Meet the Press NOW — September 2

In a world of customizations, nothing compares to the deep customization capabilities of the TD Active Trader platform. Your dashboard, your domain. Build it in your name because no one trades like you. Live, breathe, trade.

TD, ready for you. Drive off in a new Hyundai Elantra today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 Elantra Essential for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's best-in-class 5-year new car warranty.

Now that's the Hyundai Advantage. Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com or your local dealer for details.

If it's Tuesday, President Trump calls Chicago and Baltimore, quote, hellholes, vowing to send in federal forces to crack down on crime and immigration, and defending his use of the National Guard in Los Angeles. Despite a judge ruling today, that deployment was illegal. Plus, Congress returns from recess to clashes over federal funding and Jeffrey Epstein, with the threat of a government shutdown approaching, and a bipartisan pair of lawmakers trying to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. And HHS Secretary Kennedy responds to the chaos and backlash roiling the CDC, defending his overhaul of the agency as necessary for restoring public trust as former CDC chiefs warn that his actions are putting Americans' health at risk.

Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Gabe Gutierrez in Washington, where we begin with the flurry of headlines out of the White House as President Trump speaks to reporters for the first time in a week after a federal judge ruled that his deployment of military troops to Los Angeles was illegal. Moments ago, while speaking in the Oval Office, President Trump doubled down on past comments about sending in federal troops to Democratic-run cities, casting them as crime-ridden hellholes. Can I not buy Chicago, though?

Well, we're going in. I didn't say when. We're going in. When you lose, look, I have an obligation.

This isn't a political thing. I have an obligation. I would love to do it. Now, we're going to do it anyway.

We have the right to do it because I have an obligation to protect this country. And that includes Baltimore. I'm very proud of Washington. It serves as a template, and we're going to do it elsewhere.

But Chicago is certainly going to be high. I would love to have him call. I would love the governor of Illinois. I'd be honored to take his call.

All he has to do is say, sir, we need help. It's out of control. And everyone knows it is. The president's comments coming after District Judge Charles Breyer ruled today that the administration broke the law when it deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to California.

Judge Breyer ruling the White House violated what's known as a Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of U.S. military to enforce domestic law. The president responding, calling Breyer a radical left judge and a White House spokesperson criticizing the ruling, accusing, quote, far left courts of trying to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to make America safe again. This all comes after the president last week claimed he has quote the right to do anything I want to do if he thinks the country is in danger or cities are in danger In his ruling Judge Breyer specifically rebuked those comments and also warned President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegstaff have stated their intention to call the National Guard troops into federal service in other cities across the country thus creating a national police force with the president as its chief.

Meanwhile, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is speaking right now at a news conference to discuss the looming federal deployments to Chicago. Earlier today, he spoke with our NBC station there, WMAQ, and signaled ICE deployments could be coming soon. When's the last time you spoke to Trump or anyone on his staff?

They haven't called me at all about any of this. Now, we did receive a call over the weekend by someone in ICE letting us know that they will begin operations here sometime in the coming week. We don't know if the National Guard is coming or not coming. We know ICE is coming.

But and ICE has, you know, the responsibility to enforce immigration laws. They shouldn't do it the way they were doing in Los Angeles. But they have that responsibility and they should do it in the proper way, not the way Tom Homan is having them do it or Christine Homme. But ICE is a civilian law enforcement agency.

What they should not do, what they cannot do legally is send troops in. And that is what I'm concerned about. And joining me now is our team of reporters. Peter Alexander is at the White House.

NBC's Shaq Brewster is just outside the room where Governor Pritzker is speaking, and he joins us on the phone. NBC's Courtney Kubi is at the Pentagon, and with me here on set is NBC News Justice reporter Ryan Reilly. Peter, I want to start with you. Listen, we're monitoring that news conference with Governor J.B.

Pritzker. He just called the president unhinged, and he said that he would not call him. As we heard moments ago, the president was defiant in the face of that California National Guard ruling. What more did we hear from the president?

Well, we've heard from J.B. Pritzker in recent days saying this was unwarranted, unprecedented, and un-American. Obviously, Donald Trump disagrees with that. the president in effect today in his remarks in the Oval Office, his first public event in a week, saying that it is his obligation as president to protect the citizens of this country, specifically singling out cities like Chicago and Baltimore.

And when he was asked about whether he would send in National Guard troops to Chicago in particular, as you played earlier at the top of this conversation, he said we are going in. That is the most forward leaning. He has been the most definitive. He has been about that right now.

The outstanding question remains. We don't have any answers to it yet. How soon that could take place right now. But as you know, this is this has been a serious back and forth between the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and President Donald Trump.

And he just up the ante again today. And Peter, the president also saying he's going in with troops to cities like Chicago. What would that look like? And first, though, Peter, before we get to that, I want to dip into some of J.B.

