After the news of the bans of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House grounds, MS NOW hosted breaking news coverage over the weekend as new host Peter Alexander held a special edition of his weekday State of Play program on Saturday night. Alexander went on a long monologue to start the show, where he called the moment an “attack on press freedom. Then, Rachel Maddow joined Alexander to invoke “No Kings,” as she said, “he wants this to be a country like Russia,” before subsequently saying, “he wants this to be a country in which he is king.”
Alexander first stated White House press passes had been revoked for employees of MS NOW, and said, “This marks an unprecedented, an escalatory assault on journalism.”
Alexander continued, “The media is not perfect. There's a debate to be had about who you trust, where you should get your news.” But he later shifted to say, “This is something bigger, though. Among the privileges, the duties of a free press are to hold power to account, to ask the difficult questions, to document history as it happens.”
He added, “The president says fake news is reporting that is untrue. In fact, it's reporting that he finds unflattering.”
Then, Alexander recalled when he covered Trump at campaign rallies, and cried about the treatment of reporters:
Once elected, he would insult reporters to their face – I've been there – and he would call journalists the enemy of the people.
As one of my former colleagues described it, Trump is trying to discredit the messenger to create a vacuum where his version of reality fills that void. But the answer from journalists is simple: to report more with more sources, more digging, more facts.
Alexander was then joined by Maddow, the person whose show only airs once a week on Mondays, who further hit on the bans. He, laughably, asked, “What does the president not appreciate about the First Amendment?”
Maddow responded, “I think he gets the First Amendment,” before she followed on Alexander’s point of Trump hitting the press at rallies, which she labeled a “sort of Orwellian two minutes hate.”
Alexander then connected the monet ot the visit of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to America for a state visit, as asked Maddow, “You've studied authoritarian leaders. Is this what the president is sort of trying to replicate?”
Of course, Maddow agreed but then added more and complained about changes to the Oval Office before she concluded:
He wants this to be a country like Russia. He wants this to be a country in which he is a king. But it's not his say-so. It's our say-so. And the ‘No Kings’ thing is not just a slogan, it's a truth.
An MS NOW host proclaiming that "No Kings" is a “truth” is exactly why MS NOW is not a news reporting network anymore, especially after it split from NBC in the Versant divorce, as all the “journalists” who signed with MS NOW have succumbed to becoming pro-DNC, progressive talk hosts.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s State of Play
September 19, 2026
6:00:29 PM Eastern
PETER ALEXANDER: Good evening, I'm Peter Alexander. This is a special edition of State of Play: Attack on press freedom.
This morning, President Trump followed up on his threats to ban journalists from three major outlets, including this one, MS NOW, with reporters, producers, and cameramen from those organizations having their credentials confiscated when they tried to enter the White House grounds. This marks an unprecedented, an escalatory assault on journalism.
The president in the Oval Office yesterday even describing his decision as a ban on the free press. His words, he's not hiding it. He's trying to ban reporters because of the content of their reporting.
Notably, he did not identify a single story, a report, any inaccuracy that triggered his outrage. Instead, he blamed negative coverage and demanded favorable reporting. To be clear, this is not normal. This is not business as usual. What's happening right now is different. The latest threat against our cherished freedoms, protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The media is not perfect. There's a debate to be had about who you trust, where you should get your news. This is something bigger, though. Among the privileges, the duties of a free press are to hold power to account, to ask the difficult questions, to document history as it happens.
The president says fake news is reporting that is untrue. In fact, it's reporting that he finds unflattering.
And here's the reality: a little more than seven weeks until the midterms. Many of the facts are unflattering. Where to begin? Gas prices now 4.48 a gallon on average, a $1.50 more than where they were before the war with Iran began. Ask farmers about the price of diesel, now at a record high nearly 6.50 a gallon.
All of it due to a war the president started. A war he vowed would be done within weeks, but is now in its seventh month. 18 American service members dead, if not more. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.
A trade war with Canada, an obsession with the Kennedy Center. If it's not demolished like the East Wing. Then there's the grift, the self-dealing. A Russian oligarch paying for Trump's son's wedding party. Billions of dollars made by the Trump Family. Those are the facts. They may be unflattering, but they are not fake.
I've been there since the beginning. Trump's frustration, this fury, it didn't happen overnight. On the campaign trail. I remember before he even took office, he would yell at us in the bullpen, in the back of those large rallies, riling up the MAGA crowd. Once elected, he would insult reporters to their face – I've been there – and he would call journalists the enemy of the people.
