Mark Halperin

two television appearances of mine, or video appearances, I should say.

One was on TV, one was on YouTube, that I want to share.

They kind of bookend this period, at least through the last presidential election, and then bridge into today.

One was with Stephen Colbert on election night in 2016, and one was with Tucker Carlson shortly before the 2024 election.

And in both cases, I said things that, when I said them,

were treated with shock, were treated with, in some quarters, criticism, accusations of being hyperbolic or off base.

But I think they both stand up.

I think they both stand up and survive the test of time.

Because Donald Trump's presence in our lives is something that I think we haven't really understood fully.

Even people who think about it a lot, who are paid to analyze it like me, it's a very difficult thing to get our arms around, to have tens of millions of people in America shocked, stunned, disappointed, upset.

by this presidency.

And tens of millions couldn't be more excited, think he's the greatest president.

Or even if they see the flaws in Donald Trump, think he was an absolute essential corrective to decades of liberal governance, both in government, but also in places like universities and

and in Hollywood.

This is so tough for me personally.

I've alluded to this before.

The divisions in my own life, in my family, in my friends, in my profession.

But I see it all around the country.

People I talk to every day, I talk to them on two-way.

I talk to you all, nexters who write in and who I see out in public.