WEBVTT - SO...NUCLEAR WAR ON TUESDAY? - 4.6.26 0:00:04.795 --> 0:00:24.115 Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. So 0:00:26.075 --> 0:00:31.035 nuclear War on Tuesday, the other part of dementia J 0:00:31.195 --> 0:00:37.115 Trump's vile, multi religion blasphemous Easter post, not the he 0:00:37.435 --> 0:00:42.355 is Effen Risen part. The other part is the operative part, 0:00:42.875 --> 0:00:46.795 and the follow up post is the meaningful post. Tuesday 0:00:46.835 --> 0:00:50.435 will be power plant day, he wrote, and Bridge day. 0:00:50.795 --> 0:00:53.075 There will be nothing like it, he wrote, You'll be 0:00:53.155 --> 0:00:57.635 living in hell, he wrote. Just watch, he wrote, and 0:00:57.715 --> 0:01:00.675 he followed it four hours and thirty five minutes later 0:01:00.795 --> 0:01:05.955 by writing, quote Tuesday, eight pm Eastern time, you left 0:01:05.995 --> 0:01:10.715 out the be there Aloha. And in between, interspersed with 0:01:10.795 --> 0:01:14.715 more of his new dial a stenographer calls to quote 0:01:14.715 --> 0:01:19.715 reporters unquote with insane observations like if there's no deal today, 0:01:20.115 --> 0:01:24.315 he's quote blowing up the whole country ABC, or I 0:01:24.395 --> 0:01:28.635 am blowing up everything over there, axios. Or we're going 0:01:28.675 --> 0:01:31.195 to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong. 0:01:31.755 --> 0:01:36.315 From the somnambulance speech he gave last Wednesday night, this 0:01:36.555 --> 0:01:42.755 is all a threat to use tactical nuclear weapons in Iran. 0:01:43.915 --> 0:01:46.155 And even if it's just a threat, or even if 0:01:46.155 --> 0:01:49.475 the nuclear part is hyperbole, it is still a threat 0:01:49.515 --> 0:01:53.955 to use massive amounts of conventional ordinance. But Trump, of 0:01:53.955 --> 0:01:57.995 course has longed to use nuclear weapons since the first 0:01:58.115 --> 0:02:02.195 term because he's a sadist who wants to kill people. 0:02:03.035 --> 0:02:06.715 He was asking his generals a decade ago why we 0:02:06.875 --> 0:02:10.155 had them if we didn't use them, because the morals 0:02:10.195 --> 0:02:13.435 and just as importantly, the repercussions of using them have 0:02:13.555 --> 0:02:17.835 never occurred to him, and he truly, deeply, unshakeably believes 0:02:17.915 --> 0:02:20.595 he is the first person ever to think of using 0:02:20.675 --> 0:02:25.915 nuclear weapons, because he's smart and nobody else is smart. 0:02:26.795 --> 0:02:29.155 He believes this just as he believes he was the 0:02:29.195 --> 0:02:31.955 first person ever to think of using the government to 0:02:32.035 --> 0:02:36.395 steal an election lost while he was in office, just 0:02:36.555 --> 0:02:38.555 as it has not occurred to him that he would 0:02:38.595 --> 0:02:42.595 be giving tacit permission to Russia to use nuclear weapons, 0:02:42.675 --> 0:02:46.555 not just in Ukraine, but having first handed them to 0:02:46.675 --> 0:02:50.955 Iran in response to this, to have Iran US nuclear 0:02:50.995 --> 0:02:56.035 weapons in Israel if he uses nuclear weapons in Iran. 0:02:57.235 --> 0:03:00.155 But he thinks that's not why it hasn't been done before. 0:03:00.275 --> 0:03:03.715 He thinks it hasn't been done before because you're all stupid. 0:03:05.675 --> 0:03:08.155 And of course then there's the other part Trump is 0:03:08.235 --> 0:03:09.315 mentally unstable. 0:03:10.075 --> 0:03:10.475 Quote. 0:03:11.155 --> 0:03:14.675 I know all of you in his cabinet and him, 0:03:14.875 --> 0:03:18.435 and he has gone insane, and all of you are 0:03:18.715 --> 0:03:25.475 complicit unquote. Marjorie Taylor Green wrote that not two hours 0:03:25.675 --> 0:03:30.955 after Trump's expletive threat. When Marjorie Taylor Green says Trump 0:03:31.035 --> 0:03:37.075 is insane, guess what he's insane? Oh and a PostScript 0:03:37.155 --> 0:03:41.075 from the newest member of Club Reality. Our president is 0:03:41.115 --> 0:03:46.515 not a Christian, So here we are tomorrow is either 0:03:46.635 --> 0:03:54.075 Taco Tuesday or thermonuclear Tuesday. All over the closure of 0:03:54.115 --> 0:03:59.155 the Strait of Hormoze, which Trump caused, which Trump then 0:03:59.235 --> 0:04:02.635 dismissed