A CASE MANY LEGAL EXPERTS SAY
HAS LITTLE TO NO CHANCE OF
SUCCEEDING.
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY’S
COMPLICITY WHEN IT COMES TO
TRUMP’S SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION
AND HIS CONCERTED EFFORT TO
STOKE DISTRUST IN AN ELECTION
DEEMED THE MOST SECURE IN OUR
COUNTRY’S HISTORY, AND WHICH
ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR SAID
WAS FREE FROM WIDESPREAD FRAUD,
COULD DO LASTING HARM.
THAT’S THE VIEW OF FORMER
REPUBLICAN SENATOR JEFF FLAKE,
WHO TWEETED THIS ABOUT TRUMP’S
PRESSURING OF LOCAL OFFICIALS TO
OVERTURN THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
QUOTE, THERE IS LONG-TERM DAMAGE
WHEN THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR IS
NORMALIZED.
IT IS NOT NORMAL AND ELECTED
REPUBLICANS NEED TO SPEAK OUT
AGAINST IT.
SOMETHING ONLY A HANDFUL OF THEM
HAVE DONE.
AS OF TODAY, SIX.
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX
REPUBLICAN SENATORS HAVE
EXPLICITLY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT JOE
BIDEN IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT.
WHICH MEANS THAT ONLY ONE HAS
COME OUT IN THE 16 DAYS SINCE WE
TOLD YOU, OUR SHOCK, THAT ONLY
FIVE HAD SPOKEN OUT.
NEARLY 90% OF ELECTED REPUBLICAN
SENATORS ARE STILL STAYING QUIET
OR DANCING AROUND THE FACT THAT
WE WILL HAVE A NEW OCCUPANT IN
THE OVAL OFFICE ON JANUARY 20th.
THAT REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE,
EVEN MORE STRIKING GIVEN
YESTERDAY’S DEVASTATING BLOW
FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME
COURT WHICH DENIED -- REFUSED TO
TAKE UP AN APPEAL THAT TRIED TO
NULLIFY THE CERTIFICATION OF
PENNSYLVANIA’S ELECTION RESULTS.
IT WAS DESCRIBED THIS WAY BY
PETER BAKER OF THE "NEW YORK
TIMES."
QUOTE, THE SUPREME COURT, WITH
THREE JUSTICES APPOINTED BY
TRUMP, THOUGHT SO LITTLE OF HIS
ALLIES’ BID TO OVERTURN THE
ELECTION RESULTS IN PENNSYLVANIA
THAT IT DISMISSED THE CASE WITH
JUST ONE SENTENCE AND NO NOTED
DISSENTS.
EVEN IN THE FACE OF THAT BLATANT
DISMISSAL, DONALD TRUMP
CONTINUES TO FALSELY CLAIM THAT
THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN FROM
HIM.
TODAY, HE TWEETED A FLURRY OF
FALSEHOODS, MANY OF WHICH THE
NOW FAMILIAR TWITTER WARNINGS ON
THEM.
PETE WANER, A FORMER SPEECH
WRITER FOR GEORGE W. BUSH CALLS
TRUMP’S ABILITY TO HAVE HIS
SUPPORTERS BELIEVE EVERY WORD
DESPITE BEING DEVOID OF EVERY
FACT HIS, QUOTE, MOST MALICIOUS
LEGACY.
MORE THAN HALF OF REPUBLICANS
SAID TRUMP RIGHTFULLY WON, THAT
THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN FROM HIM
BECAUSE OF WIDESPREAD VOTER
FRAUD THAT FAVORED BIDEN, CLAIMS
THAT ARE HALLUCINATIONS.
THIS MIGHT BE DONALD TRUMP’S
MOST ENDURING LEGACY, A
NIHILISTIC POLITICAL CULTURE,
ONE THAT IS TRIBALISTIC,
DISTRUSTFUL, AND SOMETIMES
DELUSIONAL, SWIMMING IN
CONSPIRACY THEORIES.
THE RESULT IS THAT AMERICANS ARE
DISORIENTED AND FRUSTRATED,
FEARFUL AND OFTEN ENRAGED AT ONE
ANOTHER.
DONALD TRUMP DIDN’T INVENT
MISINFORMATION AND
DISINFORMATION, BUT TRUMP
EXPLOITED THEM MORE EFFECTIVELY
THAN ANYONE ELSE HAS IN AMERICAN
HISTORY.
