transcript

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thanks very much for joining me we are
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living in a dangerous and unprecedented
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moment in American history and I'm
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getting a lot of calls from people who
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are not only upset about what's
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happening but are wondering how we best
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go forward well let me tell you we've
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got to be smart we've got to be
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organized and we've got to fight back
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this is not a time for wallowing in
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Despair and hiding under the covers the
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stakes are just too high we are not just
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fighting for ourselves we're fighting
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for our kids for future Generations
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we're fighting for the future of this
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planet in the first two weeks of his
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presidency Donald Trump defied the
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Constitution by ending Birthright
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citizenship fired government Watchdogs
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allowed drilling along our coastlines
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pen violent insurrectionist suspended
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all foreign aid and tried to cut off
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virtually all federal funding so how do
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we go forward first to be effective
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we've got to understand what in fact is
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happening around us right now second we
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need a short-term strategy what do we do
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tomorrow and the next day and the day
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after that third we need a long-term
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strategy how do we build a movement that
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gains political power here is in my view
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a brief overview as to what is happening
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under Trump most
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importantly the move toward oligarchy in
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our country government run by the rich
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and the powerful is proceeding rapidly
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and it's not being done secretly a
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little over a week ago Donald Trump was
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inaugurated for his second term standing
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right behind them with the three richest
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men in the world Elon Musk Jeff Bezos
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and Mark Zuckerberg men who have become
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over $2 billion do richer since Trump
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was elected and who now are worth almost
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a trillion dollar more money than the
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bottom half of American society
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70 million people but it's not just
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oligarchy that we should worry about
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this country under Trump is moving
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rapidly toward
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authoritarianism just a few examples in
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violation of the Constitution and
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federal law Trump attempted the other
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day to suspend all federal grants and
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loans that means he blocked funding for
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Medicaid head food stamps homeless
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veterans etc etc tens of millions of
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Americans some of the most vulnerable
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people in our country were impacted by
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that decision fortunately Americans all
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across the country stood up in Outrage
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and said no no and with the help of the
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courts much but not all of that Freez
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and funding was rescinded you may have
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noticed that Trump is intimidating the
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media with lawsuits against ABC CBS meta
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and the De Moine register if Trump does
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not like what media reports he is
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threatening them with lawsuits
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undermining the first amendment that is
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a direct movement toward
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authoritarianism now that's a very broad
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overview of where we are today in terms
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of short-term strategy we've got to
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mobilize as strongly as we can against
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Trump's dangerous proposals and let me
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just say this
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importantly yes the Republicans control
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the house and the Senate but do not
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forget their majorities are small in the
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house a body of 435 members they have a
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four vote majority that is a Raaz within
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margin and their legislation can be
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defeated there are a number of
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Republicans out there who won in
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Democratic districts by small margin so
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let me tell you these guys do respond to
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phone calls and emails so if there's a
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piece of legislation you disagree with
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get on the phone and call the capital
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switchboard at 202 224
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2131 and what is some of that
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legislation that we should be concerned
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about Republicans right now are working
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on what's called a budget reconciliation
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Bill the most important element which
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the most important element which would
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be a massive tax break for the wealthy
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to be paid for by large Cuts in Medicaid
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and other programs that Working Families
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and low-income people desperately need
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at a time of unprecedented Ed income and
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wealth inequality when so many of our
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people are struggling to put food on the
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table we must not Savage programs for
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Working Families to provide huge tax
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breaks for
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billionaires we must vigorously oppose
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Trump's efforts at Mass
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deportation yes we must strengthen our
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borders yes we should Deport people who
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have been convicted of serious crimes
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but no no we cannot destroy families who
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have lived and worked in this country
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peacefully for decades not only is
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Trump's Mass deportation program immoral
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it will have a severely negative impact
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on our
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economy as all of you know we are seeing
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extreme weather disturbances and
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Devastation in our country and all over
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the world related to climate change
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think about La think about North
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Carolina we must vigorously oppose this
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absurd drill baby drill Doctrine which
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will only make an incredibly dangerous
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climate situation even worse and those
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are just a few of the issues that are
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coming down the pike but we cannot just
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play defense we have got to be on the
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offense please never forget that the
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agenda that we are fighting for is
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widely supported widely supported by
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Working Families all across this country
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and we must continue to fight for that
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agenda the American people do not want
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cuts to Medicaid and the privatization
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of Medicare they understand that healthc
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care is a human right not a privilege we
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must continue the struggle for Medicare
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for all so that every American has the
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health care that he or she needs that's
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not a radical idea that's what Americans
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want federal minimum wage of 7 and a/ qu
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an hour is a starvation wage we must
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raise that minimum wage to a living wage
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at least $17 an hour if you work 40
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hours a week in America you should not
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be living in poverty all over this
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country we have a major housing crisis
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and it's not just 800,000 who are
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homeless it is millions of working
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families who are spending 40 50 60% of
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their limited incomes on housing instead
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of spending almost a trillion dollars a
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year on a wasteful and Bloated Pentagon
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budget we have got to build millions of
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units of low income and affordable
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housing and when we do that we put large
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numbers of people to work at good paying
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union jobs I could go on and on
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but let me conclude by saying this the
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United States is the wealthiest nation
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in the history of the world if we stand
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together and oppose right-wing efforts
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to divide us up by our Race by our
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religion our sexual orientation or where
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we were born if we stand together there
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is nothing that we cannot accomplish
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bottom line let us go forward and fight
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for a government and an economy that
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works for all not just a few we simply
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do do not have the luxury of moaning and
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groaning we have got to stand up and
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fight back we can do it let's go forward
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together thank you very much