Trump Following Nixon ‘Law And Order Playbook On Steroids’: Jeh Johnson | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Jeh Johnson, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, talks with Rachel Maddow about the federal forces deployed in Portland, Oregon and why public concern about what's going on in Portland is not an overreaction. Aired on 7/21/2020.
» Subscribe to MSNBC:

MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, Meet the Press Daily, The Beat with Ari Melber, Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace, Hardball, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and more.

Connect with MSNBC Online
Visit msnbc.com:
Subscribe to MSNBC Newsletter:
Find MSNBC on Facebook:
Follow MSNBC on Twitter:
Follow MSNBC on Instagram:

Trump Following Nixon 'Law And Order Playbook On Steroids': Jeh Johnson | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

78 comments

  1. Once the Trump infection is over, DHS won’t be long for this world.  An instrument of occupation and domestic terror.

    1. @Chris P. Bacon I hope you are right. But don’t let down your guard. This is a very dangerous time and we can easily fall in the other direction and repeat the horrors of the last century.

  2. It’s not okay for the United States of America to have quasi-military secret police abduct American citizens on the streets and rendition them to who knows where to be interrogated as “terrorists” or perhaps even disappeared. We are not East Germany, China, or North Korea. STOP!

    1. @Dave Ponsford If Biden wins they will be taking to the street calling every Democrat supporter unpatriotic and a cheat. I would think by now you would have an understanding of the mentality of Trump cultists. These people are dangerous, armed to teeth and just waiting to be given the go ahead to “defend their country” like the true patriots they believe they are. I really wish you people would stop existing in this alternate reality where you delude yourselves you just get to vote out a dictator and Biden saves the world.

    2. @Thyalwaysseek Trump is an unpatriotic fascist. Look at any comment from his cult. They see 140k dead, 40 million unemployed and depression as great things. They try to lie about riots and take pride in achievements that never happened. I will guarantee that they will blame Biden for everything the day he’s sworn in.

    3. Look up the “100 mile border zone” you will find all the answers you need to expose trumps secret police

  3. So basically Chad Wolf is Heinrich Himmler, the head of Trump’s Gestapo.

    What every American should want to know, is how did this lobbyist, and Gestapo enthusiast, with no law enforcement experience, or criminal law background, become the head of DHS?!?!

    1. Wolf is compromised in some way, of course. Trump ONLY choses compromised men and women – they are “loyal”, just like Epstein and Ailes.

    2. Jock Young – exactly! There needs to be time limits that someone can be “acting” before they HAVE to be approved by the senate.

    3. David J : Precisely. I cannot express enough how SERIOUS the danger of allowing this Secret Police outfit to go unchecked is! They WILL be consolidated into an, “official unit,” if we don’t INUNDATE our representatives to put a STOP to this. TODAY! I get accused of, “over reacting,” sometimes, and then, Instead of saying, “I told you so,” to people, I beg them to SEE what’s happening and play their part. THIS is the expanding instrument with which the Trump’s will shield themselves from the elections, from democracy, from the Republic; from YOU. They are NOT just waiting to go to JAIL in January, after losing the elections, America. Desperate criminals do desperate things. Take this stick from them, right now!

    4. Oh no more bad news about our great President Trump the Gestapo is playing by rule book enjoy another 4 years…

    1. @G G Did you see the videos of Ghouliani et al literally FREAKING OUT over Muslims and Mexicans during the 2016 campaign? If there were no protests they’d find something else to fearmonger over. Caravans that never appeared, for example

    2. @Chris P. Bacon you are wrong and brainwashed. Trump is upholding the constitution will be reelected and will uphold the 2nd amendment.

    3. @Dave Ponsford you are a delusional psychopath who has lost touch with reality that Democrats do riot their Mayors are allowing the lawlessness and Trump will be re-elected in the landslide you can take that to the bank. Trump 2020 KAG!!!!

    4. @Kevin Thompson pull your head out of your rear there were caravans the wall and Trumps leadership stopped them thats a fact the low I.Q. can find out facts matter enough Russia conspiracies that never existed but a lie to deceive American voters. Trump 2020 because facts do matter.

