-President Trump spent the weekend
attacking the Democrats running for president
and the Democrats investigating him in Congress.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
For the first two years of his presidency,
Trump enjoyed unified Republican power in Washington.
But after the blue wave election in November,
Trump is besieged by Democrats on all sides,
from the Democrats investigating him in Congress
to the Democrats running for president.
In fact, tonight, after we taped this,
Trump held a rally in El Paso, Texas,
to argue for his border wall.
Now, normally, when Trump holds these rallies,
he gets the full undivided attention of the media
and the political world.
But tonight he had to deal with a rival rally
held by a popular Democrat
in a march organized by local activists.
-Dueling rallies at the Mexico border tonight in El Paso.
President Trump and rising Democratic star Beto O'Rourke
both in the West Texas city tonight.
O'Rourke plans to lead a one-mile march celebrating
the culture, history, and diversity of the region.
His speech afterward timed to coincide with
the President's rally at the El Paso County Coliseum.
-Amazing. Not only are they holding a rally
at the same time, but they're also holding a march.
There's no better way to troll Trump than with exercise.
[ Laughter ]
What's Trump gonna do?
Chase after the marchers in his golf cart?
"Slow down. This thing is running low on batteries."
Meanwhile, over the weekend, two more Democrats announced
their presidential campaigns,
adding to what is an already historic number
of women in the field.
On Sunday, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar
announced her campaign,
and she did it the most Minnesota way possible --
covered in snow.
-Now, we don't let a little snow stop us.
We don't let a little cold stop us.
Like, are you guys even cold?
So let's join together, as one nation, indivisible, under God,
and pursue the good.
-I promise I will vote for you if you go inside!
[ Laughter ]
Look at all that snow.
Who's gonna be your running mate?
Marge Gunderson?
[ Laughter ]
Is she in Minnesota or north of the wall?
And, of course, after her announcement,
Trump couldn't help but take a shot at Klobuchar on Twitter.
And in doing so, he once again revealed that he doesn't know
the difference between weather and climate change.
-President Trump not impressed, tweeting,
"Well, it happened again.
Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for president,
talking proudly of fighting global warming
while standing in a virtual blizzard of
snow, ice, and freezing temperatures.
Bad timing.
By the end of her speech, she looked like a snowman or woman."
-Why do we have to keep explaining to
the President of the United States
that weather and climate are two different things?
We live in a country where
science teachers have to tell their students,
"I don't care what the President said."
Not to mention history teachers,
English teachers and P.E. teachers.
[ Laughter and applause ]
"I don't care what he said, Timmy.
Sit-ups are not fake news."
[ Laughter ]
Shouldn't have to live like this.
It's like if a kid pees his pants when he's 3,
it's understandable.
But if he does it when he's 30, you put him in an Uber.
To explain this one more time, just because it snows once
doesn't negate long-term climate trends
caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
It's kind of like this.
When your hair looks normal once in a while, that's weather.
But most of the time it looks like this, and that's climate.
[ Laughter ]
Now, Klobuchar's announcement came just a day after
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
officially threw her hat in the ring, as well.
And rather than focus exclusively on Trump,
Warren argued that Trump is just the product of a broken system.
-The man in the White House is not the cause of what is broken.
He is just the latest and most extreme symptom
of what's gone wrong in America.
-Basically what she is saying is Trump himself isn't the disease.
He's just the symptom.
Actually, he's a bunch of symptoms.
He's basically everything you'd see
on the back of a pill bottle.
May cause inflammation, excessive sweating, hair loss,
discoloration of the skin, and dryness of the mouth.
-10,000 known or suspes-- gang members.
Every single car out there, even the really expenses ones,
God bless the United Shtates.
[ Laughter ]
-"Oh, is it time for my speech? Quick. Give me a glass of sand."
[ Laughter ]
Now, Warren isn't alone among Democrats
in wanting to focus on policy and on the specific ways
in which the system has failed working people.
The entire Democratic Party's messaging in the midterms
was focused on issues
like healthcare and voter suppression,
and it produced the largest margin of victory
in midterms history,
so naturally Trump has responded to that message
with his only move -- racism.
-2020 is also clearly on President Trump's mind.
Saturday, he lashed out at Senator Warren on Twitter,
alluding to her past claims of Native American status,
for which she has apologized.
The President appeared to make a joking reference
to the tragic Trail of Tears relocation and genocide
of Native Americans.
-"Today, Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me
as Pocahontas, joined the race for president.
Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate,
or has she decided that after 32 years,
this is not playing so well anymore?
See you on the campaign trail, Liz."
-Now, this tweet was obviously racist,
and yet there are actually some conservatives arguing
that it wasn't a reference to the Trail of Tears
because Trump doesn't know what that is.
Fox News political analyst Brit Hume
responded to claims that Trump's tweet was racist
by saying yes, because Trump is noted for his knowledge of
19th century American history, vis-a-vis the native population.
They're actually defending Trump
by saying he's too dumb to be racist.
First of all, if you ever find yourself asking
is Trump dumb or is he racist,
the answer is most likely C -- all of the above.
Second, Trump has said publicly that he's a big fan
of Andrew Jackson,
who carried out the forced removal and ethnic cleansing
of Native Americans.
In fact, early in his presidency, Trump even claimed
Jackson foresaw the Civil War decades before it happened,
although Trump didn't really seem to have
a strong understanding of what the Civil War actually was.
-They said my campaign is most like my campaign and win,
was most like Andrew Jackson.
I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later,
you wouldn't have had the Civil War.
He was really angry that he saw what was happening
with regard to the Civil War.
He said, "There's no reason for this."
People don't realize, you know, the Civil War, um --
-Yeah.
-You think about it, why?
People don't ask that question.
But why was there the Civil War?
Why could that one not have been worked out?
-What do you mean why was there the Civil War?
[ Laughter ]
Everyone knows why.
It's not like the first line of
Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was,
"I don't know why I'm doing this."
[ Laughter ]
Trump and his allies are clearly rattled by the fact that
for the first time they have to face real questions
from the Democrats running for President
or investigating them in Congress.
And there was no better example of that
than Trump's acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker,
who testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday.
Democrats tried to get Whitaker to answer basic questions
about his role in the Russian investigation.
And for the first time in any congressional hearing in memory,
the witness told them that they were out of time.
-In your capacity as acting attorney general,
have you ever been asked to approve any request or action
to be taken by the special counsel?
-Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up, and so...
-I'm sorry, but you don't get to do that, dude.
That's like Tom Brady
chucking a flag and calling pass interference.
The way it works is Tom Brady
winks at a ref and the ref throws the flag.
[ Cheers and applause ]
This is what happens.
This is what happens when Trump and his allies
finally have to answer real questions for the first time
from people that aren't just there to protect them.
Trump is dealing with several serious challenges
to his presidency and real oversight from Congress.
And by the time this is all over,
Trump may no longer be the president of --
-The United Shtates.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]