Speaker 1: I woke up this morning, and, like I have for many,
Speaker 1: many years, the first place I surveyed for the news
Speaker 1: of the day was the Drudge Report, and as I
Speaker 1: scanned the headlines, I came upon one that I couldn't resist.
Speaker 1: George Santos, the disgraced former New York congressman expelled by
Speaker 1: an overwhelming vote, is now on CAMEO. When I saw it,
Speaker 1: before I came to my senses, I almost succumbed to
Speaker 1: the nonsense, to the insanity, to the fact that what's
Speaker 1: playing out in front of us, though it is deadly serious,
Speaker 1: plays out like a joke, a farce, a Saturday Night
Speaker 1: Live episode that never ever ever stops. The parody has
Speaker 1: outraced the reality. The reality can't keep up. It is
Speaker 1: an extraordinary moment. The absurdities around us continue to pile higher,
Speaker 1: and hire and hire, and no doubt there are thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands of people who will avail themselves of the
Speaker 1: opportunity to have George Santos call someone they know and
Speaker 1: say something stupid. At any rate, it's likely that soon
Speaker 1: George Santos will be in a federal prison, where he
Speaker 1: belongs to be, because he is a fraud a com man,
Speaker 1: an utterly an absolutely disreputable figure, and that he found
Speaker 1: his way into the Congress from the state of New
Speaker 1: York under the nose of the New York Times says
Speaker 1: everything you need to know about the absolute neglection act
Speaker 1: of our politics by the American news media, which has
Speaker 1: become an essential partner to the political class that they
Speaker 1: are supposed to cover. Instead, they are in the conflict business,
Speaker 1: making billions for cliques, sensationalizing lunacy and nonsense, and never
Speaker 1: ever leveling straight with the American people. There are so
Speaker 1: few that have stood up, stood tall, have done the
Speaker 1: right thing, have followed their oaths and their consciences, and
Speaker 1: did their duty to the American Republic. Let's be clear
Speaker 1: about something. The burden of standing up to Donald Trump
Speaker 1: has never been particularly high. What it called for was
Speaker 1: the ability to hold firm against mean tweets. It's hardly
Speaker 1: the same as running across Omaha Beach, which happens within
Speaker 1: a living lifespan of people who to this day in
Speaker 1: this country walk, live and breathe. But in this moment
Speaker 1: of profound cowardice and cynicism, what we've seen is a
Speaker 1: profound moral capitulation to the most unworthy of men, who
Speaker 1: has built the most unworthy of causes, but one that
Speaker 1: is within dangerous reach of shattering America's democracy and taking
Speaker 1: away the agency, the liberty, the freedom to choose from
Speaker 1: millions and millions of Americans. The American government will be
Speaker 1: come a conspiracy of self interest between the political leadership,
Speaker 1: the business leadership, the media leadership, and technology company leadership
Speaker 1: of the country. There will be a small cast of
Speaker 1: oligarchs who direct in control, substantially and overwhelmingly the lives
Speaker 1: of ordinary people who are captive to breaking a leg
Speaker 1: and being popularized by the medical bill, who are prisoners
Speaker 1: of the algorithm that is dictated to them and to
Speaker 1: their children, or to the addictions that came from the
Speaker 1: license given to some of the greediest people in American history,
Speaker 1: who are directly responsible for killing a million of our
Speaker 1: fellow citizens with poison that the government told the American
Speaker 1: people was safe. All of this has led us to
Speaker 1: this moment of maximum danger where there has been an
Speaker 1: absence of truth telling. Watch Joe Scarborough say something deeply important.
Speaker 1: Nobody is telling the truth, nobody is saying the quiet
Speaker 1: part out loud, and yet the situation continues to worsen.
Speaker 1: There are new polling numbers out today that again show
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is winning. He is winning in the key
Speaker 1: swing states. He is on the march, And there is
Speaker 1: a great national delusion, abetted by a great national conspiracy
Speaker 1: of silence from much of the news media that refuses,
Speaker 1: refuses to directly level with the American people around the
Speaker 1: simple and central fact in danger of this moment and
Speaker 1: in this era, Donald Trump is on the edge of
Speaker 1: returning to political power. The event an election is less
Speaker 1: than one year away. One of the people who has
Speaker 1: stood tall in this moment is the former Republican congresswoman
Speaker 1: from Wyoming, Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of a Vice President
Speaker 1: of the United States who before this last election advised
Speaker 1: his daughter daughter, defend the Republic. The American Republic is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest creations and achievements over the entirety
Speaker 1: of human history, and it is in danger. It is
Speaker 1: in danger because of a combination of malice and cynicism, selfishness,
Speaker 1: and neglect. But it is not yet too late. This
Speaker 1: moment will require an articulation of the importance of union.
Speaker 1: We talk often in America about our disagreements and about
Speaker 1: our differences, and we apologize to each other in advance
Speaker 1: for any affront to the possibility that you might be
Speaker 1: exposed to a contrary idea. It has led us to
Speaker 1: a dangerous place. What it is time to talk about
Speaker 1: is what we share in common. And what we share
Speaker 1: in common is a heritage of Americanism, and what Americanism
Speaker 1: is is a philosophy of freedom that believes in the
Speaker 1: American Constitution as a vehicle to guide us as we
Speaker 1: move into the future. That gives us the flexibility to
Speaker 1: conduct our own revolutions in our own time, to bring
Speaker 1: about change to face injustice. What we have been given
Speaker 1: by our ancestors is a profound gift, and what the
Speaker 1: gift requires us to appreciate is that in union together
Speaker 1: across a mighty continent, that we are stronger together, that
Speaker 1: we are free together. That we must respect and understand
Speaker 1: the limitations of the ambition of the people who seek
Speaker 1: to lead us. They are not kings or emperors. They
Speaker 1: are of us, and they are below us. Our government
Speaker 1: is a government of ordinary people. Our system requires that
Speaker 1: it be of the people, by the people, for the people.
Speaker 1: In this moment is challenging that premise that central idea,
Speaker 1: and that idea must be held up, It must be affirmed,
Speaker 1: it must be celebrated. We must defend it. We must
Speaker 1: defend the idea that in America, the people decide the
Speaker 1: outcome of elections and thus the destiny of the nation,
Speaker 1: and that the power to do so can never be taken,
Speaker 1: not because someone wants it, not because someone demands it,
Speaker 1: not because someone needs it, not because someone is said
Speaker 1: that they lost it and were overeating. That's for you,
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy, because what you did was, at a moment
Speaker 1: when Donald Trump was flat on his back, was breathed life,
Speaker 1: political life back into the lungs of this sick, demented
Speaker 1: old man in demagogue who stands on the edge now
Speaker 1: a few years later, of taking back the power legitimately
Speaker 1: that he legitimately lost, with no intention of ever giving
Speaker 1: it back again. What Elizabeth Cheney is talking about is
Speaker 1: important and necessary and timely. We must talk about it.
Speaker 1: We must talk about it everywhere in every corner of
Speaker 1: the country. We must understand this moment together what is
Speaker 1: at risk. We, Despite whatever differences exist in America between
Speaker 1: us politically, the majority of Americans support freedom, ours, our
Speaker 1: children's and each others. It must be defended. It must
Speaker 1: be defended now. It must be defended so that the
Speaker 1: next generation will know what we have known, the fruits
Speaker 1: of liberty and its promises. It's time to reform America,
Speaker 1: not burn it down. And that's what this next election
Speaker 1: is about, Mark my words. A great time and season
Speaker 1: of testing is ahead for the American people and it
Speaker 1: is time to choose America or Trump.