Joins me now. Shes rosa brooks, professor at Georgetown University law center and author of everything became war and the military became everything and joining me tom nichols of usa today and former rnc chairman michael steele. Thank you very much for being here this saturday morning. Rosa, i want to start with you. As a coorganizer of that war gaming. Apparently you ran through three or four different scenarios. Can you run through them quickly . Sure. We gave our exercise participants four scenarios. One was a big decisive biden win. A popular vote and electoral vote. One was a trump win where he, as in 2016, lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote decisively. One was a narrow biden win. A squeaker in the Electoral College with the popular vote lead and the final scenario involved a period of extended uncertainty like the election of 2000 where it seemed like it was going to be essentially interminate who really won. In all of those scenarios, as it was reported in, i think in the boston globe in all the scenarios what turned out to happen was predicted street level violence. No matter what scenario happened. How, as a war gaming went through and worked its way through, what were the reactions of all these sort of seasoned grizzled veterans who are gathered around doing this . What were the reactions . You know, this is a good question to put to michael steele. He was one of our participants on one exercise. I think people are kind of shocked. I think on the one hand, nobody expected donald trump to be a champion in the rule of law. On the other hand i think that democrats, especially, but also lots and lots of republicans have a touching faith in the law to save us from donald trump. And what the exercises certainly demonstrated we cannot put our faith in some Magical Court to come down and say now, trump, you must behave and for trump to say sorry about that. Ill stop doing whatever i was doing. That in each of our exercises, what happened right away the players playing were extremely ruthless out of the game. I can imagine. They stopped the count the mail in ballots. In one scenario they shut down the post office. In other scenarios they fought to have sympathetic governs use the National Guard to seize and sequester allegedly fraudulent ballots. They called on the Second Amendment to get armed supporters to threaten and intimidate electors and ballot counters. In all the situations, it pains me to say it, the democrats were sort of left wringing their hands and saying but thats illegal. Im laughing because thats what democrats do. I was going to go to ellie next. Michael steele, i didnt know you were a part of this war gaming. I should have considering the thing rose is a outlined what republicans did. From your perspective, from your perspective, could were old friends. I had to do it. Michael, you were part of this, from your perspective, what did you learn . What concerns were elevated as a result of participating . Yall better buckle up. I think rosa laid it out right. The idea the war gaming was not lets figure worst case scenarios. They were based on what we seen come out of the administration and how democrats responded to now. How republicans responded up to now. How governors responded during the covid crisis. Sort of taking the trump way and exposing their public to the dangers of covid19 as opposed to doing what you think logically would make sense. To be aware of what is at stake here and the degree to which, you know, again why i have been screaming for the past few weeks . Yall be wake up and get your act together. What is about to come is real. The reason is because of what the scenarios tell us. Not just how donald trump will behave but the elements and components of our democracy may or may not function as a result of what the man decides to do. Thats the element. I keep talking about it. Democrats wake up. You cannot approach the election from a conventional perspective. Donald trump will play you for a sucker in a heart beat, if you do. As weve seen, he has no rules. 0 he has no bounds. Our goal is to figure out how the institutions will hold up under the pressure and how the American People will hold up under that pressure. We cannot just rely on one party or one individual doing what theyre supposed to do. Its going to take all of us from local governments all the way up the chain to make sure that this election is held appropriately. It was the perfect set up for you. Before i get you to give your thoughts. Im going to put up the tweet that rosa tweeted. Dont be in a fantastic threat, if you havent read it yet. You can see it there. The six part of the thread. That has been President Trumps m. O. Creating chaos. Respond to what chairman steele talked about. Its why he doesnt want to delay the election. He wants to delegitimize the election. He would lose to cup of joe. Not just joe biden. I appreciate what steele has done. I would like to say i have wan warning people to take seriously for the past 20 years what happens when republican steele acourts. One of the things that is happening now with our election is not so much that trump is trying to steel it but the courts are trying to steel it for him. This is why they stole a extreme court. This is why theyve been packing federal courts and state courts with hard core conservatives. Its the thing that binds republicans together on the bench is a hostility to voting rights. And we are seeing that in all of our localities now. To make it easierer to have mail in voting. The courts are doing everything they can to make sure that the election is chaotic as possible and that is by republican design. Democrats have to be ready for what is coming but this is what ive been screaming