1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Florida Governor Ron de Santis has issued a campaign promise 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: or a threat. I guess it depends on how you 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: look at it. He promised that on day one, when 4 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: he becomes the president, he'll start slitting throats. You heard 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,319 Speaker 1: it correctly, Florida Governor Ron de Santis is running for 6 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: president to slit throats. I guess my response to that 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: is lighting up Francis. The simple truth is American politics 8 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: is profoundly broken, and the evidence of that is the 9 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: Florida governor who isn't home in his state tending to 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: the massive leprosy outbreak, but instead threatening to slit the 11 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: throats of American citizens in forty nine other states. That 12 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: puts him a good stead against Donald Trump, who is 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: promising his campaign will be a force of retribution and revenge. 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: Donald Trump promises to smite all of his enemies, the 15 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: people that have held him to account, the criminal justice system. 16 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: In fact, every American that opposes Donald Trump, according to 17 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: Donald Trump, is a threat, is a member of the 18 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: deep state, and therefore deserves political punishment, revenge imposed on them, 19 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: and just retribution from the MAGA extremists. Because how could 20 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 1: it be that any American could fairly look at the 21 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: situation at hand and come to any conclusion other than 22 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: Donald Trump should be president for life and that we 23 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: should discard our elections process. A lot of headlines are 24 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: filled with reports that seek to characterize what is that 25 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: Donald Trump has done. This dilemma has confronted the American 26 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: media since the moments the insurrection began. Nobody knew what 27 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: to call it. On CNN in the early hours, it 28 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: was referred to as a riot, and then it became 29 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: an insurrection, which it certainly was. But more than that, 30 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: what we witnessed on that day was a premeditated, organized 31 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: conspiracy to topple the United States government. Yes, abstractly, it 32 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: was an assault on democracy. Yes, in an abstract, it 33 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: was an assault on pluralism. Yes, in an abstract it 34 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: was an assault on the Declaration of Independence and the 35 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States. In reality, though tangibly, it 36 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: was an attack of the United States dates of America, 37 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: incited by a president, by senators, by governors, and by 38 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: the news media who lied and lied and lied, and 39 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: convinced in this country through those lies millions of people 40 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: that the most fair and legitimate election in American history 41 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: was in fact fraudulent, that, in fact the person who won, 42 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: Joe Biden, was an illegitimate president. What Donald Trump did 43 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: over and over and over again, with no small number 44 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: of allies, is inject this poisonous lie into America's body, 45 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: the body politic. He poisoned faith and belief. He divided 46 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: the country. He ended the peaceful transition of power in 47 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: a hand handed attempt to make himself dictator. America's presidents 48 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: are the only people in the country who swear an 49 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: oath that is written in the Constitution of the United States, 50 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: the same oath that Donald Trump and Joe Biden took, 51 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: or the same oath that Miller Fillmore, John Adams and 52 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: George Washington took. The only American president and we've had 53 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: some bad ones over the years that desecrated that oath, 54 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 1: that burned it to the ground, that sought to rip 55 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: up the Constitution of the United States so that he 56 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: could be in power, is Donald Trump. People died during 57 00:04:54,240 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: the attempt. Police officers were bludgeoned with American flag. The 58 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:08,919 Speaker 1: insurrectionists invaded the capital. They defecated on the floors of 59 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: the United States House of Representatives and the United States 60 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: Senate hundreds of people are serving jail sentences. Thousands of 61 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: Americans have been convicted for their participation in those events 62 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: that were commanded by Donald Trump. And now Donald Trump 63 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: has been held to account, he has been charged with crimes, 64 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: yet he remains the overwhelming front runner for the Republican nomination. 65 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 1: The Republican Party is the third oldest political party in 66 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: the world, and it is imposing on the country a 67 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: proposition that is unacceptable. Thomas Jefferson referred to Americans with 68 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: passionate differences who were aligning into two factions, two parties, 69 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: the very parties that Washington had warned about. In his 70 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: farewell Jefferson talked after a divisive election in eighteen hundred 71 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: to those parties, and what he said matters today. He 72 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: said that they were brethren of the same cause. And 73 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: they are, and they were, and it is true today. 74 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: The cause of American politics is the preservation of the 75 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: American Revolution. That's not about democracy. The American Revolution wasn't 76 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:59,919 Speaker 1: about democracy. It was about liberty. The only system of 77 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: government that has ever been successful at securing man's rights 78 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: and man's liberties is democratic government. Government that accepts the 79 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: proposition that people human beings are above the state, that 80 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:26,239 Speaker 1: they create the state and not the other way around. 