-Republicans,
including Donald Trump, gathered for a truly unhinged
conservative conference over the weekend
where Trump claimed, among other things, that he was the most persecuted
individual in American history after last week's bombshell
hearing of the January 6th committee
embarrassed him by airing never before seen
outtakes of his speech from the day
after the insurrection. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." [ Cheers and applause ] If, if you want a sense of what the modern conservative
movement is truly like, there's probably no better
example than this clip from over the weekend
of Texas Senator Ted Cruz walking on stage to, let's say, some slightly
overzealous fanfare involving lights, dramatic
music, and smoke machines. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Wow!
-Yeah. [ Light laughter ] Yeah. Wow. Talk about blowing smoke
up someone's ass. There's never been a bigger gap
between the drama of an entrance and the charisma of the person
making the entrance. That was like if the lights
if the lights went down and you heard
Michael Buffer say, "Let's get ready to rumble!" And then the lights came up on
like a spelling bee. [ Light laughter ] Not a good one. Not scripts. I think after an entrance
like that, you expect to see The Rock, not someone
with the personality of a rock. Can you smell what Ted Cruz
is cooking? It's an expired Lean Cuisine. I found it
in the back of the freezer, just covered in ice, but I think
it's probably still good, right? It would have been great if they
gave him the same introduction, but instead he had to enter
with his rolling suitcase like he was flying to Cancun.
[ Laughter ] Also, why is this guy
having so much fun? In the last two years,
he's been caught leaving Texas during a statewide weather
emergency and power outage. He was confronted by police
at an airport in Montana after arguing with an employee and slinked on to Tucker Carlson
show with his tail between his legs to grovel
and beg for forgiveness because he committed
the grave sin of calling January six
a violent terrorist attack. And he helped foment that attack
in the first place. If even one of those things
happened to me, I'd never show my face
in public again. But this bozo gets to whoop
it up shamelessly with the pyrotechnics from an eighth graders
roller skate party. It's not fair! And unfortunately, that entrance
was just the beginning. This is what
the Republican Party is now all empty spectacle,
no substance. They're all just professional
wrestlers and insult comics now, which I guess is what Cruz
is going for in his speech when he tried out
a crude joke for the crowd. -I talked to a student recently
at one of our woke college campuses who said
she is required in every class to introduce herself
and to give her pronouns. [ Crowd jeering, booing ] Well, I'm Ted Cruz,
and my pronoun is kiss my ass. [ Cheers and applause ] -Ted Cruz is less a person and more a bumper sticker
with a beard. Of course, the real victim
in that story isn't Ted Cruz. It's the student
at the supposed woke university who probably stumbled
across Cruz on campus with his head
sticking out of the bushes. [ As Cruz ] Hey, kid,
they teachin' any critical race theory in there? They burnin' the Seuss books? [ Normal voice ]
That right there, "Kiss my ass." That's the thesis statement
for modern conservatism. They don't have any ideas
and they don't like any of anybody else's ideas. So they're left with
just childish insult, comedy and culture war obsessions. But I don't even think
the people in the crowd understood the joke,
since it makes no sense. They just roared at Cruz
saying the word ass. The same thing happens
at Trump rallies all the time. The dude just rambles
incoherently for an hour about windmills and B-list celebrities
he met in the '80s, and there are long stretches
where even his own audience is bored out of their minds. Sometimes the camera even cuts
to the people in the crowd just standing there
slack jawed in silence. But then, when Trump senses
he's starting to lose the crowd, he'll say something naughty,
like, [As Trump] And Then I told that
son of a bitch to go straight to hell. [Normal voice]
And the crowd will just roar like a bunch of middle schoolers
quoting "South Park" lines to each other at recess. And then Cartman said, uh,
"Suck my balls." [ Laughter ] That is, of course, when Trump
isn't whining incessantly about how he's being treated
or repeating some weird lie an imaginary friend
supposedly told him, which is what happened
over the weekend. At that same
conservative conference, Trump repeated a line
he had also used at one of his rallies last week that he is the most persecuted
person in American history. -A friend of mine recently said
that I was the most persecuted person
in the history of our country. And. I said,
that's a strong statement. But then I thought about it
and I felt, you know, he may very well be right.
A friend of mine recently said that I was
the most persecuted person in the history of our country.
Me the most persecuted. I never thought it that way.
I never had time. I was always fighting
with these people that were trying
to persecute me. I didn't have time to think
about being persecuted because I was
fighting persecution. When I thought about it,
though, I sit back. He's a very smart guy,
successful. I thought -- sat back
I said, you know, he may very well be right. -I like the idea that this never
occurred to Trump until a friend suggested it. This where he gets
all his ideas. You know, Donald,
I was thinking your situation kind of reminds me of,
well, the Salem witch trials. It's almost like
it's almost like it's a hunt. For witches, Donald.
