-Donald Trump is intensifying his use of fascist rhetoric
on the campaign trail, while his underlings,
like Rudy Giuliani, finally face massive
and, quite frankly, hilarious consequences
for spreading baseless conspiracy theories
about the 2020 election.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Donald Trump and his allies have made it very clear
that if he wins the second time,
he will be completely and totally unrestrained.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself,
Donald Trump was restrained in his first term?
Like, I know it's been a million years since he was elected,
and we've been through several elections, a pandemic,
a recession, a coup attempt,
two impeachments, a bunch of indictments,
several dozen unprecedented, history-making scandals,
and a press conference at a landscaping company.
But I don't recall ever watching
Trump lose the Oval Office and thinking to myself,
who is this bashful little wallflower?
Trump is making it clear this time around
that he will surround himself with toadies
and yes-men who can use the levers of power
to turn his authoritarian impulses into reality,
and he's actively drawing up plans
to get revenge on his political opponents.
He's calling his critics "vermin,"
said he'll be a dictator for one day,
and then on Saturday, he said this about immigration.
-You know, when they let -- I think the real number is
15, 16 million people into our country --
when they do that, we got a lot of work to do.
They're poisoning the blood of our country.
That's what they've done.
-They're poisoning the blood of our country?
You look like something that would show up
under a microscope in a toxicology lab.
I'm not sure you should be talking
about poisoning anyone's blood
when you look like the corpse of a mobster
who just got fished out of the water next to the FDR.
You should be lying on a dock
with Lennie Briscoe making wisecracks over you.
"Well, at least the East River is less polluted now."
And it's not just rhetoric.
Trump and his goons are already drawing up very real plans
to revive his Muslim ban, expel asylum seekers,
round up migrants by the millions in sweeping raids,
and build detention camps to house them.
But his sycophants in Congress and on right-wing TV
are once again trotting out the same excuses
they've already used to dismiss
Trump's worst offenses for years now.
Here's Fox host Brian Kilmeade claiming anyone worried
about Trump's use of fascist rhetoric
is just overreacting.
-They didn't like his rhetoric.
He was talking about the border.
He was talking about people coming from other countries,
coming from prisons,
and they wanted to focus all the Sunday shows,
Lawrence, on the word he used, "poison."
He was just trying to say, "We want to keep America America.
We want to build up the border
and find out who's coming in and out."
And they tried to say that this language was the problem.
-Yes, that's what we're saying.
The language is the problem.
I'm sorry we're focused on his language,
but the dude does two things -- plays golf and talks,
and I don't want to watch him golf.
I mean, I bet he mutters to his caddie
after every shot "That's left, which means the wind,
Keith, the wind was a little stronger
than you led me to believe. So that's on you, Keith."
Also, they're not even trying to do that thing anymore
where they say, "What Trump really meant was..."
And then translate his fascism into more polite words.
They're basically saying, "Hey, if it walks like a duck
and it quacks like a duck, it could be anything."
Now they're just telling us not to listen to his words at all.
Next, they're going to tell us that watching
Trump's rallies is actually anti-Trump.
Fox news is just going to put up a chyron
during Trump rallies that says "Quick, change the channel!"
Then there was South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham,
who went from fierce Trump critic to fierce ally back to
Trump critic on January 6th, then back to Trump supporter.
Graham said on Sunday that he also does not care
if Trump uses fascist language.
-You have endorsed former President Trump.
Are you comfortable with him using words like that?
-You know, we're talking about language.
I could care less what language people use
as long as we get it right.
-"I could care less what language people use.
For example, Donald Trump has called me a disgrace and nutjob
and one of the dumbest human beings he's ever seen,
and I don't let that stop him from being my best friend.
Just the other day, my meemaw said,
'Can't you tell that man hates you?'
And I snapped back, 'Can't you tell I hate you,
you old bag of boils?'"
Although it was actually the next part
of what Graham said that really stood out to me.
-If you think you're going to win the debate
on illegal immigration
by picking a line out of the Trump speech...
-"Picking a line of a Trump speech?"
He's the one doing the speeches.
That's all he does is give speeches.
Now you want us to ignore the speeches?
I mean, if the language doesn't matter,
they should broadcast his rallies without sound.
[ Laughter ]
That way it would just look like a pissy old
Upper East Side doorman screaming
about how bad the Giants are.
Yes, yes, Donald, I agree with you. Donald.
Now, can you just tell me, do I have any packages, Donald?
The most frustrating thing about this
is watching these people lie so shamelessly
without consequences.
