Josh Hawley's Illogical Defense of Trump's Lawlessness Reveals GOP's Blind Loyalty Over Constitutional Principles

[00:00] the principle of when an injunction

[00:02] biting nonparties which was never done

[00:04] in this country before the 1960s and

[00:07] let's see the chart the Trump chart

[00:09] which was done really only once Trump

[00:13] came into office for the first time now

[00:14] you don't think this is a little bit

[00:15] anomalous you don't think that's a

[00:17] little bit strange a very plausible

[00:19] senator you have to consider is that he

[00:20] is engaged in much more lawless activity

[00:22] than other presidents right that you

[00:24] must never used before the 1960s and

[00:27] suddenly Democrat judges

[00:30] decide we'd love the nationwide

[00:31] injunction and then when Biden comes

[00:33] office now it's Republican appointees as

[00:35] well senator and the 1960s is where some

[00:37] scholars begin sort of locate the

[00:39] beginning of them maone who's another

[00:42] scholar of universal injunction suggest

[00:44] 1913 is actually the first others in the

[00:46] 20 endured the republic endured for 150

[00:49] years before a nationwide injunction

[00:50] well the federal government was doing a

[00:52] lot less until 100 years ago so I'm I

[00:54] you know there's many things that have

[00:55] changed in the last hundred or the last

[00:57] 50 years so so As long as it is a

[01:00] Democrat president in office, then we

[01:02] should have no nationwide injunctions.

[01:03] If it's a Republican president, then

[01:05] this is absolutely fine, warranted, and

[01:06] called for. How can our system of law

[01:09] survive on those principles? Professor,

[01:12] I think a system in which there are

[01:14] constraints on the president is a very

[01:17] dangerous system. That's Kate Shaw,

[01:18] co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast,

[01:20] giving Josh Holly a quick lesson in

[01:22] basic logic and common sense. Holly,

[01:25] among other Republicans, has decided

[01:27] that an unprecedented number of

[01:29] nationwide injunctions against this

[01:30] president means that the courts are

[01:32] stacked against him and just one more

[01:34] instance of the weaponization of

[01:36] government against dear leader Donald

[01:38] Trump, as opposed to the more logical

[01:40] reason, which is that Donald Trump is

[01:42] getting dealt more nationwide

[01:43] injunctions by the courts because he is

[01:45] doing more lawless things that the

[01:47] courts have to stop. Logic, what does it

[01:50] mean? And let's be clear, this isn't the

[01:52] first time that this tortured brand of

[01:53] reason has emerged in defense of Trump.

[01:55] Remember how we spent the entirety of

[01:57] the campaign while Donald Trump was

[01:58] contending with his prosecutions.

[02:00] Listening to Republicans claim that

[02:02] these prosecutions were examples of the

[02:04] weaponization of government. JD Vance

[02:06] would tweet, "Biden is attacking the

[02:08] most likely 2024 opponent. He's using

[02:10] the justice system to preemptively steal

[02:12] the 2024 election. This is what's

[02:14] happening, plain and simple." Tucker

[02:16] Carlson said, "This won't stop Trump.

[02:18] He'll win the election if he's not

[02:19] killed first. But it does mark the end

[02:21] of the fairest justice system in the

[02:23] world. Anyone who defends this verdict

[02:24] is a danger to you and your family. In

[02:27] fact, this talking point was ubiquitous

[02:29] across the right. Beware in the

[02:31] weaponized Biden criminal justice

[02:33] system, well, political differences are

[02:36] now considered especially heinous. And

[02:39] if New York's powerful Democrats hate

[02:41] your politics, well, a prison cell might

[02:43] well be in your future or some kind of

[02:45] conviction for something well that they

[02:48] make up. Without a second thought, well,

[02:50] those these Democrats, they'll make up a

[02:52] crime, conduct a show trial, rig a

[02:55] conviction with a handpicked Biden

[02:57] donating judge, regardless of the

[02:59] evidence, if they could even explain it.

[03:01] I called President Trump and told him I

[03:02] wanted to be here myself to call out

[03:05] what is a travesty of justice. And I

[03:08] think everybody around the country can

[03:10] see that this is the the the fifth week

[03:12] that President Trump has been in court

[03:14] for this sham of a trial. They are doing

[03:17] this intentionally to keep him here and

[03:20] keep him off of the campaign trail. And

[03:22] I think everybody in the country can see

[03:23] that for what it is. This is a

[03:25] politicized persecution that is nakedly

[03:28] apparent. This is a sham. This is not

[03:31] the United States of America. This is

[03:32] some third rate banana republic. If this

[03:34] were happening in another country, we

[03:37] would be laughing at them as a sham

[03:38] democracy. I am ashamed as an American

[03:41] citizen. You have a

[03:43] prosecutor who is ignoring crimes

[03:46] happening every single day in his

[03:48] jurisdiction and he chooses to go back

[03:51] many many years ago uh to try to use

[03:55] something about po pornst star hush

[03:57] money payments. You know, that's an

[03:59] example of pursuing a political agenda.

