-Senate Republicans, with one notable exception,
completed their cover-up of the President's crimes today
when they acquitted him after an impeachment trial
with no witnesses.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
Let's just say it has not been a banner week
for American democracy.
First, of course, there was the bizarre meltdown
at the Democratic Iowa caucus, where an app designed
to count people milling around in high-school gymnasiums
crashed and delayed the results.
The app was built by a company called Shadow,
which I assume is run by Christoph waltz
from the Bond films.
[German accent] Shadow!
And the crash resulted in chaos
on the ground and on cable-news airwaves.
-10:43 Eastern time.
-We still don't have any results.
-We don't have any results from Iowa.
-Yeah, Brian, you know, I've seen or texted with
the Biden campaign manager a few times tonight.
And what does he keep saying to me? "We don't know anything."
-Of course, even if the app worked perfectly,
Joe Biden probably still wouldn't know anything.
The only app Joe Biden has ever used is FaceTime
and only by accidentally sitting on his phone.
"Hello?! Hello?! Honey?!
My wallet's talking to me again!"
The chaos came after a day of reporters roaming around
high-school gyms in Iowa and finding that Biden,
once considered the front-runner,
was having trouble gaining traction.
-There was an entire Biden segment.
Now it looks to be reduced to just a very small corner here,
so certainly not a robust turnout.
-The Joe Biden group probably not going to be viable.
-This is the Joe Biden section here. Not too much.
-This is the Bernie group.
It's so big that, in fact, that middle section right there,
with all those folks in it, that was the Joe Biden section.
And they actually moved the Joe Biden section
because they didn't have room for all the Bernie supporters
that are showing up here.
-Biden, how are we doing over here?
This does not look like 56 people.
So the Biden group --
So, you're -- You look like lovely, wonderful people,
but it doesn't look like you made the viability threshold.
-Not yet. There's time, honey.
-There's time. This year?
-Damn!
Jake Tapper is walking around with a microphone
sassing people like he's Billy Eichner.
Seriously, Tapper going around sassing voters
is a show I would watch.
They could call it "Tap That Sass."
Also, look at this group of people caucusing for Biden.
They don't exactly look like they're voting.
They just look like they got
knocked out of a game of dodgeball.
"I'm so bad at dodging." "Yeah, me too."
[ Laughter ]
Then yesterday, the Iowa Democratic Party
finally got around to announcing partial results,
leaving everyone somehow even more confused
about what was happening,
resulting in a breathless Steve Kornacki
racing around the studio trying to digest
all of the number vomit that was being dumped on him.
-Got a lot of questions here.
I got to dive into these and see where these came from.
Not every county gets, you know, state delegate equivalents
that are equal to the turnout.
Sanders -- 30%.
Iowa City, Johnson County.
Sanders -- 33%.
Getting big numbers in these places.
I'm out of breath here. Sorry.
-My God. Someone get that man some oxygen.
Also, there are 49 states to go, Kornacki!
You got to pace yourself!
You're going to need the paddles by Super Tuesday.
In case you thought this couldn't get
any more complicated, it turns out the Iowa caucus
used some complicated math
similar to the electoral-college system
in order to give more weight to rural areas,
meaning you could actually win more delegates
even while losing the popular vote.
-Buttigieg's campaign right now is in the lead in this category,
state delegate equivalents.
We've been saying this is a bit like
the electoral-college/ popular-vote thing
where there's the potential for a split.
And right now, with 62% of the expected vote in in Iowa,
that's what you're seeing.
So, again, the possibility here --
Very possible right now that Buttigieg is going to hang on,
win the state-delegate equivalents.
That's the traditional way these things have been decided.
And that Sanders is going to get to say, "Hey, look.
More people came out to support me than Buttigieg."
The thing that's taking him from close to the lead, actually,
is that peculiar state-delegate equivalent allocation formula.
When you apply that, Buttigieg takes the lead.
-Just give it to the person who gets the most votes!
Why?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Please answer me.
Why did "American Idol"
have a better system than actual America?
And yet, while Bernie,
who was actually leading the popular vote,
remained restrained, Buttigieg flew to New Hampshire
with more confidence.
-I don't know how anybody declares victory
before you have an official statement
as to the election results.
So we're not declaring victory.
-They're not complete,
but results are in from a majority of precincts,
and they show our campaign in first place.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Hey, man, you can't just declare yourself in first place
when all the results aren't in
and you're not even winning the popular vote.
That's not how it works. If that were the case,
then I could just declare myself "People's" Sexiest Man Alive
right now.
And do you know --
do you know how pissed Adam Driver would be?
Probably not at all because we're basically twins.
Also, I love the contrast between how polished Pete is
and the fact that Bernie is doing his press conference
on an airplane, apparently in coach.
"These seats are too roomy! Who needs this much space?!
I'm going to sit in that over there overhead!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
"Pass me some pretzels!"
So, that was the state of democracy on Monday.
Then, last night, an impeached president,
who lost the popular vote, gave the State of the Union address
in which he demonized immigrants and lied repeatedly
from job numbers to immigration to tax cuts to drug prices.
For example, at one point, Trump called on Congress
to pass a bill to lower prescription-drug prices,
a bill Democrats have already passed in the House
and which Mitch McConnell
has refused to take up in the Senate.
The bill is called HR3, and some Democrats started
chanting the bill's name in response to Trump's lie.
-I'm calling for bipartisan legislation
that achieves the goal of dramatically lowering
prescription drug prices.
