Necessary, yes. The president had effectively an extramarital affair slush fund. Then Scott Pruitts luxury trip to rome on the public dime. Lets have no illusions about what was really going on here. And what primary night in america looks like in the era of trump. Im basically trumpier than trump. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. The president and his lawyer are applying the same strategy that got the president elected, to his rapidly multiplying legal threats. Overwhelm the public with enough noise to drown out the facts and muddle the issues. Whether it can work this time is still an open question. The president today spent his morning executive time, as he so often does, tweeting about the criminal investigation into his campaign, his allies and his Family Members and himself. And this comes after the president s new personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed in an interview over the weekend that the mueller team might try to set up the president on perjury charges. With Stormy Daniels. In other words, other amounts of money. This was not uncommon for him to do that. You said he this was a regular arrangement he had with Michael Cohen. Did Michael Cohen make other arrangements for the president . I have no knowledge of that. But i would think if it was necessary, yes. He made payments for president. Or he conducted business for the president. Interviewed right after giuliani, Stormy DanielsAttorney Michael Avenatti called the appearance a, quote, absolute unmitigated disaster for the president. Giuliani after meeting with trump later on his golf club in virginia told the Washington Post he still has his clients confidence, quote. We all feel pretty good. Weve got everything kind of straightened out and were setting the agenda. Everybody is reacting to us, and i feel good about that right now because thats what i came in now. Laurence tribe, an expert on Campaign Finance law among other things. Let me start with that one assertion Rudy Giuliani made about asserting president ial privilege in response to a subpoena. What do you make of that . Well, he says that president s
do it all the time. But the fact is no president of the United States has ever refused to respond to a subpoena. Thomas jefferson responded by producing the evidence that John Marshall wanted so he didnt have to appear personally. Richard nixon handed over tapes on which his personal voice appeared in a context where he couldnt even take the fifth because it was already on tape. And bill clinton responded by arranging to testify, quote, voluntarily, unquote. So rudy doesnt know he what he is talking about in terms of the law or american history. But he sure puts on a show. Its just remarkable. Well, do you discern a legal strategy here . Well, i think its not so much a legal strategy as a pr strategy. Confuse them, distract them, thats the way we won. But theyve forgotten that the ultimate audience here is not the people of the United States who are undoubtedly fascinated
by Stormy Daniels and confused by the constant contradictions, its the judicial system. And when the judicial system led by Robert Mueller with all of the evidence that he is gathering decides that weve got to straighten this out, rudy has made it even more important to figure out what did the president really know and when did he know it about all of these interrelated money schemes makes it all the more necessary to have the president s personal testimony, which is why the case for a subpoena is stronger by virtue of this supposed defense. I mean, theyre really putting all their feet in their mouths. You said Something Interesting there. Its a pr strategy, but its not a sort of legal strategy. But there is a sense in which because of the way the president is a singular kind of client, right. Right, right. And the constitutions only
remedy currently you cant indict a sitting president , lets stipulate that for a moment. I know its slightly contested that ultimately, thats all that matters. This will ultimately be fought on political terrain. What do you think of that . No question. But that political terrain will be framed by the legal. Right. Case that is put forward and confusing the public now is not going to help when the bombs explode and the evidence is splattered all over the front page. Giuliani had an interesting argument about this sort of why there is no legal exposure on the Stormy Daniels front. I want to just play that to you and get your reaction to that specifically. Sure. Because it does have to do a little bit with Campaign Finance law and its violations. Take a listen. What matters to me are two things. There are two relevant legal things, which is what my job is. Number one, it was not a Campaign Contribution because it would have been done anyway. This is the kind of thing i settled for celebrities and famous people. Every lawyer that does that kind of work has. And number two, even if it was
