-North Carolina Republican
Congressman Madison Cawthorn, one of the most vocal proponents
of Donald Trump's big lie about
the 2020 election, lost his GOP primary last night
despite Trump's endorsement. But Trump's minions
are still moving full steam ahead with their plan
for the next coup. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." You know, guys, politics
is a rough-and-tumble business, and D.C. can be a cruel town. Just when you feel like you're
making headway in Congress, you're unceremoniously
forced out by a cruel and unforgiving system
of cutthroats and backstabbers. And that's exactly
what happened last night when one of our nation's
most committed public servants, a camera-shy policy wonk
who is laser-focused on serving the greater good,
lost his bid for re-election. Oh, wait. I think I read
that whole thing wrong. [ Laughter ] Oh, I read every word wrong. It was just Madison Cawthorn. -Incumbent Madison Cawthorn has
lost the Republican nomination for U.S. House District 11
seat in North Carolina. -State Senator Chuck Edwards
beat him with 33% of the vote. Cawthorn has officially
conceded his seat. -Oh, Madison, you may be gone,
but soon you'll be forgotten. At least now he'll have
more time for his other job, starring as the, I don't know,
bad boy villain in a CW drama? [ Laughter ] He looks like he should be next
to a locker threatening to tell Pacey about
Dawson's relationship with Joey. "How can you do this, Madison?
I thought we were friends." "You know what they say, Dawson.
Every rose has its Cawthorn." [ Laughter ] In this show, he plays himself. [ Laughter ] So Cawthorn lost the GOP primary
in his district last night after a string of scandals, including accusations of insider
trading, multiple traffic stops and a series
of controversial remarks like when he called Ukraine's
president a thug. In fact, it was Republicans who waged a relentless campaign
to take Cawthorn down. One GOP operative told
The Daily Beast, "It's definitely a hit job that
I'm happy to be a party to. Most of the GOP universe is come around to align
against this guy. You're seeing a full-court, state-based establishment
pushback against him. Get this guy out.
Take him out." I will say it's a rare treat
to watch Republicans tear each
other apart because when Republicans
decide to knife each other, they hold nothing back. Democrats just snipe
at each other on cable news about who's responsible
for their [bleep] poll numbers. They're like the waspy
Connecticut family that just passive-aggressively
bickers at the dinner table and then goes to bed
full of quiet resentment. Going from that
to Republican infighting, it's like when you date someone
whose family is Italian, you go over
to their house for dinner and they're just chucking plates
of spaghetti across the room, lunging at each other
with salad forks because someone told Grandma
Frank Sinatra was overrated. Then 10 minutes later,
they're all hugging and talking about
how important family is. And meanwhile, your Xanax
hasn't even kicked in. You're thinking, "I think I maybe should have stayed with
Abigail." Now, famously, the last straw
for a lot of Republicans came when Cawthorn
gave an interview claiming his GOP colleagues
did drugs and invited him to orgies
or, as they were supposedly billed to him,
sexual get-togethers. -The sexual perversion
that goes on in Washington, I mean, being kind of
a young guy in Washington where the average age
is probably 60 or 70, and I look at all these people,
a lot of them that I, you know, I've looked up
to through my life -- I've always paid attention
to politics -- guys that, you know, then all of
a sudden you get invited like, "Hey, we're going to have kind
of a sexual get-together at one of our homes.
You should come." And I'm like, "What did you just
ask me to come to?" And then you realize they're
asking you to come to an orgy. Or the fact that, you know,
they're some of the people that are leading on the movement
to try and remove, you know, addiction in our country.
And then you watch them do it, you know, a kilo of cocaine
right in front of you. And it's like, "Wow,
this is -- this is wild." -Now, normally I would have
dismissed that all as ridiculous,
except the GOP freaked out. Plus, there was that one time
Chuck Grassley suspiciously gave a speech
on the Senate floor with a bull full of keys
on his podium. You guys remember that?
He was all like, "And that's why inflation is
Joe Biden's fault. Now, everybody, close your eyes
and pick a set of keys." [ Laughter ] "And that's your special friend
till sunrise." Now, Cawthorn did get some
support from at least one corner of the GOP Trump Land. Trump himself intervened
at the last minute to reiterate his support
for Cawthorn. -Former president Donald Trump
endorsed the 26-year-old Cawthorn more than a year ago.
