Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20161021

Party for Vice President was geraldine ferraro, 1984, the Democratic Party. If youre noticing a trend here, youre right. Because it was also Democratic Party in 1928 that made the first nomination of a catholic for president in this country. And that was new york governor al smith. Among the many Glass Ceilings that the Democratic Party has broken in president ial and Vice President ial politics, he was the first major catholic to be a major president ial nominee. And he got shellacked. Hubert hoover beat him in 40 states. That was at a time when we only had 48 states. Poor al smith. But he is still remembered and honored among new york catholics, most notably with this dinner they hold every year which is an Election Year turns out to always be lousy with politicians. This is al smiths greatgrandson introducing one of the candidates. Lets go to it. I was thinking about the republican nominee, donald j. Tru trump. There are actually some rumors going around that he wasnt going to show up tonight. He could say he wanted to keep us in suspense. We considered having a donald trump cutout on the dais, but if we wanted someone still lifeless, we could ask charlie rose to speak again. It is stark that donald is here tonight. Thats right, for the first time, a Catholic Church is not the largest tax exempt land owner here tonight. We are honored to have donald and melania here tonight. The Al Smith Dinner is a new york institution. Donald, the kid from queens, with a big heart and a big mouth is without question a new york institution. Donald, the microphone is yours, and its working. Thank you, al, wow, that was good. This is a hell of a dipper. Dinner. I want to thank your eminence. This is really great to be with you again. We love it. Governor cuomo. Great senators. Hi, chuck. He used to love me when i was a democrat, you know. Hello, mayor. See, in the old days i would have known her very well, but i havent been doing very much with the real estate. And i want to thank al and ann smith, just a fantastic job you do with the dinner. And congratulations. A record over 6 million is their record. And a special hello to all of you in this room who have known and loved me for many, many years. Its true. Politicians. Theyve had me to their homes. Theyve introduced me to their children. Ive become their best friends in many instances. Theyve asked for my endorsement, and they always wanted my money. And even called me really a dear, dear friend, but then suddenly decided when i ran for president as a republican that ive always been a no good, rotten, disgusting scoundrel. And they totally forgot about me. But thats okay. You know, they say when you do this kind of an event, you always start out with a selfdeprecating joke. Some people think this would be tough for me, but the truth is true. The truth is im actually a modest person, very modest. Its true. In fact, many people tell me that modesty is perhaps my best quality. Even better than my temperament. You know, Cardinal Dolan and i have some things in common. For instance, we both run Impressive Properties on fifth avenue. Of course, his is much more impressive than mine. Thats because i built mine with my own beautifully formed hands. While his was built with the hands of god, and nobody can compete with god. Is that correct . Nobody. Right . Thats right. No contest. Its great to be here with a thousand wonderful people or, as i call it, a small, intimate dinner with some friends or as hillary calls it, her largest crowd of the season. This is corny stuff. I do recognize that i come into this event with a little bit of an advantage. I know that so many of you in the archdiocese already have a place in your heart for a guy who started out as a carpenter working for his father. I was a carpenter working for my father. True. Not for a long period of time. About three weeks. Whats great about the Al Smith Dinner is that even in the rough and tumble world of really, really hardfought campaign, in fact, i dont know if you know, hillary, but last night they said that was the most vicious debate in the history of politics, president ial debate. The most vicious. And i dont know. Are we supposed to be proud of that . Or are we supposed to be unhappy . They did say that. Im trying to think back to lincoln. I dont think they can really compete with that. But the candidates have some life hearted moments together, which is true. I have no doubt that hillary is going to laugh quite a bit tonight. Sometimes even at an appropriate mome moment. And even tonight, with all of the heated back and forth between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other. In fact, just before taking the dais, hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, pardon me. And i very politely replied, let me talk to you about that after i get into office. Just kidding. Just kidding. And hillary was very gracious. She said if somehow she gets elected, she wants me to be, without question, either her ambassador to iraq or to afghanistan. Its my choice. But one of the things i noticed tonight, and ive known hillary for a long time, is this is the first time ever, ever at hillary is sitting down and speaking to Major Corporate leaders and not getting paid for it. Its true. You know, last night i called hillary a nasty woman, but this stuff is all relative. After listening to hillary rattle on and on and on, i dont think so badly of Rosie Odonnell anymore. In fact, im actually starting to like rosie a lot. These events give not only the candidates a chance to be with each other in a very social setting, it also allows the candidates the opportunity to meet the other candidates team. Good