-Donald Trump took the next step
in his slow-moving coup over the weekend
when he went to Michigan for a rally,
in part, to support fringe state-level candidates
who support the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen
and would wield power over future elections in the state.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
The quasi-religious mythology
Trump's followers have built around him
have now gotten so detached from reality,
they're erasing the things he has done
while giving him credit for things he hasn't done.
For example, former Vice President Mike Pence --
you know, the guy Trump supporters threatened to hang
while Trump stood by silently --
said this over the weekend on Fox News.
-President Biden has done more damage to America
than any president in modern history.
-Wow. How strict is your definition of "modern history"?
[ As Pence ] Modern history is everything since the slap.
[ Laughter ]
Then from 900 A.D. to the slap, that's the Middle Ages.
[ Normal voice ] But seriously, man, what's your deal?
You're still trying to win over Trump voters?
They stormed the Capitol and they chanted, "Hang Mike Pence."
That's you.
You're like a guy who gets a fake number
from a woman at a bar and keeps calling it,
hoping to get a date.
"Hello. Is Alice there?
Well, this is the number she wrote on the bar napkin."
[ Laughter ]
"Well, you don't have to be rude.
And can I just add, I don't think kids
are old enough to have their own cars."
Or maybe Pence thinks Biden is worse than Trump
because he was asleep during the entirety
of the Trump presidency, which is possible,
given that in every meeting he had his eyes closed
like he was desperately hoping no one would notice him.
He's got his eyes closed like he's trying not to throw up
on a state fair Tilt-A-Whirl.
These Trump toadies are all such obsequious little worms,
but Pence's faux gravitas makes him that much more insufferable,
the head shaking, the solemn tone,
the put-on folksy demeanor.
He looks and moves like a Chuck E. Cheese robot
who tells the band to keep it down.
[ As Pence ] Fellas, it's loud enough in here
with all the dang kids screaming.
[ Normal voice ] But Trump sycophants
aren't just trying to erase his many failures,
they're also trying to give him credit
for things he had nothing to do with.
For example, on Saturday,
sitting member of Congress Representative Lisa McClain
said at a Trump rally in Michigan
that it was Trump who had found Osama bin Laden.
-While President Trump was in office,
we didn't have a war,
and I think he made three peace treaties,
caught Osama bin Laden and Soleimani, al-Baghdadi.
And this president is weak.
And I'll tell you, weakness breeds aggression.
We need strength.
-Yeah, we need strength -- the kind of strength it takes
to find and kill an elusive terrorist
while simultaneously hosting a game show
with your wet, asymmetrical sons.
Was finding bin Laden one of the tasks on "The Apprentice"?
[ As Trump ] Jose Canseco, you need to create
a 60-second commercial for the new OnStar mirror.
And, Lisa Rinna, you're off to Abbottabad, Pakistan...
[ Laughter ]
...to look for clues. You can do it, Lisa.
[ Normal voice ] Seriously, these people should have to take
the same kind of tests to stay in Congress
that you give a boxer to make sure they can stay in the fight.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" "16."
"What year is it?" "3069."
"Who killed Osama bin Laden?" "Donald Trump."
"Okay, we're calling it."
Would you seriously not remember
that famous photo where Barack Obama,
Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden were in the situation room
watching the raid as it happened?
Is there some Photoshop version
floating around on the QAnon forums
where Trump is sitting in the middle of the picture
in that stance he always has, like he's trying to crowd out
the people next to him on the subway?
"Excuse me. Can you move?
I need at least an entire row to myself.
I can't close my legs.
I have to have my back-back on the ground.
It's also especially galling to give Trump credit
for catching bin Laden, given that Trump himself
dismissed it as a non-accomplishment
when the admiral in charge of the raid, William McRaven,
publicly criticized Trump during his presidency.
-Bill McRaven, retired admiral, Navy SEAL, 37 years,
former head of U.S. Special Operations...