Pritzker's comments right now. Again, that news conference happening live right now. Let's listen to the U.S. president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything, especially something we don't want.

Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal? As I have done since becoming governor, I've been reflecting on my responsibilities to the people of Illinois. And one of those duties is to share with the public exactly what we know. In the coming days we expect to see what has played out in Los Angeles and Washington D to happen here in Chicago First Donald Trump is positioning armed federal agents and staging military vehicles on federal property such as the Great Lakes Naval Base It is likely those agents will be with ICE Customs and Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, and other similarly situated federal agencies.

Many of these individuals are being relocated from Los Angeles for deployment in Chicago. We believe that staging that has already begun started yesterday and continues into today. Second, unidentifiable agents in unmarked vehicles with masks are planning to raid Latino communities and say they're targeting violent criminals. As we saw in Los Angeles, a very, very small percentage of the individuals they will target will be violent criminals.

Instead, you're likely to see videos of them hauling away mothers and fathers traveling to work or picking up their kids from school. Sometimes they will detain, handcuff and haul away children. They are law-abiding individuals who pay taxes and contribute to the communities who feel safe going to work and attending mandatory immigration check-ins. In other words, they're following the law.

We have reason to believe that Stephen Miller chose the month of September to come to Chicago because of celebrations around Mexican Independence Day that happen here every year. It breaks my heart to report that we have been told ICE will try and disrupt community picnics and peaceful parades. Let's be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here. Third, as lawful citizens exercise their First Amendment rights, Trump and his team will be looking for any excuse to put active duty military on our streets, supposedly to protect ICE.

We have reason to believe that the Trump administration has already begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois. I want to be very clear on this point, and I want to speak directly to the press right now. We know before anything has happened here that the Trump plan is to use any excuse to deploy armed military personnel to Chicago. If someone flings a sandwich at an ICE agent, Trump will try and go on TV and declare an emergency in Chicago.

I'm imploring everyone, if and when that happens, do not take the bait. Lastly, after about 30 days or so, we believe that they will pick up all of those resources that they send here to Chicago and send them to the next city in a blue state, ignoring cities in red states with higher violent crime rates than we have. None of this is about fighting crime or making Chicago safer. None of it.

For Trump, it's about testing his power and producing a political drama to cover up for his corruption. If you need any proof of this, that it's all a big show, well, look at who they're putting in charge. Gregory Bovino, a guy who desperately wants to be a reality TV star. He led the cruel adventures of ICE in Los Angeles and he been sent here to do the very same thing Go look at his social media He terrorizes innocent people and then posts on TikTok edits of himself Apparently, this is a Trump administration norm, because the last time we saw staged major ICE raids in Chicago, they sent Dr.

Phil here to embed with the agents so he could get views and likes for his social media. When Bovino pulled these stunts in L.A., people got hurt. Two innocent people died trying to flee his masked agents. ICE opened fire on a vehicle without dangerous provocation.

And we're listening there live right now to Governor J.B. Pritzker in Chicago news conference responding to President Trump earlier in the day. I'm joined now by a team of reporters once again, Peter Alexander at the White House. But first, I want to turn to Shaq Brewster, who's on the phone with us.

He is in Chicago right now. Shaq, earlier today we heard from the president saying that he wanted J.B. Pritzker to call him. The governor saying he would not do that.

And frankly, he seems, he sounds as defiant as ever. No, that's exactly right, Gabe. And right before you listen to Governor Pritzker just there, by the way, I'm standing right outside of the press conference. And so I hope you get a question with him once these remarks are over.

But right before you started playing that sound from him, he came up and said, first, I want to address the president's what he called unhinged remarks moments ago. And he said, no, I will not call the president. He later said that I refuse to play reality game show with Donald Trump. This is Illinois governor really leaning into this moment and both kind of giving Chicagoans a warning about what's to come, what he is hearing.

He said that this has been a tough week and a half for folks in the city and really listing what we can expect to see here in Chicago over the next couple of days. But I think the second piece of it is he's speaking almost to a national audience as well, talking to other governors, asking that they do not participate in this federalization to come of National Guard troops and also signaling that Chicagoans and folks here will fight back in the court in the courtroom. And I had a one on one interview with the governor last week, almost exactly a week ago. And one of the questions we asked was, was there anything he could do to stop this from happening?

He was very clear on that. There was nothing he can do to stop the president from taking this action. But he said that lawsuits are certainly possible, and that is something that we can expect to see. Whether or not that happens before or after any action or movement from the federal government, that's an open question.

But he also made clear a lot of this is about shaming. He said he wanted to slow the president down, almost to shame the president from taking any of these actions. And I think that is what you're seeing in a lot of these comments that you're hearing from the governor and from the mayor of Chicago. Yesterday we saw a big protest throughout the city.