because he doesn't use the Strait of Hormuz, and 0:04:02.675 --> 0:04:05.315 then dismissed it because he doesn't need the state of Hormuz, 0:04:05.435 --> 0:04:09.955 then dismissed it because it would soon open itself open sesame, 0:04:10.835 --> 0:04:15.475 and then quotes open the fucking straight, you crazy bastards, 0:04:17.435 --> 0:04:20.635 because he wasn't getting his way. He doesn't know what 0:04:20.675 --> 0:04:23.875 the Strait of Hormoz is. There were indications last week 0:04:23.915 --> 0:04:26.755 he decided it was some sort of large supply of 0:04:26.835 --> 0:04:32.155 oil or a barrel or something, or maybe somebody named Hormuz. 0:04:34.275 --> 0:04:38.635 The problem other than the nuclear problem and the insanity 0:04:38.675 --> 0:04:42.915 problem President Stilson, is that in thirty five days, Trump 0:04:42.995 --> 0:04:46.435 has now publicly stated at least twenty eight different positions 0:04:46.595 --> 0:04:50.075 about where this war is. If you think this is 0:04:50.355 --> 0:04:54.035 a strategy, you must believe he is not in that 0:04:54.155 --> 0:04:56.675 stage of dementia in which you not only forget what 0:04:56.715 --> 0:04:59.755 you have said, not only forget how long the interval 0:04:59.755 --> 0:05:03.115 has been since you last said anything, but you think 0:05:03.595 --> 0:05:07.555 everybody else says all so forgotten what you said. This 0:05:07.915 --> 0:05:11.795 is just the set of highlights of his opinions un 0:05:11.835 --> 0:05:16.835 around since March third, on which he said, essentially we 0:05:16.875 --> 0:05:20.155 won the war. On the seventh he said we defeated Iran. 0:05:20.675 --> 0:05:23.275 On the ninth he said we must attack Iran. He 0:05:23.315 --> 0:05:26.115 said the war is ending almost completely and very beautifully, 0:05:26.475 --> 0:05:29.435 and still wanted to attack it some more. March twelfth, 0:05:29.475 --> 0:05:33.475 we did win, but we haven't won completely. March thirteenth, 0:05:33.595 --> 0:05:37.315 we won completely. March fourteenth, he asked for help from 0:05:37.315 --> 0:05:41.275 the Allies. March fifteenth he threatened the Allies and said 0:05:41.315 --> 0:05:44.875 if they didn't help, he would certainly remember. March sixteenth 0:05:45.035 --> 0:05:47.275 he said, no, actually we don't need any help now. 0:05:47.635 --> 0:05:49.675 I was just testing you to see who would help. 0:05:49.915 --> 0:05:53.235 Who's listening to me? Ah, But if NATO doesn't help, 0:05:53.435 --> 0:05:56.635 they'll suffer. I haven't decided what yet, but I'm king 0:05:56.755 --> 0:05:59.155 lear here and they'll suffer something as soon as I 0:05:59.195 --> 0:06:03.035 think of it. March seventeenth, he said we neither need 0:06:03.155 --> 0:06:06.595 nor want NATO's help, and he also said he didn't 0:06:06.595 --> 0:06:09.955 need congressional approval to withdraw from NATO, even though there's 0:06:09.995 --> 0:06:13.635 a law that was put in there basically by Marco Rubio, 0:06:13.675 --> 0:06:15.755 who seems to work for him now if he remembers 0:06:15.795 --> 0:06:19.755 that much. March eighteenth, Trump said our allies must cooperate 0:06:20.035 --> 0:06:24.035 in reopening Hormuz. On the nineteenth, he said, US allies 0:06:24.075 --> 0:06:26.875 need to get a grip to step up to help 0:06:26.955 --> 0:06:30.515 open the Strait of Hormuz. March twentieth, he called NATO cowards. 0:06:30.755 --> 0:06:32.875 March twenty first, he said, we don't use it. We 0:06:32.915 --> 0:06:35.475 don't need to open it. March twenty second, he said 0:06:35.475 --> 0:06:37.835 this is the last time, and he gave Iran forty 0:06:37.835 --> 0:06:42.275 eight hours and added that Iran was dead. March twenty thirty, 0:06:42.355 --> 0:06:44.795 said he's going to give him more time. Forty eight 0:06:44.835 --> 0:06:47.635 hours is flexible. March twenty fourth, the war is nearing 0:06:47.675 --> 0:06:50.115 its end. That's the war that ended three weeks earlier. 