WEBVTT - Why Republicans are TERRIFIED of Donald Trump's recent behavior 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.640 Thanks for listening. For earlier access to these episodes, access 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.160 to Ask Me Anything, sessions, and extended breakdowns of historical 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.760 and current events. Please consider joining our Warning Premium community 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.919 by clicking the link and the description to this episode. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:20.439 Something that is true but that you won't read about 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:26.319 at least very often, is how panicked Republicans are in Washington, DC. 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.000 What I'm talking about is the panic of the party's 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.960 pollsters and election strategists. They see the writing on the wall, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.559 they know what's coming down the pike. They know what 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:43.080 it means when Carrie Lake is back. The Looney conspiracy 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.560 theorist who is defeated in the Arizona gubernatorial election now 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.120 has her site set on the United States Senate, where 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.240 she can be Lauren Bobert and Marjorie Taylor Green Times 0:00:55.240 --> 0:01:03.320 five Republicans understand that Donald Trump is going off the rails. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:09.440 Look at his behavior. This man seeks again to be 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:14.560 the commander in chief of the most powerful military in 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:21.040 human history. He wants control of America's nuclear weapons arsenal, 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:28.640 and by any objective measurement, any standard, his conduct has 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:35.000 become completely deranged. His attacks on the federal judges and 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:40.720 judiciary his attacks and threats against the prosecutor in Atlanta, 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.800 whom he accused of having an affair with a gang member. 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:51.200 It's important to note that's not accidental. The Atlanta prosecutor 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:56.760 is tough as nails. A black woman. He's disrespecting her, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:03.440 insulting her, degrading her. The attack is racist. The attack 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:08.799 is stereotypical everything that you would expect from Donald Trump. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.160 He went to New Hampshire. He railed against Chris Christie, 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:16.720 who has moved into a tie for second place. It 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.760 is on track to win the New Hampshire primary. Donald 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.200 Trump engaged the former governor from New Jersey, calling him 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:29.400 a fat pig. He is lashing out, he is decomposing. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.160 This is what one hundred felony counts will do to 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.720 a person, and that's likely the number will be up 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.560 around with all is said and done, as Donald Trump 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.359 heads to the trials. According to the polling, and perhaps 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:52.799 more importantly, media outlets interpretation of it, Americans are apparently 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:57.880 tuned out to the wall to wall Trump trial coverage. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.880 The media is interpreting this as meaning the American people 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:06.800 are numb or uncaring about the trials. I think this 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.520 is wrong deeply wrong. What the American people aren't necessarily 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:14.840 in the mood for in the middle of summer is 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:21.040 wall to wall talking about the trial, between motions, between 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:28.040 any activity that's repetitive, that's banal, tedious, and exceedingly boring. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.280 When the trials begin and there is action to cover 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.720 and to report on as the events are taking place, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.640 I think it is safe to say the American people 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:45.880 will be highly engaged. Part of what is broken in 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.760 American politics is the life cycle that exists between the 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:57.760 media and the politicians. The ubiquity of coverage, the constant 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.280 presence of these people in our faces, is leading the 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:08.119 American people to turn off their televisions, to unplug their 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:13.600 cable boxes. The coverage of the Donald Trump story as 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.080 it moves into its eighth year, as we approached the 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:23.279 decade mark, has become brutally tedious. What is it that 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:28.360 we're supposed to talk about day after day after day 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:35.840 when you consider his depravity, his treachery, his treason against 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:41.560 the United States of America. Now, Republicans in Washington, d C. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:48.479 The ones who run the elections, are deeply panicked. Alexander 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:53.239 Bolton of The Hill Newspaper has written a nearly perfect 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:58.800 lead describing the feeling in Washington, d C. Amongst the 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:03.320 Maga Republicans at this hour. What they see coming down 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:08.320 the road is Carrie Lake coming back. They see the 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:13.600 Arizona Conspiracy, theorist and loon who lost the gubernatorial election 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.240 keyed up and ready for a US Senate run. They 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:23.600 know the incredibly high price that has been paid up 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:29.320 and down the ballot for Trump sycophancy. They know the 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:36.240 cost of the appeasement, of the collaboration, of the moral cowardice. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.520 They know the cost of what it looks like when 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:45.960 these candidates are made to seem idiotic under questioning that 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.720 they can't keep straight. They can't walk the fine line 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.920 between being four and against Trump. They can't possibly make 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.919 the case that they support and defend the Constitution of 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:05.200 the United States while standing next to the man who 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.479 tried to burn it down. They can't be on the 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.400 wrong side of Mike Pence, who said I'll always pick 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:17.240 the Constitution, meaning in his choice between Trump and America, 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.840 he went with America. What will their choice be? Thank 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.840 you for listening to my political commentary. If you like 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.960 what you heard today, please also consider subscribing to The 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:35.560 Warning daily newsletter on Substack. Our democracy hangs in the balance. