Now that President Trump is halfway through his second term, the leftist media is turning their hateful gazes towards Vice President J.D. Vance. They want to paint him as another threat to democracy, possibly worse than Donald Trump. And you can count on them intensifying their attacks in the lead-up to this November’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential race. MS NOW, as one of the Democratic media’s favorite lapdogs, happily obeyed these new commands as they sent out the aging host of The Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell, on Monday to fearmonger about Vance using ICE to rig the elections. During the in-between show handoff with Rachel Maddow, O’ Donnell cited the New York Times report that “the Vice President strongly advocat[ed]” invoking the Insurrection Act in the midst of the chaotic Minneapolis anti-ICE protests. But even though the report doesn’t mention elections or polling places, O’Donnell went ahead and dug in on that conspiracy theory: So that would be the device they would use to get federal troops, American military, on the ground, on the streets, possibly at polling places in this country.  Maddow and her wilting pompadour also wasted no time in dogpiling on that baseless allegation with a pointed attack on the Vice President: Yeah, and if anybody was thinking that J.D. Vance might be, sort of a more democracy-minded leader than Donald Trump, consider that within the Trump administration, according to this new reporting, J.D. Vance was the loudest voice asking to deploy active duty military against the American public on American soil.      Later in the show, O’Donnell barked about how “the Insurrection Act remains a loaded weapon that some observers have suggested could be aimed at our polling places in swing states like Georgia.” He welcomed Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia’s comments that “this President has demonstrated time and time again, and his Vice President, as we hear in these words, that they are willing to do anything to stay in power.”  Continuing to drum up election conspiracy theories, Warnock and O’Donnell made a series of outlandish claims, including voter suppression directed against married women: WARNOCK: They've been trying to flood the zone, throw everything at us, and now we're seeing some of the things that they're thinking about throwing at us. And part of the work that they're trying to do is to convince the citizenry that there's no need to push back.   (...) O’DONNELL: With all of the gaming out of worst case scenarios, including Donald Trump using the Insurrection Act at J.D. Vance's urgings to send federal troops to your polling places in Georgia because, you know, they're sending to Georgia, right? They're not sending them to Massachusetts. They're going to send them to the place, the swing state, where it can make a difference. (...) WARNOCK: If they put ICE in front of polls, that's illegal. It's unconstitutional. They can't do it. That doesn't seem to bother this administration that much. . . They're trying to squeeze the voices of voters out of their democracy, Black voters, through this awful gerrymandering that the court has approved. They're trying to squeeze the voices of women as they're still trying to pass the SAVE Act, which would disproportionately hurt married women.  And to top it all off, O’Donnell and Warnock seasoned their conspiracy theory-riddled slop with a heap of the violent and dehumanizing language we hear all too often from the left: WARNOCK: We cannot give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair. . .what we learned by watching the wonderful folks of Minnesota is that standing up and resisting does make a difference. I was just inspired by the people of Minneapolis. . . And clearly that got J.D. Vance's attention. He is, in my estimation, one of the most craven politicians on the American landscape.   (...) O’DONNELL: So, it's so true that the subtitle of your book, Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America, you know, you have a President who has never once reflected on that. WARNOCK: I don't - that's to put it nicely. I mean, he's at war with it. O'DONNELL: At war with it, yeah. WARNOCK: And so it's a dark moment in our country as we approach this 250th anniversary.  We can’t lower the rates of political violence when the dogs in the left-wing media hound each of their political opponents with bad-faith attacks and hateful rhetoric about conspiracy theories involving voter suppression and military interference in elections. But, of course, these dogs won’t come back to the kennel anytime soon. The full transcript is below. Click “expand” to read: MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 6/15/26 10:01:21 p.m. Eastern (...) LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: And it also, Rachel, is highly relevant to that reporting that the New York Times is now running from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book called Regime Change, where they were reporting today in the New York Times about the Trump administration considering invoking the Insurrection Act, something that we were all kind of guessing about. This is the inside story of exactly how they considered it. The Vice President strongly advocating it.  So that would be the device they would use to get federal troops, American military, on the ground, on the streets, possibly at polling places in this country. RACHEL MADDOW: Yeah. And if anybody was thinking that J.D. Vance might be, sort of a more democracy-minded leader than Donald Trump, consider that within the Trump administration, according to this new reporting, J.D. Vance was the loudest voice asking to deploy active duty military against the American public on American soil. That's - that is-- O'DONNELL: Yeah, he was the leader of it. And he could be the top name on the Republican presidential ticket in the next presidential election, in the White House, advocating the same thing for that election. (...) 10:14:45 p.m. Eastern O'DONNELL: The Insurrection Act remains a loaded weapon that some observers have suggested could be aimed at our polling places in swing states like Georgia that could go either way in the November election.  Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. He serves on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. He's also the author of the new book, The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America. Senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  In the previous hour, Rachel was reporting on a task force assembled by Chuck Schumer that includes you, it includes others outside the Senate. Marc Elias, who appeared with Rachel talking about these very issues of, what is the worst-case scenario facing us on Election Day? What do we have to be prepared for? And it comes on a day when we read Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's report of the discussions of the Insurrection Act in the White House, that sure looks like the kind of loaded weapon that could be aimed at our elections. SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): No, absolutely, and great to be with you.  This President has demonstrated time and time again, and his Vice President, as we hear in these words, that they are willing to do anything to stay in power. And I think that we shouldn't be surprised by that, we've seen plenty of evidence. What is - what has been striking is the extent to which colleagues of mine in the Congress are willing to go along on this ride.  And so, we are remaining vigilant. We have to be prepared for this moment. We have to take it very seriously. But here's what we cannot afford to do. We cannot give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair.  We - they've been trying to flood the zone, throw everything at us, and now we're seeing some of the things that they're thinking about throwing at us. And part of the work that they're trying to do is to convince the citizenry that there's no need to push back.  And what we learned by watching the wonderful folks of Minnesota is that standing up and resisting does make a difference. I was just inspired by the people of Minneapolis. I had to go and stand there. It was freezing cold. You know, I'm from Georgia, way below zero. But night after night after night, those folks were standing there and looking out for their neighbors.  And clearly that got J.D. Vance's attention. He is, in my estimation, one of the most craven politicians on the American landscape.  And it's deeply concerning to see this reporting. We've got to remain prepared. We know something about the government overreaching in Fulton County, remember, they sent the FBI in to snatch ballots from the 2020 election. They are harassing election workers with subpoenas, demanding information from people who are just volunteers.  And so, we remain focused on this. But part of what we need people to do is prepare to show up, show up, show up, show up. And we'll be using every, every tool that we have to try to keep our democracy intact. O'DONNELL: With all of the gaming out of worst case scenarios, including Donald Trump using the Insurrection Act at J.D. Vance's urgings to send federal troops to your polling places in Georgia because, you know, they're sending to Georgia, right? They're not sending them to Massachusetts. They're going to send them to the place, the swing state, where it can make a difference, where they think they might be able to keep Jon Ossoff out of the Senate, things like that, places like that around the country. Is voter turnout - is it possible for voter turnout to be so big, even in the face of American troops, that the voter turnout could overwhelm, could be the ultimate weapon to overwhelm these kinds of tactics? WARNOCK: Well, we've got to use all our tools. The answer to this attack on democracy is more democracy. We've got to use the tools of our democratic experiment.  And we saw that in Minnesota, with them standing up, protesting night after night, looking out for their neighbors.  And yes, people need to show up in Georgia. What I know from experience from somebody who's run a couple of races in that purple state, is that - you know, voter suppression is not really about, you know, you don't have to take millions of votes. You know, you just make it difficult for people to show up. You undermine people's access a little bit here, a little bit there, shave around the edges even before you get to something like troops on the street. And that can swing an election. (...) 10:20:23 p.m. Eastern WARNOCK: So these things are close and they can go a little bit here, a little bit there, which is why we have to remain vigilant on every front. We have to use the courts. We need an army of lawyers. We need to continue to raise questions around ICE. If they put ICE in front of polls, that's illegal. It's unconstitutional. They can't do it. That doesn't seem to bother this administration that much.  And yes, showing up makes it harder to steal an election. As we're watching this gerrymandering that's going on all across the south as a result of this awful decision made by the, you know, the partisans on the Supreme Court.  They're using every tool. And so we've got to show up and overwhelm their projections about who's going to show up. (...) 10:30:59 p.m. Eastern (...) O'DONNELL: So, it's so true that the subtitle of your book, Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America, you know, you have a President who has never once reflected on that. WARNOCK: I don't - that's to put it nicely. I mean, he's at war with it. O'DONNELL: At war with it, yeah. WARNOCK: And so it's a dark moment in our country as we approach this 250th anniversary.  You know, the United States of America goes through its moments. There are moments when, when the democracy expands, there are moments when it contracts. And this is a contraction moment.  They're trying to squeeze the voices of voters out of their democracy, Black voters, through this awful gerrymandering that the court has approved.  They're trying to squeeze the voices of women as they're still trying to pass the SAVE Act, which would disproportionately hurt married women.  And we've got to push back, because here is what every mother knows, that contractions are painful, but they are necessary for new birth.