Speaker 1: I am thrilled this evening live from El Paso, Texas
Speaker 1: Congressman Beto O'Rourke, great American patriot and important voice. I
Speaker 1: think as people join us, you still hold the record
Speaker 1: for the most votes ever for a Democrat in the
Speaker 1: state of Texas.
Speaker 2: I think that might be right. Certainly it was true
Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen. The other distinction that I love from
Speaker 2: the campaign and all the people who worked on it
Speaker 2: was it was the first Democrat to win the five
Speaker 2: major metro areas and surrounding counties in Texas since LBJ
Speaker 2: did it in sixty four. So there was a real
Speaker 2: resurgence in that campaign in not just Democratic party power,
Speaker 2: but in people who had checked out of politics for
Speaker 2: whatever reason, didn't feel like the institutions or the system
Speaker 2: or the parties were working for them, who came out,
Speaker 2: took a chance and got involved. And though we didn't
Speaker 2: beat Ted Cruz, and I'm forever sorry for that, I
Speaker 2: do think good things have continued to roll from that
Speaker 2: campaign in twenty eighteen, not necessarily for me, but just
Speaker 2: for Texas and what is possible politically. And we may
Speaker 2: get into that in the conversation, but yeah, that was
Speaker 2: a great campaign.
Speaker 1: JB. Pritsker, the governor of Illinois, gave a very important speech,
Speaker 1: I would argue the most effective response we have seen
Speaker 1: thus far from any elected Democrat anywhere in the country.
Speaker 1: He did it from the Illinois State Legislature in Springfield,
Speaker 1: Illinois that he talked about. The things that he talked
Speaker 1: about I think were of important and obvious consequence. But
Speaker 1: there is a line in Governor Pritzker's speech where he says,
Speaker 1: I am not rising because of my ambitions, but rather
Speaker 1: because of my obligations. And what I want to say
Speaker 1: to everybody as people are getting on and we're now
Speaker 1: north of one thousand people with us and continuing to climb,
Speaker 1: so we get ready to start the conversation, is that
Speaker 1: you just heard better A. Rourke say that, Hey, I
Speaker 1: lost that race to Ted Cruz and I'm sorry for that.
Speaker 1: And let me just say there's no apology needed. What
Speaker 1: you have for me is the deepest respect and admiration.
Speaker 1: And what I want everybody on this call to understand
Speaker 1: is the courage it takes to put your name on
Speaker 1: that ballot and to stand in that arena, particularly in
Speaker 1: a state where your opponent gets to run downhill with
Speaker 1: no backpack, and you have to run uphill with a
Speaker 1: heavy backpack. They get to do it on a nice
Speaker 1: paved track. You have to do it on a dirt,
Speaker 1: rocky mountain laiden path. And so when we talk about
Speaker 1: the concept of being in the arena, the man and
Speaker 1: now women obviously face marred by blood and sweat and tears,
Speaker 1: but never with those timid souls. That's what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: And so I think that everybody certainly on this when
Speaker 1: we consider the state of the country right now. We're
Speaker 1: all going to be called to play a role to
Speaker 1: be citizens in the months ahead. And so what I
Speaker 1: want to ask you first up is how do you
Speaker 1: assess the situation? Is what is happening here as we
Speaker 1: enter month two in the United States? How do you
Speaker 1: process what you see with your eyes? Do you see
Speaker 1: disconnects between what you see with your eyes and what
Speaker 1: is now being reported to you on mainstream channels. And
Speaker 1: let me just start there and just assess the situation
Speaker 1: and your reaction to it, and also your emotional reaction
Speaker 1: to it with regard to any sense of danger.
Speaker 2: So over to you, since you invoked tr I want
Speaker 2: to lay something else out that he said, he talked
Speaker 2: about doing what you can with what you have where
Speaker 2: you are. And it's one of my most favorite sentiments
Speaker 2: ever uttered by an American leader and servant, because it
Speaker 2: it reflects the power of people. It's not just the
Speaker 2: person in the position of the presidency, though he may
Speaker 2: claim to be a dictator or promise to be one,
Speaker 2: as he did before the election, or act like a tyrant,
Speaker 2: or act and behave so obsequiously with other tyrants like
Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin. It's the people in a democracy that is
Speaker 2: comprised of people from around the world who found a
Speaker 2: home here in this country and contributed to and established
Speaker 2: the greatness of America, the single most important country on
Speaker 2: the face of the planet in the history of the world.
Speaker 2: A force for good, a force for freedom. Imperfect as
Speaker 2: all things under the sun are, but the best thing going,
Speaker 2: if you ask me, and the best thing going because
Speaker 2: it is the government of, by and for the people,
Speaker 2: So Steve, the way I respond to this question is
Speaker 2: to encourage all of us to think about what each
Speaker 2: of us can do right now that there's real power
Speaker 2: in each of us individually and even more so collectively.
Speaker 2: Let me give you an example. We are maybe a
Speaker 2: gas at the Republican members of Congress, so they're in
Speaker 2: the majority and the Senate, who are essentially absolutely abnegating
Speaker 2: their responsibility as a coequal branch of government. It could
Speaker 2: be a you know, congressionally chartered agency like us AID.
Speaker 2: I think it was created by Congress in nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker 2: maybe originally through an executive order by Jfk in his administration,
Speaker 2: But this belongs to Congress. You know. Musk and co
Speaker 2: President dismantled that. And you don't hear a peep from them.
