See what might stick its going to start fading i believe quickly because its one thing to have one state thats extremely close and maybe they feel like they can dispute some law around or Something Like that but by ms likely to win most of the remaining states nevada arizona georgia and pennsylvania which point. Joe biden women need pennsylvanias Electoral College votes at some point or in vice versa if you win thats of any would not hear you arizona nevada and so i thought leave the options are just going to fade and fade quickly and they are fairly quickly at this point all right thanks very much appreciate your thoughts of us this from shippensburg. So lets just quickly remind you of where we stand at the moment joe biden is edging closer to that magic number of 270 Electoral College votes that could make and that would make him the next president of the United States now as we were hearing from our guest that hes been overtaking donald trump in 2 key battleground states georgia in pennsylvania watching very closely based on how from these i see eye to press biden a secured 264 votes as you can see that donald trump at 214. Well the race is tight in both states at the moment in georgia most the remaining votes of from atlanta and its suburbs now that traditionally leads toward traditionally leans towards the democrats and its really helped joe biden get ahead but its still a slim margin there and thats why the secretary of state has said that there will be a recount in georgia because the difference between the 2 candidates is so close biden has been overtaking trump in pennsylvania but his margin is already shrinking of course going to keep an eye on these numbers as a mail in ballots continue to be counted and bring you the latest as it comes in to us up front coming up next. The votes are in for one of the most divisive elections in u. S. History but as the fight for the white house just Getting Started last this weeks headliner former republican congressman Jack Kingston and in the arena will ask whether trump is amiss here to stay. Checking certain thank you for joining me on up front as you and i are speaking right now there are still some votes in some key states that are still being counted but donald trump says he already won as early as wednesday morning he declared that he obviously that is not true the votes have not been counted he also tweeted they are finding buying votes in pennsylvania wisconsin and michigan thats not true that is a lie counting votes is the way the process goes that is not stealing as he has said so jack why is the president United States calling counting votes stealing. I think. The president s mood very clear he wants all legally cast votes counted period if there are they missed the deadline if they the form isnt filled out right but a lot of this should not be counted so i think the president of the Senate Listen we just want that legal vote so you know he said he said that that that theyre finding votes counting votes means that theyre only may go back and forth thats how counting works at our basketball game though so why is he calling it stealing well here heres what happens well he said they were still in there they said this and in both now heres their stealing and multiple texts and ultimately me. I think the issue is every theres post election can only mysteriously its always democrat votes that are found i dont know why are we so through those elections are not to help us out if you post election counting its just counting post election means after the election is over several days for example in 2000 when another no no no jack hold a hold on and were at where i want to stick with this election right now theyre still counting ballots that came in or in person ballots and balance that came in by election day what is the problem with counting those votes in order to answer your question im going to have to give you a historic reference was there theres not one so its very important for you to understand that 2008 we lost 3 congressional races in california after the election 10 days there were as votes were found certainly in the republicans who finished the election the night after care on top but those later they were lost thats why it is important to understand what happened in 2002 that this what the president is referring to that here we are almost on 08 so why is as opposed to casting aspersions on the entire process he could litigate that certain thing were not going to litigate that what im saying is this has been going on for what we hold on jack on this isnt going on for a while that for weeks the president has been trying to question the integrity of the election the election process even before voting started does that not troubling you that the president of the United States has talked about the election that way if this were happening in another country the u. S. Would be wagging their finger saying this is not how you conduct a democracy. Well perhaps you need to be reminded that the budget ministration this is was done on the trumpet ministries in 2016 in 2009 i know i dont need to be reminded of that because thats not true and thats not what the question is. Absolutely as an answer to the question its just that you dont like the answer heres the reality bomb aspirant on president jackson jack or not jack and no jack were not going to do that were not going to do that i want to talk about this no i want to talk about this is one of the most significant elections of our lifetime i want to talk about this election and the simple the simple question is this why not why the oh no jack but that you dont lose your narrative i dont have a narrative i have a question and the question simply is why cant we count all of the votes then if you want to lead a gate and have lawsuits do so but why would the president of the United States simply respect the electoral process this is not about past baseless allegations im talking about right now i dont think we have any argument challenging legal votes theres no dispute about that where we are concerned is when signatures dont when ballots show up in the dark of the night unexplained or heres a box of 200 ballots where did they come from nobody. Georgia my hometown right now so those are the irregularities that we are concerned about saying that ballots who are past the legal post more can be counted we are concerned about that listen im on the ground this is my home city so that towards and ill give you another example of a well the county but no no no no no i can see already but i did not and these are