You know, like a witch hunt. [ As Trump ] Witch hunt, you
say? That's pretty good, friend. Dear friend. I'm going to tweet that
with no context. [ Laughter ] [ Normal voice ] I also -- first
of all I love that they never named the friend,
he's like, [As Trump] That's good.
I'm going to quote you on that. [ As friend ]
No, no, no. Don't say my name. Nobody can know
I'm your [Bleep] friend, dude. [ Normal voice ] I also I also
love the idea that Trump "sat back" and thought about it, you know, after he finished
conjugating persecuted. [ As Trump ]
Persecuted, persecution. They persecute
and I'm the persecutee. [ Laughter ] [ Normal voice ] He just sat
back and he thought about it. And he came to the conclusion
that, yes, his friend was right. I'm sure he was just sitting
in his study with a pipe and smoking jacket
surrounded by walls of books, comparing himself
to other historical examples. [As Trump ] Famous persecuted
Americans, let's see -- there's me, there's Rosa Parks,
there's Rubin Hurricane Carter. I guess out of those three,
it's got to be me, if it's those three. Although I do love hurricanes,
don't we, folks, we love, we love the boxer
in the clearing stands a boxer
and a fighter by his trade. So true.
And also we love hurricanes. The actual storms, of course, when I heard all the water
and the wind and the destruction, you know,
sometimes I think to myself, I would love I would love
to be swept up in a hurricane and carried away, away from all
these earthly concerns. The reality, the reality,
the many horrors, the many horrors
I have visited upon myself and the people around me.
But I can't, because I'm trapped here
in this mortal coil. We love the coil,
don't we folks? I'm here in the mortal coil. Well, I'm buffeted
by the vicissitudes of life and where I will inevitably face
the grim consequences of all the destruction
I have wrought these guys know
what I'm talking about. [ Normal voice ] Personally,
I think that maybe Trump is just especially wounded after
the January six committee aired those embarrassing
outtakes last week from his speech the day
after the attempted coup. In addition to showing us
what Trump was unwilling to say, for example, he didn't want to
say that the election was over or that the rioters
should face justice. They also showed us
that maybe Trump's not like the best reader.
-Whenever you're ready, sir. -I would like to begin
by addressing the heinous attack yesterday. And to those who broke the law,
you will pay. You do not represent
our movement. You do not represent
our country. And if you broke the law --
I can't say that. I'm not, can you --
I already said "you will pay." The demonstrators
who infiltrated the Capitol have defied the seat
of dus-- that's defiled, right. So I can't see it very well. Okay, I'll do this.
I'm going to do it. Let's go. But this election is now over. Congress has certified
the results. I don't want to say
the election's over. I just want to say Congress
has certified the results without saying
the election's over. Okay? I would like to begin
by addressing the heinous attack yesterday,
yesterday's a hard word for me. -Just take it out.
The heinous attack -- Say heinous attack on our
nation. -Ah, good. Take the word yesterday out,
because it doesn't work with it. The heinous attack. My only goal was to ensure
the integrity of the vote. My only goal was to ensure
the integrity of the vote. -Nailed it. Nailed it. [ As Trump ] I think you could
take out yesterday because there remember,
it was yesterday because it was such
a living [Bleep] nightmare. [ Normal voice ] Really,
the word "yesterday"
is a hard word for you? It's three syllables. Maybe yesterday
is difficult for him because he doesn't understand
the concept. He literally has no memory of anything that happened
more than 5 minutes ago. He's like a caveman
who's not sure if the sun will come back out
after it goes down at night. That's why he looks
straight at it, you know, to make sure to make sure
it's still there. I think my favorite part
of that sequence of clips is this move he does
when he screws up. He looks like he's surrounded
by a swarm of invisible bees. Does he think he can literally
fight off the word with his bare hands? [ As Trump ] Give that three
syllable word away from me or I'll have to karate chop it. [ Normal voice ]
In addition to being an
active threat to democracy, the modern Republican Party is
not a serious governing party. They don't have
any discernible principles other than their open embrace
of authoritarianism and their obsession
with culture, war, nonsense. They remain in thrall
to a dangerous demagogue who nearly overthrew
American democracy and will absolutely try again
if he gets the chance. They're all desperate to be seen
as loyal to Trump, and in order to do that, Republicans know exactly
what they have to do because Trump tells them
what to do. His instructions are very clear. If you want my support,
then you have to. -Kiss my ass.
-This has been "A Close Look." [ Applause ] God's Love We Deliver, cooks
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