States, states rights, did you know that a governor can declare war?
Governor can declare war?
Okay, and we're gonna probably see that.
>> Okay, that is Michael Flynn,
former yes national security adviser to Donald Trump before we figured out.
Oops, he works for a foreign government.
Well, and then of course he was pardoned for
lying to the FBI by Donald Trump's outgoing president Donald trump.
There he is at a campaign event for Mark Fincham.
The Republican candidate for Arizona's secretary of state.
Who if you didn't know has been cozying up with election deniers,
conspiracy theorists and Q and on supporters throughout his run.
And Mike Flynn himself is a where we go one we go all,
let's gather the whole family and take photos on 4th of July,
because we believe this conspiracy theory that maybe we made up as well.
Flynn has been known to pitch crazy conspiracies and
military uprisings on numerous occasions.
And he stayed true to form, demanding that quote,
90% of federal agencies be disbanded.
Just lock him up.
Flynn exclaimed to the cheering crowd.
Once again, he should probably be the one locked up considering his two felonies.
But anyway, he's just saying yeah, governor can declare war.
Is that true for anyone who cares?
No, in fact, article one, Section eight clause 11 of the US Constitution.
Just a small little very small book, a small read states that it is
Congress that has the power to declare war to raise.
And support armies and make rules for government regulation of land and
naval forces if the United States was to wage war.
Then congress would have to pass a resolution in both chambers then presented
to the president who shall then direct the military as commander-in-chief
of the army and navy of the United States.
And even then it might not be legal.
Hello Iraq and Afghanistan most likely.
Why does any of this matter?
Why do we care that Michael Flynn ahead of the midterms in stumping for
a secretary of state in Arizona is joining up all of this state's rights BS.
Well, that's because even though Donald Trump was unsuccessful in overturning
the election in 2020, the die has been cast and before I get Jake to weigh in.
I wanna just go to this recent poll that shows how much misinformation,
how much mistrust that has been shown in the last two years about our
elections on a state level, on a federal level.
It wasn't the stealing of the 2000 election by W Bush and
Roger Stone and company.
Although that should have done it.
No, it was the false stealing of the election under Trump.
So this is a new Yahoo News YouGov poll showing that less than half Americans
46% now believe that candidates should commit in advance to
accepting the results of this year's midterm election.
Instead majority say that either candidate should not or that they're not sure.
So in other words do you just like Trump was asked will
you commit to honoring the results of the 2020 election?
And he was kg effectively saying well I'm gonna win it anyway, and
if I heads I win tails you lose, as Bernie Sanders called it.
But then among Trump supporters it's even creepier.
So just 44% say they agree with the proposition that the candidate
with the fewer votes should concede the election.
That meaning the candidate that lost nearly as many Trump voters 38%.
That the candidates with fewer votes at the end of the process should continue to
challenge the results.
Another 18%, not really clear.
So that is keep on fighting even though you've lost.
And then finally just broadly, what do people what do Americans think about what
should happen after the elections over?
Votes have been counted, what should we do?
We'll take a look at this graph.
The candidate with a fewer votes should concede the election is
55% of US adults, which is, [LAUGH] on a great stat,
that means 55% are like, yeah yeah you should concede.
21% say the candidate with fewer votes.
In other words, the loser should continue to challenge the election if they believe
it was wrongly decided.
Another 23%, say they don't know.
And then of course Trump voters only 43% of Republicans think losers
should concede with 37% saying no they should challenge the election,
and there is more I want to dig into.
But just at this point, I mean it's all been destroyed
effectively our faith in any kind of democratic institution.
Jake, what do you think?
>> Yeah, so I think that both of these issues,
whether you should challenge an election and whether you should arrest
people involved in politics require a little bit more of an explanation.
And in fact I think this particular poll except for
one part that is just stunning and terrible.
Which I'm gonna get to in a second is a little misleading because it says
will you accept the results of an election ahead of time?
Well, I don't blame some people for saying, well it depends, doesn't it?
I mean, so for example, there's an election in north Carolina for
us Congress where the republican turned out had just flat out cheated and
they had to redo the election.
I'm gonna read graphic seven and eight to give you some nuance there,
and on the arrest and Michael Flynn the lunatic, Michael Flynn.
There's also some nuance there, believe it or not.
So first let me go to graphic seven they explain presented with an area of
choice is by far the largest number of US adults.
62% say that demanding a recount and familiar and
widely accepted form of redress is legitimate.
Likewise, 30% say filing a suit in court also legitimate.
So I would be in that 62%, I would be in that 30%, and
I think that the 30% should be a much higher number.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with asking for a recount, and
there's absolutely nothing wrong with going to court.
If you think something went wrong.
Now, what a lot of republicans don't understand is that trump actually did do
those things and he got those things.
So for example, in Georgia they recounted three times including a hand recount.
He lost every single one of them.
But almost no Maga person knows that.
They think they never recounted any of the states.
That's not true.
Everywhere he asked for a recount, he got a recount, and
then they think well yeah you should be able to go to court.
I grew with your brother like, yeah you don't want him to, no I do.
He went to court 60 times, lost all 60 times.
So, so if you've got an actual issue with an election, which is certainly possible.
There's a legitimate way to do it, and
there is a legal way that is actually explaining our laws on how to do it.
Now, let's go to Graphic E,
which explains the illegitimate ways that some people are in favor of.
They say, all right, well, 10% of Americans said that they would demand that
state legislatures refuse to certify the results.
