>> iowa republicans only six weeks until you decide how the 2024 presidential race will go, maybe the fate of american democracy, no pressure, the league starts right now. donald trump's latest ploy, he claims president biden, not him is a threat to the american -- democracy. what if it works and he wins a second term? i will speak with folks with several new warnings spelling out danger, plus israel expanding its core. even in the south israel first hole, palestinians plead for safety, the new strikes as influential voices speak about the u.n. calling out hamas atrocities from october 7, largely on condemned crimes by the international community, women sexually assaulted and rape by hamas, a jewish and israeli restaurant owner taunted by a mob. just the latest supercharge moment of anti-semitism in america. welcome to the lead, i'm jake tapper. we start with a warning about democracy, a warning from the man who himself may pose the greatest threat in our lifetime, exactly 6 weeks until the crucial iowa caucus, donald trump is ignoring his republican opponents instead trying to flip the script, the current commander in chief is hostile much like biden has been warning about trump. >> of joe biden wants to make this race a question of which candidate will defect our democracy and our freedoms, i say to crooked jokes, -- crooked joe, he's the most corrupt president we've had, we are going to win that fight very big. he's not that of under of american democracy, joe biden is the destroyer of american democracy. >> it does not matter how many of the signs they print up, you see biden protects democracy, before trumps event, we all know it's odd with our own eyes, it was donald trump and his minions who tried to overthrow the 2020 election and try to undermine democracy, we should be clear with his speech today, donald trump's so-called proof that biden is a threat is a bunch of falsehood and nonsensical claims including the 2020 election was rigged which was a blatant lie, biden, the devout catholic is using the government to infiltrate the catholic church, also not true but you have to take any and for me, the real threat to american democracy, according to liz cheney is well, listen to her terrifying presented earlier today. >> do you believe if donald trump were elected next year that he would try to stay in office beyond the second term? >> there is no question, you think you would try to stay in power per -- forever? >> able for donald trump mean the last election you get to vote in, i don't say that lightly and it gets heartbreaking that's where we are, people have to recognize the vote for donald trump is about against the constitution. >> it does not take a vivid imagination to see how donald trump my use -- might use his second term, he's explicit, he plans to use the justice department to go after enemies, starting with president biden. he plans to fire all employees perceive that this is this -- disloyal, deploying the military inside the u.s. against americans. what is liz cheney's message and say it can't be all that bad? >> people who say well, if he's elected it's not that dangerous because we have all these checks and balances and don't fully understand the extent to which the republicans in congress today have been co- opted, one of the things we see happening today is a sort of sleep walking into a dictatorship in the united states. >> folks, i implore you to google the term democratic backsliding, it happens, democracy is not a guarantee. we can lose it, christian holmes start self coverage with a look at what donald trump is promising to do if he wins a second term. >> donald trump turning the table on his return to the white house would pose a threat to american democracy. >> joe biden is not the defender of american democracy. >> the number president facing the 2020 election claiming president joe biden is the real risk to the country. >> joe biden is the destroyer of american democracy. it him and his people that are wreckers of the american dream. >> they call trumps comments a quote desperate attempt at distraction, they frame the 2024 election as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism signaling how folks and candidates are focused on the general election rematch even as the first book to the republican nominating contest will not be cast for another six weeks. >> we stand up for american values, and the constitution. protect independence, because we know that they have proven they won't. we stand up for the constitution and our institutions of democracy. they made it clear they are not going to. >> democrats are not the only one sounding the alarm's, one of the things we see happening today is a sort of sleepwalking into dictatorship in the united states. >> in his latest bid to the white house, trump continues to rail against democratic institutions and makes -- form -- false claims. >> we are not going to allow them to regular presidential election in 2024. >> he also suggested the u.s. constitution should be terminated and a social media post, the former president has outlined plans to dramatically reshape federal government including a pledge to use the justice department to target political opponents. >> if i happen to be president and i see somebody doing well and beating me, i say go down and indict them mostly, that would be out of business, they would be out of the election. in my case, >> you asked the question, what if these arguments or of trumps rhetoric worked with voters? i do want to know that when i go to these rallies, even that rally over the weekend, people were cheering for this argument that it was biden because of the fact that trump is facing indictments that was against democracy. the other part based on what i want to layout, donald trump is saying each of the things he wants to