And the late senator john mccain, the president described a Battle For The Future of our country against a movement led by the former president , facing criminal charges for trying to overturn an election, while also running for the white house for a third time. There is something dangerous happening in america right now. There is an Extremist Movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy, the Maga Movement. Not every republican, not even a majority of republicans adhere to the maga extremist ideology. I know because ive been able to work with republicans my whole career. But there is no question Todays Republican Party is driven and intimidated by maga republican extremists. Their extreme agenda carried out with fundamentally all the institutions of institutions of american democracies as we know it. My friends, theyre not hiding their attacks. Theyre openly promoting them, attacking the free press as the enemy of the people. Attacking the rule of law as an impediment, fomenting Voter Suppression and election subversion. Did you ever think wed be having debates at the stage of your careers where Banning Books, Banning Books and burying history . Trump says the constitution gave him, quote, the right the do whatever he wants as president , end of quote. Ive never heard a President Say that in jest. The president also warning that donald trump would take a Wrecking Ball to the functioning of our government and to the constitution if reelected. Seizing power, concentrating power, attempting to abuse power, encouraging and packing key institution, spewing conspiracy theories, spreading lies for profit and power to divide america in every way, inciting violence against those who risked their lives to keep merge safe, weaponizing against the very soul of who we are as americans. This maga threat is a threat to the brick and mortar of our Democratic Institutions. Its also a threat to the character of our nation. The president also taking on some of the most dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric coming from donald trump in just the last few days, including attacks against this network and nbc news, and of course his claim that our countrys top military official, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff general mark milley should be executed for treason. That is just the latest in what has become a years long pattern of attacks on the military and on our veterans going back to when trump slammed mccains valor. Here is what the president had to say about trumps attacks on milley. Thinking is the United States of america. And although i dont believe even a majority of republicans think that, the silence is deafening. Joining us now, cofounder and Executive Director at protect democracy, and political strategist matt dowd, and with me at the table for the hour, New York TimesEditorial Board member mara gay. Ill start with you. You run a democracy watchdog group. Your reaction to the president s comments today in light of what we have been hearing from the former president over the past several days. Well, thanks for having me. I think the speech was incredibly important. There are two things that i think the president said i want to call attention to that were especially important. One is that democracy and the protection of it is the defining issue of our time and is the defining issue of the election. And thats because Everything Else flows from it. Whether you believe in high taxes or low taxes, whether you believe in more regulation or more open markets, whether you believe in gun safety and gun control or the second amendment, the disagreement over those issues is what america and democracy is all about, that we can argue over them. We can debate them. We can vote on them. People can win, enact them and then they can lose and someone else can win the next time. But if you dont have democracy, you cant have those arguments, and you cant have them peacefully. And donald trump and his Maga Movement are attempting to eliminate our ability to maintain that set of free choices. And i think making clear that thats why a protection of democracy is the most important thing is central to what the president is saying, and Everyone Needs to understand. The other thing i think is important the president said, this is not a partisan issue. There are progressive, moderates and conservatives who are united, a vast majority of them on the protection of democracy. There are democratic and Republican Voters who all want to protect our democracy. We have an Extremist Faction led by donald trump that has captured the elected apparatus of the Republican Party, but it is a minority in this country, and the vast majority of us, from left to right who want to preserve what the founders gave us have to unite together in defense of our democracy. Yeah, and to that point, matt, that is what the president tried to crystallize in his speech, that the majority of this country Still Believes in democracy. The most stark image we have all seen, january 6th, the insurrection, the attack on the capitol, the president using that as a motivating factor to remind americans of what is at stake physically and metaphorically. Do you think speeches like this go some way towards repairing the damage of what we saw on january 6th . Do you feel that americans are actually responding to the threat that was outlined by the president in his speech . Well, im going build on what ian talked about. I think speeches like this inspire us to protect democracy, because its ultimately not up to joe biden. Its ultimately up to