-Hillary Clinton fan.
-...Special Operations... -Excuse me.
Hillary Clinton fan.
-...who led the operations, commanded the operations
that took down Saddam Hussein and that killed Osama bin Laden,
says that your sentiment is the greatest threat to democracy
in his lifetime. -Okay.
He's a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer,
and, frankly... -He was a Navy SEAL.
-...wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden
a lot sooner than that?
Wouldn't it have been nice? You know, living --
Think of this -- living in Pakistan,
beautifully in Pakistan
in what I guess they considered a nice mansion.
I don't know. I've seen nicer.
-Alright, couple of things.
First of all, stop shouting "Hillary Clinton fan"
like a guy on "Wheel of Fortune" who insists his answer is right.
[ As Trump ] Pat, I'd like to solve the puzzle.
Hillary Clinton fan.
[ Buzzer ]
Hillary Clinton fan. [ Buzzer ]
[ Normal voice ] Okay, let's turn around the letters,
and we see that the answer is...
[ As Trump ] Uhhhh...
Hillary Clinton fan.
[ Buzzer ]
[ Normal voice ] Also, let's go back to this for a second,
because this is a perfect Trump sentence.
-Living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan
in what I guess they considered a nice mansion.
I don't know. I've seen nicer.
-He wants to shame McRaven for not catching bin Laden sooner
by saying he was living in a beautiful mansion.
But he also can't stop himself from [bleep] on the mansion.
And look, like everyone, I was upset
when I heard bin Laden was living in a mansion,
and then I saw it and thought, "Okay.
That makes me feel a little bit better."
On a smaller scale, it's how I feel
when I see a picture of Trump
at the omelet bar at his golf club.
Sure, he's a free man, but those look like [bleep] eggs,
and that makes me smile a little bit.
Also, it's pretty rich for Trump to insinuate the admiral
who caught the world's most wanted terrorist
should have done it sooner, considering we're still waiting
on the tax returns Trump promised us in 2016.
Maybe Obama had to wait for the raid for the same reason
we're still waiting for that.
"We know where he is, Mr. President,
but our intel tells us he's being audited by the IRS."
[ As Obama ] Well, then we, uh...have to wait.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Anyway, McClain made that comment
in Michigan over the weekend
at yet another one of Trump's unhinged rallies.
And at first, it may have seemed like a typical Trump rally,
not worth paying much attention to,
given that most of it was his usual shtick.
For example, Trump did that thing he always does
where he says something, then predicts that the media
will criticize him for saying it.
-I knew Putin very well.
You know, they say, "Oh, he knows Putin.
He knows Putin. Oh."
That's a good thing, not a bad thing.
I know Kim Jong-un. I know President Xi of China.
-Why are you just listing off people, you know?
You sound like a 5-year-old rattling off
which dinosaur stickers he has.
"I got triceratops. I got brontosaurus.
I got doubles of pterodactyl."
Also, no one is mad that you know dictators.
They're mad because you admire and seek to emulate them.
You've constantly lavished praise on Vladimir Putin
as he criminally interfered in American democracy
and waged a brutal war on an innocent neighboring country.
And in general, you're clearly desperate to mimic autocrats,
like during a previous rally
when Trump said President Xi of China was smart
because he rules his country like a ruthless tyrant.
-You know, every time I say somebody's smart,
they always go, "Oh, Trump said
that President Xi of China is smart."
Well, you know, he runs 1.5 billion people
with an iron fist.
Yeah, I think he's pretty smart.
And they have a chain over there.
You know, if you're a dummy, you get left here.
It's like this. It's like a pyramid.
The smartest one gets to the top.
-I think you're confusing a dictatorship
with a cheerleading squad.
[ As Trump ] They put the smartest cheerleader at the top
because then if the pyramid collapses,
maybe you lose a few idiots.
But Becky still goes to Princeton.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Although I'm guessing there are some similarities.