[04:02] lawfare at its finest or at its worst.

[04:05] Yes, it must be weaponized government

[04:08] and totally definitely not the fact that

[04:11] this president simply committed more

[04:13] crimes. Definitely not the fact that

[04:14] this president committed campaign

[04:16] finance violations and stole classified

[04:18] documents from the White House and

[04:19] refused to return them and tried to

[04:20] interfere with the certification of a

[04:22] free and fair election and engaged in a

[04:24] racketeering scheme in Georgia. Nope.

[04:26] any effort to hold him to account for

[04:28] his own actions is simply evidence of a

[04:31] weaponized government and he bears no

[04:33] responsibility for his own actions

[04:35] whatsoever. And so in effect it is

[04:38] actually impossible to hold Donald Trump

[04:40] to account for anything because if you

[04:41] try then it's automatically another

[04:43] example of weaponized government at the

[04:45] hands of the communist Marxist leftist

[04:47] Democrats. So Trump can commit crimes

[04:50] with impunity. And if you even try to

[04:52] hold him responsible for his own

[04:53] actions, in fact, you're the one who's

[04:56] corrupt. Heads eye win, tails, you lose.

[04:59] In reality, it's easier for these

[05:01] Republicans to pretend that Donald Trump

[05:02] being held to account for his own

[05:03] criminality is somehow the fault of the

[05:05] left because they need some excuse to be

[05:08] able to explain away his corruption

[05:10] while trying to keep their own hands

[05:11] clean. They of course don't want to have

[05:13] to answer for his administration's

[05:15] illegal orders. His administration's

[05:17] attempt to eliminate due process. His

[05:19] administration defying court rulings.

[05:21] His administration firing people they

[05:22] don't have the authority to fire. His

[05:24] administration shutting down agencies

[05:26] they don't have the authority to

[05:27] shutter. His administration withholding

[05:29] funds that were already allocated duly

[05:31] by Congress. And so it's just easier for

[05:33] the Republican party to take all of

[05:35] those things in aggregate and pretend

[05:37] that it's all just evidence of a

[05:38] weaponized justice system. Of course,

[05:41] that's undermined by a couple of points.

[05:43] First, there have been at least eight

[05:45] judges who Trump himself appointed who

[05:48] have ruled against him with these

[05:49] nationwide injunctions. So, to believe

[05:51] Holly's talking point, that would mean

[05:53] that even Trump appointees are part of a

[05:55] grand conspiracy against the very guy

[05:57] who gave them their jobs. And the second

[05:59] point is that we can all plainly see

[06:01] Trump's lawlessness. I get that Josh

[06:03] Holly wants us to get lost in the

[06:05] minutia of his argument and the

[06:06] intricacies of his details. But when

[06:08] Trump tries to ban birthright

[06:10] citizenship, for example, the reason

[06:12] that there were three nationwide

[06:14] injunctions is because birthright

[06:16] citizenship is guaranteed in the US

[06:18] Constitution. In fact, here's the plain

[06:20] text. All persons born or naturalized in

[06:23] the United States and subject to the

[06:25] jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the

[06:27] United States and of the state wherein

[06:29] they reside. No state shall make or

[06:31] enforce any law which shall abridge the

[06:34] privileges or immunities of citizens of

[06:36] the United States. Nor shall any state

[06:37] deprive any person of life, liberty, or

[06:39] property without due process of law, nor

[06:42] denied to any person within its

[06:43] jurisdiction the equal protection of the

[06:45] laws. So I would love for someone to ask

[06:48] Josh Holly whether he thinks an

[06:49] injunction against an executive order

[06:51] that directly refutes the plain text of

[06:53] the Constitution is wellounded or if

[06:55] that too is somehow evidence of a

[06:57] weaponized government. starting to

[06:59] understand why Holly's blind defense of

[07:01] Trump's illegality is so stupid. Holly's

[07:04] partisan hackery is so blatant, so

[07:06] extreme that it's clouding his ability

[07:08] to have even an ounce of critical

[07:10] thinking. And yet, that's what it takes

[07:12] to succeed in today's GOP. As long as

[07:14] you'll cast aside every bit of dignity,

[07:16] of integrity, and of honesty in

[07:18] deference to Donald Trump, you can fail

[07:21] all the way to the

[07:23] [Music]

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