biden an illegitimate president. telling a local paper, quote, you have to look at this, dean said that 71% of republicans and nevada believe biden is an illegitimate president, and he is part of that 71%. that s his justification. in other words, i do not have an independent views or leadership or an ethical sense, this is about the witness thing, so this is what i think. again, nevada is not a deep red state by any means. but being an own remarkable weather vane, generic republican, appears unsustainable as long as donald trump controls the party. the big a lie, the lie about the core of american democracy and representative governance about a stolen election is the litmus test, it s the party line, is the question on which no dissent can be brought. with the single biggest question for republican candidates is now are you
on the question of the legitimacy of democratic rule and the election of joe biden. there is no better example of how that has happened right now than in the state of nevada. you might remember this guy, although i don t blame you don t. his name is dean heller, he spent his entire career in nevada politics, republican politics. and in 2011, he was rewarded for his service with an appointment to a vacant senate seat. that s a great thing to get the, okay? when you get appointments to a vacant seat. and he narrowly won a full term in 2012 as an incumbent. and he proceeded to act in the senate as a purple state republican senator. overall, his tenor was mostly unremarkable and grading on the curve of members that the republican party in congress, i would say he didn t do much to either celebrate or be especially offended by. kind of your ultimate weather vane. in 2016, when donald trump was warning for president, heller said that he was a vehemently opposed to his candidacy.
illegitimate president, and he is part of that 71%. that s his justification. in other words, i do not have an independent views or leadership or an ethical sense, this is about the witness thing, so this is what i think. again, nevada is not a deep red state by any means. but being an own remarkable weather vane, generic republican, appears unsustainable as long as donald trump controls the party. the big a lie, the lie about the core of american democracy and representative governance about a stolen election is the litmus test, it s the party line, is the question on which no dissent can be brought. with the single biggest question for republican candidates is now are you functionally pro who? well it s not just in hell s race. we are seeing a similar dynamic unfold in another nevada state. same state, the former attorney
sees civilians as pawns in this struggle. it s fundamentally different than how the west would view that in a conflict. we wouldn t view civilians as pawns. we would only view military targets as legitimate targets but that s not how this war is being prosecutored and it s also a weather vane, a bellwether for how the kremlin thinks attacks are going. the attacks tell me that putin is immensely frustrated and he wants to get the ukrainian people to capitulate and the way you do that is target and attack the civilian population, in his view. but that s also, again, we talked in the last segment about red lines. that s going to increase pressure on the west because the more civilian atrocities that are perpetrated, the more pressure there will be to crack down hard on the kremlin and on russia. elise, miles says that the russian government sees civilians as pawns, and i think looking at this landscape, it s hard to argue with that, but what of the russian people? it is a complicated pi