BREAKING: Marc Elias drops BOMB on Trump

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, just a. few days ago, the whole country tuned in. as Donald Trump made yet another. unhinged speech about uh election fraud. Um this is obviously his foundation that. he's laying to claim that the upcoming. election is fraudulent as well. But one. claim that kept popping up was this idea. that the voter roles haven't been. cleaned. And you and I had spoken. offline about this and there was one. really really important point that I. think everybody in the entire media. space was missing about the issue of.

clean voter roles. So can you explain. what that is? >> Yeah, Brian, you know, you're exactly. right. We did talk about this offline, but in all cander, you're the one who. flagged it for me and it was spot on. right. You know, for more than a decade, both Democratic and Republican states. entered into a compact referred to as. ERIC. This was the electronic. registration information center. And it. was essentially a sharing um of. information on voter roles between uh as. many as 32 states at its at its at its.

height. Uh where they would share if. someone moved from one state to another, the two state voter roles would. communicate. So the person would be. removed from one to the other. If you. had a death record in one state, that. would be shared with the other states. because of course someone might die in. one state but be a registered voter. someplace else. It was a way to make. sure that voter roles were as clean as. possible, that there were as few dead. people on the roles, that there were not. duplicate registrations. Right? It was, if you cared about election integrity, if you were concerned about voter fraud,

it was the gold standard way to prevent. everything that the Republican party. today says that they stand for. preventing. Well, in 2022 and 2023, Republican conspiracy theorists led by. Donald Trump started to spread lies and. disinformation about Aaron. And one by. one, Republican states started to leave. This is an example of what what what. Donald Trump had to say, and I'll put it. up on the screen here. All Republican.

governors should immediately pull out of. Eric, the terrible voter registration. system that pumps the roles for. Democrats and does nothing to clean them. up. Now, the shame is the Republican. election officials and governors in. those states knew that was a lie. They. knew it was a lie. They knew it was a. lie that it didn't pump up Democrats, and they certainly knew it was a lie. that it didn't clean up the rules. because that's what it did. So, where. are we now today in 2026 after Donald. Trump did all this damage? There are.

only five states controlled by. Republicans that are still part of. error. Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky, South. Carolina, and Utah. By the way, you. could exclude Kentucky in some in some. ways of looking at it because actually. it has a Democratic governor. But that. is what is left of Eric. It is a lot of. Democratic states. It is very few. Republican states. And so as Republicans. today say the house is on fire, there's. all of this fraud, everyone needs to.

realize that if the house is on fire, it. is because they poured gasoline and lit. the match and they did it because Donald. Trump told them to do it. Now, this. doesn't justify what Donald Trump wants. to do any event because most of what he. spewed were lies. But the hypocrisy, the. utter hypocrisy of what Republicans are. are doing here cannot be lost. >> I mean, is it true to claim that Eric. really is has lost its effectiveness?

Because if you don't have buyin from. everybody, the whole point of Eric is. that all of the states can communicate. with each other so that you don't miss. anything. If somebody moves from. California to Texas, Texas can talk to. California. California can delete that. person off of their roles and Texas can. add them onto their roles. So everything. is accounted for. But if you have states. that drop out and you have an incomplete. um number of adherence to to this to. this group of states, then inherently.

it's not going to fulfill its job, which. is to make sure that the voter roles are. clean if you only have half the states. that are actually participating. Is that. right? >> Yeah. I mean, in some ways, I look at. this the same way that I looked at the. implementation of um the Affordable Care. Act, Obamacare, right? Like the ideal. circumstance was that the red states. embraced the subsidies that were coming. to them to include, for example, Medicaid patients because if they did. that, they'd make everyone healthier. And more people being healthy across the. country would be good for every every.

state. But of course, we saw Republican. states turn down money that would have. benefited their citizens and their. healthcare. And so, as I look out now on. these voter roles, what I'd say is this. Yes, the system is not as clean. The. roles are not as tidy as they would be. if the Republican states were in this. compact. But comparatively comparatively. the voter roles in the Democratic states. are much much better than they are in. the Republican states because they are.

still in a compact. Yes, it is less of a. complete compact. So your example of. California and Texas. Yes, in that case. California loses out. But let's say the. person doesn't move from California to. Texas. They move from California to New. York. they are still in that compact and. they are in fact being um uh being uh. kept clean. So the the the absolute. irony of this situation is that it is. actually the losers of this are the. citizens of the red states. It is the.

Republican states that withdrew when. they knew better that have actually made. their voter roles less complete, less. tidy, less upto-date. Again, that's not. to say that there is voter fraud there. because you can have bloated voter. roles, you can have dirty voter roles, you can have people who have died, whatever, but it doesn't mean anyone is. illegally voting. And I think we saw the. administration have to begrudgingly. admit that there's no evidence of. illegal voting.

