🚨 Fox anchor drops BOMBSHELL anti-Trump news

🚨 Fox anchor drops BOMBSHELL anti-Trump news

I’m joined now by the anchor at Fox LA, Alex Michaelelsson. Alex, thanks for joining me. Thank you, Brian. On my last day as the anchor at Fox LA, so the last time I’m going to be introduced as that. That’s right. Got you in just under the wire here. Well, I wanted to talk to you in particular because we have a big day for California. And as everybody who listens to the show, watches this show knows, uh, Alex is the guy when it comes to California politics. So, we have new maps that have just been revealed that show uh Democrats shoring up about four uh uh endangered Democratic seats, lean Democratic seats, but also flipping about five Republican seats. So, this may be a nine seat gain in total. So, first and foremost, what’s the sense on the Republican side of the aisle in light of what we’re seeing right now? Well, Republicans are furious, right? I mean, this is a situation where all these long-term members of Congress are essentially going to most likely lose their jobs. Yeah. Uh so the members that are are most at risk of losing their jobs are Ken Calbertt, Kevin Kylie, uh Daryl Isa, uh David Valadeo, uh most likely to be out of a gig because of this. Um and so they are angry. Uh Kevin Kylie, who is one of Governor Nuome’s strongest opponents every single day, seems to tweet about him every single day, ran against him in the recall. Uh he has put forward a motion in the House to try to say, “Let’s have nobody redistrict. Texas, don’t do this. California, don’t do this. Stop. This is a bad idea.” Um you know, as a way to potentially save his own job. But it doesn’t seem like Speaker Mike Johnson or the Republicans in the House are interested in doing that. Why? Because Donald Trump’s not interested in doing that. He’s uh made a very clear uh directive uh that he thinks that he deserves or his words entitled to five Republican seats in in Texas. And so Governor Nuomo is saying, “Okay, well, if you’re going to do that, we’re going to take five Republican seats out of California to, in Governor Nuome’s words, neuter what’s happening in Texas.” But isn’t this just dripping in bad faith that suddenly when only when these California representatives, these Republicans from California uh face face uh their own districts being being redrawn are they are they protesting what’s happening? I mean really this wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for Donald Trump and Greg Abbott listening to Donald Trump. So, isn’t again, isn’t it in really bad faith that suddenly they’re mad at California for redrawing these maps when this was all launched just a few weeks earlier by people from their own party? Well, I was at this press conference yesterday with Governor Nuomo and with several different members of the Democratic Congressional Caucus and I asked them about that. Uh, and then member after member stepped up to make that very point. Sydney Commloer Dove, the Democrat from Culver City, uh said, “Stop crying crocodile tears, Kevin Kylie. Where have you been on this issue all along? Where were you when the John Lewis Voting Rights Act was up? Why didn’t you vote for that?” Uh basically saying that they don’t buy that he’s all of a sudden interested in this issue because it hurts him uh publicly. Maxine Waters, a Democratic congresswoman, uh, said stepped up and said, “Look, we’re going to take Texas’s playbook and throw it right back at them. Uh, we’re going to fight on this.” Uh, Adam Schiff telling me, you know, don’t poke the bear, Texas. Don’t mess with California. Uh, so it is interesting and and you were out there as well. I I was out there yesterday and we’ve seen a real uh unifying Democratic apparatus in California. uh and and the governor seems to have brought together every sort of special interest group in California that matters in California politics. Uh so who are the most powerful players in California politics? The teachers union, uh the SEIU union, the uh you know the all IBW, all of these these forces that help fund campaigns, all of them were part of Governor Nuome’s launch. All of them speaking at Governor Nuome’s launch. You had uh local members, you had uh in terms of you had the congressional members, you had the senators, you had members of the assembly, members of the state senate, all of them behind it. And California has a twothird supermajority in both the assembly and the senate. I talked to talked to the leaders of of both of those chambers. They say they have the votes. This thing’s going to happen. Uh and and it has to happen by next Friday. Alex, are are Republicans right now, not just in California, but but nationwide, given this development, are they on their heels by virtue of what’s happening in California? Well, maybe, maybe not. Uh, and and this is something that I talked about with Governor Nuomo. I’m sure it’s something that you talked about with him as well. Uh, because look, there are more Republican states that you could gerrymander than Democratic states. Uh, and so even if Texas goes forward with this and California goes forward with their plan to, in the governor’s words, neuter them, what happens if Florida