On his eponymous Sunday show, MSNBC host Ali Velshi concurred with ex-Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin as the embittered ex-Republican trashed the GOP over its deportation policies. She also claimed that 50,000 people a year will die as a result of the Republican budget plan. If that wasn't enough, a fellow dranged former Republicanin The Atlantic's Norman Ornstein demonized law enforcment in Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) by predicting that it will be a "Trump vigilante group going out to wreak havoc."
Velshi responded to this insanity by suggesting that support for mass deportations puts Republicans at odds with the Founding Fathers:
[H]e talked about deficits being against Republican orthodoxy. So is government overreach. So are these -- this sort of, like Norm says, sort of, this force that we've just created of people who take people off the streets. I mean, our Founding Fathers, 249 years ago, if someone told them this is what's going to happen -- they limited the ability of the military, of the government and the force that they could use against Americans. Another place we've gotten in the wrong direction.
Rubin tore into her former party:
They are no longer conservatives. There is no Republican party. There is a fascist party that is supporting the cult of the great leader and, as a result, they are turning us into a police state. We are going to have not only one detention camp like the one in Miami in the Everglades that people are using a funny term to describe -- we're going to have those kind of camps all over the country. We still have 200 individuals rotting away in CECOT. We have an occupied city in Los Angeles where people are still being terrorized and a lawsuit being filed describing the really inhumane conditions that are taking place.
She continued churning invective and incitement against law enforcement:
his is one giant human rights atrocity in the making. If this were another country, we would be putting sanctions on them. So the notion that these people care about a limited government, about a restricted executive, about living within our means, this is nonsense. They no longer believe in anything other than getting reelected, feeding money to their enormously rich donors, and paying tribute to Donald Trump. And if this isn't a wakeup call for the American people that we have one normal party and one fascist party that is not only attacking our democracy, but attacking our health, our security, our nutrition -- I don' t know what will.
Velshi chimed in: "Yeah, I agree with you."
A bit earlier, as the Republican budget was being discussed, Rubin pushed the Democrat narrative:
That's the lie that allows them to justify taking food off the tables of poor families, taking health care away from families, closing down rural hospitals. That is perhaps the most pernicious of all because it's running away from the extreme moral debauchery of this entire endeavor, which is they are taking people who are in need -- the most vulnerable Americans -- taking things away from them to give very rich people tax cuts. And that's the most important thing to remember about that bill. And these three lies that we've just outlined are all part of it.
She then recommended targeting moderate Republicans who supported the plan, and added without evidence that tens of thousands would die: "The results of the heinous bill have to be brought back and have to be tied to the lawmakers who voted for this. They are responsible not just for the deficit, the debt -- but for the hardship, the pain, the starvation, the lack of health care, and the deaths that will result from this -- 50,000 people or so a year will die because of this. Thanks very much, Lisa Murkowski."
Click to read the relevant transcript:
MSNBC's Velshi
July 6, 2025
12:09 p.m. EasternJENNIFER RUBIN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: [T]hey are building in the assumption that they will be paying out benefits to hundreds of thousands of fewer people. So, that lie is we can simply take money out of healthcare. We can take money out of food stamps, and everyone is made whole. That's the lie that allows them to justify taking food off the tables of poor families, taking health care away from families, closing down rural hospitals. That is perhaps the most pernicious of all because it's running away from the extreme moral debauchery of this entire endeavor, which is they are taking people who are in need -- the most vulnerable Americans -- taking things away from them to give very rich people tax cuts and that's the most important thing to remember about that bill. And these three lies that we've just outlined are all part of it. But I think what we need to do going forward is to present the people who voted with -- for this with the results of their votes. Let's see how many people lose health care in Alaska, so maybe Lisa Murkowski can understand what she has done. Maybe we should present the number of people who have fallen off food stamps to Susan Collins, who allowed the bill to go forward on the floor by voting on a motion to proceed. The results of the heinous bill have to be brought back and have to be tied to the lawmakers who voted for this. They are responsible not just for the deficit, the debt -- but for the hardship, the pain, the starvation, the lack of health care, and the deaths that will result from this. 50,000 people or so a year will die because of this. Thanks very much, Lisa Murkowski.
(...)
12:12 p.m. Eastern
NORMAN ORNSTEIN, THE ATLANTIC CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: And we have to add one more thing. For all of this pain, the biggest thing that troubles me even more is an ICE army that is larger than the FBI and all of the federal law enforcement forces that's going to be a public Trump vigilante group going out to wreak havoc on large numbers of people -- not just those who are here undocumented. They're rounding up citizens, they're taking foreigners and throwing them into detention camps because they're here on tourist visas. The costs of this bill are so widespread and so broad and the level of deception to make it happen is breathtaking.
ALI VELSHI: It's kind of interesting, Jen, because it's also -- he talked about deficits being against Republican orthodoxy. So is government overreach. So are these -- this sort of, like Norm says, sort of, this force that we've just created of people who take people off the streets. I mean, our Founding Fathers, 249 years ago, if someone told them this is what's going to happen -- they limited the ability of the military, of the government and the force that they could use against Americans. Another place we've gotten in the wrong direction.
RUBIN: They are no longer conservatives. There is no Republican party. There is a fascist party that is supporting the cult of the great leader and, as a result, they are turning us into a police state. We are going to have not only one detention camp like the one in Miami in the Everglades that people are using a funny term to describe -- we're going to have those kind of camps all over the country. We still have 200 individuals rotting away in CECOT. We have an occupied city in Los Angeles where people are still being terrorized and a lawsuit being filed describing the really inhumane conditions that are taking place. This is one giant human rights atrocity in the making. If this were another country, we would be putting sanctions on them. So the notion that these people care about a limited government, about a restricted executive, about living within our means, this is nonsense. They no longer believe in anything other than getting reelected, feeding money to their enormously rich donors, and paying tribute to Donald Trump. And if this isn't a wakeup call for the American people that we have one normal party and one fascist party that is not only attacking our democracy, but attacking our health, our security, our nutrition -- I don' t know what will.
VELSHI: Yeah, I agree with you.
