Speaker 1: Florida Governor Ron de Santis has issued a campaign promise
Speaker 1: or a threat. I guess it depends on how you
Speaker 1: look at it. He promised that on day one, when
Speaker 1: he becomes the president, he'll start slitting throats. You heard
Speaker 1: it correctly, Florida Governor Ron de Santis is running for
Speaker 1: president to slit throats. I guess my response to that
Speaker 1: is lighting up Francis. The simple truth is American politics
Speaker 1: is profoundly broken, and the evidence of that is the
Speaker 1: Florida governor who isn't home in his state tending to
Speaker 1: the massive leprosy outbreak, but instead threatening to slit the
Speaker 1: throats of American citizens in forty nine other states. That
Speaker 1: puts him a good stead against Donald Trump, who is
Speaker 1: promising his campaign will be a force of retribution and revenge.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump promises to smite all of his enemies, the
Speaker 1: people that have held him to account, the criminal justice system.
Speaker 1: In fact, every American that opposes Donald Trump, according to
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, is a threat, is a member of the
Speaker 1: deep state, and therefore deserves political punishment, revenge imposed on them,
Speaker 1: and just retribution from the MAGA extremists. Because how could
Speaker 1: it be that any American could fairly look at the
Speaker 1: situation at hand and come to any conclusion other than
Speaker 1: Donald Trump should be president for life and that we
Speaker 1: should discard our elections process. A lot of headlines are
Speaker 1: filled with reports that seek to characterize what is that
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has done. This dilemma has confronted the American
Speaker 1: media since the moments the insurrection began. Nobody knew what
Speaker 1: to call it. On CNN in the early hours, it
Speaker 1: was referred to as a riot, and then it became
Speaker 1: an insurrection, which it certainly was. But more than that,
Speaker 1: what we witnessed on that day was a premeditated, organized
Speaker 1: conspiracy to topple the United States government. Yes, abstractly, it
Speaker 1: was an assault on democracy. Yes, in an abstract, it
Speaker 1: was an assault on pluralism. Yes, in an abstract it
Speaker 1: was an assault on the Declaration of Independence and the
Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States. In reality, though tangibly, it
Speaker 1: was an attack of the United States dates of America,
Speaker 1: incited by a president, by senators, by governors, and by
Speaker 1: the news media who lied and lied and lied, and
Speaker 1: convinced in this country through those lies millions of people
Speaker 1: that the most fair and legitimate election in American history
Speaker 1: was in fact fraudulent, that, in fact the person who won,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, was an illegitimate president. What Donald Trump did
Speaker 1: over and over and over again, with no small number
Speaker 1: of allies, is inject this poisonous lie into America's body,
Speaker 1: the body politic. He poisoned faith and belief. He divided
Speaker 1: the country. He ended the peaceful transition of power in
Speaker 1: a hand handed attempt to make himself dictator. America's presidents
Speaker 1: are the only people in the country who swear an
Speaker 1: oath that is written in the Constitution of the United States,
Speaker 1: the same oath that Donald Trump and Joe Biden took,
Speaker 1: or the same oath that Miller Fillmore, John Adams and
Speaker 1: George Washington took. The only American president and we've had
Speaker 1: some bad ones over the years that desecrated that oath,
Speaker 1: that burned it to the ground, that sought to rip
Speaker 1: up the Constitution of the United States so that he
Speaker 1: could be in power, is Donald Trump. People died during
Speaker 1: the attempt. Police officers were bludgeoned with American flag. The
Speaker 1: insurrectionists invaded the capital. They defecated on the floors of
Speaker 1: the United States House of Representatives and the United States
Speaker 1: Senate hundreds of people are serving jail sentences. Thousands of
Speaker 1: Americans have been convicted for their participation in those events
Speaker 1: that were commanded by Donald Trump. And now Donald Trump
Speaker 1: has been held to account, he has been charged with crimes,
Speaker 1: yet he remains the overwhelming front runner for the Republican nomination.
Speaker 1: The Republican Party is the third oldest political party in
Speaker 1: the world, and it is imposing on the country a
Speaker 1: proposition that is unacceptable. Thomas Jefferson referred to Americans with
Speaker 1: passionate differences who were aligning into two factions, two parties,
Speaker 1: the very parties that Washington had warned about. In his
Speaker 1: farewell Jefferson talked after a divisive election in eighteen hundred
Speaker 1: to those parties, and what he said matters today. He
Speaker 1: said that they were brethren of the same cause. And
Speaker 1: they are, and they were, and it is true today.
Speaker 1: The cause of American politics is the preservation of the
Speaker 1: American Revolution. That's not about democracy. The American Revolution wasn't
Speaker 1: about democracy. It was about liberty. The only system of
Speaker 1: government that has ever been successful at securing man's rights
Speaker 1: and man's liberties is democratic government. Government that accepts the
Speaker 1: proposition that people human beings are above the state, that
Speaker 1: they create the state and not the other way around.
Speaker 1: This is elemental to understand. This is what keeps us safe.
Speaker 1: This is what keeps the jackboot off of the citizen's neck.
