Brooks and Capehart on what Trump is trying to accomplish with his election claims

[0:00] President Trump once again putting false claims about the 2020 election at the center of the [0:05] national political debate is where we start as we turn tonight to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. [0:10] That's The Atlantic's David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart of MSNOW. Good evening, gentlemen. [0:15] Jeff. So, David, what did you hear in that speech last night? What do you think President Trump is [0:18] trying to accomplish here? Oh, subtle. I couldn't figure it out. You know, he was, um, he's got to [0:24] get more original in his confabulation. I mean, he's just stuck on this 2020 thing. There's never [0:29] been any evidence. There's no evidence. I think the good news is he doesn't have any policies to [0:33] actually ruin our election system, as we heard from the secretaries of state. So we're going to [0:37] have fair elections in this country. But it still has a corrosive effect on America to give that [0:43] speech. A, you're, it's a sign to America that we don't have to weigh evidence here. We don't have [0:49] to, like, consider what's true or not. And this has been a long Trump story, of course. But I was [0:54] reminded of a line that used to be in John McCain's campaign speeches in 2000, where [0:59] he said, a healthy skepticism has turned into a thoroughgoing cynicism about public life. [1:04] And this is a long-term trend where people think they're all crooks. They're all crooks. [1:08] It's all rotten. And it's a very easy pose to adopt. But it's a false one. I am always [1:13] happy when you have people like Sue Gordon, the intelligence officer, on the show, because [1:17] Americans get to see what an intelligence officer looks like, what a federal employee looks like, [1:22] what those two secretaries of state look like. And they are good, honest people doing a professional [1:27] job because they love their country. And the idea that they're all crooks, it's all deep [1:31] state, aside from being cynical and corrosive, it's just a lie. We've spent our life covering [1:36] these people. And it's mostly very good people doing the best they can, not for a lot of money. [1:42] JOHN YANG, President, Why do you think the president is still relitigating this six years after [1:46] the election? [1:47] I think he's relitigating it now because, as the kids say, he's scurred. He's very scared [1:53] about what could happen if Democrats retake the House and retake the Senate. I mean, he [1:59] has said as much on the record. If they take over, I will be investigated. And quite frankly, [2:04] there are reasons to investigate him and members of his administration. But I thought last night's [2:10] speech was a complete waste of time. To David's point, it was all a rehash of things we've heard [2:16] before. And in the end, it was just a rah-rah for his Save America Act, which is going nowhere, [2:21] not because of the fault of Democrats, but because of Republicans who have problems with that bill. [2:28] You know, when it comes to the deep state, the thing I kept thinking was, but wait, [2:34] if you have problems with the 2020 election and you're blaming it on the deep state, [2:39] that was your administration. So as much as he did it from the East Room and there was all the [2:45] pageantry of the presidency, but in the end, I don't think he did himself any favors. [2:50] And David, we spoke on this program last night with Ty Cobb, who was the special counsel during [2:55] the first Trump administration, and he offered an extraordinary warning. He said that he believes [3:00] that President Trump is laying the predicate for an emergency declaration around the elections. [3:05] Do you see the guardrails holding if President Trump tries to use the apparatus of the federal [3:10] government to intervene more directly in how elections are administered? [3:13] DAVID BROOKS, President, I think so. A lot of people have thought that this is a predicate [3:17] for some future action. I think if you look at the things he's tried to do, we're helped by the [3:21] fact that these are mostly state-run things. So he does not have control. And what isn't state-run [3:26] is usually congressionally run. And so he has tried. The thing he's done successfully is the [3:31] gerrymandering in Texas. He has rigged elections. And Democrats have helped in California. So that part, [3:37] he was successful at and degrading our elections. But pretty much everything else he's done through executive [3:42] order and other things, courts have overruled him. And so I do not believe he will have the power [3:48] to actually affect our elections. [3:51] JOHN YANG, President, President, President of the United States of America, [3:52] how do you see it, John? [3:53] JOHN YANG, President, President of the United States of America, [3:54] Although I am a little concerned about what happens on Election Day. Congressman Jim Himes was on with my [3:59] colleague Lawrence O'Donnell last night. And he warned that, yes, what the president is doing is laying [4:04] the predicate for stealing the election. And he said, for instance, what happens if they seize the ballot boxes [4:12] from particular jurisdictions? What happens to the chain of custody? That is when democracy will