I think they're doing what they can to say they're going to push back, but also trying to see if they can get ahead of any federal involvement. And, Shaq, briefly, because I know you've got to get it back in that room. And the president continued to make these claims on social media early today that Chicago is very dangerous. He called it the murder capital of the world, the most dangerous city in America.

Now, there was significant violence in Chicago over the weekend. But can you give us a fact check on those claims and some context here? Absolutely. And, you know, the Chicago Tribune did a deep dive of this question just this week.

And when you look at major cities in terms of homicide rates, Chicago ranks seventh amongst major American cities. Look at that rate that's below cities like St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans. When you look at FBI statistics, you see Chicago even further down when you look at that homicide rate.

Now, I think one important thing here, David, as a resident of Chicago, when you talk to people, when you listen to officials, everyone wants crime to go down even further. It's been trending downward. They want to see that to continue to go down. Everyone wants those shootings that you see.

We just had a violent weekend here in Chicago. They want to see the shooting stop. The distinction here and that you're hearing from local leaders is that they don't believe having National Guard troops, which are limited in what they can do. They usually standing outside of federal buildings or going out with federal personnel on immigration rates.

They don't believe that's going to stop the shootings that you're seeing largely on the west and south side of Chicago. So that's why you heard the governor even today say, hey, we will take more FBI, more APF agents, more federal agents who have law enforcement powers. They will take that. But there's not a belief that having federalized troops standing outside of federal buildings, that that will really get to the root of the problem here in Chicago or other cities around the country.

Shaq Brewster on the phone for us in Chicago. Shaq, I'm going to let you go so you can get back into that news conference. I'm joined now, though, by some of our other reporters here, Ryan Riley, our justice reporter, and also Courtney Quby, our Pentagon correspondent. Courtney, remind people what the Posse Comitatus Act is and what exactly it does.

Does it define what is considered domestic law enforcement here? Yeah, it's not something that really people are talking about every single night at the dinner table, Gabe. It's been a law for hundreds of years now, several hundred years now. Essentially what it says is that active duty members of the U.S.

military are not allowed to engage in law enforcement here in the United States, so no domestic law enforcement. And the key here is this federal judge today, this federal court, said what the U.S. military was doing in Los Angeles and specifically noted members of the U.S. military who had their identities obscured in some cases using military vehicles were conducting things that were close enough to law enforcement that it was a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

He specifically, this is Judge Charles Breyer, he specifically said that the U.S. military cannot engage in things like searches, seizures, arrests, and things like that. Now, what's really key here, as you were talking to Shaq there about the possibility of more federal law enforcement deployments in Chicago, is that this judge put a 10-day hold before this actually goes into act, gave everyone expect the Trump administration will appeal it. So the big question here is, will that appeal go through and will this actually go into effect on September 12th or not?

Courtney Kuby, I want to turn on to Ryan Riley. That was part of the question I wanted to ask you, Ryan, but I also wanted to ask you more about this ruling. Is there any penalty attached to this ruling? I mean, not for now.

Like Courtney said, that 10-day period is really going to give them a chance to sort of run that up at the Supreme Court. But it really does speak to how sort of unprecedented this moment is, because certainly during actual security emergencies, right, you can invoke the Insurrection Act. Right. You know, like that's why we saw troops respond to the Capitol on January 6th.

And when there's a true emergency, that is a power that they have. But this is essentially just sending them, you know, in D.C.'s case, they've been picking up garbage and standing by Union Station down the block here, just sort of standing around oftentimes. So it really is an unusual use of the military to enforce domestic law What the judge laid out here is that it it it it unlawful and that they should not be continuing with that practice Yeah and reporters asked Stephen Miller the White House Deputy Chief of Staff last week if he was considering or the administration was considering bringing in the Insurrection Act, or opposing the Insurrection Act in this case, and he wouldn't commit to that. Peter Alexander, I want to turn to you, the President, and get some of your reactions to something else the President said today.

We've got his first response, at least on camera, to the Federal Appeals Court ruling on Friday regarding tariffs. Can you tell us more about that? Yeah, well, we wait to see what's going to happen next with that. Obviously, the President vowed an appeal.

He said he wants this before the Supreme Court. He called for an expedited ruling from the court after that decision from a lower court that came late last week, in fact, saying that most of the tariffs that the president has sort of unilaterally put in place now are illegal. If I can give I want to circle back to the conversation as we listen to the president right now, the back and forth with J.B. Pritzker.

One thing that struck me in particular was from his remarks for him saying the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here. I think you're seeing a very unique sort of line that J.B. Pritzker is a potential 2028 candidate, certainly someone who has found a different niche as it is in his effort to push back on Donald Trump, is trying to lead the Democratic effort against this, recognizing, as we've been discussing here, that Americans broadly want their streets, their communities to be more safe. But as Pritzker has communicated, they don't believe this is the way to go about it.