considered a Campaign Contribution, it was entirely reimbursed out of personal funds, which i dont think well even get to. Because the first someone enough. Case closed for donald trump. And i think for Michael Cohen. Case closed, professor . Not at all. He is just making it worse. If it was a contribution, it clearly was timed to prevent Stormy Daniels from speaking on the eve of the campaign. It wasnt a coincidence. It was a long time between the underlying affair and the hush money. And even if it was going to be repaid and it was loan, there were violations of the federal Campaign Reporting laws. Worse than that, the cloud of confusion that they are spewing now amounts to Obstruction Of Justice and witness tampering because cohen and the president are key witnesses and the president through giuliani is signaling what he wants cohen to say. So its a mess many times over as a result of giulianis learning conserve. All right. Professors laurence tribe, thanks for your appearance tonight. Thanks, chris. Host of the trump inc. Series on wbmic. And nick akerman who served under Rudy Giuliani when he was District Attorney when he served for the Southern District of use when you were a young pup. Exactly. Many years ago. A Wall Street Journal piece that just crossed, just published that the lawyers Rudy Giuliani gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal. Theyre going to aim to decide by may 17th whether the president testifies in the probe. I guess its a oneyear anniversary. Its a fitting date. What do you think . I dont think he has any choice there is a false narrative being spun here, that is that there is some kind of negotiation going on. Always. That trump somehow has the upper hand and he can decide
what to do. The fact of the matter is if he gets subpoenaed, the Supreme Court is going to tell him hes got to testify. Right. I mean, u. S. V nixon is right on point. The Supreme Court in that case said the public has the right to every persons evidence unless theyre going to take a privileged some kind of privilege like the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify. Thats it. He is going to have to testify. Youve reported on the president and Rudy Giuliani quite a bit. What is that relationship like . Well, i mean, it is very interesting that giuliani made his bones putting mobsters in jail and corrupt politicians in jail, and that he is now essentially playing the roy cohn role for trump. Roy cohn was one of trumps first lawyers who was also a mob lawyer and who trump has sort of held up as the standard the kind a personal lawyer should be, defending him at all cost, even if it means sometimes crossing
the law. I think its important to remember the context this is going on. Right now there is a Special Master in the Michael Cohen case reviewing eight boxes of documents, cell phones, blackberries and ipad to see whether there is evidence of wrongdoing in the Trump Organization by Michael Cohen at some point that could implicate trump. Simply, we also learned that mueller last week in those 49 questions was just last week that one of the things he is looking at is trumps Business Relationships with russia. So Rudy Giuliani is confusing everybody about talking about Stormy Daniels. Its really you need a timeline to keep track of all of the differing explanations, but at the same time, there are these two very serious criminal investigation going on in which he is a key part of trumps defense team. This is a tidbit from the Wall Street Journal article. Its sort of interesting. Trump to twoef be a serious distraction to his work eating into time he needs to deal with serious global issues. Let me just say this is one president who does not have that argument. He has purposely gone to l. A. To file a case against an individual he says he never had an affair with who he doesnt really know anything about, but yet he can involve himself in that case. Thats a decent argument, actually. I had forgotten about that. And then he spends half his time on the golf course. This is one president who cannot make the bill clinton argument that it would take up to much of his time. In an informal fourhour practice session, mr. Trumps lawyers were only able to walk him through two questions on two National Security matter. Im sure they asked him what is your name and what did you have for breakfast this morning. I dont think he could focus on any of these questions. These questions that you saw published last week, i mean, you and i could have come up with those in a few hours. Right. Those were just general topics. The real questions are going to be based on the evidence that mueller has gathered over the course of this investigation. What flynn has told them, what papadopoulos has told them. Thats where the real questioning is going to come. I think its also really important to note that if you have ever watch order read transcripts of Trump Depositions and there is a lot of them. And there are many, he says things frequently like in one lawsuit he said, well, i set the value of my properties in my mind. It depends on my state of mind. He says he hasnt met people that he clearly has met. So its a situation where if you have a prosecutor that gets to ask all the questions, he doesnt get to do what he does with us which is issue a tweet that is going to send people running. Right. He just has to answer the questions and the prosecutors will get to ask him no matter what he says. So that is what he is up against, and maybe the truest thing that Rudy Giuliani has said in the past days is that
thats something that would kearney lawyer is that their client is liable to go off script any second. What did you think about him invoking i thought for the first time from the legal team publicly pleading the fifth . Oh, i think he may very well do that. He has done so many other off the wall things. Right. This would be the first time he would be the total contrarian and basically he would be saying a truthful answer would tend to incriminate me. Thats what he is saying. Right. There is some question about how long this giuliani trump thing is going to last. Robert costa said this after the Hannity Interview that the white house aide is bewilder this a. M. By giuliani but many say the staff now feel like theyre not in control of the situation. Aide says potus and giuliani are running their own strategy and have a Generational Rapport and share shared point of view. Rudy giuliani was a mayor that people really liked
