says iran's bid dictator. what is unbelievable is that trump, who is not exactly known for his restrained or self discipline would actually stop after day one. it's a significant disturbing escalation of rhetoric. just rhetoric, but it is an escalation for him because of how bluntly an openly he's telling the country about autocratic plans for a second term. during last night speech, trump also issued a thinly veiled warning to president biden, saying that the criminal indictments against trump have, quote, opened up a pandora's box that may never let our country be the same, and quote. trump's most subservient allies are also falling into line, picking up on the themes of retribution. at the end of last month, robert kagan, another large for the washington post, published a lengthy piece warning about the increasing inevitability of a trump dictatorship. in response to kagan's piece, the republican senator j.d. vance of ohio sent a letter addressed to attorney general merrick garland and the secretary of state antony blinken, seeking an investigation into kagan, a journalist. vance, by the way, none of the names being considered as trump 's running mate has ice president, according to a recent report by axios. by the way, the journalist isn't the only one warning about the erosion of democracy in america, the former congresswoman, liz cheney, offered a lot of sharp criticisms about how america's, quote, sleepwalking into a dictatorship. but cheney is just warning about trump, she is concerned about her entire parties growing subordination. she even went as far as to say, quote, it's so important that the republicans not be in the majority in 2025. it's a pretty remarkable statement from someone who was a senior member of house republican leadership. cheney understands this firsthand, she lost her reelection primary last year to a trump backed candidate, a common story for many moderate and anti trump republicans as the gop continues its march to the right. it's part of what's fueling the dysfunction and deadlock that we witnessed in congress this year which has resulted in the lack of meaningful action on several fronts. on wednesday, senate republicans blocked a procedural vote for a crucial aid package for ukraine and israel after talks broke down over border security policy, an issue that trump in the gop have been trying to leverage in negotiations. meanwhile, yesterday, the biden administration bypass congressional approval and pushed through an emergency arms sale of 14,000 tanks skills to israel, worth about 100 and $6 million. move came, by the way, just hours after the united states vetoed a yuan resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in gaza as the humanitarian situation there worsens amid israel's war against hamas. a lot of news to cover. joining me now is the democratic senator, chris van hollen of maryland. he's a member of the senate foreign relations appropriations and budget committee, pretty much everything i just talked about. -- senator, first of all, good to see you again, thank you for joining us this morning. >> ali, it's great to be with you. >> let's just talk about this stuff, it's no surprise to you, or me, that donald trump says things that sound authoritarian and dictatorial. but there is an incremental increase in his rhetoric. there is enough stuff going on around him that can cause people to believe that this isn't just bluster, things could really be different in the second trump term. >> well, that's right, look. when someone tells you who they are, believe them. when trump tells you he wants to be dictator for a day, you can certainly believe it for the day, you also know that that's gonna be a pattern that he continues to do his administration. this is a very dangerous moment for american democracy. it is so important that people heed the words of people like liz cheney who are calling out the danger not just of donald trump but the complicity now of the entire republican party and the maga movement who have stood by and enabled donald trump to continue to do what he does. >> let's talk about things going on in the world. ukraine has said very clearly that they could lose this war now, they need help, things are not going as well as they would've hoped. the budget, the administration has said the same thing, there's no magic pot of money. what happens in terms of ukraine funding. give me the big picture on why we have to not do this when it comes to ukraine. >> well, here right, it's an increasingly desperate situation. the ukrainians are putting their lives and blood on the line to defend themselves against putin's aggression. we simply need to provide them with the military assistance they need to fight off this dictator. it's important in ukraine for the freedom of ukraine, it's also true that autocrats around the world are watching very closely what we do. if we wave the white flag, if we surrender here, you are gonna see people like president xi and china and autocrats around the world emboldened, and our allies will be frightened about our lack of constancy, are lack of commitment. it's very important that we do this. you know, you're speaking about donald trump. he says he wants to be a dictator, he's also, essentially, supporting putin in this effort. rting putiso, this is a patternt we're seeing around the world. we need to address it and address it now, supply ukraine with the money and funds it needs. >> the leadership, republican leadership, generally speaking, has said that despite some outliers in the house, they are on side was supporting ukraine, strategic and important reasons for americans to be outside, but generally speaking, republicans have said their onside. what's going on here, i know we're having trouble. they're trying it to the border wall, i think you and i can both agree that border and immigration issues have been problematic for decades in america, that's an important topic. why this? why is this actually happening politically at this point? >> well, you're right, we do need to have good faith negotiations to address the immigration issues, the border security issues, and those conversations are ongoing in the united states senate. the fact that republicans have made resolving that very tough negotiation a condition for providing military assistance