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SPECIAL REPORT: One Nation, Two Standards? When Politics Follows You Into a Disaster · The Briefing Room

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome ladies and gentlemen to another edition of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: The Briefing Room. I'm your host Marcus Atkinson.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: And you are listening in the background to the sweet
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: sounds of one George Morgan III, a.k.a. Buddy Love, kicking
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that theme song to the briefing room. Sounds so good,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: don't you agree? I'm going to tell you what you
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: won't hear today. You will not hear barbershop court. You
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: will not hear quick takes. And we will not be
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: here for an hour. For 30 minutes, I want to
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: do a special report because the latest commentary, by the
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: sitting president of the United States was so outlandish and
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: so disrespectful to these United States that I wanted to
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: slow down and say, are we really paying attention to
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the track record of this president and not just the rhetoric?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Because the rhetoric was already disrespectful and outlandish. But once
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: we really zero in on the way he has legislated,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: according to this philosophy of toxic hyper-partisan behavior, then you'll
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: understand just how much rewiring we need to do in
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: this country once all is said and done. Marcus Atkinson,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: this is a special report. When partisan politics become partisan governance,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: here's the central question. What happens when the political language
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: of us versus them starts showing up in a way
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: presidential power is exercised? Are you comfortable with that? That
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: is the central question. This is the briefing room. Let's
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: get this thing started.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Two American cities, one sentence from the president, and a
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: question much larger than what he meant. Act one, let
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: them take out Los Angeles.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Now, there are some sentences that just hit different when
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: they're spoken by the president of the United States. This
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: is one of them. Let me read you the transcript
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: of just the excerpt. that prompted this edition of The
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Briefing Room today. And he said, and I quote, with
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: keeping our country safe. They could take out a city.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: San Diego. This is a very small price to pay
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and it's going to be over very soon. It's essentially
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: almost over with, end quote. Let that sink in for
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: just a second. And even though I'm encouraging you to
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: let that sink in, my guess is that you've heard
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: so many outlandish comments from this president that you may
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: even be tempted to say, OK, well, let me tell
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you how California reacted to that. Their officials reacted very sharply. L.A.
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  Speaker 2: Mayor Karen Bass and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria condemned
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the language, as did Republican congressional candidate and Navy vet
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Jim Desmond. But here's a defense from the White House.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: White House Communications Director Stephen Chung said critics were stripping
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Trump's comments from context. The president, he says, was describing
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: the potential danger American cities would have faced without action
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: against Iran's nuclear ambitions. And that the president subsequently returned
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the subject in Texas and said in substance that such
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: an attack would not be allowed and that America protects
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: its cities. So, OK, let me say this. I'll grant
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: you that clarification. But if that's the case, I got
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: another question. Why should the president of the United States,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: a sitting president especially, ever be this casual with the
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: hypothetical destruction of an American city? Because Los Angeles is
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: not Gavin Newsom, although we understand that's the way your
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: mind works. San Diego is not the Democratic Party. There
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: are Republicans there as well. There's Democrats there. There's independents there.
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  Speaker 2: Kids are there. Military families, which you seem to not
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: give a damn about. They are there. Cities don't have
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: political parties. People do. And if this was only one
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: badly constructed sentence in one campaign rally, maybe the conversation
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: would end here. But there's a whole other set of
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: receipts that really underscores what I'm saying here this morning,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: what I'm going to say here. This morning. And these
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: involve more than just words because his actions actually line
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: up with the sentiment behind that speech. Although you are
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: saying it's taken out of context. I think that most,
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  Speaker 2: if not all of us understood very well that he
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: was dead serious. But that track record that I'm referencing
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: and I'm about to unpack involves money. And that's where
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  Speaker 2: you'll see that when it comes to this toxic partisan
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: behavior of this president, it is so much more than rhetoric.
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  Speaker 3: A hurricane doesn't know how you voted. Federal disaster policy
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  Speaker 3: might know exactly where you did. Act 2. Follow the
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  Speaker 3: disaster money.