after 9 11, and he ran for senate, and that didnt go anywhere. And he ran for president and that didnt go anywhere. And he was a lead surrogate for donald trump during his campaign. He was expected to get a top position, that didnt happen. Now he is getting to control the narrative, but for now. Is he doing legal damage for Rudy Giuliani . Yeah, i think he is. He is making so many contradictory statements that he is really making it all about himself. Right. This is very much the scaramucci problem. Its very much like when he was u. S. Attorney. He was the only u. S. Attorney to hire three press people to do nothing but flak him to the press. When i was there, we they get a Mimeograph Machine and put out a Press Release saying so and so was indicted for the following charges. Afterwards, when giuliani took over, you had a fullblown Press Release, Press Conferences where he would make a Major Press Conference out of every major
indictment, even if he had nothing to do with it. It stood him in good stead as he became the mayor of new york. Its largely the reputation he earned in that position. Andrea bernstein and nick akerman, great to have you. Thank you. Next, the president s personal lawyer feeling under siege. The tenuous position of Michael Cohen, the other trump lawyer, and what it could mean for the president , in two minutes. Allergies with sinus congestion and pressure . You wont find relief here. Go to the pharmacy counter for powerful claritind. While the leading Allergy Spray relieves 6 symptoms. Claritind relieves 8, including sinus congestion and pressure. Claritind relieves more. Okay, iunderwear thatsd say this, bactually pretty. Er leak surprised . Its called always discreet boutique. It looks and fits like my underwear. I know what youre thinking. How can something this pretty protect . Hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly
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for donald trump that he, the loyalty will only go so far. And he has a wife and kids that he really, really cares about. I mean, his family, if you go into his office, its donald trump and its his family. Its pictures of his daughter. So this is something that is really going to test him. And it makes total sense now that he is feeling a little bit abandoned by the president. Weve seen people say that trumps telling people and telling the press that giuliani misspoke, and that he only just started and that he really doesnt know what he is talking about. Some people interpreted that as a signal to cohen to look, stay strong. Were not going to throw you under the bus here. Of course cohen is worried and he has every right to be. There is a bunch of reporting on cohen just over the last few days that just sort of makes it kind of on its face case that there is some stuff there that he may i mean, youve got a Wall Street JournalStory On Friday about the u. S. Probing the cash he built up during th campaign. The incredible New York Times piece about all of the shadowy
empire including selling four buildings on a single day entirely for cash. You read the stories and think this is not someone is going to be able to withstand the level of scrutiny he is now going to be under. Certainly you dont get the sense he is a careful and prudent person, which is exactly what you would expect in a donald trump lawyer. And i have to say, i dont have a lot of sympathy. But if this guy has to depend on Rudy Giuliani and what he says on fox news, he is sunk. Its clear that Giuliani Doesnt Care about him. Unclear if trump cares at all about him. And he has been involved in the Taxi Medallion Business which has a shady side, an organized Trial Side Up in new york. The Real Estate Deals and his need to borrow money to pay Stormy Daniels which might have been led to bank fraud, i mean we all have said this and heard this before. Fbi agents do not raid lawyers offices unless they have a preponderance of evidence. The only question here is a preponderance of evidence on how many different crimes. Right. And do any of them reflect his interaction was trump. And nancy, there is a clock now in that Southern District there is now going to be a Special Master who is going to go through the files that were raided and has set a fairly aggressive schedule for the president s lawyers and Michael Cohen to make assertions of privilege. What do you see as a kind of timeline unfolding here . Well, i think that she is under considerable pressure. This is judge jones whom i know. And she is under considerable pressure to move quickly. Its already it was already an extraordinary gesture by judge wood to appoint a Special Master. Orderly you that sort of airing an abundance of caution. Ordinarily you would allow the taint team to go through the evidence. This is out of an abundance over caution. I think youll see her move very quickly, especially if the media reports are right, which is this is one part lawyerclient, and,