Which is why it was so satisfying
to see one of Trump's cronies finally face the music on Friday
when his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
was ordered to pay monetary damages
to two Georgia election workers he defamed.
Now going into this trial, various outlets
reported that Rudy could potentially be ordered
to pay nearly $48 million, which is a ton of money.
But don't worry, they didn't make him pay that amount.
They made him pay more.
-The former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani,
ordered to pay an enormous price
for falsely accusing two Georgia election workers of fraud.
-Just moments ago, a jury in Washington, D.C.,
sent the former Trump adviser
must pay $148 million total in damages
stemming from the defamation case
brought by two former Georgia election workers.
-That's right. Instead of $48 million,
they ordered him to pay $148 million.
They basically took the maximum and put a one in front of it.
Which, if you ask me, is the funniest possible choice.
They took one look at Rudy and said, "There's no way
he can afford to pay 48 million, so [bleep] it,
let's add another hundo."
So in this case obviously did not go well for Rudy.
And there were signs throughout that it was going to end badly.
For example, a lawyer for the plaintiff suing Rudy
repeatedly criticized Giuliani, comparing him to flat earthers
who will never stop believing election lies,
saying he committed an injustice against the plaintiffs.
Wait. I'm sorry. Oh, I read that wrong.
That was actually Rudy Giuliani's own attorney.
His own attorney said that in court.
Either he couldn't bring himself to lie on Rudy's behalf,
or he genuinely forgot which side he was on.
I'm shocked Trump himself
didn't show up as a witness in this case.
"I'm here to defend Rudy,
even though he's a very bad lawyer who lies all the time.
He's a true nutbird. I mean, a real wacko.
Everything he says is certifiably insane,
and he doesn't regret any of it. I love him to death,
but in all honesty, I also hate his guts.
And if you -- If you let him walk out of here
without ordering him to pay a frankly comical amount of money,
you'll be doing an injustice both
to the criminal justice system and to the concept of truth.
At the same time, these are just my words,
and they are meant to be listened to or heard."
One of the many funny aspects of this verdict
is the fact that, as far as anyone can tell,
there's no way Rudy can pay all that money.
But the plaintiff's lawyers insist they're going to collect.
-Let me just put the award that they got on just a scale
for our audience to understand.
The Ruby Freeman defamation case,
$16,171,000 for Ruby Freeman,
$16,998,000 for Shaye Moss for defamation,
another 20 million to Ruby Freeman
for emotional distress, another 20 million
for Shaye Moss on emotional distress,
$75 million for both on punitive damages.
So that's the $148.169 million at this moment.
Rudy Giuliani owes $500,000 in unpaid taxes.
The IRS has a lien on his Palm Beach property.
He's selling his Upper East Side apartment.
It's on the books for -- it's on the -- it's on the market
for $6 million, but it hasn't been sold yet.
And his consulting firm defaulted on a debt
for a phone bill.
-He defaulted on a phone bill.
He bounced a check for his neck-removal surgery.
He owes $1 million an unpaid parking tickets
for parking his car inside the living room of his apartment.
He missed a credit card payment
for a locksmith he hired to get into his house,
which he had locked himself out of,
and then a second locksmith he hired
to get him out of his house he had locked himself into.
He also owes Blockbuster multiple
copies of the film "Rudy,"
after returning the ones he rented with himself edited
into the footage.
[ Crowd chanting "Rudy" ]
-America!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
"I think it's better now."
Rudy also took to his own dumb internet show
to insist he told the truth,
but got cranky when someone off camera
tried to express their support for him.
-All that I care about is that I can look in the mirror
and I can say I did...
what? my conscience told me to do,
that my father would be proud of me.
-We're proud of you, Rudy!
-And please don't interrupt me.
-First thing, Rudy,
maybe don't snap at your last remaining supporter.
Second thing, last remaining supporter,
bring it way down. That was so loud.
There's an outdoor rally voice and there's an indoor
sad webcast from an empty office voice,
and you use the wrong voice.
[Shouting] "We believe in you, Rudy!"
Whoa.
The Republican Party has reverted to the same posture
they adopted toward Trump the first time he ran,
dismissing what he says and telling the rest of us
we are the ones being unreasonable
by actually listening to him.
But the key difference this time is that Trump and his goons
are finally facing very real legal
and financial consequences for their actions.
If Rudy is going to afford to pay
this massive defamation verdict,
he's going to have to beg for money from everyone in...
-America!
-This has been A Closer Look.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching A Closer Look.
And as a reminder, my brother Josh and I
have started a new podcast
called "Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers."
We hope you listen. We hope you like it.
We'll see you soon.