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Trump put on notice he's on edge of finding out 'how fast this can fall apart'

Donald Trump was warned on Saturday that, if he keeps catering to the "Mar-a-Lago crowd," he's going to learn how quickly things will fall apart for him and his major coalition.

Former White House speech writer Jesse Moore appeared on MSNBC over the weekend to discuss Trump's ongoing transition.

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'I don't know what this is': Prosecutor buries Trump's new 'Legally Blonde' court filing

A baffled MSNBC host and an amused Florida prosecutor attempted to make sense of a brief submitted by Donald Trump's lawyers to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a possible ban of the popular TikTok app.

With the court poised to rule on the ban, an attorney for the president-elect -submitted a brief on Friday asking the judges to hold off on hearing the case until the president-elect is sworn in so he can attempt to negotiate a compromise.

In the brief, which has been widely ridiculed, the incoming president's attorney asserted, "President Trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government — concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged."

ALSO READ: America's dark past and the key to stopping Trump's authoritarian rule

Speaking with State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg, MSNBC host Christina Ruffini professed, "Does the president even have standing to do this? And what kind of a motion is this? Is this an amicus brief, a writ? I don't know what this is. Can he just involve himself in a case that he is not, you know, a party to? "

The laughing Aronberg replied, "These are all great questions; I had the same questions, too, because normally, Supreme Court? You've got this very buttoned-up group of lawyers who argue specific legal issues, and here's Trump, coming in like a bull in a china shop."

"It's like the movie 'Legally Blonde' when he comes in and just starts spouting off, like 'I have a huge electoral mandate, I'm the smartest and the best, and I can negotiate, so just pause everything, let me step in and let me handle this!'" he joked.

"There's nothing in the law that says he can do that, but he's Donald Trump," the prosecutor explained. "He appointed three out of these nine justices, so he thinks he can do it. I don't know if the Supreme Court is going to go along with it, but it is really interesting that Trump, who often thinks he's above the law, is now doing something I've never seen before in front of the Supreme Court."

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Alarm raised over Ginni Thomas given access to Trump Oval Office after he's sworn in

During an appearance with MSNBC host Katie Phang on Saturday afternoon, Slate legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern predicted the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will be given unfettered access to Donald Trump after he is sworn in on Jan. 20th.

Brought on to discuss Justice Thomas being accused of hiding more trips paid for by a billionaire benefactor that appear to be of no concern to Chief Justice John Roberts, Stern brought up Ginni Thomas who was implicated in the Jan 6. insurrection that was put in motion by the president-elect.

According to the Slate journalist, there appears to be no impediment to Ginni Thomas visiting Trump in the Oval Office to push her proposals –– some of which could come under legal review by her husband.

ALSO READ: It’s time to decimate the Republicans’ standing with the public — and the press

As Stern explained, " [Justice] Thomas has devoted his career to destroying campaign finance laws and granting billionaires a 1st Amendment right to purchase elections. Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, took advantage of the decisions to essentially buy Trump the presidency, to bail him out and to put Trump back in the White House."

"Because of Musk's work, now, Ginni Thomas is going to have access to the Oval Office. Ginni Thomas will be having meetings with Donald Trump, pushing her preferred policies and there is no real chance that the president will approve of any kind of accountability for Thomas' violations of the law," he continued.

"C'mon, we know that Trump is not going to approve court reform, he's not going to impose a code of ethics or sign one if Congress happens to pass it," he elaborated. "His attorney general is certainly not going to bring the civil or criminal penalties that could be on the table because of Clarence Thomas' law-breaking here."

"It really seems like this coterie of billionaires and their benefactors are all sort of entrenching and reinforcing each other's power and privilege. If that is not an oligarchy, I'm not sure what is," he concluded.

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'Power will start to ooze out of him': Trump warned he'll be handcuffed as a 'lame duck'

According to longtime political observer Jonathan Alter, the moment Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, the clock begins ticking on his hold of power since he will be widely regarded as a lame-duck president.

Speaking with MSNBC host Charles Coleman Jr. on Saturday morning, Alter said that the president-elect stands no chance of running for a third term on 2028 despite speculation that he might attempt it, and lawmakers won't have to go along with every demand he makes.

As he explained, "In the short and middle term I think he'll be held to account for all sorts of campaign promises. If he is not successful in lowering prices, as he promised he would do, and if his tariffs and other policies contribute to renewed inflation, he will be judged very harshly on that."

ALSO READ: It’s time to decimate the Republicans’ standing with the public — and the press

"But remember, he's not a candidate for reelection," he pointed out. "He becomes a lame duck on January 20th. I know people talk about him getting around the 22nd Amendment and being in office forever –– that's not going to happen."

"His political power will start to ooze out of him, and a lot of the accountability will be reflected first in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections this coming year and then in the 2026 midterms," he elaborated. "But if he ends up governing with a billionaire boys club -- he's already appointed 12 billionaires -- that's not what he promised. He promised to look out for middle-class working families and if his policies include deep cuts to very popular programs or other things that don't really seem to resemble the populist promises that he made during the campaign, his popularity is going to suffer."