all of us to protect democracy and protect our constitution through the elections that we will have, and holding politicians accountable. I think, i hope that this, the president , this is not just a singular speech, that this basically is the launch for what 2024 is about. I say that both as an american who believes in democracy, but also as somebody that can see political strategy. The best political strategy and winning campaigns in 2022 were the ones that made democracy their center of their campaign. I think the president and his campaign has discovered that running this as a referendum on bidenomics. You can argue over the facts of it and all that. But in the end, that is not going to be as successful as the campaign on democracy. And i hope that the president broadens this in the ways ian said, but also in the ways that our fundamental freedoms and liberties, including Economic Freedom and liberty are dependent on us having the constitutional democracy, and whether or not you belief in the freedom of choice, the freedom of kids to go to school safely, the freedom for us to be safe from the ravages of climate change, all of those freedoms and liberties we have, including the freedom and liberty to climb the economic ladder are completely totally dependent upon us having a constitution. I hope the president is not just giving one speech in arizona, but we see this as a series of speeches. Right. That encourage all of us to act upon it and use it as the mode with which we vote next year. Let me ask you really quick, matt, as being the political strategist on this panel. The white house had originally thought about giving the speech in valley forge, George Washingtons former Military Base in pennsylvania before settling on arizona and announcing the creation of this Mccain Library. Talk us to about that moment, that mccain factor, the fact that he decided to use somebody who not only was across the aisle, somebody who actually ran against him and had some their moments of contention throughout the political debate, if you will of that season, and using that as the backdrop to make this call. Well, i actually think arizona was the perfect spot to give this speech for a variety of reasons. One, you mentioned that john mccain, who has tried to stand independent of this. John mccain couldnt win a republican nomination in any state, let alone in arizona today as he couldnt win an election as a republican because of how far the republicans have gone, including the idea that now kari lake, who is the greatest election denier in the United States, has now going to run a senate race in the second race that john mccain won. Arizona has been in many ways one of the Center States in this election denial and attacks on our democracy by the republicans. You put michigan in that and wisconsin in that. But arizona is one of the key places where that has been fostered and the Republican Party has been so fundamentally changed. That to me is why picking arizona not only because of john mccain, but the circumstances over the last few years of where an election denialism virus has taken root, and how do we combat that in a nonpartisan way. Its not only just bipartisan, it is democrats, republicans, and independents can join together and say we may disagree with each other on 100 different issues. But we all can believe in a constitutional democracy. And arizona is one of the key places where that battle is going to be fought. To matts point, its incredible when you really think about it. The year 2023, an american president standing up to defend the most basic principles of our democracy. Basic like accepting the will of voters, not allowing Political Violence to take place in our discourse. Its quite remarkable. And this is not the first speech he has given defending democracy. It colonel wont be the last speech. What does it say about our country that this is the tenor of the campaign for 2024 . Well, there is an urgency, and the choice in the ballot is shaping up to be existential potentially for the countrys democracy. The thing that i thought was interesting about this particular speech, and it wasnt the first and hopefully it wont be the last on democracy, which is an issue that by the way, i think motived a lot of voters in 2020 to come out. Right. Both in the Democratic Base and independence, former republicans, et cetera, but this particular speech almost had a vintage feel to it, like a fireside chat. Stylistically, it kind of reminded me of something we would have seen from mccain or much earlier from Ronald Reagan even. And it just was a reminder for me that elections, president ial elections are often decided increasingly by just thousands of voters, Tens Of Thousands of voters and a handful of states. And some of those voters in arizona, former mccain voters in michigan really dont want to see the countrys democracy damaged in this way or put at risk. So they may not be tried and true democrats, but theyre really disturbed by donald trump and his behavior and by magaism, if you will. And so i think joe biden was directly appealing to those voters, more than he was in this particular speech saying lets rally the troops and the base. Matt, lets talk about the politics of this for a moment. The President Saying that the Republican Party is not your fathers or your grandfathers gop. And we honestly, we heard that a couple of weeks ago from mitt romney when he announced he is not running for reelection. Is that a play for voters who sit in the middle of the political spectrum . Because my concern is a little bit about what