0:06:50.315 --> 0:06:53.675 March twenty fifth, we're still negotiating. March twenty sixth Iran 0:06:53.755 --> 0:06:56.315 is begging for peace, and we're going to give them 0:06:56.355 --> 0:06:58.475 more time. And they gave us a gift which he 0:06:58.515 --> 0:07:03.075 apparently just made up out of thin air, some large 0:07:03.115 --> 0:07:06.835 supply of oil. March twenty seventh, Talks with Iran are 0:07:06.875 --> 0:07:09.315 going very well. March twenty eighth, the war would be 0:07:09.315 --> 0:07:12.075 over soon. That's the war he declared over twice previously. 0:07:12.315 --> 0:07:15.235 March twenty ninth, he said, maybe we will take carg Island, 0:07:15.435 --> 0:07:19.155 maybe we won't. March thirtieth, he demanded they open the 0:07:19.195 --> 0:07:21.795 strait or he was going to obliterate all the energy 0:07:21.835 --> 0:07:25.435 infrastructure and the oil wells. March thirty first, he said, 0:07:25.475 --> 0:07:27.635 we don't need the straight We have all the oil 0:07:27.675 --> 0:07:30.435 we need, but the United Kingdom needed to do something 0:07:30.435 --> 0:07:32.435 about it because they didn't have any oil. It's all 0:07:32.515 --> 0:07:35.315 their problem. April first, he now said the war, which 0:07:35.435 --> 0:07:38.355 is declared over three times already, will be over in 0:07:38.395 --> 0:07:41.275 two to three weeks. April fourth, he said Iran has 0:07:41.355 --> 0:07:44.355 forty eight hours or he would rain down Hell. And 0:07:44.435 --> 0:07:47.315 then yesterday April fifth, he said, in addition to saying 0:07:47.395 --> 0:07:51.355 Praise be to Allah, open the fucking strait. He gave 0:07:51.395 --> 0:07:54.835 them until Tuesday night, which meant that the deadline of 0:07:54.875 --> 0:07:58.275 April fourth, which was April sixth, had now been extended 0:07:58.275 --> 0:08:05.355 to April seventh. These are not responses to changes on 0:08:05.395 --> 0:08:09.675 the ground or updates to the military scenario. These are 0:08:09.675 --> 0:08:13.595 not part of the Nixonian Madman theory. At best. These 0:08:13.675 --> 0:08:19.635 are the figurative RFK Junior memorial worms in Trump's brain turning. 0:08:21.395 --> 0:08:23.875 Do I think He's going to nuke Iran tomorrow? 0:08:24.155 --> 0:08:24.195 No? 0:08:24.995 --> 0:08:27.555 Would I have thought the Japanese were really gonna bomb 0:08:27.595 --> 0:08:31.195 Pearl Harbor in December nineteen forty one, I don't know. 0:08:31.915 --> 0:08:34.915 They court martialled the General Billy Mitchell, who had insisted 0:08:34.915 --> 0:08:39.115 in the twenties that they would. Billy Mitchell, he knew 0:08:39.155 --> 0:08:42.275 what he was talking about the court martial. Would I 0:08:42.315 --> 0:08:45.475 have thought we were going to drop full size atomic 0:08:45.515 --> 0:08:48.475 weapons not once, but twice on Japan in nineteen forty five, 0:08:48.675 --> 0:08:49.155 I don't know. 0:08:50.115 --> 0:08:51.075 And by the way, I am not. 0:08:51.075 --> 0:08:55.235 Making any moral or military comparisons between either of those 0:08:55.315 --> 0:08:58.995 nightmares and this nightmare, except for this one detail, and 0:08:59.075 --> 0:09:03.875 one detail only. The Japanese military dictatorship in the nineteen 0:09:03.955 --> 0:09:07.435 forties engaged in magical thinking. They were going to win, 0:09:07.635 --> 0:09:10.555 not because they were attacking Pearl Harbor, or they had 0:09:11.035 --> 0:09:14.835 the perfect defense and soldiers and civilians who were willing 0:09:14.875 --> 0:09:18.155 to die to the last man on the island. They 0:09:18.155 --> 0:09:20.835 were going to win because the Americans were weak Westerners 0:09:21.315 --> 0:09:24.475 who had no stomach for conflict and no capacity to 0:09:24.515 --> 0:09:29.475 withstand true militaristic spirit and the invincibility of the war fighter. 0:09:31.915 --> 0:09:34.755 Now where have I heard that word war fighter recently? 