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Velshi

committee. we are going back to these moments in our authoritarian passed before we moved closer to the democratic ideals that the united states represents. and that's the threat here. it's very important that we bear in mind that we are a young democracy. >> but this concept of the erosion of democracy, as opposed to the overthrow of democracy is really important. as echoes right back to the point or talking about whether it's india, hungary, which i struggle with this for a long time. israel, america. it's not that it's all of a sudden going to be a revolution despite the words that donald trump uses, he can do what he wants to do. even within the constructs of our current democratic institutions. sure, will change some things, and you break more norms. in fact, democracy exists because we agree it exists, jointly. >> that's right. and its rules also are a lot more fragile, a lot more easy to manipulate that one might

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Velshi

and i think it's really important to note that we're not the world's oldest democracy. we're a very young democracy. we went to democracy until the voting rights act. black americans were not allowed to vote in much of the country. so, we weren't at all a democracy. that's important. why is that important? because when authoritarianism threatens the practices of the past return. and that's what we're seeing. with the attacks on schools and the attacks on universities, we're seeing a push to erase history. to replace actual history with a narrative of the dominant group. we're seeing attacks on voting rights, a return of jim crow, similar return of jim crow type practices. people returning to the authoritarian practices of the past, and that's what we're seeing in the united states. we're seeing a return to mccarthyism. we're seeing a very clear return to mccarthyism. we're seeing, for essentially calls for a house of un-american activities.

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Velshi

fundamentally disagree that there should be some carve out in the constitution for the president. donald trump should not be above the law, above the constitution. a president should not have that type of power. it would set an extremely dangerous precedent to say that a president can break whatever law reconstitution prison that they want to as president. that is what would really lead us to a downward spiral and a degrading of democracy like we've never seen before in this country. >> in the last hour, i spoke with a colleague from maine, secretary of state janet pelosi concluded that section three and four of the 14th amendment is self executing, meaning that a criminal prosecution is not necessary in this case to determine whether donald trump is disqualified. however, as you just pointed out, there was not a criminal prosecution in this case, but there was a process, a very robust process, in colorado and in maine that determined that donald trump engaged in insurrection. so we are not guessing about this. it's not even based on sort of

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Velshi

loyalists. there is the real afraid. and then there's the people who say this is just an overreaction. that it's not really that serious. it's not actually about democracy at risk. it's not actually about breaking our institutions. what a response to that? >> well, i think the second is willfully naive. i think that there is a deep sense, of a lot of americans, that we are, as i mentioned earlier, the oldest democracy in the world. and we want to stay that way. i mean, you, know there's a lot of reason to think. that early systematically, there has been. technically, democracies, according to political scientists, or older. tennis revive longer. they tend to last longer. in perpetuity. itself repatriating cycle. but what we've been seeing in the past 20 odd years, i would say, maybe 15, is a change to that long understanding of the way that democracy operates. and the way that it perpetuates itself. you're starting to see democratic breakdown in

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Velshi

american democracy, especially now as the 2024 race heats up. but the twice impeached multiple indicted former president and the current duly elected president understand this, which is why january six is a central component of each of their presidential campaigns, albeit in very different ways. president biden gave the first major speech of his reelection bid yesterday, and use it as an opportunity to reflect on how the insurrection expose trump's complete disregard for america's constitutional and democratic values and emphasize that the former president remains a danger to democracy. acy. >> today we gather in the new year, some 246 years later, just one day before january six. a day forever seared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost america, lost it all. today, we are here to answer the most important questions. is democracy still americas

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Velshi

told you about a tweet thread that may have preserved at least one facet of democracy on january six. the tweet was posted by judge michael luttig, a former federal judge at the u.s. court of appeals for the fourth circuit. he joins me now. judge luttig, so much has happened since then. i thank you again for your service to the country, but it has evolved, right? back then you are talking about what the constitution allows the vice president to do as it related to the transition of power. now, you have recently since i think august 19th taken at the cause of section three of the 14th amendment of the nine states constitution about whether or not donald trump is eligible to run for the presidency of the united states, and then a couple of weeks and see what i have last talked, so much has happened. you may have just heard my conversation with the colorado secretary of state. the supreme court's on february 8th going to take up this matter. i would love your thoughts on that.

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Velshi

insurrectionists broke into the capitol with a mission to stop democracy in its tracks, americas elected lawmakers, members of the house and the senate, were inside. they came out, physically unscathed that day, thanks, in part, to the law enforcement heroes who defended the capitol. the capital police and other nearby police departments ran into the danger that day. they faced violence and hatred and chaos. they lost colleagues. and after the insurrection, those officers returned to the halls of congress, forced to revisit those horrifying memories. you came to know several of those officers in their stories. when they testified before the house january 6th committee, recalling the worst of what they endured that day. one of those officers was sergeant harry dunn. he delivered powerful testimony about his experience. allowing the nation to see the insurrection through his eyes. >> i sat down on a bench in the rotunda with a friend of mine, he was also a black capitol

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Velshi

think. there's a great freeze that -- a professor at princeton who studies hungry uses. which is authoritarian legal -ism. which means that the law is being used, not as a tool of the rule of law, or a tool of democracy, for even ensuring quality, but twisted in a very subtle and almost imperceptible ways. to change the functioning of democracy itself. so, when you look at some of the detailed stuff that you've seen coming out for trump's second term, if he does in fact when, things like replacing large chunks of the federal bureaucracy. to a lot of, people that doesn't resonate. oh, chasing staff. who cares. but actually that matters a great deal. because those people determine, in very little ways, what the law means. they're the ones implementing it. so if trump is changing over a huge chunk of the department of justice staff, replacing long term salaried professionals with political cronies, all of a sudden, the law can be abused as a tool of going after's

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Velshi

so i think it was evident from the beginning that any challenge to his candidacy would be litigated. you know, i do think it is important to say that no matter what happens, whether he is on the ballot or disqualified from the ballot, that is not the end of this saga. democracy will not die because some court decision. americans have all of the power giving the world at the ballot box next year, and i'm so confident in the american voter. i'm sure that we will hold on to democracy past the next election. >> but you are of the view and sort of opposition to a number of political pundits who have been on to say that there are people who have said, this is the wrong way to do it, that getting rid of donald trump should be done at the ballot box as a political process. you showed the view of most legal minds, including judge luttig, who i will speak to a few moments that the law is the law, the constitution of the constitution. the way that you run elections

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Velshi

countries that have long histories of democracy. perhaps not as long as the united states, but india's been a democracy for decades. so too has been israel. hungary was considered one the most stable post communist dates. all of these countries are experiencing, to varying degrees, hungry is gone altogether into authoritarian camp, breakdowns of democracy. so, what's happening in the united states, it feels impossible to a lot of people. that's where you get those attitudes that it's not that big a deal. this can't possibly happen here. except it is happening. it's the same set of patterns. to a lesser degree, it's not as bad as it is in some other countries. but the way that trump is talking about a second term? it means that -- it could get that bad. very quickly. and we need to be really vigilant about the kind of policies that he. -- >> interesting, point where i would take a quick break, we'll take a -- interesting point when you bring up israel, india, and hungry. all of them have the vote. having the vote doesn't mean that you can not become

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