Rachel Maddow warns Trump loyalists 'it’s not too late to undo your bad decisions’

Rachel Maddow warns institutions backing Trump that they still have time to reverse course and salvage their reputations
PUBLISHED DEC 10, 2025
Rachel Maddow says companies siding with Donald Trump may face a harsh verdict from history (Getty Images)
Rachel Maddow says companies siding with Donald Trump may face a harsh verdict from history (Getty Images)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Rachel Maddow isn’t mincing words about what she believes awaits institutions still standing by Donald Trump. Speaking on 'The Best People' podcast with Nicolle Wallace, the MS NOW host said the writing is already on the wall and anyone still clinging to Trump’s orbit might want to reconsider their choices while they still can.

Maddow argued that as Trump’s approval numbers tank and his legal and political troubles intensify, the corporations, universities, and public figures who aligned themselves with him won't be spared the fallout. And she made it clear that the moment to act is now.

Rachel Maddow says institutions backing Trump may be running out of time

Maddow didn’t hold back when calling out entities she believes bent to Trump out of fear or political convenience.

“It’s not too late,” she insisted, adding that companies and universities can still reverse the deals they made in an attempt to stay on Trump’s good side. “CBS needs to unfire Colbert. The universities that did these deals with Trump need to tear them up and take them to court. It’s not too late. Trump is not going to end up being the dictator of this country.”

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 31: President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport on October 31, 2025 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport on October 31, 2025 in West Palm Beach, Florida (Getty Images)

“And when he’s trying, he’s running through all of these institutions and all of these people in our country who made a stupid decision to try to be on his side as he takes over, because you thought he was going to win,” Maddow said.

“He’s not going to win. And so now’s your time to actually undo your bad decision and get right with the Constitution and with the American people, and ultimately with history.”

She warned that reputational damage would linger and it could haunt families for generations. “Maybe you can salvage your reputation, and your descendants won’t spend the next several generations denying that you were one of them.”

Rachel Maddow cites Trump’s plunging approval rating and mounting controversies

The MS NOW host said Trump’s collapsing public support is a major sign that sticking by him is no longer the safe bet some believed it to be. “Donald Trump is negative 24 in terms of his approval rating in the latest Gallup poll,” she noted.

Since then, she argued, Trump has only deepened his own crisis by “talking about Somali people as garbage” and being “exposed for carrying out, in an ongoing way, war crimes… in the Caribbean.”

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 27: Rachel Maddow is seen in conversation with David Remnick during the The 2024 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
Rachel Maddow is seen in conversation with David Remnick during the The 2024 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

Maddow added that the situation has deteriorated so sharply that “our UK intelligence partners have pulled out of the Five Eyes arrangement with us because we are so blatantly breaking the law.”

According to her, British officials fear participating alongside the US could put their own officers at legal risk. “They’re afraid their intelligence officers or their members of the military who are participating in anything with us will end up going to jail.”

Rachel Maddow calls out CBS and Paramount for caving to MAGA pressure

Maddow specifically pointed at the takeover of CBS News by “MAGA loyalists,” calling it a “huge embarrassment.”

“That’s what’s happened, CBS,” she said, arguing that backing Trump is proving to be a losing deal.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 27: Rachel Maddow is seen in conversation with David Remnick during the The 2024 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
Rachel Maddow is seen in conversation with David Remnick during the The 2024 New Yorker Festival at Webster Hall on October 27, 2024 in New York City. (Craig Barritt/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

She also slammed Paramount for removing Stephen Colbert from the air to appease Trump. “Maybe don’t do that,” she said. “Maybe you can now see where in history you’re going to end up.”

The host insisted that many institutions still have a narrow window to reverse course before their allegiance is cemented in the public record. “And I think that a lot of institutions are in that same boat.”

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