>> WE SHOULD SUBPOENA JUDGE MERCHAN 'S DAUGHTERS FINANCIAL. >> THE JURY SUPPORTERS WERE SELECTED FROM MANHATTAN. >> THE 24 HOURS SINCE DONALD TRUMP WAS FOUND UNANIMOUSLY GUILTY OF 34 FELONIES, ELECTED REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN RUSHING TO CAMERAS TO NOT JUST SAY FALSELY THAT THIS TRIAL WAS RIGGED, BUT TO SAY THAT THE PARTY NEEDS TO FIGHT BACK. DESPITE NO EVIDENCE OF WRONGDOING, AT ALL, REPUBLICANS ARE NOW CALLING FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN, AND FOR D.A. ALVIN BRAGG AND ONE OF HIS PROSECUTORS TO BE INVESTIGATED BY CONGRESS. RATHER THAN ACCEPTING THE RULE OF LAW, REPUBLICANS ARE DEMONIZING THE PEOPLE WHO ENFORCED IT. TODAY THE NONPROFIT GROUP ADVANCED DEMOCRACY REPORTED THAT SINCE TRUMP WAS FOUND GUILTY THERE HAS BEEN A HIGH VOLUME OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CONTAINING VIOLENT RHETORIC TARGETING, NO SURPRISE HERE, JUDGE MERCHAN AND D.A. BRAGG. POST SHOWING ALVIN BRAGG NEXT TO A PHOTO OF A NOOSE SHOWING CAPTION JANUARY 20th, 2025. TRADERS GET THE ROPE. EQUALLY CONCERNING, ADVANCED DEMOCRACY REPORTS A HIGH VOLUME OF NEW POSTS CALLING FOR THE JURORS FROM THIS CASE TO BE DOCS, WITH POSTS SAYING WE NEED TO IDENTIFY EACH JUROR, THEN MAKE THEM MISERABLE, MAYBE EVEN SUICIDAL. JOINING ME NOW ARE MICHELLE GOLDBERG, NEW YORK TIMES OPINION COLUMNISTS, AND TIM MILLER, WRITER AT LARGE FOR THE BULWARK. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. I KNOW IT IS LIKE A FROG IN A SLOWLY BOILING POT OF WATER, BUT THE LAST 24 HOURS HAVE FELT MEASURABLY WORSE IN TERMS OF THE INTEGRITY OF OUR DEMOCRACY THAN ANY TIME I CAN REMEMBER. >> FOR SURE, ON TWO LEVELS. I APPRECIATE THAT A PORT. THEY ACTUALLY PUT RIGOROUS RESEARCH INTO LOOKING AT THIS. BUT SPEAKING FOR MYSELF, BACK IN 2016 I USED TO GET A LOT OF REALLY MEAN MAGA MESSAGES, AS AN EX-REPUBLICAN. I HAVEN'T AS MUCH IN 2020. THE VOLUME WAS LOWER A LITTLE BIT. MAYBE IT WAS COVID, MAYBE IT WAS BIDEN VERSUS HILLARY. WHO KNOWS. BUT A HUGE SKYROCKETING OF TROLLS, OH, YOU BETTER HOPE YOUR BOY WINS, IT FEELS REAL. THE ANGER IS REAL. ARE PEOPLE GOING TO ACT ON IT? I DON'T KNOW. WHEN YOU HAVE A TENDER BOX LIKE THAT, PEOPLE ARE ARE LIABLE TO ACT. AND YOU LOOK AT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE RESPONSIBLE, THE LEADERS. THEIR MESSAGES ARE DELUSIONAL AND DERANGED. WHAT YOU JUST SHOWED THE BEGINNING WAS A SMALL SNIPPET OF THE KINDS OF THINGS. MIKE COLLINS OF GEORGIA, REPUBLICAN, WAS SAYING THAT REPUBLICAN D.A.S SHOULD START TARGETING DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES. NANCY MACE, WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE NORMAL ONES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA WAS TWEETING THAT THIS WAS LIKE A PRUDENT SITUATION. THE IRRESPONSIBLE, INSANE RHETORIC ABOUT OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM FROM EVEN THE MORE QUALIFIED NORMAL, MAINSTREAM REPUBLICANS IS EXTREMELY ALARMING. >> YEAH, WE ARE TALKING THE SENATE HERE. NOT JUST THE LACK OF NEW HOUSE. AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF WHAT TO DO PEOPLE IN THE SENATE. EIGHT REPUBLICANS VOWED TO OPPOSE ALL BIDEN NOMINEES AND ALL DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATION. MIKE LEE, JD VANCE, TOMMY TURBERVILLE, MARSHA BLACKBURN, RICK SCOTT, AND MARCO RUBIO. >> IT'S NOT LIKE ANY OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SUPER COOPERATIVE UP UNTIL NOW IN TERMS OF LEGISLATION. BUT I THINK, SO, MAYBE THIS IS GIVING THEM TOO MUCH CREDIT. BUT I THINK THAT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE, IN ORDER TO LIVE WITH THEMSELVES AND IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THEIR KIND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTEGRITY HAVE HAD TO CONVINCE THEMSELVES THAT THIS IS A KIND OF SITUATION WHERE THIS IS A SHOW TRIAL. BECAUSE OTHERWISE THEY WOULD HAVE TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE THROWN THEIR SUPPORT AND THEIR LIFE'S WORK BEHIND A MAN WHO DID ALL OF THE THINGS THAT HE WAS JUST CONVICTED OF. MIKE LEE, ONE OF THE SIGNATORIES TO THAT LETTER, IN 2016 MIKE LEE CALLED FOR TRUMP TO STEP ASIDE AFTER THE ACCESS HOLLYWOOD TAPE. AND NOW YOU HAVE HIM -- >> IT WAS THE CONVENTION! HE WAS ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR TRYING TO REPLACE TRUMP. >> RIGHT, NOW YOU HAVE THEM VIGOROUSLY, PASSIONATELY DEFENDING THE RIGHT OF TRUMP TO NOT JUST PAY OFF A PORN STAR TO KEEP IT QUIET AFTER THE ACCESS HOLLYWOOD TAPE, BUT TO THEN NOT BE PROSECUTED FOR IT. AND AGAIN, I THINK, I AM SURE SOME OF IT IS JUST CYNICAL AND IT IS JUST ABOUT POWER. BUT I ALSO THINK THAT IN ORDER TO MAKE THEIR WORLDVIEW COHERE THEY HAVE HAD TO CONVINCE THEMSELVES THAT DONALD TRUMP IS BEING VICTIMIZED IN SOME WAY. >> RIGHT, THERE WAS THE KIND OF SWIMSUIT COMPETITION PORTION OF TRIAL LAST WEEK WHERE EVERYONE ARRIVED IN THE SAME OUTFIT. >> IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT. >> IT GIVES WHO CAN KISS THE BOOT THE BEST. THAT IS ALSO A WEIRD METAPHOR. BUT THE VP STAKES FOR ALL OF THIS. THAT IS THE ELEMENT. BUT TO MICHELLE'S POINT, THE KIND OF STOCKHOLM SYNDROME WHERE THEY LEARNED TO LOVE THEIR CAPTOR, DONALD TRUMP. WHICH IS MORE DISTURBING TO YOU, AND WHICH DO YOU THINK MOST OFFICIALLY ACCOUNTS FOR WHAT IS HAPPENING? >> THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IS MORE CONCERNING. BECAUSE IF THESE GUYS REALLY BELIEVE THEIR OWN BS, IF THEY HAVE REALLY COME TO RATIONALIZE SOMEWHERE IN THEIR BRAIN THAT THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM, THAT THERE IS A TWO TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND HALF OF AMERICANS ARE BEING TARGETED BECAUSE OF THEIR VIEWS, THEN THEY ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO RATIONALIZE A LOT OF INSANE STUFF IF TRUMP WERE TO WIN AGAIN. AND THAT IS THE SCARIEST PART. AT SOME LEVEL YOU ALMOST HOPE THEY ARE FAKING. YOU ALMOST HOPE THEY ARE FAKING, JUST IN CASE TRUMP GETS IN. NOW WE HAVE MARCO VP AND WE ARE GOING TO START TO PUSH THE OLD MAN DOWN TO FLORIDA. THAT WOULD BE A PREFERABLE SITUATION. AND THESE GUYS REALLY KNOW, FOR WHATEVER REASON, THEY HATE THE LEFT SO MUCH OR IT IS THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE CALLING AT THEM, WHATEVER THE REASON IS, THEY ARE NOW SO DEEP IN THAT THEY ARE READY TO GO ALONG WITH DONALD TRUMP'S AUTHORITARIAN ASPIRATIONS. THAT IS THE SCARIEST PART. >> AND THIS IS A TRUISM OF THE TRUMP YEARS, EVERY ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION. EVERYTHING THAT THEY ACCUSED BIDEN AND BRAGG AND THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING IS ALL TELEGRAPHING EXACTLY WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO IF THEY ARE ABLE TO SEIZE POWER. >> YOU ARE MAKING SUCH A GOOD POINT. THEY WANT TO THROW AROUND THE WORD FASCISM. WITNESS WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK ON THE HOUSE FLOOR. JIM McGOVERN, THE DEMOCRAT FROM MASSACHUSETTS IN THE HOUSE, MENTIONS TRUMP'S INDICTMENTS ON THE HOUSE FOR. THIS IS FROM SUSAN GLASSES REPORTING IN THE NEW YORKER. McGOVERN'S WORDS THIS WEEK WERE OFFICIALLY DELETED FROM THE HOUSE RECORD ON THE GROUNDS THAT HE HAD ACCUSED DONALD TRUMP OF ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES, AS IF McGOVERN WERE SOMEHOW JUST SLINGING CHARGES ON HIS OWN RATHER THAN REFERRING TO ACTUAL COURT CASES IN COURTS OF LAW. SHE WRITES TRUMP IS NO SOVEREIGN, REGAL OR OTHERWISE, NOT YET, ANYWAY, BUT IN THE HOUSE EVER SEEN BY HIS PARTY UNPLEASANT EVENTS CONCERNING HIM CAN OFFICIALLY BE WRITTEN OUT OF HISTORY WITH THE BANG OF A GAVEL. IT IS ORWELL. THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING BEFORE THIS MAN -- >> IT IS DUMBER THAN ORWELL. >>'S I WAS THE CROWD SIZE THING. ALL OF THESE THINGS WITH TRUMP, THERE IS THIS LINE BETWEEN SINISTER AND RIDICULOUS THAT IS KIND OF DESTABILIZING AS YOU TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHICH SIDE THINGS COME DOWN ON, AND THE ANSWER IS THAT THEY ARE BOTH. >> I JUST FEEL LIKE THIS IS WHERE WE ARE RIGHT, THE WEEK TRUMP HAS BEEN CONVICTED, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE IS THE FRONT RUNNER? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE IS THE ACTUAL OFFICIAL NOMINEE? >> THE RHETORIC IS ONLY GOING TO RATCHET UP, AND WE WERE TALKING A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THIS ON THE BREAK. BUT HE IS GOING TO BE SENTENCED FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. SO YOU CAN IMAGINE THE TYPE OF RHETORIC, THE TYPE OF ATTACKS THAT ARE GOING TO BE GOING AFTER THE JUDGE, THE JUDG
