that is dangerous. because when you try to sew the seeds of doubt in people s minds, about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. then you re doing the work of our adversaries for them. as robert costa writes in the washington post today, trump s dire pronouncent already serious ramifications for the future of the republican party and for this country. quote, trump s insistence that the election will be rigged, which he again suggested at the debate, has some stoked the specter of a grievance movement that will haunt republicans for months and years to come, threatening to leave the longtime norms of american politics shattered and washington paralyzed by his follower s agitation and suspicion. i m joined now by ed rendell, an msnbc political analyst. steve cortez is surrogate for the trump campaign. and ruth marcus, is a columnist and editorial page editor at the washington post.
bloomberg news. charlie, let s start with you. donald trump s refusal to accept the results. is that the headline of the night? yeah, of course, it is. and you know, he may have had a stronger night up until that moment, but he basically strapped on the political suicide vest and blew himself up. robert costa was absolutely right last night when he said this is no longer about winning the election or about appealing to swing voters. this is about beginning to start a grievance movement. what you have here is donald trump setting up the excuse, the rationalization for his defeat, and trying to convince his supporters that, you know, they should follow him out into the wilderness. alienating them from the political process, and of course, this is going to be the story, and obviously, he knew what he was doing. megan, chris wallace had a hard job and he stayed on course. i want to play some of that exchange regarding donald trump s allegations about the rigged election, because chris
transfer of power. well, i think when you talk to people close to mcconnell and ryan, they re reluctant to engage in these kind of discussions at this moment because they believe their members in both chambers are out there fighting their own races. the less said, the better seems to be the strategy coming out of washington. and here s another bit of context for paul ryan. who this is paul ryan and donald trump. who represents views of the republican party, among republicans, donald trump 51%, paul ryan 33%. paul ryan has seen his favorability plummet among republicans in the past two weeks. if you pick a fight with donald trump among republican voters, donald trump will win. and it s not just about the fight right at this moment because if you re mcconnell and ryan, you have to deal with the trump movement, whatever its incarnation is, after the election should trump be defeated. you have a grievance movement that s building within the american right. a movement that s populou