about for the past 20 years. Theres a story in the Great Washington post on thursday that points to one of the things you were talking abouting. Postal Service Backlog sparks worries that ballot delivery could be delayed in november. Tom, i want to come to you now. Donald trump, i think chairman steele said, you know its a asymmetrical fighter. I always thought that President Trump wants to stay in office as long as he can because the moment hes no longer in office he is at the mercy. Ic he worries about that and researching how to pardon himself forever and perpetuity because thats the thing he would think of. You know, you have two separate groups here that have an interest in destroying the election. Truf is about trump. I dont think trump wanted to be elected president. Now he wants to ride the rocket all the way down. But theres also a group of republicans and conservatives around him. Theyre like the shark. They think that keeping trump in power by any means necessary is kind of their lastditch effort to save western civilization. As ellie said, to to try to keep moving Voter Suppression so they can enable minority rule for years to come. I want to inject a little note and say i think a lot of it is going to backfire. You know, even Mitch Mcconnell is saying republicans if you walk away from donald trump now thats, you know, at least one glimmer. Here we are having an election full of chaos and violence because of one man and because of the people around him who have a vested interest in letting him have that chaos. And i keep saying lets not get too distracted by trump. Keep your eye on bill barr and the people around him who are a lot more confident and less emotionally disorderered than he is and know what theyre doing. Thats a great point, tom. I have a question for all of you round robin. Before i get to that, michael steele, as a former chairman of the Republican Party, where is your party . To toms point, Mitch Mcconnell is, you know, giving but its too little too late. Where are they . Where the defenders of the constitution when the constitution is in danger. You know its where theyve always been. You know, underneath Donald Trumps left cheek. I dont know. Bam. You know these folks and thats butler chet cheek. No, no. We all got it. I want to make sure. Sometimes it aint clear. The reality, jonathan, is folks made a bargain with the devil. And i think to toms point, theyre like, you know, push on the shark. Theyre like that thing is going to stick and stay were just going to ride it. But what then happens. At some point the fish releases this shark aint moving right. Its dead or dying and i need to get off. Selfpreservation, at some point, kicks. Thats why where they are. The American People have been watching for three years. Selfpreservation wont be enough to preserve yourself at this point. Okay. Starting with rosa, what is the most likely scenario come november, rosa . James mur i are is the head of the United States department of secret service and at some point, it is going to be on him to save the republic. Wait. Talk about that more quick. Trump is going to lose. Hell have to be taken away once he loses and the first person who can do that is the head of secret service. Thats how trump forces us to think. We have to ask what mike esper thinks about moving the election. What chad wolf, department of homeland storm troopers thinks about moving the election. Thats where we are. And james murray, who is trumps hand picked out of the secret service because he fired the guy he called dumbo. Tom . Trump will lose. Hes a coward. He will not have to be removed from the white house. He will leave sulking and pouting and shaking his fist that it was all rigged and he never wanted to be president anyway. And the most interesting question about the chaos, i agree with rosa, theres going to be chaos and hes going to poison as much as possible. Ill take money hell skip joe bidens inauguration. And chairman steele. I think rosa and tom found the sweet spot. I think thats the scenario that will play out is what weve seen and what i think is kind of been foretold by trump himself. I think thats the space we need to guard ourselves against and be prepared for. Actually, you know, thats the scenario i think will happen and i hope thats what happens. Thank you very much. We have to end the conversation there. Rosa will be back in the next hour. Coming up, august is about to become increasingly cruel for millions of working class americans. The one and only ali velshi joins me next. Li velshi joins me next. What getting fueled with one protein feels like. What getting fueled with three energy packed proteins feels like. Meat cheese and nuts p3. Because 3 is better than 1 and get way more. 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Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com try and never go to the post office again the original Unemployment Benefits actually pay people to stay home. More people got more money staying home than going back to work. The president has been clear and our republican senators are going to be clear were not going to extend that provision. The fair thing to replace wages. It wouldnt be fair to use taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home than they would get working at a job. This morning millions of americans are waking up totally unsure of their financial future after Mitch Mcconnell and company once again failed to approve an extension to the supplemental 600 weekly Unemployment Insurance checks. They also let a more or atorium evictions to expire. Some republicans have claimed people are earning more staying home collecting unemployment than they would be at their jobs. A ludicrous talking point. The 600 weekly benefits arent the problem. The problem is most hourly workers simply arent getting paid enough even when they can safely go to work. Joining me now to break it down is the host of msnbcs Velshi Ali Velshi i cannot imagine a better american to be on to talk about this. Thank you. I want to bust you the myth that we heard from secreta mnuchin. 