On the eve of the primary, Trump posted on his Truth
Social platform rehashing Cawthorn's background while adding, "Recently,
he made some foolish mistakes, which I don't believe
he'll make again. Let's give Madison
a second chance." -"Let's give Madison
a second chance" Sounds like something
you'd hear at a sorority after a pledge barfs
all over the rug. "Okay, I know she drank
an entire box of Franzia, but her dad knows the dean, and I think we should give
Madison a second chance." [ Laughter ] But the big takeaway
from Cawthorn's loss is that when
the Republican establishment wants to push someone out, they are fully
capable of doing it. They could have easily done
the same thing with Trump, but they chose not to
because they decided instead to collude with him regardless
of how dangerous he is. Even now, they're continuing
to follow his lead as he prepares for the next coup and continues
spreading the big lie that the last election
was stolen. He even claims he's writing
a book about it, although even he admits
it won't be good. -This is the greatest -- This is
the crime of the century. I'm actually writing a book
about it called "The Crime of the Century." I don't think you'll enjoy it. You'll be very depressed
when you read it, but we want to have it down
for historic reasons. [ Laughter ] -I love that despite his foray
into politics, Trump remains, at his core,
a terrible salesman. [ Laughter ] Is this why Trump Steaks
didn't work out? "Folks, I'm coming out
with a line of steaks. And let me tell you right now,
you're not going to like them because -- because
these steaks are tough. It is like -- It's like
biting into a wallet. If I'm you,
I do not go near those things." But I do agree
that it would be historic in that it would be the first book ever written by someone
who has never read one. I, for real, have an easier time
picturing Donald Trump doing a standing backflip
than I do him putting a bookmark between two pages
to save his place. "Will you look at that? I'm late for golf. Until the next time,
March sisters." [ Laughter ] Trump tried virtually
every avenue possible to overturn the election,
and he's still trying in preparation for the next one. He tried to get the
Supreme Court to overturn it, tried to shake down
the Georgia secretary of state, and even drafted an executive
order to seize voting machines. His plan would have used
the military, although I could just as easily
see Trump asking Rudy to seize voting machines. "Boss, I got one. It's filled with fraudulent
votes for Abraham Lincoln." "Rudy, that's a Coinstar." "Oh, Rudy!" [ Laughter ] "You've done it again,
you dope!" [ Laughter ] Some in Trump's orbit
were even pushing him to declare martial law,
like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who misspelled it
as "Marshall" law, as in the name Marshall. You know, like Marshall Mathers. Oh, my God. Wait a second.
Now that I think of it, the distance between the ellipse
where Trump gave his insurrection speech
and the Capitol, where the insurrection occurred
is exactly...eight miles. [ Thunder crashes ] [ Cheers and applause ] It's actually only two miles. Sorry. It's just sometimes you
get so deep into a bit, you -- [ Note plays ] [ Laughter ] Are we --
Are we making the audience play "Name That Tune"? [ Laughter ] I can get this joke
in half of a note. [ Laughter ] Okay. Guys,
it's not going to work, but we're going to do it again. [ Laughter ] Alright. So I do the eight miles
and you guys were like, "Ooh, impressive."
And then I come back. You clapped. You all did.
[ Applause ] No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
And then I come back and I go, Oh, it's actually
only two miles. Oh, sorry.
Sometimes you just so -- You get so deep into a bit, you -- -♪ Lose yourself ♪ [ Laughter ] [ Laughter ] -Let's give Madison
another chance. [ Laughter ] And yet, curiously, whenever
they're confronted about their plans
for martial law, Trump sycophants
suddenly get very cagey. In a recent lawsuit,
for example, Greene was asked repeatedly
if she'd texted Meadows or brought up the idea
of declaring martial law and claimed she couldn't
remember. -In those meetings, you discussed with him
your advocacy for the idea that there should be martial law
declared in the United States. -No, I don't recall
ever discussing that. -Are you saying it didn't happen or you're saying you don't
recall one way or the other? -I don't recall
ever discussing that. -The question was whether, prior to the inauguration
of Joe Biden, Ms. Green, whether you ever
advocated for martial law to be imposed in a conversation
with the chief of staff of the then-President of
the United States, Mr. Trump. -Answer the question.
