1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:01,240 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. 2 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 2: For earlier access to these episodes, access to Ask Me 3 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 2: Anything sessions, and extended breakdowns of historical and current events, 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 2: Please consider joining our Warning Premium community by clicking the 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 2: link in the description to this episode. Jonathan Martin of 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 2: Politico has written a long profile of Senate Majority Leader 7 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell. The headline of politico story reads, McConnell in 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 2: winter inside the GOP leader's attempt to thwart Trump, The 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 2: Kentucky Republican is doing all he can to bolster Ukraine, 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 2: preserve NATO, and help his party maintain its Reaganite roots. 11 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 2: That story is really stunning revisionist history. We are in 12 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 2: this situation today in America because of appeasement, and there 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 2: is no appeaser who's above Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell did 14 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 2: not fight Donald Trump, did not oppose him, did not 15 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 2: stand up to him, has not attempted to thwart him. 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 2: The simple truth is that thousands of times Mitch McConnell 17 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 2: led a capitulation caucus, a caucus of cowards who, time 18 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 2: and time and time again would not defend their country 19 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 2: against their political party. They would not defend their political 20 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 2: party against the greatest demagogue to ever lead it. Instead, 21 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 2: they rolled over. They hoped for the best, But hope 22 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 2: isn't a strategy, And in the case of Donald Trump, 23 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 2: it's always been a delusion. When the history of this 24 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 2: era is written, it will not be written by this 25 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 2: era's access journalists hoping for the next tidbit break, the 26 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: next scoop on news from a McConnell's staffer or lobbyist 27 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 2: or somebody who runs the multitude of. 28 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: Superpacks that he controls. 29 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 2: History is written by historians, and when they look back 30 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 2: at this era of malice, idiocy, and depravity, and they 31 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 2: look back at Donald Trump, they will. 32 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: Ask the question, how did this happen? 33 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 2: How did the world's oldest constitutional republic elect his demagogue? 34 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,519 Speaker 2: How did the Party of Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower 35 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 2: and Ronald Reagan collapse? And the answer to the question 36 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 2: will be under the weight of its moral cowardice. It 37 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: collapsed because of the appeasement of men like Mitch McConnell. 38 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 2: After the events of January sixth had played out, Mitch 39 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 2: McConnell told John More and this is how he felt, quote, 40 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 2: I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally 41 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 2: totally discredited himself, he put a gun to his head 42 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 2: and pulled the trigger. Couldn't have happened at a better time. Now, 43 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 2: Liz Cheney said something that will stand the test of time. 44 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 2: It will be etched in stone. Here's her quote. 45 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: I say this to. 46 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 2: My Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will 47 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 2: come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your 48 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 2: dishonor will remain. Liz Cheney was talking about you, Mitch McConnell. 49 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 2: She was talking about almost the entirety of the Republican 50 00:03:53,360 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 2: Party's elected membership in Washington, DC. Understand this. The Republican 51 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 2: Party was filled with people, all of them. Nearly every 52 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 2: elected official was against Donald Trump until they discarded, like 53 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 2: Lindsay Graham, every principle they claimed to hold, every shred 54 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 2: of patriotism they claimed to possess, in defense of a man, 55 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 2: a demagogue, a man who tried to install himself into 56 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:36,600 Speaker 2: the American presidency illegitimately through a coup. As we approached 57 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 2: the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the nation's independence 58 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 2: from Great Britain, it is beyond astonishing. Thank you for 59 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 2: listening to my political commentary. If you like what you've 60 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 2: heard today, please also consider subscribing to The Warning daily 61 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 2: newsletter on Substack. Our democracy hangs in the balance. The 62 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four presidential election is the most consequential in 63 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 2: America's history. It's not hyperbole, it's a fact. That is 64 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 2: why the mission of the Warning with Steve Schmidt is 65 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 2: to help readers orient to the currents that are shaping 66 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 2: our times and the unseen forces driving politics that are 67 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 2: very rarely discussed on cable news. Please sign up at 68 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 2: Steve Schmidt st e ve E, S, C, H, M, I, 69 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 2: D T dot substack dot com again Steve Schmidt dot 70 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 2: substack dot com, or at the link in the show 71 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 2: notes section below. Thank you to each and every one 72 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 2: of you for listening and watching. Unpacking revisionist history is 73 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 2: going to be at the center of American politics for 74 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:02,599 Speaker 2: a long line to come, because as Donald Trump collapses, melts, 75 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 2: and fades away, there will be a desperate scramble from 76 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 2: all of the appeasers and all of the collaborators to 77 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 2: pretend that they resisted the worst president in American history. 