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Trump's 'day one' plans on collision course with 'roadblocks at every turn': reporter

Donald Trump's plans to hit the ground running after his Jan. 20 inauguration will likely not go as smoothly as he and some members of his inner circle seem to believe it will.

That is according to Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell who appeared on MSNBC on Saturday morning with host Charles F Coleman Jr. and was asked what to expect moments after the president-elect is sworn in.

"Hugo, these are a dozen-plus day-one promises," the MSNBC host began. "Which can Trump actually do and what's the most important? "

ALSO READ: It’s time to decimate the Republicans’ standing with the public — and the press

"The most important is definitely immigration, as you said, because that has been the campaign promise," the reporter replied. "I also think it's going to be the most difficult of his priorities, because he faces roadblocks at every turn. If he wants to start mass deportations he needs the cooperation of states and cities, and it's not clear he will get that. He's going to run into judges not so favorable to him."

"The first administration, they bungled the Muslim ban and didn't get the sign-off of the Department of Justice, and the whole thing kind of cratered," he recalled. " But, beyond that, I do think the president does have a lot of power, particularly when it is going to be interpreted by a Republican-leaning Supreme Court or a Republican-leading DOJ. And Trump's own White House counsels who all will take this idea of a unitary executive power to basically mean Trump has free rein over a lot of areas."

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'Grow a spine': House Republicans lectured for being 'too damn scared' of upcoming vote

Discussing what is expected to be a chaotic election of the next Republican House Speaker late next week, a former high-ranking Republican Party official criticized the caucus and told them to "grow a spine" and pick someone serious about asserting the authority of the chamber.

Speaking with his co-hosts on MSNBC's "The Weekend," former RNC chair Michael Steele lectured the House Republicans who stumbled and bumbled their way to previously picking Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) who is already facing stiff opposition.

ALSO READ: It’s time to decimate the Republicans’ standing with the public — and the press

"This is something that the American people by and large don't care about because they don't know how their government functions and they don't know how these roles are played and how important they are. Why it matters when dealing with the budget and the debt ceiling, why it matters when you have an incoming president who wants the speaker to kowtow to him," Steele remarked.

"That is why I said that Congress is an independent body, –– they are not an adjunct of the executive branch, they are an independent branch and it is high time Republicans started acting like it," he continued before exclaiming, "Grow a spine or other body parts that may help you understand what your job and your role is."

"And if you want a good speaker, Republicans, elect one! Because you ain't got one and you haven't had one in a while!" he added. "You know that person exists within your ranks, it is just that you are too scared to nominate and elect him."

"The American people don't care because you don't care and you don't make it important so it is not important," he accused.

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'Get their comeuppance': Ex-Trump official calls for cuts to United Nations

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who is the presumptive next United Nations (U.N.) ambassador is one of President-elect Donald Trump's more traditional Cabinet appointments, and is unlikely to face a tough confirmation battle in the Senate. But one former Trump administration official is hoping she'll usher in drastic cuts to the U.N.'s budget during the president-elect's second term.

In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, John Bolton — who was former President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador before briefly serving as Trump's National Security Advisor in 2018 — laid out his proposal for what he hopes Stefanik and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is Trump's secretary of state-designate, accomplish at the U.N. over the next four years. Bolton is particularly hoping Stefanik, Rubio and Trump will do away with a U.N. funding mechanism that he likened to "taxation of America by other U.N. members."

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Watch: MSNBC hosts laugh and pile on Vivek Ramaswamy for infuriating Trump's MAGA fans

The co-hosts of MSNBC's "The Weekend" were beside themselves with laughter on Saturday morning as they discussed Donald Trump advisor Vivek Ramaswamy angering the MAGA faithful with a "screed" he posted on X that has led to a schism within the president-elect's base.

With co-host Michael Steele bestowing "screed" on the Ramaswamy post where the entrepreneur maintained, "Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer)," co-hosts Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders Townsend all piled on when they weren't laughing at each other's comments.

"He laid out basically you white folks out here should have been focused on doing a little bit more Urkle than anything else," Steele joked before adding, "You know, Symone, I'm tickled. I'm tickled by this. Who would have saw this coming? "

ALSO READ: Why ABC settled a case they knew they would win — and why the Lincoln Project didn't

"Well, I mean definitely not the folks who voted for Donald Trump and they're American workers," Townsend Sanders replied. "Look, this is, you know, my mother told me this is just some business that don't involve you. You don't need to step in it, so I have been watching, because this is what happened."

"And that is the point," Steele added. "But what you have happening here is the very thing that white folks have said about Black people and for generations. They were saying that about white people and they don't like it. "You're not lazy, you're not slow, you're not stupid. Well, that's what we've been saying for 400 years, yet here we are."

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'A whole lot of stupid': MSNBC host ridicules Trump's latest 'fantasy-driven' proposal

While introducing his guests on MSNBC's "The Weekend," co-host Michael Steele promised they were going to cover "A whole lot of stupid," and then proceeded to mock Donald Trump's out-of-nowhere fascination with buying Greenland.

