Morning Joe

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, and the host of Morning Joe and the Rachel Maddow Show, ad free. Plus, ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, Ultra, Bagman, and Deja News. And now all MSNBC original podcasts are available ad free and with bonus content, including how to win 2024, prosecuting Donald Trump.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s. A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Con Men, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of 'When the Clock Broke', Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. It was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

Chris Hayes: This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

And to ask why is this happening, John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening?, John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

Tom Ganns, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a Strategy for the Paleo Movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement.

And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

Tom Ganns, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talk about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

And as always, this week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

This week on my podcast, Why is this happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Con Men, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement.

And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why is this happening? John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening? John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganz, author of When the Clock Broke, Codmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

John Ganns, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

This week on my podcast, Why Is This Happening?, John Ganns, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

A lot of these guys were neo-Nazis. They all talked about Murray Rothbard as the person who kind of started them on their road of political consciousness that they had then.

So I was looking around at what Rothbard wrote, and I found a piece from 1992 called Right Wing Populism, a strategy for the paleo movement. And it was eerie what it said and how much it seemed to anticipate Trump and what had happened in the Republican Party.

John Gans, author of When the Clock Broke, Conmen, Conspiracists and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

You wrote an entire excellent book about it called The Big Lie.

He, of course, is White House Bureau Chief of Politico. Author of The Big Lie. Author of The Big Lie. Yes. He wrote about this. He's watching. This is like seriously.

Jonathan LaMire, you wrote the best selling book on this attempted coup by the Trump administration, people around Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

You know, you've spent a lot of time uh covering Donald Trump you've written a book about him. Uh, you've written the book on on The Big Lie

The Big Lie number four on the New York Times best seller list, your coverage of the Trump big lie all in that book and congratulations.

Did you know he wrote a book? I don't know if you've heard this or not, but he's the author of a new book. It's called The Big. It's really good. Lie, it's a great book.

Obviously Trump's lies, you know, Doug didn't end on January 6th that they're still certainly very much shaping our politics of today and how he had so many people willing to do his bidding in order to preserve power and the book certainly details all of that.

Jonathan, congratulations again on your book.

Jonathan's book every time

I appreciate the book plug, The Big Lieout July 26th.

And author of the book How the Right Lost Its Mind, Charlie Sykes.

She's co-host of the MSNBC podcast How to Win 2024 with Claire McCaskill and MSNBC contributor and author of the book How the Right Lost Its Mind, Charlie Sykes.

I definitely want to hear about that but I first want to get you and Sam in on this this Bible seems to me to be a new level of Coltty.

Republicans are not as united behind Trump as they appear.

And we also have with us MSNBC contributor and author of the book How the Right Lost Its Mind, Charlie Sykes.

Speaking of the right losing the Trump right, losing their mind. Donald Trump was on the campaign trail this weekend in North Carolina and Virginia.

Reverend Al Sharpton and founder of the conservative Web site, The Bulwark, an author of How the Right Lost Its Mind. Oh, boy. Charlie Sykes is with us this morning.

Jonathan O'Meara, you wrote the book on The Big Lie.

Jonathan O'Meara, you wrote the book on The Big Lie.

Jonathan Lemire, you wrote the book, The Big Lie, of course, and everything that happened around the 2020 election in January 6th.

A guy that Jonathan Lemire wrote about a lot in his book, 'The Big Lie', who drafted the memo with this theory, with this crack legal theory that yes, Mike Pence could flip the election to Donald Trump

The host of Way Too Early, White House bureau chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire, author of The Big Lie.

But this was a unanimous decision from not exactly in the state of Georgia, a lefty Supreme Court. And they said, no, absolutely. This attempt, we're putting it down. The trial or the potential trial moves on.

the final sentences of the book are the idea that The Big Lie is dogma now for the Republican Party. It's who they are.

The Big Lies we get back to Mike Pence's testimony to that grand jury yesterday.

