With the Democrats’ Maine Senatorial candidate going up in flames, some in the media shifted their coverage to the lesser observed Michigan race. On Tuesday, MS NOW Reports discussed the Michigan Democratic primary candidate, Abdul El-Sayed. There was only one small problem: the candidate they spotlighted also had an extremist streak. Being the further left candidate of the two, MS NOW’s chief political reporter, Chris Jansing, gave a brief description of his stances: He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money. And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive.   MS NOW trying to pretend Abdul El-Sayed is some kind of moderate candidate. This is the guy who hangs out with Hasan Piker, known for claiming "American deserved 9/11", calling for the murder of his political opponents, and other insane things. pic.twitter.com/IRVjF1zSth — James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 7, 2026   From that description, El-Sayed didn’t seem that radical, at least compared to the wave of socialists now popping up in Democratic primaries. Looking deeper into his actual beliefs however, not just those fed to us by MS NOW, we see a different picture. El-Sayed had received the endorsement of Hasan Piker, a radical leftist who has argued that America deserved 9/11 and endorsed the murder of his political opponents. Aside from the company he kept, El-Sayed’s own policies were not nearly as moderate as MS NOW made them out to be. Alongside his labelling of the Israeli government as “evil” and his calls for “Medicare for all,” he also had a plethora of now-deleted tweets supporting defunding the police.  Later in the segment, Jansing implied that Trump’s efforts to curb election fraud in Michigan were actually a plot to rig the elections against the Democrats: [Trump] called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors. What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds.  Jansing’s leading questions to El-Sayed would even more obviously imply that some kind of rigging would be going on, even playing the racism card: And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.   They also cry about Trump sending people to monitor the elections in "Democratic strongholds" like Detroit. Every city is going to be a Democratic stronghold, it's not some kind of wacky targeting to aim for the places with the highest chances of major fraud. pic.twitter.com/lPfbgUHeuD — James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 7, 2026   Jansing’s pearl clutching regarding the DOJ’s move becomes ridiculous when you remember two simple facts. Obviously, any major city will be a “Democratic stronghold,” but major election fraud was also most likely to occur there. On top of that, election monitors weren’t likely to scare anyone away - anyone except people who might actually want to rig the vote. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read. MS NOW Reports July 7, 2026 11:41:15 AM Eastern ANTONIA HYLTON: Let's bring in MS NOW chief political reporter Chris Jansing, who is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for us. And Democratic strategist Basil Smikle is back at the table with me. Chris, you just spoke with Abdul El-Sayed. We played a little bit of it right there. Tell me more about what he shared with you. CHRIS JANSING: Yeah, we sat down for about 20 minutes and to put it very simply, I learned a lot. Look, he knows that this race is highly competitive. He knows it's going to be very expensive. And he is very focused on tonight's debate against Haley Stevens, a four-term member of Congress.  He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money.  And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive. But here's what he did say. Take a listen: [Cuts to video] ABDUL EL-SAYED: I think there is a political system that has been locking people out for a very long time, and there are some of us who want to unlock that system for people.  I don't think it's a radical idea that everybody in this country, the richest, most powerful country in the world, should have health care. I don't think it's a radical idea that we shouldn't be sending our money abroad to bomb people, when that money could be used to invest in our schools here. I don't think it's a radical idea that corporations shouldn't be able to buy their politicians.  I don't know how it's moderate to believe any of those things are not true. [Cuts back to live] JANSING: And look, tonight's debate, you'll hear more of that. It was already highly anticipated. One of the candidates has already dropped out. So this is going to be a two-person race. And one of the things that we're going to be listening for very closely tonight is what they have to say about the future of the Democratic party, because Democrats everywhere are listening to that.  Is there a message that someone like Abdul El-Sayed has that's going to resonate not just in November but also in 2028? And he said to me very specifically, listen, because this is about 2028 as well. Antonia? HYLTON: Basil, what are you going to be watching for tonight with this debate? I mean, as Chris spells out there, it is this head-to-head race right now, someone's very clearly in the establishment lane. And maybe he doesn't like the word progressive, but he's absolutely sort of in the progressive flank here. (...) HYLTON: Chris, there's also just the reality of the president, his DOJ, them sending these letters, threats already around the election. We know that the president has long had- had a- you know, certain kinds of things to say about the city of Detroit, for example. How is that hanging over this race? JANSING: Yeah. He called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors.  What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds. They are critical not just for whoever wins the Democratic nomination for Senate, but also for one key Congressional race. Let me read to you what the response was from the Secretary of State, who said: And while the U.S. Department of Justice continues to pursue baseless allegations to confuse voters about facts, we welcome anyone who wants to, in compliance with the law, observe Michigan's election process. One of the things that we have been hearing as we have watched these attacks escalate, the federal government does not have a role in these elections. And I asked Abdul El-Sayed about that. Here's what he told me. [Cuts to video] EL-SAYED: It's really concerning. I mean, this is exactly what Donald Trump has said he wants to do. He does not believe in free and fair elections. He does not want certain kinds of people to vote. And he's following through with that. I mean, when you put the SAVE act ahead of solving one of the biggest housing crises in recent memory, it tells you what his priorities are, and he's following through. [Cuts back to live] JANSING: And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.

Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, flagship ABC newscasts World News Tonight and Good Morning America refused to mention new disturbing allegations from Graham Platner ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield, who shared new instances of verbal abuse and said he repeatedly had unprotected sex without her consent. Instead, ABC chose to only continue emphasizing the rape allegations from Jenny Racicot, another ex-girlfriend of the Maine Democrat candidate. GMA spent three minutes on Platner, but couldn’t find a single second to mention Fifield. Perhaps it’s because Fifield is a conservative and Racicot a progressive? Perhaps, considering ABC seemed particularly concerned about the fallout for it’d imperil the Democrats’ chances in Maine. Co-host Michael Strahan huffed in a tease about an “exit strategy” to influence “the scramble to replace him” “as his campaign collapses.” “We’re going to go now to the growing pressure on Democrat Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race after a woman accused him of sexual assault. Platner is being urged to step aside in a critical race for Democrats, hoping to take control of the Senate,” he later said in cuing up D.C.-based correspondent Jay O’Brien. BIAS BY OMISSION: Wednesday’s ‘Good Morning America’ spent three minutes on Graham Platner, but not one second on the new allegations @LyndseyFifield spoke about with CNN and The Washington Post pic.twitter.com/PALdlH7sql — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 O’Brien relayed that while Platner “is still in the race....his campaign now confirming it’s discussed a possible exit strategy with Democratic leaders in that state and that already leading to a clash” about the future of “a race that could decide control of Congress.” Notice O’Brien’s almost singular focus on process, not how awful of a human being Platner is (click “expand”): O’BRIEN: Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s campaign collapsing around him, setting off a scramble to try to replace him on the ballot after an allegation of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend, which he denies. RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: I looked at him, and I remember this very specific look in his eyes, and I could smell alcohol, and I was, like, this is different. O’BRIEN: And this morning, several state Democrats now jockeying to take Platner’s place and challenge Maine’s longtime GOP senator, Susan Collins. Under Maine law, Platner has just five days to drop out to be removed from the ballot. State Democrats would then have two weeks to select a new candidate, but there’s no exact roadmap for how that process would go overnight. The executive director of the Democratic Party of Maine saying Platner team has reached out, accusing them of trying to dictate the next steps. MAINE DEMOCRATIC PARTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEVIN MURPHY-ANDERSON: Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. [SCREEN WIPE] We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee. O’BRIEN: Platner campaign confirms they have reached out to the party, but denied trying to influence what comes next, saying in a statement, “while Graham [Platner] wouldn’t want to be part of the process, he would want to make sure the voters and volunteers make this decision, not the political establishment.” O’Brien also focused on the fact that, following Racicot’s interviews, “Democrats are abandoning the embattled candidate” with “more than 20 senators calling on him to drop out,” including socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and “progressive voices like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani[.]” Later, O’Brien framed the necessity of Platner getting out: “A sense of the stakes here. Any possible path for Democrats taking back the Senate almost certainly runs through Maine. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator this year defending a seat in a state that Donald Trump lost in 2024.” While both their Tuesday evening shows skipped Fifield, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today were able to acknowledge Fifield’s existence in their reports. On NBC, co-host Craig Melvin opened the segment by saying Platner was “facing new calls to drop out” following “a new accusation of non-consensual sexual conduct.” Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles lamented, “[t]his situation really has become a waiting game for Democrats in Maine” with Platner holding the cards, leaving them “paralyzed and unable to move forward in what may be the most important race on the Senate map.” Only then did Nobles bring up Fifield’s graphic allegations (click “expand”): NOBLES: A new bombshell rocking the critical Senate race in Maine that could determine control of Congress. Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Platner, is facing mounting pressure this morning from top Democrats to end his campaign. It comes as another woman stepped forward overnight with new allegations of non-consensual sexual conduct. Platner’s ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Fifield, telling The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without consent during sex, saying: “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.” Platner’s campaign calling the accusation “categorically false and politically motivated.” Fifield previously accused Platner of aggressive physical conduct, especially when he was drinking, which he also denied. Fifield telling CNN Platner later apologized to her for his behavior. LYNDSEY FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: I’m hoping more people will come forward, at least saying he was known for being very rough with people. I mean, like, he apologized sober the next day on many of these occasions. NOBLES: This after another former romantic partner of Platner’s, Jenny Racicot, accused him of rape, saying he forced himself on her five years ago. JAKE TAPPER [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: Did Graham Platner rape you? RACICOT [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/06/26]: By definition, yes, absolutely. NOBLES: Platner denies her allegations, too. A source familiar with Platner’s thinking tells NBC News he’s still undecided about whether to step down in the race against GOP incumbent Susan Collins.  Towards the end of the piece, he found two man-on-the-street voters with an elderly male voter stating emphatically Platner had to go while an elderly white woman argued Mainers should stick with Platner because “we have to go with what we have” to defeat Collins. CBS Mornings fill-in co-host and former Today newsreader Natalie Morales described the state of the race as “Platner fac[ing] new sexual misconduct allegations and a wall of opposition now from fellow Democrats” who believe he’s “ interfering with the process of choosing a replacement.” Congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns said from Maine the race was “getting messy” with “[t]he Platner campaign say[ing] that they reached out to the Maine Democratic Party to try and understand what the process to replace him might look like and they insisted that voters, not party leaders, should decide who that is.” “All of this as we’re learning new details from one of his accusers. Graham Platner is still holding on in Maine’s U.S. Senate race despite mounting allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and growing calls for him to step aside,” she added. In contrast, the @CBSMornings piece from @CHueyBurns did mention Fifield as well as the fact that, just last month, major progressives were still on board with Platner such as Bernie Sanders (despite all that was known at the time) pic.twitter.com/BEvS3iaEkN — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 8, 2026 This segued into Huey-Burns summarizing the new claims from Fifield (click “expand”): FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It terrifies me to think of him having any type of power politically because what is he going to do with the testimony in his office. HUEY-BURNS: Lyndsey Fifield, who says she dated Platner more than a decade ago, told The Washington Post he had repeatedly removed condoms without their consent while the two had sex. She had previously told The New York Times Platner had gotten rough with him and spoke about it with CNN Tuesday. FIFIELD [on CNN’s The Lead, 07/07/26]: It was domestic abuse. HUEY-BURNS: All of this comes after another woman came forward to Politico, accusing Platner of rape. Platner has categorically denied both women’s allegations. But what made CBS’s package the strongest was Huey-Burns pointing out next that, just over a month ago, Sanders was still on board: HUEY-BURNS: He has now lost nearly all of his big-name supporters, like Senator Bernie Sanders who just a month ago had this to say. SANDERS [on 06/01/26]: Graham Platner is playing an extraordinarily strong campaign. HUEY-BURNS: Now, Sanders is joining the chorus of Democrats urging Platner to step aside. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who had preferred more moderate candidate Governor Janet Mills in the primary, blamed progressives. Only then did Huey-Burns say this hullabaloo has led “some Democratic voters here” to worry “about whether the party still has a chance to flip the seat held by long-time Republican incumbent Susan Collins.” To see the relevant transcripts from July 8, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

Convicted of obstructing federal immigration agents, former Wisconsin Judge Hannah C. Dugan was spared jail time and let off with a fine Wednesday by a judge nominated by Democrat President Bill Clinton in 1997. Judge Dugan is guilty of obstructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last April when she helped an illegal alien evade arrest, as WTOV 9 explains: “Dugan was convicted in December of felony obstruction after prosecutors said she intentionally misdirected Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national who had reentered the United States illegally, out of her courtroom through a private jury door while agents waited to arrest him.” Flores-Ruiz was in Judge Dugan’s courtroom at the time to face charges of domestic battery. He was eventually tracked down, arrested and ultimately deported. Dugan had faced a potential sentence of up to five years in prison. Instead, Clinton-nominated Judge Lynn Adelman let her off with a $5,000 fine. “Rather than uphold the rule of law, the defendant used the power and prestige of judicial office to obstruct federal agents carrying out their lawful duties in order to help an individual evade arrest,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo calling for Judge Adelman to hand down a harsh sentence because Judge Dugan had