Jackson. And it works for him because his supporters are just as ungenerous, and have just as little compassion and empathy for others.”

Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for GOP Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas, was shot and killed in Northwest Washington, D.C., on Monday night. Estes and the D.C. Metropolitan Police confirmed the 21-year-old Tarpinian-Jachym’s death in separate statements. “I will remember his kind heart and how he always greeted anyone who entered our office with a cheerful smile,” said Estes. “We are grateful to Eric for his service to Kansas’ 4th District and the country. Please join Susan and me in praying for his family and respecting their privacy during this heartbreaking time.” Tarpinian-Jachym of Granby, Massachusetts, was a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was majoring in finance with a minor in political science, according to Estes’ office. On Monday night around 10:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of gunshots in the 1200 block of 7th Street, Northwest. Officers found Tarpinian-Jachym unconscious with gunshot wounds. Officers also found “an adult female and a 16-year-old male.” Both were conscious and had gunshot wounds, as well, according to police. All three victims were taken to area hospitals where Tarpinian-Jachym eventually died. “The preliminary investigation indicates that multiple suspects exited a vehicle at the intersection of 7th and M Street, Northwest and began firing at a group. The suspect vehicle has been recovered. Detectives believe the decedent was not the intended target of the shooting,” D.C. Metropolitan Police said. The nation’s capital has ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in recent years. A crime spike that had progressed for years spiked in 2023 at 40.9 homicides per 100,000 residents, making Washington the fourth most dangerous city in the United States behind New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit, respectively. A report from Republicans on the House Budget Committee said the crime wave was the worst the city had faced in over two decades, tallying in 2023 “over 270 murders, 950 carjackings, and 106 children shot — reminiscent of the 1990s crack epidemic.” Victims of the crime wave included some of the nation’s most powerful people. Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked at gunpoint in October 2023. Former Trump official Mike Gill was shot and killed several months later in February 2024. In 2024, Washington’s homicide rate dropped to 27.3, which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser touted as a result her administration’s focus on crime. The city’s rank as the fourth most dangerous city in the United States remained unchanged, however.

Former American Idol contestant Triston Harper is officially a father. His mom, Hattie Mae Sullivan, shared the big news on Facebook on June 23. “Everybody my Grand Baby has made her Grand Entrance …. weighing a solid 6lbs and 6 ounces,” Triston Harper’s mom wrote. “Brenley Lichelle Harper Has now arrived on the scene and she ain’t here to play. She’s already in boss mode!!!!! Feed me, Change me, Cut that bright light out. Yes ma’am whatever you want G MA is gonna make it happen!!!!!” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Triston Harper (@tristonharpermusic) Triston Harper Welcomed His Baby Girl With His Wife Paris Reed Triston Harper and Paris Reed are proud parents on the brand-new baby girl. Fans shared well wishes with the new little family. “Congratulations on the new bundle of joy,” a fan shared. “Congratulations Grandma sending lots of love to Triston and Paris and Brenley,” another person shared. “Grandchildren are such a blessing, I’m blessed with 4.” Less than a week before she made her debut, Hattie shared a birthday wish for Triston Harper. “17 years ago today…. I gave birth to a star. Triston Has been as close to perfect as perfect could be. Any parent would be proud to have this young man as their own but God chose to give him to me. I am thankful, grateful, and honored to be his mother. Happy birthday to my thumper… Before you won over the hearts of America you had my heart in the psalm of your hand,” she wrote. “I love you Triston so much and I pray that you get everything you have worked so hard for and all your dreams come true. Everybody help me wish my baby a Happy 17th Birthday. If you want to bless him with something you can cash app me because he cant access any of his apps and neither can Paris at this time.” Triston Harper hasn’t posted about his new daughter on social media just yet, but he did share a shoutout to his mom and the mommy-to-be for Mother’s Day on Instagram. “I want to wish a happy Mother’s Day to these two beautiful women. Hattie M Sullivan,” he wrote on Instagram. This story’s featured image is by Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images. The post Former “American Idol” Contestant And His Wife Welcome First Child appeared first on InspireMore.

