 So we've talked about this on the program before, but Donald Trump is trying to further remake the Republican Party in his own image. And now he is going after Republican incumbents specifically who don't explicitly endorse his 2020 big lie. And so the goal here is to further help him steal the 2020-24 election in the event he chooses to run, which it seems pretty clear that that is indeed his intent. But by weeding out all of the Republicans who are still being honest about the election, that's unacceptable. He wants them to be unquestionably loyal to him, no conditions whatsoever. And so he's trying to basically drive out anyone who won't feed into his lies. Now Mitch McConnell is trying to very stealthily thwart this effort from Donald Trump. In fact, he's formed an alliance of sorts with other Republicans such as war criminal George W. Bush. And what Trump is trying to do, Mitch McConnell is trying to counter. So if Donald Trump endorses a primary challenger to some Republican incumbent, then McConnell is trying to protect said Republican incumbent. So this is really interesting because this is really becoming a real civil war here, which you love to see because so long as Republicans are fighting themselves, perhaps they won't be doing as much damage to the country. I mean, either way, this is interesting to watch. So this is from Jonathan Marathon of The New York Times who explains, as Mr. Trump works to retain his hold on the Republican Party, elevating a slate of friendly candidates in midterm elections, Mr. McConnell and his allies are quietly desperately maneuvering to try to thwart him. The loose alliance, which was once thought of as the GOP establishment for months, has been engaged in a high stakes candidate recruitment campaign full of phone calls, meetings, polling memos, and promises of millions of dollars. It's all aimed at recapturing the Senate majority. But the election also represents what could be Republicans last chance to reverse the spread of Trumpism before it fully consumes their party too late. Mr. McConnell for years pushed Mr. Trump's agenda and only rarely opposed him in public. But the message that he delivers privately now is unsparing if debatable. Mr. Trump is losing political altitude and need not be feared in a primary. He has told Mr. Ducey in repeated phone calls as the Senate leaders lieutenants share polling data they argue proves it. In conversations with Senators and would-be Senators, Mr. McConnell is blunt about the damage he believes Mr. Trump has done to the GOP according to those who have spoken to him. Privately he has declared he won't let unelectable goofballs win Republican primaries. It's a little bit late for that, don't you think? So I don't know to what extent this effort is going to be successful. I don't buy the line that Mr. McConnell and his ilk are covertly feeding to the press. They're basically saying this isn't really about Donald Trump. We're just afraid that he's going to be endorsing candidates that aren't very electable. Really? Because if they have the endorsement of Donald Trump and the base still loves Donald Trump, I think that's worth something, no? But what I believe this is truly about and this is speculation, so keep that in mind, is I think that one, Mitch McConnell is trying to make sure that the donors are in control of the Republican Party, not Donald Trump. And second of all, Mitch McConnell is probably just butthurt, because Trump is pretty explicitly coming after him. Trump has made it very clear that he intends on ousting Mitch McConnell out of his leadership role. And if you are a GOP party donor, you do not want this to happen because Mitch McConnell is very effective at getting their agenda accomplished. So Mr. Trump has made clear he wants the Senate candidates he backs to oust Mr. McConnell from his leadership perch and even considered making a pledge to do so a condition of his endorsement. Few have done so to date. In fact, Mr. McConnell considers a victory. Only two of them have taken me on, he crowed, alluding to Ms. Tishibaka in Alaska and Eric Grayton, the former Missouri governor running for an open seat. Yeah, so I mean I think that this is also pretty personal. Trump has made this personal and, you know, I'm sure that Mitch McConnell is irritated by that and alarmed to an extent, given given the political capital that Trump has. But I do believe that it is the case that Trump is kind of wasting a lot of his political capital on this big lie project. He just can't get over the 2020 election. He can't admit that he lost fair and square. And so I think that in some ways, you know, this will hurt him. If he just let go of the big lie, I think that most people in the Republican Party would be on board. I mean, they're already on board to be clear here. But the holdouts would be on board. But you still have people in the Republican Party like Lindsey Graham, who just today on television, you know, after Donald Trump has been attacking him, calling him a rhino, still paying fealty to Donald Trump. So the Republican Party, they know that this is a situation that is kind of out of their control at this point. They let the monkeys take over the zoo. And now they're living with that, right? They made their bed. Now they're lying in it. This is kind of them finding out after fucking around for decades and courting these loons in their party. But, you know, this GOP civil war, I think that it is good. Anytime the GOP is at odds with each other, I think that that's objectively good for America, given how destructive this party is not just to this country, but to the planet itself. But, you know, the only question is who's going to determine the future of the Republican Party, because there's going to be a winner at some point in this GOP civil war. So will the GOP become an increasingly far-right unhinged authoritarian party that will kill democracy? Or will they become an increasingly unhinged far-right authoritarian party that will kill democracy but a little bit faster? That's really the question. That's what's going to determine, you know, the outcome of this situation. I hope that it's the one that kills democracy a little bit slower, so that way we have a bit more of a chance to try to save democracy. Doesn't really seem like that's going to happen, because Democrats have just given up. But either way, I'll still opt for, you know, a slow move towards authoritarianism. And let me be clear here. I don't want to sound hyperbolic. I'm not saying that we're going to become a dictatorship overnight. I mean, sure, if Donald Trump were to successfully steal an election in this country by getting, you know, electors in Republican-controlled states to throw at the will of voters, that would be awful. But we wouldn't give up the facade of democracy. We just lose even more sway than we already have in this country. And perhaps more civil rights and civil liberties would be restricted. It's kind of a slow, slow death that we'd see, essentially. But I mean, either way, that's bad. I would like to, for once in this country, for once in my lifetime, maybe move in the right direction rather than the wrong direction consistently. Or, you know, we take two steps forward and then five steps back. I would like for once to just see a little bit of progression. But this is the United States of America, where our democracy is basically dead, hanging on by a thread. And our institutions are failing us. So now we just see utter chaos and a government that is incapable of getting even the minimum done to satisfy the needs of their constituents, of the American population. As a result, it's kind of just like this competition for elites. Who's going to win? Will it be the super, super crazy people or the super, super, super crazy people? It's a lose, lose, whoever wins. But at the same time, there is a substantive difference between the McConnells and the Trumps of the world. I'd argue that the more establishment type of Republicans, like McConnell, are probably more effective at getting their harmful agenda through. Whereas Donald Trump, even if he's not as effective as a Mitch McConnell or even a Desantis, his rhetoric, his straight up disregard for American democracy itself is also harmful. So these are both very, very destructive forces in American politics. And I can only hope that this GOP civil war results in them somehow both losing. But that's not going to be the case. And by the way, since I'm looking at this picture again, this is a very weird image. And it proves, I think that these are not actual human beings. These are robots. Look at the way that Mitch McConnell is hugging Donald Trump. He's like using his fucking decrepit hand to grab onto his arm. This is so awkward. They're robots, I feel like. These are not real human beings. They certainly are soulless at a minimum, but they're just weird people. But that's completely beside the point. The picture is just weird. Then I had to talk about it a little bit. But anyways, yeah, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are fighting. And I hope that they fight harder. Let them fight. And click the join button on YouTube to become a member. Because Mike's doing a great job getting to watch his videos before everyone else is tremendous. Many people are saying this. Join today, folks. You won't regret it.