abused her power as a judge: “Rather than uphold the rule of law, the defendant used the power and prestige of judicial office to obstruct federal agents carrying out their lawful duties in order to help an individual evade arrest.” Prosecutors said that Dugan violated her oath as a judge and endangered both the public and federal officers by helping the illegal alien escape. “Judges are entrusted with tremendous discretion, but there is a line they cannot cross…the defendant crossed that line,” Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling wrote in a sentencing memo. On Wednesday, Judge Adelman disagreed, dismissing Dugan’s crime as merely the actions of someone “upset by immigration policies”: "I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment." Apparently dissatisfied with her lenient sentence, Dugan’s lawyers say they will file an appeal With 7th U.S. Circuit. For her part, Dugan, who resigned from the bench in January amid calls for her impeachment, announced Wednesday that she plans to “return to public service."   

Someone at ABC News or Disney might have had words with The View’s Sunny Hostin after she doubled down on supporting Maine’s Democratic Party Nazi Graham Platner following an allegation of sexual assault. She walked back that support on Wednesday’s show and made it clear she wanted her Democratic Party to pick a new candidate soon because she still felt the state was in play. It was obvious the allegations didn’t matter to Hostin, only how well a candidate could do against incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. In their discussion about Platner wanting to be the one to handpick his replacement, Hostin wasn’t having it. “He can't have any say in his replacement. I agree with you. I think that's ridiculous and I think it's clear that he is -- he has to step down,” she proclaimed. Hostin’s chief concern wasn’t about keeping yet another accused rapist and accused domestic abuser out of political power, it was about making sure Democrats could take control of the Senate and get President Trump: The party has until July 27th to actually nominate a new person. And he's got to get out because I really do believe that Maine is in play. I do believe that Susan Collins is beatable. And I think once they just have the right candidate with all the appropriate information, the Democrats really could take that seat and that's a very important seat. The Democrats need four seats to take the majority over and it's - it’s - we're in an existential crisis! “We need to flip the Senate,” Hostin added. Joy Behar chimed in with her own plea: “It’s urgent. It’s urgent.”   Sunny Hostin now wants Maine Democrats to nominate a new candidate over Graham Platner and it's all about politics. She pushes for Democrats to take over the Senate: "The party has until July 27th to actually nominate a new person and he's got to get out because I really do… pic.twitter.com/6CVDLtj34q — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 8, 2026   Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin gawked at exactly how badly the Democrats had bungled the vetting of Platner: I'm just struck by how Dems botched this so badly though. Because to your point, like the path to Dems taking the Senate I think always ran through Maine. That was always going to be one of the important pickup seats. They had six years to recruit against Susan Collins and to vet somebody and look into their past statements and to look into the tattoos that they might have. She even accused Democratic consultants of absolutely knowing about all of Platner’s dirty laundry and continuing to push him as an option anyway: And this is where consultants did know. I think that lot of people who are making a lot of money around him knew. There were whisper, now there’s reports that he had issues with women and people kept saying, ‘no, no, no, look away.’   Alyssa Farah Griffin remarks she was "struck by how Dems botched this so badly though." And blames Democratic Party consultants: "And this is where consultants did know. I think that lot of people who are making a lot of money around him knew. There were whisper, now there’s… pic.twitter.com/dhAhoyrD7Q — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 8, 2026   Moderator Whoopi Goldberg tried to defuse Farah Griffin’s criticism of Democrats by seemingly trying to falsely claim The View had rang warning bell about him. “We talked about it months ago so people did know and they held their nose -- we talked about that as well,” she said. She then argued that Maine voters didn’t listen to them and blamed Trump for Platner winning the Democratic Primary (Click “expand”): GOLDBERG: You know what, I don't know. Given what's happened just in our world right now, how the country -- who's in charge of it, I think people held their nose and said, ‘I'm going to take a step.’ HOSTIN: I don't know that they knew about the rape. GOLDBERG: You know what, apparently even when people know about these things they still elect people. In addition to that nonsense, Goldberg ridiculously claimed that no president had ever accepted a gift from a foreign government: You know, this election that’s coming up, at least in my opinion, is going to highlight a lot of things because there lot of things that have happened. No longer can we accept the fact that, you know, no president is allowed to accept from foreign leaders anything, should not be allowed. (…) That has to become abnormal behavior again.   