0:09:36.675 --> 0:09:38.795 This might be a good time to raise the possibility 0:09:38.915 --> 0:09:41.435 that if the last ten months are re read from 0:09:41.475 --> 0:09:44.795 a slightly more jaundice point of view, you could see them, 0:09:45.195 --> 0:09:47.595 And this is not to excuse Trump at all, but 0:09:47.675 --> 0:09:50.555 you could see them as a kind of soft military 0:09:50.675 --> 0:09:54.395 overthrow of the government of the United States of America 0:09:55.275 --> 0:10:00.795 by Pete Asshole Hegseeth, who fired all the minority generals, 0:10:01.635 --> 0:10:04.355 who fired the generals who tried to prevent the firing 0:10:04.355 --> 0:10:08.675 of the already generals, who fired all the non religious nuts, 0:10:09.235 --> 0:10:11.475 who fired anybody who would stand up to the use 0:10:11.515 --> 0:10:15.675 of serious weapons lack tactical nukes. Who changed the rules 0:10:15.675 --> 0:10:18.275 so that everybody on every army base can keep a 0:10:18.275 --> 0:10:21.235 civilian weapon with them to shoot anybody who tries to 0:10:21.235 --> 0:10:24.875 stop what's going on on an army base. Who decided 0:10:24.915 --> 0:10:27.275 that all Trump needed to see every morning was a 0:10:27.315 --> 0:10:32.755 SportsCenter highlight reel American troops, excuse me, warfighters blowing stuff 0:10:32.875 --> 0:10:36.075 up in Iran, and he didn't need nor want any 0:10:36.115 --> 0:10:38.635 other kind of update on what was happening there. Who 0:10:38.675 --> 0:10:43.475 has a Crusader cross tattooed on his chest. Who was 0:10:43.635 --> 0:10:46.355 so crazy in his previous line of work that Fox 0:10:46.355 --> 0:10:49.515 would only put him on on the weekends. Who was 0:10:49.555 --> 0:10:53.435 accused by his top aid last year of dressing up 0:10:53.435 --> 0:10:56.755 in a disguise to slip their security detail to go 0:10:56.835 --> 0:11:01.555 out drinking. Who speaks in a string of apocalyptic cliches 0:11:01.835 --> 0:11:06.075 but is convinced he's winning the argument for the hearts 0:11:06.115 --> 0:11:09.395 and minds of America and is on a mission from God. 0:11:10.435 --> 0:11:15.395 Whose behavior was so alarming, Whose behavior besides Trump that 0:11:15.555 --> 0:11:19.635 senators and military vets Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin plus 0:11:19.715 --> 0:11:24.035 four congress people made a video reminding troops and oh, 0:11:24.035 --> 0:11:27.555 by the way, they never said just troops. The generals 0:11:27.595 --> 0:11:32.355 were allowed to watch this video too. Who was doing 0:11:32.435 --> 0:11:35.875 such alarming things that these guys said to the troops 0:11:35.915 --> 0:11:39.715 and the generals that you are obligated to not obey 0:11:39.875 --> 0:11:48.035 an illegal order. Who does all that describe besides Trump? Well, 0:11:48.115 --> 0:12:16.315 it's it's either Pete Hegseth or doctor Strangelove. Okay, I've 0:12:16.355 --> 0:12:18.955 got a couple of cabinet changes to watch for, and no, 0:12:19.075 --> 0:12:22.675 not heg Seth, although heg Seth seems to be animated 0:12:22.715 --> 0:12:25.795 by a conviction that somebody in the military is going 0:12:25.875 --> 0:12:28.835 to replace him, so he better fire them. So he's 0:12:28.875 --> 0:12:33.435 firing those people too. No, not hag Seth, not Levitt. 0:12:33.955 --> 0:12:37.595 Why ordinary rational Americans would think Trump would want to 0:12:37.595 --> 0:12:40.675 get rid of heg Seth and Levitt when they are 0:12:40.675 --> 0:12:44.075 doing exactly what he wants, I don't know. Heg Seth 0:12:44.115 --> 0:12:50.275 and Levitt are literally his wet dreams. Washington Post says, though, 0:12:50.315 --> 0:12:53.195 after the firing of Bondy, Trump has asked colleagues if 0:12:53.235 --> 0:12:56.835 he should fire Laurie Chavez Dreamer, who seems to have 0:12:56.875 --> 0:12:59.675 a hobby scandal going on that is not nearly as 0:12:59.715 --> 0:13:04.595 exotic as Christy Nomes nice balloons, but just his dad 0:13:04.675 --> 0:13:09.395 imaging Howard Lutnek humiliated himself and then went underground. But 0:13:09.515 --> 0:13:12.235 Trump seems to have remembered that he works for him 0:13:12.515 --> 0:13:15.955 and decided he's an ass clown, which he is. And 0:13:15.995 --> 0:13:19.955 then there is the Bondi replacement. New York Magazine notes quote, 0:13:20.115 --> 0:13:23.395 many in Trump world are circling the newly open job 0:13:23.435 --> 0:13:29.475 of Attorney General. Janine Piro may be the most recklessly loyal. Again, 0:13:29.515 --> 0:13:32.755 as I mentioned in Friday's Bolton, Bondy was not fired 0:13:32.795 --> 0:13:36.395 because she butchered the Epstein files, though she did. Hey, 0:13:36.955 --> 0:13:40.555 nuclear war is a diversion from the Epstein files. Well 0:13:40.555 --> 0:13:44.275 why not? Bondy was