WEBVTT - Steve Schmidt reacts to Markwayne Mullin challenging union boss to fight 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:09.559 I'd like to talk about dignity, respect, patriotism, and duty, 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:13.520 and I'd like to talk about Senator Bernie Sanders. He's 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.319 somebody that I have disagreements with, but over the last 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.080 ten years is a person I have come to greatly admire. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.639 It's important to be able to look at somebody with 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:30.240 whom you have political disagreements in a functioning democracy, in 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:35.040 a republic, and be able to find virtue in their character, 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.720 in their decency, in their conviction. How many of you 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:45.880 have the ability to sit across the table, to sit 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:50.520 in a room with somebody that you have strong disagreements 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.160 with and just be able to listen, just be able 0:00:54.240 --> 0:01:00.920 to sit through the exposure to somebody's different perspectives. Because 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:05.400 this quality has been eradicated in America over recent years. 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.039 There is a brittleness, There is an intolerance to the 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:15.440 concepts of dissent. People being exposed to a contrary opinion 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:21.600 routinely lose their minds. And the only person that in 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:26.880 the end all of that accumulates towards helping is, of course, 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.840 the person who believes in American democracy the least and 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:36.440 wants power the most, which is Donald Trump. But back 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.400 to Senator Sanders, this is a man of conviction, a 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.560 man of integrity, a man who looks you in the 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:50.560 eye and tells you what he believes and why he 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.920 believes it. Bernie Sanders will never cut and run from 0:01:55.960 --> 0:02:00.000 those convictions, even though I think he may be miss 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:05.440 guided here and there. The issue at this moment in America, 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.840 the great crisis we face, is a crisis of judgment 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:15.200 and a crisis of integrity, a crisis of decency and 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.000 of duty. And so I want you to watch the 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:26.280 pain on Senator Sanders face, watch it, observe it as 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.240 this hearing starts to go off the rails. Now, let 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.160 me introduce the characters. Sitting at the witness table. In 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:40.000 the gray suit is Sean O'Brien. He is the president 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:45.480 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters with hundreds of thousands 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:52.519 of members across North America. He's there under oath, testifying 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:57.800 before a United States Senate hearing about working issues for 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:04.639 the American working man and woman. That's what he's there for. Normally, 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.639 he would be at union headquarters, running the union, making 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.440 sure his members are getting the pay they deserve, the 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:18.880 benefits they deserve, fighting for the American workingman and woman. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.480 That's what his job is. Of course, you have Senator Sanders, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.000 he's the chairman of the committee. He's the guy with 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.520 the gavel, and next to him is the Republican member 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:38.400 Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. Now, before continuing, let's just 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:44.360 watch elements of the disgrace unfold, including Mark Wayne Mullen, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.240 thug of the Senate, stand up and want to fistfight 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.120 with the president of the Teamsters, in front of the media, 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.520 in front of the other senators, in front of the 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:01.040 Senate staff, in fact, in front of the whole United 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:07.080 States of America. Let's watch this clown in action. But 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.960 before I do, let me apologize in advance to clowns 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:16.560 who almost universally comport themselves with more dignity than this. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.960 Fool's like he's self made, Sorr. I wish he was 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:22.279 in the truck with me when I was building my 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.320 plumbing company, myself and my wife was running the office, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.000 because I should remember working pretty hard in long hours. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:35.919 Rtunds like he's self made. What a clown? Fraud always 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:40.760 has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.320 in these Senate hearings. You know where to find me 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:49.120 any place, anytime, cowboy. Sorry, this is a time. This 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.200 is a place. If you want to run your mouth, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.400 we can be too consenting adults. If we can finish 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:53.800 it here. 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:55.560 Okay, that's fine, perfect, you. 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:56.120 Want to do it now. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:57.160 I'd love to do it right now. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:58.080 We'll stand your butt up. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.440 Then he stands you up on them. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.960 Oh hold on, oh stop it your solution? 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:03.719 Oh no, sit down? 