#election-subversion

#election-subversion

MADDOW: You know, it was the Republicans who agreed to this hearing. They agreed that this should be in public and on television. And you know, it's possible they're only watching right-wing pro-Trump news, and so they haven't heard much about what Jack Smith actually did in his investigation. They may not know much about who he actually is and how he speaks.

This is a game that has been played for so long it's hard to find equilibrium: They say something outrageous-Steve Bannon asserts with confidence that there are plans afoot to get around the Constitution-then they walk it all back. I'm left wondering if we are just chasing after whatever bait they're throwing out there. In a sense, whether or not he actually seeks a third term is half the problem; subverting the election is another thing you're deeply concerned about.

In the normal course of history, the president of the United States is a figure who inspires optimism in the American people. The 47th president prefers to stir feelings of fear, vulnerability, hopelessness, and political inevitability-the sense that he, and only he, can rescue the nation from looming peril. Since his second inauguration, Donald Trump has seized authoritarian control over the federal government and demanded the obedience of the other powerful institutions of American society-universities, law firms, media companies.

President Donald Trump has spent the first nine months of his term bulldozing limits on his power, abetted by a supine Congress. What might be left of checks and balances after four years of unified Republican control in Washington is unclear. Trump sees winning a majority in the midterms as crucial to his agenda, and he is also worried about them, as demonstrated by his cajoling and badgering of GOP-led states to gerrymander House districts to aid Republican candidates.

To understand the threat to democracy, and how it might be stopped, I spoke with experts on election administration, constitutional law, and law enforcement. Many of them are people I have known to be cautious, sober, and not prone to hyperbole. Yet they used words like nightmare and warned that Americans need to be ready for really wild stuff. They described a system under attack and reaching a breaking point.