perfect the problem is you guys always want to make donald trump anything he says but did you challenged Hillary Clinton when she said to joe stack them up Jack Jack Jack this is 2020 no no no were not doing Hillary Clinton but now were talking. Were talking about this election let me ask you this there are some states where the supporter of Summer Travel trump says keep counting as other places where hes saying stop counting what actually is the strategy postelection we just want to make sure that all the legal bell its are counted and theyre done in the proper manner give you an example signature manses on the absentee ballots are very important this is not just a matter of telling that its what you can if the signatures are met and then youve got to put the vote in and the and those are why monitors are there from both parties. Yes but in philadelphia as you know as somebody whos been watching this our monitors were not allowed inside and that would brought a lawsuit and finally got the judge to agree with us today about their the law in philadelphia pennsylvania as you know since that all ballots at. 8 oclock on Election Night but a court split decision were going through the Legal Process of appealing that decision how a court can decide something that the legislature has already passed just because they dont like it doesnt make any sense so thats the right of appeal thats the sort of thing that were doing so i still want to and to drill down on this one other thing are you concerned about the way the president of the United States talks about the election does that not concern you you know i dont know why the press is making a big deal about the no it does not concern matters concern if not its i will not making a big deal about it the president the United States has been trashing the election process for weeks if this happened in another country we would not say it was ok if you will yield the floor part when he seconds go ahead sir did you hear him out wrote when Hillary ClintonHillary ClintonHillary ClintonHillary Clinton did not use the same rat no jack im not going to let you do that here she did not use the same rhetoric that donald trump was do you want me to read all of his tweets can i just cant do it if there is a yes or a could go ahead. Promise you Hillary Clinton told joe budden the results of this election regardless that bothers me now maybe she could say more smoothly. But she still says so dont act like the ok so hold on that but the look so yeah ok heres your deer boiling this down to just a matter of style no its a lot more than that what Donald Trumps rhetoric it is incendiary it is not just a difference in style between the 2 well then you certainly would be in agree the violence and marriage because look. At all so you can go. Those that suits call it thats whos on the windows and looting so im still trying to keep pivoting to all these other issues that have nothing to do with what im trying to ask you no no no no no no the protests over the summer riots are short term the protests over the summer thats not about what im asking you right now earning power isnt bill and ok so let me ask you this the fact that the let me ask you just one last question jack or a if donald trump lose as soon as you and i speaking we dont know ok but lets just say that he does does he not oh it to fellow americans to voters to stop attacking them and actually be conciliatory and try to unite the country that happened even in 2000 with that with the case of the one all the way to the Supreme Court thing bush v gore does president you know the president the United States oh it to chill out on twitter and just unite the country yes i do not want to follow Hillary Clintons example from 2016 you know you got to stop that jackets are not the same and you know its not what. It is absolutely it is absolutely not the same no no let me just work at no one there no one more question for me ask again very very simple very jack. Jack were not doing this were not that so long i mean ask you one more time would you like for the president would you like for the president the United States to try to unite the country thats a simple question thats a simple question. If i can finish no no you can and what is a yes or no would you like to present the United States to unite the country even if he loses do not do it will reclaim russia since. I dont drive the kind of Jack Kingston thank you thank you thank you very much for joining us on up thank you. The polls have been closed in the United States for days but the fight for the oval office continues as President Donald Trump tweets stop the count and democrats insist on counting every last vote joe biden is currently in the lead but even if donald trump leaves the white house will trump ism continue to dominate american politics and of the past 4 years divided the United States beyond repair joining me to debate this are Jill Filipovic a lawyer and journalist and author of the book ok boomer lets talk how my generation got left behind regaling cofounder of the Lincoln Project and former political strategist for george w. Bush and john mccain and ron enjoyed gray former National Press secretary for Bernie Sanders and cohost of the podcast bad faith thank you all for joining me on front brianna i want to start with you as we are speaking right now joe biden is in the lead right but some of the left are shocked that it is even this close what shore reaction when you saw that at least 68000000 people voted for donald trump why do you think the race its been so close yet well whats frustrating to provide left if i may be so bold as to speak for some some cohort of as is that the argument for a joe biden candidacy was all about his electability very few people understood or believe that there was some Intrinsic Value in this person who was in many ways more of the far right members of the Democratic Party cohort in the primary right it was a very large field and maybe one. Or 2 people work to joe bidens right but he wasnt received the really representing the overwhelming interest of the Democratic Party per se but he was perceived to be very much pushed by the media to be the most electable candidate so when it turns out that he has barely managed to win by the skin of his teeth it really throws into perspective whether or not we were right to give up universal Health Care SinglePayer Health Care which according to a fox news poll 70 percent of americans support whether we are right to get a give up. College debt cancellation give up a robust green new developments which would