1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: It is the busiest travel day of the year. Tens 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: of millions of Americans are on the move on this 3 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Eve twenty twenty four, fifty four days before a 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: change in presidential power, Donald Trump has been handed something 5 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: called immunity by the Supreme Court. In simple language, it 6 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: means functionally, he is above the law. For the first 7 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: time America has a king or a caesar, we have 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: elevated someone who is one of us above us. It's 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: a dangerous precedent and one that should be reset at 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: the first opportunity. This is the warning. What is our 11 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: national purpose? Has there ever been one? Should there even 12 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: be one? Is it possible to even have one in 13 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: a country so geographically large, so populated, so diverse, made 14 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: up of all of the people from all over the world, 15 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: where every language is commonly spoke every day. One of 16 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: the things that was talked about in this campaign over 17 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: and over again as a plea, not really a statement 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: of fact anymore by Kamala Harris, though I believe it 19 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: to be true, is that, in fact, even in these 20 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: divided times, we share much more in common than we 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: do in disagreement. This boiling question if we should separate 22 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: or be together has long royaled the American conversation. It 23 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: is not possible to comprehend America without appreciating that one 24 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty eight years ago there was a civil 25 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: war in a nation of thirty four million people that 26 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: almost killed one million people. The question that has always 27 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: hung in the air during America's darkest days and nights 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: is a combination of will we make it through and 29 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: what comes next? There's an adjacent question when times call 30 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: for immense sacrifice on the altar of freedom. When Americans, 31 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: through our history, mostly young men, have been called forward 32 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: to cross the river in service of their nation, to 33 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: lay down their lives. And when you ask people to 34 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: make a sacrifice to lay down their lives, it must 35 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: have purpose and meaning, or what the country is taking 36 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: will produce a cynicism, in a rage and in anger, 37 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: because the living will have stolen meaning from the death 38 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: of those who offered their lives as a measure of 39 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: their devotion to the country. John Lewis is an example 40 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: of an American born in the twentieth century who is 41 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: every bit as much a founding father of the America 42 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: we live in today as is Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, 43 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: and so is in this construct the man who redeemed 44 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: the union and saved it Lincoln and his general who 45 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: became a president after him. Grant what is the common 46 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: link the purpose of all of these people's lives. In 47 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: the end, what they shared in common was a commitment 48 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: to justice and freedom, and they were ready to fight 49 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: for it and to take a stand for it. We 50 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: live in a moment where we point fingers and recriminate 51 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: each other at the drop of a hat. When someone 52 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: expresses a fear and anxiety or worry, it has become 53 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: normal on the left the point a finger and accuse 54 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: somebody who expresses worry about World War Three, like Joe 55 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: Rogan and say they were a Russian asset, as opposed 56 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: to appreciating that Joe Rogan, like my twenty one year 57 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: old daughter and her sorority friends, is simply afraid. 58 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 2: What I don't feel safer is right now they're launching 59 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 2: missiles into Russia. Yeah, how are you allowed to do 60 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 2: that when you're on the way out? Like the people 61 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 2: don't want you to be there anymore. This should be 62 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 2: like some sort of like a pause for like significant 63 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 2: actions that could potentially start World War three. Maybe that 64 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 2: would be a good thing that we would like to 65 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 2: avoid from a dying former president. The whole thing is nuts. 66 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 2: They fired an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time ever, 67 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 2: so the first time one of those has ever been used. 68 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,160 Speaker 2: That sanity fucking insanity, because those intercontinental ballistic missiles can 69 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 2: have nukes on them. This wouldn't didn't, but if it does, 70 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 2: the whole world changes. That's what's scary about life. Is like, 71 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 2: you don't want to pay attention to that shit. You 72 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 2: just want to live your life. You want to just 73 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 2: be care free and have fun and do the thing 74 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 2: that you're passionate about. And meanwhile the world is burning. 75 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: They're terrified of war, and they should be. Joe Rogan 76 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,799 Speaker 1: observed that for the first time in history, the Russians 77 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: launched ain't combat one of their intercontinental ballistic missiles. He 78 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: came after the United States government and the Biden administration 79 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: gave permission for Ukraine to fire American made long range 80 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: weapons into Russia. That came after North Korean troops arrived 81 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: on Russian soil. What are we to do soon? Maybe 82 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 1: Pete Hegsath will be the Secretary of Defense and when 83 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: I look at the turmoil of the world, what frightens 84 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: me is not a lack of American power, but a 85 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: lack of American judgment, not by ordinary people, but by 86 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: the people around Trump who have been brought to power. 87 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: And the choice we have made is to place the 88 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: most unfit man in American history back into power atop 89 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: the world's most powerful armed forces. It's interesting when you 90 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: have an appreciation for what is going to happen next. 91 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: I love these old Life magazines. They're time capsules. Open 92 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: up on and see in vivid and graphic detail, the stress, 93 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: the worry, the advertisements, the culture of America in a 94 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: moment in time. This was the addition of Life magazine, 95 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: printed on September eleventh, nineteen thirty nine. The Italian dictator 96 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: Benito Mussolini is on the cover, and within this magazine 97 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: are the first images of a German soldier in Poland. 98 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: It's incredible to see eleven days after the start of 99 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: the war, the photo from September first. There's no question 100 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: about how the war started. When you look at these pictures, 101 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: you know everything that happened in the war, but then 102 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: also for the next eighty years. But then in that moment. 