team. I know hillary met my campaign manager, and i got the chance to meet the people who are working so hard to get her elected. There they are, the heads of nbc, cnn, cbs, abc, theres the New York Times right over there and the washington post. Theyre working overtime. True. True. Well, this ones going to get me in trouble. Not with hillary. You know, the president told me to stop whining, but i really have to say the media is even more biased this year than ever before, ever. You want the proof, Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone loves it. Its fantastic. They think shes absolutely great. My wife melania gives the exact same speech and people get on her case. And i dont get it. I dont know why. And it wasnt her fault. Stand up, melania. Come on. She took a lot of abuse. Oh, im in trouble when i go home tonight. She didnt know about that one. Am i okay . Is it okay . Cardinal, please speak to her. Id like to address an important religious matter. The issue of going to confession or, as hillary calls it, the fourth of july weekend with fbi director comey. Now, im told hillary went to confession before tonights event, but the priest was having a hard time when he asked her about her sins and she said she couldnt remember 39 times. Hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission . Pretty corrupt. Hillary is and has been in politics since the 70s. Whats her pitch . The economy is busted. The governments corrupt. Washington is failing. Vote for me. Ive been working on these problems for 30 years. I can fix it, she says. I wasnt really sure if hillary was going to be here tonight because i guess you didnt send her invitation by email or maybe you did and she just found out about it through the wonder of wikileaks. Weve learned so much from wikileaks. For example, hillary believes that its vital to deceive the people by having one Public Policy and a totally different policy in private. Thats okay. I dont know who theyre angry at, hillary, you or i. For example, here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate catholic catholics. Now, if some of you havent noticed, hillary isnt laughing as much as the rest of us. Thats because she knows the jokes. And all of the jokes were given to her in advance of the dinner by donna brazile, which is everyone knows, of course, hillarys belief that it takes a village, which only makes sense, after all, in places like haiti where shes taken a number of th them. Thank you. I dont know and i dont want this evening without saying something nice about i had opponent. Hillarys been in washington a long time. She knows a lot about how government works. And according to her sworn testimony, hillary has forgotten more things than most of us will ever, ever know. That i can tell you. Were having some fun here tonight. And thats good. On a personal note, what an amazing honor it is to be with all of you. And i want to congratulate hillary on getting the nomination and were in there fighting and over the next 19 days, somebodys going to be chosen. Well see what happens. But i have great memories of coming to this dinner with my father over the years when i was a young man. Great experience for me. This was always a special experience for him and me to be together. One thing we can all agree on is the need to support the great work that comes out of the dinner. Millions of dollars have been raised to support disadvantaged children, and i applaud the many people who have worked to make this wonderful event a critical lifeline for children in need. And that we together broke the alltime record tonight is really something special. More than 6 million net net net. The cardinal told me thats net net, donald, remember. We can also agree on the need to stand up to anticatholic bias, to defend religious liberty, and to create a culture that celebrates life. America is in many ways divide ed. Thank you. America is in many ways divided like its never been before, and the great religious leaders here tonight give us all an example that we can follow. Were living in a time, an age that we never thought possible before. The vicious barbarism we read about in history books but never thought wed see it in our socalled modernday world. Who would have thought we would be witnessing what were witnessing today . Weve got to be very strong, very, very smart and weve got to come together not only as a nation but as a world community. Thank you very much, god bless you. And god bless america. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Donald trump wrapping up his remarks at the Al Smith Dinner. We expect that it will just be a couple minutes, but then Hillary Clinton will give her remarks. Joining me here in studio is minnesota senator al franken. Youre a good person to watch this with, senator. Kind of fun to watch. There were some good jokes there and there were some hits at her that have no joke work whatsoever. So its interesting because the best joke i thought was about how the press praised Michelle Obama for her speech and then melania gives exactly the same speech. That is a really good joke. But its like a joke. And then some that were just hits on her that had nothing like theres something called joke work. I think freud talked about joke work and comedy writers try to find its a skill to write a joke. And there were somewhere he just attacked her and didnt the people in the room were screaming at him. Yeah. And really you know, of course, you know, this is a really important dinner because the American People want their president to be the funniest person in the country. So this is why this is so important tonight. But you know, whats interesting is she laughs, and i thought actually a joke that was good that