-Hello, everyone, and welcome
back to the captain's quarters. We've been having a lot of fun
with our new wordplay-loving sidekick,
the sea captain. But some of you have registered
your displeasure with his time-killing, often
humorless interjections. -Oh, Seth. That reminds me. How many beers
can a tropical bird drink? -I don't know, sea captain.
How many? -"Two cans"! [toucans]
[ Laughs ] -Oof. Sea captain,
you are not helping your case. -Okay.
-Others of you wondered what happened to the wonderful
bits we used to do with my copy
of "The Thorn Birds," in which the books would change over the course
of "A Closer Look." Well, the reality is I would
have to personally change them myself while I was recording,
and I don't know, I just felt a little bit
ridiculous knowing our crew had to watch those videos
every day. So while "The Thorn Birds"
is there, there will sadly
be no more book switchery. So you can just ignore the book because you're not
missing anything. Just...ignore it. And speaking of ignoring things, the president today suggested
delaying the November election, which would be a flagrant
violation of the Constitution and the law, but hey, that
hasn't stopped him before. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ Well, here we are. We're less than 100 days from
the presidential election. The economy just had its
largest contraction in history. There were more than a
million jobless claims for the 19th week in a row. States are reporting increases
in deaths from an out-of-control pandemic. And a lawless aspiring autocrat who I guess also
believes in demon sperm, is sending secret police
to American cities to round up protesters
while gutting the Post Office to delay mail-in voting, ignoring Supreme Court
decisions, signaling that he'll refuse
to accept the outcome of the election, and now calling
for that election to be delayed, even though he obviously doesn't
have the power to do that. -He tweeted this morning,
"With universal mail-in voting, not absentee voting,
which is good, 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election
in history. It will be a great embarrassment
to the USA. Delay the election until people can properly, securely,
and safely vote. -Oh, great, so not only
is he casually suggesting incinerating American democracy, he's doing it like he's offering
hors d'oeuvres at a party. Why does he always end tweets
like this? Would you like some
delay the election? Arrest for treason? Obama Netflix? Everybody seems to love
Obama Netflix. Now to state the obvious, Trump does not have
the legal power to do this. The Constitution gives Congress,
and only Congress, the power to set
the election date. Congress passed a law more than
a century and a half ago setting that date,
and the 20th Amendment says the president's term
expires in January no matter what. All of which, of course,
would be news to Trump. If you locked him in a room
and told him to read the Constitution, you'd come
back five minutes later to find it tucked into his shirt
like a bib while he wolves down a bunch
of uncooked Goya products. [ As Trump ] These beans
are like tiny BB pellets. Oh, you have to cook them?
Oh, in what? Water? What's that? Oh, it's like Diet Coke without the chemicals
and food coloring? Where do you get it?
The sink?! [ Normal voice ] Look,
it's not enough to just consult your pocket Constitution, shrug
off the president's tweet and move on, satisfied that we've outmaneuvered him
with a fact check. Otherwise, we're just like
AV club nerds explaining to the school bully
why it's illegal to steal our lunch money while he repeatedly dunks our heads
in the toilet. Because the craven husks
around Trump are already laying
the groundwork for Trump to do exactly what
he wants to do, law be damned. They were already doing it before Trump's
psychotic tweet today. On Tuesday,
the Attorney General, William Barr, was asked if
the president had the power to move the date of an election. Now this is as straightforward a legal question
as you can possibly get. It's in the Constitution
and in federal law. There is no ambiguity, but Barr acted like it was one
of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe. -Can a sitting U.S. President
move an election date? -Actually, I haven't
looked into that question under the Constitution. -Well, 2 US Code Section 7
says federal election day is the Tuesday after
the first Monday in November. So if you take that
as a correct statute, is there any executive action
by a president to delay? -I have never been asked
the question before. I have never looked into it. -Oh, you haven't looked into
whether the president can just unilaterally
move the date on an election. Maybe that's worth doing since
