0:00

There is a solemn obligation

0:04

that these jurors and

0:06

prospective jurors are

0:09

being asked to perform.

0:11

And this includes, importantly,

0:13

people who disdain the

0:16

idea of Donald Trump returning

0:19

to political power. But the

0:21

criminal trial is not a

0:24

proxy for an

0:26

election. It is not a substitute

0:28

for the will of the American

0:30

people. A criminal trial is exactly

0:33

that. A criminal trial. This is

0:35

a moment where

0:37

Donald Trump's fiercest

0:40

critics must

0:42

be his most

0:44

vociferous defenders for

0:47

a fair trial. Because the system

0:50

that he attacked cannot

0:53

be denigrated. It is Monday, April

0:55

15th, 2024. This is the warning.

1:01

There are 204 days remaining

1:03

until the American people will

1:05

decide who is in command.

1:08

During the most dangerous hours the

1:11

world has seen, perhaps since the Cuban

1:13

Missile Crisis, or perhaps 1973 in the

1:15

Middle East. What

1:19

happened this past weekend

1:22

was unprecedented. Iran

1:25

made a declaration that it's

1:27

prepared to wage war against Israel and

1:30

the United States in the clear

1:32

light of day. The

1:34

war that has gone on between

1:37

Israel and Iran has escaped from

1:39

the shadows. And

1:41

now a great question

1:43

hangs over the Israeli War

1:45

Cabinet. The Situation

1:48

Room in the White House. All

1:51

of the world's capitals of all

1:53

of the democratic powers. There

1:57

is a coalition of chaos

1:59

and men. that

2:01

is merging, coming together,

2:03

that is prodding, poking,

2:06

testing, the resolve of

2:08

the free world, 80

2:10

years on from

2:12

the day that will soon be recognized

2:14

and honored the invasion

2:17

of Europe, D-Day, June 6,

2:23

1944. This access of Iran,

2:26

of North Korea, of

2:28

Russia, and China is

2:31

menacing. It's

2:34

probing, it's probing,

2:38

prodding in the

2:40

Philippines, in Taiwan.

2:44

Russia is fueling instability

2:47

all over the world while

2:49

every night its missiles and

2:51

drones assault the sovereignty

2:53

and the peace of

2:56

Ukraine. Vladimir

2:58

Putin and his propagandists

3:01

promised the use of nuclear weapons on

3:04

a weekly basis. Vladimir

3:07

Putin has made a declaration

3:09

that wherever Russia is spoken

3:13

is Russia and

3:15

that there are no permanent

3:17

international boundaries so far

3:19

as it is concerning where

3:22

Russia is spoken. Iran

3:24

is the world's

3:26

preeminent force of chaos. Its

3:29

proxies are firing missiles into

3:31

international shipping lanes, targeting

3:33

the ships of dozens

3:35

of countries, delaying

3:38

the transfer of goods throughout

3:41

the world. They

3:44

are the full manners of

3:46

terror and chaos, the

3:48

principal backers of Hamas and

3:51

Hezbollah. They are

3:53

the world's leading exporters of terror

3:56

and they have a close relationship and increase the

3:58

number of people in the world. single close

4:01

with North Korea. This access

4:05

is powerful. It

4:07

is formidable. Iranian drones are

4:10

used by Russians to

4:12

attack Ukrainian cities. There

4:17

is communication. There

4:19

is coordination. There

4:22

is a commitment amongst these

4:24

countries to bring down the

4:27

world order that has existed since

4:30

the world was rebuilt. After

4:33

it was brought to the brink of

4:36

ruin, Europe

4:38

was shattered and much of Asia, upwards

4:41

of 85 million people

4:44

were killed all

4:46

over the world just

4:49

80 years ago.

4:55

All of this,

4:57

the great escalation that

4:59

took place coincides

5:03

with the criminal trial of

5:05

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, the

5:08

MAGA nominee, the former president of

5:10

the United States hush money trial

5:12

for paying off a porn star,

5:15

Stormy Daniels, many years ago. The

5:17

trial will play out in a

5:19

Manhattan district court. The

5:23

prosecution is led by the district

5:25

attorney, Mr. Alvin Bragg, and

5:28

jury selection has begun. A great

5:30

test is underway that

5:33

in the end when the jury is seated,

5:35

they will have to swear an oath. And

5:39

Donald Trump's freedom is

5:42

utterly dependent on

5:44

the fidelity of those American

5:46

citizens to that oath. When

5:50

that jury is seated,

5:53

the 12 people will share

5:56

one thing in common, not

5:59

their self. or gender, or

6:01

their political views. It is

6:04

their citizenship. Everybody

6:07

who sits on the jury will be

6:11

an American citizen. Donald

6:14

Trump took an oath. He

6:17

desecrated it. His

6:19

oath was 35 words. It's

6:22

the only oath of office that's

6:24

actually prescribed in the American

6:27

Constitution. Trump promised to preserve,

6:29

protect, and defend the

6:32

Constitution of the United States, which

6:36

calls for the assignment of

6:38

political power through the

6:41

outcome of elections, which

6:44

Donald Trump lost, but

6:46

refused to concede and

6:48

triggered an insurrection and

6:50

assault a criminal act,

6:52

violence, mayhem, and

6:55

chaos, bloodying the

6:57

peaceful transition of power, humiliating

7:00

the United States on the

7:02

world stage. Now,

7:06

the jurors in

7:08

the Trump trial will

7:10

not be asked a question

7:14

about whether they think Donald Trump

7:17

is a good president, or

7:19

a bad president, or even

7:21

a good person, or a

7:23

bad person. The jurors will

7:25

be asked a question in the end, and

7:27

it is whether they can be

7:29

faithful, have integrity

7:33

towards an idea of

7:35

impartiality. Are

7:38

they able to put their

7:40

prejudices aside? We

7:44

all have them. And

7:47

be fair and

7:49

do their duty. Duty,

7:54

obligation, responsibility.