The president today was particularly kind in his praise of Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., saying that she and she has been grateful publicly for troops helping bring down the crime right. But she has also made clear that this is not the most efficient way, not the best way to go about it. And ultimately, it has caused some backlash to see what she wishes didn't exist. So I think what we're watching right now is a very interesting back and forth between a Democratic governor.

I'm trying to find the best sort of pushback on President Donald Trump, who really on the topic of immigration feels like he has had a competitive advantage so far. Peter, that's a great point. And certainly Mayor Bowser here in D.C. not considered a likely presidential candidate in 2028.

Courtney, I want to go back to you on one point that President Trump also told reporters a short time ago in the office that the U.S. conducted a strike on a ship operated by a venezuelan drug cartel what more do we know yeah unfortunately dave all we really know is what we heard from or what we saw in a tweet from secretary of state national security advisor marco rubio who said that the u.s military conducted what he called a lethal strike on a drug boat as that was leaving venezuela now we know that the u.s navy has just in recent days sent a number of military ships to not too far from venezuela sort of those area or that region but at this point we have no indication that it was actually the u.s navy that conducted the strike we are still scrambling to try to figure out exactly what happened here uh it's it's pretty unusual for the president to make an announcement like that in the Oval Office. And then the U.S. military not to be able to really back it up with any kind of details.

But frankly, that's just where we are right now. Courtney Kubi, yeah, that definitely did raise my eyebrows in the Oval Office. And over the last couple of days, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has been ramping up his defenses, moving troops in that country in preparation for what he believes could be a U strike Of course we have no indication that that has happened but certainly some unusual goings on in the Southern Caribbean Court in QB Peter Alexander and Ryan Riley here Thank you all so much for this discussion And coming up back to business We live on Capitol Hill where lawmakers are about to dive headfirst into a pool of high-pressure issues, including a renewed bipartisan push to force the release of the Epstein files. Plus, RFK rips the CDC and outlines his priorities for the agency's Maha makeover after a group of former CDC chiefs accuse him of endangering Americans' health.

You're watching Meet the Press Now. Stay with us. In a world of customizations, nothing compares to the deep customization capabilities of the TD Active Trader platform. Your dashboard, your domain.

Build it in your name because no one trades like you. Live, breathe, trade. TD, ready for you. Drive off in a new Hyundai Elantra today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event.

Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 Elantra Essential for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's best-in-class 5-year new car warranty. Now that's the Hyundai Advantage. Conditions apply.

Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com or your local dealer for details. Welcome back. Congress is back to work today with a lot on their plate after a month-long break, and they're already facing a looming deadline.

Government funding runs out at the end of this month, and avoiding a government shutdown will require Democrats and Republicans to work together, something that is not looking particularly promising. With Congress's return also comes the return of the Jeffrey Epstein saga. Epstein survivors are on Capitol Hill today meeting privately with a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson. We're also expecting to hear publicly tomorrow from survivors alongside Republican Congressman Thomas Massey and Democrat Ro Khanna.

Today, Massey filed what's known as a discharge petition, a procedural move to force a vote on his resolution to compel the Justice Department to unseal all of its files on Epstein. And we're also expecting that Congress will confront the growing turmoil at the CDC with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set to appear at a hearing on Thursday.

NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapoor joins me now during a very busy week. Sahil, what needs to happen between now and September 30th to avoid a shutdown? Well, the short version, Gabe, is that the two parties need to agree to a government funding bill. It's subject to 60 votes in the Senate, which means Republicans are going to need Chuck Schumer's support effectively.

And Schumer is adamant that this is not going well at this time. He accuses the Trump administration and Republicans of once again threatening to go it alone, forcing the country toward a shutdown. He says the president is waging an all-out war against Congress's Article I authority and the constitutional balance of power with so-called rescissions and pocket rescissions, essentially canceling money that Congress approved on a bipartisan basis. So this is not the rhetoric of a path toward a bipartisan solution right now.

The two parties are going to have to figure out either whether to do a full appropriations process or partial Neither of those seem likely at this point It looks like we're headed toward a continuing resolution or a stopgap bill It's just a question of whether the two sides can agree on something Because right now it isn't looking good So Sahil do the Democrats really have any leverage here They do if they choose to use it It takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass any bill Last time a few months ago back in March when the deadline came up Democrats did not use their leverage famously voted for a Republican bill to keep the government going at the time Schumer backed down at that moment and argued that it was not in the Democrats' interest to pursue a potential shutdown. His posture is very, very different now. He had a famous division with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the time. He wrote in a new letter to a colleague that he has spoken with Jeffries and, quote, we are aligned on our shared priorities for September, unquote, essentially saying that the Democrats won't be divided this time as they were then.

Yeah, Schumer definitely took a lot of heat for that earlier this year. On the Epstein issue, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey, as we mentioned, is trying to force a vote on his Epstein resolution. What happens next in that process? Well, Congressman Massey, the Kentucky Republican, has filed that so-called discharge petition, which is an attempt to get around House Republican leadership and force a vote to the floor, even if Speaker Mike Johnson doesn't want that to happen.