Petulant Paddy over here is our current president. I don't know what a rhino eats,
but if I were pet sitting one for the weekend, I'd Google it. Or don't look into it. Because it is a thing
that is clearly prohibited by the Constitution
and federal law and which has never been done
in the history of the country, including through depressions
and wars. It's not up to you to look into
it, you fascist Garfield. This guy is just willfully
ignoring the law. Barr clearly doesn't care what
the Constitution says, and he doesn't care if Democrats
disapprove of his answers. He's like a high school [bleep]
who knows he is not going to get suspended by the principal because his father
owns the town quarry. Oh, property damage is against
school policy, principal? I'll make sure to tell
Scooch and Mando that while we're keying your car. And then today,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested the same thing. When asked about
the president's tweet, he acted like it was
an open question that would be decided not
by the Constitution or Congress, but by Trump's
justice department. -Can a president delay the
November presidential election, Mr. Secretary? -I am not going to enter
a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning. -Can a president delay
a presidential election? -Senator, in the end,
the Department of Justice, others, will make
that legal determination. -No, they won't. It's in the
Constitution and federal law. It's as clear as it could
possibly be. It's not some unsolvable
mathematical equation you have to scratch out
on a chalkboard like a janitor, especially since if Trump
were the janitor, the answer would be,
"I can do whatever I want." It's obvious that these guys
are softening the ground for Trump to contest
the election or even delay if necessary, and even if he loses, to call
the result illegitimate. Democracy stands in the way
of autocracy and oligarchy, so the autocrats and oligarchs
want to get rid of it, which is what they're doing. And the GOP, the party
of autocrats and oligarchs are once again solemnly
furrowing
their brows and then ducking behind plants and into elevators
like they always do. Lindsey Graham said,
"I don't think that's a particularly good
idea." Iowa Senator Joni Ernst said,
"Not answering any questions." Texas Senator John Cornyn said,
"I think it's a joke, I guess, I don't know how else
to interpret it." And North Dakota Senator
Kevin Cramer said, "I think that if you guys
take the bait he'll be the happiest guy
in town. I read it. I laughed. I thought, 'My gosh,
this is going to consume a lot of people,
except real people.' And it was clever." [ Laughs haughtily ]
Yes, t'was clever! T'was clever indeed! A bit of whimsy to brighten
the day! A bawdy little wise crack. He's a quick ribald! Trump isn't clever,
and he certainly doesn't joke. He floats things and then he
sees if he can get away with it, and only if everyone freaks out,
he suddenly claims it's a joke. He's like a husband who tells
his wife and her sister, "We should have a threesome!
That's funny, right? Unless, maybe you guys --
maybe you guys are into it? Maybe it's not that funny? Maybe it's a real thing
that we should talk about? I know the room we do it in." And by the way, media, yes,
there are some Republicans saying the election will happen
on time. Stop giving them
credit for that. That's not a courageous stand.
It's just the bare minimum. Just because the bar
is all the way on the floor doesn't mean we have to give 'em
credit for stepping over it. It's like if your burnout son
gets an F on a history final and you say, "Look who showed up
and took the test! I'm so proud of you, Scooch!" We can all see
what is happening here. Trump and the GOP
are laying the groundwork to contest the election results
in November. The president is spreading
conspiracy theories about mail-in voting, openly defying
Supreme Court orders, slowing down mail delivery,
and slashing post office hours, sending secret police
to American cities to crackdown on protesters,
and signaling that he'll refuse to accept the outcome
of the election if he loses. -In general,
not talking about November, are you a good loser? -I'm not a good loser.
I don't like to lose. I don't lose too often.
I don't like to lose. -But are you gracious? -You don't know until you see.
It depends. I think mail-in voting
is going to rig the election. I really do. -Are you suggesting
that you might not accept the results of the election?
-No. I have to see. -Can you give a direct answer
you will accept the election? -I have to see. Look, you --
I have to see. No, I'm not going to just
say yes. I'm not going to say --
and I didn't last time either. -Why are we even asking him?