fired because she didn't put any 0:13:44.275 --> 0:13:48.995 of Trump's enemies in prison. Who tried to prosecute FED 0:13:49.115 --> 0:13:54.315 chairman Jerome Powell without evidence and without conceding that evidence 0:13:54.435 --> 0:13:58.995 was required, and without doing anything else that the grand 0:13:59.115 --> 0:14:04.795 jury wanted. Pierro who has no self control or limits, 0:14:05.715 --> 0:14:11.075 Pierro who will do anything to please the fewer, Pierro 0:14:12.355 --> 0:14:14.875 who is thinking ahead for somebody to help her with 0:14:14.955 --> 0:14:17.995 her demo tape when she goes back into reality TV. 0:14:19.435 --> 0:14:23.635 Pierro and I got one change nobody's seen coming yet. 0:14:23.915 --> 0:14:25.835 You have heard by now of Greg Phillips, the head 0:14:25.835 --> 0:14:29.395 of Response and Recovery at FEMA, the nitwit in charge 0:14:29.435 --> 0:14:31.875 of one thousand employees and a three hundred million dollar 0:14:31.955 --> 0:14:37.635 budget election conspiracy theorist executive producer of the farcical Dinesh 0:14:37.715 --> 0:14:40.995 Desuza film Two Thousand Mules that was so bad the 0:14:41.075 --> 0:14:45.755 producers had to issue a retraction an apology to other 0:14:45.875 --> 0:14:51.475 conspiracy theorists for being too conspiracy theory e. This guy's 0:14:51.475 --> 0:14:54.475 will wash out from the Human Services Commission in Mississippi 0:14:54.675 --> 0:14:59.635 and the Human Services Commission in Texas, but otherwise have 0:14:59.755 --> 0:15:04.715 fairly routine, blank eyed, seriously unsuccessful business con man and 0:15:04.795 --> 0:15:09.835 conservative until the other day when Greg Phillips claimed that 0:15:10.475 --> 0:15:15.755 one evening, when he was just minding his business, some 0:15:15.955 --> 0:15:23.155 supernatural force teleported him to a waffle house in Rome, Georgia. 0:15:25.515 --> 0:15:31.195 Look cabinet wise, this is a no brainer, and mister 0:15:31.195 --> 0:15:34.875 Phillips is obviously the no brain to do it. How 0:15:34.915 --> 0:15:40.875 in the hell is this man not the Secretary of Transportation. 0:15:49.355 --> 0:15:52.235 I appreciate that these days there is so much stuff 0:15:52.275 --> 0:15:55.035 being fired at us by the fascists that it seems 0:15:55.115 --> 0:15:59.675 dangerous to stop looking forward even for one second. They 0:15:59.675 --> 0:16:01.955 don't have any morals, they don't have any souls, but 0:16:01.995 --> 0:16:06.675 they do have seemingly endless and unition. But as each 0:16:06.755 --> 0:16:09.915 week we hear somebody else announced they are seeking the 0:16:09.995 --> 0:16:14.235 Democratic nomination for twenty eight somebody else who has mistaken 0:16:14.755 --> 0:16:20.515 their own notoriety for being qualified. Rom Immanuel, we need 0:16:20.515 --> 0:16:23.915 to look behind us for a moment, because this week 0:16:24.395 --> 0:16:33.635 it's Don Lemon, nice guy, not qualified, and Stephen A. Smith, 0:16:34.355 --> 0:16:37.915 the sports guy, again insisting he would win all the 0:16:37.955 --> 0:16:42.315 Democratic debates and he'd defeat all the other candidates in 0:16:42.355 --> 0:16:45.195 the primaries. I'll get to them shortly. But about that 0:16:45.315 --> 0:16:49.915 looking back thing. First, somebody asked me when this dynamic 0:16:49.995 --> 0:16:53.675 took hold in this country, when we stopped our constant 0:16:53.755 --> 0:16:56.875 fear from the fifties and sixties and seventies that the 0:16:56.875 --> 0:17:00.755 Republicans would finally stop believing in the peaceful transfer of 0:17:00.915 --> 0:17:05.355 power thing and the concept that they could lose, or 0:17:05.395 --> 0:17:09.555 the prospect that their commentators and leaders might not be insightful, 0:17:09.715 --> 0:17:14.155 just insane, and not finding new paths, but breaking the 0:17:14.155 --> 0:17:16.915 fundamental premise of the United States of America and replacing 0:17:16.955 --> 0:17:20.435 it with an authoritarian dictatorship, just as soon as they 0:17:20.435 --> 0:17:24.115 could find somebody that lacking in scruples and that filled 0:17:24.275 --> 0:17:29.155 with motivations to do societal wrong for their own private gain. 0:17:30.355 --> 0:17:34.595 