The Adam Mockler Show - It just backfired on them

Starting point is 00:00:00 You were quoted earlier saying if things went a different way, we'd be preparing for arrest. Was that a real possibility that you guys were running through and what would happen? Absolutely. All right, we have some good news. Donald Trump and Pete Hexeth have been desperately trying to politically persecute a few key Democrats for the past few months. One of those Democrats will be joining us in just a few moments to explain how that is now fallen apart. Ever since Donald Trump has entered politics, he has operated as if he doesn't want the opposition party to exist. And now we see that on steroids.

Starting point is 00:00:31 His attacks against Senator Alyssa Slotkin, Senator Mark Kelly, even J.B. Pritzker of the state of Illinois, where I live and work, have been fascistic. But they are falling through over and over. Remember when he tried to indict James Comey and Letitia James, and both of those indictments got shot down? We're getting to a point where individuals are holding up our institutions more so than the leaders who inhabit them. We're getting to a point where people on a singular level, one or two people can make a decision that allows an institution to continue to thrive. For example, Jerome Powell, who was actually appointed by Donald Trump, Jerome Powell has held the line and has done a great job of making sure that there's a separation between the Federal Reserve and the executive branch. Now it came down to just 20 individuals who once again saved our democracy and protected our First Amendment. A few months ago, Senator Alyssa Slacken, Senator Mark Kelly, and a few other key Democrats released a video saying, you must refuse illegal orders.

Starting point is 00:01:31 They were entirely justified in releasing that video as the next day and the next week, Trump called to hang them. Pete Hagseth allegedly gave illegal orders to strike boats. I mean, repeatedly, we have seen potentially illegal orders, so it was good that they made this video. But that pissed off Pete Hegseth, that pissed off Donald Trump, who then tried to surgically target these six states. Democrats and tried to indict them. They called for the hanging of Senator Alyssa Slotkin and Senator Mark Kelly. So without further ado, I'm going to bring in Senator Slotkin to break down how this has all happened. Make sure you drop a like below and watch until the end. That is the best way to help boost this pro-democracy message. And you can subscribe to both me and Senator Slotkin below.

Starting point is 00:02:12 Thank you all. I am proud to be joined today by Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan. Earlier today, a grand jury declined to indict Senator Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers after Donald Trump has been placing pressure to try to politically persecute them. Senator, how are you doing today? Well, better here talking to you than being criminally, you know, prosecuted and, so, you know, and indicted. So good, good. First of all, thank you for standing up for our rights. Thank you for standing up for every single American who wants this administration to stop attacking

Starting point is 00:02:48 our rights. It's amazing that a grand jury is the one that stood up for our constitutional rights. rights over our president. I just want to start broad. I'm 23 years old. And for my entire life, I've watched the president, through my formative years, I've watched the president attack his political opponents like the opposition party shouldn't exist. I live in Chicago and he's attacked J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson. Of course, he's attacked you in a multitude of other Democrats in a fascistic way where he essentially wants to take away their ability to speak their mind. How does it make you feel as somebody who has served our country to see a president wage

Starting point is 00:03:21 these types of attacks. Yeah. Well, look, I mean, I'm a former CIA officer and worked alongside the Department of Justice and the FBI my entire career, including in places like Baghdad and worked on like hostage rescue task forces. So to be investigated by those same organizations, it's a little much. You know, it just is as someone who, you know, what served because I believe in my country. And, you know, I talked about this earlier today when we had a press. conference, but a lot of this is happening at the same time that I just lost my father and a couple weeks ago. And it really crystallizes things when you lose a parent. And he taught me right from wrong and he taught me to love America. Those were like his big lessons to me.

Starting point is 00:04:10 So it just absolutely rubbed me the wrong way when they just kept coming back with this investigation and coming back and coming back over a 90-second video. that stated, you know, existing law. So to me, you don't, you're not any safer by just like hiding and hoping that it all goes away. And we decided to go on offense. And, you know, today we've had a good day. Going on offense is incredibly important. I'm sorry for your loss. And correct me if I'm wrong. They're targeting you just for quoting the Uniform Code of Military Justice. You guys quite literally quoted what it says verbatim. Isn't there a video of Pete Hegsseth quoting it verbatim six or seven years ago, and now they're trying to target you for that?