Speaker 2: The president illegally impounding congressionally authorized and appropriated funds. You
Speaker 2: don't hear anything from them. Members of Congress who said
Speaker 2: the right thing three years ago when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine,
Speaker 2: about the tens of thousands of innocent civilians and soldiers
Speaker 2: for that matter, who have been killed, the billions of
Speaker 2: dollars of damage, the threat that it poses not just
Speaker 2: to Ukraine, but a free and democratic Europe and by
Speaker 2: extension to the United States of America itself treaty bound
Speaker 2: to defend our NATO partners, who are only a country's
Speaker 2: throw away from Ukraine, from the invading armies of Russia.
Speaker 2: They're saying nothing right now, as Trump tries to in
Speaker 2: real time rewrite history to call Zelenski the dictator, to
Speaker 2: blame Ukraine for starting the war, and then Democrats who
Speaker 2: seem in disarray and confused and not coherent and not
Speaker 2: compelling and not offering a clear strategic directive for all
Speaker 2: of us to follow and to take. If it were
Speaker 2: just up to them, I'd say, Okay, let's admit defeat.
Speaker 2: But I just want to remind everybody it is up
Speaker 2: to each and every single one of us. And there's
Speaker 2: a way I think we can move these members of
Speaker 2: Congress in that coequal brunch branch, a way that we
Speaker 2: can give the lie to the idea that Trump is
Speaker 2: all powerful, that Musk, with all his wealth and influence
Speaker 2: and access, is bigger than any one of us can
Speaker 2: possibly defeat, and that is by calling those members of
Speaker 2: Congress to account. You've seen these viral clips of the
Speaker 2: members of Congress who hold these town hall meetings thinking
Speaker 2: it's going to be an easy ride as they explain
Speaker 2: the triumph of the Musk Trump presidency, only to have
Speaker 2: their constituents get in their face. Veterans who served honorably
Speaker 2: in Afghanistan and Iraq came back with PTSD, were hired
Speaker 2: by the VA and so called provisional positions summarily fired
Speaker 2: by Doge and Elon Musk, who show up and say,
Speaker 2: what the fuck? I've served this country, put my life
Speaker 2: on the line for you, then served again by trying
Speaker 2: to take care of these veterans. You, mister member of Congress,
Speaker 2: serve me and are accountable to all of us. What
Speaker 2: are you going to do about it? Those Republican members
Speaker 2: of Congress before those town halls, the only thing they
Speaker 2: felt like they had to fear was Donald Trump. When
Speaker 2: they show up to those town halls, they remember who
Speaker 2: put them in power in the first place, the people
Speaker 2: they serve, and the accountability that comes with it. They
Speaker 2: fear those constituents because they care about their re election.
Speaker 2: By that same token, I want Democrats to show up
Speaker 2: in front of their constituents, and though they're afraid to
Speaker 2: in some cases because they say, look, I don't have
Speaker 2: all the answers, I'm in the minority. What do you
Speaker 2: expect me to do? I think, armed with the stories
Speaker 2: and the emotional connection that they make with their constituents
Speaker 2: face to face, eyeball to eyeball in that room or
Speaker 2: auditorium that they gather in. I think that's going to
Speaker 2: buck them up. Give them the steel spine that they
Speaker 2: need right now, and reinforce the idea that they should
Speaker 2: not give an inch to Donald Trump. Do not let them,
Speaker 2: Do not let them use democratic votes in the House
Speaker 2: of Representatives to pass bad budget deals. Do not let
Speaker 2: them use Senate democratic votes to confirm nominees who are
Speaker 2: absolutely incompetent and capable, and in some case traitorous to
Speaker 2: the interests of the United States of America, to our
Speaker 2: constitution and our democracy. So if you are so inclined
Speaker 2: and you're watching us right now, the number at the
Speaker 2: switchboard is two two two, two four, three, one six one.
Speaker 2: I saw a tweet Steve from Lisa Murkowski, the Republican
Speaker 2: senator from Alaska, who said that in the second week
Speaker 2: of the Trump administration, the switchboard was seeing all time
Speaker 2: high numbers come of calls coming through. I think we
Speaker 2: can melt that thing down if we keep up the pressure.
Speaker 2: And I've been a member of Congress, I serve for
Speaker 2: three terms. You wonder whether your calls make a difference,
Speaker 2: I will tell you from experience they do. We pay attention,
Speaker 2: it gets our focus, and it changes our behavior. So
Speaker 2: we have power, Steve, and I do feel like folks
Speaker 2: who are frustrated and wondering where the leadership was going
Speaker 2: to come from are now finding that is within themselves
Speaker 2: and the power that they have in this democracy.
Speaker 1: Terrific. Thank you very much again. That number two O
Speaker 1: two two two four, three one two six. I think
Speaker 1: three one two one will also get you to the
Speaker 1: Capitol switchboard and ask for your member of Congress or
Speaker 1: any member of Congress. Remember and the immortal words of
Speaker 1: cool hand Luke Paul Newman. Uh, what we're having here,
Speaker 1: mister Musk, is a failure to communicate. These people that
Speaker 1: are being treated like insects don't work for Elon Musk,
Speaker 1: they work for us. And I find it outrageous and
Speaker 1: I and I find it offensive. And so let's talk
Speaker 1: about something you just said that I think is of
Speaker 1: the utmost importance, and it's this reality in our society
Speaker 1: that we are a bottom up society, not a top
Speaker 1: down society. There is no cockpit of United States in
Speaker 1: which Donald Trump sits with Elon and a couple of
Speaker 1: young men pushing buttons. This is a giant, decentralized country
Speaker 1: with one hundred thousand elected governments. They all have lawyers.
