MONDAY 4 APRIL 2022, 8:30

MSNBC: Chris Hayes

• Vindman:  Three should have been a greater press to avoid this war because we knew the kind of barbarism that we would see.  We must help Ukraine end this war.  These types of incidents are going to increase as Russia gets frustrated.  We need to give them everything they need. 
• Hayes, quoting NYT: Men’s hands have been tied and they have been shot at close range.  They were civilians. 
• Michael Newton: Vanderbilt Law School:  If Putin launched this to aggrandize Russia power and prestige there’s nothing more corrosive.  Has the opportunity to galvanize the entire world.  Russians have been violating laws during the occupation of Crimea. 
• Hayes: Russian left these bodies to be found and then immediately denied it. 
• Vindman: Demonstrates a callousness for human life.  Increasing repression has bred this in the population. 
• Hayes: Orban of Hungry has been “reelected.”  He as been congratulated by MTG, and Gosar.  He has eliminated independent media, taken control of the court system and gerrymandered to make Hungary’s Fidesz party hard to dislodge (Note: Shades of what we are facing here).  This is a one-party state.
• “Strong Men” book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.  Hayes interviews Ben-Ghiat.  Six opposition parties united against him.  One of the far-right parties joined this opposition, but many of their members defected to Orban as a response.  Orban has been “very smart” by pretending to be neutral in the Russian war.  Orban has built a system that almost guarantees him electoral success.  After Crimea, Orban was against EU sanctions.  Hungary is dependent on Russian oil and gas.  He played this to his supporters saying that if they didn’t elect him, oil and gas prices would go up.
• Hayes plays American Right: Bannon, huge admirer or Orban.  Trump is as well.  Tucker Carlson.  “Orban has been vilified.”  The right is celebrating this authoritarian leader. 
• Ben-Ghiat: This is what the Republicans want, this kind of authoritarianism. 

EUROMAIDAN PRESS

• After a call for assistance, 1500 volunteers called to help pick up debris in Irpin.
• In Izyum, Kharkiv, Russian forces are carrying out filtration measures and forcible deportations of local residents to Russia.
• “West is still reluctant to commit itself to the safety of Ukraine and doesn’t foresee the far-reaching implications of Russia’s war and Black Sea blockade.  Ukraine urgently needs presence of NATO fleet in Black Sea, and there is not so much left before it might be too late.”
• In the village of Oleksandrivka, Kherson the Russian military destroyed a library of more than 16,000 books.
• Russian invaders tortured a local leader in Chernihiv and staged mock executions “for entertainment.”
• Satellite images show bodies lay in Bucha for weeks, despite Russian claims.
• 130,000 people are still trapped in Mariupol.
• Russian forces are preparing to attack and capture Kharkiv.
• Overnight, Kharkiv was hit more than 50 times by rocket and artillery strikes.  This is day 40 of the Russian war against Ukraine.
• Lithuanian Ambassador to Russia will return.  Lithuania expelled the Russian ambassador.  Closes consulate.
• Anonymous claimed responsibility for releasing personal identifying information on 120,000 Russian soldiers allegedly fighting in Ukraine.

MSNBC: Ali Velshi

•          Bucha was one of the first cities in Ukraine to fall.  It had been under Russian control for a month.  It was thought this was good news, but after they saw what was left, this changed.  410 civilians dead at least.

The bodies laying in the streets.  When they arrived, Russians began indiscriminately attacking people for no reason.  “they shot off his leg completely” one resident described a shooting

DOMESTIC POLITICS: Chris Hayes MSNBC

• Will there be a criminal referral for Trump?  Unlikely. 
• Rep. Elaine Luria: D -Va.  (Jan. 6 Committee)  It’s more important not to worry about political implications.  The Committee will lay out the facts and if crimes occurred, we have to put that in our report and refer it to the DOJ.
• There is fear that it will look political if there is a criminal referral for Trump.
• Lindsay Graham: “If we were in charge, she would not have been before this committee.” Talking about Jackson.  Hayes is talking about Republican “stunt politics.”  Sarah Palin is back running for office.  (Note Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace helped Sarah Palin campaign for office). 
• Insurgency by Jeremy Peters, interviewed by Hayes: Palin clicks with voters because she is seen as one of them.  She’s a mom, talked like them, didn’t have elitist airs.  She needs to be taken seriously.
• Hayes:  She wasn’t faking it.  Donald Trump is faking it, faking being one “of the people.”  Her rallies were characterized by “vitriol.” 
• Peters: Her appeal in Alaska was started because somebody called her and people like her “trash.”  They appropriated that and ran on it.  It worked for them.  That’s what Trumpism is – making people believe that others look down on them. 
• Peters: This is a powerful seat she’s running for.  Trump sought her out in 2016 and got her support.