Trump’s ‘nationalize’ elections call has consequences

Plus, Renee Good's brothers testify on Capitol Hill |

VIEW IN BROWSER MS NOW DAILY Understand today's news Wednesday, Feb. 04, 2026   THE LATEST Democrats are tired of bailing out Mike Johnson By Hayes Brown Democrats are tired of bailing out Mike Johnson By Hayes Brown A short-lived partial government shutdown ended Tuesday with the House voting to approve a Senate-brokered compromise. The vast majority of the government will now be funded for the rest of the year — but not the Department of Homeland Security. The final vote highlighted both the narrow path that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is walking, and how little help he can expect from the minority Democrats as the spotlight shifts to President Donald Trump's immigration agenda.   The Senate-amended package on the House floor Tuesday in theory should have had bipartisan support. Appropriators from both chambers negotiated the bills weeks ago, including funding for the Pentagon and Department of Health and Human Services. But the DHS spending bill became a nonstarter for Democrats in the aftermath of federal officers killing Alex Pretti in Minnesota late last month.   An agreement between Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., paved the way to pass the bulk of the bills along with a two-week extension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Many in the House Republican caucus weren't thrilled with the deal's seeming capitulation to Democrats on immigration enforcement.    Johnson appeared on NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday to lament that House Democrats were "playing games" with the shutdown bill. But Jeffries and his fellow Democrats have time and again come to the rescue of Johnson when it was his own caucus that was flirting with disaster. The presumption that the same patterns would hold true in the current political climate was a grave miscalculation on the speaker's part.   This is a preview of Hayes Brown's latest column. Read the full column here. TOP STORIES ZEESHAN ALEEM Trump cannot 'nationalize' elections. But his call to do it still matters. The president's anti-democratic trial balloons have a damaging cumulative effect. Read more. ERUM SALAM & SYDNEY CARRUTH Brothers of Renee Good call the violence in Minneapolis 'beyond explanation' At a public forum Tuesday, siblings of the woman killed by an ICE officer last month spoke about "abusive" tactics used by federal immigration agents in the city. Read more. REP. JOHN B. LARSON Election deniers may have your Social Security data — thanks to DOGE and Elon Musk The crisis at the Social Security Administration didn't end with Elon Musk's departure from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Read more. PHILIP BUMP Dan Bongino's first big podcast interview post-FBI proved exactly why he had to leave Bongino quit his job as second-in-command at the FBI to return to podcasting, where he won't have the pressure of having to work in the reality-based world. Read more. TOP VIDEOS DEADLINE: WHITE HOUSE 'My own government attempted to execute me': Victims of ICE and Border Patrol aggression testify WATCH NOW 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE Sen. Rand Paul calls for independent investigation of Minnesota shootings by federal agents WATCH NOW ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 'Hellbent': Trump is reassembling his 2020 coup crew amid 2026 midterm panic WATCH NOW KATY TUR Sen. Warner says Gabbard may have 'violated her responsibility as DNI' with Georgia raid WATCH NOW MORE FROM MS NOW In a new episode of "Why Is This Happening?," Chris Hayes is joined by MS NOW's Jacob Soboroff and Alex Wagner to discuss what they witnessed reporting on the ground in Minneapolis. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch the episode on YouTube. Get a daily digest of D.C. politics, foreign policy, and pop culture with "The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe" newsletter. Each weekday, read takes about what's driving the day, and get a direct line to the "Morning Joe" family of roundtable guests sent straight to your inbox. Click here to sign up. 229 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 PRIVACY | CONTACT | UNSUBSCRIBE