already be taken off or just yeah so course what this election even really about policy donald trump had no policy was this not about an up or down vote on donald trump well i think that it was definitely pushed that way and thats part of why we see said disastrous down ballot results right people did not actually feel as inspired about these candidates as they my otherwise have and in the midst of a Global Health condemning were 12000000 americans just lost their employer based insurance when 30 to 50000000 americans are facing eviction an addiction before torrijos their listing all around the country i think a lot of americans are wishing that there was much more of a policy focus in the democratic primary because policy absolutely does matter ok so let me put this question to you yes policy matters not an election with donald trump on the ballot right the issues that briana raises are very legitimate issues and there were discussed in the primary and were going to come back to those but was this not an up or down vote on donald trump and why do you think 68 more than 6x8ww people still voted for him. This is not a policy election the Republican Party didnt even publish a new platform this year they just released a statement essentially saying were repeating 20 sixteens platforms and we pledge fealty to our dear leader so the idea that americans didnt get out to vote because they werent offered the kind of progressive policies that i honestly would love to see in place and is a bit divorced from the facts joe biden has secured miriams more votes than donald trump he is projected to win the popular vote by a huge margin whats at issue is a few 1000 votes in a few states because of our fundamentally undemocratic Electoral College system so i think the idea that voters just werent given what they wanted policy wise its not its not supported by the fact this was a very much an election that was about personal. Identity which party do you feel like speaks to you represents you culturally not necessarily what you know particular issues do you want to see either of these party is pushing the future because trump wasnt offering a single policy position and voters were instead rejecting troponin as you see down ballot occasionally voting for republican congressmen and senators which really does suggest this was a referendum on the president and not a referendum on any particular policy issues as much as i wish that wasnt true ok so let me let me put that to read reader the cofounder of the Lincoln Project a group of anti trump republicans in some cases former republican juries tens of millions of dollars to put out some ads that were really popular this particular political cycle did those ad work because your ads dont only targeted donald trump in Europe Europe premises the whole party the whole Republican Party needs to be burned to the ground and start over thats not really what happened. Well those are 2 Different Things youre talking about one is i think we targeted the president and we targeted him directly and personally because we saw that up until this point no one had laid a glove on him when it came to attacking him this was not a policy argument this isnt going to be a policy argument you know for the next 24 hours or however long it takes to make sure that joe biden is is declared president elect this was about donald trump and when i think about you know the democratic primary going back over you know almost 2 years the one thing that didnt come up in those debates was donald trump its always been about him hes the worst president United States in the history of the country probably 250000 americans or so are going to be dead in the next week or so and so its always been about him and his failures our ads made sure that people understood one what it was he is and 2 we want to throw him off his gate and from the time that joe biden was the presumptive nominee until his campaign excuse me was ready to enter the fray you know fully you know when he accepted the democratic nomination we made sure that he was off kilter about coded about china about his own health about his children and about you know the racial animus that he has just to think youre wrong you know in this country do you think he reached republicans with that message. Well look 1st of all you all dont need to shake your heads at me because im not done talking 2nd i would say that you know. We would say that you know that the ads that we ran and please dont roll your eyes at me there im not being rude to you dont be rude to me i would say this is that you know you know yeah i mean right is that i mean read to their ad briana or e well let me just say this is a debate its a healthy debate where were all allowed even to enter chat from time to time and lets just be cordial to each other because i had renie. So so no what i would say is that you know that the vast majority of the work we did these of the voters was done in places like florida North Carolina pennsylvania wisconsin and arizona we made a massive investment into the Africanamerican Community in pennsylvania to the tune of almost 2000000. 00 we understood early on probably in late september that North Carolina and florida were going away from us and go in towards donald trump and so we pulled our resources out of there then we put them into pennsylvania we put them into wisconsin we put them into georgia and to arizona and so what i would say is that the vast majority of what we get attention for is going after the president putting him on the defensive cutting off his axes of attack on joe biden and going into those places where we need to move through what percent republican that went way way way let me just say this with what no ones going to be more surprised no one was no more surprised than me at just how deeply and broadly donald trump has not only affected the Republican Party but how he was able to drive turnout among it look ive been the 1st person to admit that i thought that tens of millions of more americans would repudiation no one is more upset about the fact that they didnt than me and so i think that we have a lot to talk about in this case in this country and i hope that both jill and brianna and i you know in another setting are able to sit down and talk about the things that we need to do in this country to figure out how we go forward so to lets talk about donald trump said that he wanted to take this to the Supreme Court the the trump side has filed a lawsuit in michigan and they want to recount in wisconsin they want votes to stop in some places to keep