1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:05,720 Speaker 1: There isn't a simple truth about this moment. The first 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: polls are starting to appear that showed Donald Trump beating 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: President Biden in a twenty twenty four hypothetical matchup. As 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: an objective matter, a matter of fact, a matter of reality. 5 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: If you believe that Donald Trump was a threat in 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, that threat to American 7 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: democracy has not receded. It has grown, It has spread, 8 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: It is metastasized, and it lurks just outside the perimeters 9 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: of power, waiting to seize the rais. This is possible 10 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: because something has happened in America on a forty year 11 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: basis that it's time to squarely face. It's rooted very 12 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: deeply in the collapse of trust between the American people 13 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: in very nearly every single institution you can think to name. 14 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: All of this has its origins in a debate that 15 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: played out in the early nineteen nineties. In fact, there 16 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: was an actual debate between a man named Ross Perrau 17 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: and the Vice President of the United States at Al Gore, 18 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: and the debate was over free trade agreements, specifically NAFTA. 19 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: The Vice President argued the proposition that free trade was good, 20 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: that it created competition, and competition lifted the economy. And 21 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: for millions and millions and millions of Americans this was true. 22 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: But for millions more it was not. What globalization did 23 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: in the United States in large swats of the country 24 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: that are overlooked perpetrally and consistently by coastal elites, is 25 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: eviscerate the middle class. It destroyed the American dream. These 26 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: hollowed out American towns dot the landscape. They have become 27 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: epicenters of hopelessness. These are the places for gotten and 28 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: left behind, where the richest pharmaceutical companies in the world, 29 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,919 Speaker 1: people like the Sacklers, poisoned and killed over a million 30 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: of our fellow citizens over the last twenty years. The rage, 31 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: the skepticism, all of it is real. And that is 32 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: what the issue at hand in America that is driving 33 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: so much political instability is about the belief on the 34 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: part of millions of Americans that they don't get a 35 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: fair shake, they don't get a fair shot, that it's 36 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:25,239 Speaker 1: an unfair, rigged system that steps on them every day. Now, 37 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: this belief is formed from a reality of life's experiences. 38 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: It's one thing to quote economic statistics about the economy 39 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: and assert to people that it's good over their feelings. 40 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: But the economy is something that's felt and experienced, not 41 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: something that's understood through the absorption of data in the 42 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: lives of real people. And there's a fundamental disconnect about 43 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: this on the part of politicians in Washington, d C. 44 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: The Democratic Party believes it has an entitlement to the 45 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: support of organized labor because of the animical hostility of 46 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: America's Fascist party to the cause of a dignity of 47 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: life for working people. The greed and avarice of our 48 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: era dictates that profits to Wall Street, measured on a 49 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: quarterly basis always aiming higher the return always to the 50 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: hedge fund, creating a growth of wealth in the wealthiest 51 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: class of people in the history of the world that 52 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: is unprecedented and shocking against the nation's other unequaled periods 53 00:04:51,800 --> 00:05:00,159 Speaker 1: of economic wealth inequality. Simply put, most of America u 54 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,679 Speaker 1: is falling behind, while the wealthiest people who have ever 55 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: lived get wealthier by the instant. This is the proposition 56 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: that UAW President Sean Fame has put forward. The UAW 57 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: is on strike. They have picked a fight, and the 58 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: fight is more than about with ages. It's about a 59 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: way of life, and this is important to understand. The 60 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: American middle class is the core of America's strength. It 61 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:49,599 Speaker 1: is the wellspring of America's national power. A rising tide 62 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: of prosperity that creates the opportunities to invest, to save, 63 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: to dream, to create, to r eyes, to see one's 64 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: children do better, and to see their children do even 65 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: better still is elemental to the American dream, the idea 66 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: that if you work hard and you play by the rules, 67 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: that you can get ahead. That's what's collapsed in in America. 68 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 1: And it's collapsed because of greed, and the result is 69 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: an economy that has become profoundly out of balance, where 70 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: sixty percent of the country struggles living paycheck to paycheck, 71 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 1: where forty percent of the country does not have four 72 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: one hundred dollars in American currency available for an emergency. 