Get a bill on my desk,
and I will sign it into law immediately.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-HR 3! HR 3!
-With unyielding commitment...
-I love that they're chanting the bill's name
because you know Trump has no idea what that means.
[ Laughter ]
"HR? Wait. What?
Isn't that where women file all their complaints about me?
I thought there were way more than three."
[ Laughter ]
As is always the case with Trump, there were so many lies,
it was impossible to keep track,
and the constant stream of lies from Trump prompted glares
of disapproval from Democrats,
bewilderment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
and a solemn head shake from Congressman Jim Clyburn.
That face really sums it up right there.
That's the face you make when your daughter tells you
she's engaged to a philosophy major.
[ Laughter ]
"How are you gonna eat?"
Compare that to the reactions of Republicans in the crowd,
like smirking '80s movie villains
Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
And a horrifying smile from
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
who looked like Chucky pretending he's not possessed.
"Well, I'm just a -- I'm just a regular old doll.
You can go to bed now. I'm not, uh...
I'm not gonna do evil once you sleep."
[ Laughter ]
Go to bed.
Just a regular doll."
[ Laughter ]
Those two moments are perfect illustrations
of the crisis to democracy we're currently facing.
A majority leader, who actually represents
a minority of Americans, working with a president
who lost the popular vote by 3 million,
installed two Supreme Court justices
with lifetime appointments.
Now, every President uses the State of the Union address
to do a little campaigning,
but Trump turned it into a full-on rally.
At one point, Republicans literally started chanting
"Four more years."
-Four more years! Four more years!
Four more years! Four more years!
-Cool. The State of the Union just turned into a Trump rally.
I mean, the only difference is Trump is squinting his way
through a speech someone else wrote for him
instead of riffing about insane stuff like this.
-Sinks, toilets, and showers.
You don't get any water.
-Four less flushes! Four less flushes!
And the undying devotion most Republicans have pledged
to a shameless, corrupt liar was on full display today
when they acquitted him after a sham impeachment trial,
in which they ignored the evidence
and refused to hear from witnesses.
A senate Republican caucus,
again representing a minority of Americans,
acquitted a president who lost the popular vote
in the 2016 election
and tried to cheat in the 2020 election.
You can't call that democracy.
I mean, you could, but then Jim Clyburn
would give you this look again. [ Laughter ]
The only Republican who shocked Washington today
by announcing he would vote to convict Trump
and remove him from office, was Utah Senator Mitt Romney.
Romney announced his decision
in both a floor speech and on Fox News.
-Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented
and disregard what I believe
my oath and the Constitution demands of me,
for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear,
expose my character to history's rebuke
and the censure of my own conscience.
Applying impartial justice said
what the President did was grievously wrong,
and I had to vote,
if I was gonna live with my own conscience,
in a way that was consistent with that oath of office.
-First of all, I love he did it on Fox News
just to enrage Trump even more.
Trump's aides probably had to put duct tape over the TV
to make the headline say, "Trump is a good boy, and I love him."
[ Laughter ]
Second, it's shocking just to hear a Republican
talk about living with their conscience.
Most Republicans filed for divorce
from their consciences years ago.
That's why Mitch McConnell is always smiling like that.
[ Laughter ]
"I do have a conscience.
I'm not a haunted doll."
[ Laughter ]
"Go to bed."
[ Laughter ]
But while Romney was standing alone among Republicans,
the rest of his colleagues, who voted to acquit Trump,
were busy making excuses and actually trying to convince us
that Trump won't just try to cheat again.
Here's Maine Senator Susan Collins
explaining her vote yesterday.
-Are you confident that the President
won't seek foreign assistance again?
-I believe that the President has learned from this case.
-What do you believe the President has learned?
-The President has been impeached.
That's a pretty big lesson.
-Are you insane?
Donald Trump doesn't learn lessons.
He's like an untrained dog.
If he pees on the floor, you got to rub his nose in it.
And even then, he'll probably do it again
while making direct eye contact with you.
[ Laughter ]
Collins' argument falls on the heels of Tennessee Senator
Lamar Alexander, who made a similar argument on Sunday.
-Are you at all concerned, though,
when you seek foreign interference --
He does not believe he's done anything wrong.
That what has happened here
might encourage him that he can continue to do this?
-I don't think so. I hope not.
I mean, enduring an impeachment
is something that nobody should like.
Even the President said he didn't want that on his résumé.
I don't blame him.
So, if a call like that gets you an impeachment,
I would think you would think twice before he did it again.
-What did his -- What -- What example
in the life of Donald Trump, has he been chastened?
-[ Chuckles ]
I haven't studied his life that close.
-Yeah, you don't have to study his life
because he's been in tabloids and on reality TV
for like 40 years.
Everyone knows every intimate detail of his personal life.
If Donald Trump could strap a GoPro to his head
and livestream every moment of his life, he'd probably do it.
Except it would suck because all we'd see is Fox News,
fast food, golf balls slicing out of bounds,
and women from the neck down. [ Laughter ]
"HR 4."
[ Laughter ]
This week has showcased in vivid terms
the crisis of democracy we're facing.
With the exception of Mitt Romney,
a Republican caucus representing a minority of Americans
acquitted a corrupt Republican President
who lost the popular vote
and lied repeatedly in his State of the Union address.
Republicans are devoted to Trump above all else,
and they're willing to flush both our democracy
and our Constitution down multiple...
-Toilets!
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]