hillary knows youre supposed to laugh and will laugh even at inappropriate moment. See, thats a joke and thats hitting her. She laughed really hard when he did that pardon me joke. He said she bumped into me and said pardon me. Thats a pun. But less joke work there, i get it. No, no. It was okay. And i think thats why when he said shell even laugh at appropriate moments is she obviously knows youre supposed to laugh. Whats really interesting is watching him and see if he can laugh. Ive never seen him laugh. Chuck todd made this observation on his show, which is it looks like shes ready to go up. Lets go. Youre the host. No, youre pretty good at this. You know how to do this. Hillary clinton taking the stage, as al franken says, watch to see if donald trump laughs. Here we go. Thank you. Your eminence, your excellencies, members of the clergy, al and ann smith, donald and melania, and all the distinguished guests. You know, earlier tonight al reminded me that when the first al smith ran for president , he chose as his running mate the progressive senator from arkansas, joseph t. Robinson, who was one of my husbands political heroes. This work that you do through the dinner, al, youve done it now for 30, 30 years, is such a labor of love. Youve been a hero for both the children of the archdiocese and for the city of new york. And i think we all owe al smith a great, great round of amauz. Applause. This is such a special event that i took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here, and as youve already heard, its a treat for all of you, too, because usually i charge a lot for speeches like this. But for me, it was kind of ironic thinking about a fiery populist, al smith, if he were here today and saw how much money weve raised for needy children, hed be very proud. And if he saw this magnificent room full of plutocrats celebrating his legacy, hed be very confused. Its a special honor to be here with your eminence. I know, your eminence, you were criticized for inviting both donald and me here tonight. And you responded by saying, if i only sat down with those who were saints, id be taking all my meals alone. Now, just to be clear, i think the cardinal is saying im not eligible for sainthood. But getting through these three debates with donald has to count as a miracle. So i guess im up against the highest, hardest stained Glass Ceiling. But your eminence, you do deserve great credit for bringing together two people who have been at each others throats, mortal enemies, bitter foes. Ive got to ask, how did you get the governor and mayor here together . Now, ive got to say there are a lot of Friendly Faces here in this room, people ive been privileged to know and to work with. I just want to put you all in a basket of adorables. And youd look so good in your tuxes or as i refer to them, formal pantsuits. And you know, because this is a friendly dinner for such a great cause, donald, if at any time you dont like what im saying, feel free to stand up and shout wrong while im talking. You know, come to think of it, its amazing im up here after donald. I didnt think hed be okay with a peaceful transition of power. And donald, after listening to your speech, i will also enjoy listening to mike pence deny that you ever gave it. You know, ive had the privilege of being at the Al Smith Dinners in years past. And i always enjoy it. But remember, if youre not happy with the way it comes out, it must be rigged. And its always a special treat for me to be back in new york, a city that i love and which i think truly embodies the best of america. You know, dont you think . People look at the statue of liberty, and they see a proud symbol of our history as a nation of immigrants, a beacon of hope for people around the world. Donald looks at the statue of liberty and sees a four. Maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her ha hair. You know, come to think of it, you know what would be a good number for a woman . 45. But i digress. Now, im going to try my best tonight, but i understand i am not known for my sense of humor. Thats why it did take a village to write these jokes. People say and i hear them. I know. They say im boring compared to donald. But im not boring at all. In fact, im the life of every party i attend. And ive been to three. And when the parties get out of hand, as occasionally, they do, its important to have a responsible chaperone who can get everyone home safely, and that is why i picked tim kaine to be my Vice President. Now, you notice there is no teleprompter here tonight, which is probably smart because maybe you saw donald dismantle his prompter the other day. And i get that. Theyre hard to keep up with. And im sure its even harder when youre translating from the original russian. But every year this dinner brings together a collection of sensible, committed mainstream republicans or, as we now like to call them, hillary supporters. Now,critics, and i hear that, too. Yeah. Yeah. They think i only say what people want to hear. Well, tonight that is true. And here exactly what you want to hear. This election will be over very, very soon. And look at this dais. We have charlie rose and Maria Bartiromo and Chris Matthews and gayle king and knorr ranorah o and katie couric. This counts as a press conference, right . It is great to see mayor bloomberg here. Its a shame hes not speaking tonight. Im curious to hear what a billionaire has to say. And look at the dais, weve got the honorable chuck schumer, the honorable michael cuomo, bill de blasio, David Dinkins and so many other wonderful elected officials. And we have rudy giuliani. Now, many dont know this, but ru rudy actually got his start as a prosecutor going after wealthy new yorkers who