be at its [4:18] most tenuous. And sure, you can race to court and try to get them back. But the action's already done. And so I hope [4:26] you're right that we are going to have a free and fair election this November. But I have a healthy [4:32] imagination and I hope that folks who care about free and fair elections also have a healthy [4:38] imagination and are prepared for any and every scenario that could happen. [4:42] JOHN YANG, President, President, Secretary of State of State, the gentleman from Georgia, the Secretary of State [4:45] there, he made the crucial point, this does not help Republicans. And in Georgia, if you remember [4:49] when there was a runoff for two Senate seats a few years ago, Trump basically said, oh, don't bother, [4:54] it's all rigged right guess what republicans sat at home and that's why republicans like that [4:59] gentleman are so upset with what he's doing right now i want to shift our focus in the time that [5:02] remains to immigration enforcement because we've seen now two more people killed in encounters [5:08] with ice agents involving vehicles a mexican national in houston a colombian national in maine [5:14] neither of whom was the original target of the ice operation the administration briefly paused these [5:20] you know certain vehicle stops before president trump intervened and reversed that decision [5:25] and then there was this other encounter in a las vegas airport and this video posted on social media [5:31] appears to show plainclothes ice agents handcuffing a man he seemed to not know who they were or what [5:37] was happening and then these agents walk away after they realized they were being filmed and this man [5:42] is left with a handcuff still attached turns out he was later detained and arrested at lax the los [5:49] angeles airport when he landed all of that to say when you put all of these incidents together plus [5:54] what happened in minneapolis what does that say about how the administration is using federal law [5:59] enforcement and whether there are sufficient rules training hiring or accountability when things like [6:05] this happen there's none of that there we already know that there's not enough training um we already [6:11] know that there isn't any accountability with the shooting in maine um the federal agents took the person [6:17] involved away um and that what we just saw there is outrageous imagine anyone watching if a person [6:26] with no identifying information on them that their law enforcement comes up to you with handcuffs and [6:31] tries to arrest you doesn't identify themselves how how would you react i mean you would try to run away [6:38] you would be angry you'd be filled filled with umbrage the people around around him filming and yelling [6:44] um this is not the way if you want to enforce our immigration laws this is not the way to do it it [6:52] makes me question what is the real goal of the administration is it to get immigration under control [6:57] or is it something else more nefarious what about that the the perceived normalization of federal force [7:04] in american life yeah when i was a baby right winger um i a baby right winger [7:09] a little diaper not a red diaper baby whatever the opposite is i don't know um uh i remember going [7:15] to a think tank i i won't name it because i'm not positive and they showed us a movie of what would [7:21] happen if big government liberals took over the government and they had an image of plainclothes [7:27] federal officers abducting innocent americans and we just saw that and it's done in a republican [7:33] administration and so we've come a long way baby uh and i think what it what it says nothing says [7:40] tyranny like people in plainclothes grabbing a guy in an airport the thing the part of this policy i [7:45] really object to and all the training and all that stuff i agree with jonathan but i just hate quotas [7:50] when you tell ice people or cops you've got to rack up this many arrests in this much time that has [7:57] nothing to do with the underlying problem it's just a number and of course they're going to do whatever [8:03] they can to meet that number and of course you're going to get abuse of course you're going to get [8:07] these auto stops because with an auto stop you don't have to have a search warrant if you do when [8:11] you're going to somebody's home and of course you're going to get in the most aggressive form [8:15] of i'm going to make my number and it's that act of setting a number aside from all the other flaws [8:21] that gins up this game into something really comfortable what about that it undermines the the [8:25] legitimacy of the underlying law enforcement well yes because the the it's to reach the number [8:31] if you are two arrests away from getting the boss off your back then you don't care what [8:39] what the law says what the rules are and also we cannot forget that these folks are aided and [8:45] abetted by a supreme court decision that basically legalized racial profiling in in these instances so [8:53] everyone thought that things were getting better after minneapolis and i think those of us who were [8:58] paying attention it was for now and we're seeing that the for now we're we are back to where we [9:04] were during minneapolis jonathan capehart and david brooks thanks as always thanks