600 weekly divided by 40 hours a week is 15 per hour. Thats what a lot of democrats have been pushing for. Look at this, the republicans wanted to reduce it to 200 a week. Over 40 hours per week, thats 5 a week. When you look at the federal minimum wage since 2009, it is now 7. 25 per hour. Thats the minimum wage. Yep. Given the information we showed in those three elements, talk about this notion that people are being paid to sit at home and its better to be unemployed collecting Unemployment Benefits than actually working. No. So theres two ways to bust that myth. Youve already effectively done one of them. If its true, if youre actually earning more money staying home on unemployment, then you would be gaining in wages, then we have a different societal problem to talk about. That means your wages are too low. Number one. Number two, i dont know how many different ways we want to look at unemployment now but im not sure where Steve Mnuchin and mark meadows think the jobs are that people could otherwise be in as opposed to being in unemployment. Its a myth. Its the same people who came up with the welfare queen idea. The myth people want to be unemployed. Its not the american thing. Lets talk about the supplement. The 600 is an up to amount. Not everybody was getting 600. They were getting some match up to. Theyre bringing it down. When you look at wages in america, you talk about 7. 25 was the last increase in 2009. In 2009 if unemployment kept pace with hourly wages when they were invented when minimum wage was invented, we would have, by 2009, been at about 10. 50 or 10. 75 an hour. By 2020, we would be up about 14 an hour right now. So thats if you never increased. If you indexed minimum wage to inflation. Thats what we should be getting. The reason its relevant people need the money to live in america. If you earn the minimum wage in 95 of the counties in this country, you cant afford a onebedroom apartment. We have two problems. We have a wage problem already. We have the silliness coming from congress about weve done enough and were paying people to stay home. Sadly, well find out this isnt true. It didnt get extended and suddenly all of these people who apparently are sitting on the couches and not working because they were getting free checks from the government are not going to go back to work because the work doesnt exist. Im glad you walked us through that. You know, on instagram, a friend of mine put out this. I forgot to tell the producers about this element. But its a 10year challenge two bedroom Fair Market Rent from justeconomics wnc. 600 a month 2009 for rent. 7. 25 minimum wage. 2020 monthly rent average 1,255. 2020 minimum wage 7. 25. 7. 25. That is exactly why you want to index this to inflation. Because you cant make a decision that it stays static. Its ridiculous. But this is work i mean, jonathan, you understand this. This is noble. This is what we do. Right. Its just not it doesnt make any sense in the richest country in the world we pay people something that cant be a livi living wage. That grown adults need to room with other people in order to exist. Thats why coronavirus hits the poorest the most. They cant afford the fancy living situations that the rest of us have where we have so much Square Footage around us. Its a larger problem this administration is exacerbating in the middle of this pandemic. Right. Forcing people to go to work in the middle of a pandemic puts them at risk, puts the public at risk, and then they go home, most likely to multigenerational homes and spread the virus. Right. There was a yale study, i think no. The jpmorgan study that came out about the 600 supplemental from the npr story. Its interesting. The Jpmorgan Chase found that households receiving benefits spent 10,000 above prepandemic levels compared to a spending drop of 10 for employed households. Explain that. So this is typical. You find it in recessions or find it generally with people who get any kind of supplemental aid or government aid. Generally speaking, the minute you have excess money in your life, you dont have to spend it all. If you earn 100,000 a year and it costs 60,000 to live, you have 40,000 extra you. You might invest it, spend it, or save it. If it costs 60,000 and you spend 55,0 get 55,000 you h shortfall. You might buy enough milk with your children. Fill your tank a little bit more. What you might do is buy the necessities you dont otherwise get. If you earn more money, i have no issue with people earning lots of money, you tend to have excess, according to your needs. Right. If you and i both consume a certain amount of protein every year, im going consume a certain amount more if im wealthier. I wont eat five times as much. We wont drink five times as much. Thats the issue, if youre not meeting your basic needs and the government gives you extra money, 100 of the extra money goes back into the economy and generates more sales and more Economic Activity and more jobs. You give rich people more money, some goes to the economy. Some goes into their savings. Ali velshi, thank you very much. I want to make sure that everyone knows well be talking to nancy pelosi about this. Thank you for hanging around. My pleasure. Coming up, florida is getting hammered by the coronavirus and the last thing they need is a hurricane. Well, guess what. Thats next. Hurricane well, guess what thats next. Some