103 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: Those people who opened up that magazine with dread and 104 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: fear and worry in America were no different than any 105 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,119 Speaker 1: American today watching this with a deep sense of worry 106 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: about what's next. If you look at Life magazine covers 107 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: across our many July fourths, they paint a portrait of 108 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: a country in turmoil, in peace and prosperity, and in war. 109 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: This is the first edition that has a dead American 110 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: on the cover. And in this moment July fifth of 111 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, across twenty seven pages are the names 112 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: of America is Dead. There are more than twelve thousand 113 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: by nineteen forty three when the magazine is laid out. 114 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: There are fifteen thousand dead by the time it is published. 115 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: And I know how it ends in this magazine though 116 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: it's just beginning. And there is a question that is 117 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: posed that's necessary in this moment. Why did they die? 118 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: And for what? The magazine publishes a brilliant editorial, and 119 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: it posits that we have a national purpose and that 120 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: their lives and their deaths had great meaning in the 121 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: fulfillment of that purpose. The magazine makes the point at 122 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: the moment of their death they were not thinking about 123 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: great causes. They were not thinking about abstractions. They did 124 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: not voluntarily, in the moment, choose to die for their country. 125 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: What Life Magazine makes the point about is that it 126 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: is the living who decide the legacy of the dead, 127 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: because the living must give meaning to their life. There 128 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: is great purpose in the life of a John Lewis, 129 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: and there is great meaning in his life unless that 130 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: purpose is eradicated by a future generation of Americans who 131 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: stripped the meaning of his bravery by turning against the 132 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: purpose of his life, which was the expansion of freedom, 133 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: which is precisely what these men died for going over 134 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:02,760 Speaker 1: the hill, crossing the river. Freedom is sublime, tophemeral, and 135 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: in the American tradition, we've appreciated that there is purpose 136 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:13,319 Speaker 1: and worth in every human life, that the individual is 137 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,719 Speaker 1: more important and more powerful, more righteous than all the 138 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: pronouncements of the state. We know in America that the 139 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: genius of our founders has protected us from the jackboot 140 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,839 Speaker 1: of the state on our neck. And we know that 141 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,959 Speaker 1: over and over again we've sent our young men and 142 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: now our young women forward into difficult situations in hard places, 143 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: with their lives on the line, and then it came 144 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: to be that a compact was broken, and young people 145 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: who had purpose in their lives and died for meaning, 146 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,599 Speaker 1: had it stripped away by a politics who devalued it, 147 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: who entered into transactions for the self interest of the 148 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: people at the top, against the interests of all of 149 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: the beautiful mosaic that makes the country strong and powerful. 150 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: And the disgust that has flowed from that has written 151 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: the Trump chapter. And so now, on this Thanksgiving we 152 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: can choose bitterness and anger or a rededication to core 153 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:24,719 Speaker 1: principles into a deeper purpose. What is the purpose of 154 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 1: involvement in politics, in civics in our country to defeat 155 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: Donald Trump or to look out twenty five years from 156 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: now and be able to play the smallest of parts 157 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: in the greatest of construction projects, the building of the 158 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: shining city on the hill. The only king that matters 159 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: in America was named Martin, and he had a vision, 160 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: a prophecy like the Viennese artist. But it wasn't of death. 161 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: It was a promise in justice, and he said we 162 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,839 Speaker 1: would get there, and we will, but not tomorrow. In 163 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: the Life magazine, when there were fifteen thousand American War 164 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: dead on the Way to four hundred and five thousand, 165 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: and the question was posed about why about the sacrifice. 166 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 1: The author was skeptical if the country would have the endurance, 167 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: the grit, the stamina of the fortitude. He questioned the 168 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: resolve of that generation. He was unable to see forward 169 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,559 Speaker 1: to this day, just as we will be unable to 170 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: see forward to where America will be. But if I 171 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: could talk to him, what I would say to him 172 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: is those people you doubted, we remember them in twenty 173 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:40,679 Speaker 1: twenty four. Singularly we call them the greatest generation, but 174 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: they're not the greatest generation, because the greatest generation of 175 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: Americans has not yet been born. What I would tell 176 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: my children is that maybe it's their generation, or maybe 177 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: their children's, or maybe their great grandchildren's. The greatest generation 178 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: will be the one that summits Kings Mountaintop and builds 179 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: the shining city on the hill seen so very long 180 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: ago by John Winthrow and rededicated by John Kennedy. It's 181 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: an American city that shines for all the world was 182 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: built by great sacrifice. The purpose of America is not 183 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,959 Speaker 1: defeating Donald Trump. He's among our smallest and lowest and 184 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: most malice men. But He will give us an opportunity 185 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:32,559 Speaker 1: to find our way back to our purpose in this country, 186 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: the vigorous expansion of freedom. It is our faith, It 187 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: is the meaning of our lives as Americans. Happy Thanksgiving, 188 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: Do not be afraid keep the faith. Our best days 189 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: are ahead of us, even though it will all get 190 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: worse before it gets better. Fortitude is very much part 191 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: of the American character. It will be needed. There will 192 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 1: be tough moments, there will be terrible days caused by 193 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: what's coming, but we will get through it as we 194 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: always have. This is the morning. I'm Steve Schmidt. This 195 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: is the morning, and I invite you to join. Subscribe 196 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: on our substack on our YouTube channel, follow us. Welcome 197 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: to the community.