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  Speaker 2: Which is all you need to do if you want
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  Speaker 2: to really fully understand just how partisan this president is.
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  Speaker 2: The data reveals an extraordinary partisan disparity. Now the argument
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  Speaker 2: is over why the disparity exists. Earlier this year, E
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  Speaker 2: & E News analyzed roughly 2,500 natural disaster declarations going
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  Speaker 2: back to the Reagan era. Okay, all the way back then.
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  Speaker 2: During Trump's second term, up to that point, he had
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  Speaker 2: approved 23% of requests from states with a Democratic governor
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  Speaker 2: and two Democratic senators. 23%, hold on to that number.
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  Speaker 2: In states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators, 89%.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: 23 versus 89. Let's take that even further because E
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  Speaker 2: and E news reported that this was the sharpest partisan
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: disparity since FEMA was even created. Now that gets my
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  Speaker 2: attention and it ought to get yours because this isn't
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump compared with Joe Biden. This is Donald Trump
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: compared with Donald Trump. Let's compare that to his first
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  Speaker 2: term where he approved 93% of disaster requests from Democrat
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  Speaker 2: led States, 93% Republican led States, 89% same Donald Trump,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: different term, very different pattern. Then came this summer, You
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: got New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. They
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: requested a combined $ 227 million following the February blizzard. Regional
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: FEMA and NOAA assessments had found qualifying conditions in several
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: of those states. Trump denied the request. Now, there's another
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  Speaker 2: side to this. A federal law gives presidents broad discretion
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  Speaker 2: in disaster declarations. The administration argues that Washington should supplement
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: state resources and and not automatically finance what it considers
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: routine state responsibilities. The White House says Trump is conducting
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: more scrutiny rather than simply rubber stamping FEMA recommendations. And
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  Speaker 2: the administration explicitly denies politicizing disaster relief. Now that matters
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that they say that, but now let's bring that to today.
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  Speaker 2: Because Trump has begun weaving disaster assistance directly into midterm campaigning.
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  Speaker 2: This man announced $ 17. 9 billion in disaster assistance for Wisconsin
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  Speaker 2: while praising Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany. He highlighted disaster
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  Speaker 2: aid in Ohio while appearing at a rally supporting Republican
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Senator John Husted. And in North Carolina, this same sitting
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: president joked, quote unquote, that disaster money might disappear if
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Republican Michael Watley lost his race. But now we're somewhere different.
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  Speaker 2: Because FEMA doesn't have a campaign yard sign. Disaster relief
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  Speaker 2: is not Republican money. It isn't Democrat money. It's our money.
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  Speaker 2: And if you're standing in front of what used to
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  Speaker 2: be your house, you shouldn't need the electoral college map
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: to figure out whether Washington is coming. Who you voted
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  Speaker 2: for should be the last point of consideration when your
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: family has lost everything they own at the hands of
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: a natural disaster. And I submit to you, the listener,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: That most of us, too many of us, are not
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: putting ourselves genuinely in the shoes of people that have
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: gone through this because we listen to this rhetoric and
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: we think it's funny. Most of us probably never saw
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: ourselves getting into some sort of auto accident when we
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: first started driving. But my guess is that most of you,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: whether it's a fender bender, being sideswiped, being back-ended or whatever,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: most of you have been in some sort of auto skirmish,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: some sort of accident on some level, but you didn't
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  Speaker 2: envision it. You don't envision that when you go up
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  Speaker 2: in a plane, but somebody's got to be on it
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: when it comes down. When these things happen, You cannot
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: make decisions on how they receive relief based on who
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: they voted for. Based on party affiliation. Do you understand
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  Speaker 2: that that is literally the way your president moves on
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  Speaker 2: a day to day basis? And that is not OK.