Speaker 1: Trump has the power in that he has the initiative,
Speaker 1: but his poll numbers are cratering. And this will be
Speaker 1: the month of the cratering, and next month will be
Speaker 1: one of rising. As we move into the spring, I
Speaker 1: anticipate that we will see scores of tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of people on the streets, if not more. The right
Speaker 1: to dissent, the right to protest, is of the utmost
Speaker 1: important to appreciate, your constitutional rights not come from Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: They come from the American Constitution, which asserts they come
Speaker 1: from a higher power. Let me say before I ask
Speaker 1: you this next question. Going back to Teddy Roosevelt, it
Speaker 1: could be argued that the twentieth century begins with a
Speaker 1: horse and carriage ride on the occasion of the assassination
Speaker 1: of William McKinley in Buffalo, New York, and the very
Speaker 1: young Vice President forty one years old, is riding through
Speaker 1: the night at full speed dangerously by horse and carriage.
Speaker 1: The first member of the US Secret Service in history
Speaker 1: to be killed in the line of duty is killed
Speaker 1: on this midnight ride, and Teddy Roosevelt takes the oath
Speaker 1: of office Teddy Roosevelt because the first president to fly
Speaker 1: in an airplane, his son, Teddy Roosevelt Junior, will be
Speaker 1: the only general to land in the first wave on
Speaker 1: d Day. He will be the oldest man in the
Speaker 1: first wave, the only father to have a son who
Speaker 1: lands in the first wave, a recipient of the Medal
Speaker 1: of Honor. So, this American century that lifts out of
Speaker 1: the ashes of the Second World War, civilization and these
Speaker 1: ideals of human dignity and freedom to the forefront and
Speaker 1: unleashes the greatest period of upward mobility and prosperity for
Speaker 1: billions of people around the globe, lifts them into freedom,
Speaker 1: not utopia, but progress. And it has been decided by
Speaker 1: Donald Trump that it is to be smashed. I have
Speaker 1: just got back from Berlin. I was a guest of
Speaker 1: the CDU during the final rallies for Chancellor Mertz. The
Speaker 1: grief of German parliamentarians, of German leadership for what Donald
Speaker 1: Trump has done. The obliteration of our ideals and our
Speaker 1: ideas from an American president is shocking. But America's ideals
Speaker 1: don't belong to Trump. They belong to us. And we
Speaker 1: have spread them around the world. And so what I
Speaker 1: want to ask you, in this moment, when an American
Speaker 1: president looks the American people in the eye and tells
Speaker 1: them it is the Russians who are the victims, what
Speaker 1: do we say to the American people who know that
Speaker 1: that's a lie? How do we arm them to talk
Speaker 1: to their neighbors and friends, Because it's no different than
Speaker 1: saying that Poland invaded Germany on September first, nineteen thirty nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, this is why I read you, this is
Speaker 2: why I watch you, This is why I think you're
Speaker 2: such a great leader. Especially at this moment. You can
Speaker 2: bring in the long view and set the historical precedent
Speaker 2: for us and remind us what it is we are
Speaker 2: made of. We are the people who threw off tyranny
Speaker 2: to create this great experiment. We are the people who
Speaker 2: ended the institution of slavery at the sacrifice of hundreds
Speaker 2: of thousands of young men from every part of the
Speaker 2: United States. We are the people who, in June of
Speaker 2: forty four, landed on those beaches, Democrats, Republicans alike, every
Speaker 2: single one of them, knowing that not every single one
Speaker 2: of them would come back, and yet they were willing
Speaker 2: to die to defeat fascism abroad to save democracy at home.
Speaker 2: We are the people who had great cost and sacrifice,
Speaker 2: including the lives of far too many, made civil rights
Speaker 2: and voting rights possible, creating the first multi racial democracy
Speaker 2: in American history. That is who we are. We are
Speaker 2: not Donald Trump. We are not this incredibly corrupt and
Speaker 2: cynical administration that seeks to turn its back completely on
Speaker 2: this history of struggle and sacrifice and service that has
Speaker 2: made us the greatest nation of all time. And certainly
Speaker 2: to your point, we cannot be that country that turns
Speaker 2: us back on the people of Ukraine, that turns us
Speaker 2: back on the people of Europe, and frankly that turns
Speaker 2: its back on the people of the United States of America.
Speaker 2: Because you've been really eloquent on this point, and I
Speaker 2: think everyone needs to hear it. We're not supporting Ukraine
Speaker 2: because we care about the people of Ukraine. I mean
Speaker 2: we do, and I personally do. And they are my
Speaker 2: heroes for what they have done, including defying every single
Speaker 2: prediction and the longest odds that they were up against
Speaker 2: on the day that that invasion started almost three years ago.
Speaker 2: To the day. I mean for that alone, I want
Speaker 2: to have their backs, but we are supporting Ukraine so
Speaker 2: that we don't have to have our allies in NATO
Speaker 2: fight the front lines in Poland, or in the Baltics
Speaker 2: or deeper into Western Europe. We're supporting Ukraine so that
Speaker 2: our sons and daughters are not fighting in those wars abroad,
Speaker 2: or fighting on those wars on our shores when that
Speaker 2: war comes home to us. Another analogy that you bring
Speaker 2: to mind for me is Munich in nineteen three eight.