avoided paying taxes, but as the saying goes, you cant beat them, go on fox news and call them a genius. So as i said, weve now had our third and, thankfully, final debate. Sharing a stage with donald trump is like, well, nothing really comes to mind. There is nothing like sharing a stage with donald trump. Donald wanted me drug tested before last nights debate. And i got to tell you, im so flattered that donald thought i used some sort of performance enhancer. Now, actually i did. Its called preparation. And looking back, ive had to listen to donald for three full debates, and he says i dont have any stamina. That is 4 1 2 hours. I have now stood next to donald trump longer than any of his campaign managers. Now, look, i have deep respect for people like kellyanne conway. Shes working day and night for donald and because shes a contractor, hes probably not even going to pay her. But i think the good news is that debates finally allow republicans to unite around their candidate. The bad news is its mike pence. And its been a long, long campaign. That should be one of our highest priorities, shortening the campaigns. And whoever wins this election, the outcome will be historic. Well either have the first female president or the first president who started a twitter war with cher. And if donald does win, it will be awkward at the annual president s day photo when all the former president s gather at the white house and not just with bill. How is barack going to get past the muslim ban . Now, republicans in particular seem frustrated with their nominee. Paul ryan told the republican members of the house, you dont have to support the top of the ticket. Dont worry about anyone besides yourself. Just do whats in your own best interests. So i guess donald really has unified his party around his core philosophy. And i dont understand their unhappiness. They say donald doesnt have any policies, he has no policies. I keep hearing that. Id actually like to defend him on this. Donald has issues, serious issues, really, really serious issues. And i worry about donalds go it alone attitude. For example, at his conventio when he said i alone can fix it. You know, in the 90s, i said the same thing about Americas Health care system, and it didnt work out so well for me either. But speaking of health, donald has been very concerned about mine. Very concerned. He actually sent a car to bring me here tonight. Actually, it was a hearse. But i kind of want to just put the information out there so everybody can draw their own conclusions and you can judge our relative health. Weve each released our medical records. My Blood Pressure is 100 70. His is unbelievably great. My cholesterol is 189. His is president ial. My heart rate is 72 beats per minute. His is the most beats ever or the least beats ever, whichever sounds best. But donald really is as healthy as a horse. You know, the one Vladimir Putin rides around on. But i can say, without fear of contradiction tonight, that i will be the healthiest and youngest woman ever to serve as president. But this has really been a strange campaign. You saw it last night. You saw it again tonight. Donald has attacked me for life in public service. And i didnt get that at first. I kind of get it now. As he told howard stern, he doesnt like it when women have been around for more than 35 years. But donald, we have so much more in common than actually you may realize. For example, i tried to inspire young people by showing them that with resilience and hard work, anything is possible, and youre doing the same. A third grade teacher told mow that one of her students refused to turn in his homework because it was under audit. And heres another similarity. The Republican National committee isnt spending a dime to help either one of us. So tonight lets embrace the spirit of the evening, lets come together. Remember what unites us and just rip on ted cruz. I hope you enjoyed my remarks tonight. I said no to some jokes that i thought were over the line. But i suppose you can judge for yourself on wikileaks in the next few days. Donald will tell us after the benediction whether he accepts if this dinner is over. He has to wait and see. But theres nothing funny about the stakes in this election. In the end, what makes this dinner important are not the jokes we tell but the legacy that we carry forward. Its as often easy to forget how far this country has come. And there are a lot of people in this room tonight who themselves or their parent os or grandpares came here as immigrants, made a life for yourselves, took advantage of the American Dream and the greatest system that has ever been created in the history of the world to unleash the indidu talents, energy and ambition of everyone willing to work hard. And when i think about what al smith went through, its important to just reflect how groundbreaking it was for him, a catholic, to be my partys nominee for president. Dont forget, schoolboards sent home letters with children saying if al smith is elected president , you will not be allowed to have or read a bible. Voters were told that he would annul protestant marriages. And i saw a story recently that said people even claimed the holland tunnel was a secret passageway to connect rome and america to help the pope rule our country. Those appeals, appeals to fear and division, can cause us to treat each other as the other. Rhetoric like that makes it harder for us to see each other, to respect each other, to listen to each other and certainly a lot harder to love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe how we treat others is the highest expression of faith and of service. Now, im not catholic. Im a methodist. But one of the things that we share is