Maddow Exclusive: DOJ “Totaled”

This is the Nov. 11, 2026 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a picture of a gas pump in the history books 100 years from now, when people look back at what happened in 2026. I think there will be pictures of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and the people of Minneapolis who went out in freezing weather and stood up as the first line of defense against this unconstitutional, out-of-control, cruel government.”

– Joe Scarborough, Nov. 11, 2026

Rachel Maddow Exclusive

Rachel Maddow, whose new history of the Justice Department, “Department of Fate,” came out yesterday, joined “Morning Joe” today to discuss the book and what last week’s elections mean for the next two years.

On the Justice Department
“The incoming Congress is very aware that the Justice Department under Trump has really collapsed. It’s been totaled — and it needs to be stood back up, stronger and more resilient against corruption.”

On voter turnout
“I’m one of those liberals who really thinks we’re up against an existential challenge to who we are as a country and to holding on to our democracy. The strongman message all over the world is that voting is stupid, that elections are rigged, that you’re a patsy if you cast your vote — so you’d better ally yourself with the strongest strongman and hope he does right by you. To see the second-highest turnout in a century, regardless of who people voted for, was a one-finger salute to these guys.”

On election deniers
“Trump’s claim that the elections were rigged? It’s a reflex, and it fell flat. Election deniers lost all over the country: in Arizona, Republicans ran a statewide slate of the most extreme election deniers, and they lost every one of those races. Democrats won attorney general and secretary of state races, including in previously red states. Those election deniers have not proven to be electorally viable — which is, of course, a delicious irony.”

On what Republicans stand for
“The benefit of pressure, of investigation, of people standing on street corners in their little towns holding signs, is that the people doing what voters disapprove of have to explain themselves. So what’s the Republican argument for the tariffs? For escalating the Iran war? For millions of Americans priced out of their health insurance? I don’t know what Republicans have to stand on beyond ‘Isn’t Donald Trump great, and shouldn’t we all do what he wants?’”

On ICE cruelty
“Are you bragging about ICE? Really? An 8-year-old boy in San Diego showed up for his ICE appointment with his uncle, who had been caring for him since his father was deported. They separated them and locked up the child — 8 years old — alone. Is that what you want to come to the American people and say you stand for?”

MORNING JOE FAMILY MEETING

Every Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET, MS NOW Members can join a live conversation with Joe Scarborough.

If you are interested in asking Joe a question directly over video, please let us know. These questions can be about politics, news of the day, or anything else that’s on your mind!

Participants will need to complete a short pre-interview and be available from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 17, to take part.

If you’re interested, please fill out this form by Friday, Nov. 13. Participants will be notified via email if selected.

A CONVERSATION
With
Doris Kearns Goodwin

Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin sees last week’s elections as a potential turning point, not just politically but also morally. She joined “Morning Joe” today to discuss other moments when the country’s conscience shifted — from the American Revolution to the Civil Rights Movement — and what the past suggests Democrats should do next.

Joe Scarborough: Going in, I kept wondering whether this election would be another 2006, 1994, or 1974. But it actually seems more like 1966, after Lyndon Johnson told Bill Moyers, we’ve probably just lost the South for my lifetime and yours. Now Democrats are winning in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina — and leading in Mississippi. What do you see in these numbers?

Something you said last week stayed with me: that the tide began to turn in Minneapolis, when protesters came out day after day against the brutality and cruelty of what was happening. It made the country aware that something was really wrong. I keep thinking about John Adams, who said the Revolution was won in the hearts and minds of the American people before the first shot was even fired.

Joe Scarborough: When else in history has the public conscience changed like that?

In the 1850s, the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the Western territories to slavery after years of compromises meant to keep it in the South. That split the Whig Party, and out of its collapse came the new Republican Party.

A century later, people did not like what they saw when Bull Connor turned dogs and high-powered hoses on those kids in Birmingham, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 followed. Then it happened again on the bridge at Selma.

Joe Scarborough:: We said months ago that this election would be about not only costs, but also corruption and cruelty. How did that play out?

There was something about decency. There was something about fair play. Voters said they were against the war in Iran because of rising prices, but the war was waged without congressional approval. People were enriching themselves on power and money while others couldn’t get SNAP benefits or Medicare.

Something really big happened. But it all depends on how the leaders of the party now deal with it.

Mika Brzezinski: This administration has put such a focus on division. Are there parallels in history when a landslide election, or a resounding rebuke like the one we just saw, actually leads to healing?

Look at 1964. Lyndon Johnson won by a huge majority, but he knew right away that it was going to start seeping away, because people had voted against Barry Goldwater, not for him. Similarly, people voted against Trump, and now they have to care about what Democrats are doing.

Most importantly, Johnson understood that he needed to reach across the aisle. He wanted to get Republicans involved in the Great Society.

Mika Brzezinski: What can Democrats learn from LBJ?

They’re going to have to think strategically, just like Johnson did. He told his staff, “Get your asses off the ground and get my program in.”

He put Medicare first, because it had a long tradition going back to Harry Truman, then aid to education, because that had a lot of support. Then he waited on the more controversial programs until he’d built momentum.

When Selma happened, he realized the public conscience had been changed by what people saw on that bridge. He went before a joint session of Congress and passed voting rights — and that’s the vote that’s under assault today.

Willie Geist: You’ve noted that the winning candidates’ language last week wasn’t divisive. James Talarico was asked near the end of the campaign whether he loved his opponent, Ken Paxton. “Of course I do,” he said. How do we find the path back to that sort of decency?

Rhetoric matters. I was so encouraged by the victory speeches, because the winners said they wanted to be the senator or the governor of the whole state, not simply of a party.

Words can heal, and words can hurt. Words can divide, and words can unite. We’ve seen that words can change the country. The Declaration of Independence certainly did.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.

ON THIS DATE

The First World War ended on this day in 1918. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, peace came at last to a battered continent after more than four years and an estimated 20 million dead. Germany signed the armistice before dawn in a French railway carriage and all was finally quiet on the Western and Eastern fronts. In 1954, Armistice Day became Veterans Day in the U.S., extending the tribute to all who served.