-With less than a week
until the election, the president is whining
that the media spends too much time
covering COVID, and signaling his intent to steal the election
through the Supreme Court. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ At some point, it's hard
to find new ways to describe how awful Donald Trump is. If you bought stock
in thesaurus.com four years ago, congrats on becoming
a millionaire. I mean, what else
is there to say? He's just a vicious, monstrous, deeply repellent figure
who's willing to hurt anyone and do anything
to cling to power. For example, yesterday,
he was in Michigan, where he's repeatedly
incited threats against the governor,
Gretchen Whitmer. A few weeks ago, the FBI
broke up an alleged plot by right-wing terrorists
to kidnap Whitmer and, on Tuesday,
Trump seemed to suggest that, actually,
that might not be a problem. -Your governor, I don't think
she likes me too much. [ Laughter ]
-We don't like you, either! -Hey! Hey, hey, hey.
I'm the one -- It was our people that helped
her out with her problem. I mean, we'll have to see
if it's a problem, right? People are entitled to say
maybe it was a problem, maybe it wasn't.
It our people -- my people, our people --
that helped her out. And then, she blamed me for it. -The FBI is not your people
and, if they are your people, your people sure put a lot
of your other people in jail. It's the iron law of Trump. Anytime you think
he can't get worse, as a human being,
he finds a way. He's like the Usain Bolt
of being an ass[bleep] -- just keeps breaking
his own world records. Even stands like he's leaning
over the finish line. [ As Trump ]
I broke the tape. Are you saying you think
it maybe wasn't a problem that a bunch of right-wing
terrorists planned to stage a coup and kidnap
the governor of Michigan? My God! Trump loses,
he's going to have to move to a cabin in the woods
and grow a Unabomber beard. Of course, even if he did move
to a cabin in the woods, we'd probably be able
to find him. And, by the way,
according to the authorities, this plot wasn't
just hypothetical. Federal officials released
chilling videos of training exercises,
and chat messages where the suspects
discussed their plans. One of the co-defendants
wrote to his coconspirators -- and this is real... Not that it makes it
any less terrifying, but these guys
are such dip[bleep] You couldn't even use emojis? How's everyone feel
about woman, car, bag of money? They talked about a terrorist
plot to wage a coup and kidnap the governor like
they were ordering takeout. "Well, I'm fine with kidnapping,
but Ken wants Thai." Ken, we had Thai last week. "Well, what if we do Thai
and kidnapping?" Because, then, if the Thai shows up first,
everyone's going to eat it and no one's going to want
to do the kidnapping, Ken! We've been over this! Trouble also keeps
falsely insisting Michigan is still locked down, even though
it definitely is not. He's made this lie a staple
of his rallies in the state. -You got to get your governor
to open up your state, okay? You'd be doing even better,
if you had a governor that knew what the hell
she was doing. You got to open up your state. Open up your state,
Madam Governor. Open up your state. I mean, your governor's
a disaster. [ Booing ]
They got to open up this -- They got to open up the state. Hey, Governor,
let your state open. Get your states opened up. And this governor should get
her state opened up. She keeps everybody
locked up, like a prison. -It's not locked down
like a prison. You're there! You're holding
a giant rally in Michigan. If they were locked down,
the last person they'd let in would be
the superspreader-in-chief. This is what Trump does. Throughout his entire
campaign and presidency, his political success
is dependent, in large part, on his willingness to distort
plain, observable reality. He doesn't just lie
about obscure or complicated things.
He lies about simple, straightforward things
we can all see and hear with our eyes and ears,
like a weather map. I mean, no one
was fooled by that. We all know what Sharpie
looks like. When New Yorkers get
on the subway, no one says, "Ooh! Looks like
the cast of "Suits" has mustaches this season." And, now, Trump is, once again,
trying to warp reality. Thirty-seven states are seeing
spikes in coronavirus cases, which are up 39%
across the country. We're seeing new records
for daily cases. Deaths are up 13%. And hospitals in hot spots
are overwhelmed, like in El Paso,
where there's been a 300% increase
in hospitalizations since the start of October. But the president
has been insisting that, despite what you can see
with your own eyes, everything is fine
and he's been whining that the media won't stop
talking about the deadly virus killing hundreds of Americans
every day. -Here's a tweet
from the president today... -The news, the CNN, all they talk about -- COVID! COVID, COVID, COVID. All Biden and his handlers
and the media want to talk about today is
COVID, COVID, COVID. You know that.
You turn on this network, there's COVID, COVID,
COVID, COVID. That's all I hear.