Starting point is 00:04:54 Yeah. There's a video, multiple videos actually of Secretary Hegsef saying essentially the same exact thing that we said. There's videos of Pam Bondi. There's videos of the solicitor general using sort of the uniform code of military justice in front of the Supreme Court. So there's a bunch of Trump, you know, seniors who said the very same thing. But this is kind of where we are as a country, right? The president is weaponizing the federal government against people he doesn't agree with. And it's not about like, well, this is, you know, I may not like the opinion, but they have a right to free speech or they have a right to say, there's none of that. It's like if they're on the other side, I'm going to treat them as the enemy and I'm going to use the tools of the federal

Starting point is 00:05:37 government to attack them. The framework that we use a lot in our debates, I do a lot of debates against Trump supporters, is that Donald Trump does not think the opposition party should exist in America, the way that Stephen Miller, Trump, and others speak about the Democratic Party. It's like they don't think it should exist as an entity, the weaponization of the DOJ, the asking of Pam Boni to go after three people, and then two of those people were subsequently indicted. I guess the interesting tension here as well is that it was a grand jury who had to stand up for our constitutional rights and freedoms against the person in the highest position of power. What does that tell you and what was your reading of this grand jury? Obviously, we don't know what they were told, right?

Starting point is 00:06:17 We haven't, I don't know if we've seen anything about the indictment, but they shot it down. So what does this tell you? Well, look, I mean, we're kind of living in the upside down, right? I mean, when I was growing up, the leaders at the top of the pyramid were the ones who like set the standards, kind of helped you think through issues. They kind of set the tone for the country. And now it's the opposite, right? It's like the people on the ground, the youngest people, they're the ones who are actually fighting on behalf of our democratic values against the leaders at the top.

Starting point is 00:06:51 So it's a completely flipped paradigm from the way that I grew up. And I think that, you know, it's, it is kind of amazing that these 20 anonymous people who I will never meet, you know, who are probably like small business owners and post office, you know, workers and like, who knows, held the line on the rule of law and democracy when, you know, the U.S. attorneys were coming. after that very same thing. So it is a bit of the upside down. And you were quoted earlier saying, if things went a different way, we'd be preparing for arrest. Was that a real possibility that you guys were running through and what would happen? Absolutely. I mean, you have to think through these things. And by the way, I don't have any strong feeling like this is over. This is just like this chapter. And we've written to, you know, the Department of Justice and FBI and saying, okay, can we like now call this done? Can you end this investigation? Can we have your word that?

Starting point is 00:07:42 this is done. But we're under no illusions that if Trump sees our press conference from earlier today or sees this video or whatever, that he won't just start the same exact cycle. Like, nope, go after them again. Hit them again. Hit them again. So we've sort of won this chapter, but the book is not over. And then I guess as a broad final question about the next stages, I touched on this earlier, but again, it's disheartening. As a young dude when I try to look to the president for moral clarity and he's posting AI videos. of former presidents as guerrillas. He's posting an AI image of my city of Chicago

Starting point is 00:08:17 almost being invaded by the Department of War. Again, it fits perfectly into your point about the standards currently not being set by the president. They're being set by people who aren't in positions of power. So where do you think we go in this next stage of either 2026 through 2028 or the Democratic Party after 2028 in order to remedy the abuses, the weaponization of our justice system,

Starting point is 00:08:41 and the breaking of norms? Obviously, that's a big question, but how do we restore a type of steady-handed leadership that America needs? Yeah. Well, I think the path is we got to flip things in the midterms, right? Like, there's just a practicality that we want at least one house of Congress back. Then we need actual Democratic candidates in the presidential race who are going to have an affirmative, positive vision of what they are going to deliver to the American people,

Starting point is 00:09:09 not just criticize Trump, right? It's the only way to win general elections, right? You can win a midterm when people are big mad at the guy in the White House, but to win a general is harder. So we got to do the thought leadership, the project 2029 that we don't typically do as Democrats. And then once we get that Democrat in, whoever that is, we need a cadre of people who are going to say, okay, man, it turns out that a lot of things we thought were law in our government were actually just practice, you know, and kind of gentleman's agreement. Where do we need to firm up the law? What kind of basket or package of laws do we need to pass very early that are just, again, they're agnostic

Starting point is 00:09:53 for who's in the White House, but they really just prevent some of the outright abuses that we've seen this president expose. And we all want to believe we'll never have a president who will do this again. That would be great. I'm done with hope as a strategy. So we need a cadre of people who are going to look methodically at the things that we're gaping holes in our system in accountability and close those holes. I really like the answer about having an affirmative message, not just being unified around our opposition to Trumpism. We've been working on a project 2029, so to speak. And part of it is, you know, ending tax loopholes, not increasing taxes on people, but there are so many loopholes that can be ended or ending certain types of dark money in politics.

Starting point is 00:10:35 I'd love to chat about this more. I love the work that you are doing. Thank you so much for standing up for all of us standing up for our democracy. And today was a win. So thank you. Thanks for what you do.

The Adam Mockler Show - It just backfired on them

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