>> But in terms of pure voter registration, yeah, it would be better if all the. states were in. It's hurt all the. states, but it has certainly hurt the. Republican states more. I should note. that um for everybody who's watching. right now, Mark wrote an excellent. article on this and uh that was in. democracy docket the only news outlet. right now that is covering this aspect. of things. Everybody's talking about. clean voter roles. No one is talking. about the fact that uh there was already. in place a compact among all the states. to clean the voter roles and to do.

exactly what it is Trump claims he wants. to do. So I'm going to put a link to. democracy docket right here on the. screen. I'm also going to put it in the. post description. I'm going to put a. link specifically to that piece. Read. that piece. You will see how good the. writing on democracy docket is and. you'll subscribe. So, make sure uh to. click that link. Uh that's going to be. on the screen and also in the post. description. Mark, what is the excuse that these. Republicans give when they leave Eric, which again I for posterity I should.

add, does the thing that they claim to. want to do. So, they have to have some. pretext to actually leave. Uh, what is. it? >> So, look, Brian, there isn't really a. coherent answer. I mean, this began as a. campaign by, you know, a right-wing. publication called the Gateway Pundit, which was just like pure out-and-out. conspiracy theory. >> Yeah. >> After that, it was Donald Trump and. Republicans making a calculated decision. that they actually don't want clean. voter rules. They want to be able to. vilify.

the voters. They want to be able to. create a pretext to do precisely what it. is. Donald Trump is doing today. What. Donald Trump is doing is using the uh. the data as it exists as an excuse to. have his Secretary of Homeland Security. threaten election officials with jail. >> in prison. >> And and let's throw to that clip right. here. >> when we start talking about can we can. we um ensure that the that the um. midterm elections are going to be.

secure. Yes, we absolutely can build. confidence in the American people, but. the states have to do their part. Um, I. will tell you if the states that choose. not to participate with the state. program and they they choose not to. participate in securing the elections, uh, we will make sure that we make those. states a priority to look at who voted. in their states and hold then the. election officials accountable. If the. election officials once we gave them the. information they need to secure their. elections and they chose not to, then.

those individuals can also be held. accountable by fines, by penalties, and. even depending on how far it goes, prison time. >> Yeah, that's that that that's it right. there. Right. So So this is this is what. they have wanted to be able to do. They've wanted an excuse to be able to. do this. They wanted an excuse to be. able to seize and get access to voter. data from states so that they can then. remove names of people they don't want.

to vote. And let me tell you something, Brian, when they do that, it will not be. because they are not eligible. It will. be because they are not voters for. Republicans. So that's what we're up. against. But we all need to stand up. against it. And Brian, you and I have. been talking about Eric for years. We. have been talking about the fact that. Donald Trump is setting up this reality. for the 2026 midterm elections for. months. And while the legacy media has. been acting as a stenographer, you and I.

have been doing this hard work. So. please, everyone, right now, subscribe. to this channel. It is the place where. Brian and I hash out these issues both. in real time, but also frankly looking. ahead at what's coming down the road. And as we head into the final months of. the election, this series will never be. more important and valuable to you than. it is right now. So, click on the link. to subscribe to this channel. Also, hit. the bell so you get alerted when there. is new content. >> Mark, it's worth asking here, how. confident are you that as the.

administration seems more and more. hellbent on taking the voter roles that. the states will be able to protect them. I should note uh for folks who are. watching that the administration has. sued or the DOJ has sued 31 states. uh. your law firm is litigating in those. cases and as of this recording the DOJ. is 0 and16 against your law firm. So, you know, a huge thank you on on behalf. of everybody watching right now for. making sure to protect the voter roles. in these states. But obviously, it's a.

huge priority for this White House to. get their hands on these voter roles. And it's not just the lawsuits. It's. also a major component of the Save. America Act, which Trump is using all of. his political to get passed. that would. give the voter roles to the Department. of Homeland Security. Um, so everything. that Trump is trying to do right now is. kind of aimed toward getting his hands. on these roles. Do you have confidence. that even though the Trump. administration has been unsuccessful. thus far that as we get closer and. closer to the administration and has as.

he becomes increasingly desperate that. this will remain the case? >> Yeah. Look, I I think we're going to win. these fights. I think we're going to win. these fights in court. I think that we. are really getting on the eve of the. election where frankly every day that. goes by it's harder and harder for the. administration to weaponize this data. for 2026. But here's my message to every. solve itself in the midterm elections of. 2026. What we need is Democrats to take. control of the House and Senate and then.

to move forward a proactive. pro-democracy bold agenda. And Brian, you've written a book which is about to. come out. I wrote the forward to it. So, I had an opportunity to read it probably. before almost anyone else. And it is a. blueprint both in terms of specific. policies, but also attitudinally about. how Democrats need to act when they have. power. And my message to you is, will we. survive this next election with these. voter file cases? Yes. We'll muddle. through. Maybe we'll be completely.

successful. Maybe we won't be completely. successful, but successful enough. But. if the people in power don't read your. book and don't take to heart your. message of giving up nostalgia, giving. up norms, and starting to do the hard. work and the bold work necessary to put. in place a durable pro-democracy. progressive agenda for the future, then. frankly at some point we are not going. to be able to keep uh keep um uh getting. through this. So, I'm going to ask. everyone to do me a favor and right now.

go to your book seller of choice. I. don't care whether you go to Amazon, you. have my permission. I don't care if you. go to Barnes & Noble. I don't care if. you go directly to the publisher. But. right now, do me a favor and go in and. and order this book because it is going. to be a vital piece of the equation for. what it is we need to do next. >> I appreciate that. The book is called. The Day After: How to Wield Power in a. PostTrump World. I'm going to put a link.

to to order that book right here on the. screen and also in the post description. I'm also going to put a link to. Democracy Docket on the screen. So, please make sure to subscribe. It's not. just going to be important today, but. it's going to get more and more. important as we get closer to midterms. and as the administration gets. increasingly desperate. Uh, you'll want. to stay on top of what's going on. So, make sure to hit both of those links. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].