Turn on television. I hear COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID,
COVID. COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. -Sounds like he's looking
at the White House staff photo. [ As Trump ]
COVID, COVID, COVID, jail. COVID, COVID, fired. COVID, son-in-law, COVID. He's jealous of a virus. He sounds like he's
complaining to his agent about an actor who got
a part he wanted. [ As Trump ]
COVID, COVID, COVID. Everyone's talking about COVID. I thought you told me
I was a lock for People's Sexiest Virus Alive. Trump is so mad, he's gone
full [ Laughing ] Hodor. Sounds like a character from the COVID expansion pack
for "The Sims." COVID, COVID, COVID.
COVID. COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. If it seems to you
like Trump is jealous of all the media coverage COVID's been getting,
you're not alone. President Obama
mocked Trump's whining at a rally in Florida
on Tuesday. -This week, with everything
that's happening, you know what he brought up? He was fussing about the crowd
size at the inauguration, again, saying his was bigger. Hey, who is thinking
about that right now? Nobody, except him. And, well, what's his
closing argument? That people are
too focused on COVID. He said this
at one of his rallies -- "COVID, COVID, COVID,"
he's complaining. He's [ Clap ] jealous
of COVID's media coverage. -Best thing about Obama
on the campaign trail is the return of stand-up Obama. [ As Obama ]
And another thing. What's up with everyone, uh,
posting pics of banana bread during quarantine? Like the contestants
on "The Great British Bake Off." You look more like a --
like a -- great British jerk-off. What else?
[ Laughter ] What else? Now, we knew Trump
was going to be pissed that Obama roasted him,
but, to add insult to injury, Trump's favorite TV channel,
Fox News, aired Obama's speech and Trump
was not happy about it. [ Rotors whirring ] -I only saw he was on Fox. And Fox puts him on all the time and they put Sleepy Joe on
all the time. Now, Fox is very disappointing. That Fox puts on this -- This would not have happened
with Roger Ailes, I can tell you that. -I do love when Obama gets
under Trump's skin. I got to see it
up close and personal at the Correspondents' Dinner
in 2011. They say that was the night Obama caused Trump
to run for president. Fine, it was him
and McKay Coppins. Those two have a lot
to answer for! And just a reminder -- Roger Ailes
had so many credible sexual assault allegations
against him, he had to resign from Fox News. That's like getting kicked
out of the NXIVM cult for being too good
at volleyball. That's the takeaway
of that doc, right? I only watched
a couple episodes. I feel like that's the gist. Pro-volleyball. Aside from everything else
that's grotesque and nauseating about Trump,
he's also just an insufferable,
pants-[bleep] little baby. He whines about everything.
I mean, honestly, who enjoys listening to this? It's like taking
your grandfather to a fancy restaurant. [ Gravelly voice ]
They put us near the kitchen. Can you believe this? Ask if we can move. "We can move, Grandpa." Our food isn't even cooked. "That's carpaccio, Grandpa." Why are there two forks? In Nam, we ate with our hands. Trump will accept nothing less than universal praise,
validation, and victory. He thinks he's entitled to it and he'll whine
until he gets it. That's why he's attacking
the integrity of the election and telegraphing that he wants his new 6-3
conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court
to steal it for him. -Hopefully, the few states
remaining that want to take a lot of time
after November 3rd to count ballots,
that won't be allowed by the various courts
because, as you know, we're in courts on that.
We just had a big victory yesterday
in Wisconsin on that matter. So, hopefully,
that won't be happening. I think we're doing very well. We're going to have
an exciting night. It would be very,
very proper and very nice if a winner were declared
or November 3rd, instead of counting ballots
for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate, and I don't believe that
that's by our laws. -Okay, first of all, why does
it sound so threatening when Trump says, "We're going
to have an exciting night"? It's like hearing Jigsaw say,
"I want to play a game." Second, ballots that get counted
after midnight on election night are still valid ballots. Nowhere in the Constitution
or in federal law does it say all ballots
must be counted by 11:59 pm on November 3rd. Election night is just a thing invented by radio
and TV channels for ratings, like May sweeps
of the Kardashian family. I mean, none of them
are even related. Two of them are CGI. [ Laughing ]
I mean, would a real person tweet about a birthday party
on a private island in the middle of a pandemic? Oh, really?