We know what he's going to do. He won the last election, and he
still contested the results and claimed that
three million people illegally voted for Hillary. Poor winners almost always turn
out to be poor losers, too. -If he loses this time, he's
going to say five billion people voted illegally, and the media
was unfair to him and Hillary snuck into
a voting booth with a crowbar
to hack the election and Obama should be arrested
for looking better than him in an unbuttoned shirt. And then he's going to tell
his lasagna gargoyle over here to file a lawsuit
in every court in the country while sending his shock troops
to kidnap protesters in a Chrysler Pacifica. [ As Trump ] We're using
American cars, folks. They wanted to use
a Kia Sorento, and I said no, use the Pacifica. They just got air conditioning. [ Normal voice ] And then he'll
say something insane like, you know, this -- -There'll be a time
when they're gonna want us to go in full blast. We are ready, willing, and able
to go in there with great force. As soon as the cities and states
call to ask for help on a very large basis,
we will be there with full force and we will stop up this
horrible situation very quickly. -So in Portland, they either
clean out their city and do the job and get rid of
the anarchists and agitators which is what they are.
They're not protesters. They're anarchists
and agitators. We have many in jail. Many
of them have been put in jail. It's going to be
a long sentence. They either clean out their city
and do it right, or we're going to have to
do it for them. -Think of the language Trump
is using to talk about Americans
in American cities. "Full blast, full force,
clean it out." Those sound like the settings
on a Guy Fieri line of bidets. That's how dictators talk. I'd tell him to start wearing
a tunic, but instead of Chairman Mao,
he'd look more Ernst Blowhole. -You know, I've seen
a blow hole, Seth. -Oh. You have?
-Yeah. I'm looking at it right now!
[ Laughs ] Har-har-har! -Sea Captain!
I almost tear a muscle stretching to make
a Blofeld reference, and this is how you repay me?
-Love yeah, Seth! -[ Scoffs ] All right. The Republican Party
is a deeply unhinged political movement
opposed to democracy if it gets in the way
of their goals. And there have been some
high profile examples over the past few days that capture the sociopathic
incompetence of the GOP. For example, there was
Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert seen here waiting for the good
and the bad. -Ya burnt!
-What are you doing, man? The only way you're allowed
to wear a bandana like that is if you're a yellow lab
in the back of a Jeep. Gohmert tested positive
for coronavirus and chose to inform his staff
about it in person. -Congressman Gohmert told
his staff in person in a room in the Rayburn House Office
Building at the Capitol that he had just tested positive
for the virus. Yes. In person. Inside. He got his staff together
to tell them he presently had coronavirus. -He called them together
in a room to tell them in person that he had a highly infectious
respiratory disease. Did he also ask them to lick
the doorknob on the way in? That's like organizing an orgy
to tell everyone you have crabs. -What?
-It just seemed like crabs was a tee up for you. -Oh, oh, oh, yeah! Yeah! -So do you have anything?
-Um... -If you don't,
just say you don't. -Uh... I don't. -This is your last show. -Okay!
-And Gohmert, mind you, notoriously refuses
to wear a mask. In fact, a Gohmert aide told
Politico that staffers are often "berated for wearing
masks" and that "Louie requires full
staff to be in the office, including three interns, so that
'we could be an example to America on how to open up
safely.'" -Well, you nailed it, dawg! This is like if in the first
30 minutes of "Jaws," the mayor told everyone
the water was safe from inside the shark. -The president
and his administration are laying the groundwork
to contest or delay a presidential election for
the first time in our history while the Republican Party
largely stands around idly, letting it happen.
A pandemic is raging, our economy is collapsing, and they're using it as cover
to shred our democracy. We can't just settle for
fact checks and finger wags. We have to do something now. Otherwise Trump's going to wake
up the day after the election and tell us he's not leaving
because he's... -Not a good loser. -See? Same book. -This has been "A Closer Look." ♪♪ -So many New Yorkers are turning
to City Harvest for help feeding their families,
and they need your support now more than ever.
If you're watching this online, you can hit the "donate" button. Stay safe, wash your hands,
wear a mask, we love you.
