'This is what he wants': Lawyer explains 'clear and present danger' of not taking Jan. 6 more 'seriously'
During a conversation with MSNBC's The Weekend co-host Symone Sanders Townsend, lawyer and Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias stressed how critical it is for Americans to recognize that the political issues they stand for and vote on cannot be achieved under a second Donald Trump presidency, because democracy will fall.
Sanders Townsend asked the nonprofit leader whether he's concerned about the former president getting away with insurrection, and how that will impact the election.
"It strikes me that we are having this conversation about January 6th and Donald Trump and the election, about a 2020 election, on the cusp of another election coming to 2024. And we are only having that because of the work in January 6 committee, and what they put out into the ethos, the atmosphere, frankly. That then the justice department and others picked up on, and now you've got these cases. There are Americans who say, Well if it was so bad, why wasn't Donald Trump charged right after?' Do you worry that the time that has elapsed is going to allow the courts, the legal system, a jury, even, potentially, to let Donald Trump off the hook?"
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?
Elias replied, "I think that I'm not going to second guess the timing up the criminal cases. That's up to the prosecutors and the Department of Justice. I will say this. I think that President Biden has been exemplary in raising this issue over and over again. You know, from your time in the White House, this is something he has given multiple addresses about. I do think there has been a failure more widely, though, in society, to take the lessons of January 6 to heart. We took the lessons in other historical attacks on America. We took them seriously and we made serious reforms. And it feels like we have been too quick to say, 'Oh, well, January 6, that was just some over excited passions that took over.' Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to democracy. He wants to undo it. He wants to be an authoritarian ruler. He just complemented Viktor Orban."
Elias emphasized, "This is what he wants. And it is time for everyone out there to wake up to this, and realize that whatever issue you may care about, whatever else may be stirring your passions today, or maybe on your agenda, if we do not have a functioning democracy, we will not achieve any of those things."
Watch the video below or at this link.
'What he wants': Analyst explains 'clear and present danger' of not taking Jan. 6 more 'seriously'youtu.be
READ MORE: Why the 'biggest consequence' of Iowa primary isn't in Iowa