In those days after the election, when it seemed very clear that their initial legal challenges weren't going to go anywhere, his team concocted scheme after scheme in terms of how they could overturn the election on a lot of them centered on after a few weeks, this idea of substituting fake electors, having the states put other electors forth before Congress and therefore having those thrown out and have the House representatives potentially then throw with Mike Pence, helping throw the race to Donald Trump.

I think of John McCain on the campaign trail when the voter came to him in public on mic and attacked Barack Obama and he said no, no.

John, I'm looking at your book The Big Lie sitting right here

The Big Lie out July 26th.

The Big Lie out in July still ahead on morning Joe.

His book, The Bill of Obligations, 10 Habits of Good Citizens is out today in paperback.

Oh, The Bill of Obligations, the 10 Habits of Good Citizens out today in paperback.

I wrote an Atlantic column talking about how powerful this country is militarily, how powerful we are economically, how how all of our leading indicators are exceptionally well. I wrote it late summer. And yet the one fatal flaw continues to be our dysfunctional government. And here we go again. And I think one of the most dangerous times in recent history.

You know, I I wrote an Atlantic column talking about how powerful this country is militarily, how powerful we are economically, how how all of our leading indicators are exceptionally well.

And yet the one fatal flaw continues to be our dysfunctional government.

Now it's going to become such an important piece of civics in our schools, going to team with PBS, do videos. Richard's going to get out and speak and continue his work domestically.

It's one of the things that Richard Haas writes about in his book, The Bill of Obligations is that again, this fetishness for this hyper hyper individualism that started up decades ago.

President of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the book, The Bill of Obligations, the Ten Habits of Good Citizens, Richard Haas is with us this morning.

It is a great read it's an important read if you get a chance get it Richard

the forthcoming book is The Bill of Obligations the 10 habits of good citizens

so much of the conversation in this country is all about rights and obviously rights are central to the American experience we do have the bill of rights but rights alone are not enough a democracy also needs a foundation of obligations what we owe to one another what we owe to the government

He's the author of the recent book entitled And There Was Light, Abraham Lincoln and The American Struggle.

He's the author of the recent book entitled And There Was Light, Abraham Lincoln and The American Struggle.

And again, the book is entitled And There Was Light Abraham Lincoln and the American struggle.

I do wonder John because your Lincoln book is extraordinary and I don't have favorite children and I don't have favorite John Meacham presidential biographies but if I did this one would be right there.

John we talk about the stakes you and I got a chance to sit at an event a couple nights ago and talk about your excellent book which by the way is number two in the New York Times best subtle list only behind some Harry Potter book we need to investigate the numbers on that one.

you've always said well yes we're divided but it's not quite 1968 yet and I heard in your voice the other night you say you know this is actually as divided as we've been for 18 since 1865 and around the Civil War.

of course his new book is entitled And There Was Light Abraham Lincoln and the American struggle thanks John

The printing press keeps running out of ink. They keep printing more. It's extraordinary how many books this guy is selling.

And There Was Light, Abraham Lincoln and the American struggle is officially out today. Congratulations.

John, congratulations on the book. And I will read it eagerly.

I've been reading it twice I've read a classic Meacham book in two ways

John Meacham thank you very much and John will be back with us throughout the week for more on his brand new book entitled And There Was Light Abraham Lincoln and the American struggle

And I will read it eagerly

The title of the book comes as a play on Frederick Douglass said, 'I do not despair of this country. The fiat of the Almighty, let there be light Has not yet spent its force.'

Reading your instant classic Reading Eric Foner's The Fiery Trial You see Lincoln and you get to

One of the main reasons I wanted to do this Was to explore Why did he do what he did We all know kind of how he did it I mean the most, you know The great politician, the great statesman But why did he do it Why did he believe in American democracy Why was he anti-slavery

And so why wouldn't we want to be in conversation With someone who saw us through a storm like this?

He's not against anything, but he he loves family. It's very important to him. He grew up in a very interesting family situation and he feels family is good. And I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that.