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:06.760 Okay, you know you're United States senator. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:08.880 Okay, sit down? Please? 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:09.280 All right? 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.480 Can I respond it? Hold it? 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.760 If we can't, No, I have I'm sorry, this is 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:16.440 old said. 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:17.520 You'll have your time. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:18.760 Okay, Can I respond? 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:23.080 No, you can. This is a hearing. I remember when 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:27.480 I was ten years old, distinctly, the first time I 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:32.160 ever saw the United States Capital, I was in absolute 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.640 and utter awe of the building. And the truth is 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.960 I never stopped being in awe of it, not when 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.880 I worked there, not when I work near there, not 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.520 when I visit today to see a friend, or as 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.240 a tourist, or to walk one of my kids through 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:55.560 the mighty Rotunda, the citadel of American democracy. When I 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.280 was growing up, the United States Senate was known as 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:03.600 the greatest delibered a body in the world. There were 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:09.239 giants who served there, men like Daniel Patrick moynihan, Howard Baker, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:17.360 Nancy Cassenbaum, extraordinary people committed to the country, not always right, 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:26.520 but usually decent and always serious. It is impossible, impossible 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.720 to state what would the looks have been on the 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:34.680 face of a Bob Dole or a George Mitchell if 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.640 they were to witness the spectacle that played out in 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:43.240 the United States Senate yesterday. Of course, the looks on 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.320 their face would have had the same pain etched on 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:54.039 it as Bernie Sanders, who properly said, sit down, you're 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.240 a United States Senator, and the American people have enough 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.719 contempt for this institution. I want to say something about 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:08.479 Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has measured up in a time 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:14.440 we're everywhere you look, the leaders in this country, whether 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:21.040 they be at top corporations, media institutions, political institutions, nonprofit institutions, 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:26.800 the Boy Scouts, whatever, none of them have measured up. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.920 They have not kept the faith. They have let the 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:36.600 American people down with their profound selfishness. And they're taking 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:43.080 but not Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders, at each crossing of 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:48.400 the stream at each forging of the river has proved 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:53.680 himself that he is who he says he is. He 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.239 is one of the few that has passed the character 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.440 test of recent years. It's a mistake to look at 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.520 political leaders and to judge them on a checklist of issues, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.440 because it's not an issues checklist type of job. The 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.120 jobs we elect these people, too, are jobs of integrity 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.360 and jobs of character. And when we elect people, regardless 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.640 of what we think their positions are in any set 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:26.120 of issues, lack judgment, lack integrity, lack character, like Mark 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:31.240 Wayne Mullen, then the country Koreans towards disaster, because that 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:36.960 is the inevitable consequence of electing unworthy people in a 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:42.400 system of the people, by the people, for the people. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:48.119 If we elect the worst amongst us, the Lauren Boeberts, 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.200 the Marjorie Taylor Greens, and the Mark Wayne Mullins, and 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.280 we send them to positions of responsibility, what they will 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.760 do is do what they have done, which is break 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:05.720 the country, break the institutions, and all around the world. 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:11.520 Last night, our enemies got to laugh, got to laugh 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:16.120 at American democracy, got to laugh at the United States Senate, 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:21.040 got to laugh at the dignity of the United States, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:26.440 and that was brought on us by a United States 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:32.280 Senator from Oklahoma, A small man, a petty man, an 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:38.439 angry man, a belligerent man, and aggrieved man, a petulant man, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:43.120 a weak man named Mark Wayne Mullen, the president of 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:49.360 the Teamsters Sean O'Brien. He maintained his dignity, He kept 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:55.600 faith with his members. Mark Wayne Mullen. What he is 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.320 is worse than a joke. He's a United States Senator 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.880 twenty twenty three. Is there a more shameful title in 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:08.280 the land? Judging from the hearing, if your name isn't 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.360 Bertie Sanders, then the answer to that question is no.