With the solemn annual observance of Memorial Day just a few days away, MSNBC’s Ali Velshi welcomed columnist and SiriusXM’s Dean Obeidallah to his Saturday show to politicize the honoring of the nation’s war dead by claiming President Trump stands for the opposite of everything those men and women died for.
Obeidallah declared, “And I think the fact that it's Memorial Day Weekend gives us a moment to pause. People made the ultimate sacrifice. They did it for something that you mentioned in your—in your monologue there. And that word is freedom.”
He continued, “And I'm writing an article right now. I was looking back at the very first speech in the modern day Memorial Day, which was Representative James Garfield before he was president, 1868 Arlington to Joe Biden’s. I looked at all different presidential speeches and the one word that came up in all those speeches: freedom, freedom.”
Obeidallah tried to provide examples but wasn’t convincing, “And that's what people—that's what makes us Americans. And Donald Trump is going after everything, freedom of speech, in ways we've never seen. I mean, a judge just ruled on Friday protecting the law firms, saying you're going after dissent, going after universities. I had Professor Stephen Levitsky on my show, coauthor of How Democracies Die, saying every autocrat goes after universities because they are independent centers of dissent.”
It certainly does take a lot of gall to go on one of the most anti-Israel shows on TV and claim that demanding universities clean up anti-Semitism and horrifically one-sided departments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict represents an insult to Memorial Day. However, Obeidallah’s examples only got less credible, “People think he's going after media outlets. He's going after Democrats. They're arresting judges. The mayor of Newark, they dropped the charges. They had no case. Then a Democratic member of Congress.”
Politicians, mainly left-wing ones, get arrested and released after trying to create a viral moment to boost themselves all the time. Also, perhaps judges should not allegedly try to help illegal immigrant domestic abusers escape ICE.”
Eventually, Obeidallah claimed, “I think you summed it up so well. This really is a push and pull between two competing visions of America. One that we believe in is freedom. The United States of America with due process and their vision, which is an autocracy and that really—what we're dealing with, or easier than that, a dictatorship. They want Trump as the dictator of the United States, and we all have to bow down to him.”
Did MSNBC suggest that Joe Biden going after pro-lifers or Barack Obama's DOJ spying on James Rosen were insults to the nation’s war dead? No, of course not, but MSNBC’s toleration for highly provocative claims only goes one way.
Here is a transcript for the May 24 show:
MSNBC Velshi
5/25/2025
12:06 PM ET
ALI VELSHI: Dean, it's we've crossed a big red line here. What Donald Trump campaigned on, what a lot of people thought was reasonable to deal with our immigration, our broken immigration policy is no longer about that.
DEAN OBEIDALLAH: No, and I think you make such a great point. This is not about immigration. Regardless of where you feel on that issue, Democrat or Republican, it's something bigger than that. And I think the fact that it's Memorial Day Weekend gives us a moment to pause. People made the ultimate sacrifice. They did it for something that you mentioned in your—in your monologue there. And that word is freedom.
And I'm writing an article right now. I was looking back at the very first speech in the modern day Memorial Day, which was Representative James Garfield before he was president, 1868 Arlington to Joe Biden’s. I looked at all different presidential speeches and the one word that came up in all those speeches: freedom, freedom.
And that's what people—that's what makes us Americans. And Donald Trump is going after everything, freedom of speech, in ways we've never seen. I mean, a judge just ruled on Friday protecting the law firms, saying you're going after dissent, going after universities.
I had Professor Stephen Levitsky on my show, coauthor of How Democracies Die, saying every autocrat goes after universities—
VELSHI: Yeah.
OBEIDALLAH: — because they are independent centers of dissent. People think he's going after media outlets. He's going after Democrats. They're arresting judges. The mayor of Newark, they dropped the charges. They had no case. Then a Democratic member of Congress, they opened up investigations to Act Blue because it's a platform to help Democrats raise money. Now, an investigation into Media Matters, Angelo Carusone’s— the FTC is beginning an investigation. This is a re-envisioning of what America is about.
And I think you summed it up so well. This really is a push and pull between two competing visions of America. One that we believe in is freedom.
VELSHI: Yeah.
OBEIDALLAH: The United States of America with due process and their vision, which is an autocracy and that really—what we're dealing with, or easier than that, a dictatorship. They want Trump as the dictator of the United States, and we all have to bow down to him.
