If something is being done on a secret basis in national security, that's a great reason for elected officials to not talk about it. And that's a great way to shirk accountability for it with the public.
Rachel MaddowRight after Secretary [Rex] Tillerson was sworn in, four of the top career diplomats at the department were told their services were no longer needed.
Rachel MaddowThe Republican front-runner, has made a name for himself in the last months by trafficking prejudice and paranoia. His latest insult is his call to stop all Muslims from entering the United States.
Rachel MaddowIt used to be that we disagreed over the basic facts we were fighting over, and we had different opinions about them. Now I think we accept different sources of authority. ... And people can establish credibility on their own say-so as long as nobody follows the trail and calls them out on it.
Rachel MaddowIf you're working on better conditions for prisoners, if you make that a popular issue and you invite mainstream media to weigh in on that subject, you're going to end up with a much more regressive public-policy environment than if you approach it in a quieter way. It's not because the public is stupid, it's just that people with only a cursory interest in something are going to have a knee-jerk reaction to it. That's impossible to explain in a cable-news media... it doesn't make sense.
Rachel Maddow