Whoopi Goldberg falsely claims no president had ever accepted a gift from a foreign nation before Trump. pic.twitter.com/1BoXbYYF3S — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 8, 2026   Nearly all presidents have received gifts from foreign leaders. In 2015, CNN even ranked “The 12 best gifts world leaders gave the Obamas.” The gifts either end up in the National Archive or get loaned out to the president’s respective libraries or other museums. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View July 8, 2026 11:11:15 a.m. Eastern (…) WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You know, this election that’s coming up, at least in my opinion, is going to highlight a lot of things because there lot of things that have happened. No longer can we accept the fact that, you know, no president is allowed to accept from foreign leaders anything, should not be allowed. SARA HAINES: Like planes. GOLDBERG: Planes, crypto, condos. JOY BEHAR: There is an emoluments clause that -- GOLDBERG: There is. BEHAR: They don't follow it. GOLDBERG: But this has become normal, and we the people have to put that back to being abnormal. MULTIPLE CO-HOSTS: Yeah. GOLDBERG: That has to become abnormal behavior again. [Applause] GOLDBERG: You know. There's so many things that we are -- that we are really going to be voting on this time around. And so I think it's -- I think there are changes coming. (…) 11:20:50 a.m. Eastern HOSTIN: No, I - I - I - He can't have any say in his replacement. I agree with you. I think that's ridiculous and I think it's clear that he is -- he has to step down. The issue is he's got to step down I believe by July 13th. If not - BEHAR: Today’s the 8th. HOSTIN: - they don't get the opportunity to appoint someone else, the Democratic National Committee in Maine. He's just -- BEHAR: Why? They have time. ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: It's just under the state’s law to get them on the ballot. HOSTIN: It's just under the state’s law. The party has until July 27th to actually nominate a new person. And he's got to get out because I really do believe that Maine is in play. I do believe that Susan Collins is beatable. And I think once they just have the right candidate with all the appropriate information, the Democrats really could take that seat and that's a very important seat. The Democrats need four seats to take the majority over and it's - it’s - we're in an existential crisis! BEHAR: It’s urgent. It’s urgent. HOSTIN: We need to flip the Senate. FARAH GRIFFIN: I'm just struck by how Dems botched this so badly though. Because to your point, like the path to Dems taking the Senate I think always ran through Maine. That was always going to be one of the important pickup seats. They had six years to recruit against Susan Collins and to vet somebody and look into their past statements and to look into the tattoos that they might have. I mean, listen, Texas just nominated a lunatic in Ken Paxton so like it's not like the other party isn't guilty of this as well. But when the stakes are so high and when the path to the Senate runs through this, how are they not able to find this? And this is where consultants did know. I think that lot of people who are making a lot of money around him knew. There were whisper, now there’s reports that he had issues with women and people kept saying, ‘no, no, no, look away.’ GOLDBERG: We talked about it months ago so people did know and they held their nose -- we talked about that as well. Held their nose and said -- HOSTIN: They held their nose and voted for- [Crosstalk] HAINES: But they didn't have the rape accusation. GOLDBERG: You know what, I don't know. Given what's happened just in our world right now, how the country -- who's in charge of it, I think people held their nose and said, ‘I'm going to take a step.’ HOSTIN: I don't know that they knew about the rape. GOLDBERG: You know what, apparently even when people know about these things they still elect people. HOSTIN: Well, that is true. That is true. [Applause] (…)

Over the weekend, a Reuters photo of a black woman sitting on the D.C. Metro amid masked members of a white nationalist group, The Patriot Front, went viral online. On Monday, MS NOW’s Symone Sanders-Townshend and guest, race hustler Eddie Glaude, jumped on that train (presumably not the one with the white nationalists) and eagerly equated Patriot Front with the Trump administration. “Now, photos like this, they resonate with so many of us,” Sanders proclaimed. “And not because every day looks like that, to be clear, but because so many Americans, myself included, understand that feeling. That's the feeling of living in a country that we love, but also feeling the danger of being surrounded by people who do not believe that we belong.” According to Glaude, the photo was “a kind of still representation of, in so many ways, the hatred that threatens to suffocate American democracy, the contradiction in full view. And, you know, Black women often are - should be considered, kind of, the load-bearing beam of this democracy.”   