-I don't recall. -Did you ever advocate
for martial law prior to the inauguration
of Mr. Biden with any member
of the White House staff that was part
of the Trump administration? -I don't recall. -I feel like I might not recall
if I advocated for, say, getting an order of ravioli
for the table to share. But I'd definitely remember
if I was pitching martial law. Oh, wait. No, no.
Remember this one time the waiter said they were
out of ravioli, and then I said, "Well, then I'm calling
in the [bleep] military!" [ Laughter ] And then there's MyPillow
CEO Mike Lindell. [ Audience groans ]
Sorry, but there is. [ Laughter ] Lindell, who sells pillows
pre-loaded with nightmares, was photographed in the days
before Trump left office. Walking into the White House
with notes that said martial law on them, correctly spelled,
it should be noted. That's a real burn
on Marjorie Taylor Greene when you lose the yelling bee
to the sky. But when Lindell
was confronted by a reporter, he claimed he had no idea what
the reporter was talking about. -Who gave you the papers? -Who gave me the papers?
That's none of your business. A bunch of lawyers did.
I've never read them. Hold it. I've never read them. I went in there with evidence
on January 15th. You guys are old news.
You're regurgitating old news. January 15th,
I went in there with four papers that shows Dominion
and the election crime of the machines and China
attacking our country. Cyber attack all 50 states,
over 12 million votes, that Donald Trump won
by 82 million to 68 million, was the real count. -Who gave you the papers
that advocate martial law? -A whole bunch of lawyers did.
I've never read them. This is old news.
You're regurgitating -- Why are you protecting
a company called Dominion and you attack
a company called MyPillow? You're a traitor to our country.
You're a disgusting traitor. Traitor, traitor, traitor! -Doesn't give me faith that
you're going to find phony ballots
when you can't even find someone to do a chant with you. [ Laughter ] Also, more importantly,
let me see if I'm following you. Your claim is that
a bunch of lawyers handed you a pile of documents and you took them to the
President of the United States without reading them? You must have a hell of a time
getting through the airport. "Okay, sir. And did you pack
these bags yourself?" "No. Some guys jumped out
of an SUV and gave them to me
and sped off. Why? What's the problem?" But Trump and Lindell
and their gang of weirdos
are not giving up. They want to follow through
on the coup again, and they'll do it
if they get the chance. In fact, Lindell, who
got kicked off Twitter for spreading election
lies, is so desperate to get his account reinstated
that he has asked multiple times if anyone knows
Elon Musk so Lindell can get in touch with them. -I'm going to throw a shout-out
to Elon Musk. I would love to meet Elon Musk. I would want to show him
all the corruption that went on in the 2020 election
with the voting machines. I have a shout-out right now.
If anybody knows Elon, you can -- tell him
I want to meet with him because I'm going to be
reaching out to his people. I've been wanting to reach out.
If Elon Musk, if you're watching, I want
to reach out to Elon Musk. I'd like to sit down
with Elon myself one-on-one and show him in a 15-minute
little presentation I have and say,
"Here's where we're at. This is what they did.
Here's the -- Here is this -- You get -- You flew to the moon
or wherever, flew to outer space. Here's the cyber stuff." -Well, I guess that explains why Musk wants
out of the Twitter deal. [ Laughter ] "Excuse me, Mr. Musk. The MyPillow guy wants
to show you a 15-minute presentation
on election fraud." "I'm out. I'm out." [ Laughter ] I love this part the most. -You flew to the moon
or wherever, flew to outer space. -What? [ Laughter ] He wants to meet with Musk, but doesn't even know
what Musk does. Musk has a company
that makes rockets. He didn't personally fly
to the moon. But that's just Lindell.
He's just always a little off. "And I love Tesla.
Top ten hair metal bands for me. Signs, signs, everywhere a sign blocking out the scenery.
You know the song. Anyway, let me back on Twitter.
I don't got no friends. And I live in a van
down by the river." Switched it up. Switched it up. Cawthorn's loss proves that the
GOP establishment, if it wanted to, could easily ostracize
its most toxic members. They just choose not to.
They've actively chosen to collude with Trump
and his ilk, no matter how dangerous
they are to democracy because they think
that's the path to power. Cawthorn just got a little
too radioactive for them. Like the old saying goes,
he flew too close to... -The moon or wherever. [ Laughter ] -This has been "A Closer Look." God's Love We Deliver cooks
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