1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Have you seen this photograph from a football game in 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: Iowa between the in state rivals, the University of Iowa 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:16,279 Speaker 1: and Iowa State. Look at the man. You don't see 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: his face, but can you feel his fury, his anger, 5 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: his rage. This isn't a kid, this is a grown man. 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: And there he is the forty fifth President of the 7 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: United States and his full Trumpian regalia for a football game. 8 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:41,919 Speaker 1: There is never a moment where the American fascist furor 9 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: is not in that uniform. It is the cloak of 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: his authority, his vestments of power. But to understand that picture, 11 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: to go deep inside of it, a picture worth many, many, 12 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: many thousand words. I'm going to tell a story. It's 13 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: a story about a bus and these three men, all 14 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: United States Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Ted Kennedy, 15 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: from a campaign that wasn't so long ago on the calendar, 16 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: but exists in a different epoch in American history and 17 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: in American life. This was John McCain's iconic campaign bus, 18 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: the Straight Talk Express. What made it different is McCain 19 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: actually talked and engaged with reporters on it. McCain would 20 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: talk to them about literally anything there was no question 21 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: off limits. It was rambunctious, entertaining, and could be funny 22 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: as hell. Sometimes the reporters were back there to write stories. 23 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: McCain's job was to try to seduce them, and he 24 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: was very very good at it. Don't get me wrong. 25 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,639 Speaker 1: He could be furious with the media, with the press 26 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: and specifically with reporters who covered him, but never once 27 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: did he threaten them with imprisonment or execution. He didn't 28 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: want to lock up the media. John McCain's campaign in 29 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven had collapsed. He had begun the 30 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: year as the Republican front runner, but by July fourth 31 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: the campaign he collapsed. He was in last place. It's 32 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: when I got involved. He went on to win the 33 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: New Hampshire primary and capture the nomination, but during that 34 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: comeback there were many many uncertain days. And shortly before 35 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: the South Carolina primary, on the back of the bus, 36 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: John McCain got a phone call. It was Senator Ted Kennedy, 37 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 1: McCain's very very good friend. Somehow, in the way that 38 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: people do who are good friends or colleagues or work 39 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: together for a long time, McCain was able to catch 40 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,799 Speaker 1: Lindsay Graham's eye and communicate that it was as McCain 41 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: would call him, Keeddy on the phone. Suddenly Lindsey Graham 42 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: was in on the joke, and there we were. McCain 43 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: was loving it, Lindsey Graham was laughing, the National reporters 44 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: around him completely oblivious, and me terrified and by the second, 45 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: matter and matter and matter, because it wouldn't have been 46 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: a great result if the entire National press wrote about 47 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: the story. A few hours before the South carolinstet a 48 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: primary that Ted Kennedy had called to wish his friend 49 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: John McCain good luck in a race where John McCain's 50 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: opponents were trying to say he wasn't conservative enough to 51 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: be the Republican nominee. When I look back on that, 52 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: I laugh when I think about a stiff like Ron DeSantis, 53 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: a programmable robot, somebody with no personality, no sense of humor. 54 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: I think about what made John McCain John McCain. His 55 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: total political recklessness in that moment is something we'll never 56 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: see again from a major presidential candidate. And that's too bad, 57 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: because he was a real person warts and all. But 58 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: I remember that story not because of the details of it, 59 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: but because I imagine asking John McCain a question. I 60 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: imagine saying to him, if I could go back in time, John, 61 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: I have to tell you something. One day in the 62 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty three, our friend Lindsey Graham here, 63 00:04:55,320 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: our guy, is going to be recommended for indictment by 64 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: a Georgia grand jury. And hear me out. It's for 65 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: his role in a conspiracy to tear down the Republic, 66 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: to overturn through a criminal plot. A coup detis in 67 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: the United States, the lawful results of a presidential election 68 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: against your friend Joe Biden. Donald Trump will orchestrate a coup, 69 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: and he will burn down the tradition of the peaceful 70 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: transition of power in this country. I wonder what John 71 