Speaker 1: When democracy collapses, when the rule of law expires, when
Speaker 1: elections don't matter, what that looks like is the chaos
Speaker 1: and mayem of January sixth, because politics devolves in that
Speaker 1: moment to a contact, yes, between the strong and the weak.
Speaker 1: If you can punch and kick harder, if you can
Speaker 1: beat with a lead pole your opponent harder, if you
Speaker 1: can kill instead and bring your opponent to physical submission, well,
Speaker 1: then shouldn't you be in charge? That is the proposition
Speaker 1: of January sixth. That is the Maga proposition that strength
Speaker 1: makes right, that power is good, and that absolute power
Speaker 1: is best and if you can, you take it. There
Speaker 1: are no sentiments that are more Unamerican than these. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to my political commentary. If you like
Speaker 1: what you've heard today, please also consider subscribing to the
Speaker 1: Warning Daily newsletter on substack. Our democracy hangs in the balance.
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty four presidential election is the most consequential
Speaker 1: in America's history. It's not hyperbole, it's a fact. That
Speaker 1: is why the mission of the Warning with Steve Schmidt
Speaker 1: is to help readers orient to the currents that are
Speaker 1: shaping our times and the unseen forces driving politics that
Speaker 1: are very rarely discussed on cable news. Please sign up
Speaker 1: at Steve Schmidt st e ve E, S, C, H, M, I,
Speaker 1: d T dot substack dot com again Steve Schmidt dot
Speaker 1: substack dot com, or at the link in the show
Speaker 1: notes section below. Thank you to each and every one
Speaker 1: of you for listening and watching. The Republican Party has
Speaker 1: a lie in itself with Donald Trump's magafaction. The party
Speaker 1: has been consumed by it, and Donald Trump controls the party.
Speaker 1: He controls its apparatuses, He controls the institution of the
Speaker 1: Republican Party at a national level, at a state level,
Speaker 1: and at a local level. That party serves Donald Trump's ambitions,
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump's ambitions do not serve the United States
Speaker 1: of America. Donald Trump's ambitions are in conflict directly with
Speaker 1: the Constitution of the United States of America. Donald Trump
Speaker 1: is running to rip it up, and the answer from
Speaker 1: every loyal American must be no. This has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with whether you're a conservative or a progressive, whether
Speaker 1: you're a person of the left or the right, whether
Speaker 1: you are pro choice or pro life, whether you support
Speaker 1: school vouchers or not. We the people get to decide
Speaker 1: these issues. We the people get to debate that, and
Speaker 1: we the people pick our leaders in the United States
Speaker 1: of America. That will not be taken from us by
Speaker 1: Donald trump that will not be taken from us by
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's thugs, and that will not be taken from
Speaker 1: us by lie after lie after lie. Because here's the truth.
Speaker 1: The United States of America isn't just an experiment. It
Speaker 1: is the most noble experiment in world's history, and it
Speaker 1: is a miracle. We are not a perfect nation. We
Speaker 1: are a nation that is made up of all of
Speaker 1: the peoples of the world, so in that there is
Speaker 1: great hope. We are the only nation. We are somewhere
Speaker 1: today in this land, every language of the world will
Speaker 1: be spoken. This country, made up of all of the
Speaker 1: people of the world, has fed, cured, liberated, and done
Speaker 1: more good in the world than all of the other
Speaker 1: nations put together since the beginning of time. Our young
Speaker 1: nation has so much to be proud of. And soon
Speaker 1: it will be two hundred and fifty years old. Will
Speaker 1: this generation of Americans allow the United States to slip
Speaker 1: into the darkness, into the abyss. Will the American people,
Speaker 1: upon the occasion of two one hundred and fifty years
Speaker 1: of our independence, put into the White House a man
Speaker 1: who tried to take it from us? They will not.
Speaker 1: But Donald Trump is betting on something. He is betting
Speaker 1: that his faction, which is committed, extreme and fanatical, plus
Speaker 1: their opposite, the Americans who don't give a shit at all,
Speaker 1: don't care, can't see the difference between Joe Biden and
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, can't see the difference between a democratic party
Speaker 1: that supports democracy and pluralism and a fascist party that
Speaker 1: has succumbed to the sirens on of power, to the
Speaker 1: lies of a demagogue who seeks to become a dictator.
Speaker 1: Because those people, plus the committed Trump fanatics, in a
Speaker 1: close election, just may be enough to get to two
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy electoral votes, and so we shouldn't have
Speaker 1: any questions, any ambiguities, any confusions around what it is
Speaker 1: they plan to do. Listen to them. Ron DeSantis has
Speaker 1: made it clear he's going to slit your throat and
Speaker 1: he's the gentle one between him and Donald Trump. The
Speaker 1: answer to these people and their sick ambitions is very simple,
Speaker 1: very American. Summon some of the defiance that would have
Speaker 1: been recognized by our ancestors, and let's pass it on
Speaker 1: to our descendants, because the answer to their power fantasies
Speaker 1: is this no. Thank you for watching. Make sure you
Speaker 1: subscribe to our channel so you never miss a video. Also,
Speaker 1: for more content just like this, please consider joining our
Speaker 1: Warning premium community. You can find out more in the
Speaker 1: description below.