MSNBC host tells Colbert that Trump has started to ‘f— around with the military’

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said Tuesday that it felt different to have President Donald Trump “f— around with the military” in his second term during an interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert. 

Wallace argued that there were no “normal Republicans” in Trump’s current administration and said “what’s different about Stephen Miller running the ICE raids, and running basically a siege of Los Angeles, is that there is no Mark Esper, Jim Mattis, and that’s the big difference, and that is the danger.”

Colbert then asked Wallace about the National Guard troops and the Marines that have been sent to Los Angeles to help quell the riots. “We have seen Trump stretch his presidential powers over the last five months. Is this different?” 

“It feels different, it feels different to, can we swear here?” she asked as Colbert said she could. “To f— around with the military, it feels really different, and he wanted to the first time, but people like Mark Milley, people stopped him. It feels really different to use the military as pawns out loud and as a public tactic. That feels different to me.”

MSNBC’S NICOLLE WALLACE HAS SEEN RATINGS PLUNGE SINCE TRUMP PREVAILED ON ELECTION DAY

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace joins late-night host Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, June 11, 2025.  (Screenshot/LateShowStephenColbert)

A battalion of 700 U.S. Marines are mobilizing in Los Angeles to respond to anti-immigration enforcement riots, just days after Trump deployed the National Guard to the area as well.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to criticism of Trump’s actions on Tuesday, telling Fox News Digital that “violent rioters in Los Angeles, enabled by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, have attacked American law enforcement, set cars on fire, and fueled lawless chaos.”

“President Trump rightfully stepped in to protect federal law enforcement officers. When Democrat leaders refuse to protect American citizens, President Trump will always step in,” she added. 

Colbert also asked Wallace about the state of the Democratic Party and asked the MSNBC host if they were “in danger of an autocrat.”

“I don’t know, and I think that, in politics, you are one leader away from a comeback, you’re one moody character away from this unlikely hero. And so I think the Democratic Party hasn’t rotted. I mean the Democratic Party has not corrupted itself, it hasn’t turned on itself in the way that the Republican Party has. And I think the Democratic Party is one leader away from being something fresh and appealing to a majority of others again. I think the Republican Party is still heading down, down, down following Trump and his authoritarian ways,” she said. 

MSNBC HOSTS CALL TRUMP’S COMMENTS ON 13-YEAR-OLD CANCER SURVIVOR IN SPEECH ‘DISGUSTING’ POLITICAL MOVE

President Donald Trump speaks during an “Invest in America” roundtable with business leaders at the White House, Monday, June 9, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Wallace previously made headlines earlier this year while covering Trump’s address to Congress, during which the president made a 13-year-old cancer survivor, DJ Daniel, an honorary Secret Service agent.

“But I think this was a lesson in finding one thing that you let yourself feel,” Wallace said during her coverage of the address. “And I let myself feel joy about DJ, and I hope he’s alive for another, you know, 95 years, and I hope he lives the life he wants to live. He wants to be a cop. He knows what he wants to do, and maybe when you have childhood cancer, that crystallizes for you.”

“I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer,” she continued. “But I hope he never has to defend the United States Capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters, and if he does, I hope he isn’t one of the six who loses his life to suicide, and I hope he isn’t one who has to testify against the people who carried out acts of seditious conspiracy and then lived to see Donald Trump pardon those people.”

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The MSNBC host was criticized by Trump and the White House at the time.