1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: It is the fifteenth of July, the day after Bestile Day, 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: one hundred and twelve days to go until the election, 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: thirty five until the Democratic National Convention. The Republican National 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: Convention is convening today in Milwaukee, the weekend after the 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: assassination attempt on former President Trump. This is the warning. 6 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: President Biden has called for a lowering of the temperature, 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: a cooling of the rhetoric, and Donald Trump has called 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: for unity. President Biden said, violence has no place in 9 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 1: American politics. Let's stop there, and let's stay there for 10 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: a minute. Certainly, that is the world that we should 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: live in, but that is never the country that we 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: have lived in. Violence has always been a part of 13 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: America's life. Violence has stained, as my friend David from said, 14 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: every page of American history with blood. Violence is something 15 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: to be overcome, and there is something that is essential 16 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: to understand. Violence begets violence, begets more violence, begets more violence. 17 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: There is one thing that I have said over and 18 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: over and over again for two years at the warning, 19 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: and it's this. The path to defeating Donald Trump is 20 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: deeply connected to being able to articulate and offer something 21 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: that is better evil against violence is never better. Violence 22 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: that begets more violence. Insanity that begets more insanity must 23 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: be condemned. But this is an age of incitement, and 24 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: the inciter in chief is the man who was shot. 25 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a man of violence and menace and cruelty. 26 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: He has incited violence over and over again. When he 27 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: called on his crowds to punch protesters in the face. 28 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: When he told the Proud Boys to stand back and 29 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: be ready, the Proud Boys, by that time had already 30 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: marauded through America's streets, beating people. Donald Trump laughed and 31 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: joked about Paul Pelosi, an eighty year old man beaten 32 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: in his home, the husband of the Speaker of the House. 33 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: Over and over again, the Maga fascist cause has incited violence. 34 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: Donald Trump, in the immediate aftermath of surviving an assassin's 35 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: bullet by an inch, rose to his feet, not reborn, 36 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: not chastened, not ready to preach a message of love 37 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: and reconciliation, but rather, with a clinched fist, he said, fight, Fight, Fight. 38 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: It is an iconic moment, perhaps among the most in 39 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: the nation's history. But who is it that this man 40 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: calling for unity is exhorting to fight. Who is supposed 41 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: to fight whom? And how do we know when the 42 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: fight is over? How do we know when the fight 43 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: is started? Why do we want to fight each other? 44 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: We must not. Shortly before the United States was to 45 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: suffer an apocalypse of death six to eight hundred thousand 46 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: killed in a nation of thirty four million in Civil War. 47 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: Shortly before it began, Abraham Lincoln said to the country, 48 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: we must be friends, and we must What happened in 49 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania was an unconscionable criminal act, and heads must roll 50 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: at the Secret Service. This is one of the greatest 51 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: security failings in American history by a federal law enforcement agency. 52 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: How did a twenty year old gunman wind up with 53 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: a rifle pointed at the head of the Republican nominee 54 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: and a former president of the United States from a 55 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,679 Speaker 1: rooftop one hundred and fifty yards away. And let's be clear, 56 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: people died a fire chief an American citizen, I don't 57 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: know why so many of my fellow Americans are enamored 58 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: by a despotic bully with authoritarian tendencies like Donald Trump, 59 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: who long ago crossed the line into fascism. I don't know. 60 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: As somebody who grew up in New Jersey. How they 61 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 1: couldn conceivably be hoodwinked by this con man. But many are. 62 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: The American people alone have the right to decide who 63 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: leads this nation, and it must never be cheated or 64 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: taken from them, not by a bullet, not by a 65 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: foreign power, not by anybody, because to be an American 66 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: is to be part of something. We are citizens of 67 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: the greatest republic in all of world history. I'm going 68 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: to leave this message with a final warning. It's the 69 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: true face of MAGA. It's the words of JD. Vance. 70 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: Read them, appreciate them. The retribution that Donald Trump is 71 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:51,239 Speaker 1: talking about that he is promised he will now feel 72 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: justified in delivering unless he is ready and prepared to 73 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: repent openly and publicly of all of his malice and 74 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: all of his intimations of violence. But he won't. There 75 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: is something, though, that deserves serious consideration. If Donald Trump 76 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: were the president and this happened, If Donald Trump had 77 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: a Republican Congress and this happened, what would have happened 78 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: in the country, Judging by the rhetoric of a Marjorie 79 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: Taylor Green, would there have been mass arrests, retaliatory violence? 80 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: The military deployed to the streets. Donald Trump's given us 81 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: a lot of clues. None of this is speculation. These 82 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: are dramatic moments and events, but it plays out on 83 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: a stage that we have watched unchanged for nine years. 84 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: And now the bill is coming due, and now we 85 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: must make a choice. The crisis in the Biden campaign 86 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: is fundamentally because President Biden can't speak and articulate a 87 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: vision that is better. And now the politics of the 88 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: race have cemented even harder. Donald Trump's candidacy has been 89 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: built upon two rocks. The first is that he's a victim. 90 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: His persecution complex is unreal, but he has made grievance 91 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: and victimization or virtue. And now he's been bloodied in 92 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: a sense, almost martyred, but having survived, he will claim 93 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: as he has, like Marco Rubio, has God's protection and dominion. 94 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: And the second thing that Trump talks about, his second 95 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: rock a foundation, is strength, strong leader. And he's run 96 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: relentlessly against Joe Biden as a feeble old man, a 97 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: caricature of a declining elderly man, a man who can't 98 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: walk up the steps on Air Force one all the way, 99 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: so he has to use the short ladder. But Donald Trump, 100 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,679 Speaker 1: when he shot within seconds, rises to his feet, pumps 101 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: his fists in the air and says fight, fight, fight, 102 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: And there you have it. That contrast is not politically 103 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: survivable for Joe Biden and for the Democratic Party with 104 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: much at stake. Jd Vance said that Joe Biden was 105 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: at fault for the assassin's bullet because he has said 106 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: that this election is existential. It is existential. Jd Vance 107 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: said that Joe Biden was to blame because he has 108 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: said that Donald Trump is a fascist. The president called 109 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: him a fascist because Donald Trump is a fascist. Jd 110 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: Vance said this happened because democracy is on the line. 111 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: But jd Vance has said democracy is something that it's 112 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: time to move past. Jd Vance like, Donald Trump is 113 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: a fascist and now this attack will be used as 114 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: a smoke screen in the name of unity to further 115 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: quash dissent, and that scam never be bought into by 116 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: any good American because the stakes of this election have 117 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:10,679 Speaker 1: not changed an iota. What has changed is the leading 118 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: purveyor of division and violence was attacked by violence. And 119 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,439 Speaker 1: that reality one hundred and twelve days from the election 120 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: is very volatile and let's be clear. The Republican Convention 121 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: is not a gathering of good hearted Americans yearning for reconciliation. 122 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: It is a convocation of fascists yearning for political power, 123 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 1: that want to strip rights away from Black Americans, gay Americans, 124 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: female Americans. And we must say no. And nobody should 125 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: be lectured that this moment demands submission in the face 126 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: of the worst cause since Jim Crow in the Confederacy. 127 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: What this moment requires is defiance against Hape, defiance against 128 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: trump Ism. And it's time to start talking about this 129 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: country aspirationally again, to start looking to the future boldly, 130 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: because that is where we move beyond this wretched, rancid, 131 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,559 Speaker 1: vile time. This is the warning. I'm Steve Schmidt. This 132 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: is the warning, and I invite you to join. Subscribe 133 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: on our substack, on our YouTube channel, follow us. Welcome 134 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: to the community.