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On Tuesday night, Stephanie Ruhle hosted Matthew Dowd on her show, The 11th Hour. Dowd, a political counselor and analyst known for his inability to stick to one party, joined with Ruhle to criticize Republicans while praising the socialist ideas of Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Discussing Republicans’ support of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, Dowd laid out what he saw as the economic future of the Democratic Party: I think what the Republicans have done is twofold and given the Democrats two very powerful messages. First is the Republican Party. It's laughable anymore if they stand up and claim they're the party of fiscal responsibility, it's just laughable. And if any Republican does that, we in the media and the people running against them should just laugh at them and just basically say, you've abdicated that completely.  (...) The other side is, and I hope the Democrats do this, they should run on economic populism. The Republicans and Donald Trump have captured cultural populism. They have not captured economic populism, which is much more powerful. Much more powerful, as we saw in the mayor's primary in New York.     Dowd claimed the Republican Party, by increasing government spending through Trump’s bill, was no longer as fiscally responsible as Democrats. Republicans who advocated for fiscal responsibility in the future should be openly mocked by the media, according to Dowd. If calling for the ridicule of a particular party by all media isn’t biased, then nothing is. Comically enough, Dowd and Ruhle both cited as a shining example of Democrats’ fiscal responsibility and strong economic policy, none other than Mamdani, the man who wanted to centralize ownership of grocery stores and freeze rent in New York.  Dowd encouraged the Democratic Party to take up economic populism, the idea of distributing wealth evenly among all citizens. If you’re wondering how that’s different from socialism, it really wasn’t. Still, Dowd tried to separate the two. When asked by Ruhle whether or not wealthy New Yorkers disliked Mamdani because of his opposition to capitalism, Dowd tried to deny the fact: I don't think you can say that Mr. Mamdani doesn't support capitalism. I think he's basically said it works, but it doesn't work when it's crony capitalism, as you say. And the thing that's offensive about Wall Street, and you've covered this, Stephanie, for years and years and years, they don't – they no longer believe in the common good. They believe in the idea that they should be able to own as many yachts as they can possibly own. One of the many people who could say Mamdani doesn’t support capitalism was Mamdani himself. But in order to try and make his stance seem more neutral, Dowd refused to acknowledge Mamdani’s distaste for our economic system, or his own: I, for one, am a capitalist. I'm a big capitalist. I'd like to try capitalism. We're right today in America, we don't have capitalism. We have a system in government that rewards a very few and hurts the many in our country in this. Capitalism is supposed to basically, the design, as you know, is to lift everybody up, create new industries, give incentives for people to get hired, give incentives for people to be paid more. Dowd’s nonsensical definition of capitalism showed that he, for one, was most definitely not a capitalist. Capitalism can do all those things, but his version more accurately describes a welfare state than a free market. Capitalism was supposed to encourage competition, giving anyone the opportunity to rise up, but it was not expected to give handouts the way Dowd described. So instead of laughing at Republicans for their economic policy, the liberal media should probably figure out exactly what they stand for first. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read. MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle July 1, 2025 11:39 p.m. EST STEPHANIE RUHLE: For weeks, Senate Republicans wondered whether they would be able to pass Trump's massive spending bill. Well, now that they have, some are asking a new question: will their voters forgive them for it? Polling shows that the bill Republicans work tirelessly to pass is deeply unpopular, even among Republicans. And the midterms are, of course, inching closer and closer by the day. MSNBC senior political analyst Matthew Dowd joins me now. He's also a former George W. Bush strategist and founder of Country Over Party. I'm so glad you're here tonight.  This bill punishes the poorest Americans, many of whom are Donald Trump's most loyal supporters. Is this going to haunt the president at all or will his fan base stay faithful, or do they exist in a news desert and they won't blame him for any hardships they face? MATTHEW DOWD: I mean, I think the reality is, and you showed the polling of this, this is definitely going to harm them. The question is: how much? And that to a degree depends on whether or not the Democrats can be efficient and effective in a messaging on this. I think it's a perfect opportunity for Democrats in this election.  