In order to achieve that, he's going to need 218 signatures. So presuming every Democrat is going to sign, which is likely what we expect. He needs an additional five Republicans to sign this discharge petition. And his Democratic partner in this effort, Ro Khanna, thinks that will happen.

Take a listen to what he said. We have all 212 Democrats committed to signing it. He has 12 Republicans. Only six of them have to sign it.

What will be explosive is the September 3rd press conference that both of us are having with 10 Epstein victims, many who have never spoken out before. They're going to be on the steps of the Capitol. They will be telling their story, and they will be saying clearly to the American public that they want the release of the Epstein files for full closure on this matter. And Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to prevent this bill from coming up.

He says it's unnecessary because the Oversight Committee, which is run by the Republican James Comer, is already investigating the Epstein matter. And Sahil, quickly before we go, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify before the Senate on Thursday.

What types of questions can we expect him to face, particularly from Republicans? This hearing was pre-scheduled before the firing of the exodus at the CDC, but we expect that to be a major topic right now because it's really caught on. RFK Jr. defended his move to fire the CDC director, arguing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that this is about restoring public trust in the CDC, which he says has eroded.

He says, quote, tools meant to fight disease, vaccines, antibiotics, therapeutics can save lives, but also trigger adverse events in some patients. That truth must no longer be ignored, he says, end quote. So we expect Democrats, as well as some senators like Bill Cassidy, who is on the Finance Committee, also chairs the HELP Committee, which oversees the CDC. Cassidy is a doctor and a staunch defender of vaccines.

We might see some tense moments there at the RFK hearing later this week. Sahil Kapoor live for us on Capitol Hill. Sahil, thank you. And a big programming note.

Watch my colleague Hallie Jackson's exclusive interview with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's survivors on Hallie Jackson Now at 5 p.m. Eastern, right here on NBC News Now. And up next, it's campaign crunch time as we count down to election night 2025 from Virginia to the Big Apple. Steve Kornacki breaks it all down.

as well as the most competitive and consequential races out there. You're watching Meet the Press Now. Stay with us. ...pairs to the deep customization capabilities of the TD Active Trader platform, where even custom customizations are, well, customized.

Everything you need to live, breathe, trade. Visit td.com slash Active Trader to learn more. TD, ready for you. Drive off in a new Hyundai Elantra today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event.

Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 Elantra Essential for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months. And you're covered by Elantra's best-in-class 5-year new car warranty. Now that's the Hyundai Advantage. Condition supply.

Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com or your local dealer for details. And welcome back. If it's the day after Labor Day, it's the unofficial start of fall, kicking off the unofficial sprint to election 9-20-25.

And even though it's an off year, there are key gubernatorial and mayoral races up for grabs. And all of it is being closely watched by both parties heading into next year's midterms. Today in the race for New Jersey Governor, Republican Jack Cittarelli, is launching his first TV ad of the general election, trying to deflect Democrats' attempts to tie him to President Trump. We all know it.

New Jersey's a mess. And all Mikey Sherrill wants to talk about is President Trump. Come on. What does the president have to do with rising property taxes and higher electricity bills?

New Jersey's a mess because out-of-touch politicians like Bill Murphy and Mikey Sherrill care more about pronouns in sanctuary cities than they do solving our problems. And Democrat Mikey Sherrill is expected to launch her first general election ad tomorrow. And while Cittarelli is attacking his opponent for leaning in on Trump, Virginia's Republican candidate for governor is taking a page directly from Trump's 2024 playbook. Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears' campaign releasing a new digital ad today attacking Democrat Abigail Spanberger on the issue of transgender rights with a tagline saying, quote, Spanberger is for they then, not for us.

NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki joins me now from the big board with more on the key races to follow over the next two months. And, Steve, Republicans sound optimistic about winning the New Jersey gubernatorial election. How realistic is that? Yeah, let's take a look at these races, sort of the four.

We'll get to this four, actually, sort of centerpiece races here in the fall of 25 and start on those governor's races. Look, it's Wintem Earl Sears in Virginia and Jack Cittarelli in New Jersey. These two Republicans each have two pretty big obstacles in their way. First is simply each one of them is running in a blue state.

Donald Trump lost Virginia by about six points last year. So there's the partisan tide that Earl Sears is up against. Then there's also the tide of history. Eleven of the last 12 Virginia gubernatorial races have been won by the party that does not control the White House.

It really seems that these off year gubernatorial elections function, at least in part as a referendum on the president. Donald Trump's approval rating in Virginia. There was a poll out just a couple of weeks ago that had him at about 40 percent approval in Virginia. So it's a blue state to start with.

Trump's not that popular in Virginia. And it tends to be that the party that controls the White House struggles in Virginia gubernatorial elections. all of those obstacles for Earl Sears. You see, this is that this is that poll here.