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  Speaker 3: Campaigns divide the country by design. The presidency is supposed
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  Speaker 3: to govern what remains. Act three. The president of which America?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, which United States? If you've ever seen Head of State,
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  Speaker 2: it's a movie by Chris Rock. He plays an alderman
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  Speaker 2: in D.C. who is running for president, obviously a black man.
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  Speaker 2: And that is the crux of the movie, this black
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  Speaker 2: man running for president who was very urban in his
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: entire swag. And when someone approached him about running for president,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: would you like to run for president? He said, of what?
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  Speaker 2: They said, of America. He said, which America? And that
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  Speaker 2: was kind of the joke.
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  Speaker 3: What?
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  Speaker 2: America is this man the president of. Here's what I've
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: been wrestling with. Donald Trump is allowed to have political enemies.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Every president has political enemies. Donald Trump is allowed to
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: campaign for Republicans. Of course he is. He can dislike
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom. Newsom clearly isn't sending Trump some Christmas card either.
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  Speaker 2: The animus is mutual. But there has to be a
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: line between the president saying, those are the Americans who
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: oppose me politically, as opposed to Those are the Americans
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  Speaker 2: who belong to me less because they oppose me politically.
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  Speaker 2: The available data show a significant difference in disaster aid
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  Speaker 2: approvals between states Trump carried in 24 and states he
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: did not. That deserves our scrutiny. But you can't rely
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  Speaker 2: on just the numbers to ascertain the man's motive. Because
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  Speaker 2: disaster requests differ. The damage, the eligibility, all of these
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: things are different. And FEMA says political considerations are not
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: determining its decisions. So maybe each case has an explanation
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  Speaker 2: that's completely different. And that's fine. My job is not
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  Speaker 2: to put Donald Trump inside my head. My job is
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  Speaker 2: to look at what he's doing and ask what standard
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  Speaker 2: we want from the presidency. Los Angeles, San Diego, North
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Carolina disaster money, Wisconsin, Ohio, taken individually. Maybe each one
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: has an explanation unto itself. But together, they do create
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: a question worth asking. Does the president of the United
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  Speaker 2: States increasingly see the country through the same red and
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: blue map he sees on election night. And that's where
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: the response from California became even more intense. Governor Gavin
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  Speaker 2: Newsom went so far as to call for discussion of
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  Speaker 2: the 25th Amendment after Trump's remarks about Los Angeles and
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  Speaker 2: San Diego, and can you blame him? I'm not going
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to go there, but can you blame him? I'm not
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  Speaker 2: a doctor. I don't diagnose presidents from radio studios. I
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: don't need a diagnosis to ask whether the behavior of
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is inappropriate because I think we all agree that it is.
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  Speaker 2: The question, though, isn't whether Donald Trump is mentally competent.
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  Speaker 2: The question I can actually examine is this. What kind
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: of presidency is he practicing? Because a president can dislike
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a state politically. A president can campaign against its governor.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: A president can criticize its mayor. But once the election
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: is over, those people are still citizens of the United States.
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  Speaker 2: And the presidency still belongs to I learned politics from
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  Speaker 2: a gentleman named Michael Lankford in Atlanta, Georgia. If you've
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: ever been to Atlanta, you see 166 runs east to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: west through downtown Atlanta. That is called Arthur Lankford Parkway.
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  Speaker 2: The mentor that I had in Atlanta is Michael Lankford,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: the younger brother. Arthur Lankford. And the one thing that
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: he told us explicitly as we were running for different
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: offices and on campaign teams for different offices, I never ran,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: but I was on multiple campaign teams. And I've met
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Kasim Reed before he was the mayor. I met Shirley
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Franklin before she was the mayor. Andre Dickens before he
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: was the mayor. All of these people cycled through the
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: same network. And the point that Michael would drive home
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: every single time is that I don't care who voted
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: for you and who didn't. Once you get in office,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: they all belong to you. And how can the president
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: not see that very simple point about the democracy of
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: these United States of America? You talk about making America
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: great again. Greatness begins with the Constitution. These are the
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: tenets that make this country so great, if you believe
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that it's great. How do you sign on to that
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: being picked apart and still fix your mouth to say,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: I want this man to make America great again. Can
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: you see the oxymoron here? Can you see the contradiction?