81 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: This is elemental to understand. This is what keeps us safe. 82 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: This is what keeps the jackboot off of the citizen's neck. 83 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: When democracy collapses, when the rule of law expires, when 84 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: elections don't matter, what that looks like is the chaos 85 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: and mayem of January sixth, because politics devolves in that 86 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: moment to a contact, yes, between the strong and the weak. 87 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: If you can punch and kick harder, if you can 88 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: beat with a lead pole your opponent harder, if you 89 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: can kill instead and bring your opponent to physical submission, well, 90 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: then shouldn't you be in charge? That is the proposition 91 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:33,359 Speaker 1: of January sixth. That is the Maga proposition that strength 92 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: makes right, that power is good, and that absolute power 93 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: is best and if you can, you take it. There 94 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: are no sentiments that are more Unamerican than these. Thank 95 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: you for listening to my political commentary. If you like 96 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: what you've heard today, please also consider subscribing to the 97 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: Warning Daily newsletter on substack. Our democracy hangs in the balance. 98 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: The twenty twenty four presidential election is the most consequential 99 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: in America's history. It's not hyperbole, it's a fact. That 100 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: is why the mission of the Warning with Steve Schmidt 101 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,440 Speaker 1: is to help readers orient to the currents that are 102 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: shaping our times and the unseen forces driving politics that 103 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: are very rarely discussed on cable news. Please sign up 104 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: at Steve Schmidt st e ve E, S, C, H, M, I, 105 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: d T dot substack dot com again Steve Schmidt dot 106 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: substack dot com, or at the link in the show 107 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: notes section below. Thank you to each and every one 108 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: of you for listening and watching. The Republican Party has 109 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: a lie in itself with Donald Trump's magafaction. The party 110 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,560 Speaker 1: has been consumed by it, and Donald Trump controls the party. 111 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: He controls its apparatuses, He controls the institution of the 112 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: Republican Party at a national level, at a state level, 113 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: and at a local level. That party serves Donald Trump's ambitions, 114 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: and Donald Trump's ambitions do not serve the United States 115 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: of America. Donald Trump's ambitions are in conflict directly with 116 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: the Constitution of the United States of America. Donald Trump 117 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: is running to rip it up, and the answer from 118 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: every loyal American must be no. This has nothing to 119 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: do with whether you're a conservative or a progressive, whether 120 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: you're a person of the left or the right, whether 121 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: you are pro choice or pro life, whether you support 122 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: school vouchers or not. We the people get to decide 123 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: these issues. We the people get to debate that, and 124 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: we the people pick our leaders in the United States 125 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: of America. That will not be taken from us by 126 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: Donald trump that will not be taken from us by 127 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: Donald Trump's thugs, and that will not be taken from 128 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: us by lie after lie after lie. Because here's the truth. 129 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: The United States of America isn't just an experiment. It 130 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: is the most noble experiment in world's history, and it 131 00:11:53,880 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: is a miracle. We are not a perfect nation. We 132 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,320 Speaker 1: are a nation that is made up of all of 133 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: the peoples of the world, so in that there is 134 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:11,559 Speaker 1: great hope. We are the only nation. We are somewhere 135 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: today in this land, every language of the world will 136 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: be spoken. This country, made up of all of the 137 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: people of the world, has fed, cured, liberated, and done 138 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: more good in the world than all of the other 139 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: nations put together since the beginning of time. Our young 140 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: nation has so much to be proud of. And soon 141 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 1: it will be two hundred and fifty years old. Will 142 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: this generation of Americans allow the United States to slip 143 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: into the darkness, into the abyss. Will the American people, 144 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: upon the occasion of two one hundred and fifty years 145 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: of our independence, put into the White House a man 146 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: who tried to take it from us? They will not. 147 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: But Donald Trump is betting on something. He is betting 148 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: that his faction, which is committed, extreme and fanatical, plus 149 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: their opposite, the Americans who don't give a shit at all, 150 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: don't care, can't see the difference between Joe Biden and 151 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: Donald Trump, can't see the difference between a democratic party 152 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: that supports democracy and pluralism and a fascist party that 153 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: has succumbed to the sirens on of power, to the 154 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: lies of a demagogue who seeks to become a dictator. 155 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: Because those people, plus the committed Trump fanatics, in a 156 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:15,680 Speaker 1: close election, just may be enough to get to two 157 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy electoral votes, and so we shouldn't have 158 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: any questions, any ambiguities, any confusions around what it is 159 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: they plan to do. Listen to them. Ron DeSantis has 160 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: made it clear he's going to slit your throat and 161 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: he's the gentle one between him and Donald Trump. The 162 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: answer to these people and their sick ambitions is very simple, 163 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: very American. Summon some of the defiance that would have 164 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: been recognized by our ancestors, and let's pass it on 165 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: to our descendants, because the answer to their power fantasies 166 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: is this no. Thank you for watching. Make sure you 167 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: subscribe to our channel so you never miss a video. Also, 168 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: for more content just like this, please consider joining our 169 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: Warning premium community. You can find out more in the 170 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: description below.