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: McCain would say. I try and imagine what the look 72 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: on his face would be. I imagine the disbelief. I imagine 73 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: the forming of the snarl, the look of the fuck 74 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: are you talking about? But I imagine myself persistent. I 75 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: say no, no. In twenty twenty three, fifteen short years 76 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: from now, Lindsey Graham will be implicated utterly in a 77 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: plot to overturn American democracy. Lindsay Graham will have become 78 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: a leader in an American fascist, autocratic cult of personality 79 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: built around Donald Trump. That Donald Trump, who becomes twice 80 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: impeached and ultimately indicted on ninety two felony counts across 81 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,719 Speaker 1: four jurisdictions. I try to imagine what he would say 82 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,119 Speaker 1: when he understood that I was serious, When it broke 83 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: through to him that it was real that what I 84 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: was saying was going to happen. He wouldn't have been 85 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: able to conceive of it, and neither would have Ted Kennedy. 86 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: Both men were American patriots. None of America's leaders have 87 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: ever been perfect. They are all flawed, but their service 88 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: has often been great in defense of an idea that 89 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: was perfect, and that idea was the one that animated 90 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: the American Revolution and declared, though hypocritically, we were all 91 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: created equally and gowed by creator. Let's go back to 92 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: this picture and analyze it some more. The two fingers 93 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: raised saying fuck you to the President of the United States. 94 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: We don't see the man's face, but we can feel 95 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: his rage and his anger. He sees the authoritarian staring 96 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: down at him, protected behind glass, a part removed, scowling 97 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: down at the people he seeks not to serve, but 98 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: to rule. He is no McCain, he is no Kennedy. 99 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: He is Lindsay Graham's leader, and he is a leader 100 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: that Lindsay Graham and all the rest of his cabal 101 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: will do anything for. This is the man they want 102 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: to make America Caesar, an emperor, a king. That's what 103 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: that picture is about. It's a picture of rage directed 104 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: at a man who sought to burn down the Patriot Pause, 105 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: who sought to overturn the American Revolution, who sought to 106 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: end freedom in the United States of America. There is 107 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: no king in the United States. There is a president. 108 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: That is who the American head of state is, and 109 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: that person is chosen, elected, and temporarily given power. That's 110 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: the issue that was settled in seventeen eighty three, in 111 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty four. It is what unites us. It is 112 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: what allows us to have disagreement without wanting to kill 113 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: each other. It is what allows a friendship to develop 114 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: between men of disagreement like John McCain and Edward Kennedy, 115 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: because in the end, the common cause, the defense of 116 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: the principles of the American Revolution, the expansion of freedom, 117 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:19,320 Speaker 1: and opportunity from It is the nature of American patriotism 118 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: and the cause of service to the country. Our leaders 119 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: have never been perfect people, but those imperfect people have 120 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:40,440 Speaker 1: been great when the country demanded it of them. One 121 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: of them was a man named Ulysses Grant. He wrote 122 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: a letter to his father at the beginning of the 123 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 1: American Civil War, and what he said to his father was, basically, 124 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: there are only two political parties in America now, patriots 125 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: and traders, and I wish to be associated with the former. 126 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: That's the meaning of the picture. A patriot talking to 127 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: a trader, an American speaking to a defiler. The rage 128 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: of generation after generation after generation of tough, hard people 129 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: who expanded freedom, who held the line, people who sacrifice, 130 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: people who inexorably move the country forward. That picture is 131 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: their voices, and the voices of millions of ghosts Americans, 132 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: all rising up behind him to say something fundamental to 133 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: this man who wishes to down our society. No, it's 134 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: a word we don't hear often enough in America. No. 135 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: But that's the meaning of this picture. A message to 136 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 1: Donald Trump. No, it's a message that requires character to enforce. 137 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: It was a character that men like Ted Kennedy and 138 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: John McCain had, but their friend Lindsey Graham did not. 139 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: That is an America's tragedy. It's Lindsay Graham's. What a 140 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: despicable man he turned out to be.