1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: A feature of this era is how often we use 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: the words unprecedented to describe on a daily basis that 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: depravities the actions of our political empower class in the 4 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: United States. We live in unprecedented times, and what unprecedented 5 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: means is simply this, there are things that are happening 6 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: routinely that have never ever happened before in the entire 7 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: history of the country. At a moment where the entirety 8 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: of the country, as is the case with the whole 9 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: of the world, is connected together. There is a feature 10 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: of this age that is truly recedented. It is that 11 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: any one of us out of three hundred and thirty 12 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: million of us, can with their phone talk to all 13 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 1: of us at any moment on any day, in any 14 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: given second. In fact, you can talk to nearly every 15 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: person on the earth. We are all inextricably connected by 16 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: the rapidity of scientific advancement and the unleashing of scientific knowledge. 17 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: The question that this raises is will American democracy be 18 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: able to survive it? Because alongside with this ability to 19 00:01:54,280 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: communicate with everyone instantaneously, came along a perfectly designed demagogue 20 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: who craved power, was hostile to liberty and the Constitution 21 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: and did something that no other American has ever done. 22 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: I'm talking about, of course, Donald Trump. And what he 23 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: did was swear the thirty five word oath that was 24 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: prescribed in the American Constitution and taken by George Washington 25 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: and then desecrated. Donald Trump became the president that the 26 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: founders feared and worried about and predicted. He is the 27 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: unprincipled man that kept them awake at night. Donald Trump 28 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: has brought the United States into a deep, deep crisis 29 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: of faithlessness and hopelessness and anger because of his unprecedented actions. 30 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: Let's talk about what they were. The United States is 31 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: an idea built on ideals. It is a country that 32 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: ruptured history with its declaration of independence and its assertion 33 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: that the rights of human beings did not flow through 34 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: the divine rights of kings, but from a creator who 35 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: made all of us equal, all men, it says in 36 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: our Declaration of Independence, and thankfully today we understand this 37 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: as all men and women are created equal and down 38 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: by a creator, with inalienable rights among them life, liberty, 39 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:05,839 Speaker 1: and the pursuit of happiness. After independence was won through 40 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: a bloody war, a constitution was written. They counted blacks 41 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: as three fits of a person. That constitution was amended 42 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: over time as human beings came to realize the indignities 43 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: and iniquities suffered by fellow human beings on the basis 44 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: of their race or their ethnicity, and human progress dictated 45 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: that that was wrong. But the progress was possible because 46 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: of the system of government that made it possible government 47 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: of the people, by the people, for the people. What 48 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: every American leader has always on understood is that in America, 49 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: a land with the king or emperor, dukes or counts 50 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: or lordships, that it is the people who are sovereign, 51 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: and it is the people who choose who gets political power, 52 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: the people, not the powerful. The United States is a 53 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: country that was formed on the basis of a rejection 54 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: of tyranny. And that's why since seventeen ninety seven until 55 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: January sixth, twenty twenty one, every single leader of the 56 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: nation has appreciated, has understood, and has accepted the will 57 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: of the American people, including painfully when there were close elections. 58 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: Richard Nixon conceded to John Kennedy in nineteen sixty with 59 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: serious questions about the integrity of the Illinois ballot. In 60 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: two thousand, Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush on 61 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: the basis of a Supreme Court decision that Sandrade O'Connor 62 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: came to deeply regret. Each American who found themselves worthy 63 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: enough to be nominated by their party to be considered 64 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: for the presidency has understood the deep moral obligation to 65 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,599 Speaker 1: submit to the will of the people, except for one, 66 00:06:54,360 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: and because of that, our entire American civilization hangs in 67 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: the balance. He broke faith with the foundation of the country. 68 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: The American system demands, that is, the people who apportion it, 69 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: not the leader or the strong who can take it. 70 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: Power in America is not derived through the power of 71 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: a mob, but rather the dignity and sanctity of the 72 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: rule of law in democratic tradition and norms. And so, 73 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: as we enter the Christmas season of twenty twenty three, 74 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: we stand at the edge of a new year, and 75 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: it will be a year like nine teen sixty eight, chaotic, momentous. 76 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: There will be moments in the year ahead where it 77 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 1: feels like everything is coming apart. It will be the 78 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: most momentous, the most chaotic, and the most troubled year 79 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: of the Trump era. There will be violence, and there 80 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: will be lies, there will be hopelessness, and there will 81 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: be panic. There will be days where it seems like 82 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:45,319 Speaker 1: Donald Trump may be inevitable and unstoppable. A corrupt Trump 83 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: industrial complex filled with democracy grifters. We'll try to cash 84 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: in a broken news media. We'll try to monetize the ratings. 85 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: Every scammer, every interest group, every plotting, plotting member of 86 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: Congress has skin in the game. But no one has 87 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: more skin in the game than the American people. Every 88 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: American who cares about the liberty of their fellow countrymen, 89 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: every American who appreciates fairness, human rights, in the innate 90 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: dignity of the human being, has something that they deeply 91 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: share in common. Heading into twenty twenty four, It doesn't 92 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: matter if they're black or white, or Hispanic or Asian, 93 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: man or woman, gay restraint. All that matters is that 94 00:09:52,920 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: they understand that they share together Americanism. They are American citizens. 95 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: There have been, over the history of our country, in total, 96 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:18,160 Speaker 1: more than six hundred million of us. It's incredible to think, though, 97 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: that the country is two hundred and fifty years old. 98 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: Almost the more than half of the Americans who have 99 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: ever lived are alive right now. We are the descendants 100 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: of the founders, and we are the descendants of the 101 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: saviors of the Union. And we are the descendants of 102 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: the leaders of the civil rights movement. We are the 103 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,959 Speaker 1: descendants of immigrants and the indigenous peoples. 104 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 2: We're the only nation in the world made up of 105 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 2: all of the world's people where every language is spoken 106 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 2: every day. We are part of the most noble experiment 107 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 2: in all the long history of human affairs, and that 108 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 2: experiment is perpetual. 109 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: And human beings lived together under a rule of law, 110 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: free of purity and oppression, can a free people endure. 111 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: What the founders understood is that every republic that has 112 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:53,839 Speaker 1: ever been has ultimately relapsed, because in the end, the 113 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: vibe product of freedom, of liberty of a republic can 114 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: be a great apathy and a great corruption. The question 115 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:11,680 Speaker 1: ahead is have we reached that hour where our republic 116 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: can fall? The simple truth is there has never been 117 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: a safe hour. There has never been a moment where 118 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: the American Republic was steady and surefooted and immune from failure. 119 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: There's always been chaos, There's always been tumult Because the 120 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: story of America is a human story, and the human 121 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: condition is a chaotic one. Yet America's achievements and the 122 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: achievements of our ancestors are profound, and they obligate us 123 00:12:53,360 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: deeply to a commitment of responsibility as stewards and trust 124 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:08,680 Speaker 1: to ensure that ten generations from that the words all 125 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 1: men are created Equal are not a distant memory, but 126 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:20,560 Speaker 1: an aspiration of faith, an unshakable one that can never 127 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: be extinguished. That is the duty of American citizenship.