you know, ten parts of his Business Dealings unrelated to any attorneyclient privilege. You know, you were a federal judge, and you were a Federal District court judge. So you had people coming through your courtroom. Im just curious. In your experience, did you have how often would you have an fbi raiding a lawyer or dealing with this kind of thing . Never. Not once. Wow. It is extremely unusual. There is no question about it. I think that david corns comment makes perfect sense which is the levels that the u. S. Attorneys office, that the fbi has to go through to get such a warrant are considerable. It doesnt mean that mistakes arent made. Sure. But when you add to this is the president s lawyer, the levels are even more substantial. And now you add to that when we see the good deal of this was not lawyering at all but Business Dealings as to which there is no privilege. There is another story that sort of caught my eye because it one of the messages you hear from the white house and
even the president s tweets about it today is that its a twopart message there is no collusion. Thats a dead letter. No ones collusion. Im cleared. The only thing they have made up is obstruction and thats just me fighting back. Sort of two prongs. But every time you hear something out of the actual mueller, it still looks like theyre hunting collusion. The latest thing we heard is a Russian Oligarch was pulled off a plane in new york and questioned by muellers team and his devices were searched. It turns out this guy was at the inauguration of all things and at the rt dinner with michael flynn. Every time you get a glimpse of that investigation, it sure does look like they are hot on the trail of collusion. Oh, absolutely. Its running on a parallel track. And its because this was always the original mandate. This was always muellers original mandate. It was to investigate whether or not the Trump Campaign inclucol with russia. In terms of the collusion investigation, its obviously much more complex. It spans its the u. S. Its europe. Its russia. There are a ton of different players. But this news about the Russian Oligarch, who got pulled off his plane by mueller that is significant. According to my sources, he is considered a fairly standup business guy as you can be in russia. He is not generally accused of the kind of, you know, bribery and moneylaundering that many, many other oligarchs, or at least not to the extent that others are. He was, though, at trumps inauguration, which raised a lot of questions. Why was he there . Why was he given priority seating, for example . And he it just raises more questions about what the Trump Campaigns ties were to these wealthy russians. Nancy sorry, nancy you want to say something, and then david. Okay. Manafort, the Manafort Case, you have to step back from the Manafort Case. The Manafort Case itself was about russian collusion. Thats how it started. He is a campaign manager. Winds up with substantial ties to the russiaukraine
contingent. When u. S. Attorneys go into court to justify the charges against manafort, they put it squarely in the midst of the russian collusion theory. And he really if you recall, he becomes the Campaign Chair because of we believe roger stones recommendation. Roger stone was the person who is connected to wikileaks. Manafort is really i think the center of the russian collusion investigation, which now has other tentables. David . I want to make a point about victor vexleburg. It wasnt just that he was at the trump inauguration. His cousin who runs his American Business gave 250,000 to the trump inauguration. Right. This guy had never given more than a couple hundred dollars or a couple thousand dollars to candidates in both democrats and republicans, not known as a big donor. So why all of the sudden is he giving a quarter of a million
dollars . His own money . Somebody elses money . We do know that mueller interviewed tom barrack who is the head of the inaugural committee. I would have hoped they asked about this donation and other donations to that committee that came from russian or russianrelated sources. I will close by noting as far as we can tell there are tens of millions Million Dollars of the inauguration that are not fully nailed down and accounted for at this point which is the thing that hangs out there at this point. Thank you all for joining me. Next, an explosive story tonight about abuse allegations, physical, verbal allegations against new York Attorney general eric schneiderman. Well talk about that after this break. So in this commercial we see two travelers at a comfort inn with a glow around them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. Breaking news tonight. The new yorker reporting on disturbing allegations against new York Attorney general eric schneiderman. Four different women, who of them on the record and named who speak at length throughout the article accusing the current Attorney General for New York State of physical violence. They allege head reportedly hit hem after drinking and frequently in bed and never with their consent. I have engaged in roleplaying and other consensual activity. Have i not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line i would not cross. We have one source telling us tonight that Governor Cuomo telling the New York Times that the Governor Cuomo will be calling for Eric Schneidermans resignation. Well keep our eyes on that. Joining us to discuss that is attorney lisa green that intro doesnt do justice to the scope of what is contained herein. No, theyre pretty sickening allegations. And whats notable