"Janice, if you don't get your [bleep] together
and nail this basket toss, we are not going to make state."
By the way, you might think because I'm a 48-year-old man
and a father of three, I haven't seen the movie "Bring It On."
But guess what. You're wrong.
Because it came out 22 years ago,
when I was childless and happy.
In fact, I would even -- Look, I love my kids.
I just haven't seen that movie in like a month.
In fact, I would even go so far to say
that Trump wants to turn our democracy into a cheerocracy.
And that's today's unnecessary "Bring It On" reference.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Also, I love Trump's theory that the dummies
get left at the bottom in a dictatorship.
Let's hope Rudy Giuliani never has to find his way to the top
in a Trump dictatorship.
-From the top to the bottom, from the middle to the side.
[ As Giuliani ] Good news -- They told me I'm going to be
all the way up here at the top because I'm smart.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] That's such a revealing window into Trump's worldview.
If you're a tyrant who rules with an iron fist,
that makes you smart, well, democracy is for suckers.
In fact, at his Michigan rally,
Trump even joked about what it would have sounded like
if he'd conceded,
mocking it like it was some dumb idea.
-Be a lot easier for me to say, "Oh."
Be a lot easier for me to do like many people have done,
get up and just say congratulations,
whoever it is I'm running against.
I mean, if you're running, I'd say, "Congratulations, Joe."
-Why is his Trump impression so bad?
[ Laughter ]
So every everyone has a Donald Trump
except Donald Trump?
He sounds like Vincent D'Onofrio from "Men in Black."
[ Muttering indistinctly ]
[ Laughter ]
[ As Trump ] I think my Trump's getting pretty good.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Like that, what you're doing right now.
[ As Trump ] What, like I'm doing right now.
No, this isn't. [ Mutters indistinctly ]
That's how I sound.
[ Mutters indistinctly ]
[ Normal voice ] To Trump, the idea of conceding when you lose
is laughable.
It's a joke, only something suckers do.
And that's why he was really there --
for his ongoing attempt to end American democracy
and install himself or whoever the next Republican nominee is
as an unelected autocrat.
Because by his own admission, Trump was there in part
to campaign for state-level GOP candidates
who have embraced the big lie
and would wield power over Michigan's elections
in 2024 if they win.
And even by Trump's own admission,
it was unusual that he was there for that reason.
-Remember, this is not just about 2022.
This is about making sure Michigan is not rigged
and stolen again in 2024.
I have to be honest, I don't do this often.
I don't do this often for state people.
This is so important.
What happened in Michigan is a disgrace.
-Once again, the guy just admits it all in public.
He's like a guy robbing a bank saying, "I don't do this often.
Usually I just take money out of the ATM.
But the ATM only lets you take your own money.
I mean, what's the deal with that?"
And it's not just Michigan.
Republicans are doing this across the country
in preparation for the next coup.
-This morning, the Associated Press published an expansive
and very well-reported story on the attack on our democracy.
This is the headline --
"Slow-Motion Insurrection:
How the Republican Party Seizes Election Power."
As the AP describes it...
-First of all, of course it's a slow-motion insurrection.
Everything Trump does is in slow motion.
Remember when he used to just wander around
the White House lawn like a dad in the backyard
looking for some weeds to spray?
So may be slow motion, but it's definitely happening.
It's something most people don't realize
but Trump has figured out,
because our elections are decentralized.
If you want to subvert them, you have to install loyalists
in those local positions across the country
like secretary of state.
Remember how Trump tried to shake down
the Georgia secretary of state to help him steal votes?
Well, now Trump is backing a challenger
who supports the big lie, just like he's doing in Michigan
and several other states across the country.
Republicans are still very much engaged
in their slow-moving coup, and this is their playbook.
They've figured out that if you want
to install yourself at the top,
you need loyal foot soldiers at...
-The bottom.
[ Laughter ]
-He passed the bar.
This has been "A Closer Look."
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