78 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 2: They will pretend that they stood up against him. It 79 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 2: will become one of the great cons in American politics. 80 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 2: It will represent a full circle of sorts. The simple 81 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 2: truth is every elected Republican knew exactly who Donald Trump 82 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 2: was at the beginning, and then they got on their 83 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 2: knees for him, including Mitch. 84 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: McConnell, and they knew what was coming. 85 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 2: There isn't a US Senator or a US House member 86 00:06:54,240 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 2: who does not understand the sanctity of elections, does not 87 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 2: understand the process. It does not understand that the American 88 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 2: system requires every single candidate, every single office holder, be 89 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 2: open to the possibility that they be fired by the 90 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 2: people that they work for and serve at the pleasure 91 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 2: of the American people. One of the great myths of 92 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 2: this era will be that nobody could have seen the 93 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 2: violence coming, That it wasn't organized, that it wasn't planned, 94 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 2: that it wasn't intimated. Let's watch Donald Trump from the 95 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 2: general election debate in the. 96 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: Fall of twenty twenty. 97 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 2: Call on the proud Boys to be ready. 98 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: What do you want to call them? 99 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 2: Give me a name, give me a. 100 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: Process and right product, stand back and stand by. But 101 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. 102 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 2: Somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left. Well, 103 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 2: we know that the leader of the Proud Boys today 104 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 2: is serving a long federal prison sentence for sedition, as 105 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 2: is the leader of the Oathkeepers. Donald Trump knew exactly 106 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 2: what he was saying months before the election. It could 107 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 2: have been seen coming, and it was by me and 108 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 2: many others who understood going back to twenty fifteen, in 109 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 2: two thousand and sixteen, that when Donald Trump said he 110 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 2: would only accept an American election as legitimate if he won, 111 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 2: that he was attacking the foundation of the country, that 112 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 2: he was undermining the tremendous acts of humility by George 113 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 2: Washington that brought it into existence. Over and over and 114 00:08:55,640 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 2: over again, Republican members capitulated to Donaldnald Trump. Each depraved 115 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 2: act was simply a prelude to the next depraved act, 116 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 2: and on and on it went for four years. How 117 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 2: is an ATO threatened in twenty twenty three. Simple because 118 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:22,199 Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell didn't call out Donald Trump in two thousand 119 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 2: and fifteen, two thousand and sixteen or seventeen or eighteen, 120 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 2: two thousand and nineteen, two and twenty two, thoyd and 121 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 2: twenty one or two thousand and twenty two. 122 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: Instead, Mitch McConnell. 123 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 2: Like all great leaders do, hoped it would just disappear, 124 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 2: go away. And that's how the malice spread. That's how 125 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 2: the anti Semitism rose, That's how the number of hate 126 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 2: crimes reached its record highs. That's how it came to 127 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 2: be that the truth and the lie stand equal in 128 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 2: American society. Because the Senate Majority leader, the longest serving 129 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 2: in American history, somebody who's routinely hailed as a genius 130 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 2: by the Washington media, somebody who's hailed as a genius 131 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 2: by his colleagues, wouldn't stand up for the US Constitution. 132 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 2: Couldn't figure out how to track Trump, couldn't figure out 133 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 2: how to defenestrate him. What he was great at, what 134 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 2: he was world class at, was appeasing Trump, accommodating Trump. 135 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 2: John Kennedy saw Mitch McConnell coming a long time ago. 136 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 2: He talked about him as the type of foolish man 137 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 2: that would seek to ride the tiger only to find 138 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,719 Speaker 2: himself inside. 139 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,680 Speaker 1: That is Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell thought. 140 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 2: That he could control Donald Trump, and he couldn't, and 141 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 2: he certainly didn't try to confront him. He never walked 142 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 2: into the Oval office and laid down the law. He 143 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 2: never said, let me explain to you how this works. 144 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 2: He never looked Trump in the eye and said, fuck you, 145 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 2: mister president. You may not understand this. Maybe one of 146 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 2: your people can explain it to you, but I'm the 147 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 2: person who has you by the balls. Mitch McConnell did 148 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 2: none of those things. He is a coward, and that 149 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:37,320 Speaker 2: is his legacy.