about the reporting is how consistent the stories are. And something else, chris. If we knew anyone who was subjected to this kind of abuse that is alleged in this article, youd immediately tell them its Best Practices to call a Domestic Violence hotline and get yourself to a safe place. And what i find so striking is how terrified these women were not in incomprehensionbly. After all, when your alleged perpetrator says things like i am the law or i could have you wiretap and i encourage people to look at the full article to see some of the scope of what these women allege was the pressure that Snide Schneider man put on them to remain quiet. Slapping so hard that women went to doctors, ear nose and throat specialists. Choking. Verbally belittling, but also threatening. This is where the sort of official part of this comes in. Threatening them essentially with his power of the top Law Enforcement official for the state of new york. And all that while he simultaneously championing the
cause of woman, right, reproductive rights, going back into the weinstein investigation, insisting that victims get superior damages, call running an investigation, if i remember correctly, on behalf of Governor Cuomo to look into why criminal charges werent brought. Surely thats over. Right. And i think its the seeming hypocrisy that is what drove some of these women to finally come forward. It cannot have been an easy decision for them. There is also it seems to me some real legal exposure if these allegations are true. Civil lawsuits and possibly criminal action, depending on how these crimes are defined, statutes of limitations. Again, the incredible irony of this story, chris. Were talking about women who felt uncomfortable coming forward about a man in power. But the man in power is himself someone who really carved out a place as a champion of womens rights. The mind almost cant carry both these ideas at the same time. In fact, one of the most perverse ironies here is he
wrote when a New York State political official was accused of strangling a woman and it was revealed that i guess the Criminal Code did not have a crime for that, he actually wrote the bill to criminalize that. He is accused of doing precisely that in this article. First he criminalized it. And then he inflicted that exact act on women, according to these women. It is hard to imagine anyone what is the expression, hoist by your own petard, to behave in that way with full awareness of the consequences while at the same time leading a day job that puts you out there as a champion of women. Again, i think its the juxtaposition that is one of the most shocking things about this reporting in addition to the detail. I should state that these are allegations. They are denied by the Attorney General. But there is a tremendous amount of Corroborating Evidence in terms of contemporaneous accounts people telling their friends about it, people keeping journal entries, emailing other people there is documentation from doctors there is a fair amount here. This is a if the Attorney General is going to attempt to
rebut these charges, he very much has his work cut out for him. Yeah, its meticulous reporting. I guess one of the things i find so sad, even these Accomplished Women often blame themselves. And thats a pattern we see throughout some of these me too stories. And i just find it really troubling. He should also we should note has been a guest on the show. He sat in that seat right there. It is what is alleged in the article is despicable and horrifying sort of past what it brings you up short what is described, the terror that he inflicted allegedly on the women who speak. Also, yet another incredible piece of reporting from the new yorker, from jane mary who is doing an incredible job right now. Lisa green, thanks for being here. Sure. Ahead, why toxic candidates are filling republican ballots, coming up. And more medals for scott pruitt in the swamp olympics. Thing 1, thing 2, next. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can take on Psoriatic Arthritis with humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for Psoriatic Arthritis. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira. Whats your body of proof . The first survivor of ais out there. Sease and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. Most people come to la with big dreams. We came with big appetites. With expedia, you could book a flight, hotel, car, and activity all in one place. Phone booth who traveled first class for months so he wouldnt be accosted by the regular people in coach. But now Scott PruittsBunker Mentality has reached new extremes. According to axios, his Chief Of Staff runs the operations but rarely knows where his boss is. All of us have been frozen out over time one political appointee told axios. Everyone is miserable. Nobody talks. Its a drywall prison. Of course, its rational to be paranoid when you have a lot you dont want people to know, like what you really did last summer on a 120,000 governmentfunded trip to rome. Thats thing 2 in 60 seconds. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job