gerrymanders more? What happens if Missouri? What happens if some of these other states jump on this train? Uh, and then Democrats would be potentially on the defensive. Yeah. So, you know, this thing escalating may not be good for the Democratic party. Do you sense that there’s a sea change happening right now in terms of Democrats taking Nuome’s lead and actually fighting fire with fire? And I asked that by as as a longtime Democrat who has watched this party um fail to meet the moment with the urgency that it deserves on numerous occasions. Like we watch Republicans screw over Democrats over and over and over and over and over and over and over and nothing ever seems to change. we just continue to be the party of strongly worded letters until this very moment where we actually have some some uh forward-leaning action against the Republicans. So, do you think that there is some sense of a sea change among what’s needed for Democrats to succeed in this new environment? Well, I will say one thing. We got to give Susan Collins credit for strongly worded letters. She’s very good at that as she was doing it before before it was even cool. Susan Collins was uh was expressing concerns. So, there’s some bipartisanship on the strongly worded letter thing. Um, look, Governor Nuomo has clearly made a calculation uh that the party has been too weak for too long and that Democrats, especially a lot of the people that watch your show, are desperate for a fighter. It’s a calculation he made before he made it back in in 2022 uh after the Roie Wade was overturned and he came out doing interviews with people like me saying, “Where the hell is the Democratic party? I don’t know where the party is. The party’s not fighting.” uh and then he sort of backed off that some as he supported Biden and Harris and all the rest. But now that there is no clear leader of the Democratic party, Gavin Newsome is making a strong play to be that leader and he believes that people in the party are sick and tired of people sitting on the sidelines. What he said to me in my interview with him was look uh Trump I think is surprised by this because he’s used to our party not doing anything. our party spending a lot of time focused on candlelight visuals and saying the right things but not actually punching back. And uh he wants to do this. And if you see based off of his social media numbers going way up, his fundraising going way up, his poll numbers going up with the Democratic base, it seems to be working. And you you think about it and obviously I’ve got a little bit of a a skewed view because I’m here in California and and I cover this a lot and I interact with him a lot, but you don’t see very many Democratic leaders doing something similar. I think JB Pritsker in Illinois has been outspoken on on this front, but many of the other governors have been much more in the background. uh and even some of the the top presidential candidates, you think about Wes Moore, you think about Josh Shapiro, um they’re they have not been as as frankly clear uh in terms of action in their states. Now, they don’t have as big a majorities to work with, and there’s nuance to all of that, but Nuome has clearly dominating the scene. He was his his speech yesterday not only streamed live by you and and our friends at Midas touch and all all over the internet but was carried live by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News channel all at the same time. Yeah. Um it was the lead story on all of the cable networks. U you know and so he has emerged as the the leader of the party on this issue, the biggest state in the union, the biggest state with an ability to redistrict. And uh and I think it’s it’s very helpful for him politically. Well, you know, he he’s also been able to do something that you really can’t fake, and that’s to garner media attention. I mean, there are a lot of Democrats who try to get themselves out there, and they just can’t get it. I mean, they just don’t have it right. Like the the X factor, the same way that Donald Trump can can open his mouth and and people turn and listen, Gavin Newsome is very much able to do the same thing right now. And it’s going to be a really it’s going to make for an interesting dynamic as we head toward obviously 2026, but then later in 2028 because being able to to dominate in this media environment and in these news cycles is really going to be the whole ball game because we don’t live in a world where you can just kind of do what Joe Biden did, which is run on this idea that we want politics to be boring again. We we don’t want to think about the president. As much as Democrats want to yearn for that world, that world is behind us. And so now you either have to adapt or die basically. And Newsome is showing that he can adapt. And look at look at what he did, you know, just this week. So he makes that announcement. He sits down with with me. He sits down with you. He sits down with with Midas Touch and Pod Save America and Heather Cox Richardson. He his speech is broadcast live on all the cable networks. It was the lead story on almost all of the local networks that I saw here. So amplify those numbers. I mean, even just from your stuff. I