WILD: professional race-hustler Eddie Glaude thinks "black women should be considered the load-bearing beam of this democracy" I don't know what history books he read, but in everyone else's, black women did not, in fact, create or carry democracy. pic.twitter.com/reWgREXTj0 — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 7, 2026   Sanders then referenced Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s statement: He said, "There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, reprehensible, but in America, free speech is allowed." He then went on to compare white nationalism to democratic socialism as comparable extreme viewpoints.  Burgum actually compared the white nationalists to communists. However, Glaude immediately shot down the idea: Well, Simone, I think, you know, in this country, and I feel this often that the country is more comfortable with the extremism on the right than with those who claim to be on the left. They are more comfortable with white nationalists and white supremacists than they are with folk who are advocating for workers, who are described as socialist and the like.   I gotta say, this country seems a LOT more comfortable with extremism on the left than on the right. When was the last time a self-proclaimed white supremacist was elected to Congress? pic.twitter.com/CoXy8fv4Y4 — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 7, 2026   That’s an interesting statement, considering that several self-proclaimed socialists just won elections in New York, or that only a few years ago the entire country suffered through a billion dollars’ worth of damage from the fiery BLM rampages. Very few BLM rioters have been prosecuted and convicted, compared to how persistently the Biden administration hounded those who stepped foot near the Capitol on January 6th. The mainstream liberal networks certainly are more comfortable with extremists on the left - their shows are overrun with them. “When we look at the assault on diversity, when we look at the assault on federal contracts across the board, affirmative action, across the board, what's the substantive difference between the Trump administration's policies and the position of the Patriot - of the Patriot Front?” Glaude asked. Later, he went on: Trump and his followers, they want to be white without judgment. They want to be white without the judgment of history.   Just because the Trump administration was largely effective in dismantling dumb DEI policies and actually ensuring that we hired people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, THEY'RE the racists. Got it. pic.twitter.com/lCOZPLmZP5 — Cici Marie (@Cici_Marie_1776) July 7, 2026   Apparently, in Glaude’s race-obsessed mind, every policy from the Trump administration he doesn't like makes them equivalent to a white nationalist group. Despite what the administration says, according to Glaude, just because they took a stand against promoting people just because of their skin color, they’re the racists continually oppressing black people. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MS NOW's The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi 7/6/26 11:45:52 p.m. Eastern SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: This weekend, Americans gathered for the nation's 250th birthday. Families came together to barbecue, to watch fireworks and hit America's beaches and shores.  In Washington, D.C. right down the street from where I am right now, the Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization that is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, well, they were on the march. They covered their faces with masks, and they marched with a combination of U.S. and Confederate flags demanding a return to an America that is European in racial character. That's according to the group's manifesto. Aboard the Washington Metro, a photographer captured this unforgettable scene. As Errin Haines wrote for the 19th News site, quotes, "Once again, a Black woman was captured in a moment where she must confront the worst of America with composure and become the mirror that shows the distance between who we are and who we say we are, or who we say, who we want to be as a country. We do not yet know the name or age of the woman in the visceral and now-viral photograph taken by Reuters photographer Cheney Orr. But we know the look on her face.” Now, photos like this. They resonate with so many of us. And not because every day looks like that, to be clear, but because so many Americans, myself included, understand that feeling.  That's the feeling of living in a country that we love, but also feeling the danger of being surrounded by people who do not believe that we belong. That is the tension that is central to the American story. And as we commemorate 250 years of this country, it's more important than ever to remember it.  And we have someone here to help us have this conversation. The great professor, Eddie Glaude, is joining me now, of Princeton University. He's an MS NOW analyst, and his newest book is America, U.S.A.: How race shadows the nation's anniversaries. Eddie, it's very good to see you. Let's be honest. We've seen striking photos like this one before, okay.  Errin wrote about this in her article. She also cites this photo from 1957 of Elizabeth Eckford. She is walking past a racist mob to attend her first day at Little Rock High School. As well as this photo, this is from 2016 of Iesha Evans. She is facing down armed police at a protest in Baton Rouge over the death of Alton Sterling. What do you - what's the value of photos like these? It's more than just a viral moment. EDDIE GLAUDE: First of all, it's great to see you, Symone. I think, you know, whether it's Elizabeth Eckford in Little Rock Nine or Dorothy Counts in Charlotte, North Carolina, or this current photograph we see in this moment a kind of still representation of, in so many ways, the hatred that threatens to suffocate American democracy, the contradiction in full view.  