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.799 The twenty twenty four presidential election is the most consequential 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:45.279 in America's history. It's not hyperbole, it's a fact. That 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.479 is why the mission of The Warning with Steve Schmidt 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.640 is to help readers orient to the currents that are 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:56.840 shaping our times and the unseen forces driving politics that 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:01.360 are very rarely discussed on cable news. Please sign up 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:06.160 at Steve Schmidt st e ve E, s C H 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.000 M I DT dot substack dot com, or at the 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.120 link in the show notes section below. Thank you to 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.600 each and every one of you for listening and watching. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:25.560 The extremest threat facing America has been cooking now for 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:31.800 a very very long time. It has been inflamed by 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:37.160 social media, by the ubiquity of Trump's presence, by his 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:44.760 ability at any moment to with his fingers divide antagonize 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:51.560 in sight. A great test is coming for America, and 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:56.760 this is a test that is past fail. It's very simple. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.679 We are nearly two one hundred and fifty years old 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:08.560 as a nation. Generations of Americans have marched into battle 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:15.679 to defend our freedom. They crossed bridges like the Edmund 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:27.120 Pettis for Justice. Americans were beaten, killed, lynched, shot so 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:31.600 they could have the right to vote, a say, a 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:37.840 stake in the future, their children's future, their country's future, 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:45.360 their community's future. There is no conceivable way to sustain 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:50.960 the United States of America outside of a system where 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:56.240 the people are able to pick their leaders. And this 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:02.760 requires something from the leaders, a willing to concede to 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:07.480 the sovereignty and the will of the people. Losing an 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.640 election is hard. Many people take it very, very personally, 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:20.480 no doubt, for some the loss breaks them. Politics attracts 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:27.600 all sorts of people, narcissists, the vein, the needy, the searching, 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:34.960 the yearning. It also attracts genuine servants, people who want 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:42.080 to make the country stronger, make it better, defend the country. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.640 It's so hard sometimes to see the difference and to 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:53.600 tell the difference between the two, but they're there. The 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:59.120 test at hands means you cannot be for the man 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:04.000 who tried to take away the right of the American 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:10.320 people to choose. The test ahead means that you have 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:16.520 to understand. America is built on the concept that if 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:23.240 you lose, you acknowledge the will of the people, You 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:30.360 congratulate your opponent, you support him for her when you can. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.679 If there are areas of mutual agreement for the betterment 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:41.360 of something bigger, bigger than you, bigger than your family, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:47.720 bigger than your community, bigger than your state, and that's 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.640 the American nation. We will never live in an era 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:58.320 where there is an absence of threat. The crisis comes 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:03.679 when there is an absence of character, of national character 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:11.959 to meet the threat. The fascist threat was crushed because 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.840 of the will and the power and might impart of 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:22.160 the American people, the same with global communism. But absent 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:27.200 that will, what would have happened? And so the question 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.560 must be asked, what will happen in the absence of 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:36.440 will to stop extremism from taking root? In an election 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:42.600 in the United States? What will happen is Trump's minority 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:49.560 will grow with its apathetic partners into a very small 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:54.920 majority and be in a position to take power. And 0:11:55.000 --> 0:12:01.040 if they do, they will begin immediately tearing a part 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:06.720 the institutions and structures of the government to make sure 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:12.680 that never again would there be a check or a balance, 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:19.040 or any limitations whatsoever to the use of Donald Trump's 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:24.480 authority and power, including deciding if he's ready to retire 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:32.520 or once to keep ongoing for a third or fourth term. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.760 These things aren't far fetched. At the eight year mark. 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.760 With Donald Trump, we've watched it all play out for 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:44.720 a very long time now. Donald Trump said he wouldn't 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.800 concede the election for the first time in twenty fifteen, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.080 and he went on to do exactly what he said 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.720 he was going to do. And we now know, because 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.480 of the revelation of a secret memo that was not 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:06.680 uncovered by the January sixth Committee, that in fact, the 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:13.360 Trump campaign the conspiracy to take power through an American coup. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:23.400 It's highly organized, replanned, premeditated, and very deliberate. And this 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.680 is at the heart the greatest core part of the 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:35.960 American tragedy over these last eight years. Donald Trump behaved 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:40.960 in the White House precisely like many of us expected 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:48.440 him to. Many of us understood that the presidency reveals character, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:54.160 it doesn't create it. And we saw from Donald Trump 0:13:54.679 --> 0:14:00.720 an exposition of the lowest character amongst the whole of 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:05.440 the American people. Truly, the country brought to the White 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.960 House and put into power the worst from amongst us. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:17.959 And there he sat degrading the country, attacking its systems 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:25.600 and its institutions. This cannot be abided any longer. The 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:31.640 American people have a choice to make. Will a deranged 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:38.520 man take power again? Because if we do, because if 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:43.320 we allow it, we're flushing it all down the toilet, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:49.280 and that will be the greatest tragedy in all of 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:50.320 American history.