7:59

Freedom is a non-stop. word without

8:01

these concepts. The

8:05

American criminal justice system relies

8:08

not on politics, but

8:11

on justice, on

8:14

the notion that

8:17

justice is blind.

8:20

A jury of Donald

8:23

Trump's peers will be

8:25

seated. And let

8:27

us understand something immediately. Manhattan

8:31

is where Donald Trump's peers

8:34

are. He is, if

8:36

anything, a New Yorker. He

8:39

is known there and famous there

8:42

for a generation before

8:45

anybody had seen

8:47

their first Apprentice episode. And

8:50

Eon, before his

8:52

political aspirations were clear,

8:55

or even before he

8:57

made his first appearance on the Howard

8:59

Stern Show. New

9:02

Yorkers will be asked a

9:05

question. And

9:07

it has to do with

9:10

the functioning of

9:13

the American justice system. Can

9:16

a jury be assembled

9:20

of citizens that

9:22

can be impartial towards

9:25

the most famous man of

9:28

the age, the dominant figure

9:30

in the culture? Can

9:33

they understand intellectually,

9:36

morally that

9:39

Donald Trump is

9:42

presumed innocent? This

9:46

is not an occasion for

9:49

anybody to be rooting for

9:51

political outcomes. This

9:54

is not a baseball game. This

9:57

is not the Masters, and it's not a circus.

10:01

It's a criminal trial and

10:04

it's a serious matter for

10:06

any citizen who sits there accused

10:09

by the state with

10:11

a risk of losing

10:13

their freedom, of being

10:15

incarcerated by the state through

10:18

an assault on him where

10:21

the ends are justified

10:23

by the means. No,

10:28

justice requires justice

10:32

and the American system is

10:35

not a kangaroo court. Donald

10:38

Trump attacks our system of

10:40

justice every day. He

10:43

promises chaos and mayhem

10:45

and violence in the

10:47

streets. He promises retribution

10:49

and revenge and imprisonment

10:51

for his political foes

10:54

who exercise their God-given

10:56

constitutional rights to speech,

10:58

to conscience, to political

11:00

activity, including denunciations

11:02

of his misconduct,

11:05

his aberrant behavior, his

11:08

insanity, and his

11:10

manifest on fitness for

11:13

authority, power, and control

11:15

of anything, anyone,

11:17

at any time ever.

11:24

But the trial ahead is

11:28

just that, a trial. Everybody

11:34

who looks at Donald Trump and

11:36

worries about his return to power

11:38

should understand that

11:41

these trials have

11:44

not hurt Donald Trump politically. The

11:48

jury, proverbially speaking,

11:50

is out on that question.

11:53

We'll see in the end, but

11:56

for now, if anything, they've

11:58

cut in trouble.

12:00

Trump's benefit towards his

12:03

direction. Now

12:05

here's the thing. Nobody's

12:09

above the law in America, but

12:13

nobody's below it either, including

12:16

Donald Trump. This

12:19

is an important moment for the whole country

12:22

as the whole of the world stands

12:25

at the edge of

12:27

an abyss. 80

12:30

years on, from the end

12:32

of a global war, the

12:34

world, it seems, has forgotten many

12:36

of the lessons learned

12:39

by the horror and

12:42

the blood of nearly 100

12:44

million dead. So

12:47

here we are on this

12:50

April 15th when

12:53

the American people pay a

12:55

multitude of their hard-earned money to

12:58

the American government, watching

13:01

a criminal trial of a former

13:03

disgraced president, a hush money

13:05

trial involving a

13:07

level of tawdryness that

13:10

is epic and

13:12

pathetic and

13:15

tragic. And

13:18

yeah, a little funny. But

13:22

in a moment when

13:25

the world is at a dangerous

13:27

edge, in a

13:29

dangerous hour that is growing

13:31

darker, the

13:34

winds are

13:36

blowing, catastrophe

13:42

is in the air. The

13:45

American people have indulged

13:47

a lot of madness, a lot of frivolousness,

13:52

a lot of insanity. In

13:56

the hour for all the fun, it seems to me, it

13:59

seems to be coming to

14:01

a pretty decisive end. So,

14:06

appreciate today the

14:08

split screen ahead. World

14:10

War III to the right, and

14:14

the porn store hush money trial to

14:17

the left. Neither

14:20

one is a joke. Both

14:23

are utterly real, and both

14:26

are happening. What

14:29

will you do about it, if

14:32

anything? 204

14:35

days to go until

14:37

the man on trial could

14:40

be the most powerful man in the world again.

14:43

That's not a criminal trial question.

14:46

That's not a jury question. That's

14:49

a political question, and

14:51

we all get a vote on that. That

14:55

is the great part. About

14:58

being an American. Thank you for

15:00

listening to my political commentary. If

15:03

you like what you heard today, please

15:05

also consider subscribing to the

15:07

warning daily newsletter

15:10

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