well you could put it that way. Pruitt is after all the subject of 11, count em, federal investigations. He is the us sane bolt of the swamp olympics. And he apparently has a mantra, telling energy k3i6s, quote, whoever said you cant k have your cake and eat it too doesnt know what to do with cake. And speaking of eating, there are brandnew details about pruitts twoday, 120,000 governmentfunded trip to italy with staff last year, according to the daily beast. Four, count em, four workrelated events took up four hours of pruitts time according to his schedule. By contrast, pruitt had three private nonworkrelated meals including one at a Five Star Hotel which took up five and a half hours of his schedule. Thats a long meal. So 120,000 to get in four hours of work, five and a half hours of fine dining, even for a man who likes to have his cake and eat it too, thats a highpriced slice. But mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. Help take control by asking about your treatment options. Vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. Clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. Vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. Youre more than just your bipolar i. Ask your doctor about vraylar. Looking for a hotel that fits. Whoooo. Your budget . Tripadvisor now searches over. 200 sites to find you the. Hotel you want at the lowest price. Grazi, gino find a price that fits. Tripadvisor. That Senate Nomination in West Virginia. Blankenship served a year in federal prison you might remember for his role in violating Mine Safety Rules in the 2010 Upper Branch Mine Accident that left 29 miners dead. Despite that fact, blankenship has been surging ahead of tomorrows West Virginia primary with internal gop polls reportedly showing him narrowly leading two more establishment rivals. Blankenship has done it by spending heavily on the race and by essentially embracing the role of the villain, someone who rails against Mitch Mcconnell as cocaine mitch, who uses ethnic slurs and places the blame for the 2010 death at his mine squarely on the obama administration. Having all obama judges, having all obama prosecutors, its as obvious as it can possibly be that the Upper Big Branch explosion was caused by the government and that there was nothing that coy do to prevent it. Republicans feared that a blankenship primary victory would hand the general election to democratic incumbent joe manchin in a state that trump won by 42 points. This morning after an appeal from mcconnell, trump got involved Don Blankenship running for senate. Cant win the election in your state, no way. And then urged republicans to vote for either of blankenships rivals. His entire campaign has been predicated on the message that the left hates him so he deserves your vote. Why are conservatives so eager to rally around the most deplorable of candidates so long as they tribber the libs . Ill be joined by a panel of candidates to answer that very question, right after this. People said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. They thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldnt that be cool . And thats why exxonmobil scientists think its
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joining me now to discuss why blankenship and similar candidates resonate with the gop base former reagan official official linda chavez. Mona chairen, and liam wolfe, manager of the conservative website the blaze. Leon, how Is Blankenship in the running . Well, i think that what a lot of Republican Voters have learned or at least decided for themselves is they kind of want to get the same high and positive feeling they get out of rooting for a sports team that wins. They really like just the feeling of winning more than they like principles. And i think rightly or wrongly a lot of republicans perceive that forrers democrats have stood by their candidates lp no matter what they said or did and i still hear they say they std stood by ted kennedy after chappaquiddick, stood by bill clinton, stood by joe biden after bragging that delaware used to be a slave state. They decided these are the rules were going to play by too and so rightly or wrongly thats where we are. Do you really think thats a fair symmetry with the way
things are now . I just dont see anyone in a democratic primary like roy moore like theres just no democratic roy moore right now. There just isnt. Well, i mean, look, Dennis Kucinich has definitely said some bizarre things and hes still involved in a reasonably competitive race thats going on tomorrow as well. Im not saying theyre equivalent now and i definitely think theres kind of this air of triumphalism that is maybe a little over the top of what you see on the democratic side but im telling you thats the perception and thats whats fueling a lot of what youre seeing out there in terms of people just well be okay with anything as long as our guy wins. Mona, what do you think . Well, you notice that the president tweeted that people should not vote for blankenship, reminded them of what happened in alabama. But of course this is a real problem because the logic of the Trump Campaign was nihilism, lets blow it all up, the system is completely corrupt, you need somebody like me, you know, ill be a wrecking ball, if you send me to washington. That was the logic of the trump appeal. And a lot of people went for
that in the Republican Party. And now trump is in the possession saying, well, whoa, i didnt mean, you know, recently released felons or whatever he was convicted of. People who were responsible for the deaths of 29 miners. But this thing has a momentum and a life of its own and even trump is having trouble controlling what has been unleashed. Is there Something Different now, linda, or does this go back a while . I think there is Something Different. And i think it is the t word. But its not triumphalism. Its tribalism. And i think thats very much whats at play here. It is sort of like a sports team or a tribe. Republicans are involved in a culture war. Theyve picked sides. They decided that the Republican Party represents an america that trump sees and i think don blankensh
