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JUST REFLECT ON THAT.
I MEAN, THIS IS, YOU KNOW, A RESULT OF WITH WHAT'S BEEN GINNED UP ON THE GROUND BY THE PRESIDENT AND HIS LOYALISTS.
JUST TALK TO ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT.
WELL, I THINK THAT THERE ARE PROBABLY TWO POINTS TO BE MADE ABOUT THAT.
THE FIRST, AS YOU SAID, IS THAT REALLY THIS IS ALL ON THE PRESIDENT AND ALL ON HIS ENABLERS, LIKE SENATOR CRUZ IN THE SENATE AND CONGRESSMAN BROOKS IN THE HOUSE, WHO HAVE INDULGED HIM IN THE FICTION THAT THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN.
IF REPUBLICAN LEADERS OUTSIDE OF THE PRESIDENCY HAD THE COURAGE TO STAND UP TO THE PRESIDENT'S FALSE CLAIMS, IT'S LIKELY A LOT LESS OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING.
THE SECOND POINT AT A BROADER LEVEL, SINCE THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL SHOW, IS HOW INCREDIBLY DAMAGING THIS IS TO AMERICA'S STANDING ACROSS THE GLOBE, FOR 100 YEARS, AMERICA HAS STOOD FOR DEMOCRACY, HAS STOOD FOR THE PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER, AND HAS RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY SORT OF LECTURED TO THE REST OF THE WORLD ABOUT HOW TO DO IT RIGHT, HOLDING OURSELVES UP AS AN EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLE OF HOW DEMOCRACY SHOULD FUNCTION.
WE'RE NOT GOING TO RECOVER THAT ANY TIME SOON, IF AT ALL.
AND WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY WILL BE TOUTED BY OUR OPPONENTS, BY OPPONENTS OF DEMOCRACY, OPPONENTS OF FREEDOM, AS EVIDENCE THAT DEMOCRACY IS-- IS ILL CONCEIVED.
ACROSS THE GLOBE, IT IS A REWARD TO AWE TORITARIANS EVERYWHERE.
Amanpour: YOU'RE CORRECT, IT'S AN INTERNATIONAL SHOW, AND IT'S A SHOW FOR OUR AMERICAN VIEWERS ACROSS OUR PBS STATIONS.
I WONDER WHAT YOU MAKE AND WHAT THEY MIGHT MAKE OF THE LATENESS TO THE PARTY OF DEFENDING DEMOCRACY.
IN OTHER WORDS, SENATOR MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL, WHO MAY LOSE HIS MAJORITY POSITION THERE, WAS VERY CLEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOUR YEARS, AT LEAST THAT I CAN RECALL, SAYING THAT THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO OVERTURN THE VOTES OF THE PEOPLE, THAT IT WAS A MASSIVE MAJORITY THAT PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN WON, THAT THE COURTS HAVE SPOKEN, THAT ALL THE LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIALS HAVE SPOKEN, AND THAT THIS WOULD BE JUST A MARCH TO PRUDITION, BASICALLY.
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF HIM SAYING THAT NOW?
HOW SERIOUSLY DO YOU TAKE THAT?
WELL, I TAKE IT SOMEWHAT SERIOUSLY.
YOU KNOW, THE HUMAN CONDITION IS ONE OF CONSTANT ERROR AND CONSTANT CHANGING OF ONE'S MIND.
SO I'M HAPPY TO WELCOME SENATOR McCONNELL TO THE RIDE SIDE OF HISTORY NOW, ALBEIT FAR TOO LATE FOR MY TASTE.
About This Episode EXPAND
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Princeton Professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr. discuss the results of Georgia’s Senate election. Paul Rosenzweig weighs in on the pro-Trump protest forcing the U.S. Capitol into lockdown. Registered nurse Nerissa Black explains what it’s like to be on the front lines of the pandemic in Los Angeles.
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