Transcript: Trump Blurts Out a Dark MAGA Truth, Handing Dems a Weapon

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the June 13 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.

Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

Suddenly, Democrats have a bunch of new openings to go on offense against President Donald Trump on immigration. First, Trump just openly admitted that his mass deportations are harming farmers and the economy. Second, Stephen Miller got into a yelling match with a GOP senator over deportation funding. And finally, Senator Alex Padilla was manhandled by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s goons, thrown to the ground and handcuffed—all because he tried to ask Noem a question about Trump’s likely illegal dispatching of troops into Los Angeles. We think all this suggests that the MAGA coalition is coming under new strains on this issue. And as it happens, the progressive group Way to Win just released some new polling that finds Democrats do have an opening to go on offense on immigration. So we’re talking about all this with Way to Win’s president, Tory Gavito. Thanks for coming on, Tory. 

Tory Gavito: Thanks for having me.

Sargent: So let’s start with what happened to Senator Padilla. He tried to ask Kristi Noem a question at a presser in California. We’re going to play some audio of this. Here’s what you’ll hear. First, Padilla tries to ask the question. Then you can hear him protesting as he’s grabbed, manhandled, and hauled out. Then you can hear them push him to the ground while he struggles, and then the handcuffs clink. Listen to this.

Alex Padilla (audio voiceover): Sir, hands off. Hands off. I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary because the fact of the matter is I have a dozen violent criminals that you’re rotating on your…. Hands off.

Homeland Security (audio voiceover): On the ground. On the ground. Hands on your back. Hands on your back.

Padilla (audio voiceover): If you let me … If you let my hands go, I’ll put them behind my back.

Homeland Security (audio voiceover): Alright. Cool. Hand. Lay flat, lay flat. Other hand, sir. Other hand.

Sargent: So Tory, by all indications, he’s now been released. But my God, have you ever seen anything like that before?

Gavito: I have never seen anything like this before. And let’s remember, Senator Padilla is a senator of California. She’s in his state; Kristi Noem is in his state. And he’s the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety. So if anyone has a right to be there to ask a question, it’s Senator Padilla. It is remarkable.