good evening. i m mehdi hasan. picture the scene. a cult leader gathers hi followers in waco, texas, as law enforcement closes in. described as a pathologica liar and comment, the cold later rails against th government, rages against th godless left, and depict himself as the chosen one. his disciples eat it up. they worship him they even vowed to give thei lives for him. now, am i describing david - the infamous leader who wa killed along with 75 of hi cold members in the fbi sieg of his waco compound in 1993 or, i might describing forme president donald trump because trump we ll be hosting his first mccartney of 2023 in waco, next weekend, on the 30t anniversary of the waco siege. and, while of course, trump is not accused of the kind of her horrific crimes and delusion that correct was, he is him choosing waco to host maga rally right now is just a little too on the nose for me. but, will he even be there i waco next saturday he doesn t seem to think so. the former pre
aren t - that are quite insulated fro the american public opinion 100 percent agree with that. last question for you, peter why do you think of the lesson of iraq for today s geopolitics? for america s response to what is happening in ukraine, for example? for america s posture toward china? the lesson, first of all is just because something i bipartisan doesn t mean it s a good idea. vietnam was bipartisan as well secondly, america needs to tak much more seriously the things we hear from overseas, especially from the global south. it s people only global sout who have the most experience o american imperialism and tha have asked the toughes questions about our claims t moral righteousness. their voices need to be hear more in washington yes, they do. one of the reasons i like to hear your voice on this show even though you did get a rock run, as you ve been a very eloquent and outspoken criti of how foreign policy concerns
like him, who say i think he did a great job, i think he wa being unfairly persecuted, but maybe it s a little much is there somebody out there wh would do the same thing withou so many court dates? very good point indeed. the cumulative effect of all these potential indictment peter, what are you hearin from republicans, if everything, behind the scenes? publicly, with the exception o mike pence, who has condemne talk of indictment this morning, and none of trump s 2024 gop rivals, desantis, haley, pompeo, et cetera, has had a word so far. mitch mcconnell has been silent of course, kevin mccarthy, the speaker, is busy running interference for trump o twitter. i don t know that you wil see too many republicans prominent republicans come out in favor of the indictment unless there is one, or usin that as an opportunity t attack president trump what they will do is wait an see if it helps him be brought down if it does, you might see them start to flock to othe candidates or make the
on this show but i have to ask tonight, how would an indictment effect i the 2024 race? trump is not just a former president, he is the front runner that raise. who better to ask than a lon time observer of presidents an chief white house corresponden from the new york times pete baker thanks for coming back o the show, peter. politically, do you buy th argument from some of hi supporters as well as people like elon musk that an indictment would help trump in electoral terms, in terms of garnering sympathy from the go base that has slowly, ever s slowly been moving away from trump? i think you are exactly right to point out that we don t know we have never seen anythin like this before, right? there is no history to base ou judgment on. we ought to be careful about making predictions in, as yo put, it uncharted territory. we do not know they are very confident, obviously, that this will help them you want to be confident you ve got to be careful o politics about things you ar confide
support of the war in ukrain in iraq, an influential libera journalist writing op-ed making the case at the time, and he has shown a lot o regret since, he has apologize and said he was totally wrong. he joins me now, peter beinart msnbc political analyst an author of the beinart notebook on substack who is editors o the liberal pro war magazine i the new republic back in 2003. thanks for coming back on th show, peter. you and your that magazine backed the war you were a noted and outspoken liberal hockey, even a yea later, in 2004, you are puttin out an editorial in your magazine that said, on a rock, we feel regret but no shame. in 2010 you are still bein called an unrepentant libera hawk you are talking about ho saddam has not - has bothered you when did you decide, peter, got it wrong, completely wrong and actually feel bad about, i feels, quote unquote, shame? i think the shame began a bit earlier and it was partl