Roanoke poll from a couple of weeks ago that has her seven points behind Abigail Spamberger. So you know it a competitive race But you see here to defy history here Earl Sears is going to have to find a way here I think to sort of alter how these things typically go in Virginia That is true for Chittarelli in New Jersey as well Again it a blue state Trump lost this state And it also has that history of voting in the gubernatorial race for the party that doesn control the White House All of those advantages for Mikey Sherrill, a Democrat, all of those disadvantages for Chittarelli. This is a Rutgers Eagleton Institute poll just about a week ago. It had a nine point advantage for Sherrill over Chittarelli here.

Now, the one thing Chittarelli may have working in his favor that Earl Sears does not have in Virginia is the governor of New Jersey. Now, Phil Murphy is a Democrat. He's being term limited out. His popularity is, you know, lukewarm at best in the 40s in polling.

And New Jersey also does not have a history of giving the same party the governorship three straight elections. That's what Cheryl, a Democrat, is trying to pull off here. So that maybe complicates a little bit in New Jersey. Now, I said four marquee races this while we're watching.

The third one, then, would be the New York City mayoral election here, seeing the most recent poll. And honestly, this thing has sort of been stuck in the same place ever since the Democratic primary. Zoran Mamdami won that in a big upset. Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent.

Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor, is an independent. Curtis Lee was the Republican. And Mondani, he's got plenty of baggage here. You know, he's a self-evil, he's an avowed socialist.

He's had some provocative pronouncements to put it mildly. But the opposition to him is splintered. And there are profound political liabilities for all three of these opponents as well. So as long as the picture is kind of muddled here, and as long as these three, particularly Adams and Cuomo, are as unpopular as they are, you can see Mondani just kind of floats above it all right here by virtue of being the Democratic nominee in a very Democratic city.

And then there's the fourth one we're keeping our eye on. And we weren't even expecting this to be an election at the start of the year. It is California. It is Gavin Newsom's attempt.

He's going to need voter approval this November to do it, to blow up the congressional maps in California, to put more Democratic seats in there. He says he's doing this in response to Texas and their mid-decade gerrymandering on behalf of Republicans. So that's going to go to the voters this November. A poll came out that asked about this that said the initial support at 48 percent, 32 percent opposition.

You say maybe that's starting a strong place for Newsom. But remember, not a Democrat Republican race. This is a yes, no race. And yes, it's starting out under 50 percent.

And the challenge for Newsom's opponents here is can they just make enough arguments against this to get people to say, you know, it's too much. It's easier to vote. Now, sometimes that's how these referendums go. So there's a volatility in this California race, I think, to a degree we don't see anywhere else.

Well, Steve Kornacki, thank you. We're going to be watching all that very closely between now and November. And we thought it was an off year. We'll be right back.

First, Donald Trump is positioning armed federal agents and staging military vehicles on federal property, such as the Great Lakes Naval Base. it is likely those agents will be with ice customs and border patrol the department of homeland security and other similarly situated federal agencies many of these individuals are being relocated from los angeles for deployment in chicago we believe that staging that has already begun started yesterday and continues into today and welcome back that was governor Governor Davey Pritzker speaking just moments ago telling Chicago residents that he believes federal military deployments might be imminent That press conference, which is still ongoing, actually, has featured state and local officials all bracing for the conflict with the federal government after the president doubled down this afternoon on his vow to deploy federal resources to Democratic-run cities to fight crime. Joining me now is the panel. On set with me here, Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for USA Today, former New York Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley, and Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an NBC News contributor.

Francesca, I want to start with you. That's been some pretty tough language coming from J.B. Pritzker. Now, this escalating feud between him and President Trump, I thought it was interesting the difference in how President Trump handled, you know, Bowser, or rather how the mayor handled the president and how J.B.

Pritzker is handling him. Obviously, he may have presidential ambitions, but what do you make of this feud? Right, well, there's been two different responses from Democrats across many issues right now. It's do you be conciliatory to President Trump and maybe hope that he doesn't look at you next, or do you fight back aggressively?

And there are many in the base of the Democratic Party who have said that they want to see Democrats, including potential 2028 hopefuls, fight back aggressively against President Trump. But with respect to what he was saying about how it could be imminent, we did hear the president say twice today, once in an interview and once in the Oval Office, that he does plan to send in the National Guard or federal troops of some sort or search federal resources to Chicago. He just didn't want to say when he was going to do that, and that might be a key thing going forward. Congressman, is this a good fight for Democrats to have?

Well, I think crime is a tough issue for Democrats, especially right now. The president continues to press the envelope here. What I do think is interesting, there is a difference between what's happening in D.C. and elsewhere.

The president has more authority here in D.C. than he does in other states. without the asking of a governor to federalize his troops, and without extraordinary circumstances, he's very limited in doing so. There's something called the Pase Comitante Act of 1878.