Speaker 2: The parallels were absolutely chilling to me. That you have
Speaker 2: a leader, the pre eminent leader of a Western democracy,
Speaker 2: suing for peace with a tyrant who is trying to
Speaker 2: annex part of a neighboring country by force if necessary,
Speaker 2: and you concede everything to that tyrant without allowing In
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty eight it was Czechoslovakia, without allowing the party
Speaker 2: affected to even come to the table. Trump is worse
Speaker 2: than Nevil chamber I'd like to think Nevill Chamberlain actually
Speaker 2: thought he was going to achieve peace. Trump is so
Speaker 2: goddamn cynical. He knows that is not the case, but
Speaker 2: he does it nonetheless. Sacrificing everything that you've just mentioned,
Speaker 2: everything that I just went through, all that history of
Speaker 2: American sacrifice, struggle, and service, and everything that will come
Speaker 2: forward that will be precipitated by this cowardly, cynical abnegation
Speaker 2: of everything that this country stands for. So look, if
Speaker 2: you're at home wondering, because you may have read the
Speaker 2: propaganda from Trump, that you know, we're spending five hundred billion,
Speaker 2: which is not the amount of folks, but that's what
Speaker 2: Trump has said we've spent in Ukraine, that we're getting
Speaker 2: a lie to an ex comedian con man who's shaken
Speaker 2: down the United States of America, and we have nothing
Speaker 2: to gain for it. The number is much lower. It
Speaker 2: is a pittance. It is a fraction of the price
Speaker 2: we would pay if we had to support our NATO
Speaker 2: allies on the front lines of a war with Russia's Putin.
Speaker 2: It is infintesimally small against the sacrifice of American soldiers
Speaker 2: and service members who would have to fight in a
Speaker 2: hot war against the Russian Federation if we were to
Speaker 2: have to, as we are pretty bound to do, come
Speaker 2: to the aid of our allies, who will most certainly
Speaker 2: be attacked if Putin is allowed to roll over Ukraine.
Speaker 2: So this is the bargain of the century, on top
Speaker 2: of the moral imperative to do the right thing as
Speaker 2: the world's leading light and the best last hope for
Speaker 2: mankind in Lincoln's words, So I mean, you say it
Speaker 2: far better than I can.
Speaker 1: You always not at all.
Speaker 2: That's what we have to remember at this time. It's
Speaker 2: what makes us so goddamn proud to be Americans. Let's
Speaker 2: not lose it on this petty want to be tyrant
Speaker 2: who's trying to make a deal with the real tyrant
Speaker 2: in Russia.
Speaker 1: Right now, I want to take this now into the
Speaker 1: direction of tactical and what democratic leaders should do. We
Speaker 1: have now almost three thousand people with us. We have
Speaker 1: a lot of people that are frustrated with the Democratic
Speaker 1: Party's response and by the Democratic Party's response. Let's be
Speaker 1: specific about that, meaning the response of congressional leaders. And
Speaker 1: so let's talk about a tough decision where we're blending
Speaker 1: in history tonight. The beginning of World War Two, Winston
Speaker 1: Church had a very very difficult decision to make when
Speaker 1: the Nazis conquered France, and the decision was now that
Speaker 1: the Nazis occupied France and that there was a vshi
Speaker 1: French government that controlled the second largest navy in the world.
Speaker 1: What should be done about it? Now, Winston Churchill had
Speaker 1: an audience of one in mind, which was the American president.
Speaker 1: But what he did is not something that's talked much
Speaker 1: about in the open between friends and partners and allies.
Speaker 1: But Winston Churchill sank the French fleet, and he killed
Speaker 1: thousands of French soldiers. And the reason he did that,
Speaker 1: more than any other reason, was to say, we'll do
Speaker 1: anything to win. So in this moment, there's a question
Speaker 1: for Democrats, and I'm gonna lay out hypothetical analogy of
Speaker 1: all three thousand of us were crashed together on a
Speaker 1: proverbial airplane in the Alaskan wilderness, and we walked out
Speaker 1: of that airplane all alive. We would be upset and
Speaker 1: disoriented and pissed off and scared, but we'd have to
Speaker 1: do something. And the very first thing we'd have to
Speaker 1: do is light a fire. Now, for Democrats, right now,
Speaker 1: it seems to me strategically there's an overwhelming national security imperative.
Speaker 1: I mean talking about defending government of buying for the people,
Speaker 1: and that imperative is one Elon Musk stops immediately whatever
Speaker 1: it is that he is doing. Two he discloses everything
Speaker 1: that he has done immediately and without delay to the
Speaker 1: United States Congress. And number three that everything regarding empowerment
Speaker 1: of federal monies returns to regular order immediately. When that happens,
Speaker 1: we'll be happy to discuss anything you'd like to talk about.
Speaker 1: With regard to votes, you may need to fund the government.
Speaker 1: So this is everybody, three thousand people. Now, this is
Speaker 1: very important to understand, and this is hard to get
Speaker 1: your head around. Donald Trump needs the government funded to
Speaker 1: kill it. The leverage the Democrats have is to allow
Speaker 1: it to be shut down to keep it from being killed,
Speaker 1: preserving it in a coma. But that means the stalemate
Speaker 1: of a government shutdown will impact people and they will suffer.
Speaker 1: But that suffering has been imposed on them not by
Speaker 1: the people who are imposing on Donald Trump a red line,
Speaker 1: but by the man who knows no red line. So
Speaker 1: we already have passed the line of no return. With
Speaker 1: regard to are we going to suffer and endure calls
Speaker 1: from this? We are. The question is how do you
Speaker 1: make it stop? How do you make it stop? And
Speaker 1: I see no other way and no other immediate point
Speaker 1: of leverage before a Democratic House victory than right now
Speaker 1: is to make Donald Trump stop. And this guy who
Speaker 1: wrote the Art of the Deal, and the only thing
Speaker 1: you ever need to know about him is what's in
Speaker 1: that book says forty years ago is preferred method of
Speaker 1: communication and a negotiation is to walk into a room,
Speaker 1: put a finger in your chest, and tell you to
Speaker 1: go fuck yourself. So this isn't a secret. He's been
Speaker 1: doing it for fifty years. And I just am I
Speaker 1: right about this? Am I wrong about this? What is
Speaker 1: the leverage place for Democrats who are not powerless in
Speaker 1: this situation. Senators have the ability to block nominations and
Speaker 1: put holds on them. Democrats have the ability to strangle
Speaker 1: the money. How do you see this?
