Actress Jane Fonda stopped by Friday’s edition of The Briefing with Jen Psaki on MS NOW in an attempt to hype Saturday’s No Kings protests. Naturally, Fonda would paint a dire picture of the state of democracy in America, but her evidence consisted of defeats for liberal budget priorities and false narratives about the erasing of history. Nevertheless, Fonda would also suggest that the state of democracy is so perilous that things are currently worse than they were in the Jim Crow days because now everybody is affected.
Psaki led Fonda by misusing the word “all” when she invited her to promote the cause, “I watched your event today. We all watched your event today. And I should note for the audience, you were in Washington, D.C. today speaking outside the Kennedy Center for an event—that’s what I’m referring to—in defense of free expression. So tell us about the event and the message you were really trying to get across to people watching.”
Jane Fonda appeared with Jen Psaki last night to say it isn’t democracy if Democrats don’t get their budget priorities “Well, the attacks on the arts, on literature, on film, on museums, the National Endowment of the Arts, all of these are under attack right now. They’re being… pic.twitter.com/k0aJxB5CLK
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 28, 2026
Fonda replied by freaking out over “the attacks on the arts, on literature, on film, on museums, the National Endowment of the Arts, all of these are under attack right now. They’re being defunded. They’re being censored. They’re being removed.”
Before anyone could object that defunding the NEA is not an attack on the idea of art, Fonda continued, “History, especially racial history. The history of slavery is all being erased now…We worried that people and the press don’t see clearly enough the breadth and depth of these attacks.”
Not only is Fonda simply incorrect about history being erased, the media has not stopped its efforts to parrot her narrative. Nevertheless, she continued freaking out, “And we have to understand what’s happening. This is not normal. This does not happen in a democracy. And we have to call it what it is and we have to end it. We’re the Committee for the First Amendment. It’s the First Amendment for a reason. It’s the most important. It’s the cornerstone of all democracies. It’s freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom to protest, including the right to criticize our president if we choose. All of this is under attack.”
Later, Psaki continued to exalt her guest and her supposed wisdom and expertise, “But just to remind people, during the anti-war and Civil Rights Movements, which were both, of course, very violent, incredibly tumultuous times in our nation’s history. But last year, you described the second Trump administration as the most frightening time of your life. Just level set for people. What sets it apart from what you’ve seen over your lifetime of activism?”
Later, Fonda suggests Trump 2.0 is worse than Jim Crow, “I’m speaking from the vantage point of a white person. I think black people in this country have experienced authoritarianism. I mean, Jim Crow, there were no rights for people who were black. This is the first time in the… pic.twitter.com/kd0Zt2sWAF
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 28, 2026
Bizarrely, Fonda seemed to know what she was about to say sounded insane, but she said it anyway, “Well, I’m speaking from the vantage point of a white person. I think black people in this country have experienced authoritarianism. I mean, Jim Crow, there were no rights for people who were black. This is the first time in the history of the United States that an authoritarian regime has broken through. And worldwide, historians who study these things, they all agree it has never happened so fast in any industrialized democracy. He is moving to consolidate very, very fast, which means that right now we have to use the tools we have to stop it.”
Like Psaki, Fonda also abused the word “all.” If these self-styled experts on authoritarianism really think that Trump is moving faster than any dictator in history while Fonda promotes her protest movement on national television, then people are right to be skeptical of them.
Here is a transcript for the March 27 show:
MS NOW The Briefing with Jen Psaki
3/27/2026
9:48 PM ET
JEN PSAKI: I watched your event today. We all watched your event today. And I should note for the audience, you were in Washington, D.C. today speaking outside the Kennedy Center for an event—that’s what I’m referring to—in defense of free expression. So tell us about the event and the message you were really trying to get across to people watching.
JANE FONDA: Well, the attacks on the arts, on literature, on film, on museums, the National Endowment of the Arts, all of these are under attack right now. They’re being defunded. They’re being censored. They’re being removed.
History, especially racial history. The history of slavery is all being erased now. And we wanted—because it’s kind of like here—siloed. We worried that people and the press don’t see clearly enough the breadth and depth of these attacks.
And we have to understand what’s happening. This is not normal. This does not happen in a democracy. And we have to call it what it is and we have to end it. We’re the Committee for the First Amendment. It’s the First Amendment for a reason. It’s the most important. It’s the cornerstone of all democracies.
It’s freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom to protest, including the right to criticize our president if we choose. All of this is under attack.
…
PSAKI: But just to remind people, during the anti-war and Civil Rights Movements, which were both, of course, very violent, incredibly tumultuous times in our nation’s history. But last year, you described the second Trump administration as the most frightening time of your life. Just level set for people. What sets it apart from what you’ve seen over your lifetime of activism?
FONDA: Well, I’m speaking from the vantage point of a white person. I think black people in this country have experienced authoritarianism. I mean, Jim Crow, there were no rights for people who were black. This is the first time in the history of the United States that an authoritarian regime has broken through. And worldwide, historians who study these things, they all agree it has never happened so fast in any industrialized democracy. He is moving to consolidate very, very fast, which means that right now we have to use the tools we have to stop it.
