There are concerns that the Trump administration may be preparing to take action that goes well beyond the Constitution and is illegal and unconstitutional. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she's concerned about election security and wants to take a closer look at the situation.
00:00:00.000Hey, there are questions about whether or not the Trump administration may be preparing action that goes well beyond the Constitution, is illegal and unconstitutional.
00:00:09.240As a preface, it should be understood that Steve Bannon, of course, has a reputation for, I don't know, being a bit of a blowhard.
00:00:16.480And he currently has no role, no official job in the federal government.
00:00:20.400But when representatives of the Trump administration were asked to respond to what Steve Bannon said this week, that ICE agents, even military troops, would be stationed to monitor polling places in November, the response wasn't exactly reassuring.
00:00:34.720I think when they say they're going to do something, we should listen.
00:00:39.580It's been proven that it's not hyperbole.
00:00:42.060And, you know, going all the way back to the debate when Trump said, stand back and stand by, we saw it on January 6th.
00:00:50.540You know, his army of loyal supporters stormed the Capitol, injured our Capitol police and other police officers, tried to stop essentially the wheels of our government from functioning.
00:01:05.420And all of these indicators are there, but even more concerning.
00:01:08.840So if the hair is not standing up on the back of your neck today as they're seizing ballots, as they're flooding our cities with National Guard, as ISIS terrorizing our communities, it's clearly a time that we have to act.
00:01:21.400And we have to believe that they're going to do what they're telling us they're going to do.
00:01:26.220Now it's confirmed that top election officials across multiple states have received a letter from a so-called FBI election executive, inviting them to meet with members of federal agencies for an unusual briefing later this month to discuss, quote, preparations for the upcoming midterm elections.
00:01:44.180The same elections Trump has already tried to undermine and called to nationalize in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
00:01:52.660But of course, I think the president is trying to steal the 2026 election, but it's not going to be like changing ballots.
00:01:59.760Right. How we think about it in the movies like this is not a scandal episode, folks, but just look at what he has done just within the first year of his administration.
00:02:08.680One of the first executive orders he issued was, in fact, about elections.
00:02:12.860It is important to note that constitutionally, the federal government has no power in elections.
00:02:17.920Elections are run by the by the states. He wants to change. He would like to change that.
00:02:21.200But the founders did it intentionally. It was this was this was not an accident that how the government was, in fact, set up by the people for the people.
00:02:30.740That's why the people in the states are the ones that are administering the election.
00:02:35.400But he wants to take over election administration. He is requesting the states, Democratic states and Republican states.
00:02:42.800There's actually only four states in this country that have yet to get a request or turn over their voter rolls to this White House.
00:02:49.660That should be scary for everyone. And not to mention him picking up the phone call in Texas saying, I need you to find me five more seats.
00:02:56.800So there are many ways in which they are looking to affect this election, not just one.
00:03:00.260And I set the polls. So I think that Democrats, particularly the Democratic governors and Democratic secretaries of state, have to be vigilant.
00:03:07.880And the last thing I'll say is Gretchen Whitmer, who is the vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
00:03:12.360She has now been speaking a lot more publicly about this real concern.
00:03:16.160I have talked to the governors privately and they I mean, you would think we had tinfoil hats on in this conversation.
00:03:23.200I said, well, are you all are you all sure that your elections are going to be secure?
00:03:27.880They said, we are sure that we are going to have elections.
00:03:31.520We believe that they will be secure. We are concerned about the intimidation and what could happen in the days after.
00:03:36.820I think what he's saying is he doesn't care about election integrity.
00:03:39.300He wants to have a society where the chief executive decides which votes count and which votes don't.
00:03:45.180And we've already seen this. It was the plot of a movie called January 6th, 2021.
00:03:49.380And this time he doesn't have a pesky Mike Pence around to ruin the scheme for him.
00:03:56.680He sent the director of national intelligence to go through six year old ballot boxes in Georgia.
00:04:01.300Nothing weird about that. Right. Completely normal presidential behavior.
00:04:05.520Oh, and she has FBI agents with them and puts Trump on speakerphone like he's giving a Peloton pep talk to these guys before they do an investigation that serves his personal interest.
00:04:16.020So already there's never going to be any kind of lawsuit you can go with on that one.
00:04:20.320So it's all the ingredients David talked about.
00:04:22.860And they are really counting on one third of the population either falling for this or wanting to believe it.
00:04:28.120It sets a precedent that, as Simone noted, we're going to really have to worry about this year.
00:04:32.060Let me for the people who are confused about all the different moving pieces.
00:04:37.300At the beginning of January, Donald Trump did a sit down interview with The New York Times where he lamented and bemoaned the fact that he didn't seize the ballots in 2020.
00:04:46.440Now, it's not legal for the president of the United States to seize the ballots. Right.
00:04:49.360And that was controversial that he was even lamenting it.
00:04:52.440And then three weeks later, FBI agents go and literally seize the ballots that he's upset that he didn't seize in 2020.
00:05:01.600Right. If they're not speaking directly, they're speaking for Fox News.
00:05:03.840Well, and then this week on NBC, he said, why were they down there?
00:05:06.880He defied all the explanations of his administration about foreign interference.
00:05:09.840And he said they're going to count that ballots and find out who won the 2020 election.
00:05:14.640If we take Donald Trump's word for it in the interview with Tom Lamas in the Oval Office, the federal government is doing an illegal secret recount of the 2020 election right now.
00:05:39.300They're doing myriad illegal things and they're doing it largely with impunity right now, like with a few exceptions in the courts.
00:05:46.380And they've received pushback from the American people in certain places.
00:05:48.840But like in a lot of areas, they're doing it with impunity and the Democrats take the gavel next year in the House.
00:05:54.880And especially if they took it in both in the House and the Senate, you know, there's going to be some kind of accountability.
00:06:02.680Maybe not the kind that we all want, but too much for Trump's taste.
00:06:05.720And so it's not surprising that they're looking for every possible vantage point to prevent that or every possible tactic to prevent that.
00:06:16.320And, you know, I agree with a lot of what Mark said there.
00:06:20.300I think that it's important to talk both about the threats and be clear about the threats, but also the ability to push back on those threats.
00:06:26.280I think the success in the redistricting is just is overwhelming.
00:06:31.220I mean, it's, I think, greater than almost everybody except Mark thought it could be as far as what the potential bullishness was for the Democrats gaining seats.
00:06:40.680And Louise Lucas, you played in the intro that in Virginia.
00:06:44.320And that story is particularly, you know, we can take a lot of relish in that story in particular because Republicans tried to gerrymander her out of her state Senate district a couple of years ago.
00:06:53.400And now she's coming back and getting revenge.
00:06:55.080And so good on her for playing hardball right back.
00:07:00.540I think that it's very possible that the ban and plan for, you know, putting mass thugs outside of voting as an election locations could backfire.
00:07:11.060I mean, that could motivate people to vote in midterms.
00:07:13.780Getting people out to vote is important.
00:07:15.300It could motivate people to mail in their ballots if there's enough of a campaign to educate people about this and to motivate people.
00:07:20.880So, you know, I think that what they're doing is predictable.
00:07:24.400Being able to see it clear-eyed now early enough and having Democratic politicians see it clear-eyed early enough to combat it, I think is important rather than, you know, just being, you know, feeling hopeless about it.
00:19:27.940Why did this enrage you enough that you felt you had to go and create a counter anthem to that?
00:19:35.020Because I'm so sick and tired of these Hollywood elites sitting in their mansions and looking down on everyone else and preaching the moral high road.