the belief that in order to achieve salvation, we need both faith and good works. And you certainly dont need to be catholic to be inspired by the humility and heart of the holy father, pope francis, or to embrace his message. His message about rejecting a mindset of hostility. His calls to reduce inequality. His warnings about climate change. His appeal that we build bridges not walls. Now, as you may know, my running mate, tim, is catholic and went to jesuit schools, and one of the things he and i talked about is the idea of the jesuits, the more the better. We need to get better at finding ways to disagree on matters of policy while agreeing on questions of decency and civility, how we talk to each other, respect each other, so i have taken this concept to heart in this campaign as best as one can in the daily heat, the back and forth of a president ial campaign to ask how we can do more for each other, and better for each other. Because i believe that for each of us our greatest monument on this earth wont be what we build but the lives we touch. And that is ultimately what this dinner is all about. And its why its been such a great honor to join you all again. Thank you. Hillary clinton wrapping up her remarks at the Al Smith Dinner following donald trump. This is the visual heres what people imagine when they fantasize about rich elites running things behind the scenes and meeting, you know, privately. Having Television Cameras there interrupting the fantasy a little bit. But you see the two candidates. Cardinal Timothy Dolan between them. I did see candidates reach across a great divide tonight and shake hands. I think we should nominate Cardinal Dolan for the nobel peace prize. Cardinal dolan, the man who is speaking at the microphone is al smith iv, who is the greatgrandson of al smith who was the first ever catholic nominee for president in 1928. And this dinner has existed since the 40s. They started holding this dinner in his honor after he died. It benefits Catholic Charities. It is a plutocratic gathering. It is a charity event. It benefits Catholic Charities but it is white tie which is the even fancier version than black tie. Its full of some of the richest and most powerful people on earth and this is sort of the way it goes. Al franken is here in studio with us. Senator franken, i know that youre a Hillary Clinton supporter, so therefore you cannot be objective as to how she did comedically compared to her political opponent. Thats right. I cant be objective. One thing i did notice is that trump got the memo to smile and he smiled and then actually but he didnt laugh. Remember, we were going to look for that. See him do that human thing that human beings do, which is laugh at things. But giuliani didnt get the memo. No. No. And thats a moment that should be replayed, i think. Because every these are events where everyone takes its like a roast. Like a mild roast. And i thought that she had one joke that i thought was remember i criticized trump for not having any joke work. She did a couple of those that i said, ah, and she said about the dinner, it must be rigged. If it didnt go well, it must be rigged. I liked the idea that the dinner was rigged, just didnt like the execution of that. There are really a lot of good jokes. I wont go over them. Can i ask you, i saw what she led off with, i took a break from my rigorous nap schedule. Great opener. Something that got no laugh in the room at all but made me laugh is that shes up against a stained Glass Ceiling in terms of eligibility for sainthood. You didnt laugh at that either. I actually missed it. I think many missed it in the room. You have to be catholic to think that is funny which is possible why that moved me. I get it. Thats a human thing. But ive never seen trump laugh. The statue of liberty, donald trump looks at her and sees a four. Thats a good joke. Thats the one when they went to giuliani with the camera and he didnt get it. The one they went to him on is we have all these great leaders, she named them, and then we have rudy giuliani. And he was like it was a very odd thing for him not to understand that theres cameras there and they may cut to you. How do you feel about how do you obviously, you had a life in comedy, and now you have a life in the senate. I think everybody wants you to intertwine them more than you do. Right. Very disciplined. In being not funny since youve been in the senate. I still think youre inherently funny no matter what you do. Thank you. Do you get frustrated that we ask our particularly not funny candidates to try to hillary is funny. And ive seen trump be funny. Ive seen him be funny, honestly. As a politician or just as a celebrity person . I thought that in the first debate, that he had, with all those candidates and she said, youve called megyn kelly, said youve called women pigs and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and he said only Rosie Odonnell. And he got this big laugh in that audience. And if he had stopped there, he would have been fine. And ive seen him. Its an offensive joke, i know, in the context i just kind of told it. But in the moment, it was funny. He was you know. And i think he did an aside here that was really kind of funny. Just to ad lib an aside. And i think that to his supporters, hes funny sometimes when he goes on stage. And theres certain thins that hes been criticized for that i do think were actual jokes. Where people took him literally and you dont think he meant it literally. But hes also done the opposite, which is called for the russians to release her emails and he wasnt joking. And also when he said that obama and hillary created isis or obama created isis, then he kept saying it was a joke, then he would