Up next in 10
Simon Marks 'reflects' on this week in US politics, where the big story came as a judge dismissed the vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn.
Mr Hearn was accused of pulling up two square feet of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's newly installed liner in June.
0:14 | Trump's reflecting pool saga
1:46 | Ex-Olympians vandalism case tossed out
5:51 | Trump tries to bypass birthright ruling
7:41 | Democrats continue infighting
9:54 | Trump rally boos officer killed in duty
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0:00
This was another American week when chickens came home to roost for the country's president
0:04
Now just three months from November's midterm elections. But worse than ever before, and the trajectory of his slide on this issue is now notably deepening
0:14
It was a week in which he was simply unable to stipulate to, or even recognize, reality
0:20
It looked beautiful. And then they cut it. And they vandalized. and we weren't necessarily thrilled with the contractor
0:29
but they did a job and they were fixing any problems. President Donald Trump on Monday voicing yet again complete falsehoods
0:38
about the Lincoln Memorial's reflecting pool and the botched renovation job that he orchestrated and that he put into the hands of his own trusted swimming pool guy
0:48
thanks to a no-bid government contract. Now, I know what you're thinking
0:53
He can't find his way out of a war in Iran that is eating away at his presidency like a cancer
1:00
His approval ratings have cratered. Only on Friday, we learnt, the US economy lost 23,000 jobs in July
1:08
even as the country's corporate behemoths were notching up record profits. Trump's fellow Republicans are freaking out
1:15
There is every indication sizable numbers of them in the House of Representatives and the Senate
1:20
are going to be slung out by the voters in just three months' time
1:24
Yet the president spent hours this week talking relentlessly about the reflecting pool
1:30
and directing his fury at one of his own biggest supporters, U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro, handpicked for the job
1:39
because of the unstinting support for him that she had shown over many years as a presenter on Fox News
1:46
Her sin? She had to tell a judge two weeks ago that she was dropping charges against a three-time Olympian canoeist
1:54
falsely accused by Trump of vandalising the reflecting pool because she had become aware that there was no evidence to support the charges
2:03
And in fact, the damage was all done not by vandals, but by Trump's contractor
2:09
I know. How can we even be talking about this? And yet, how can we not
2:15
The judge was extremely unfriendly to Janine. And frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious
2:24
Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department
2:31
And I guess she choked. I don't know what the hell happened
2:34
Are you reconsidering her role? I don know what you don you fake news Don don ever talk again You fake news One of the one of the worst in the business Fortunately nobody watches you but something happened There was vandalism there
2:49
Come for the lies about the Reflecting Pool, stay for the ad hominem attack on yet another reporter
2:54
Oddly this time a man who was not told by the President that he ought to smile more
3:00
Moments later, and to the surprise of nobody, the President insisted that he didn't even know the contractor
3:06
and yet as CNN pointed out that is not what Donald Trump said earlier this year. First you'll hear
3:13
the president on Monday then the president on April the 23rd. And by the way I didn't know the
3:19
contractor. Everyone said the contract. I didn't know the contractor but when it was completed it
3:25
was perfect. I said you know Doug I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools. I'm
3:31
going to send my contractor over and take a look. He looked at it. He called me up. He said
3:36
sir, we can do something on it. Now, you might wonder why any of this matters beyond the pretty
3:40
serious fact that with each passing week, the president shows an ever sliding grip on reality
3:45
While there's lots of mirth to be had in Trump's infantile efforts to avoid accepting that he
3:52
messed up, there was another life at stake in all of this. David Hearn, the three-time Olympian
3:58
looking at a possible 10-year jail sentence for destruction of government property
4:03
if the president's literally trumped-up charges had been pursued to the point of a conviction
4:10
Mr. Hearn spoke on Thursday for the first time since his arrest. And remember, he was facing the possibility of a decade in jail
4:18
because Trump wanted someone arrested for vandalism and the National Guard and the United States Park Police snapped to attention and obliged
4:27
It's very unsettling. It's not the United States of America that I know. It's not the United States of America that I've represented in many competitions overseas, including three Olympic Games, 13 World Championships. It's just not right. It has to be rejected
4:48
