WEBVTT - How Donald Trump's second term would be worse than the first

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<v Speaker 1>The Atlantic Magazine is among America's most venerable journalistic institutions.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a serious, sober journal that chronicles our events,

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<v Speaker 1>our democracy, and it has since the heights of the

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<v Speaker 1>most dangerous era in American history, the American Civil War,

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<v Speaker 1>a sectional war between American regions fought over the issue

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<v Speaker 1>of slavery. Not since then has America faced an internal

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<v Speaker 1>danger so grave and a threat so clear, And so

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<v Speaker 1>it is no surprise that it is The Atlantic Magazine

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<v Speaker 1>that is the first to seriously highlight the danger ahead,

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<v Speaker 1>what is coming, what is approaching down the tracks. There

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<v Speaker 1>is still time to prepare for what it is ahead,

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<v Speaker 1>but before we can, it is important to look back,

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<v Speaker 1>because it is essential to understand the loss of democracy,

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<v Speaker 1>the loss of control, the loss of agency that is

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<v Speaker 1>to come is something that has been experienced by many,

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<v Speaker 1>many tens of millions of Americans. They have lost their

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<v Speaker 1>economic agency because they got sick, developed cancer, or their

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<v Speaker 1>child did, or maybe they had a severe injury. It

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't matter. Any family in America that is captive to

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<v Speaker 1>their health insurance company and cannot pay the bills to

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<v Speaker 1>live a life worth living is captive and has long

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<v Speaker 1>ago lost their agency. And their democracy to a dictatorship

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<v Speaker 1>of big companies of greed. There are other Americans who

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<v Speaker 1>have lost their lives, their agency, their control to an

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<v Speaker 1>evil deal that existed between companies like Purdue Pharma that

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<v Speaker 1>profited in the billions of dollars while a million Americans

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<v Speaker 1>were left dead and many hundreds of thousands of more

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<v Speaker 1>on the streets addicted, ravaged by opioids, ravaged now by fentanyl,

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<v Speaker 1>ravaged by the cruelty of a system that saw the

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<v Speaker 1>Food and Drug Administration, which is supposed to protect the people,

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<v Speaker 1>instead work with the opiate manufacturers to poison them. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a dictatorship of greed that did them in. What

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<v Speaker 1>the Atlantic magazine is mostly talking about is a loss

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<v Speaker 1>of political agents see and political control. As America is

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<v Speaker 1>transformed by a Trump presidency that will last for as

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<v Speaker 1>long as Trump is alive and able to hold power,

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<v Speaker 1>the Republic will substantially fall. It will be controlled by

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<v Speaker 1>a collection of powerful interests, all interrelated. For example, David's

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<v Speaker 1>ass off this man here in can where he decided

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<v Speaker 1>to throw a party surrounded by the yachts while the

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<v Speaker 1>writers that make his industry function were on strike. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>what's interesting about The business model of the parent company

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<v Speaker 1>that control CNN is that it's reliant on one thing

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<v Speaker 1>to survive, the ability to cut cost enough to pay

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<v Speaker 1>back the massive debt incurred for the purchase of the

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<v Speaker 1>new conglomerate. A plaything, if you will, is what CNN is.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post, the owner. But

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<v Speaker 1>Jeff Bezos's money doesn't come from the Post, which loses

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred million dollars a year. It comes from Amazon stock.

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<v Speaker 1>What will happen when the federal government decides to punish

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<v Speaker 1>America's guilded class to keep them in line. This is,

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<v Speaker 1>after all, how it functions in Russia. The oligarchs support

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<v Speaker 1>the power of who putin Kutin allows the oligarchs to

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<v Speaker 1>get as rich as human beings can possibly get. It

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<v Speaker 1>will be the basis of the American economy. Nobody will

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<v Speaker 1>step out of line, particularly with a vindictive, punitive president

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<v Speaker 1>who asserts control and power through the levers of government

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<v Speaker 1>in a way that is now ever been seen. He

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<v Speaker 1>will proclaim the powers of a caesar, and he will

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<v Speaker 1>quickly assert them. His plans are to deploy as many

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<v Speaker 1>as fifty thousand appointees trained yes men and women who

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<v Speaker 1>will carry out the whims of a lawless man as

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<v Speaker 1>he deconstructs the deep state, or as we used to

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<v Speaker 1>call it, the American Civil Service, one of the great

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<v Speaker 1>creations in the history of the country and one of

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<v Speaker 1>the great progressive reforms in the history of the country.

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<v Speaker 1>Decent government will be gone. It will be a government

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<v Speaker 1>that seeks to control, and mostly what it will control

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<v Speaker 1>is its own power, its own destiny, its license to

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<v Speaker 1>enrich itself, its friends, its allies, and to punish it.

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<v Speaker 1>That is what the American dictatorship to come will look like.