73 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: When people become alienated with people have no expectations that 74 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: they can get better because every institution they have experienced 75 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: with has lied. They've become susceptible to a certain type 76 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: of philosopher that I've talked about before, a philosopher of 77 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: fuck youism, because that's what Donald Trump is. His promises 78 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: are nonsense. His policies make no sense. But what he 79 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: consistently does is deliver a proverbial middle finger in the 80 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: eyes of the powerful interests that are held in the 81 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: estimation of the American people to be responsible for the 82 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: conditions of the country that have seen some small percentage 83 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: get extremely wealthy, while most people, as a matter of 84 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: the real value of the dollar, have seen it shrink 85 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: and decline as their lives have become harder and more squeezed. 86 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: There are tens of millions of Americans who are squeezed 87 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: between the cost of education for their children and their 88 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: aging elderly parents. They get no help, they get no break, 89 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: they get no bailout, and they are mad as hell 90 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: about it. And who they are mad at are the 91 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: people that Trump antagonizes the most. Their rage satisfies their helplessness, 92 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: because at least there's a shared pain for a moment, 93 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: even if it's illusory. These conditions create a danger to 94 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: the stability of a political system. The new deal of 95 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: Franklin Roosevelt, who in reality was unimpeachably the greatest labor 96 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 1: president in American history, is that he saved capitalism along 97 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: with democracy. He saved democracy by reforming capitalism. And that's 98 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: what the UAW strike is about, and that's what the 99 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: writer's strike is about, and that's what the actors strike 100 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: is about. These strikes are important not just to the 101 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: union members and not just to the adjacent industries who 102 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: are affected by the strikes and the hardships imposed by them, 103 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: but by every person in America who will work in 104 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: the twenty first century, who is not destined to be 105 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: a multi billionaire. Everybody else deserves a dignity that comes 106 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: from labor, that comes from work, or we will be 107 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: a nation of pauperized citizens scratching by as the elites 108 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:08,079 Speaker 1: run a corrupt government that hands out the public treasuries 109 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: to their friends, to their associates, Where members of Congress 110 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: can freely, lawfully trade it on insider information, where the 111 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: people who have the most get the most, know the most, 112 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: and can transact on what they know to get more. 113 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: In a world where your average person can't even comprehend 114 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: the system that they live in. It's unfair and it's wrong. 115 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: And now these strikes are gore at hand. They're at 116 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: hand because management clearly didn't listen. There's a very simple 117 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: issue to understand here, the people who make some of 118 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: the greatest automobiles that are made in the world, on 119 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 1: average at the mean, are making seventy five thousand dollars 120 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: a year. The CEO makes thirty million dollars a year 121 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: at GM. For instance, the worker doesn't have enough income 122 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: to live a quality of life that can be described 123 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 1: as middle class. The company claims that if it pays 124 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: that worker a middle class wadge, that it will go broke, 125 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: which is of course nonsense. These companies are more profitable 126 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 1: than they have ever been in the history of their existence. 127 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: The question at hand is whether the destiny of America's 128 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: workers will be for every yoke to the arbitrary expectations 129 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: of Wall Street for how much profit gets returned on 130 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: a quarterly basis. That's how wealth is measured in twenty 131 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: twenty three in America. And it's a system that's breaking 132 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: the society, and it's a system that needs substantial reform. 133 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: Americans democracy requires a free enterprise system that works for everybody. 134 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: This is an important moment for democracy, for American politics, 135 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: and for the working man. And as Seawan Fein made clear, 136 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: his interests are at the interests of the Democratic Party. 137 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: They're the interests of the United Auto Workers, and that's 138 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: something that Democratic Party politicians better get their hands around 139 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: very very quickly, because they're going to have to choose 140 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,440 Speaker 1: sides between Wall Street doughters and the working class people 141 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: of this country in order to win a presidential election 142 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: against the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War. 143 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:08,599 Speaker 1: This is elemental to understand the safety of our country 144 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: demands understanding this. Our children's futures demand understanding this. The 145 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,679 Speaker 1: next election will rest on it. Mark my words.