do if you were to with the presidency again and despite that he still leading the polls not only in iowa, the caucus is are just six weeks away but nationally to be the gop nominee. >> with spring in my panel to discuss the dispatch, jonah goldberg, nbc news jonathan karl who has the newly released book, tired of winning, donald trump and the end of the granite party which has a lot of research about the trump term would look like, i have to say, there's a lot in there, what is the most alarming stuff when you talk to trump, former trump officials, what do they warn you about would be the worst case scenario? >> the most alarming is what a second trump term would look like, this is a resident coming back who has learned he can break the law and get away with it, somebody whose entire rationale for a second term is to get retribution against the people he believes have been his enemies and jake, in that context having virtually nobody around them willing to stand up to challenge them, having a trump, a second trump term or you don't have people like john kelly are people who worked in the council office, bill barr at the justice department willing to say no when trump asked them to break the law. >> this is new cover story in the atlantic with a series of articles looking at possible second trump term, we will have more of that coming up on the turn, in his first term, trumps corruption and brutality were mitigated by laziness. he would arrive with a much better understanding of the systems vulnerabilities, more willing enablers and toll -- in tow any much more focused retaliation, as trump points out, nobody like john kelly is willing to say stop, more people,'s smart people, the former omb guy. he knows how to make it happen for him, is that alarming do you think are accurate? >> i don't think necessarily the question of autocracy is an important one in legitimate want to talk about. you don't have to get there, the threshold is would it be bad taxi i will talk audience as well saying trump is not hitler, he could have repealed obama care. more seriously, you can come way short of being hitler and qualify is bad, trouble go in and is still going to be the incompetent guy he is, it's the point that jonathan is getting at, all the people around him will feel empowered to fight for the worst version of trump, the people that all the people despise, mitch mcconnell, you go down the list, these will be in effect circuit breakers who use trump to get things accomplished, now that is all gone and it's simply going to be a lot of intellects who think being turned down by the courts is a good thing for them because it lets them wager another battle about the legitimacy of the court's and law, and all these things people who say yes sir with the insurrection act rather than no sir. that's what is concerning. >> that's going to be the challenge after iowa in the number of people that will line up a nominee because he's the one on that side of the aisle who has the power, six people raising their hands saying they would support trump even though they are all running for his position, you have in america a country that is 30% that trust in u.s. institutions is at a record low. you have a president who has capitalized on influencer culture to say he and him alone is the person you can trust, the combination of how we consume information in the fact that every institution is down in the gutter in terms of opinion have been magical cesspools for trump. >> there is the possibility that desantis or nikki haley could have a surprise showing in iowa, new hampshire, it is also quite possible that donald trump just runs the table for the first four condos, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, nevada. >> is the front runner, people talk about it like the race is over, you covered it enough, i will, new hampshire caucuses did know that surprises happen. there is a sense that people have not really paid attention to this question of what a second trump term would look like, it's hard to say that trump is undercover, he has been undercover, there's been massive attention played to the legal cases but very little attention to what it would be like if he comes back into the white house, he's more volatile than has been before, he has restraints on him and no guard rails, i think he could be in for a surprise, in iowa and new hampshire than perhaps all bets are off, the more likely scenario is he runs the table. >> there has been a lot of coverage of joe biden showing his age, we can all agree that's true, i think donald trump is showing his age. >> is not campaigning with anywhere near the vigor he did in 2016 certainly are 2020, he plays a lot of golf now, he spends a lot of time with his lawyers, he's not doing very much which i think was actually unhelpful to his campaign. >> i think most of the indictments are legit, the new york ones we can parse them. trump said something that is true, they will indict me into the presidency, people forget desantis before he announced, desantis was beating trump. it is the thing with the negative polarization were a lot of people say they're coming after trump so i have to support trump . you can't unring that bell now, but a lot of people say well, what if he gets convicted . i don't know that that is fitting this bond he's now got with a big chunk of the gop election. >> he's asking for what would otherwise call transparency, for him it is free televised attitude and his nose to the courts, he wants everyone to see him in court. pushing back against judges, freewheeling and disregarding rules and getting away with it. >> let me ask you as the democrat at the table, your guy is losing to him. >> by voters and by polls, i'm not sure what more joe biden can do to remind people what is at stake. the state of the