Ironically, it was enacted to prohibit troops in southern what are now red states after the Civil War. They didn't want Union soldiers policing their states anymore. Now the opposite is being used to police blue cities in predominantly northern or with the exception of California. And, Denny, do you think this is a good fight for the president to have, for the administration to have?

And how does today's ruling out in L.A., does that complicate things? I don't think the ruling complicates things. I suspect that's going to get reversed. That judge often does get reversed.

But, you know, look, Congressman, former Congressman Crowley is the voice of what should be the Democratic Party. In my view, this is a difficult issue. I just pulled up the number. How many 54 people were shot and seven killed in 32 separate shootings in Chicago?

What's the right thing to say here? The right thing to say here is I am very disappointed. We need to deal with that because who are the victims of crime? It's not the people around this table.

It's not the Upper West Side. It's not, you know, it's not Governor Pritzker and his fancy house with his fancy relatives. It's people who actually the Democratic Party needs to get back to make it seriously. Does the president fee offer this escalation?

Of course he does, because he loves this fight. And at the end of the day it another 80 issue You really want to be on the side of illegal immigration You want to be on the side of crime That the way he poses it People aren diving into this looking at posse comitatus and saying to themselves But just a little point on that, though. You have other states within that region, including Missouri. St.

Louis, which has a much higher crime rate than most blue cities in the country. And we're taking National Guard troops from that state to maneuver them into Chicago. Right. But if you're the governor, why not de-escalate here?

I think he's running for president. He wants a fight. He wants a fight. Francesca, you wanted to jump in here.

Oh, well, I was going to say just about in terms of Democrats and the way that they're talking about this has been an issue for a long time for Democrats, exactly how you talk about the issue of crime, particularly in a situation where people, you know, people are even writing into me and saying, you know, it may be true that the crime is going down where I live, but I just witnessed a crime or, you know, I feel like the crime, you know, right. It's very personal. It's very personal to people. And the president's doubling down now because he's saying if you commit murder in Washington, D.C., you will face the death penalty.

Well, look, I want to talk about the changing Democratic Party here. We also got a major House retirement this week, a long time, a Manhattan Democrat, Jerry Nadler, announcing that he will not seek a reelection. And he told the New York Times that watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party. And I think I want to respect that.

Now, he's not the only Democrat over 70. Congressman, is this a real changing of the guard here? Well, I've known Jerry for almost 40 years. I was a freshman member of the State Assembly when he was the chairman of one of my committees, the Consumer Affairs Committee.

And I think at the time he was in his late 30s and I was only, I was 24 years old. So I'm 63 today, so do the math. I think Jerry has had a pretty complete life as a legislator. Someone that you may not like his politics, but you respect his intellect.

And I think he's left his mark. I think, you know, he is no longer the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. that had a hurt a good bit to see that slip from his hands. So I think he recognizes that maybe the time is to pass it on.

We were talking on Sunday Greenwood. He has one of the highest turnouts of any district in New York State, possibly even the country. But has the Democratic Party moved on? I think the Democratic Party will eventually have to move on because none of us are here forever.

I always say the graveyards are filled with indispensable people. And so, you know, I've had to learn that maybe at an early age. I was only 56 when I was replaced, and I thought I had a lot more to give still. But at the same time, I think I give up to Jerry for recognizing that this is maybe the time to, you know, clear the deck and let some other folks have a shot at it.

Danny, I'll ask you the same question. Do you think the Democratic Party is moving on? Oh, for sure. I mean, whether whether you want to or not, you're right.

I mean, ages, ages are going to hit us all, whether we're Democrats or Republicans. All right. And speaking about the subject of age, I'm sure many of you heard over the weekend, those conspiracy theories online of President Trump and his health and online. Some people were speculating whether he was alive, even though we did see him at a golf course today.

He was asked about it. What did you make of all this? And tell me about how you think this administration would handle questions about President Trump's age as compared to the previous one. You know, I'm a foreign policy person, right?

So one of the things we always say is, you know, when we when we found WMD in Iraq in 1991 after afterwards and the CIA didn't know about it, there was not a place that the CIA didn't see WMD for the next 10, 15 years. an illness or a falter in the step of Joe Biden for four years. And so now everybody is swinging in the exact opposite direction. Is that a hair in his eye?

What is he doing? Did his hand tremble a little bit? The pendulum swings. It does.

And we overcompensate. He's 78, 79. He's 79. Of course, he's got icky things.

I'm 62. I've got icky things. That's what happens when you're that old. Is he mentally incompetent, as I suspect the previous president was?

No, not yet. Francesca, I want to wrap things up with you. The White House officials, do they seem a little sensitive about this? Or what have you been talking about?