mean is hundreds of thousands but you keep amplifying and adding and adding and adding and adding that’s millions and millions of impressions for his message uh at a time when very few people are breaking through in terms of messaging. I mean Nuome is doing something interesting and the news as a reporter in the news who covers politics tends to follow something interesting. The reason Trump got so much quote unquote free media attention in 2016 is he put on a great show, you know, because I remember covering that as a reporter at the time and you would cover a a Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush stump speech and they would say the same exact thing every single day over and over again. It wasn’t that interesting the first time and it certainly wasn’t interesting the sixth time. what Donald Trump was doing at the time uh when Bill O’Reilly was the number one show in cable, he was essentially doing his own version of the O’Reilly factor, which what do you do to get on the news? You comment on the news. You get involved in the news cycle. You put yourself in it. And Nuomo has learned that that from Trump uh to to be a part of all of the biggest stories and get yourself included in the conversation, which is what he’s doing. Now, it runs the risk of potential overexposure. Uh, and it also runs a risk whether he’s doing this. Like if the Democrats lose this race in California for this redistricting thing, like that’s a huge egg on his face. Yeah. Um, so he’s got to win this thing. It’s not 100% clear that he’s going to. Um, and and when you become the face of something and it fails, it can be really problematic. So, we’ll see. There’s going to be hundreds of millions of dollars spent on this campaign in the in the coming months. And I think the whole country is going to be focused on what happens in California. Well, to that point, um, you know, and this is coming from me, not from you. But for folks who are looking to donate to this effort, I’m going to put the link on the screen and also in the post description. If you’re listening on the podcast, I’ll put it in the show notes. Uh, it’s going to take a lot of money to counteract what Republicans are doing uh in this broader effort to push forward this redistricting. So, if you’re looking to contribute and help a worthy cause, and there is no cause more worthy than this, please contribute what you can. Um, and to that point, one of the the things that I was most struck with and that I learned from my interview with Governor Nuome this week, I asked him because because I am ending at at Fox 11. I’ve interviewed him more than anybody in the state. It was our final interview for my show. The issue is after seven and a half years of literally dozens and dozens of interviews. I said, “How have you changed over the years?” And he said that the recall attempt in 2021 changed him and he’s a completely different person now. And what he learned in that moment um is that all politics isn’t local like he thought at this moment in his words all politics is national. Um and he sees that there’s these national forces that are getting involved in funding these battles even at the local level uh and trying to get their way. And so this redistricting thing, even though it’s in California, is very much a national fight uh with the national interests and a whole lot of national money is going to be coming in, especially on the Republican side. And um I’m not making a pitch one way or another because I’m not allowed to, but um if if you’re particularly interested one way or another, it may be worth sending some money. Yeah. I mean, look, I’m I’m making the pitch. I’m allowed to. So, highly recommend. I mean, look, if your issue is climate change, healthare, reproductive rights, gun violence, whatever it may be, all of that depends on having a government where Democrats are allowed to participate, where we’re allowed to function, where the maps are not scientifically engineered so that Democrats can’t win. And that’s what Republicans are moving toward right now. So, regardless of what your pet political issue is, it all relies on having a house that Democrats are able to win. And so that’s why it’s so important that Democrats fight back here, fight fire with fire, and actually make sure that we can neutralize, neuter what Republicans are doing in Texas and what they very very well may be doing in Missouri, uh, uh, Indiana, and Florida. So again, I’m going to put the link on the screen and in the post description of this video. Alex, you did mention that you have, uh, interviewed Gavin Newsome more than any other California reporter. And so, you know, you spoke to Newsome about what how how he changed since uh the the the recall to right now, but what have you seen in in over the years in terms of uh interviewing him and uh and what you’ve seen from, you know, from the beginning up until right now and how he’s changed? Yes. Um, I I think he uh has a totally different perception of how media works and how to communicate to people. I thought him admitting that all politics is national is really interesting. Obviously, um, he’s become more focused on the national scene after he won his elections in