Ossoff blasts 'toddler' Trump in closing campaign salvo

[0:00] Joining us now is the senator you saw in that video, Senator John Ossoff of Georgia. [0:05] He is, of course, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won in 2024. [0:10] And we are finally in the homestretch. It's great to see you. Thank you for taking the time tonight. [0:16] Thanks, Jen. [0:17] I just shared a couple of the details of an absolutely banana story about the state of mind of the president of the United States, [0:25] not just because it's five days before the election, but because we are in the middle of a war. [0:29] People's costs are skyrocketing. All of the challenges that you talk to people, the people in the city of Georgia about all the time. [0:36] And I remember well, and I played this, too, when you shined a light on this relationship this past summer that Trump had with Natalie Hart by saying he just wants to travel with Natalie. [0:45] It's kind of like reoccurring now for all of us, I guess, in this story. [0:50] Here we are. He's sequestered away with Natalie in his private dining room. [0:53] There are some posters of Bill Pulte made. A lot is going on. [0:56] I just wonder, when you read that and you're thinking about everything going on, what's happening in the campaign, what went through your head? [1:06] Well, it sounds like the West Wing staff right now is mostly doing child care. [1:12] I mean, they're having to coddle the toddler president who is staring at imminent rebuke of historic magnitude. [1:20] And it is deeply dangerous to have a president so delusional and so surrounded by sycophants and yes people who just tell him what he wants to hear and indulge his every delusion. [1:36] That's most of the Trump administration. He has selected for people who make him feel good about himself and who help him to construct this palace of lies that blind everybody in the White House to the scope of their failure. [1:55] It's why it's so urgent that we win these elections decisively. [2:00] We have to win decisively because there has never been a time in American history where checks and balances are more essential. [2:07] And we have to win decisively because cornered and desperate as he is and amoral and narcissistic as he is, [2:16] we would be naive not to expect this man to try to cheat. He tried to seize the presidency the last time he lost it. [2:25] And so many of his designs against voting rights and against the Constitution have been focused on Georgia from his call to Brad Raffensperger to the FBI raid overseen by Tulsi Gabbard in Fulton County. [2:39] And that's why my team and I are doing everything that we can to get out the vote and to defend voting rights and prepare for whatever dirty tricks they may hatch in the Oval Office. [2:49] And I am asking folks across the country to take action right now. [2:52] You may not be able to join us knocking on doors or manning the voter protection hotline in Georgia, [2:57] but you can sure empower my team who are doing those things with just five days to go. [3:02] If you want to take action to help save our republic, go to electjohn.com right now and shipping $15 to help us see this through. [3:12] You mentioned what has happened in Georgia. [3:13] You've been on the front lines of so much election interference and meddling our efforts to do exactly that. [3:21] Emma Snow has reported that some FBI agents are concerned that they may be ordered to seize voting machines or take other actions to disrupt the elections. [3:29] I don't think that sort of reporting probably surprises you. [3:32] We've talked about this before, but what should people understand about the preparations that are underway? [3:37] What are you telling people who are fearful that if they vote, if they participate in the process, that this sort of thing could happen? [3:46] Well, Jen, on the one hand, they made a huge mistake coming to the cradle of the civil rights movement to launch their attacks on voting rights. [3:57] And the people's response is one of galvanized defiance and determination. [4:03] Right now, we are shattering all-time turnout records for a midterm election in Georgia. [4:10] And young voters are turning out to vote at a scale and a pace unprecedented for a midterm in Georgia. [4:18] This is the heart of the civil rights movement. [4:21] And coming here and trying to intimidate voters has backfired badly. [4:24] On the other hand, Jen, we have to put all of these resources aside that we would otherwise be using to get out the vote and to communicate our message for litigation, for the defense of voting rights. [4:35] We have to expect here in Georgia, as candidates and campaigns across the country must, that the White House will try to discredit or attack the results, try to throw out people's votes. [4:47] He tried to do it before. We have to prepare for him to try to do it again. [4:52] That takes resources. And again, folks can help contribute those resources at electjohn.com. [4:58] We've seen this pattern many times before. [5:01] We've talked about it when he feels like he is losing political power. [5:05] He lashes out and does things like this, right, or tries to threaten or tries to mess with the system. [5:11] It's interesting to me that he and I mentioned this earlier, he canceled, they canceled rallies in Kansas and Iowa this weekend. [5:17] He's instead going to do tele-rallies, including one in Deep Red, Louisiana, which is a state he won by 22 points. [5:25] It's a it's a very strange thing. [5:27] I wonder, as you're traveling across the state of Georgia and as you're talking to voters, you're trying to earn voters who voted for Trump, too. [5:33] What does it say, the canceling of those rallies and all of this, about his diminishing power, Trump's diminishing power in the Republican Party and and even among Republican voters? [5:43] Well, he is a weak, failed, disgraced president who is probably canceling these rallies not out of concern for the candidates his presence