And, you know, black women often are - should be considered, kind of, the load-bearing beam of this democracy. They have to bear the weight of that contradiction. And these images capture it very clearly.  And so here we are in the 250th year of the country, still grappling with, you know, the implications of the divided soul of the nation. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: The Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, he was actually the one Trump official who spoke about Patriot Front's march. We have yet to hear from the president or anybody else in the White House. He said, "There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, reprehensible, but in America, free speech is allowed." He then went on to compare white nationalism to democratic socialism as comparable extreme viewpoints.  Now, professor, I don't know if the Interior Secretary needs a history lesson, but what does this response reveal about this particular administration and also, frankly, this particular time in our country? GLAUDE: Well, Symone, I think, you know, in this country, and I feel this often that the country is more comfortable with the extremism on the right than with those who claim to be on the left. They are more comfortable with white nationalists and white supremacists than they are with folk who are advocating for workers, who are described as socialist and the like.  Let's just be clear, the Interior Secretary was lying. He was lying about his commitment to free speech.  We know the Trump administration. They're not supporters of free speech when it comes to Gaza. They're not supporters of free speech when it comes to anti-ICE protests or BLM. We know that. We've seen it. We see it in the courts as well.  He's also lying because he says he finds 'certain things reprehensible.'  And we need to call - we need to call the lies what they are. Well what - what's the substantive difference between the position of the Patriot Front and the policies of Stephen Miller and Donald Trump? The Patriot Front makes it very clear that immigration, multiculturalism, and diversity constitute existential threats to the - to America. They claim that they want a white ethnostate. Fascinating. When the asylum program was hit, how many South Afrikaners have been admitted compared to the rest of the world in this country? Who are these folk from the Nordic countries as opposed to those people who are from the S-hole country? Why are they attacking Haitians in Springfield and across the country, 350,000 will be affected because of the Court's decision on TPS.  When we look at the assault on diversity, when we look at the assault on federal contracts across the board, affirmative action, across the board, what's the substantive difference between the Trump administration's policies and the position of the Patriot - of the Patriot Front?  And I think we need to call these people for who they are. The Trump administration seems to be in alignment with this white nationalist organization. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: It's a very good question. The White House should answer some questions about this, yet they have yet to get around to answering MS NOW's questions. We're going to continue to ask them because the American people - black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and otherwise - I think deserve answers.  Can I get your feedback on this new White House report? It actually describes the Smithsonian Museums' leadership as “radical activists who can't be trusted,” suggesting that Trump may seek to replace them with his own.  I think that that is a direct attack on the secretary of the Smithsonian, Mr. Lonnie Bunch, who has served admirably, I would argue.  This instinct to try to rewrite history, I think, is not just about the past. I think it's about the future. What say you? GLAUDE: I agree. I want to say this very clearly; Trump and his followers, they want to be white without judgment. They want to be white without the judgment of history. They want to believe that the country has in so many ways, its salvation was secured in its founding.  And so what we find ourselves in is a kind of second Lost Cause, an assault on the very stories we tell. An assault on the very histories we tell on how we see and what we come to know. Right?  And so this epistemic violence that is - that this assault on the very ways in which we acquire knowledge is absolutely critical to releasing them from judgment. Right? So I think it's really important for us to understand the first Lost Cause had a history that retold the story of Reconstruction, that allowed for the justification - that allowed a justification for the subordination of black folk.  And here we are in a moment where you have an assault on history. To what? Allow for a justification for the kind of world that these folk want to create. And that is a world, again, that's in alignment with the Patriot Front. SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Eddie Glaude, Princeton University professor and MS NOW analyst. And my friend, thank you very, very much.