union, the soul of democracy constantly talking about battle for the soul of the country on the world stage, there is a responsibility for everybody else to also take the challenges seriously other democratic party is in the white house. i know incumbents in general are not popular, do you ever think maybe we should have a new candidate? >> no. a new candidate would not have the white house. he would not have a court reporters covering his every move, which i would ask, let slide that trump is close enough in age to biden and also trump speeches are largely incoherent and have been from the jump, somehow that narrative is the biden narrative, i do think the benefit he has as we get closer to the day and people pay attention, the difference will become clear. i'm hanging onto hope. >> another canada or a younger person could run, any last thoughts? >> trump has had a good job of losing elections, every single cycle midterm, special elections , runoff elections, republicans have either lost or underperformed largely due to trump's influence, we may see him beating some poles but losing other polls, general election polls at this point are pretty much worthless. >> tired of winning: donald trump, pick yourself a copy. a key issue when it comes to winning iowa, i will speak to a man who looked into donald trump's relationships with evangelicals after a decade of getting to know him and all his past regressions -- transgressions. stay with us. we are back with our 2024 lead until republican voters caucus in iowa records one of the states most influential groups, evangelical christians specifically white evangelical christians, ron desantis recently was endorsed by prominent evangelicals. he wrapped up a 99 county swing in the hawkeye state. he remains percentage points behind trump, joining us now is 10 alberta who was the staff writer for the atlantic, he has a book titled the kingdom, the power, and the glory. american evangelicals in the age of extremism, the book comes out tomorrow. congratulations. pretty certain americo will not elect trump, do other leaders in iowa, do they share that concern? >> i don't think they share the certainty in fact, when you survey the evangelical pastor, as i've done over the past couple of years, there is a resignation to the idea that trump in the short-term, the intermediate term at least has a good hold on a lot of the congregants and they are not going to deviate from him anytime soon, he's had a long- running feud with trump, some of the reporting that came out of my group trump using disparaging vulgar language to refer to certain iowa evangelicals was aimed towards him among others, it's no surprise he would support ron desantis. i don't think trump retains an overwhelming lead on white evangelicals, i think the question really in the political flame -- frame. is not whether trump is winning big majorities in the primary and general. how many of these show up next november, is there any sort of fall off because of the trump exhaustion we see? >> ted cruz's campaign marks trump in 2016, when he infamously cited two corinthians. when they began using the line to attack them in the final days versus the iowa caucus, trump told one official the so- called christians hanging around are some real pieces of how does trump supporting evangelicals support that? he was ignorant about scripture, not to mention the other ways in which donald trump is not exactly square with a good book, do they ignore it or happy about him being very responsible for the overturning of roe versus wade, how do they justify it? >> it's a great question obviously, there's a fascinating psychological arc to understand, whereas at this point eight years ago, a lot of these white evangelical voters were uneasy, they viewed his lack of familiarity with scripture and behavior, they view those things as weaknesses and they entered it this uneasy transactional nomination where he's the nominee and he's going to give us some of these policy victories we really want in exchange for our vote, that transaction relationship has now morphed into something else entirely which is to say specifically the 91 indictments, and his rhetoric around not letting non- christians into the country. trump being a decidedly more antagonistic militant candidate this time around especially with his bearing towards the non-evangelical country. he will be there retribution and will essentially wield christianity as a weapon. they are all for that in part because they come to view trump is almost a righteous protector as someone who before he's a christian himself, he's not bound by biblical virtue, he doesn't have to play by the rules, that's a superpower that gives him an ability to do things to protect this christian coalition if you will. no under candidate would be willing to do this. >> such as an evangelical, your dad believed in speech that integrity was a prerequisite for political leadership. that seems to have changed. the simplest explanation as to why it's changed, you will hear from a lot of evangelical christians around the country which is that they are under siege which is christianity is under attack in this country and the culture from the godless left, just look at covid-19. they shut down churches, transgender is him on the march. they will point to that and say desperate times call for desperate measures. donald trump, this if you feel as though -- you might be willing to turn to a barbarian to do your fighting for you. our mutual friend and my boss said to me this other day, you are almost describing this like a mercenary relationship. that is exactly what it is for people who feel that they are for and in this way, they are willing to return to a man who shares none of their values ended fact probably that is the greatest attraction to him. >> that's