November 4, 2025 • 8 mins
On Election Day, it's more important than ever for Americans to make their voices heard and check the power of Donald Trump. Steve Schmidt explains the significance of this year's elections and how Trump has done everything to undermine our democracy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Tuesday, November fourth, this is the morning it's
election day. Let's talk about that. One year from now,
the American people will decide if Donald Trump has a
check put on him, not by Democrats, but by us,
the American people, using the institution of the Democratic Party,
(00:25):
to say, you're not a king, you're out of control.
And your cabinet secretaries who come to the Congress with
both middle fingers waving, preserve your records. The choice that
we get to make about who leads us is not accidental.
It just isn't because and it just doesn't exist because
(00:50):
either we get to pick our leaders because of the
blood sacrifices of more than a million American patriots who
died so that people not yet born could live in freedom.
Let's look at some laws, some things that are commonplace
(01:12):
that if they went away, really wouldn't change things very
much in America. For example, let's say there was no
more right on red you lost that choice. Would it
mean you weren't free? It would not. It would just
mean you needed to be more patient. If you live
in a country where the politicians decide who rules, the
(01:35):
party decides who leads, and the leader decides what's real.
You don't live in a free country, you live in
a despotic one. In America, there are a couple of
ideas that are foundational, and there's some of the best
ideas that human beings have ever come up with, not
(01:56):
just in the last one hundred years, not just in
the last thousand years, but in all the years, in
all the times put together, from the beginning of time.
They start with the separation of church and state, but
it goes on from there to include the greatest American
invention of them all, the peaceful transfer of political power
(02:21):
after the sovereign, the people decide who gets temporary power
with limits on it for a set time until the
people can choose again. This is the quarnerstone of our civilization.
It is the bedrock. Everything is dependent on this belief.
(02:48):
This is what Donald Trump threw against the bricks and
shattered in an act of supreme selfishness, historical illiteracy, and
faithlessness to his country. Each time he said the election
only counts if I went was a lash across the
(03:11):
back of Lady Liberty, and each lash cut deeper until
the infection entered and the people didn't believe that the
elections were legitimate anymore, and came to believe the legitimacy
of the lie over the reality of the votes. And
(03:32):
so it came to be that there was a coup
an insurrection, and then it came to be that the
man who incited the coup, a criminal, was re elected.
He then partoned the criminals and denied the coup and said, again,
unless my side wins, it's a rigged election.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
But the argument from Republicans is that Biden used an
autopen for pardons and that he didn't know who he
was pardoning. I mean, he did not know who he
was pardoning.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Well, he said it was recommended to him, and so
he said he was recommended to him. He gets a
lot of recommendations. He pardons a lot of people. Those
were that. That was his words. If you talk about
the difference between Biden Biden, his pardons were an auto
pin that's not even up in.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
First also knew I mean he pardoned his family members,
he knew who they were. Well, that was.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
One of how many thousands did he pardon?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So my point that I'm trying to get to Caitlin,
I'm not trying to avoid the question. I don't know
anything about it. This is the first time I've heard
about the pardon.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
The president has the right to pardon who he wants to.
I guarantee he signed the pardon himself, not an old
auto pin And I know he has to take recommendations.
That's what we all do.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
We take.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You take recommendations, we take I take recommendations. We've got
a great team that works around us. He's got a
great team that works around him, and he trusts them.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
He trusts him good enough that if he thinks I
mean he hears you heard him say that, if if
they think he needs to be pardoned, then he'll sign
the pardon. If he thinks they need to be dug
in farther, then they'll dig in farther. He has a
right to question whoever he wants, but he also trusts
his team around him.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But would do you want to know who you're partnering?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
If I'm not the president of the United States nor
the governor of a state, I'm a senator, one of
one hundred.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It is the losing side of an election in a
democratic system that gives the winner legitimacy by conceding the
will of the people. But Donald Trump does not care
about the will of the people because he hates the people.
He wants to take from the people by ruling over
(05:28):
the people. And he has a massed allegian of enablers
and sycophants, weirdos and extremists and given them power. Today,
the press will look at this and report to you
about who won. What the press should be reporting is
the threat that exists for all of us around being
(05:53):
able to choose. Donald Trump doesn't believe we the people
have a right to choose our leaders. He believes, because
he is sick and he is surrounded by Nazis and nutters,
that he was chosen by God to be our king.
(06:14):
And there are no kings in America. But there are elections,
and today we should remember and for everybody who lives
somewhere where there is an election, remember to vote, because
you either choose or choices get imposed on you. You
either decide or a despot will. Indifference is choosing a side,
(06:39):
choosing the side of Maga. And there are two sides
in American life. There is the American side of the
debate and there is the Maga side. There are the
traders to the foundations, of our civilization. And there are
the faithful, there are the believers, and there are the apostates.
In the end, and the faithful, believing in the American creed,
(07:04):
will triumph in a great contest that will be remembered
as a great crisis. Have no doubt about the fortitude
that will be required to defeat this insanity. It has
risen from the lowest places, and it is the darkest
of threats. It is a threat that says you, me
(07:28):
and our children don't get to decide our future with
a vote. Instead, we get told what we will be,
how we will be, and what to believe. Has the
outcome of a vote already taken that we didn't get
to take part in. It is an unacceptable offer and
(07:50):
it should be thought about deeply on this election day
because it is very real and it stinks, and we
don't have to take it day. And I'm Steve Schmidt.
This is the warning. I invite you to join this
community where I promise to be honest, blunt and direct
about what is happening in this country. America is in crisis.
