1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,000 Speaker 1: Trump is unmasked. The rally crowds are gone, the propaganda 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: trumpets are quiet. He's just a man in the courtroom, 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: falling asleep, unable to stay awake because he's awake all night, worried, fretting, afraid. 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:21,959 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a coward and a bully, and he 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: is stripere. He is the Wizard of Oz. It is 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: the seventeenth of April, and there are two hundred and 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: two days remaining until the American people will decide the 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: destiny of the nation with the choice of a lifetime 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: president Biden and America or Donald Trump and catastrophe. This 10 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: is the warning. Donald Trump is in court on trial 11 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: for business fraud in New York City. He will be 12 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: there every day that court is in session. The judge 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: has told Donald Trump that if he is a no 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: show for court, he may and the duration of the 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: trial in prison. It is a remarkable thing to see 16 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: Donald Trump stripped, bear naked, defenestrated in this manner as 17 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: a criminal defendant. The indignity of it is profound. He 18 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: has been stripped of the accouterments of his office, the 19 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: dignity and majesty of it. He has been removed from 20 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: the artificial terrarium that he has installed himself in as 21 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: the son king of maur Laga. Donald Trump is naked 22 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: before the American people. He cannot be helped in the 23 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: present in the moment by the propagandis on Fox News. 24 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: There is no lily to guild when it comes to 25 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: showing this man falling asleep as a criminal defendant facing 26 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: thirty four counts. Look at his face. It's age, it's bloat, 27 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: it's decrepitude, the strangeness of his coth Donald Trump in 28 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,839 Speaker 1: this moment is no different than Sam benkman Fried, another malignant, 29 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: narcissist and eccentric personality with a godlike delusion who thinks 30 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: he's above the law, beyond consequences. But Donald Trump's act, 31 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: his performance, has always been that he's an authority, he's 32 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: in control. He's a billionaire, he's a strong leader, but 33 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: he doesn't look like one while being reprimanded by a 34 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: Manhattan District Court judge. Does he let me ask a question, 35 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: does Donald Trump look happy in this picture? Does he 36 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: look like a joyful man? What does anybody suppose happens 37 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: when he leaves court? Does he bound back into mar 38 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: Lago joyfully? Ready to make love to his precious Millennia. 39 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: He does not. He leaves the courthouse seething with rage 40 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: and anger. He's distracted. He goes home and he turns 41 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: the television on and he listens to his flatterers. They 42 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: tell him how great everything went. They tell him about 43 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: the injustice that he's facing. They tell him that he 44 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: is the savior of man, appointed by God for power. 45 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: It's all nonsense, but it doesn't fall like that to 46 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: the sick and addled mind of Donald Trump. He believes it. 47 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: His anger is real, His rage is real, and so 48 00:03:55,120 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: are his circumstances. This is the moment for the Biden campaign, 49 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: which has been slow and lethargic, to strike and to 50 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: strike hard. Where is the effort, either through the campaign 51 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: or outside of it, to strike at Donald Trump? Right 52 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: now in the moment. Everybody knows where he is at 53 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: all times, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. 54 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: Everybody knows exactly what he watches. He watches the Golf 55 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: channel in ESPN and CNN and Morning Joe and MSNBC. 56 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 1: He watches the stations that talk about him. Where are 57 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: the ads mocking him, cutting him, humiliating him. Where are 58 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: the efforts aimed at destabilizing him the people around him. 59 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: Where are the ads aimed at pitting in, Where are 60 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: the ads aimed at Donald Trump's ego? There are none. 61 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: And that's a missed opportunity because right now, for the 62 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: first time in a long while, President Biden has the 63 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: momentum in a race that he is winning. If the 64 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: election were tomorrow, Joe Biden would likely win. But it's 65 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: not tomorrow. It's in two hundred and two days. And 66 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: when the opportunity comes, the opportunity comes to score points, 67 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:42,040 Speaker 1: it must be taken. We live in an era where 68 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: there is profound distrust between institutions, particularly the media, and 69 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: the American people. We live in an era where the 70 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: American people are distracted and busy, And the truth of 71 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: the matter is, they don't look at Joe Biden and 72 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: c FDR. They see an eighty two year old man 73 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: and they don't like the choice. They don't like the 74 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: choice at hand between him and Trump. But it is 75 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: the choice, and that choice is a profound one because 76 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: there is a startling difference. Joe Biden believes in America 77 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: and Donald Trump does not. Joe Biden believes in democracy 78 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: and Donald Trump does not. Joe Biden believes that power 79 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: should be apportioned after the outcome of an election. Donald 80 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: Trump believes power is something to be seized to be taken. 