    5. @G G You’re lying or delusional. Gun sales went up before George Floyd was murdered, before the protests. It was more hysteria from the far right about food shortages due to the pandemic, the bunker mentality. I live in the west, I saw it happen.

  4. The repressive Department Homeland & Security needs to be de-funded & put out of business. Let them try to get real jobs like 7-11 security guards or something.

    1. black water jack boots raping the tax base …. nazi mercs in modern day..prince devos drumpfffs thugs and raping the tax base

    2. @Invoke the 25th Amendment. and they are getting no bid contracts in the billions ..yet moscow mitch wont give the working poor and essential workers 2000k aide checks in a pandemic ..think about that and let sink in what the conservatives/gop do to we the people

    1. @Mike Smith- I don’t think they implied you were afraid of anything, so you just look dumb for saying that you’re fearless. Additionally, fearing nothing probably means that you’re too dumb to realize that you should be afraid.

    2. @Vincent Aguirrei did not know dumb people made over 100 k a year..i did not know i was afraid or lived in fear of people as well..

    3. @Vincent Aguirre You should be concerned that Trump’s dictatorship is coming apart at the seams. History books will get this right.

  5. We all need to consider that Trump will use the violence to suspend the elections, or annul the results. Watch for Trump sympathizers to instigate violence in Portland. It’s a desperate play, and Donnie is growing desperate.

    1. Trump doesn’t quite understand that under the constitution his term ends January 20th, elections or not. If no elections have been held, the speaker of the house takes over until new elections have been organized and the new president is sworn in.

    2. @0cypher0 That’s close but not quite correct if Pelosi isn’t re-elected as well. Through a weird path of constitutional strangeness, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont would become president if there were no elections.
      So, obviously, Trump would have the appearance of elections even if there are stormtroopers blocking the entrance to polling stations or whatever he plans to do with them on election day.

      The 2020 Electoral College will be held December 14 at 12:00 PM in Olympia, Washington.

      The results of the election will be in the courts as of Nov. 4 with Trump/Barr et al claiming massive fraud.

      If the EC doesn’t certify a winner on that date, a “contingent election” will be held. The decision goes to the *House of Representatives*. Each state delegation casts one vote for one of the top three contenders to determine a winner.

      It doesn’t matter which party controls Congress because each state gets a single vote.

      “That means that California’s House delegation, with 53 members (and a whopping 46-7 Democratic advantage), has the same power in the process as Wyoming, with its single Republican member.”

      Republicans 26 delegations
      Dems 22
      Split 2

      Electoral College tie, or any other reason the vote isn’t certified by the archivist on December 14, 2020 – trump is re-appointed to a seat he didn’t even get elected to legitimately the first time.
      Putin’s had a long time to figure this one out

    3. @0cypher0
      What if Trump would not accept defeat?
      – A little thought game:

      Some political scientists already believe that the Democrat Joe Biden will defeat the incumbent US President Donald Trump. But what if Trump does not accept an election defeat?

      Fast forward to January 2021: The US presidential election is over, 538 electors have met in the “Electoral College”, Congress counted the votes on January 6 and announced the results: Donald Trump’s opposing candidate Joe Biden received an absolute majority of 270 or more votes – he is the 46th President of the United States.

      Trump, however, does not accept this, boycotts Biden’s inauguration, scheduled for January 20, 2021, and entrenches himself in the White House. Civilian employees, but also parts of the Secret Service and the military join him.

      Although this scenario sounds spectacular and cinematic, it could be quickly brought to an end: “It would be relatively easy to deal with, because Trump would be escorted out of the White House by the Secret Service and US Marshals, and his supporters would face serious charges, including treason,” says political scientist Martin Thunert, who teaches at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies.

      Far more technical, perhaps more realistic and no less threatening, however, is the following scenario: The election results are – as in 2016 – extremely close. At that time, only 77,000 votes in three states; Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, were decisive.