He spoke there on CNN. His problems began when, like so many visitors to Washington
4:53
he decided to go and take a look at the reflecting pool and see what the fuss was all about
4:57
He noticed a piece of the new flooring floating to the surface, reached in and grabbed it
5:03
and the president's stormtroopers swooped. What would you say to Americans who are watching in terms of what it felt like for you
5:13
as someone who has represented the country on the global stage, to be on the other side of the Justice Department
5:19
Well I mean this could happen to anybody If it can happen to me it could happen to anybody Nobody immune to this kind of government lawlessness essentially
5:32
And it's really the kind of thing that you think a country ruled by a dictator, that's where you see that kind of thing
5:43
and this isn't, this is not the land of the free and the home of the brave that I know
5:49
Indeed it is not. Take a look at what happened on Thursday night in the Oval Office
5:54
just five weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that birthright citizenship
6:00
the right of any child born on American soil to be granted an American passport
6:05
is indeed constitutional, not least because it appears in the Constitution's 14th Amendment
6:10
You can read it in black and white. That is supposed to be the end of the affair. It's called the Supreme Court for a reason
6:18
But on Thursday, the president's chief ideologue, Stephen Miller, joined him in the Oval Office for the signing of executive orders restricting birthright citizenship in a mad authoritarian effort to try and circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling
6:35
Birth tourism is by definition a fraud on the American system, on the American taxpayer, on the American visa
6:43
If you're coming here, and again, your stated purpose is that you're a tourist
6:47
then by definition you are here to come for a few weeks, look at what we have, engage in commerce, and leave
6:54
So if you're telling a consular officer you're here as a tourist, but your true purpose and intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth
7:01
and try to mint an American citizen while you're here, then you're committing a fraud against the American government
7:07
And yes, he actually accused people of going to what he called a baby mill
7:11
and trying to mint an American citizen. An American citizen who, by the way, would then be required to pay tax to Uncle Sam
7:20
on his or her worldwide income for the rest of their lives, no ifs or buts
7:26
So even in those rare cases where birth tourism may be happening
7:31
is not exactly a one-way street. Spooked by the fact that they can't solve a war in Iran that they now regret starting
7:38
they have moved into full dictatorial mode. So you might think the Democrats would be capitalizing on all of that
7:45
in order to cement a possible landslide in November. But on the other side of the political aisle, they continue to tear each other apart
7:54
We took on a machine. You not supposed to be able to beat million of outside spending a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign You not supposed to be able to beat that This week in Michigan Abdul El did beat that kind of money
8:14
and it was being spent against him by another Democrat in a bid to become the party's Senate candidate in the state
8:21
Mr. El-Sayed is the latest left-wing progressive Democrat to upend the hopes of the party's centrist grandees
8:29
he eked out a narrow victory, despite tens of millions of dollars poured into the race in an effort to stop him
8:37
That money came from AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, in a desperate bid to derail Mr. El-Sayed, a vigorous critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war on Gaza
8:51
It didn't work, and as the left once again asserted its claim to the leadership of the Democratic Party
8:57
President Trump was ready to pounce. loves. We are going to spend the next three months watching President Trump and the Republican
9:33
candidate in Michigan, Mike Rogers, deliberately mangling Mr. El-Sayed's name in an effort to
9:40
race bait. And the new darling of the left knows it's coming. They think that you want to use my
9:46
whole name against me. Mike, listen, man, if you can't say the name, it's Abdurrahman. Keep the name
9:50
out your damn mouth. Now, what's in a name, you might be asking? Well, quite a bit for some
9:55
American voters. In Las Vegas this week, Governor Guy Lombardo, a Republican, made an opening speech
10:03
to welcome President Trump to the city and asked for a moment of silence for one of the city's
10:08
police officers who had been killed in the line of duty just 24 hours earlier. I know Pastor Tice
10:15
spoke about Officer Abdel Nabi a few moments ago. No, no, we're not booing. We're not booing him
10:24
He's the officer that passed away here recently. And I asked if we had a moment of silence and he said we had not
10:36
So I would like your indulgence for a moment of silence for Officer Austin. Thank you
10:42
They got there in the end. Unleash the genie. Reap the whirlwind
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