if you take away that fear, we are going to see other presidents, and maybe trump if he comes back to office, do you think that make the period of 2017 to 2021, and all of the offenses against democracy that donald trump committed, they will make that look like a picnic. michael beschloss, i ve about 30 seconds left. i want to ask you about juneteenth, 2021. it became our first new hetero fall all day since the 1980s. the significance of that especially in light of the conservative efforts in this country to limit what kids can learn about our nation s history. african american history is american history. it took this country two centuries plus to learn that. june 10th juneteenth started in texas, in 1865. when black people were liberated under the victory of the union army. but it wasn t, it was not until joe biden signed something in 2021 that that became a national holiday. many people celebrated that,
trump s line of attack, it is not a surprise, damaging, nonetheless. to zoom out here, what is at stake here for our democracy? the rule of law. i mean, look, jack smith believes he has both the facts and the law on his side. donald trump doesn t. so as the old saying goes, donald trump is banging the table. jack smith, i think the reason you are seeing kind of the silence, and we call it deference or call it strategy, towards donald trump, is because he truly believes he can get a convention based on the evidence they already have. i do think you might see jack smith get a little more aggressive, though, if donald trump s behavior begins to tamper with witness selection or undoing influence of witness. you haven t saw the judge last week say, i don t want donald trump had in contact with witnesses. i think the lens that is so important here, alicia, and this goes to what is informing jack smith s behavior. it s not the donald trump is a former president, in that case
loses the general election. i think a lot of these people, from francis flores, to nikki haley, to whomever, need to be very careful with this issue. i mean it, alicia, i think they might see value in a republican primary. i think the nation rejects it in november of 24. if a candidate is running, and the seminal question is that they will pardon a convicted donald trump, i believe that candidate does lose. i know you ve seen all of this thought and critique around the role that president biden should play in pushing back against the attacks from trump on doj, right. right now the biden administration, their theory of the cases don t touch it, don t talk about it. you step into their frame, this is all a politicize a shun. there are some democrats who are saying, okay, but you have to at some point say that there are institutions here that are being attacked without merit. i don t think it is necessarily for president biden to do, but
talk to former employees. we have eyes and ears everywhere. we will know when you do it. brittani, sure. let him keep his passport. please do leave the country. wouldn t that aid all of us? so i just think that it s part of his strategy to allow donald trump to be donald trump. and that ultimately his team has decided it will help them, and help their case, not hurt them. if they hold their power. congressman jolly, a new calling out today in the washington post reads, quote, in the estimation of many legal experts, declining to charge trump, given the preponderance of evidence laid out in the indictment, would have sent a signal that former presidents, or at least this former president, or above the law. the indictment provided trump and opening to attack federal law enforcement and to further erode his political supporters trust in the institutions of government.
i wonder what you think about democrats more broadly, being the voice that steps in, and draws that contrast. law enforcement and rule of law, is out here attacking those that s right. first and foremost, alicia, i think it s the role of the free press. i think this is a moment in history where the role of the free pass become so critically important. joe biden cannot touch this. he has to be no comment from now until next november. because, this is the prosecution, as we discussed in a previous segment, of his likely opponent. not just a past president. so the politics of it forbid biden from touching it. i think for democrats, go into this, lean into it. but not on the republican field. don t argue about the weaponization issue. don t argue about donald trump s craziness. lean into the support of the rule of law. lean into due process for the president himself, as a defendant. lean into your support for the presidential records act, and for the espionage act, and the importance of