Well, that's nuts.
That's just saying I'm gonna take my ball and go home.
I don't care who won.
I'm just gonna cheat at the state level.
9% of Americans say selected, declared the election illegitimate.
Well, that's not a thing.
You go through the courts and find out if it is or it isn't,
8% of Americans selected demand that election officials overturned
the results based on what right?
If you don't have any evidence, then what would they just want to win?
That's all just cheat again.
But the last one is the most concerning by far.
5% of americans select encourage supporters to take up arms against
the government.
And remember that's not 5% of republicans.
It's 5% of Americans.
The number of republicans is much higher.
But okay, let's take the number of Americans because the easy math
on the way.
Over 330 million people in this country,
that means there are a giant number of people.
Okay, 33 million is 10%.
So about 6/16 million people in this country.
Now think if you lose an election, you should shoot the other side.
>> I can do that math.
I I did that a little bit.
But and it's scary, I wish I was worse at math, [LAUGH].
I didn't understand that's enough people.
I mean, considering the amount of firearms we have in this country, that's insane.
I mean, I also think Jake, that this is being asked sort of cagily.
Everyone knows that when you're asking voters that the last thing in
their mind is the 2020 election.
So you're sort of asking them about Trump even if you're not directly asking them
about Trump in my opinion.
But I agree with you that it is totally fine that want to recount 62%,
I would be in that 62% as well.
I am a little more cautious when I see the 38% of Trump
voters saying that if you've got fewer votes,
that you should keep on challenging the results.
There's a point in which you need to stop challenging the results and
there is a percentage at which you should absolutely not demand that you won.
>> Yeah, of course.
And you're absolutely right about your interpretation of it.
And the bigger number is concerning because it's clear that a giant
percentage of republicans are saying, I don't care if we lose.
I just wanna say we won, and overturn it by any means necessary,
which then leads us back to the violence.
Look, it turns out human beings are very easy to influence, and
the right-wing is even easier to influence.
So, they've now gotten them to believe all sorts of insanity that
the democrats are baby killers and drink the brain juice of children and
Tom Hanks and Bill Gates and Fauci are involved.
And yeah, that's a giant number.
That's not all ha ha he he that's like three people in the country.
No, it's number of people who believe Q and on this was like a year ago.
The number is increasing as we go.
As David Shuster explained in earlier hour.
Was 15% of the country.
15% of the country believes that those people that I just talked about crack
open the skulls of babies and drink their baby juice cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
Just because somebody suggested it online.
And then it was and then others in right-wing media have backed it up.
They believe anything Trump says, I mean, Trump says insane things.
And he says the FBI planted these documents, and I put them there myself.
Well, those two things don't make any sense, that it's internally inconsistent.
They go, that's goddamn right.
The FBI planted it, and he had it already, right?
So, when they start talking about violence, it's getting into
the right-wing's heads, and they're beginning to believe that it's legitimate.
That's why you're seeing the poll numbers that you're seeing.
So this brings us back to Michael Flynn?
So, in terms of arresting people that are involved in politics,
is there a blanket rule?
You should, you should, no that's not how it works.
The rule is did they break a law or didn't they break a law?
So, for example, Israel has arrested several former prime ministers because
they broke the law and corruption.
That's good, that makes sense.
And that you should give Israel credit for that for
running an honest government, even for the elite, right in that case.
Okay, not in other cases, but at least in that case, right?
And so if you have a clear evidence of someone breaking the law,
you should apply the law equally, even if they're very powerful politician.
On the other hand, just arresting your political opponents because they're your
political opponents is what dictators do,
and is the very opposite of what Americans should stand for.
And you heard Flynn in that clip.
He's like, why don't we just get rid of 90% of the people who work in
the federal government?
And then he said, lock him up, lock him up for what?
For working in the federal government?
He's just saying, I don't like them, they're my political opponents.
So I'd like to arrest them because I want a dictator in charge.
And if that wasn't clear enough,
he then talks about how governors can declare war,.
First of all, I mean, the guy's got everything wrong with him.
I mean, he's totally mentally incompetent.
You didn't look up the governor's can't start wars.
It's one of the three dumbest people in the country.
You didn't even look that up, you goddamn moron.
So unbelievably painful.
He's stupid, right?
But on top of that, he's basically declaring that he hates America.
He despises America.
He doesn't want the federal government to be able to declare war.
He wants the governor to be able to declare war against one another.
He doesn't want the federal government at all.
He wants to lock up 90% of the federal government.
He doesn't want the person who won the election to be the president,
he wants to get ready.
He suggested in a meeting with Donald Trump according to reporting,
that Trump should declare martial law and grab the voting machines.
So he's basically saying I want a dictator.
I despise America, I despise our democracy, I loathe our constitution.
And this guy was a general, please.
It's exactly those kind of guys who tried to do coups.
How do we know?
He just tried one, declaring martial law in America and seizing voting machines.
So the guy who lost is declared the winner that is a coup,
Michael Flynn is an awful, awful human being.
And just if you love America,
you should know that people like Michael Flynn are trying to destroy this country.
He's the worst of the worst.
>> And it completely echoes what Roger Stone said before the election.
It echoes what Steve Bannon said before the election.
These are Trump's top and
closest advisers saying just declare that you won and strong arm the rest.
And I think the question that was missing from this poll Jake, was,
do you actually just want a dictatorship?
If Trump were in power,
would you be okay with the United States being run by a dictator?
And, [LAUGH] a lot of them would probably say yes?