We always worried when they'd figure out how to monetize it, 0:17:36.355 --> 0:17:40.715 so we always thought, who's the best Democrat to oppose them? 0:17:41.035 --> 0:17:43.955 And then somehow we stopped thinking that way, and then 0:17:44.035 --> 0:17:49.155 Trump monetized it. In discussing an answer to where this 0:17:49.955 --> 0:17:54.555 hellscape began, that's somebody I was talking to, and I 0:17:54.595 --> 0:17:57.115 threw out lots of names who made this happen, Some 0:17:57.235 --> 0:18:01.875 whose goal it was Bin Laden Newt, Gingrich Rush Limbaugh, 0:18:02.315 --> 0:18:08.155 Mitch McConnell, both George Bush's other terrorists, some whose goal 0:18:08.315 --> 0:18:12.235 it most certainly was not, but they contributed to it anyway, 0:18:12.595 --> 0:18:19.395 largely by naive Ta Merrick Garland, Joe Biden, and a 0:18:19.515 --> 0:18:22.155 name I always throw out, and people recoil when I do. 0:18:22.315 --> 0:18:24.755 But it is as true now as it was when 0:18:24.795 --> 0:18:28.395 I did a commentary On the night of January nineteenth, 0:18:28.675 --> 0:18:32.955 two thousand and nine. I was in Washington to anchor 0:18:33.195 --> 0:18:37.915 the inauguration, and the camera behind me in the studio 0:18:37.915 --> 0:18:40.035 at eight o'clock at night produced a photo of the 0:18:40.075 --> 0:18:44.715 Capitol shimmering with anticipation of the inauguration, and I warned 0:18:44.835 --> 0:18:48.235 of the mistake that the president elect as he became 0:18:48.275 --> 0:18:52.275 the president barely fifteen hours later, would be making I 0:18:52.315 --> 0:18:54.675 would have liked to have been wrong. I knew I 0:18:54.675 --> 0:18:59.035 would not be, and I wasn't. I'm going to read 0:18:59.075 --> 0:19:02.875 this commentary again, slightly edited to save a little time. 0:19:03.195 --> 0:19:08.035 Nothing added. January nineteenth, two thousand and nine, roughly eight 0:19:08.115 --> 0:19:15.595 fifty pm Eastern Standard time. We have tortured people, you 0:19:15.675 --> 0:19:19.315 and I. You and I know we have tortured colleague 0:19:19.355 --> 0:19:22.395 Sheik Mohammad. We not only know about it, we have 0:19:22.475 --> 0:19:24.835 now heard it boasted about by one of the men who, 0:19:24.875 --> 0:19:28.035 as of tomorrow, will no longer work for us, George 0:19:28.155 --> 0:19:32.795 Walker Bush quote. The techniques were necessary and are necessary 0:19:32.795 --> 0:19:35.155 to be used on a rare occasion to get information 0:19:35.315 --> 0:19:38.835 necessary to protect the American people, Mister Bush said to 0:19:38.955 --> 0:19:42.995 Fox News on January eleven. One such person who gave 0:19:43.075 --> 0:19:47.355 us information was Colleage Shak Mohammad. I'm in the Oval office. 0:19:47.475 --> 0:19:50.195 I'm told that we've captured Colleage Shake Mohammad, and the 0:19:50.235 --> 0:19:54.275 professionals believe he has information necessary to secure the country. 0:19:54.795 --> 0:19:57.475 So I asked what tools are available for us to 0:19:57.555 --> 0:20:01.155 find information from him. They give me a list of tools, 0:20:01.395 --> 0:20:04.475 and I said, are these tools deemed to be legal. 0:20:04.915 --> 0:20:08.555 We got legal opinions before the decision was made. I 0:20:08.635 --> 0:20:12.035 think when people study the history of this particular episode, 0:20:12.115 --> 0:20:14.915 they will find out we gained good information from colleague 0:20:14.915 --> 0:20:18.715 Shaik Mohammad in order to protect our country. We believe 0:20:18.795 --> 0:20:23.715 that the information we gained helped save lives on American soil. 0:20:25.915 --> 0:20:29.435 Never Mind mister Bush's delusions here. Never Mind all primary 0:20:29.475 --> 0:20:33.395 sources who witnessed the interrogation of colleague Sheik Mohammad said 0:20:33.435 --> 0:20:36.555 that they got nothing from him until they started buddying 0:20:36.635 --> 0:20:40.115 up to him. Never Mind that mister Bush's supporter's favorite 0:20:40.115 --> 0:20:44.355 torture construction, the mythical ticking time bomb scenario, not only 0:20:44.435 --> 0:20:47.275 did not transpire here, but mister Bush has not even 0:20:47.315 --> 0:20:50.595 had the imagination to pretend it did, just in order 