It's true that we become anti family. It is true that the left has become anti child. It is simply true that it's become way too hard to raise a family.

I think that he was on a podcast where he was asked about AOC's statement that she said in the past that, you know, I don't know about having kids with climate change in the world and turbulence. And that was his response to it.

It must be hard, must be hard for somebody who wrote Hillbilly Elegy to find himself at this point in his life.

In his best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, Vance describes his grandparents' marriage as chaotic and violent, even telling one story where his grandmother lit his grandfather on fire who had to be saved by their 11 year old daughter.

J.D. Vance being a serial liar is a relatively new development. So maybe we should talk about that some.

What's really interesting to me about this is that, you know, J.D. Vance with his very famous book called Hillbilly Elegy and the hillbillies who moved to Ohio to work in the factories were actually a lot like these Haitians.

J.D. Vance being a serial liar is a relatively new development. So maybe we should talk about that some.

When books were banned, this South Dakota community fought back. They see public education as a vehicle to indoctrinate children.

Well, I'm here because my book, along with four others, was pulled from the shelves when books were banned. This South Dakota community fought back. They see public education as a vehicle to indoctrinate children.

Sunday on MSNBC. One night, two documentaries. At 9pm Eastern to be destroyed. The story of one community's fight against book banning. My book along with four others was pulled from the shelves.

Sunday on MSNBC One night, two documentaries at 9pm Eastern to be destroyed the story of one community's fight against book banning My book along with four others was pulled from the shelves

Sunday on MSNBC One night, two documentaries At 9pm Eastern to be destroyed The story of one community's fight against book banning My book along with four others was pulled from the shelves Followed by It's OK A short film about embracing differences in small town America

Sunday on msnbc one night two documentaries at nine p.m eastern to be destroyed the story of one community's fight against book banning my book along with four others was pulled from the shelves followed by it's okay a short film about embracing differences in small town america

And he talks about how he'd read, read at that book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Remember Paul Kennedy?

Paul Kennedy was an essential was an essential part of that and how existential that was and for which he in some ways sacrificed his presidency when he abandoned his no new taxes pledge, which helped set the conditions for the surplus you're talking about.

It's one of my favorite books. So I don't mean to be critical, but The Rise and Fall of the Great Empires. Paul, Paul Kennedy talking at Kennedy talking about the rise and fall of the United States.

And as I've said, we may have our problems, but if you go back and you look at the classic, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy, it was always how strong is a country relative to everybody else on the globe?

I mean, reading through Paul Kennedy's old book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, written in 1987, and he was writing as if the United States and USSR were sort of on parity economically because that's what a lot of people thought at the time.

And we remember Paul Kennedy's landmark work and I think it was 1987, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and each race from 1500 through the late 1980s, how you would have countries rise and fall and you could predict the outcome of a war based on their GDP.

Barb is author of the book Attack from Within, How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.

Yeah, I think one of the things, as Joyce just said, is this effort to undermine respect for the rule of law, people choosing their political tribe over the truth or over the law.

And what that has a tendency to do is to cause a loss of respect for the rule of law. When people believe that the law is simply one more partisan political tool, it loses all of its value.

And ultimately, that leads ordinary people to feel that they don't need to obey the law or even vigilante violence to achieve the result they can't get through the political process.

This idea of--that law enforcement has been weaponized simply to go after Donald Trump I think is incredibly dangerous, investigating the investigators.

Her new book is entitled Attack from Within. How disinformation is sabotaging America.

Former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuaid, thank you very much. Her new book is entitled Attack from Within. How disinformation is sabotaging America.

The new book Attack from Within how disinformation is sabotaging America is on sale today.

Congratulations. Great to see you, Barbara.

Is this something Ann Applebaum brought out so massively in her in her book The Twilight of Democracy which is it's the elites make this possible.

Read Anna Applebaum's book, read Madeleine Albright's book.

an apple bomb talked about the Twilight of Democracy where loyalty replaces competence.