Speaker 2: I think you're totally correct, and almost under any other scenario,
Speaker 2: I probably disagree with you, but I think you're right
Speaker 2: because this is and perhaps this word gets used too often,
Speaker 2: but this is existential. This is, as you say, Steve,
Speaker 2: and I could not agree more strongly. This is about
Speaker 2: the life and death of this great Republic, of the
Speaker 2: American democracy, of our constitution, of rule by law of
Speaker 2: you know, it's not about the power that men have.
Speaker 2: It's about the power of our laws, all of us
Speaker 2: being treated equally under them. We're really about to lose.
Speaker 2: To invoke the same line from Lincoln again, the last
Speaker 2: best hope of Earth. That was really the last existential
Speaker 2: crisis for American democracy. Can government, you know, of men?
Speaker 2: Can it? Can it survive on this planet? Because I mean,
Speaker 2: let's remember, in the whole of human history, this is
Speaker 2: a really rare fucking thing. You know, for the for
Speaker 2: the most part, in almost every civilization, at every time,
Speaker 2: it is tyrants, it is kings and queens, it is
Speaker 2: it is emperors, it is dictators. It is very rarely
Speaker 2: the people who are able to govern themselves. I happen
Speaker 2: to be reading right now, and I'll keep this brief.
Speaker 2: A military history of the Peloponnesian War. You know, I
Speaker 2: believe it starts around four thirty one. I believe it
Speaker 2: ends around four h three BC. And you have this
Speaker 2: this alliance of democracies led by Athens, and you have
Speaker 2: an alliance of tyrannies led by Sparta, and the question
Speaker 2: is really in doubt for the duration of the war,
Speaker 2: and extraordinary brutal things happen across the entire you know,
Speaker 2: Greek islands and Greek mainland over the course of this.
Speaker 2: But the question that is being called throughout that war
Speaker 2: is whether you can have self government? And I feel,
Speaker 2: you know, and then it and then it's extinguished essentially
Speaker 2: because you spoiler alert the Athenians, the democracies. They lose
Speaker 2: that war, and by and large it is gone until
Speaker 2: it re emerges on the North American continent in full
Speaker 2: force in the form that we see here today, as
Speaker 2: in peril as it may be, it still exists, nonetheless,
Speaker 2: and that's fucking amazing. But I've often wondered, because I'm
Speaker 2: a student of history. I love ancient history, I love
Speaker 2: Greek history, how is it that it arose at that time?
Speaker 2: And how is it that it was lost for not
Speaker 2: years or centuries, but millennia? And how can that focus
Speaker 2: our attention right now on how precious and rare this
Speaker 2: thing is that we have. And so my big wind
Speaker 2: up to answer your question, I was in Congress, as
Speaker 2: I mentioned, for three terms, and there were times where
Speaker 2: Democrats were tempted to shut down the government. I remember
Speaker 2: there was an omnibus spending bill and it was Steve
Speaker 2: It's complete dog shit. It had all these things in
Speaker 2: it I didn't support. I was running against Ted Cruz
Speaker 2: at the time. I knew that he would light me
Speaker 2: up for it. I knew that he had an easy
Speaker 2: not vote on it, because he could give a shit
Speaker 2: about governing and about the people's lives that he would affect.
Speaker 2: But I knew because I ran on restoring funding to
Speaker 2: the VA, making sure that veterans could see a behavioral
Speaker 2: health care specialist, reducing the long wait times that we
Speaker 2: were seeing, I knew that if we shut down the government,
Speaker 2: I was going to screw over every single veteran who
Speaker 2: had put his or her life on the line of
Speaker 2: this country. And I could not be part of it.
Speaker 2: You know, damn the politics of this. I just had
Speaker 2: to do the right thing. So I've never been a
Speaker 2: fan of shutdowns, always voted against him. But listen, you
Speaker 2: are one hundred percent correct when the other side of
Speaker 2: this argument is that we might very well lose this
Speaker 2: constitutional republic if we don't starve this want to be
Speaker 2: tyrant of the resources he needs to kill it once
Speaker 2: and for all. Then I think the choice is pretty
Speaker 2: damn clear, and I think it's a perfect time just
Speaker 2: to remind everybody that those representatives up there, if we
Speaker 2: were to administer truth storem to them, the thing that
Speaker 2: they care about more than anything else is their reelection.
Speaker 2: If they fear you, their constituent, their voter, more than
Speaker 2: they fear Donald Trump or the politics of the moment,
Speaker 2: they're going to respond to that. And I promise you
Speaker 2: call them and it's two two two two four, three
Speaker 2: one two one, or I think Steve said three one
Speaker 2: two six. One of those numbers is going to work.
Speaker 2: Maybe both three one.
Speaker 1: Two one is the right number, three one two one.
Speaker 2: So if you tell them you Steve said it better
Speaker 2: than I could. But you want them to vote no
Speaker 2: on anything that Trump and the Republican majority want. They
Speaker 2: have a one vote majority in the House. Let's go
Speaker 2: see if they can keep that fractious majority together. And
Speaker 2: in the Senate. Again, as Steve said, it's no on
Speaker 2: any nominee at any level. Do not allow him the
Speaker 2: power that he wants to render all of us powerless
Speaker 2: in our own democracy. And again, it's not just for
Speaker 2: us those of us alive today. It's in honor to
Speaker 2: those who never came home from the beaches on Normandy,
Speaker 2: who fought for our freedom in the first place. Who
Speaker 2: ended the institution of slaver slavery? And it's for every
Speaker 2: generation that follows us. Imagine the kids one hundred years
Speaker 2: from now reading about this time like I'm reading about
Speaker 2: the Peloponnesian War and saying, who were these fuckers in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, who had the power at their disposal,
Speaker 2: who had the world in their hands and let it
Speaker 2: slip through their fingers. We cannot be those people. We
Speaker 2: cannot be found wanting at this moment of truth. We
Speaker 2: absolutely must come through and see. You've got kids. I've
Speaker 2: got kids. Their judgment is my conscience. That's what weighs
Speaker 2: on me more than anything else. I need to be
Speaker 2: able to tell them not just that I tried and
Speaker 2: did my best, but that I tried, I did my best,
Speaker 2: and we overcame this threat and were able to save
Speaker 2: the Republic. I mean, it sounds grandiose, and it would
Speaker 2: be at any other time, but it's the fucking truth.