California and clearly is at least considering running for president and so his ch he’s changed. But this he’s very focused in the digital space uh in a way that very few politicians are. The fact that he did one local news interview but did six or seven digital interviews yesterday uh and did no other television interviews shows you where he thinks the action is. Uh Gavin Newsome, as I’ve learned over the years, is very very um focused on metrics, on how things are performing. He looks at the numbers on on a lot of different things and uh I think he knows where where people are. Um and uh so he’s he’s ch he’s gotten uh much sharper um much blunter and uh and and in the last 6 months he’s gotten much angrier honestly and he talked about this. I mean when when when I saw him after the fires and and the ice raids in LA it was the angriest I’d ever seen him. Uh, and he would say that he he sort of left that experience saying, “I’ve got no regrets. I’m going to lay it all out there.” And and he is a he’s a different kind of person. Well, zooming out a little bit, you’d mentioned that this is your last day at Fox 11, Fox LA, and you’ve been serving this community, my community, for years and years and years. And so I’m curious as you look back on your years at Fox LA and prior to moving on to your next step, what what are you looking at in terms of the highlights of your own uh of your own time at Fox LA? I mean, one of the greatest moments was bringing Brian Tyler Cohen on television for the first time, right? But in all seriousness, uh I I I I am so lucky um that this show uh has given me the ability to meet so many of my best friends, including you. Yeah. Um that this this having this platform and having this excuse uh to talk to people and meet um such smart and interesting people from both sides. Um, you know, I I mean that one of my best friends is Bill Malusian, you know, who obviously is a straight news reporter, but clearly has a different perspective than Brian Tyler Cohen, you know, like like I I I love that that we there’s been this place to to interact with people and to to to have interesting conversations and at a time of so much partisanship and so much division where people can actually talk to each other and actually listen. And I think one of the reasons that we’ve done that is we we’ve played music and games and other things that in some ways feel silly but really break down some of the barriers and allow for a conversation. And I think that that’s really important these days. I mean obviously these issues are really important and there’s some principles that you can’t uh you know compromise on. I understand that. But also as a country I think we need to lessen the temperature a little bit on some of this stuff. And so the the ability to do that um has really been incredible. And we’ve gotten a chance to just like travel the world and and talk to some of the most interesting players. I mean on our final episode we have videos from uh Gavin Newsome, Jerry Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kla Harris, Adam Schiff, Alex Padilla, Karen Bass, Rick Caruso. I mean all the biggest players in California politics for that whole era. and and they’ve been a such a such a important part of the show that they all came back for the final episode and so um my heart is full of of gratitude of being able to do this. Well, look, Alex, I I I I know I can speak for all those people in terms of saying that the reason that you’re able to bring all of these people together is because is because of you. It’s because you’re acting in good faith and because you’ve been so kind, honest, uh full of integrity and generous in terms of of what you’ve turned that show and that network into. So, you know, you had mentioned that you were the first person to bring me on air. It was the first show that I was ever on. So, I thank you for that. But more broadly, I know I can speak for this city of Los Angeles and the state of California in saying thank you for, you know, the service that you’ve provided. And that is uh and that is having uh having you on air delivering us the news in a way that again is full of honesty and integrity and uh and good faith. So, um, congratulations on your final day at Fox Los Angeles, and I’m very excited to, uh, to see, uh, what the next steps in your career are., Alex, thanks for your time. If people want to watch that last episode, which includes a cameo from Brian Tyler Cohen, uh, you can go to youtube.com/lex Michaelelsson, and you can also check out our interview with Governor Nuomo there from this week. Um, and I’d appreciate if uh, you check that out and subscribe and and stay along for the journey. Excellent. Yes. And I would also echo that sentiment. If you want to keep uh keep up with Alex uh in his life after Fox LA, please uh subscribe on YouTube. It’s E Lex Michaelelsson M I C H A L S O N. And that’s on YouTube. And I’m going to put that link right here on the screen and also in the post description. Alex, appreciate your time. Thank you, Brian. Love you, brother.

INTERVIEW: Fox anchor @elexmichaelson reveals Republicans furious over California map redraw

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