center headquarters. this is msnbc headquarters on the right. the iconic christmas tree in the middle and this is our news proof to you that they haven t taken down the big tree yet. people still enjoying the ice skating in the holiday season. the new year naturally begins with a presidential race as well as a possible trial of donald trump. later tonight we have some developments in that jack smith case. our top story of the new year right now is this official home stretch of the primaries in the 2024 presidential race. president biden is the presumed democratic nominee. there is no big race there although there are some other announced candidates. we even heard from cornell west last year. on the republican side there could be an open race. will republicans decide between trump or his remaining opponents? and how soon does that process start? if you ve been busy, you know, having a little time off or enjoying your holiday food or your new years workout routine or any of the
unresolved, really ruining way for such an important case to just be punted and delayed. that s also potentially on the table. we ll have more on the weeks ahead. that s a big part of all this. a broad immunity claim for trump could go well beyond trump, his life span, our life span, if this is a republic that we start the new year trying to still hold on to, we have to be clear about what the consequences are for trying to destroy the republic, or end democracy. and there are former trump white house officials, these are people who are the closest to him and the most loyal until the end, raising alarms about him beating this case, or avoiding this case and being reelected and what an authoritarian second term would look like. fundamentally a second trump term could may not the end of american democracy as we know it. i don t say that lightly. his rhetoric has gotten
table about this selection, about the, you know, the self-reverence, about the media, ourselves, self-absorption, things like that. these are people, all of them who took great risks, faced unimaginable obstacles, in some cases gave their lives for the pursuit of facts, of truth. there s an extraordinary quote from khashoggi in one of his last columns where he says i still worry, wake up every morning and ponder the choice i ve made to speak my mind. this is a question for democracy, for freedom that extends well beyond journalism, well beyond trump, well beyond all of us. whether it is or not it s going tore interpreted by fortunate and his allies as a rebuke against him. it s been a very bad year for