literally say, its not a joke. And really mean it. So its fair for everyone to discount when he says something is a joke. Because hes look, he is this has been a very odd today, i came from minneapolis today. And on the plane there was a couple there with kids and she was a seventh grade American History teacher. Shes been doing this for a while. Every year shed have kids play both candidates. This is going back to gore v. Bush. She said this year she couldnt do it. Oh, wow. This year she couldnt. Because she didnt want to put any kid in the position of acting out trump. Trump. Yeah. So this is you know, im not a fan of his. And i think she was right, that everyone want s this to be over as soon as it can. Does it give you comfort that he bombed tonight . I dont think he bombed. He started okay. When he got to haiti, he was bombing. America doesnt want their president. We want our president to be the funniest person in the country. I used to tell people like friends, i like gore and hillary and when theyre doing letterman, they maybe would ask me for advice and id say that. Americans want you to have a sense of humor about yourself. Thats why i think its good to see someone be able to laugh at a joke about them. But then his joke kind of defused that when he said that shes going to laugh tonight and even at an appropriate moment. Thats a good joke that he told. Then it resonated throughout the rest. And we were looking at her when she laughed. That was a good joke. I like when she said it took a village to write all these jokes. And im not funny and thats why it took a village. These are interesting exercises and theyre fun and they raise a lot of money for Catholic Charities, which is a good thing. Senator al franken from minnesota, fun to watch this with you. I feel like im learning things as im laughing. Appreciate it. Always good to learn while you laugh. I want to bring into the conversation now nbc news president ial historian Michael Beschloss who is watching with us tonight. Good to see you. Thank you, rachel. To al frankens point about what were looking for in a president , president s have been doing this specific event for decades, for 30 years. Even more. Do they, a, do they matter and, b, was tonight any different than it usually is . Yeah, i think they do matter. Nowadays as both you and al franken were saying, one of the metrics we use to measure a potential president is does this person have a sense of humor that gives us a sense that hes one of us or she is one of us. And that was not always the case. For instance, when Adlai Stevenson ran in 1952, he was criticized by a lot of people for being so witty and making jokes but that wasnt something as serious as a president it didnt sound like a president. Obviously, life has changed a huge amount since then. The first one of these things where you had the two candidates was 1960, kennedy and nixon. Theyd just been through these debates which were, you know, contested, but nowhere near as brutal and as bitter as the three debates between donald trump and Hillary Clinton have turned out to be. And what this dinner has turned out to be politically is that you go through the debates, you go through a tough campaign, its nearly over. Almost a healing moment. You could almost rely on it to be a moment when they were in harmony and each would be selfdeprecating and rib the other but it would be pretty gentle and funny. The reason why i agree but, donald trump bombed, you could hear the cat calls and boos, and this is a very republican audience, traditionally, was that he went beyond gentle ribbing to talk about his opponent going to jail and needing to be pardoned, and, you know, one joke after another that was a political attack mildly veiled in humohumor. The reaction of the room was that he didnt get what this night has traditionally been. Thank you for that. I think its important to figure out whether or not theyre funny and whether or not they get where they are. Another institution can changed by this campaign. Thank you. I appreciate you being here. In terms of what happened last night and whats happening now, one of the things that weve been dealing with today is trying to figure out the seriousness of one of the things that donald trump said last night at the debate which was greeted as a shot heard round the world. Since then, in the aftermath of last nights debate and throughout the day, people have been trying to answer, what exactly he meant by the statement of his at the debate last night that made headlines all over the country. What about the idea that you are not going to septembaccept election results. You remember al gore in 2000 . Thats been some of the way the Trump Campaign has dealt with this issue today about what their candidate said last night at the debate, about respecting the results of the election. You know, when we do remember al gore in 2000, i think theres a piece about that, that we tend to remember wrong, particularly the liberals among us, we tend to remember it wrong. This is the Supreme Court as it was constituted in 2000. When the court ruled in bush v. Gore. Do we have that . And made george w. Bush president , even though gore won more votes than bush did. You remember the ruling, bush v. Gore, that ruling was a 54 ruling. We think of that falling along partisan lines, the five republicanapoiptsd justices voting for bush and the four democratic justices voting for gore, thats how we got 54, right . Thats how we think of it, but thats not true. David souter who voted with the gore side, he was not appointed by a democrat. He was appointed by george h. Bush in 1990. Its something that theyve held against poppy bush, that he didnt end up being conservative. But david souter