1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,440 Speaker 1: Who will win the week ahead. It's a simple test. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:10,320 Speaker 1: One week from today. Who can it be said that 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: the election has been about over the last week. Let's 4 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: make this a week about Donald Trump. This is the warning. 5 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: It's February fifth, twenty twenty four. There are two hundred 6 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: and seventy four days, nine months exactly until Americans decide 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: who the next President of the United States will be, 8 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: and that choice will come down between President Joe Biden 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: and Donald Trump. Though the overwhelming majority of the country 10 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: does not want the rematch, it is the choice at hand, 11 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: and what it will mean is something very simple. One 12 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: of those two men will be President of the United 13 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: States for two terms, and the difference between those second terms, 14 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: the second term of a Biden presidency and a Trump presidency, 15 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: are as profound as any difference that there has ever 16 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: been in the choice Americans will make. Donald Trump stands 17 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: for a proposition that is radical and simple. What he 18 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: proposes to do is to unravel, blow up, deconstruct the 19 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: American revolution itself. What Donald Trump seeks to do is 20 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: become an American caesar, our first dictator, a man who 21 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: asserts that I am above the law, I am unequal, 22 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: above the people that the idea, the notion of a 23 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: government of the people, by the people, for the people, 24 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: is passe. It doesn't fit in the complicated world. Because 25 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: in this world of danger and conspiracy behind every turn 26 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: and corner, only one man can protect us. That man, 27 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: the strong leader, the wisest, the smartest, the strongest. He 28 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: can protect the interests of his faction, his side, and 29 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: the price is simple obedience. That's all that's required. Submission. 30 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: It's them against the world. It's a movement fueled by grievance, 31 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: by resentment, by anger. It's an ideology of the loser 32 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: that looks around and says, everything that's wrong in the 33 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: world is someone or some thing's fault, beyond my power, 34 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: beyond my control, beyond my agency. That's what trump Ism is. 35 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: It is the philosophy of the victim. It is the 36 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: religion of the loser, and it is fundamentally and absolutely 37 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: on American Donald Trump sits ahead of a toxic ecology. 38 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: It includes many components, many parts. One of its leaders, 39 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: chief spokespersons, and a person who has been speculated ludicrous 40 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: as it may sound, as a potential vice president for 41 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is Tucker Carlson. Where is Tucker Carlson. Tucker 42 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: Carlson is in Moscow. Why is Tucker Carlson in Moscow? 43 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: Why is he in the capital of a country that 44 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:21,599 Speaker 1: is waging an illegal war against the European neighbor where 45 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: it is killed hundreds of thousands of people and kidnapped 46 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, stealing them from their 47 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: families and shipping them east. Why is Tucker Carlson in 48 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: a country whose army has engaged in the criminal rape 49 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: of Ukrainian women from children to grandmothers. Why is Tucker 50 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: Carlson in the capital of a country that is an 51 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: enemy of the United States. Why is it that Tucker 52 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: Carlson feels at home in a country whose governm hates 53 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: the American government. Vladimir Putin is an enemy of truth, 54 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 1: of liberty and freedom. He has assassinated his political opponents 55 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: all over the world. He is a man of violence 56 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: and cruelty and aggression who dreams of a restoration of 57 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: the Soviet Empire. And the former Fox News superstar is 58 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: where he's in Moscow? And maybe that is his credential 59 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: and the reason he speculated about including by top members 60 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: of Donald Trump's team as a potential Trump vice presidential candidate. 61 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: The stakes in the election could not be higher two 62 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy four days out, and this much is clear. 63 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: Whatever other story you may read, the one story that 64 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: matters is this. The United States military struck eighty five 65 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: different targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria, directly 66 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:19,119 Speaker 1: targeting soldiers and officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Will 67 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:25,039 Speaker 1: the war that began on October seventh escalate beyond its 68 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: current state If it does, the issue that will matter 69 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: the most two hundred and seventy four days from today 70 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: is the war that's just beginning. This is an important 71 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: moment for the world and for the United States. Everywhere 72 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: we look there is a mountain of nonsense to behold. 73 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: Everywhere there is a politician doing something stupid, doing something dishonest, 74 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: But none of that changes the central fact of this moment, 75 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: and that is the moment will be defined by the events, 76 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: not by the personalities. And the world is at a hinge. 77 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: There is war in the air, in the Middle East 78 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: and in Europe. And no matter what American politicians may say, 79 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: the simple truth of the matter is wars in Europe 80 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: and wars in the Middle East are inescapable for the 81 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: United States. This is a serious moment in the country 82 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: and as we begin this week, nine months from election day, 83 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: Joe Biden is ahead in the race. Donald Trump is flailing, 84 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: but both men are ready to face one another. They 85 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: are each the de facto nominees of their party, and 86 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: the general election has begun for the first time in months. 87 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: The election presently is about Trump, his criminality, his insanity, 88 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: and his behavior. Who will win the week ahead? It's 89 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:34,840 Speaker 1: a simple test one week from today. Who can it 90 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: be said that the election has been about over the 91 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: last week. Has it been about Donald Trump and his madness? 92 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: Or has it been about Joe Biden? Has the propaganda 93 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: wave swallowed him up again for the first time in 94 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: a long time. President Biden is on offense. He should 95 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: keep it that way. The season at hand requires that 96 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,199 Speaker 1: he hummel Donald Trump, and he'd do it every day. 97 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: There are no days to lose in this election. It's 98 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: a simple test. If the election is about Trump, he loses. 99 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: If it's about Biden, he loses. Let's make this a 100 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: week about Donald Trump. Thank you for listening to my 101 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,199 Speaker 1: political commentary. If you like what you heard today, Please 102 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: also consider subscribing to The Warning daily newsletter on Substack. 103 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: Our democracy hangs in the balance. The twenty twenty four 104 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: presidential election is the most consequential in America's history. It's 105 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: not hyperbole, it's a fact. That is why the mission 106 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: of The Warning with Steve Schmidt is to help readers 107 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: orient to the currents that are shaping our times and 108 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: the unseen forces driving politics that are very rarely discussed 109 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: on cable news. Please sign up at Steve Schmidt S T, 110 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: E V E, S C, H M I d T 111 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: dot substack dot com again Steve Schmidt dot substack dot com, 112 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: or at the link in the show notes section below. 113 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 1: Thank you to each and every one of you for 114 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: listening and watching.