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And that is why we're doing this special report, because
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: you and I need to analyze just what some of
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: us are signing up for. And people like Gavin Newsom
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: are saying, now, wait a minute. We need to take
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: a deep dive analysis of the mental faculties of this man,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: because this is just going too far.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Government ultimately runs on more than laws and money. It
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: runs on whether citizens believe the rules still apply to everyone.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, and there is a price to be paid. And
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: we're the ones that are holding the bag for this
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: price that's being paid. Let me give you an idea
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: of some of the push and pull, some of the
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: jousting that's going on in the background behind all of
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: this hyper-partisan behavior coming out of your White House. A
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: coalition of states filed a motion on October 7, 2026,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: accusing the administration of unlawfully withholding nearly $ 1 billion in
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: congressionally approved counterterrorism and emergency management funds. Here are the conditions.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: To receive FEMA and Department of Homeland Security grant allocations
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: for the 26th fiscal year, DHS, states are being forced
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: to sign cooperation pledges. Here's what that means. These conditions
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: require local police to to grant ICE unrestricted access to
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: local jails, ban sanctuary laws, and prohibit local officials from
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: publicizing federal immigration stings. Did you hear that correctly? From
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: publicizing those even. But here's how the court looked at that.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Federal District Judge William Smith explicitly blocked these exact immigration-tied
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: funding conditions In late 2025, declaring them unlawful, the 26
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: lawsuits argue that the administration is directly flouting that active
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: permanent injunction. How's that for you? Let's go to the
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: next example. A Senate budget investigation revealed that the Department
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: of Defense, the DOD, has obligated over $ 2 billion to
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: support unsanctioned domestic immigration operations. That's at least $ 1 billion.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: A billion has already been spent. with the administration requesting
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: an additional $ 5 billion in the fiscal year 2026 budget,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: specifically for military border deployments. Critics and state governors note
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: that diverting these resources directly degrades the National Guard's ability
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: to respond to local state emergencies, such as natural disasters
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: or civil unrest. Does that not matter to the president?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: According to a Congressional Budget Office memo released at the
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: request of the Senate Budget Committee, the administration spent $ 496
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: million to keep National Guard troops and Marines deployed across
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: six major cities over a six-month period, entirely bypassing typical
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: localized state authorizations. How's that for you? Is that enough
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: push and pull? Are you not entertained? And we're the
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: ones paying for all of this now, all this court
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: action and lawsuits and everything else. Folks aren't doing their
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: job for us. Well, this is a part of their
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: job for us. But look at all of the energy
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: and resources that are going into battling the very thing
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: that we are discussing today. Let me give you one more.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: The $ 810 million empowerment. On October 1st, 2026, California Attorney
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: General Rob Bonta, alongside Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Mexico, and Oregon,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: filed a major lawsuit challenging the administration's use of pocket rescissions.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: The legal violation is this. The suit alleges that the
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: president unilaterally froze and attempted to cancel $ 810 million in
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: federal funds approved by Congress. Right as the fiscal year
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: was ending, the targeted funds were legally mandated by Congress
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: for statutory programs dealing with municipal immigration assistance, education, and
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: racial equity initiatives, and we all know how he feels
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: about that. And yet, here we are. Hell, while we're here,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: I may as well give you one more for the road.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: The federal government attempted a reverse legal strategy by directly
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: suing cities like Newark, Jersey City, Patterson, and Hoboken over
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: their local ordinances that limit cooperation with ICE. But there
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: was a judicial rejection. Federal courts pushed back on this overreach.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: In June of 2026, a federal judge dismissed the administration's
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: complaints against these cities, ruling that the federal government failed
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: to establish proper standing and could not legally override statewide
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: law enforcement directives. And as I listen to each and
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: every one of those cases, the only thing I can
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: say is just damn. So I'm asking you, what's the
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: actual cost when Americans begin to believe Federal power may just,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: in fact, depend on political loyalty as it appears to
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: be happening. Now, first, somebody still pays the bill. Let's