Speaker 1: At this moment, I want to I want to ask you.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you one more question if I could,
Speaker 1: which which is which is this? And I want to
Speaker 1: bring it back on onto this history plane, which we
Speaker 1: which we've woven all the way through and on the continuum.
Speaker 1: So there is this moment in history that is a
Speaker 1: before and after that is a hinge that changes everything
Speaker 1: in its aftermath. And that's in UH November day when
Speaker 1: the ship Arabella sails into was now the Provincetown harbor.
Speaker 1: And aboard this are the pilgrims UH and the religious
Speaker 1: seekers and UH the adventurers UH, people that were coming
Speaker 1: to the new continent UH looking for riches, UH, looking
Speaker 1: for adventure. And so the ship is battered, but before
Speaker 1: anybody gets off of it in this new world right,
Speaker 1: they make an agreement between them, and that agreement ends
Speaker 1: the feudal age, the Mayflower Compact, and it commits everybody
Speaker 1: to a concept of the common good that they appreciate.
Speaker 1: They can't survive without this. And this is a deeply
Speaker 1: linked beginning to this concept that's deeply American, of our
Speaker 1: reaching for the city on the hill, trying to find
Speaker 1: that city on the hill, to get to that mountaintop
Speaker 1: that king, that king talks about. So all of these
Speaker 1: federal employees are being treated like insects by the world's
Speaker 1: richest man who has been and elected to no office,
Speaker 1: confirmed to no office pointed to, no office that has
Speaker 1: been created by any congressional act. And he makes decrees
Speaker 1: in pronouncements that assaults their human dignity, that assault a
Speaker 1: fundamental concept that I was raised with, which was that
Speaker 1: everybody who works hard and plays by the rules, whether
Speaker 1: they be the sanitation worker or the cop, the fireman,
Speaker 1: the steel worker, the teacher, the astronaut, the billionaire inventor
Speaker 1: that in this great republic, they all have a role,
Speaker 1: but everybody gets treated with respect and dignity, and that
Speaker 1: there's a fundamental relationship between your dignity in your work
Speaker 1: and your pursuit of happiness, which is elemental to the
Speaker 1: construction of the country. And so the abuse and the
Speaker 1: cheering of the abuse, and the escalations of the dehumanizations
Speaker 1: are deeply worrying to me. I know they are to you,
Speaker 1: but just at a humanist level, How should people think
Speaker 1: about this moment where must is really foreshadowing? You want
Speaker 1: to talk about what the AI future is like? Everybody,
Speaker 1: this is what it's like in every company. It's brutalist.
Speaker 1: You're expendable, You're a pond, you're a serf, You're a
Speaker 1: fucking insect. And so the application of this that old
Speaker 1: I think it was Reverend Nebor, and I'm sure pronouncing
Speaker 1: correctly right. First they come for the government workers, and
Speaker 1: next they come for you and secticized, reduced to nothing,
Speaker 1: And we will have a king, and the king will
Speaker 1: have his lords, and the lords will have their deals,
Speaker 1: and the serf shall never complain and always be kept
Speaker 1: divided by the algorithm and enslaved by the chains of
Speaker 1: the stoked divisions that are purposeful, deliberate, strategic for the
Speaker 1: greatest act of taking in human history.
Speaker 2: There's almost nothing that I can add to what you said,
Speaker 2: because I agree with it so strongly, and it was
Speaker 2: put so powerfully and so eloquently. That is exactly what's happening.
Speaker 2: And I keep, I keep, you know you and I've
Speaker 2: talked a lot about history and invoked so many great
Speaker 2: moments in history and so many things that make me
Speaker 2: so proud to be an American and really fuel the
Speaker 2: fight that I feel right now, like, Hey, we are
Speaker 2: made of stronger stuff. This is who we are as Americans.
Speaker 2: We do not accept this stuff. We fight back against
Speaker 2: it with everything that we have, peacefully, democratically, but ultimately victoriously.
Speaker 2: That's that's what we're made of this other side. The
Speaker 2: richest man in the world, the guy who describes himself
Speaker 2: as a king, who promised us he would be a
Speaker 2: dictator on day one, who you know, thousand scrapes before
Speaker 2: tyrants across the globe. They want us to feel like
Speaker 2: their rise and accumulation of power and dominance over the
Speaker 2: rest of us, as you described, is all but inevitable.