fascinating, there are parallels between the republican party and evangelical community. what do you make of speaker mike johnson's rapid rise to power given his strong religious identity? >> when mike johnson says the bible is his governing hambrick -- handbook, that is not a french position. you should not treat it as something that is far out of the evangelical mainstream, you recognize. there is very much an ascendant movement on your right in this country. they would seek to abolish any sort of firewall, there's people working in a second trump term. i report on this, they are much invested in this idea of emerging the power of the church and some official level. whether it's through declaration or executive order, we heard trump even in his rhetoric flowing this idea. nobody would be able to come to this country as a migrant. you have real strands of christian nationalism that are infecting the highest echelons of the republican party and that is something you have to address sooner rather than later. >> congratulations, the new book, the kingdom -- "the kingdom, the power, and the glory: american evangelicals in an age of extremism". it comes out tomorrow, everything tim writes is fascinating, well-written, and worth a read. >> thanks, i appreciate it. >> killing many members of the family of the cnn journalist, we are going live there next. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible, it's happening. we are back with all look at gaza, the idf is expanding airstrikes and ground operation from northern gaza to all of gaza. you see portions of the stripper on fire this evening, israel had warned innocent civilians to evacuate south as the idf is no urging innocents to move further south as their targeting of hamas demands. nearly one .9 million people, one .9 million are displaced along all of gaza, we are in tel aviv, israel, there is fighting between hamas and israel is a thing of the past, how are you handling this phase of the war? >> the intense fighting has returned, israel announced it has expanded ground invasion to the ground operation in the entire gaza strip, we see israel operating in southern gaza. the entire gaza strip overnight, there was some 200. the idf spokesperson says calling those airstrikes very significant. israeli forces in northern gaza, at least two israeli soldiers. they are expected to wrap up soon and the focus is certainly expected to turn south specifically in and around. u.s. officials believe some of hamas leadership has been gone. israel has told gazans in the north to flee south, they are telling us to go even further south, how are they doing that? on social media, a very complicated map, it has over 2400 different zones, israel can tell palestinians you need to move to another zone to be safe, not only is it complex but also that just assumes gazans can get access to the internet. today we saw widespread blackout in gaza city across northern gaza, you cannot assume they are seeing any of this in the meantime, we are hearing extreme alarms. they can win tactically against hamas, they could lose in the long run strategically. take a listen. >> the center of gravity is the civilian population if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a victory with a strategic defeat. from the hamas at the ministry of health, approaching 16,000. >> best renewed fighting with more bloodshed and there. there are people in gaza unfortunately dying along with members of hamas, those in a sense include our own cnn reporter. >> this is sitting close to home for cnn, a cnn producer who many will remember for his dispatches in the first month of the war showing how his family was surviving how they eventually thankfully got out to egypt. today we learn that nine of his family members were killed in a strike in northern gaza, they say they were trapped in a house, hit by a strike. nine people killed. his own home in gaza city was also destroyed, a horribly sad day, our heart goes out to ibrahim's family. the hamas -controlled health ministry in gaza says more than 15,800 palestinians have been killed in gaza. since october 7th, the israel defense force disputes this figure, although surprisingly the idf estimates they have killed around 5000 members of hamas as this war continues. the world health organization says the disease in gaza could ultimately become deadlier than the airstrikes. the destruction of humanitarian infrastructure is only fueling the millions desperately trying to survive. >> desperate times call for desperate measures, in gaza, if that means saluting the local bakery destroyed by an israeli airstrike. so be it. >> they are doing this out of hunger, it was the bakery, arabic for blessing but now gaza is under a curse of war. >> it was the last functioning bakery. >> basic needs, striking this kind of terror. once the sun came up monday, people of all ages descended upon the bakery. taking away bags of flowers, cooking oil, wood to use for cooking and heating. just about anything else they could carry away. this man describes it in one word, chaos. the world food program warned that people of gaza are reaching the breaking point. >> when you have them breaking down completely because people are becoming desperate, hungry at the moment. this is bound to happen. with israeli ground forces now operating in southern gaza, hundreds of thousands have fled to the north in search of safety are now even more than before in the lineup higher. gaza after all -- two months of war has come to this. what we are hearing from a variety of u.n. officials is that they are increasingly alarmed at the prospects of what is going to happen next in gaza, martin griffith, the u.n. relief chief put out a statement saying every time we think things cannot get more apocalyptic in gaza, they do. people are