If you read Ann Applebaum's latest book, Twilight of Democracy, she talks about how strong men, when they take power, the first thing they do is they gut the government of competent bureaucrats and who do they put in place? Loyalists.

Sam, it's usually a rule of politics that if you have to say things like I haven't read Mein Kampf, that means you're probably losing.

I never read Mein Kampf.

Perhaps he never read Mein Kampf. I don't know. I do know that Ivana Trump said that he kept a book of Hitler's speeches by his bedside.

And by the way, when a guy says, by the way, I've never read Mein Kampf in in while he's speaking as if he's read Mein Kampf.

And that's that's an awfully random thing to say. I mean, if you ask me, I should say, yeah, Joe, Joe, keep sometimes, you know, Faulkner devotional things, biographies of Paul McCartney, Churchill books, etc.. Now, my income randomly Donald Trump kept a collection of Hitler speeches by his bedside, said his first wife.

And so maybe he did read Mein Kampf, but he he kept a collection of Hitler speeches by by his bed, according to his first wife in a Vanity Fair article.

He's going, doubling, tripling down on fascist Hitler like rhetoric.

And yet he made he names Hitler's book in the German the German title and he nails it perfectly Mein Kampf.

Mark, congrats again on the book. What are you looking for from the former president when he makes his return to the nation's capital today?

And as I say in my book and you say in your book, and look, we all have books, right? It's, you know, this is like the lies have been enabled. I mean, the lies have become the truth from the Republican Party.

Mark Liebberwich, thank you so much. His new book is Thank You for Your Servitude, Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission.

I did not want to write another Trump book. I'm not trying to outdo anyone as far as finding the killer White House anecdote about Donald Trump feeding dog food to Mike Pence or something.

I wanted to focus on the enablers, the Republican Party, the people in Washington and basically Washington was dominated in these years by Donald Trump and his Republican sort of lap dogs who made it work for them.

I could get Trump on the phone faster than any staff person who worked with them could get him on the phone.

There was always a breathless racing quality to both men's voices when they talked about the thrill ride of being one of Trump's guys.

It's been said before but can never be emphasized enough without the complicity of the Republican Party, Donald Trump would just be a glorified, geriatric, Fox-watching golfer.

It's been said before, but never can be emphasized enough, without the complicity of the Republican party...

I've interviewed scores of these collaborators trying to understand why they did what they did and how they could live with it. These were the Kevin McCarthys and the Lindsey Grahams and all the other busy parasitic suck ups who made the Trump era work for them, who humored and indulged him all the way down to the last exhausted strains of American democracy.

I've known both men, Graham and McCarthy, for years. They are classically Washington types, fun to be around, starstruck, and desperate to keep their jobs or get better ones, to maximize their place in the all-important mix.

On various occasions, I've asked them in so many words, how they could sidle up to Trump like they have. The answer basically is that they did it because it was the savviest course, because it was best for them.

Nearly all elected Republicans in Washington needed Trump's blessing and voters to remain there. People like McCarthy and Graham benefited a great deal from making it work with Trump or managing the relationship as they say.

And even including his tweets, which were consciousness of his guilt in 2018, his legal filings where he admitted that this was a reimbursement and all of the books that he wrote proclaiming how you got to be Donald Trump.

My second favorite book is the Bible. My second favorite book is The Art of the Deal, but it's not even close.

Actually, I was only kidding.

The man lost more money than any other American at a time. He was writing the art of the deal

He's the author of the recent book, Standing My Ground.

I had never anticipated that my career would take the turn that it has now and that I am in this space that I am now.

I never thought that I'd be on a morning show with the title former Capitol Police Officer attached to it.

But, you know, I it's a little it's a little heartbreaking, a little bit, one for selfish personal reasons, but also for the direction that our country is headed in.

I'm here to announce my candidacy for Congress in Maryland's 3rd District.