0:20:50.675 --> 0:20:54.995 to slightly cover his moral tracks. The key is that 0:20:55.155 --> 0:20:58.075 this statement, if it had been under oath, would have 0:20:58.195 --> 0:21:05.075 been a confession to a war crime. Mister Bush's proactive quote, 0:21:05.075 --> 0:21:09.195 I asked what tools are available? Mister Bush is aware 0:21:09.235 --> 0:21:12.355 of the legal haze into which he steps quote and 0:21:12.435 --> 0:21:16.075 I said, are these tools deemed to be legal? Mister 0:21:16.115 --> 0:21:20.115 Bush realizes the tools he has chosen have been used quote, 0:21:20.275 --> 0:21:25.515 we gained good information from Colleage Shik Muhammad. Since we 0:21:25.595 --> 0:21:28.475 know from previous admissions at the Pentagon that Colleage Shik 0:21:28.515 --> 0:21:31.755 Muhammad was waterboarded, we can infer that mister Bush knew 0:21:31.795 --> 0:21:35.075 he would be waterboarded and knew afterwards that he had 0:21:35.155 --> 0:21:42.235 been waterboarded. Mister Bush is guilty. Mister President Elect, you 0:21:42.315 --> 0:21:45.355 were first asked about all this on the eighteenth of 0:21:45.395 --> 0:21:48.875 April last I am proud to say you were asked 0:21:48.875 --> 0:21:51.035 about it by a fellow who got onto his high 0:21:51.035 --> 0:21:54.955 school newspaper while I was its editor, Will Bunch of 0:21:54.995 --> 0:21:58.795 the Philadelphia Daily News. I think you are right you 0:21:58.915 --> 0:22:02.515 told Will if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. 0:22:02.555 --> 0:22:04.555 You are also right that I would not want my 0:22:04.795 --> 0:22:07.995 first term consumed by what was perceived on the part 0:22:07.995 --> 0:22:11.355 of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think 0:22:11.395 --> 0:22:13.915 we have too many problems we have to solve. So 0:22:13.995 --> 0:22:17.715 this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment. 0:22:19.635 --> 0:22:24.075 Good amen, But in that brief interview was born, or 0:22:24.115 --> 0:22:29.155 at least elucidated, a loophole genuine crimes as opposed to 0:22:29.675 --> 0:22:34.635 really bad policies. Vice President Biden echoed this on December 0:22:34.675 --> 0:22:37.715 twenty first, in a statement to which your transition team 0:22:37.835 --> 0:22:41.395 has directed all those to whom this is a paramount issue, 0:22:41.435 --> 0:22:44.475 Biden said, quote, the questions of whether or not a 0:22:44.515 --> 0:22:47.515 criminal act has been committed or a very very bad 0:22:47.715 --> 0:22:52.355 judgment has been engaged in is something the Justice Department decides. 0:22:54.515 --> 0:22:57.915 After his comment last week with straightforwardness that was like 0:22:58.035 --> 0:23:01.715 water to a lost soul in the Sahara, that waterboarding 0:23:01.835 --> 0:23:05.755 is torture, your nominee at Justice, mister Eric Holder, echoed 0:23:05.835 --> 0:23:09.275 all of this, quote. We don't want to criminalize policy 0:23:09.315 --> 0:23:13.355 differences that might exist between the outgoing administration and the 0:23:13.395 --> 0:23:18.755 administration that is about to take over. But mister President elect, 0:23:18.835 --> 0:23:23.035 you have a confession since this statement of a structure 0:23:23.075 --> 0:23:26.715 of policy prefacing policy itself from mister Biden, you have 0:23:26.795 --> 0:23:31.835 had mister Bush's confession. Moreover, since mister Biden's statement, you 0:23:31.835 --> 0:23:34.715 have a legal assessment from within the bowels of the 0:23:34.755 --> 0:23:40.595 Bush administration itself. Quote, we tortured Mohammad al Katani, Judge 0:23:40.635 --> 0:23:44.075 Susan Crawford told The Washington Post a week ago, quote 0:23:44.115 --> 0:23:48.235 his treatment met the legal definition of torture. That was why. 0:23:48.355 --> 0:23:51.435 Judge Crawford added that as the Bush administration official in 0:23:51.555 --> 0:23:54.875 charge of deciding whether or not to bring detainees at 0:23:54.915 --> 0:24:00.675 Guantanamo Bay to trial. She decided in Katani's case not 0:24:00.875 --> 0:24:05.595 to This, Mister President Elect, was not the obvious water 0:24:05.715 --> 0:24:08.915 boarding of colleague Sheik Muhammad. This was a more insidious 