to ukraine, it shows how donald trump has taken over the republican party. they've essentially said that they're not going to be helping the people of ukraine secure their freedom and fight off putin unless we resolve this other issue. the reality is that what we should address both issues, they should not be tying them together. this is a recipe, i'm afraid, of surrender in ukraine. >> let's talk about israel, the other big issue that's going on in the world. you are not for the washington post last week on the topic of u.s. aid for israel. i'm gonna read from it. it says, quote, as israel's closest friend and security partner, the united states has a strong interest making certain that israel's response prioritize a secure return of all hostages and ensuring that hamas no longer poses a military threat. we also have an obligation to the american people to ensure that our support is consistent with our interests and values and align with u.s. and international humanitarian law. the war to end hamas's control of gaza is just, but it must be fought justly, and quote. tell me how you're thinking about that. >> well, that's exactly right. we support israel's objective of ending the military threat from hamas to israel. how this war is conducted, it's very important. if the united states is going to provide taxpayer dollars to support this effort, we need to make sure that we have a say in how it's conducted and it's conducted in a way that reflects their values. right now, we're seeing an unacceptable level of civilian casualties. we're seeing a humanitarian catastrophe. the reality is that the netanyahu government could be doing more on both fronts. in fact, secretary blinken said that it was, quote, imperative that the netanyahu government takes steps to reduce unacceptable levels of civilian casualties and do much more to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to gaza. it's not happening in the way it needs to. in fact, again, secretary blinken said there was a, quote, gap between those objectives we have laid out and what's happening. and so, in my view, the biden administration needs to be doing much more to exercise its leverage, american leverage to close that gap. that is why it's important to have this conversation around the country and in the congress. >> there are two ways of dealing with this, one is, as you said, the pressure that president biden and secretary blinken can put on israel to do that, the other one that a lot of your colleagues have been talking about is aid to israel, how or whether we should condition it. senator, you and i, we live in a space right now where everything everybody says is very hyper politicized. what's the reasonable approach to that discussion about aid to israel and whether it should be conditioned on certain things that are the priorities that americans believe about that part of the world? >> well, sure. again, the goal here is to close what the secretary of state described, you know, as the gap. we need to be using all lovers of, you know, american support, with our friend, israel. what we've proposed, a group of 13 of us, is something that apply to all u.s. military systems in the supplemental bill. in other words, or apply to ukraine, it applied israel, it would apply to any country that's gonna receive military assistance under that bill. it's a very simple principle that we require that u.s. military assistance be used in a manner that complies with international humanitarian law and u.s. law, and that the recipients of u.s. military assistance cooperate fully when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance in a conflict zone. these are very straightforward propositions that you would hope are not controversial. we also, ali, have reporting requirements because we want to see if the countries that are receiving military assistance are measuring up to these standards. arso, we require that the biden administration report on whether the recipients of military assistance are, in fact, using the equipment in a manner that compliance with international u.s. law, whether they are fully cooperating with our humanitarian assistance. also, importantly, beyond complying with humanitarian law, whether they are adopting practices and mechanisms that the united states government have said are very important in foreign assistance, to reduce civilian casualties, and other words, you have the international law standard, but you also have the united states has adopted many measures to try to reduce civilian casualties in conflict. we want to know how recipients of u.s. military assistance are measuring up on that front as well. >> all right, we'll follow the development of this proposal of yours and your colleagues very closely, senator, as always. thank you for being with us, democratic senator, chris van hollen of maryland. coming, up i wouldn't continue our conversation about democracy in america with representative of maryland, maryland morning, i guess, on velshi. jimmy raskin after the break. raskin has made his own chilling prediction of another trump presidency could look like, hungry under president victor -- and liberal democracy. plus, a new strong jobs report this week spells good news for the economy, that's just one part of the puzzle. i have all the data for you coming up. then, a 31-year-old mother in texas is being forced to carry a non viable fetus, her family, and possibly even her life are at stake. this is a serious reminder of what post roe america looks like. we cannot normalized it. you're watching velshi. t. you're watching velshi you're watching velshi >> ♪ ♪ 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best of both worlds. the therapeutic benefits of a warm, soothing bath, that can help increase mobility, relieve pain, boost energy, and even improve sleep. or, if you prefer, you can take a refreshing shower all in one product! call now! >> i want to welcome democratic congressman, jamie raskin, of maryland to the show. he's a top democrat on the house oversight committee in 2021. he served as the lead house manager prosecuting the second impeachment case against donald trump. he was a member of the january 6th committee that investigated the attack on the capitol. congressman, i did realize it was maryland morning for us here. you