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<v Speaker 1>How is it that the American people, on the eve

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<v Speaker 1>of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the independence

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<v Speaker 1>of the country, are prepared to dismiss their agency, to

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<v Speaker 1>give away their democracy, their choice, their ability to control

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<v Speaker 1>their affairs, to a new royalty, to a new type

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<v Speaker 1>of tyranny. Why would they do it? They would do

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<v Speaker 1>it because most of those Americans feel like they lost

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<v Speaker 1>their agency in their control to a different set of

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<v Speaker 1>dictators a long time ago. And what Donald Trump represents

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<v Speaker 1>for them as a philosopher or fuck Uism, is angry

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<v Speaker 1>retribution towards the American power class. That could not see,

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<v Speaker 1>they could not hear, when a million Americans lost their

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<v Speaker 1>lives to addiction caused by the collusion between the opioid

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<v Speaker 1>companies and the federal government, who was indifferent and blind

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<v Speaker 1>to the suffering of the people who weren't in the

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<v Speaker 1>big cities and whose lives were somehow deemed less than

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<v Speaker 1>so unworthy. In fact, they just weren't covered at all. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>now the American people, and their anger and their rage

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<v Speaker 1>and their discontent, are letting it be known that they've

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<v Speaker 1>had enough, and there is an absence of any articulation

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<v Speaker 1>towards better towards the future. But before we can talk

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<v Speaker 1>about what is to come and the defiance that is

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<v Speaker 1>necessary to resist it, to sustain a resistance throughout, it

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<v Speaker 1>is to remember an important moment. The very first thing

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<v Speaker 1>that happened in the Trump administration was something that was

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<v Speaker 1>always of great consequence. Sean Spicer is the spokesperson for

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<v Speaker 1>the government of the United States. The Press Secretary is

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<v Speaker 1>the president's chief spokesperson. And he came out and he

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<v Speaker 1>said to a global audience, like an American Bagdad Bob,

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<v Speaker 1>that a crowd size that was clearly smaller was in

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<v Speaker 1>fact larger than the one that was clearly bigger. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a moment of absurdity. It was not a lie

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<v Speaker 1>to avoid embarrassment. It was a lie of authority that

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<v Speaker 1>demanded submission, submission of agency, of intellectual sovereignty, of personal democracy.

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<v Speaker 1>It required the listener to make a deal. You could

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<v Speaker 1>be part of a community, but it required a basic submission.

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<v Speaker 1>You could check out of deciding what is real and

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<v Speaker 1>what is not, what is true and what is false,

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<v Speaker 1>what is up and down? What is left or right?

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<v Speaker 1>The leader would decided for you. He would decide everything.

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<v Speaker 1>He would tell you what's true or not. What the

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<v Speaker 1>leader said was reality was in fact reality. So when

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<v Speaker 1>it came to pass that he lost an election upon

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<v Speaker 1>which the whole of American civilization is built, his adherents

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<v Speaker 1>went along because they had been trained like dogs on

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<v Speaker 1>leashes over a law period, to be controlled, to be

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<v Speaker 1>easily manipulated. They long ago gave away their control and

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<v Speaker 1>agency when they said that crowd size that was smaller

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<v Speaker 1>was in fact larger, and so on and on. It

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<v Speaker 1>went over thirty thousand times as President Donald Trump lied

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<v Speaker 1>and the news media was overwhelmed by it. When they

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<v Speaker 1>were not complicit with it, making billions in a cynical partnership.

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<v Speaker 1>And so it has come to pass that we stand

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<v Speaker 1>at the edge of profound loss in America, a great

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<v Speaker 1>loss of political control, the inevitable result of a system

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<v Speaker 1>that has allowed the politicians to pick their voters, and

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<v Speaker 1>now they will have the control role that they want

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<v Speaker 1>to do as they wish, for no purpose of greater union,

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<v Speaker 1>no higher moral purpose aimed at perfecting the union, but

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<v Speaker 1>instead to pursue the cause of self interest and greed

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<v Speaker 1>at the expense of the greatest idea in all of

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<v Speaker 1>human history, which is Americanism, the notion that ordinary people

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<v Speaker 1>have the capacity to govern themselves, that there is no

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<v Speaker 1>such thing as a divine right of kings. Instead that

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<v Speaker 1>each of us, and all of us now into the

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<v Speaker 1>twenty first century, are endowed by our creator, beyond the

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<v Speaker 1>reach of the power of government, who is instilled in

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<v Speaker 1>us basic rights as human beings, the right to life,

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<v Speaker 1>liberty in the pursuit of happiness. And these rights, which

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<v Speaker 1>have built for two centuries, include a freedom of speech

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<v Speaker 1>and conscience and choice, and all of that stands at

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<v Speaker 1>risk because of greed and a collapse of faith in

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<v Speaker 1>a detestable error, where Donald Trump stands at the edge

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<v Speaker 1>of becoming an American caesar on the eve of the

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred and fiftieth birthday of American Independence. What an

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<v Speaker 1>appalling moment this is