1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: What's happened today? What did you witness Trump do today? 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 2: Well, this was the theater of authoritarianism and the reality 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 2: of it. Right, This is the kind of thing that 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,479 Speaker 2: you'd see in South America in the nineteen fifties, or 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 2: you know, it's the Orbon playbook, the Polish playbook. This 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: is put troops on the streets, even if they aren't 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 2: really needed. 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: He did that in La. You know, the ryots out 9 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: of control of La. 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 2: In LA, they kept showing the same one car burning. 11 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 2: The police in La are pretty good, they were on 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: top of it. There were protesters, legit peaceful, some getting 13 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 2: out of control. No sign that the local authorities were 14 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 2: unable to deal with that. But he wanted the troops 15 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 2: on the street. He wanted you to feel that. And 16 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 2: I'm talking to friends around here who live in DC. 17 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: I live out in Frederick, Maryland, and he wants them 18 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 2: to feel it. He wants people to feel the ex 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 2: the size of his domination on their streets and on 20 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 2: the streets of somebody else's city. So you don't want to, 21 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 2: you know, you don't want to get too out of 22 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 2: the lane that you're supposed to be in in your 23 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 2: own city, and don't think that's not working. 24 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: It is working. 25 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,199 Speaker 2: I was in was a foreign correspondent for five years, 26 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 2: and I was in London one night waiting for the 27 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 2: evening news to Peter Jennings News, although he was gone 28 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 2: by then, which comes out at twelve thirty in the 29 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 2: morning in London. So I'm there with my producer from 30 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 2: Poland to mcroski, great guy, and he was in. There 31 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 2: were in the throes of that government in Poland, the 32 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 2: Law and Justice Party, which did something very similar that 33 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 2: from what we're enduring now, and they were just stripped 34 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 2: the judiciary of authority, that kind of thing. And I 35 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: said to Tomik, I said, what's it like to live there? 36 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 2: Just what's it like for people are in agreement with 37 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 2: the government. And he said something that has come back 38 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 2: to me a lot these days. He said, your life 39 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 2: gets small. You try not to look around, you try 40 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 2: not to stand up, your life gets smaller. That's what 41 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 2: Trump wants. What we saw today was a performance of 42 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 2: authority backed up now by presidential powers that nobody's going 43 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 2: to stop him from using, not Congress, not the courts, 44 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: in order to dominate dominate opposition. And it's also on 45 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 2: an issue you know that a lot of ordinary Americans 46 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 2: are only glancing at the news, you know, a little 47 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 2: bit every day. 48 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: Say well, okay, yeah, I guess DC's full of crime. 49 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: Go get him. He's not stupid. 50 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:47,119 Speaker 3: You lost your job at ABC News for offering an 51 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 3: assessment about Steven Miller, and you were gone within within 52 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 3: forty eight hours. And and I have been really looking 53 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 3: forward to you talking to you about it, particularly with 54 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 3: the with the passage of of some time, right out 55 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 3: of the out of the moment where I think you 56 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 3: can objectively analyze some some of. 57 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: This a little bit better. 58 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 3: Do you? 59 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 4: Do you remember exactly what you said about them? I mean, 60 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 4: not word for word, but I remember writing. I mean 61 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 4: I was a sound mind and body, so I certainly 62 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 4: remember writing it. And I remember that I thought before 63 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 4: I said that, I thought this is pretty hot, this 64 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 4: is this is tough. 65 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: But I looked at it before I sent it, and 66 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: I thought that's a description. 67 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 2: I knew people would not like it within and without 68 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 2: ABC News, but I thought, I'm describing something, and I 69 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 2: believe that was describing it accurately and fairly. 70 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: Uh. 71 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 2: I do remember I said I called them a world 72 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 2: class hater, which he is I've been thinking about it 73 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 2: all day that day, something about the man in which 74 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 2: his public persona was just bludgeoning uh, the body politic 75 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 2: every day almost with with lies and kind of spitting venom, 76 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 2: and and it was. 77 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 3: It's let me ask, let me ask this question, right, 78 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 3: would would there have been an objection if you describe 79 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 3: David Duke as a world class hater? 