going in other places are any of these legal challenges likely to be successful should they be taken seriously. I think right now its its a bit too early to tell the trump team has been really building up a very sophisticated very money and very prepared legal challenge to this election the good news is the democrats have done the same there are lawyers all over the country im both sides in every state very prepared to take this to the mat you know i think in terms of which of these cases will have legs to which ones are actually going to be supported its simply unfortunately too early to tell and i think georgia just threw out one of these lawsuits so it seems like so far the trump team hasnt had huge successes challenging the vote counts like you say sometimes wanting them to be counted in places where they think thats beneficial other times wanting to end the count you know theyre really using the courts just to try to again rig the game in their favor and im hopeful that despite a real right wing takeover of the federal judiciary that everyone can really see whats happening here and that judges will maintain hopefully fair independence and to really cut off this effort to raise the game in their favor brianna let me ask you how much confidence do you have in how the courts and the judges will handle these these lawsuits you know 1st i just want to respond to the idea that the facts militate against the idea of a policy and progressive policies would have helped ballot in florida we did see the state passed the 15. 00 minimum wage its going to heart going to joe bidens agenda but he emphasized very much ok so so but so back to the question that i asked what are your thoughts on how the court is going to handle this barrage of lawsuits. I dont think i dont have very High Expectations of the court the courts willingness to be faithful here i think that donald trump with them an enormously successful job of stacking not just the Supreme Court but the Appellate Courts of the federal bench and thats a tally and his favor and that his his legal team has proved itself and said us and he is going to fight this tooth and nail to the very end part of why we needed to have more of a landslide victory here is that everyone predicted that donald trump was going to try to force this election to to stage a coup if you will joe you mentioned something earlier that that was in my notes and im glad you brought it up we need to talk about the Electoral College it is it is dated some would say it is damaging to democracy it is not now im common for someone to win the popular vote d you lose the Electoral College is a time to do away with it. Yes. So far beyond time to do away with it democratic candidate has won the majority of the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections and yet we have not had a democratic president in office for 7 of the last 8 president ial terms in america we like to think about one person one vote thats its sort of this foundational myth of how our democracy works its not actually how democracy works and i do think democrats really underestimate kind of how easy frankly the sales pitch for getting rid of the Electoral College is because of how we do understand democracy in the u. S. And you know republicans have the kind of track Record Record democrats have with the Electoral College with the popular vote the Electoral College would have been gone you know a decade ago so its beyond time it should be on the top of the democratic agenda now obviously if the senate is republican and its going to be hard for job to get much of anything done but this is one issue that is like a 5 alarm fire for democrats brianna do you see it that way. Yeah i agree and its very fresh rating that after the costa lost that was 2000 and the extent to which so many conversations revolved around Electoral Reform there has been more progress on that score even when democrats have been in power as a black american who understands the roots of the Electoral College where and considering my ancestors 3 fifths of a person for both counting reasons. Deeply invested in getting rid of it and read you word when you in the Lincoln Projects stand on on the Electoral College i dont know i would say this is that its you know the constitution was made to be changed if it needed and if we can convince enough people in this country to amend the constitution then the American People in the constitution i think its an argument that has to be had in a way that makes everybody feel like i think jill said that everybody has their voice but if if that is going to descend into a little is it concerning to you that concerning well look i mean its one of those things thats like its concerning and brianas right about the way he was worried about it. But there is absolutely theres no question about it look the i mean thats the thing about the constitution the guys who wrote it most of them were slave owners right so there is an original sin that goes back to the beginning of the republic right the the thing that we need to do is figure out i think very much to briannas point is how we make those things you know less damaging to americans today and more equitable from a voting perspective the Electoral College can be done away with but were going to have to convince americans not only in los angeles in new york city but also in des moines and duluth that its in their best interest to have that happen and that will be the final word regaling feel for the public and really honestly great thank you so much for joining me in the arena that is the show for this week up front will be back next week. Business leaders just for to find a brass pot. Business leaders is both to find the brass pox. When coronavirus struck america care homes for the elderly became ground 0 they cut corners things dont get done and people die as a result faultlines reveals how a troubled industry imploded under the weight of the pandemic we put profit above patient care. But isnt that the american way. Tells us what kind of people we are. When covert hits americas nursing home like man on a. Be the hero the world needs right. Washing. Joe biden inches closer to the White House Holding narrow leads over President Trump in georgia and pennsylvania but georgia is set for a recount because the gap between the 2 candidates is so small. And im Maryam Namazie and london youre watching aljazeera the coming up on the program well be looking at President Trumps reaction to all of this the campaign remaining defiant insisting the election isnt tova and continuing to alleged