Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
This week, Donald Trump called for Republicans to “nationalize” the upcoming elections—even though state and local officials are charged with this role. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss this and more.
When Trump came into his second term, he tried to “get rid of mail voting, he tried to change machine technology, he tried to impose voter ID—almost all of that has been thrown out by the courts,” Atlantic staff writer Michael Scherer said last night. “What we’ve seen in the last couple weeks, though, is something else: He’s using the full power of the federal government … to suck up information to try and confirm the debunked theories that he has about the 2020 elections.” The president, Scherer added, is acting “in the hope that he might find a spark in all the smoke that’s been created by his allies.”
Joining the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Jonathan Lemire, a staff writer at The Atlantic and a co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe; Jonathan Karl, the chief Washington correspondent for ABC News; Scherer, a staff writer at The Atlantic; Liz Landers, a White House correspondent at PBS News Hour.
Watch the full episode here.