harms. [5:57] These Republican candidates, most of them, if they have any sense, don't want him to come to their states. [6:01] Although my opponent, the bigot Congressman Mike Collins, wants Trump here as much as possible, and Trump's been here twice in just the last 10 days. [6:09] So I imagine that they're canceling these to avoid the humiliation of empty seats and small crowds. [6:16] But on the other hand, we should expect that he will try to abuse his power to attack results that put him at risk. [6:25] Remember, we're not just talking about a president who stands to lose the ability to get a legislative agenda through Congress. [6:31] We're talking about a president and an administration corrupt in ways literally unprecedented in the history of our republic who are staring at the possibility of congressional oversight with teeth and accountability for their misdeeds. [6:46] And so that adds desperation to the air in the White House right now. [6:51] And it makes this president especially dangerous. [6:55] You were one of the first people who was really tying corruption together to the cost of living and the impact on people in this country. [7:02] In your riffs when you were out on the campaign trail. [7:04] And when we were all watching your rally last night and you gave that powerful rip about corruption and about how people around Donald Trump should be preparing to testify, [7:12] there were these loud chants you could hear audibly of lock him up, lock him up. [7:18] You weren't and anybody who wasn't watching, you weren't encouraging them or chanting back or anything like that. [7:22] This was just happening organically in the crowd. [7:25] But what was what was going through your mind as the crowd was chanting that? [7:29] What do you think that tells us? [7:32] Well, you can feel the visceral disgust and contempt that the American people and not just Democrats, [7:41] but the American people united Democrats, independents and Republicans are outraged that while the president through his corrupt and incompetent policy agenda makes Americans pay more than ever for everything, [7:56] for health care, to stock the fridge, to fill up your truck, to power your home, it's never cost more. [8:01] They lied us into a war. [8:03] They don't know how to win and don't know how to end. [8:05] They doubled health insurance premiums. [8:06] The tariffs have been a disaster, and against that backdrop, the president and the first family are raking in billions of dollars from all over the world. [8:15] Billions of dollars of our tax money are going to back Prince Don and Prince Eric's investments. [8:22] You saw the news today or in the last few days about Alina Haba and a $50 million contract timed around the granting of a pardon. [8:30] You see all this secret money that was pumped into the ballroom by people with business before the federal government. [8:36] And there has to be real accountability for corruption of this magnitude. [8:41] It is. [8:43] It feels like every day, and you just covered a number of them. [8:46] There's a new story. [8:47] It's like it's not like we're just talking about one corruption story from a month ago. [8:51] There's new stories every day. [8:52] There was one that just broke in the last hour with the headline Trump erupted after learning of Alina Haba's $50 million deal. [8:59] Now, he doesn't appear to be angry, at least from the reporting, about the quid pro quo over a pardon here, right? [9:06] That doesn't seem to be what he's angry about. [9:08] It seems to be, according to the reporting, he's angered at the size of Mrs. Milden's deal. [9:12] I'm reading directly from the reporting. [9:14] Mr. Trump has told aides and allies that she should donate a portion of that money to his future presidential library or other Trump-related entities. [9:22] It is almost—it is so in your face. [9:25] It is unbelievable. [9:26] But what did you make of that story? [9:27] Yeah, I saw it. [9:30] He's saying he wants his cut. [9:33] Yeah, basically. [9:34] The Don wants his cut. [9:36] I mean, it's a racket. [9:38] And listen, I need folks to lock in here because as outraged as we are, outrage alone will not contain this out-of-control president. [9:51] What will contain this out-of-control president are majorities in the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. [9:58] There are many paths back to the Senate majority, and they all have one thing in common. [10:04] Defending this seat in Georgia. [10:06] You said it at the top of the interview. [10:08] I am the only Democratic senator running for re-election in a state that Donald Trump won. [10:13] The president's been here twice in the last couple of weeks. [10:15] We have a lot of momentum. [10:17] Turnout is strong in early vote. [10:19] But we are preparing for the worst when it comes to attacks on voting rights or attacks on the outcome. [10:24] And this remains a state the president has won twice. [10:27] So to everybody out there watching this on your TV, your laptop, or your phone, maybe you're not in a state with a battleground race. [10:35] Maybe you're not in a U.S. House district that's a frontline House district. [10:39] But here's something you can do right now with five days to go that makes a difference. [10:44] Go to electjohn.com. [10:46] Help us win this race decisively. [10:49] Defeat the bigot Trump puppet congressman, Mike Collins. [10:52] Defend voting rights in Georgia. [10:55] And help steer this country back on a path that will make us all proud. [10:59] Senator John Ossoff, we'll all be watching your race, the governor's race, and your state, and everything that happens after next week. [11:05] Thanks so much for joining me. [11:08] Thank you. [11:08] Hey, it's Rachel. [11:10] I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. [11:22] You can watch things live or recorded. [11:24] Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. [11:29] You can go to ms.now slash membership or just click below. [11:36] Thanks.