https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYR3b7ReXI
Fresh off MSNOW's The Weekend with Catherine Rampell, Sarah Longwell explains why the killing of Alex Pretti is breaking through with voters—and why government lies and Second Amendment hypocrisy aren’t holding up.
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Hey guys, I just jumped off uh the
weekend show over at MS Now with uh Bull
colleague Katherine Rmpel where we were
talking about uh the outrage uh the
continuing outrage about what is
happening in Minneapolis, the lies that
our government officials are telling
about it. But most specifically, I
talked about the hypocrisy of the right
now suddenly deciding that the Second
Amendment is apparently only for
conservatives. And so we have a little
bit of a debate about what the Second
Amendment is really there for, which is
to protect Americans from the tyranny of
their government, which is exactly what
we're experiencing right now. Go check
it out.
Joining us now, Sarah Longwell,
publisher of the Bull Work and host of
the Focus Group podcast and full
disclosure, the person who hired me at
the Bullwork, and Veritund Thirsten,
writer, host, and creator of the Speak
Easy Substack newsletter. Why doesn't
Alex Prey get the same pass that all of
these other people do?
Yeah, this is a question of whether the
Second Amendment only applies to
conservatives. Um, but I I want to talk
about something that's bigger than just
uh Republicans suddenly forgetting their
commitment to the Second Amendment
because they're also forgetting their
commitment to the First Amendment. Alex
Prey had free speech rights to be out
there protesting. He had second
amendment rights uh to be out there
carrying a gun for which he had a
permit. People have fourth amendment
rights uh against illegal search and
seizure. Something that was inherent to
people who came up on the right. Uh and
maybe Elise remembers this, but they
were always mailing us, if you were part
of these organizations, they would send
you these pocket constitutions
constantly. I've got stacks of them from
my time coming up on the right. But when
Donald Trump said that he would suspend
the Constitution prior to the election
in 2024, what we're seeing now is a
wholesale abandonment of principles.
Doesn't matter whether it's the second
amendment, whether it's the first
amendment, fourth amendment, whether
it's the amendment that says Trump can't
run for president again uh for a third
term. There is a total disregard for the
constitutional principles that
underguard this undergard this country
from the very people who claim that they
are the ones who take it seriously. Um,
and so yeah, I think there's a real sort
of second amendment for me but not for
thee, going on right now in their
attempts to smear and uh place blame on
this young man who is doing nothing but
exercising his First Amendment rights.
Sarah, you spend a lot of time doing
focus groups with people on the right
and you get to hear their sort of inner
thoughts, the way in which they're
processing our politics, our culture in
real time.
I'm a I'm curious if you've already had
conversations with some of these folks
or if not what you are planning to ask
them in the aftermath of all of this
because as Bundday just spelled out here
you know in addition to just sort of the
principles the constitutional uh
elements that back this story up there
is the simple sort of disturbing fact
that the administration is telling us a
story that directly contradicts what we
can see with our own eyes. It's it's
Orwellian in a sense, at least at this
time. Perhaps they will give us body cam
um or additional footage that gives us
new information or facts. But at this
point, the story is not aligning with
the evidence. And I guess for people who
have warned and worried that we would
come to a point where our government
could turn on us, ask us to accept lies,
and also punish us for trying to protect
ourselves or to carry arms or to
exercise our First Amendment.
How can any of this play with people who
worried about this exact moment
arriving?
Yeah. So, let's talk about the voters.
So, when it come, if you were rec
caller, we were in this exact same
situation 3 weeks ago. They shot a
mother in her face who was trying to
drive away. There was video footage.
Everyone's trying to parse it, look at
it. And the government lied then, too,
right? They immediately tried to frame
the story in ways that turned out to be
absolutely untrue. But they made they
threw up enough smoke. There was sort of
enough doubt with all the angles of the
video about this question of whether or
not the police officer uh that Renee
Good when she was turning her car, did
it look like she could have hurt him,
right? Did he have fear for his safety?
And so the voters sort of took in that
confusion. They had a real sense,
especially they were like, I I I'm sad
she got hurt, but I'm I'm just not sure,
and it's hard to know with AI what's
true, what's not. Here's the thing about
this one. This one, it is not even
remotely unclear. It as clear as day
what is happening. And so their stories
are not holding up the same way. The
government did the same thing. They came
out and they lied about it immediately.
Christine Non lied about it. Um the
president uh Steven Miller is lying
relentlessly and smearing this victim in
a way that is so callous uh and
disgusting. I've I've almost never seen
anything like it. Um, and so, you know,
for voters this time around, I think it
will be, especially when they happen so
close in succession, it's going to be
harder for people to just feel confused
this time, even if they want to try to
feel confused so that they don't have to
take accountability for the government
that they've been supporting. This one
is clear-cut, clear as day, no excuses.
And I think you're going to see a
different kind of backlash this time
around. Sarah, I want to go back to
something you said about how in focus
groups with Trump voters, right-leaning
voters, with Renee Good's killing, there
was so much confusion that they could
easily dismiss it. They could say,
"Well, this was a very confusing
situation. They the video not
necessarily definitive. It was easier to
dismiss as an isolated incident."
Do you think that that has changed now
with Alex Prey? And do you think that
the fact that he was a lawful gun owner
and was armed and now Trump
administrations are coming out with the
most anti-second amendment arguments of
basically, well, he was carrying a gun,
he was at a protest,
seemingly justifying shooting anyone who
is lawfully carrying a gun. Do you think
that this is actually going to be a
fissure within Trump's strongest
supporters?
I do. I think this is going to backfire
on them. And let me tell you why.
Because there's something that people
who are big fans of the Second Amendment
understand, which is that the reason
that people fight so hard to maintain
our Second Amendment is because they
fear the tyranny of the government.
Right? It is about being able to protect
yourselves if jack booted thugs are
robbing you of your other constitutional
rights. And this is very clearly what is
happening in this video. And the reason
that you are watching public opinion
turn on this is for a few reasons.
Number one, Democrats are finally
finding their spine on this in a bigger
way. Democrats have got to start going
on offense on these things. The American
people will be with you if you show
leadership in this moment. We've already
seen tonight Jackie Rosen, who's a swing
state senator, call for the impeachment
of Christy Gnome. Democrats should do
this. I understand that in the past
people have felt like, "Oh, maybe this
jumps the gun. Maybe it's too
aggressive." No, it's not. Americans do
not want to see police. I'm sorry,
they're not police officers. members of
law enforcement, border patrol, covering
their faces in masks, shooting Americans
in the streets for exercising their
First Amendment rights. I'm watching a
lot of people on the right trying to
make excuses, trying to say that you
can't bring a gun. The fact is this
isn't going to wash in public opinion,
especially if it keeps happening. Um,
and so I just I also want to reiterate
the people of Minnesota right now, they
are doing the work that everybody needs
to start doing, right? People need to
find their voice in this moment. The
business community, Republicans, speak
up for what's happening in our country.
Okay, that that's what time it is.