being ordered to move again with little to survive on force to make an impossible choice after another. jake? >> thank you so much. there are reverberations at home, next the white house reaction to that pro- palestinian crowd. my hometown in philadelphia, stay with us. in our world of the white house in philadelphia mayor condemning a pro-palestinian protest outside of a waffle shop because the owner is a jewish israeli. one of several israeli owned restaurants attempted in a boycott, demonstrator shouting we charge you with genocide. i guess because the jewish israeli owner exists? cnn's danny freeman has a closer look at other acts of ignorance stemming from the conflict in the middle east. >> protesters marched through the streets of philadelphia at one point, stopping at the jewish owned restaurant goldie and chanting. boldy which serves primarily falafel sandwiches is owned by award-winning restaurant owners who were jewish and specialize in israeli food. >> [ indiscernible ] >> the witness who provided this video told the protesters only stayed for about five minutes before moving on through the city. the larger protest ultimately marched through 20 city blocks, there was no -- police did not say if there were reports of vandalism. local, state, and federal leaders quickly and forcefully condemned the demonstration at the jewish business as anti- somatic. >> what we saw last night was not peaceful protest, but we saw last night in my opinion was blatant anti-semitism. >> it is anti-somatic and completely justifiable, to target restaurant that service this rate -- is really foods with this agreement. this behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of anti-semitism. one of many recently charged moments across the country in williamsburg, virginia a festival organizer came under criticism after a jewish organization showing a menorah lighting was canceled because the event did not want to appear to choose sides in the israel hamas conflict. the festival organizer said the lighting was never officially scheduled and the event has never had any religious affiliation. meanwhile, in burlington, vermont were three palestinian students were shot over the thanksgiving when the -- weekend. one remains hospitalized, his mother said -- telling cnn he's not paralyzed from the waist down, authorities whether the gunman was motivated by hate. goldie was busy with the lunch rush as many went out of their way to go out of business. >> people kept coming in, how backed up they were really for this beautiful -- >> now jake, we reached out to the parent company and owners for comment. he declined our interview request. jake? >> danny freeman, thanks so much. coming up next, the new rate in russia just one day after moscow tried to outlaw what it calls the international lgbtq movement. authorities in russia are intensifying a crackdown on the lgbtq community. police raided three gay venues over the weekend, one day after the russian supreme court's decision to, quote, outlaw the lgbtq movement and label it an extremist organization. fred pleitgen has more. what more the you tell us about these raids? >> reporter: they certainly are having a chilling effect on the lgbtq community in russia. it's hard tooverstate the amount of downright fear going on in this community. people were searched, frisked, somehow to tarek their clothes off. obviously some in the lgbtq community fearing there could be further issues for them down the line with now the authorities in possession of those photographs. the russians saying these are regular drug raids. there are folks in the lbtd community who said this did have a chilling effect on them. this came basically just hours after the russian supreme court came down with that verdict that also labeled members, as they put it, of the international lgbtq community as extremists which could have serious repercussions for those folks in russia, jake. >> this comes nearly one year after putin signed the law that banned what he called lgbtq propaganda in russia. why is he targeting this community? >> reporter: i was in russia when that came down from vladimir putin. that essentially made it illegal in russia to display anything showing gay pride or any sort of rainbow flag or anything of that sort. again, part of that ongoing crackdown. vladimir putin has been trying to self-style himself, jake, of the defender, as he puts it, of conservative values. he's also very close, also, to the russian orthodox church. he's also trying to do that on a global scale now. a lot of that has to do with his opposition to the west. one of the things we hear from russian politician and vladimir putin is that he feels russian culture could be infected, as he puts it, by the lgbtq community. of course, it's down that same line, jake, that vladimir putin very frequently also justifies his invasion of ukraine, also likening it to a struggle of russia against the west led by the u.s., jake. >> fred pleitgen, thanks so much. coming up, one of the most underreported, unspoken, uncon demmed atrocitities by hamas, women sexually assaulted and raped during the october 7th attack. now some very influenced voices are trying to make sure people know what happened. stay with us. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. what if donald trump wins? i'll speak with the authors behind 24 new essays in "the atlantic" magazine, with what they call the lack of guardrails to keep him in line. plus, 250 days detained unfairly, unjustly in russia. i'll speak with the parents of american journalist aaron ger gersing vic. a school in the northeast that housed tunnel shafts and stocked weapons and explosives. today the red cross described the level of human suffering in gaza as intolerable. we're going to start today with cnn's jeremy diamond who is in