Getting right to it, the former Republican National Committee chair sarcastically joked to his co-hosts and guests, "Let's start with this smart idea that we are somehow going to take control of Panama and that we want to go and buy Greenland."

"Why?" he continued. "Because it is there and it is green and I guess that is what Donald Trump wants to do."

ALSO READ: Trump is already walking back on his promises

Turning to guest Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post, he asked, " Is there any appetite, do you think, from your reporting and your coverage of these things with this coming Congress, the idea that they are going to entertain legislation to do these crazy fantasy-driven ideas of Donald Trump that, somehow, he not only wants to rule the United States but he wants to rule the world?"

"Absolutely not," she shot back. "Honestly among Democrats and definitely among Republicans, they don't want to be doing these things. There are so many things Congress could do, not to mention raising the debt ceiling in just a couple of weeks Janet Yellen just mentioned that Wednesday night saying this should be the priority of the conversation even before Trump is sworn in."

"How are they going to tackle something like this? Trying to acquire other nations or other nations' properties?" she added.

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'What is going on here???' Trump melts down over Harris endorsements weeks after election

Almost two months after he won re-election over Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump chose the weekend between Christmas and New Years Day to flip out on his 2024 opponent's high-profile endorsements.

Moving on from threatening Panama with invasion and making a bid to buy Greenland which has occupied him for the past week, the president-elect, seemingly out of nowhere, went on a rant early Saturday morning.

ALSO READ: Trump is already walking back on his promises

Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump, who rarely provides context for his rage-postings, wrote, "Are the Democrats allowed to pay $11,000,000, $2,000,000, and $500,000 to get the ENDORSEMENT of Beyoncé, Oprah, and Reverend Al? I don’t think so!"

"Beyoncé didn’t sing, Oprah didn’t do much of anything (she called it 'expenses'), and Al is just a third rate Con Man," he wrote of the three Black Americans, before asking, "So what is going on here??? Totally against the law, and I have heard there are many others!!!"

You can see his post here.

'Totally perverse': How MAGA’s revolt against Johnson could lead to 'meltdown and anarchy'

House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) decision to stay in Washington D.C. to push a bill keeping the government open for three more months across the finish line meant he missed a scheduled appearance in front of MAGA activists. Now, the GOP's hardline base is turning against him.

In an analysis for the Bulwark (an establishment conservative website), journalist Andrew Egger contrasted MAGA's icy response to Johnson's snub with their embrace of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) at that same event. Egger noted that on Sunday, the Florida Republican was met with enthusiasm from the crowd at far-right group Turning Point USA's annual "AmericaFest" conference in Arizona despite the public release of the House Ethics Committee's report on the scandalous allegations against him.

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'Short window': Mitch McConnell's replacement is under the gun to make Trump happy

After years in the background, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is stepping into the limelight as the new Senate Majority Leader as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R0KY) steps aside and Thune's primary focus will be making sure Donald Trump will be happy while he also attempts to keep his caucus in line.

In a profile in the Wall Street Journal by Molly Ball, she writes that the South Dakota conservative has had a tenuous relationship in the past with the president-elect who once tried to get Gov. Kristi Noem to run for his seat.

Now, Thune will take over the reins from McConnell whose relationship with Trump has deteriorated into backbiting and personal attacks when the longtime Kentucky lawmaker butted heads with Trump during his first term and after he lost in 2020.

ALSO READ: Trump is already walking back on his promises

As Ball wrote, "Perhaps no one in Washington will be more central to Trump’s governing prospects as Thune seeks to marshal the GOP’s 53 Republicans behind the unpredictable leader in the White House. And while optimism and team spirit are the words of the day, some conflict seems unavoidable."

According to Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Thune has his work cut out for him.

"This is a different role than he’s held before, and he’s not going to please everyone. He’s got to figure out how to resolve disputes and make a decision knowing some people will be happy and some will be unhappy,” he predicted.

Key to keeping on Trump's good side will be getting as much of the president's agenda through the Senate with a slim margin as quickly as possible, with Ball writing, "The first reconciliation bill would look to add resources to border security, energy production and national defense, with the aim of swift passage to put early points on the board. The second, expected to entail months of wrangling, would extend the 2017 tax bill, whose provisions expire in 2025, while making other changes to the tax system—always a contentious prospect in Washington."

Noting that Trump has yet to endorse Thune's plans, Ball added he is facing a "short window of opportunity to legislate before the 2026 midterm elections."

You can read more here.

MAGA 'rift' shows GOP is the 'dog that caught the car': Conservative

A never-Trump conservative thinks MAGA's recent division over immigrant visas is one of what he expects will be many rifts "coming down the pike" and took a shot at the movement, telling CNN on Friday night it would take a "heart of stone" not to laugh at the chaos.

The rift emerged between two factions. On one side, tech allies such as billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — who have been tapped to slash trillions from the federal budget — are advocating for more visas to attract highly skilled foreign workers. On the other side is the MAGA base, which has opposed expanding H-1B visas, seeing it as a threat to American jobs.

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