      Hillary Clinton decided to accept the result after a night of reconsideration. What is different today: “We cannot assume that Trump would do this in a similar situation,” says expert Thunert.

      It seems that Trump is already preparing his arguments for such a scenario, tweeting in rage about possible election rigging. “Rigged 2020 election: millions of mail-in ballots will be printed by foreign countries, and others. It will be the scandal of our times,” he tweeted in late June.

      Election results not accepted?
      For a post in May in which he wrote: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent”, Twitter even subjected him to a fact check for the first time and marked his post with a warning for readers.

      And in an interview with “Fox News” on 19 July, when asked if he would accept a lost election, he declared: “I have to see this. I’m not just gonna say yes.” And he added, “I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

      So what if the time comes, the election results are tight, and Trump doesn’t accept defeat? “For one thing, it would depend on how much support he has in his own party,” Thunert estimated.

      But the majority of Republicans already believe that vote-by-mail rigging could take place – mailboxes could be stolen, people could vote more than once, or ballots could be filled in by strangers. “It could amount to a legal tug-of-war in this matter,” Thunert said.

      Admitting defeat for reasons of state
      This is what happened in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president, even though his opponent Al Gore had a nationwide lead. There was a legal dispute over controversial ballots in Florida, where Bush’s election victory was not certain.

      The legal recount was started by lower courts, but in the end the Supreme Court stopped the recount in favor of Bush. This time again, the Supreme Court would be called upon to decide on the correct election result. “At that time, however, Al Gore accepted the Supreme Court’s decision for reasons of state,” Thunert recalls – not to be expected with Trump.

      Worst-case scenario: There is no agreement
      In Thunert’s eyes, the horror scenario is therefore: “If in states where the state parliament and governor are made up of different parties, there is no agreement on the winner of the popular election, and contrary recommendations are made to the Electoral College”.

      As a reminder, each of the 50 American states and the federal district sends electoral officers to the Electoral College. The number is largely determined by the size of the state’s population – California last sent 55 electors, North Dakota only 3. In all states, the electorate is constitutionally bound to the will of the voters.

      But what could happen if the result of the popular election is disputed, if one body, for example the governor, sees Trump in front and the other, the state parliament, sees Biden in front, or vice versa?

      According to Thunert, the “horror scenario” described above is particularly possible in controversial swing states such as Pennsylvania or Michigan: the state parliaments there are dominated by Republicans, the governorship is held by Democrats.

      “The electors of the affected state receive instructions to the contrary, the Electoral College is unable to carry out a non-uniform certification and cannot pass on a clear result to the newly elected Congress,” Thunert explains the further course of events.

      It is not yet clear whether the current majority in Congress – i.e. a majority of Republicans in the Senate and a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives – will prevail.

      Decision in the House of Representatives
      In any case, if the “Electoral College” were to certify inconsistently, Congress would not be able to clearly see to whom the electoral votes of a state must be allocated and could under certain circumstances simply not count them at all.

      If this were to happen in the event of a close election in one or two states, it would be mathematically more and more difficult for the candidates to achieve an absolute majority of 270 electors.

      “If the election result in Congress is not clearly ascertainable in some states and neither of the two candidates received 270 votes, the election of the president goes to the House of Representatives according to the Constitution, and that of the vice president to the US Senate,” Thunert continued.

      This has already happened twice, most recently in 1824 and 1836 in the election of the Vice President. “However, in such cases, it is not a member of parliament who votes with one vote, but the members of parliament according to state delegation,” explains Thunert.

      This means that, according to the current situation, Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives in 26 state delegations, Democrats in 23, and in one state it is distributed exactly equally. “So if the current House of Representatives were to vote, Trump would probably remain president,” Thunert makes clear. But because the new House of Representatives would then already be voting, this is an unknown variable.

      “Acting President” theoretically possible
      So it could be that the majority ratio is 25 to 25 and it would come to a standstill (called “stalemate”). “Then we would have a real crisis, because the US Constitution is basically designed in such a way that there is always a clear result and the inferior party recognizes this,” Thunert expresses his concern.