blankenship, his china people ad may very well have resonated with sfwli thi i think it did. But i want into thear jekt one thing. Were talking about a primary. I understand the cruel tribalist logic of look, you vote for the nominee of your party because theyre going to go and volt on judges and all this stuff. But they have a choice. Theyve got three republicans. You do not have to vote for the guy whos responsible for a mine that killed 29 people. Theres two other people. They hate barack obama. They love donald trump. Theyre republicans. You dont you have Luther Strange in alabama. I do not get this desire to vote for a person who seems the most odious when youre just choosing between other republicans. Well, because they dont they dont consider people like mona charren or myself as conservatives even though our conservative credentials go way, way back. They dont consider us part of the tribe. And i think theyre looking for people like donald trump who are politically incorrect. I think political incorrectness has become now a badge of honor
in the Republican Party and Don Blankenship knew exactly what he was doing with that scheina people ad. Yes, i agree. To the point where steve bannon has said you should wear the charge of racism as a badge of honor. I would explain it slightly differently. I think its mainly its one thing, its nice to win but its even nicer if you can win while rubbing your opponents face in it. Right. I think thats what they got with trump and i think thats what theyre trying to get with blankenship. Will heres somebody they really hate, so lets go with them. Thats exactly what it is. Its all the right enemies, right . The idea is theres this sort of theres this kind of bank shot logic, which is that if these people, if the right people hate me then i have to be good. And you end up in these crazy situations where youre like youre voting for a guy thats alleged in alabama to have molested children because its making the liberals crazy. Youre also both sides are
marinating in hatred. Both republicans and democrats. Honestly, what does the Democratic Party stand for this year . Nothing except hating trump. Which is understandable. But and the Republican Party doesnt stand the republicans are doing nothing on capitol hill. Theyre not interested in doing anything except rubbing liberals noses in people that they find odious. But the problem is if somebody like Don Blangenship actually gets the nomination, hes going to go exactly the way roy moore did and hes going to lose. I dont know about that. All these people that want to win are going to lose. To respond to that, obviously the mechanisms by which people justify things on their team i think is something that extends across the political spectrum. I 100 agree. People will excuse all kinds of behavior. But the reason im so focused on the primaries here, because theres a seeking out happening in the primaries thats different than, you know, okay, we have to stand by this person whos been accused because we cant let them take a scalp, right . On the other team. The perversity there, the sort of luxuriating in the perversity that really is what it seems to me is happening with moore and with blankenship and with trump does seem distinct. It does seem thats a symmetrical phenomenon in American Life right now. I agree. You have people like joe arpaio in arizona. Vice president or kelly ward. Kelly ward in arizona. Same thing. Leon, can you explain to me, i understand that Party Leadership is often not very popular with the faithful. But it was interesting to me that blankenship chose Mitch Mcconnell, basically, hes like heres who im going to run against. Im not going to run against my opponents. Im just going to run against Mitch Mcconnell. And it was a somewhat similar strategy roy moore took on. Explain what thats about. Well, as you mentioned, we are in a republican primary. So hes not he has no reason to attack the democrat right now. And kind of the surest way to align yourself with the part of the party whos most closely aligned with trump and is most
popular in West Virginia is to take on the republican establishment. But why do they hate him so much . You can take on people and it doesnt work. But theres something there that says Mitch Mcconnell is what . Well, Mitch Mcconnell is just kind of a. Of what basically trump was elected to combat in a lot of these peoples minds, which is Business As Usual in washington, people who say theyre going to get things done and they dont get things done. We have seen some continuation of that even with the republican president. For years Mitch Mcconnell romsed that an Obamacare Repeal was coming. The excuse was we dont have enough senators, we dont have enough representatives, the president s going to veto it. All those things were washed away in 2016. He still doesnt get if done at the end of the day. Theres a lot of frustration i think built up. Mona, you get the final word here. In another world, in another universe i guess, you could imagine a situation in which President Trump would say to blankenship, how dare you impugn my Secretary Of Transportation and make racist comments about her . You know, you are