They did? But just one tweet? [ Gasp ]
A thread. Huh. Point is, Republicans pretend
to be originalists who adhere to the strict
meaning of the Constitution, but back when the
Constitution was written, you think they counted all
the ballots on election night? Back then, it took two weeks
to get a letter to someone in the next state and you had to ride a horse
until it died. That's why Inauguration Day
was originally in March. John Adams needed four months
just to unfurl his brow. [ As Giamatti's Adams ]
I am vexed, Abigail. Again, that's a pretty --
[ Laughter ] pretty decent Giamatti as John Adams
impression. I'm just saying it's worth -- it's worth watching
the miniseries and I think, if you do,
you'll say, "Ah!" [ Laughing ]
So the Republican Party's new position
is that any ballot received after Election Day
should not be counted, even if it was postmarked
by Election Day, which would radically alter how we've conducted elections
in this country for decades. And conservatives
on the Supreme Court are already signaling
that they're ready to go along with this
absurd new standard. The court's conservative
majority refused, on Monday, to extend Wisconsin's deadline
for receiving absentee ballots to six days after the election. And, just as Brett Kavanaugh
wrote one of the sloppiest, most incoherent opinions
in recent memory, repeating the Trump claim
that ballots counted after Election Day are,
somehow, suspicious. -In his written opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
a Trump appointee, said elections have
to end sometime. "States want
to avoid the chaos..." -What are you talking about? If there are more ballots
to count, then that means there are
no results to flip. That's like ending a football
game after the third quarter because fourth quarter
touchdowns would flip the score, which is ridiculous,
and also impossible, if you're playing the Jets. "Ah, we did our best, fellas." But, coach, there's still
the fourth quarter. "Yeah, I...might just head out. Beat the traffic." Kavanaugh's opinion
was also riddled with incredibly lazy errors. He favorably quoted
a legal scholar who was actually arguing
in favor of extending postmark deadlines, repeatedly confused
receipt deadlines with submission deadlines,
and wrote that... Which is not true. Vermont decided to mail a ballot
to every registered voter and authorized ballot processing
30 days before the election to speed up vote counting. Oh, no, is this one
of those classic "I like beer" situations? If you want to know
what Vermont's up to, just Google it,
or sit quietly your office and wait for Bernie Sanders
to yell about it. [ As Sanders ]
Everyone in Vermont
gets a ballot and a sticker. I don't like the sticker
because it leaves a residue on my good shirt! This is the GOP's con --
slow down mail service, limit the number of dropboxes, then, claim ballots
that arrive later invalid. For example,
Texas Governor Greg Abbott limited drop-off locations for mail-in ballots
to one per county. Meanwhile, Republicans
in Pennsylvania blocked attempts to allow counties
to start processing mail ballots
before Election Day. Basically, if Republicans
had their way, there would be exactly
one ballot dropbox for the entire country,
somewhere in the Mojave Desert, and you'd only be able to use it
on odd-numbered days, between the hours
of 3:00 and 4:00 am, after crossing a bridge and answering three riddles
from Rudy Giuliani. [ As Giuliani ]
Riddle me this -- how would you get a mic off
without untucking your shirt? [ Laughter ] You know what Giuliani's
catchphrase used to be, Shoemaker?
-No, what was his -- -[ Italian accent ]
My cousin! [ Laughter ] It couldn't be any clearer
that Trump and his allies on the Supreme Court
are telegraphing their plan to orchestrate a sequel
to Bush v. Gore by hoping Trump is ahead
on an election night and then prematurely
declaring him the winner before all the votes
are counted. And, now, they have yet another
reliable ally in their scheme, with the confirmation
of Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett is such
a loyal Trump disciple, she made the stunning decision
to appear with Trump at what was effectively a White House campaign
rally on Monday and in a subsequent
campaign-style video, just eight days before
a presidential election she might have to rule on. Ah, yes,
the independent judiciary, just how the framers
imagined it. You know how bummed John Adams
would be, to see that? He'd be walking
around the house, saying -- [ As Giamatti's Adams ]
Abigail. I am perturbed, Abigail. I am... dang it, uh... Pull up thesource.com. And, if you're
a Barrett supporter, you might argue that she
can accept the nomination from a president without
endorsing his character, but once she shares
the same balcony with the Roger Ailes apologist who's still on the fence
as to whether or not a plot to kidnap a governor
is a good or bad thing, you can [bleep] right off. The plan is clear --
Trump and the GOP are doing everything they can to suppress and undermine
mail-in voting, hoping they can prematurely
declare victory on election night with the
help of the Supreme Court. There's one way
we can stand up to this, and it's by voting,
in overwhelming numbers, to repudiate Trump
and his enablers. If enough of us do that, then we can have an outcome
that is both... -Very proper and very nice. -This has been
"A Closer Look." ♪♪ God's Love We Deliver
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