And, you know, Donald Trump can't run again, no matter what he says, but the Democrats taking the House and possibly the Senate could make his life exceedingly miserable for the last four – the last two years of his presidency. I mean, I think what the Republicans have done is twofold and given the Democrats two very powerful messages. First is the Republican Party. It's laughable anymore if they stand up and claim they're the party of fiscal responsibility, it's just laughable. And if any Republican does that, we in the media and the people running against them should just laugh at them and just basically say, you've abdicated that completely.  So they've given the idea of fiscal responsibility to the Democrats, who've often been accused of being tax and spend. If I were the Democrats, I would basically say, “You might have called us tax and spend, but those guys, they're grift and spend. That's what they are. They're grift and spend. They reward people that are their friends. They give contracts to people. This is what they do, and we're now in a fiscal mess because of it.” That's one. The other side is, and I hope the Democrats do this, they should run on economic populism. The Republicans and Donald Trump have captured cultural populism. They have not captured economic populism, which is much more powerful. Much more powerful, as we saw in the mayor's primary in New York, how powerful an economic populist message is. If the Democrats do that, run on fiscal responsibility and economic populism, there's no way that the Republicans can withstand the wave that's going to occur in 2026. RUHLE: Well, let's actually talk about that mayoral race, because today, Zohran Mamdani has – we know, he has officially won the Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor. What does it tell you that Wall Street is absolutely freaking out? Like, I can tell you, every source that I speak to is ringing my phone off the hook, panicked about this guy, right? And he is a self-described democratic socialist. He has said aggressively negative things, you know, fair to say, you know, against the wealthy. But this is one single person who could become the mayor of a single city when the city council and the state governor will likely make it very difficult for him to get any of his most ambitious proposals through.  Yet these exact same Wall Street voters say almost nothing when Donald Trump, the President of the United States, launches global trade wars, defies the rule of law, and threatens to block mergers of companies that he doesn't like. Why is it that this group of people, these influential Americans, these big donors, why do they shrug off what the President of the United States that's blowing through the rule of law, why do they shrug off what he does day in and day out? And they're panicked over a possible mayor of New York. Is it because this new mayor doesn't support capitalism, and this current president supports crony capitalism? DOWD: Well, I think that's the point, and I don't think you can say that Mr. Mamdani doesn't support capitalism. I think he's basically said it works, but it doesn't work when it's crony capitalism, as you say. And the thing that's offensive about Wall Street, and you've covered this, Stephanie, for years and years and years, they don't – they no longer believe in the common good. They believe in the idea that they should be able to own as many yachts as they can possibly own. They should be able to own as many vacation homes as they possibly can own, no matter what happens to the working class in our country. And we're sitting on here, in one of the lowest tax rates and some of the least services of any of the modern countries in the world, the lowest tax rates and the least services in it. And while the rich get richer and richer and richer, the working class get – have it harder and harder and harder to meet. And I think what Mr. Mamdani has demonstrated is that you can have a message, and you can effectively deliver it in very unique, interesting ways and actually have huge accomplishments. They should be afraid. They should. Wall Street should be afraid. They've ridden this train for decades. They've ridden this idea that nobody's taking away their capital gains stuff. Nobody's taking away all of these things that they've been given in our country, in this sort of corrupt form of capitalism that exists.  I, for one, am a capitalist. I'm a big capitalist. I'd like to try capitalism. We're right today in America, we don't have capitalism. We have a system in government that rewards a very few and hurts the many in our country in this. Capitalism is supposed to basically, the design, as you know, is to lift everybody up, create new industries, give incentives for people to get hired, give incentives for people to be paid more in the course of this, as a country grows. That's not what exists in America today. RUHLE: Every time you come, as soon as we go into the commercial, I say. “God, I love Matthew Dowd,” so why don't I just say it when we're on live TV? Thank you for joining me, my friend. Great to see you.  DOWD: Thanks, Steph, you too.