mitt romney did, which is he said im not voting for joe biden. Im not going to vote for donald trump. And for me i think that undermines the crisis that were facing, and how in 2024 this is a vote about preserving democracy over party. Well, i think that there is a number of republicans who dont like donald trump, like mitt romney, who think he is a danger to the country, but have not completely come to terms with what the Republican Party has fundamentally become. I think theyre in the stages of grief on this. I think actually joe biden has had to go through this process. He had thought the start of his presidency was oh, yeah, hes part of the Republican Party, but i can work with a bunch of them and all that and has discovered what the Republican Party has fundamentally become. And this choice, and i would argue with mitt romney, who i know, i would argue with him is put aside the Personality Difference and major issues that he has. This really is a choice between the forces of prodemocracy, independents, republicans and democrats and the forces of autocracy. And thats the fundamental choice. Leave out republican and democrat jersey. Thats the choice. If that is the election between donald trump and joe biden, joe biden, for all you may fault him for, stands with the forces of democracy, and donald trump stands with autocracy. You got to choose. Ian, what do you make of President Biden slamming the attacks on General Milley . Its something we have seen so dangerously seep into this countrys rhetoric where donald trump normalizes this type of speech, whether it was about john mccain or other american veterans, but now he is openly calling for the execution of our countrys top military officer. And joe biden came to General Milleys defense. Well, credit to him for covering that and focusing on it, because i think one of the reasons it was important for the president to mention is it that it didnt lead a lo of our papers or National Newscasts when the former president leading candidate for the gop nomination essentially threatened to execute the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff for being insufficiently loyal to him. And i think its important not only to recognize the gravity of that situation. We cant talk enough about it. But what it means about the entire team of trumpism, which is an effort to introduce Political Violence into the way that we conduct democracy in this country. We were just talking about mitt romney. And i think something that didnt get enough attention is an excerpt from mckay calkins biography in which romney reveals that during deliberations on the house familiar and the senate floor about the impeachment, whether to vote to impeach and vote to convict donald trump of inciting an insurrection to overturn our democracy, romney spoke to members who were inclined to vote to impeach and vote to convict trump, but were afraid to do so for fears that it would endanger themselves and put their families in physical danger. And we cannot have a democracy when our elected representatives are voting out of fear for their lives and that is what donald trump has introduced into our politics and we need to reject it. Such an important point by ian. Not just mitt romney. We just heard that with General Milley as well. General milley in his interview reacting to those comments said that he had to take measures to protect himself and his family. And its just unbelievable to think that our countrys top general is seeking protection or is protecting himself and his family from the frontrunner of the Republican Party because we know what happens when that kind of rhetoric is heard by somebody out there who is an ardent maga follower. Im glad were talking about it. I think something that matthew said a moment ago really struck me, which is this idea that republicans may be in the stages of grief trying to come to terms with what their party has become. And i think its not just true for republicans. Its actually really true for Many Americans of good will, people who whatever their political persuasion are firmly committed to american democracy, do not believe in Political Violence, want to see citizenship in place remain, have this remain a strong country. But its hard to kind of accept how far and how extreme the Republican Party has taken the attacks on democracy. Right. I think its hard to really kind of come to terms with the fact that all of us are being asked to really stand up for democracy and not just maybe cast a ballot in a president ial election. And check out for four years. Stay engaged. To stay engaged. But also just for members of congress. All of us have a tendency to say well, our institutions are strong. Theyll handle it. But weve already seen the Political Violence and the conspiracy. Right. Behind january 6th. And it wasnt just january 6th. It was charlottesville. Its a series of horrific Political Violence that we have seen ever since. Thats the reality. The longer we ignore that and pretend like everything is okay, the stronger trumpism becomes and the weaker the democracy becomes. I was going to say quickly about the issue of grief, i get that the Republican Party may be having this moment of grief, but we just dont have time for them to wake up and realize what their choices are. Its very clear. Youre either going to go down the road of donald trump and maga or defend democracy at every turn. Let me play for you really quickly something that nancy pelosi said at the atlantic festival. Take a listen. Donald trump is elected president , do you actually worry about our