MS NOW host cuts off Axios founder's claim about Trump 'helping' with crime in Minnesota
January 15, 2026
An attempt to make a point about how Donald Trump’s administration is dealing with crime in the cities, which has become a pretext for invading Minnesota with ICE agents, earned Axios founder Jim VandeHei an abrupt interruption from MS NOW host Mika Brzezinski on Thursday morning.
Discussing the heightened tensions in Minneapolis–St Paul that now have the president threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, the “Morning Joe” co-host turned to VandeHei, who attempted a nuanced answer that did not sit well with Brzezinski.
“Are we seeing any signs that the administration cares about public opinion, and if not, why not?” she prompted her guest.
“I mean, they're playing with fire, with literal and political fire,” he conceded. “It's unnecessary. That's the thing, is that at any moment in any city, at any point in time, you have crime, and then it's just a determination of what do you do about crime? Is the situation in Minnesota that acute that you need to send in federal officials to help local officials with that crime, and to do it in an environment that, you know ––.”
“But they’re not helping officials, Jim!" Brzezinski interrupted as he continued to try to make his point.
Talking over him, she added, “Jim, Jim, Jim, they’re not even in touch. They're not even in touch with local officials. They're coming in as a completely separate and possibly less trained and more trigger-happy –– that's analysis –– force that has no interaction with the community or the local police. How is that helpful? It's simply not!”
The startled VandeHei replied, “And I think most people can see that. And I think that's what you're seeing in this polling. And the president is being told about this polling; it's not changing his mind this far. But it's not just the polling. This might seem like not that related to it, but if you listen to Joe Rogan, who was the biggest Trump supporter, really helped him in that election. And you listen to that podcast he just did with Sean Gillis, who's really popular with a lot of men who voted for Trump, they're talking about the government being like the Gestapo in doing things that are completely unnecessary.”
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