I just want to continue... What a better what better way than to continue fighting for the people of Maryland, for the people of the United States and to continue to defend democracy?

Officer Dunn, your reflections after watching this unfold yesterday.

And this new book, Standing My Ground, is going to be released this October.

His book, by the way, debuted this week, number one on The New York Times bestseller list.

but it did have the little asterisk next to it that meant bulk orders made up a lot of the sales, which usually means political groups and friends of a candidate or politician having something to do with that.

because this was a I guess you'd call it a task force of really brilliant people, including Mark Pomerantz, who wrote a tell all book about which gave me really for me was like a groundbreaking event because for the first time, a defense attorney like me got a look at the inner workings of a task force of really brilliant prosecutors.

that the he confirmed something that I always thought was true, that prosecutors, whether state or federal, are subtly or psychologically reluctant to indict a former president.

Don't shy away from a difficult prosecution.

He was on this show a couple of months ago with a new book in which he criticizes Alvin Bragg for not moving faster in these prosecutions of Donald Trump.

In his book, Donald Trump versus the people, he outlines this idea that everyone on his legal team, the team that was investigating potential financial crimes that Trump committed, harbored no doubts about the fact that Donald Trump committed a crime or multiple crimes, which is potentially what Jim Jordan might hear from Pomerance if he ultimately decides to appear before the committee.

But this is what he says in his book. Donald Trump is guilty and he should have been prosecuted long ago. He should have been prosecuted for more than what he's been prosecuted for.

But Jordan has stated that he believes that Pomerance's book and the pressure that it might have put on Alvin Bragg bolsters their case that Bragg acted out of political motivations as opposed to moving for legal reasons as a prosecutor.

But some of the other hurdles that Pomerance talks about was a statute of limitations, along with evidence issues and bringing forward potentially a tarnished witness in Michael Cohen.

He was on this show a couple of months ago with a new book in which he criticizes Alvin Bragg for not moving faster in these prosecutions of Donald Trump.

He resigned again out of frustration. And in his book, Donald Trump versus the People, he outlines this idea that everyone on his legal team, the team that was investigating potential financial crimes that Trump committed, harbored no doubts about the fact that Donald Trump committed a crime or multiple crimes,

Donald Trump is guilty and he should have been prosecuted long ago.

He should have been prosecuted for more than what he's been prosecuted for.

And I was thinking this weekend about, there's a line in Thomas Paine, I can't remember if it's Common Sense or The American Crisis, but both before Yorktown, who says that in America, the law is king. The king is not the law. The law is king.

In America, the law is king. The king is not the law.

The other thing just to think about is what's on trial here is something that this is the winter in 1776 when Thomas Payne wrote Common Sense and then later the American Crisis, these pamphlets that really crystallized the American Revolution that gave us the system that we wanted to defend.

He said conservatives look at the world and then they decide, do we need to be the party of progress or do we need to be the party of perseverance?

both the impulse to improve and the impulse to conserve are necessary to the healthy functioning of any society.

Both the impulse to improve and the impulse to conserve are necessary to the healthy functioning of any society.

Matt Lewis, thank you very much for being on this morning. Matt's new book, entitled Filthy Rich Politicians, is out now.

His new book, Matt, is titled Filthy Rich Politicians, the Swamp Creatures, Latte Liberals and Ruling Class Elites Cashing In on America.

The richest politician in America is actually J.P. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois. The richest congressman, member of Congress is probably Rick Scott, senator from Florida.

Politicians make it hard to know exactly how rich they are. They write the laws and the disclosures, and it's usually a broad range. So we don't know exactly how rich they are. But look, this book is about how the rich get elected and the elected get rich.

I think both parts of that equation are important, starting with the fact that rich people tend to get elected.

In fact, right now, the average member of Congress, and I'm not talking about president or senator, but just your average House of Representatives member, is something like 12 times richer than the average American household.

And that gap has grown in recent decades, and I argue that there's some disconnect between our elected officials and we the people.