As one of my former colleagues described it, Trump is trying to discredit the messenger to create a vacuum where his version of reality fills that void. But the answer from journalists is simple: to report more with more sources, more digging, more facts.
MS NOW released a statement today that reads, in part, quote, “MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy and will continue to report on the president, the administration, and the issues that impact the American people.”
President Trump can't stop reporters from reporting, and he cannot ban the facts.
Joining me now is our very own Rachel Maddow, host, of course, of The Rachel Maddow Show here on MS NOW. Rachel, I appreciate you spending part of your Saturday afternoon with us.
What does the president not appreciate about the First Amendment?
RACHEL MADDOW: I think he gets the First Amendment, and I think he knows what he can and cannot do as president. I just think he likes doing this anyway, because I think he likes the way it plays.
And I just feel like sometimes the simplest explanation is the one that's most likely right. And what you were just describing, Peter, about covering those rallies and being at Trump events where it would become an inevitability at every single one of them. He would direct the attention of the crowd to the press, and we would have the sort of Orwellian two minutes hate where everybody got to scream at the press while he insulted them, sometimes choosing individual reporters, sometimes choosing you to direct the crowd's fury.
I think the reason he did that - Not the reason that he's dissatisfied with the press. All politicians, certainly all presidents, are dissatisfied with the press. But I think the reason that he set on that and then kept doing it is because of what would happen right after he made those calls out to the crowd. There would be a huge response, right? I mean, you've been there. We've all seen it.
The whole crowd turns around and starts flipping off the press and screaming at them and baying for blood. And he loves that. That's exactly the kind of reaction he wants from the crowd.
And right now he's in a place where he can't count on moving his base in the ways that he used to. The same, you know, I think sort of lines, the same sort of tricks, the same sort of crowd manipulation tactics, sort of, you know, authoritarian personality ticks that he's relied on all these years. They don't always work. And he's in a really low place politically. And so I think this is him playing the hits. I think this is him going back to something that he knows his base will enjoy, and he wants that feeling again. And I think it's as simple as that.
ALEXANDER: So, let me ask you another question, which is in the next several days, the president is going to host China's President XI Jinping at the White House.
China, of course, the president of China, Xi Jinping, who President Trump has shared openly his admiration for China, a country that has a long history of repressing independent thinkers. The press, broadly, it just does not exist. So, it's notable that as the president welcomes XI here, he's sort of taking a page from Xi Jinping and from China here.
You've studied authoritarian leaders. Is this what the president is, is sort of trying to replicate?
MADDOW: I mean, it's one of the things that he's said he admires, right, about authoritarian leaders in China and elsewhere is the fact that they rule with an iron fist. And one of the practical things that is meant by that kind of a phrase and by that type of authoritarian leadership is that you don't allow criticism. You don't allow dissent. You don't allow people to disagree with the official line. And you certainly don't allow reporters access to free information about the behavior of their leaders and their government.
So, that's something that he's professed openly and that he admires about China, even about places like North Korea. So, I, you know, I take him at his word. I think he likes that idea. I think he wishes he could do more. But the fact remains that he is a temporary officeholder, that presidents don't determine what rights the American people have. Our Constitution determines that.
And what he's doing is just blatantly, plainly, on its face, illegal. It'll be struck down by the courts, and then we'll have to have a big fight about him obeying the court order that inevitably tells him to let our reporters back in.
(...)
6:09:08 PM Eastern
MADDOW: I mean, if you were the tenant in any sort of living situation. If you were a tenant in an apartment or in a duplex or whatever, not only would you not start, you know, gluing, supergluing gold things to the walls and doors, you also wouldn't hire an excavator to come in and rip down one wing of the building, but he wants to behave as if this is his palace rather than the White House.
He wants this to be a country like Russia. He wants this to be a country in which he is a king. But it's not his say-so. It's our say-so. And the No-Kings thing is not just a slogan, it's a truth.
And I mean his. I just feel like his character and his inclinations have been utterly consistent from the very beginning. But I also think the American public's reflexes against these things are pretty strong. And so much as he's like kind of hoping for people to be - for blood and, ‘Yeah, the enemy of the people,’ and ‘Yeah, kick those reporters out.’ I think outside of what is a very vanishingly narrow slice of his base, the American people know instinctually and by habit for generations of sacrifice and centuries of living it, that this is not an American way to conduct yourself in leadership.
And his anti-American tendencies are something that ought to disqualify him from future leadership.
(...)
