NBC’s Jon Meacham Warns Trump Is a ‘Tyrant’ Among Us — America Will Fall If He Wins
Historian Jon Meacham offered a dire vision for the future of America on Monday’s Morning Joe, likening former President Donald Trump to the “tyrant who rose among us” that Abraham Lincoln talked about.
While Morning Joe covered the historic criminal trial of the former president, co-host Mika Brzezinski turned to Meacham for his perspective on Trump’s influence on his supporters, from the ones who stormed the Capitol on January 6 to the casual Republicans who will vote for him regardless of his actions (and alleged actions):
Brzezinski: Obviously, this is a major moment in history. This has never happened before, and I’d love to hear more about that. But also given recent history, I mean recent history with President Trump, and post-President Trump and January 6th, and the way he’s treating the people who are in jail right now for the insurrection at the Capitol, the way he is whitewashing what happened and getting other Republicans to do so. Can you also talk about how Trump could and is already using this to foment ambiguity and anger in this country?
Meacham: Yeah. In one of his first public speeches, Abraham Lincoln said that if the American Republic were ever to fall, it would not fall to a foreign foe. It would fall to a tyrant who rose among us. And I think that’s essentially where we are. You’re exactly right. What’s unfolding in Manhattan today is part of a larger story about Donald Trump, his behavior, his view of whether or not American democracy exists for the good of the country or for the good of Donald Trump.
Meacham also discussed Trump’s “enablers,” the traditional Republicans who “think that they’re going to have lower taxes and more conservative judges. And it doesn’t matter that he’s trying to rip up the Constitution.” But Meacham’s question was just how far those kinds of Republicans are willing to go, and if they’re staying on Trump’s side, it’s an alarming indication of where American democracy is headed:
The question is going to be, as we head into this presidential election, is, will a sufficient number of those people stand by Donald Trump come what may, including a felony conviction, including possibly convictions, certainly trials, about overturning an election that he just didn’t like. Right? That’s on trial. So truth and democracy are on trial this year, and I don’t, it’s … I have no pleasure in saying this. I’m not trying. I’m not being hyperbolic. You know, this this isn’t like history nerd sweepstakes. You know, it’s not that. This is the fact of the matter. And American democracy in many ways is being tested here.
Watch the video above via MSNBC.