EXHIBITED IN WHAT JUST HAPPENED
IN THE LAST HOUR, 17 STATES, ALL
WITH REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS
GENERAL, AND ONES WHERE TRUMP
BEAT JOE BIDEN, HAVE TOLD THE
SUPREME COURT THAT THEY SUPPORT
THAT LONG SHOT SUIT BY TEXAS’S
A.G. TO NULLIFY BIDEN’S
VICTORIES IN FOUR BATTLEGROUND
STATES.
THE COMPLETE COLLAPSE OF THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY IS WHERE WE
START THIS HOUR WITH SOME OF OUR
MOST FAVORITE REPORTERS AND
FRIENDS.
JIM PALMERI IS HERE, FORMER
WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS
DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND FORMER COMMUNICATIONS
DIRECTOR FOR HILLARY CLINTON’S
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
ALSO JOINING US, TIM MILLER,
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER FOR JEB
BUSH’S 2016 CAMPAIGN, AND THE
POLITICAL DIRECTOR FOR
REPUBLICAN VOTERS AGAINST TRUMP.
AND STEVE, POLITICAL STRATEGIST,
LINCOLN PROJECT COFOUNDER, MY
LONG-TIME FRIEND, STEVE SCHMIDT,
I GOT TO HEAR WHAT’S ON YOUR
MIND ABOUT ALL THIS.
>> THIS WAS A MONUMENTAL MONTH
IN THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY.
DEMOCRACY IS FUELED BY FAITH AND
BELIEF, BY THE PEOPLE IN THE
LEGITIMACY OF THE SYSTEM.
AND OUR SYSTEM REQUIRES BOTH
SIDES IN THE COMPETITION OF
IDEAS THAT’S DECIDED IN
ELECTIONS.
IT REQUIRES BOTH SIDES TO BE
WILLING TO LOSE AN ELECTION.
AND IF YOU HAVE ONE SIDE WHO IS
NO LONGER WILLING TO LOSE AN
ELECTION, AND WON’T REPRESENT
THE POPULAR WILL OF THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE, THEN WHAT YOU HAVE ON
AMERICAN SOIL IS AN AUTOCRATIC
POLITICAL PARTY.
AND SO, WE HAVE SOME REPUBLICAN
SENATORS, NONE OF WHOM COVERED
THEMSELVES WITH GLORY IN ANY OF
THIS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MITT
ROMNEY OVER THESE LAST COUPLE OF
YEARS, AT LEAST WE HAVE SIX OF
THEM WHO HOLD ON TO THE BASIC
TENETS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
BEHIND THE LINES OF THE
AUTOCRATIC MOVEMENT.
REALLY A LAST DEFENSE, I
SUPPOSE, IN THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY.
AND THEN ALL OF THE REST OF US
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT LINE,
FROM AOC AND BERNIE SANDERS TO
THE LINCOLN PROJECT AND TIM
MILLER AND ALL OF THE FOLKS THAT
STOOD WITH JOE BIDEN WHOSE
CAREERS HAVE BEEN AS
CONSERVATIVES OR REPUBLICANS.
AMERICAN POLITICS REALIGNED THIS
MONTH.
WE’RE NOW ONE ELECTION AWAY IN
THIS COUNTRY FROM LOSING OUR
DEMOCRACY BECAUSE ONE PARTY
DOESN’T BELIEVE IN IT.
WE SAW THE POISONING OF AMERICAN
DEMOCRACY DRIP BY DRIP, DROP BY
DROP THIS MONTH UNTIL WE SAW 82%
OF REPUBLICANS SAID, HEY, THIS
IS ILLEGITIMATE.
AND ONCE YOU REACH THAT CRITICAL
MASS, YOU’RE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE
AS A SOCIETY AND A COUNTRY, AND
THIS IS GOING TO BE THE DEFINING
POLITICAL FIGHT, I SUSPECT, OVER
THE BALANCE OF ALL OF OUR
LIFETIMES.
BUT TRULY, A HISTORIC MONTH AND
NOT ONE FOR THE GOOD IN THE
MIDDLE OF A PROFOUND CALAMITY.
AND TRUMP’S VANDALISM OF THIS
COUNTRY, ITS INSTITUTIONS, HAS