      If, under all these circumstances, no new president has been sworn in by noon on 20 January 2021, the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 will apply.

      “Should the Senate likewise be unable to agree on a vice-president, which would be possible with a 50:50 vote of the 100 senators (otherwise the then elected vice-president would take over the office of president), the speaker of the House of Representatives would provisionally become “Acting President”, Thunert explains.

      If the majority remains the same, that would be the Democrat Nancy Pelosi. “Experts assume that the military leadership would subordinate itself to the commander-in-chief whom the constitutional regulations provide for as president,” the expert adds. The nuclear codes for Trump would also expire at the same time or be handed over to the new president.

      **Constitutional system not prepared**
      Thunert, however, warns: “The US system is not really prepared for such an extreme scenario – there are no clear rules of the game and the legal scholars are in disagreement about what exactly will happen then.

      It is also a problem for any democratic country when a large percentage of the electorate does not consider an election result as legitimate. Many experts in the USA doubt that this horror scenario could happen, but it is not completely unthinkable.

      **Would it lead to pre-civil war conditions? All this remains speculation. “The constitution can no longer prepare itself for this, as it would have to be amended to do so”, Thunert clarifies. Only one thing can definitely prevent this: a clear and unequivocal election result in November.*
      *

  6. Pence can’t pardon Trump from paying off the pornstar with campaign funds in the New York State crime.

    1. You are Absolutely Correct. That’s Why Wm. Barr and his Crime Boss, djskunk Is Struggling hard to Dismantle the SDNY and replace it with their Lawless Unqualified Crooks. . They are the Last Lawful Dept., Of Justice Seekers that can Prosecute Him and No Pence can’t override their Decisions.

  7. Contract security people. I see Eric Prince’s mercenary forces out to make a profit as gestapo thugs.

    1. I wonder if Betsy gets a cut too. She’s intentionally destroying the educational system for public schools so kids will be dumber and less prepared for the work force (and probably working in minimum wage jobs). Trump isn’t the only one who likes the poorly educated cuz they won’t really fight for better pay and conditions. Betsy’s doing her part to ensure poor people (anyone not in her economic tax bracket) don’t think for themselves and gutting the educational institutions is a great place to start. 😈👍🤔💩🙈🙊🙉

    1. @Rod WTF does “liberal-run” have to do with it?
      If trump wanted to control gun violence he would send some suggestions to Congress to address the issue.

      Universal background checks {Yes}
      Extreme risk protection orders (red flags) {Yes}
      Assault-weapons ban {?}
      Ban on high-capacity magazine {?}
      Gun licensing {?!}

      This is just a wannabe dictator calling for *your* support and getting it. Thanks a lot.

  8. If you folks haven’t yet seen the MidasTouch videos on YouTube, you should google them. They’re quite good.

  9. This has AG Bill Barr’s stink all over it from the DC protest fiasco… directly ordered by agent orange🎃👎

    1. @Rod How is unmarked gestapo federal officers BEATING and MACING a Navy veteran in Portland… unprovoked… “law & order”??? Attacking peaceful protesters???
      It’s the STINK of ILLEGAL fascism & authoritarianism in USA, courtesy of AG Barr & Don Trump🎃👎

    2. @Rod U wanna pin a label on me, MAGA dog? I’ll be PROUD to be a “liberal”😈 rather than be a ‘fascist nazi’ like YOU, freak…🤮👎

  10. Sorry Rachael as soon as he said Private Contractors are hired the question should have been, what company are they from . Remember Follow The Money! Betsy DeVoss brother Eric Prince owns the Blackwater soldier co. And has bases around the US. Looks like they are practicing for the future of controlling citizens. Many of us will just disappear. Rachael do some research on these Contrators. These are dangerous times. This how Hitler executed his overthrow of Germamy. Small violent almost unknowns occurrences. Then BAM!

  11. The “Turd Reich” has built several concentration camps and intends on keeping them full and the prisons too!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.