80 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,159 Speaker 1: That's a great question. 81 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 2: Probably I might have had a minor reprimand I would 82 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 2: not love my job, but I might have had a reprimand. 83 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 3: Is there such a thing as a world class hater? 84 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 3: Do you think that that's a fair description, That there 85 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:51,559 Speaker 3: are people that, for whatever reason, burn with a deep 86 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 3: hatred that just objectively, those those human beings have have 87 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 3: existed over the over the course of history. 88 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: Sure. I mean, I'm as a reporter. 89 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: I look at the way Stephen Miller addresses the public, 90 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 2: the way he fills the airwaves with lies and with 91 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 2: this intense almost almost desire to enrage and to humiliate. 92 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 2: He almost spits out his words. I mean, how would 93 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 2: you describe that? That's hatred? 94 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: Hi? Trump too, Morgan. 95 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 3: I think about your description and the consequence of it 96 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 3: through a very singular appraisal. There's only there's only one 97 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 3: person I think about, and in the moment that happened, 98 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 3: it was a man named Abner Less, and Abner Less 99 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 3: was a German Jew who became an Israeli police captain 100 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 3: and he was the singular person who interrogated at off Ikman, 101 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 3: which he did for two hundred and seventy five hours, 102 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 3: and he never talked about it. He lied to his 103 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 3: bosses about his family because he wanted the shot to 104 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 3: interrogate him and knew he was up for it and 105 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 3: wouldn't get it if his bosses in Israel knew that 106 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 3: he was a that he was in fact a survivor, 107 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 3: you know, and had lost lost his family. So however, however, 108 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 3: he obscured that he did. And he's asked about the 109 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 3: experience in nineteen eighty once, so twenty years later, and 110 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 3: he said, do you have any takeaways from that? And 111 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 3: he says, absolutely, he gave me my full faith in democracy, 112 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 3: because there are Adolph Ikamans everywhere. 113 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: They're all around us. 114 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 3: But they're harmless in a democracy, but they but they 115 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,799 Speaker 3: but they turned deadly in an instant and a dictatorship. 116 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 3: And what Stephen Miller is is a is a little likeman. 117 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 3: He would have been understood as a little eikman contemporaneous 118 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 3: to when that term was familiarized and popularized in the 119 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 3: in the nineteen sixties. And so if you if you 120 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 3: eradicate objectively right as a news organization, right, the ability 121 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 3: to describe someone accurate, precisely, surgically, then what you do 122 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 3: is remove at a foundational level the keys to understanding 123 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 3: someone like a Reinhart Heidrich, someone like a Joseph Goebbels. 124 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 3: And you really censor historically by removing from consideration the 125 00:07:53,680 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 3: role that this hatred had in the events that transpired 126 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 3: when the personality disorder came into contact with the men's 127 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 3: political power. And so if you can objectively look at 128 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 3: say Pope Francis, and say that this is a person 129 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 3: who advocated for love in the world, and also appreciate 130 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 3: that there are doctrinal differences in a two thousand year 131 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:32,320 Speaker 3: old church if you're covering it through that praism, But objectively, 132 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 3: what did he stand for? He stood for these values 133 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 3: and are there antithetical values to that? And I would 134 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 3: argue that there are, and are they represented right by vices? 135 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,439 Speaker 3: And among those vices. Are there such things as bigotry? 136 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 3: Are there such things as hatred? Are there such things 137 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 3: as cruelty? And there are all of those things, And 138 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 3: they are really the singular lessons of the twentieth century. 139 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 3: And to watch you lose a pristine journalism career for 140 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 3: the precise description of such things six months in to 141 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 3: an autocratic travesty was quite a jarring moment in all 142 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 3: of it. But the one thing that no one will 143 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 3: ever be able to say about you is that you 144 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 3: lost your integrity with so many others along the road 145 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 3: over these many years. 146 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 5: So good for you. I'm Steve Schmidt. This is the warning. 147 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 5: I invite you to join this community, where I promise 148 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 5: to be honest, blunt and direct about what is happening 149 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:54,080 Speaker 5: in this country. America is in crisis. Follow and subscribe 150 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 5: to this channel and on substack. 151 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 3: Thank you.