Speaker 2: Who am I to rise up against the richest, most
Speaker 2: powerful man in the world. Who am I to go
Speaker 2: up against the inevitable Donald Trump who was resurrected from
Speaker 2: political ignomy after January sixth, who survived, you know, an
Speaker 2: assassin's bullet, Who was you know, ordained by God to
Speaker 2: come and save this country and make America great again
Speaker 2: and lay vengeance to his enemies? I mean the shit
Speaker 2: there invoking, Let's admit it, it's pretty powerful stuff. It
Speaker 2: can be really persuasive. And if your side is in disarray,
Speaker 2: with its tail between its legs, acting defeated, if you
Speaker 2: know your most public you know, you know advocates are
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer and no offense, But you know it can't
Speaker 2: be Chuck Schumer. If no one's guiding the response to this,
Speaker 2: the resistance, the revolution, the peaceful revolution. You know, yeah,
Speaker 2: I can see how people can give in and be
Speaker 2: tempted to give up and to fall into despair. And
Speaker 2: that's got to be the explanation, in part for why
Speaker 2: other democracies and republics in human history have fallen. I've
Speaker 2: read some of what you've written on this about you know,
Speaker 2: you look at Germany from the nineteen twenties and the
Speaker 2: nineteen thirties. I mean, it has something to do with
Speaker 2: the magnetism and the charisma and the power of Hitler
Speaker 2: and the movement that he led, but also had to
Speaker 2: do a lot with the weakness of that democracy and
Speaker 2: the weakness of the leaders who were up against Hitler
Speaker 2: at that moment. I mean, this is our moment right now.
Speaker 2: We will be judged the same way that we judge
Speaker 2: those who had the chance back in nineteen thirty two
Speaker 2: to do the right thing, and for whatever political or
Speaker 2: practical or personal excuse they gave, they just didn't. They
Speaker 2: just didn't. And we just can't be that because the
Speaker 2: future that you just described, I do believe is more
Speaker 2: likely than not if we are unsuccessful in fighting back.
Speaker 2: And so for folks, who are you taking notes at home.
Speaker 2: I think Steve said it best. I think reach out
Speaker 2: to that member of Congress right now, hold them accountable.
Speaker 2: I'd urge you to also ask them, demand from them
Speaker 2: that they hold a town hall, that they meet you
Speaker 2: face to face, that they actually do their job. If
Speaker 2: we believe in democracy, it's more than voting in elections.
Speaker 2: It's a day in, day out working with our elected
Speaker 2: representatives to make them better. And as somebody who held
Speaker 2: a town hall every single month I was in Congress, man,
Speaker 2: it made me better. I went into those town halls
Speaker 2: with a pit of fear in my stomach because I
Speaker 2: was going to face my constituents. They're going to say, hey, Bets,
Speaker 2: so why did you vote for that thing? Where are
Speaker 2: you on this thing? You promised us you were going
Speaker 2: to do. Hey, somebody hasn't returned my call in your office. Goddamn.
Speaker 2: That would focus my attention, and I was reminded of
Speaker 2: who it was I served. I urge you to do that.
Speaker 2: And to Steve's point, every House member who's a Democrat,
Speaker 2: do not help the Republicans fund this government, because, as
Speaker 2: he said, Donald Trump will use that funding to kill
Speaker 2: government of by and for the people. You call every
Speaker 2: Senator and you urge them to vote no on any nomination,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter how big or how small, how qualified, how unqualified.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, most of them are so unqualified on
Speaker 2: merit alone, they should be denied. And then it is
Speaker 2: not too early, in fact, it's approaching too late to
Speaker 2: get ready for twenty twenty six if we are going
Speaker 2: to be able to regain power, and sometimes Steve, I
Speaker 2: feel like Democrats care more about being right than being
Speaker 2: in power, while all that MAGA Republicans care about is
Speaker 2: power and nothing else. If we can focus single mindedly
Speaker 2: on power, as we should at this moment of truth,
Speaker 2: then getting organized for twenty twenty six happens. Now. It
Speaker 2: is recruiting candidates, it's raising your hand to run, it's
Speaker 2: joining organizations that are registring voters, saying in touch with them,
Speaker 2: turning them out. I mean, there may be a response
Speaker 2: like we saw in twenty eighteen. There may not. Let's
Speaker 2: not take any chances. Let's put in the work right
Speaker 2: now to get that done. And let me just end
Speaker 2: by saying this or last thing for me on this,
Speaker 2: I just want to say thank you to you for
Speaker 2: showing the political courage as a former Republican at a
Speaker 2: time where it was not easy for you to say
Speaker 2: what you said, And maybe it was easy for you personally,
Speaker 2: but I think for most Americans that would not have
Speaker 2: been an easy thing, and most people working in politics.
Speaker 2: It was just the very rare display of courage that
Speaker 2: we needed, and for waking so many people up to
Speaker 2: the challenge and the danger and the threat that we
Speaker 2: face at this moment, and giving people hope. Lastly, giving
Speaker 2: people hope. You know, with that, I think all things
Speaker 2: are possible, and I feel Listen, I'm neither you nor
Speaker 2: I sugarcoated anything. I think we spoke in the starkest
Speaker 2: terms about what's on the line right now. But I
Speaker 2: want to tell you, despite or because of all that,
Speaker 2: I am as optimistic and as hopeful as I've ever
Speaker 2: been because I know we're Americans. I know we do
Speaker 2: great things. I know that we come together anything as possible.
Speaker 2: You have brought us together on this call tonight, the
Speaker 2: thousands of people who've joined us, and I know you'll
Speaker 2: continue to do it. It's just an honor to be
Speaker 2: in this fight with you, and thank you for having
Speaker 2: me on.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Beto. I have one last story if
Speaker 1: I could that, I want to share with everybody a
Speaker 1: couple of things. Administratively. I saw that during this that
Speaker 1: Ron Fournier, the legendary Associated Press Washington Bureau chief, is on.