I mean, I asked the vice president last week about President Trump being the oldest person to ever be inaugurated and him being one of the youngest people to have ever had his position. And he said that President Trump was in good health. He didn't seem to chafe at that in any way. He said he expects him to be there until the end of his term in office.

So, you know, take from that whatever whatever you'd like. But he seemed to be good to hear about questions. And the president comes around. And the president made a good point.

You know, a couple of a couple of days that he didn't give a press conference. Everybody is asking questions. But it is unusual. It is unusual.

But President Biden didn't go longer. So anyway, that's a lot to leave it there. Francesca, Joe, Danielle, thank you all for joining me. Thank you.

Instead of the Democratic field of dreams for a comeback nationally, it comes to Iowa. We'll speak with a Democrat who just flipped the state Senate seat in an area Trump won by double digits, breaking the state's Republican supermajority. Keep it here on Meet the Press Now. Hey, welcome back.

Is this heaven? Well for Democrats no it Iowa While the party been striking out nationally struggling with branding and strategy Democrats did notch another key flip in the state Senate special election in the Hawkeye State last week Democrat Caitlin Drey topped the Republican Christopher Prosh in the Sioux City area by 10 points according to an analysis from the left political site The Down Ballot That's a 22-point shift in the party's favor as compared to November's presidential election. The victory, which comes after a January special election, also went the Democrats' way, breaks the Republican supermajority in the Iowa Senate. Those two results are part of a broader trend of Democrats overperforming in special elections from Pennsylvania to Florida and are some bright spots for a party after a very dark November.

Joining me now is Iowa State Senator-elect Caitlin Dre. State Senator-elect, I want to start with a question Democratic candidates around the country are probably asking you. Is there a blueprint others could follow to replicate your success? Gosh, I hope so, right?

I mean, that's the ultimate goal. But I think in terms of blueprint, it has to be more authentic, right? We targeted turnout voters in this race. And so that meant reliable Democratic voters that we could motivate to get to the polls in a nontraditional election time.

And so what we're going to have to pivot to in 2026 is registering new voters. And voters can smell baloney, right? They know when somebody is blowing smoke. And so we have to prioritize authentic communications.

And that's much more valuable than just milquetoast talking points, right? We have to talk to people, not at them. And I want to put up a statement, at least part of the statement, that DNC put out after your victory. It's Iowans are seeing Republicans for who they are, self-serving liars who will throw their constituents under the bus, the rubber stamp.

Donald Trump disastrous agenda and they ready for change Any Republican pushing Trump unpopular extreme agenda has no place governing on behalf of Iowa family So is that how you saw things in your election Was Trump a factor in this race I don know that Trump factored so much as our incredibly unpopular governor right now, who has already announced that she's not running for reelection. The policy coming out of Des Moines has been disastrous. And we have had several Republican electeds speak out in similar terms, right, to say that you are not representing the will of people in districts like Senate District 1 or Senate District 35, where we saw that other flip at the beginning of this year. Senator Mike Zimmer has done an incredible job to push back and try and educate voters as much as he can.

But now, after breaking the supermajority, we're going to be able to do that in larger measure. And look, a Wall Street Journal poll out a few weeks ago had the Democratic Party, with its worst standing among registered voters, just one in three had a favorable opinion on the party. How do you explain that? Is that registered Democrats have a favorable opinion of themselves?

Is that what I'm understanding? I just want to make sure. I mean, I think I think we're getting the OK. Thank you for clarifying.

I haven't seen that poll because it's been a little bit of a roll in here. But, you know, I think we have to start countering that do nothing Democrat mantra that's been kind of permeating the conversation right now. And like I said, we have to start talking to our neighbors. That was the biggest factor, I think, in this victory.

We had an incredible ground game led by local volunteers. And so when we have conversations with our neighbors, we know that that's where change happens. And to that I would say like we are the Democrats Right So if you don like it we can do something to change it And Senator is it a mistake for Democrats to try to nationalize races like yours going into November and beyond Say more about what you mean by nationalize right I think that when you ask about a blueprint, yes, but we have to find good candidates in every district, in every race, and that is top to bottom, right? Those down ballot wins can really help to turn out voters for the top of the ticket or vice versa.

It has to be a coordinated campaign. So when you knock on doors, you probably heard some voters who want Democrats to do something. Democrats moved on from the Iowa caucus in 2024. Do you think your victory and the energy you've should convince them to put Iowa first again on the calendar.

I can't speak to what happens in terms of the caucus, but I do think that we have to harness this energy and this excitement right now. People are desperate across the country, which is part of the reason that this race has been so electrifying, right? People are desperate right now to do something that feels hopeful and optimistic and productive. And that's part of the reason we were able to mobilize so many volunteers and do what we did and flip the seat.

Iowa State Senator-elect Caitlin Dre, thank you so much for joining us and giving us your time. My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me. And thank you for watching.

I'm Gabe Gutierrez. We're back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now. And there is more ahead on NBC News Now. Stay with us.