81 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: Joe Biden believes he is a servant of the American people. 82 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:47,679 Speaker 1: Donald Trump wishes to be their master. There has never 83 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: been a bigger choice in an American election. Never. The 84 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: consequences are at least as significant as they were in 85 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four, which was an election that determined whether 86 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: the United States would survive as a nation. What catastrophe 87 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: awaits should Donald Trump become president again? Are there people 88 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: who believe that he will mellow out, that he will 89 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: abandon his impulses for retribution and revenge when he is 90 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:31,679 Speaker 1: flushed with victory. Are there those amongst us so naive 91 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: to believe that Donald Trump's legacy, if he gets back 92 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: into power, is something that is already written, as opposed 93 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: to something that's not yet known. Meaning, whatever it is 94 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: that he has done already will be of absolute insignificance 95 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: compared to what lies ahead the completion of his work, 96 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: the totality of his wreckage. What Donald Trump is and 97 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: will be remembered for are two different things. What he 98 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: is today is one thing. What he would become with 99 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: power again is quite another. The future of the country 100 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: is very much dependent in the space around the answer 101 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: to that outcome. Right at the edge of the two 102 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the independence of the country, 103 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: it is a most remarkable moment. Donald Trump faces four 104 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: criminal trials, and the simple political fact is that in 105 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: the run up to all of them he has been 106 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: benefited by them, the overreach of the prosecutors and their 107 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: ethical lapses. But now he is in a courtroom in 108 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: a country where the rule of law is supreme. Donald 109 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: Trump is a criminal defendant, and we're not used to 110 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: seeing a former president as a criminal defendant, because a 111 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: former president of the United States is a big figure. 112 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: They led the most powerful nation in all the world, 113 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: and all of the men who have had the honor, 114 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: they did their best. They'll pull their oaths. Each of 115 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: them had convictions and made mistakes and had achievements, but 116 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:58,079 Speaker 1: none ever dared to try to burn it all down 117 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: because they getting get their way. Maybe it's not even 118 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,679 Speaker 1: possible that such a thing could even have happened in 119 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: this country before this era of instantaneous connection and global 120 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: Internet and iPhones and social media. We'll never know. But 121 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: we have arrived at a moment where there is a 122 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: president unlike all of the others, the seditious president, the 123 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: treasonous president, the one who does not believe, does not 124 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: share our faith, the faith of our fathers and our mothers, 125 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: the faith and the belief in human potential through liberty 126 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: and freedom that is ordained by a higher power, but 127 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,679 Speaker 1: protected by the Constitution of the United States. A government 128 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: of the people, by the people, for the people, that 129 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: shall not perish from this earth. Those are Lincoln's words 130 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: at the place he went to reconsecrate the meaning of 131 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: the country, Gettysburg. He talked about the last full measure 132 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: of devotion there. And you compare that today to this moment. 133 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: The buffoonery, the clownishness of this angry, bloated, obese old 134 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: man walking through a courtroom door, enraged because his fraud 135 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: has been accused, and now he stands trial a jury 136 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: of his peers in New York City, who will swear 137 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: an oath, an oath to the Constitution, to the truth, 138 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: to their duty of citizens. A different oath than the 139 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: one that Trump broke, but an oath. Now that is 140 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: tied deeply to whether Trump will be incarcerated or not. 141 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: A jury of twelve Americans, men and women, will hear 142 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: the evidence and decide. But politically, for the first time 143 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: in a long time, Trump is unmasked. The rally crowds 144 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: are gone, the propaganda trumpets are quiet. He's just a 145 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: man in the courtroom, falling asleep, unable to stay awake 146 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: because he's awake all night, worried, fretting, afraid. Donald Trump 147 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: is a coward and a bully, and he is strip 148 00:12:54,559 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: are He is the Wizard of Oz unmasked. His screen 149 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: has been taken away. Whatever the jury verdict might be, 150 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: one thing is clear. Donald Trump looks a lot smaller 151 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: than he did just three days ago. Thank you for 152 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: listening to my political commentary. If you like what you 153 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,960 Speaker 1: heard today, please also consider subscribing to the Warning Daily 154 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,559 Speaker 1: newsletter on substack.