Speaker 1: I urge all of you to follow Ron Fournier. I
Speaker 1: saw Stephen besch Loss is on. Urge all of you
Speaker 1: to follow Stephen besch Loss on substack At, someone that
Speaker 1: I read on a daily basis and that I get
Speaker 1: a lot out of. And there's some there's some great
Speaker 1: voices out there. I want to share a story about
Speaker 1: Elon with everybody. I had an experience last March when
Speaker 1: I went to Auschwitz. I had been there for the
Speaker 1: first time in two thousand and five. I was part
Speaker 1: of a delegation led by Vice President Cheney when I
Speaker 1: was in the White House, and on that trip were
Speaker 1: Holocaust survivors. Tom Lantos, a member of Congress and his wife,
Speaker 1: but also Eli Vizl was on that was on that trip,
Speaker 1: and it was a very powerful experience. And I returned
Speaker 1: this March and I went around the place with the
Speaker 1: chief guide named Paul Siwiki, who was a Polish journalist
Speaker 1: who left his job to be really the chief guide teacher, curator.
Speaker 1: There will be a time in Paul's life where when
Speaker 1: he is an old man, when he passes away, that
Speaker 1: it will be said that he probably knew and was
Speaker 1: one of the last living human beings to know as
Speaker 1: many Holocaust survivors as he has known from his position.
Speaker 1: So he is somebody who does incredibly important work in
Speaker 1: the world who will never be a billionaire. So there's
Speaker 1: something true about Auschwitz is that you can't ever really
Speaker 1: say that you experienced Auschwitz, or that you've been to
Speaker 1: Auschwitz once or twice or three times. Really, even the
Speaker 1: survivors can't say they've been to Auschwitz because nobody survived
Speaker 1: the walk down the steps, into the showers and then
Speaker 1: into the ovens. There are no pictures from side, but
Speaker 1: there are pictures taken from inside the ovens outside on
Speaker 1: the lines, and you can see the ruins there. And
Speaker 1: go to this corner of the camp and Paul says
Speaker 1: to me, some people say that even a bird won't
Speaker 1: fly over Witz. And he points out in the distance
Speaker 1: and he says, there's a stork taking off, and it
Speaker 1: was from the ponds where the ashes of a million
Speaker 1: human beings were dumped. So it's not true that birds
Speaker 1: don't fly at Auschwitz. The storks take off from the
Speaker 1: pools that hold a million ashes. And so really the
Speaker 1: story of the Holocaust is a story about what comes
Speaker 1: next and next and next and next, until the unleashing
Speaker 1: of the industrialized killing, this hyperrational murder. And so in
Speaker 1: this quiet corner of Auschwitz, he points to these concrete
Speaker 1: structures and he says to me, do you know what
Speaker 1: those buildings are? And I said to him, it's a
Speaker 1: wastewater treatment building. He says, very good. He goes, you know,
Speaker 1: Auschwitz got opened to a late start, the killing, the
Speaker 1: operation Reinhart camps, the original death camps from the Wansea
Speaker 1: conference where the Holocaust is planned. He said, yes, the
Speaker 1: SS had difficulty getting the permits to open the camp.
Speaker 1: Did you know that the SS needed to have a
Speaker 1: fire permit for the barracks And I didn't, and he said,
Speaker 1: and they could not get the wastewater treatment permit. So
Speaker 1: when the architects of Auschwitz came to the German bureaucracy
Speaker 1: with a plan for a prison in the middle of
Speaker 1: the woods of conquered Poland for one hundred thousand people,
Speaker 1: the German bureaucrat didn't ask a question about what the
Speaker 1: prison is for. His question was, well, where will you
Speaker 1: dump the wastewater? And the SS said in the river,
Speaker 1: and the German bureaucrat said, no, good, nine five million
Speaker 1: Germans down water, down river. And so it took two
Speaker 1: attempts for the SSS to get the permit to open Auschwitz.
Speaker 1: And Paul takes out his piece of paper and he says, ay,
Speaker 1: he says, here's the permit. That's what open Auschwitz. A
Speaker 1: stamp from a water bureaucrat dealing with the architect on
Speaker 1: the planes for a prison for one hundred thousand that
Speaker 1: killed a million. And so the man who interrogated out
Speaker 1: off heikman in Israeli police captain he is a German
Speaker 1: Jew who sat across room for hundreds of hours and
Speaker 1: never talked about it. Twenty years after, the fast has
Speaker 1: asked the question, what is your takeaway from the experience?
Speaker 1: Did you have one? And he goes, yeah, because I have.
Speaker 1: My takeaway is democracy is what keeps you safe. That
Speaker 1: all around us are Aikmans, but they are latent into democracy, harmless,
Speaker 1: but in a dictatorship of the left or the right,
Speaker 1: they turned deadly. In an instant, and so what I
Speaker 1: want to say to everybody on this tonight. The leader
Speaker 1: of the Democratic Senate is not Chuck Schumer. He has
Speaker 1: a title. It's Chris Murphy. Follow Chris Murphy. Call Chris
Speaker 1: Murphy's office and say what can I do? Follow the leaders,
Speaker 1: not the titles. Better A. Rourke is a leader. Follow him.
Speaker 1: I'm ready hear more from Better of Rourk in the
Speaker 1: months and years ahead. Is time a national crisis because
Speaker 1: it's the believers in the idealists who are going to
Speaker 1: lead us out of this mess. And Better of Rourk
Speaker 1: is a great idealist, a great leader in this country.
Speaker 1: It's been a real pleasure to be with you tonight,
Speaker 1: Beto Congressman. Thank you in a four thousand of you,
Speaker 1: patriotic Americans who could be doing anything right now, including
Speaker 1: wollowing in despair, chose instead to be with us on
Speaker 1: a screen participating in twenty first century civics. Remember this,
Speaker 1: my friends, you are a defiant people. You are Americans.
Speaker 1: Do not give into this, do not relent in your criticism.
Speaker 1: Pushback audios. I'm Steve Schmidt. This is the warning, and
Speaker 1: I invite you to join subscribe on our substack on
Speaker 1: our YouTube channel, follow us, Welcome to the community.