was appointed by a republican, and he didnt end up being a conservative justice. He also didnt end up particularly liking his time on the court. As soon as president obama got sworn in and settled in in 2009, david souter announced he was retiring to go back to his beloved New Hampshire in order to resume his preSupreme Court practice of declining all media requests and wanting to be left alone. He speaks very rare in public and when he does he chooses his words carefully. Because weve heard so little from him over the years, the graph tass of his speech will be crackling when you hear it. But given the shock that spiked down the nations spinal column last night and today when the republican nominee threatened that this little democratic process youve got here, its nice, its fine, but he doesnt necessarily plan on abiding by its decision when it comes to the presidency. Given that shock thats just been administered to this sit te system, i want you to watch this. This is david souter. He will not make you feel better about what the Republican Party has done. But its comfort to know that there was a reason to see this whole thing coming. This is Justice David souter in New Hampshire four years ago. I think some of the aspects of current American Government that people on both sides find frustrating are in partly a function of the inability of people to understand how government can and should function. It is a product of civic ignorance. What i worry about is a remark that benjamin frankn made and susan leahy quoted jefferson at the beginning about how an ignorant people can never remain a free people. Democracy cannot survive too much ignorance. Franklin had a comment to which the jefferson comment is an answer or a response. And i, youve probably heard this, but it bears repeating. Franklin was asked by someone i think on the streets of philadelphia shortly after the 1787 convention adjourned, what kind of government constitution would give us if it was adopted, and franklins famous answer was a republic, if you can keep it. You cant keep it in ignorance. I dont worry about our losing republican government in the United States because im afraid of a foreign invasion. I dont worry about it because i think there is going to be a coup by the military as has happened in some of the places. What i worry about is that when problems are not addressed people will not know who is responsible. And when the problems get bad enough, as they might do, for example, with another serious terrorist attack, as they might do with another financial meltdown, some one person will come forward and say give me total power and i will solve this problem. That is how the Roman Republic fell. Augustus became emperor, not because he arrested the roman senate. He became emperor because he promised that he would solve problems that were not being solved. If we know who is responsible i have enough faith in the American People to demand performance from those responsible. If we dont know, we will stay away from the polls. We will not demand it. And the day will come when somebody will come forward and we and the government will in effect say take the ball and run with it. Do what you have to do. That is the way democracy dies. And if something is not done to improve the level of civic knowledge, that is what you should worry about at night. Former Supreme Court Justice David souter in New Hampshire, speaking more than four years ago, being prophetic enough to now be a little spooky. At the commander in chief forum this year donald trump said once he gets elected there will be all different generals in the u. S. Military, which is not the way the military works. At the last debate he told Hillary Clinton she was infective as a senator if she couldnt change the tax code herself while she was a senator from new york. Senator sounds like such a powerful job. Youre telling me you cant personally change the tax code even if youre a senator . He said he had a plan to use the special prosecutor system to put her in jail once hes elected, which is not how the special prosecutor system works. Now last night he insist theres no reason for him to abide by or respect the results of a national election. If he thinks the media was biased against him something else. And after the National Outrage about that from coasttocoast, across both parties last night and into today, he still didnt get why thats a big deal thing to say, why that is not a thing that people joke about. I would hilike to promise an pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that i will totally accept the results of this great and historic president ial election if i win [cheers and applause] thats the joke he made today to open his Campaign Rally after the debate. He doesnt get why this is something that responsible, you know, patriotic people in politics wouldnt joke about. Or he does see it, and hes just trying to wear out the nerves, to kill the nerve endings of the hurt. Maybe if he says it long enough, people will stop being outraenled by it. We will lose sight of how radical it is, lose sight of what hes selling is a basic rejection of the core of our country. And if we lose sight of the importance of selfgovernment, we really need to give it up. Democracy wasnt solving our problems anyway, was it . Maybe lets try something new . Some one person will come forward and say give me total power and i will solve this problem. That isRoman Republic fell. Augustus became emperor, not because he arrested the roman senate. He became emperor because he promised that he would solve problems that were not being solved. Were having an unprecedented election. We have a candidate making unprecedented threats against our democracy. Just bought