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: be clear about that. When federal disaster assistance doesn't arrive,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: state and local governments can be left carrying recovery costs themselves.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: I want you to take the winter storm requests from
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Those four states,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: they were asking for a combined two hundred and twenty
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: seven million dollars. If Washington says no, the damage doesn't
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: just disappear. The tree still fell. We just experienced this scenario.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: The road is still broken. Somebody still has to pay
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the contractor. And second, delay has consequences. Disaster declarations have
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: been taken longer on average during Trump's current term. Now,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the trend towards slower approvals didn't begin with Trump. That's
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: important to point out. And I got to be fair.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: I got to keep it a thousand no matter how
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: I feel about his actions. But the delays have, in fact, increased.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: And when you're waiting for help after a disaster, a
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: month is not an abstraction. It's the rent. It's temporary housing.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: It's a closed business. It's a family trying to figure
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: out what happens next. And third, presidential words matter because
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: other governments have to decide whether to take those words seriously. Which,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: as an aside, reminds me of this statue in France,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: which I thought was some sort of joke until I
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: looked it up. And there is actually this eight and
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: a half foot tall satirical gold sculpture that went on
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: display inside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France. It's
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: officially called, get this now, the Orange Plague. And it's
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: also frequently referred to by its subtitle, King of Injustice. Now,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: that may feel like it's not related to the subject
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: at hand. But isn't it, though? I mean, this is
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: an example of how our president, the leader of the
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: free world, arguably the most powerful position in the world.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: This is how so many countries view him. And then
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: they hear words like that about his own country. And
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: they're like, what's wrong with this dude? Now, let's take
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: this conversation full circle. Go right back to where we
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: started from in the beginning. His remarks about Los Angeles
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: and San Diego. San Diego. Did you know the California
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: officials increased their attention? to possible threats. So whether Trump
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: intended the meaning his critics heard or the meaning his
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: White House later explained, as if any of us believed that,
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: the words were serious enough that state officials altered their
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: security posture. Presidents have enemies. They have opponents. They have
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: states they lose. What presidents aren't supposed to have is
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: disposable Americans. Now, I got to say, for the sake
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: of legality, that I'm not saying that Donald Trump literally
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: believes Californians are disposable. His White House certainly says that
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: he's saying precisely the opposite. I'm saying the presidency should
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: leave as little room as possible for Americans to even
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: think that, to wonder that, to surmise that. That should
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: be the last thing on their minds because when the
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: question becomes, does Washington still have my back if my
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: state voted the wrong way, we had a serious trust
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: problem on our hands. And trust is one of those
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: things government does not notice until it's gone.
• 21:43
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• 22:46
  Speaker 3: And now, where it all lands. Final Commentary.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: I gotta say this before I get down to the
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: actual commentaries. I heard this speech and it landed on
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: me as if I lived in San Diego, as if
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: I lived in Los Angeles. I have relatives in Los Angeles.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: It landed on me as if he said Erie, Pennsylvania.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: And it should land on your ears the same way.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Now,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: I know we aren't talking about actual injustice and that
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: is a king quote, but The sentiment behind the quote,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: the spirit behind the quote was very simple. You can't
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: dismiss someone else because it's someone else. Because by the
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: grace of God, there go I. And I know I
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: butchered that one just a little bit. But we forget
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: that these are Americans. And I am an American. This
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: is an American city. And I live in an American city.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: And the geopolitical landscape is very savvy these days, especially
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: places like China. And you don't know who's being inspired
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: to act in some aggressive ways toward regions of the
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: United States that this president does not agree with. And
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: he is saying outwardly, audibly, that I am okay if
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: you threaten any aspect of this country that did not
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: and does not vote for me and agree with me.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: And you don't think his political enemies abroad aren't paying attention?