0:24:08.915 --> 0:24:13.715 combination of legally approved procedures that still nearly killed this 0:24:13.835 --> 0:24:19.915 man Katani. Quote. The techniques were all authorized, Judge Crawford continued, quote, 0:24:19.915 --> 0:24:22.475 but the manner in which they applied them was overly 0:24:22.515 --> 0:24:27.075 aggressive and too persistent. This was not any one particular act. 0:24:27.235 --> 0:24:29.315 It was just a combination of things that had a 0:24:29.395 --> 0:24:35.315 medical impact on him that hurt his health unquote. In fact, 0:24:35.355 --> 0:24:38.395 mister President Elect, the records at gitmost showed that Katani's 0:24:38.435 --> 0:24:43.755 heartbeat eventually slowed to thirty five beats per minute. Quote. 0:24:43.795 --> 0:24:48.075 It was abusive and uncalled for and coercive, clearly coercive. 0:24:48.435 --> 0:24:51.555 I sympathized with the intelligence gatherers in those days after 0:24:51.635 --> 0:24:53.995 nine to eleven, not knowing what was coming next and 0:24:54.035 --> 0:24:56.475 trying to gain information to keep us safe. But there 0:24:56.515 --> 0:25:01.195 still has to be a line that we should not cross. Unfortunately, 0:25:01.235 --> 0:25:07.475 what this has done, I think has tainted everything going forward. 0:25:08.195 --> 0:25:12.515 End quote. If you are worried about the Republicans viewing 0:25:12.555 --> 0:25:15.635 any torture prosecution in the way you postulated to Will 0:25:15.715 --> 0:25:18.955 Bunch a partisan witch hunt, you can remind them that 0:25:18.995 --> 0:25:21.755 the woman who said all that, Susan Crawford, is a 0:25:21.835 --> 0:25:26.355 lifelong Republican. So, mister President elect, beyond whatever else will 0:25:26.395 --> 0:25:29.675 come out as the whistleblowers begin to whistle just after 0:25:29.715 --> 0:25:34.915 noon tomorrow, you have your predecessor's unofficial confession, and you 0:25:35.035 --> 0:25:39.595 have this singular evaluation by a principle in your predecessor's administration, 0:25:39.795 --> 0:25:43.835 this kind of line level confession. They are guilty of this, 0:25:43.915 --> 0:25:48.995 mister President elect, since he talked to my friend Bunch 0:25:48.995 --> 0:25:51.755 in April two thousand and eight. Mister Obama's only lengthy 0:25:51.795 --> 0:25:55.675 comments about this were made to George Stephanopplis on January eleventh, 0:25:55.715 --> 0:26:00.955 two thousand and nine. See if a disturbing theme becomes evident. Quote, 0:26:00.995 --> 0:26:04.955 obviously we are going to look at past practices. I 0:26:04.995 --> 0:26:07.595 don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the 0:26:07.595 --> 0:26:09.435 other hand, I also have a belief that we need 0:26:09.475 --> 0:26:15.155 to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. Later quote, 0:26:15.315 --> 0:26:17.635 my instinct is to focus on how do we make 0:26:17.675 --> 0:26:20.195 sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing. 0:26:20.395 --> 0:26:23.235 Later still quote, my orientation is going to be to 0:26:23.275 --> 0:26:26.595 move forward. Finally, quote what we have to focus on 0:26:26.635 --> 0:26:29.675 as getting things right in the future, as opposed to 0:26:29.755 --> 0:26:35.755 looking at what we got wrong in the past. Sadly, 0:26:35.915 --> 0:26:38.835 as commendable as the intention here might seem, this country 0:26:38.875 --> 0:26:41.995 has never moved forward without first cleansing itself of its 0:26:42.035 --> 0:26:46.075 mistaken past. In point of fact, every effort to merely 0:26:46.195 --> 0:26:49.315 draw a line in the sand and declare the past 0:26:49.435 --> 0:26:53.035 dead has served only to keep the past alive, and 0:26:53.115 --> 0:26:57.995 often to strengthen it. We compromised with slavery in the 0:26:58.035 --> 0:27:02.395 Declaration of Independence, and four score and nine years later 0:27:02.595 --> 0:27:05.195 we had buried six hundred thousand of our sons and 0:27:05.275 --> 0:27:08.755 brothers in a civil war. After that war's ending, we 0:27:08.795 --> 0:27:12.115 compromised with the social restructuring and protection of the rights 0:27:12.115 --> 0:27:15.435 of minorities in the South, and a century later we 0:27:15.555 --> 0:27:19.395