(08:14):
Follow and subscribe to this channel and on substack. Thank
you
It is Tuesday, November fourth, this is the morning it's
election day. Let's talk about that. One year from now,
the American people will decide if Donald Trump has a
check put on him, not by Democrats, but by us,
the American people, using the institution of the Democratic Party,
(00:25):
to say, you're not a king, you're out of control.
And your cabinet secretaries who come to the Congress with
both middle fingers waving, preserve your records. The choice that
we get to make about who leads us is not accidental.
It just isn't because and it just doesn't exist because
(00:50):
either we get to pick our leaders because of the
blood sacrifices of more than a million American patriots who
died so that people not yet born could live in freedom.
Let's look at some laws, some things that are commonplace
(01:12):
that if they went away, really wouldn't change things very
much in America. For example, let's say there was no
more right on red you lost that choice. Would it
mean you weren't free? It would not. It would just
mean you needed to be more patient. If you live
in a country where the politicians decide who rules, the
(01:35):
party decides who leads, and the leader decides what's real.
You don't live in a free country, you live in
a despotic one. In America, there are a couple of
ideas that are foundational, and there's some of the best
ideas that human beings have ever come up with, not
(01:56):
just in the last one hundred years, not just in
the last thousand years, but in all the years, in
all the times put together, from the beginning of time.
They start with the separation of church and state, but
it goes on from there to include the greatest American
invention of them all, the peaceful transfer of political power
(02:21):
after the sovereign, the people decide who gets temporary power
with limits on it for a set time until the
people can choose again. This is the quarnerstone of our civilization.
It is the bedrock. Everything is dependent on this belief.
(02:48):
This is what Donald Trump threw against the bricks and
shattered in an act of supreme selfishness, historical illiteracy, and
faithlessness to his country. Each time he said the election
only counts if I went was a lash across the
(03:11):
back of Lady Liberty, and each lash cut deeper until
the infection entered and the people didn't believe that the
elections were legitimate anymore, and came to believe the legitimacy
of the lie over the reality of the votes. And
(03:32):
so it came to be that there was a coup
an insurrection, and then it came to be that the
man who incited the coup, a criminal, was re elected.
He then partoned the criminals and denied the coup and said, again,
unless my side wins, it's a rigged election.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
But the argument from Republicans is that Biden used an
autopen for pardons and that he didn't know who he
was pardoning. I mean, he did not know who he
was pardoning.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Well, he said it was recommended to him, and so
he said he was recommended to him. He gets a
lot of recommendations. He pardons a lot of people. Those
were that. That was his words. If you talk about
the difference between Biden Biden, his pardons were an auto
pin that's not even up in.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
First also knew I mean he pardoned his family members,
he knew who they were. Well, that was.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
One of how many thousands did he pardon?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So my point that I'm trying to get to Caitlin,
I'm not trying to avoid the question. I don't know
anything about it. This is the first time I've heard
about the pardon.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
The president has the right to pardon who he wants to.
I guarantee he signed the pardon himself, not an old
auto pin And I know he has to take recommendations.
That's what we all do.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
We take.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You take recommendations, we take I take recommendations. We've got
a great team that works around us. He's got a
great team that works around him, and he trusts them.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
He trusts him good enough that if he thinks I
mean he hears you heard him say that, if if
they think he needs to be pardoned, then he'll sign
the pardon. If he thinks they need to be dug
in farther, then they'll dig in farther. He has a
right to question whoever he wants, but he also trusts
his team around him.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But would do you want to know who you're partnering?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
If I'm not the president of the United States nor
the governor of a state, I'm a senator, one of
one hundred.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It is the losing side of an election in a
democratic system that gives the winner legitimacy by conceding the
will of the people. But Donald Trump does not care
about the will of the people because he hates the people.
He wants to take from the people by ruling over
(05:28):
the people. And he has a massed allegian of enablers
and sycophants, weirdos and extremists and given them power. Today,
the press will look at this and report to you
about who won. What the press should be reporting is
the threat that exists for all of us around being
(05:53):
able to choose. Donald Trump doesn't believe we the people
have a right to choose our leaders. He believes, because
he is sick and he is surrounded by Nazis and nutters,
that he was chosen by God to be our king.
(06:14):
And there are no kings in America. But there are elections,
and today we should remember and for everybody who lives
somewhere where there is an election, remember to vote, because
you either choose or choices get imposed on you. You
either decide or a despot will. Indifference is choosing a side,
(06:39):
choosing the side of Maga. And there are two sides
in American life. There is the American side of the
debate and there is the Maga side. There are the
traders to the foundations, of our civilization. And there are
the faithful, there are the believers, and there are the apostates.
In the end, and the faithful, believing in the American creed,
(07:04):
will triumph in a great contest that will be remembered
as a great crisis. Have no doubt about the fortitude
that will be required to defeat this insanity. It has
risen from the lowest places, and it is the darkest
of threats. It is a threat that says you, me
(07:28):
and our children don't get to decide our future with
a vote. Instead, we get told what we will be,
how we will be, and what to believe. Has the
outcome of a vote already taken that we didn't get
to take part in. It is an unacceptable offer and
(07:50):
it should be thought about deeply on this election day
because it is very real and it stinks, and we
don't have to take it day. And I'm Steve Schmidt.
This is the warning. I invite you to join this
community where I promise to be honest, blunt and direct
about what is happening in this country. America is in crisis.
(08:14):
Follow and subscribe to this channel and on substack. Thank
you
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