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: You don't think they're listening to that and saying, hey,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: we could hit a strike in the United States and
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: we know that they'll act, but it will be tepid
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: compared to what it would be if it was a
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: region that meant more to this president. It's an unprecedented situation.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they're telling themselves, but it represents a very
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: rare opportunity. When will we ever get a chance like
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: this again? To attack segments of America and get a
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: lukewarm response potentially. And for these enemies of the United States,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: is it worth the risk? And that's the thing that
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: scares me. But where this commentary is concerned, here's where
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: it lands. America's always been partisan. Jefferson and Adams particularly
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: invented political trash talk. Those two, the hate, the animus,
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: it was legendary. We survived that. We survived Jackson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton. Bush, Obama, Biden, Trump,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: presidents fight, parties fight, they all fight. Elections are supposed
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: to divide us temporarily because we're deciding which direction to
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: go in. It is a political tool for the moment.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: And in theory, once all is said and done, the
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: government has work to do for all Americans. That's the
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: way it's supposed to work. And listen, this may sound
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: like some preschool lesson, but a tornado doesn't become Republican overnight.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: just because it lands in Oklahoma. A blizzard doesn't become
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: democratic just because it lands in Massachusetts. A missile does
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: not stop at the California border and ask how San
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Diego voted. That's where these are certain responsibilities of the president.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: And they have to sit above the campaign. Disaster relief
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: should be one of those things. Protecting American cities should
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: be another. You can hate their governor all day long.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: And for the record, Mr. President, Find solace in the
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: fact that I think he hates you back. You can
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: campaign against the senator. You can call the mayor incompetent.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: That's politics. That's how this thing goes. And sometimes it's
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: a little more mean spirited and personal than others. But
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: the people who live underneath those politicians, they're all yours.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: It's called political maturity. These people pay federal taxes. Their
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: sons and daughters, they serve in our military. They salute
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: the same flag. And when something terrible happens, the federal
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: government doesn't arrive as Republican Washington or Democratic Washington, or
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: at least it shouldn't. It arrives as the United States government.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: And I don't know Donald Trump's private motive behind every
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: disaster declaration. The available data can't tell us that. I
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: do know that the numbers that I gave you today
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: and others deserve explanation. And I know when disaster aid
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: starts appearing beside endorsements and campaign speeches, the appearance itself
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: becomes dangerous. The optics are just not a good look,
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: as we would say in the neighborhood, because government requires
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: something politicians spend years destroying and seconds demanding. Trust. I
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: want you to trust me. Looking in the camera and
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: shaking your fist does not accomplish that goal. If I'm
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: living in a red state, I should trust that a
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Democratic president will send help when the hurricane arrives. If
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I'm living in a blue state, I should trust that
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: a Republican president would do exactly the same. Not because
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: the president likes my governor. That's irrelevant. Not because my
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: senator endorsed him and not because my country voted correctly.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Because I am an American and that ought to be enough.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's the question underneath everything that we've discussed today.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Not whether Los Angeles is blue, not whether Nebraska is red,
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: and not whether Wisconsin is competitive. Are we still capable
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: of being one country after the votes are counted? Because
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: campaigning requires choosing sides. That's a part of it. There
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: is a winner and loser. That is reality. Governing requires
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: remembering that the other side is still full of Americans.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: That's where this lands for me. And all I have
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: left to say after this special report is, buddy love,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: get me the hell out of here.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Peace.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Today's edition of The Briefing Room with Marcus Atkinson has
• 28:41
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• 28:44
  Speaker 1: your next trip, vacation, or getaway.
• 29:01
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• 29:04
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• 29:09
  Speaker 3: and staying engaged. Join us again next Thursday at 12.30 p.m.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: for another edition of The Briefing Room, right here on
• 29:17
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• 29:26
  Speaker 3: the next question.