know, why not? that's a good theme to have on a sunday morning on velshi. congressman, you are one of the loudest and clearest and most articulate voices on the threat to democracy that donald trump and people like him, it's not just donald trump, are posing to america. since you and i have been talking in all these years, things have escalated so much to the point that donald trump now says all the quiet part out loud. i want to get your thoughts about where we are in the threat to democracy that we face as americans going into 2024. >> we're in the fight of our lives, ali. i mean, every four years, the democrats come back and say, this is the most important election of our lifetimes, forget all that, this one really is the most important election of our lifetimes. this is our year of living dangerously and our year of living passionately in defense of constitutional democracy. donald trump has made it clear that he's and lead with every dictator, autocrat, kleptocrat, plutocrat, theocratic on earth. they're all in lead against american democracy. he made clear he wanted to talk later on january 6th, 2021, when he levied an insurrection of violence against the union and tried to overthrow the constitutional order and install himself as president. he's continued to say he will pardon everybody who is involved in that attack on our democracy. that's very much a pattern with the authoritarians. you know, the part of the conversation is not yet been elaborated, it's really about antisemitism. there is a national uproar over antisemitism. somebody like -- cars no problem going after ivy league presidents. what about donald trump who dines with nicholas fuentes, who is an un-reconstructed holocaust revisionist neo-nazi, who says that jews don't belong in western civilization? where is elise stefanik on that point? donald trump was the one who saw, you know, very fine people on both sides of an antisemitic riot in the right festivities called by neo-nazi groups in charlottesville in 2017. some, if we're gonna have a conversation about antisemitism, let's talk about real antisemitism in the republican party today and why donald trump, who traffics and antisemitic tropes, as he did in 2016 when he ran against lloyd blank fine, janet yellen, and george -- saying globalists were not on the side of the american people, what are we gonna have the conversation about that? >> globalists, as you and i know, it's code, right? -- uses, it they put a globe next to, a globalist means jewish. it is interesting, you go back to when joe biden announced his run for presidency. it was actually for the soul of the nation, his opening campaign ad was about charlottesville. this is actually a fight that's been going on for a long time. that's the bad part, right? we have intellectual inconsistency on the part of republicans and right-wingers on this. on the other side of things, the hopeful part is what we've seen in special elections, off-year elections, midterm elections, the fight against moms for liberty, the referendum in ohio. people, americans, are listening to this. they are saying, if this is the fight of our lives, in terms of democracy, i can have a rule, i can change all this nonsense. >> well, look, the commanding democratic majority in the country just needs opportunities to have its will to be expressed, as you point out, with missouri, kansas, ohio, colorado. the vast majority of the american people reject trump and trumpism. joe biden beat him by more than 7 million votes last time. we're adding millions of young voters to the rules between now and 2024. where they have on their side? a bag of tricks, anti democratic tricks, manipulation of electoral college, gerrymandering of federal and state legislative districts, right-wing judicial activism, not allowing, you know, my constituent, merrick garland, even to get a hearing when he was nominated to the supreme court. it's all anti-democratic, anti constitutional, offensives that the republicans rely on. they're willing to go all the way to violence, as we saw on january 6th. the good news, as you say, is that the democratic majority in the country is standing tough and standing strong. we just need to make sure that millions of young people are part of that coalition, which is why it's so important that joe biden get us on a path towards peace, towards neutralization of hamas and disarming them from control over gaza, moving us toward israel peace and reconstruction in the middle east for israelis and palestinians. >> tell me about that a little bit. i like to have that conversation about what it looks like next. it's a very hard conversation to have right now because, understandably, so many people here and there are in the moment about what's going on, whether it's the tragedy in gaza and with the fact there is still 137 hostages who have not been released. it is imperative to think about what the future looks like. what are your thoughts? >> well, that's exactly right. what we need from the biden administration is setting forth a plan to move forward on the day after the hostilities. that day cannot come too soon from the standpoint of the preservation of civilian life and community in gaza and in israel. so, what we need is an illustration of a real plan for two state solution, for a democratic palestinian state existing next to a democratic israeli stay in security with safe borders all around, and an international plan, a martial plan style investment in the region to rebuild and reconstruct. either the middle east is going to lead to greater regional warren world war iii, or it can be an opportunity for the world to get invested in peace and reconstruction of human rights so we can get back to work on the overarching challenge of our time, which is climate change, threatens the lives of everybody and threatens the future of humanity. >> want to get back to this topic you raised a few minutes ago, the president of the university of pennsylvania stepped down from her position last night. the board chair stepped down. the pressure has not moved to the president of harvard and m.i.t.. we may see that removal and resignation the next couple of days. tell me about your thoughts on this. your very intellectually consistent, how should we be thinking about this? >> well, i'm thinking about i