00:00very much for being with me. In these dangerous, crazy, and rapidly moving times, I want to say a
00:07few words as to where I think we are right now and how we best go forward if we are to defeat
00:13oligarchy, authoritarianism, and horrific attacks against low-income and working-class Americans
00:20throughout our country. Let us be clear. We are living under an oligarchic form of society
00:27which has created more income and wealth inequality than at any time in our history.
00:34And that oligarchic form of society created a corrupt campaign finance system that allows
00:42billionaires to make unlimited amounts of campaign contributions. Trump won the election with $270
00:52million in support from Elon Musk, the wealthiest guy on earth. The result of that enormous campaign
01:00contribution was that Musk was given the most important job in government and the opportunity
01:06to decimate government agency after government agency. Because of Musk's chainsaw approach,
01:14we have seen massive layoffs in the National Institute of Health, the Center for Disease
01:21Control, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and many more.
01:27USAID, which provides life and death support to the poorest people on earth, has been virtually
01:35eliminated and, as a result, millions will die. Further, Musk has proposed the elimination of 83,000 jobs
01:45at the Veterans Administration, which will result in deteriorating health care for the men and women
01:51who put their lives on the line to defend us. He has also cut thousands of jobs at the Social
01:57Security Administration, an agency which is already understaffed. And now, as I hope all of you know,
02:08Trump and the Republicans are working on a massive budget reconciliation bill, or Trump's big, beautiful bill.
02:17If you can believe it, and I know it is really hard to believe, that at a time of massive income and
02:24wealth inequality, this legislation provides a $645 billion tax break to the top 1%, at a time
02:35when these guys already own more wealth than the bottom 93% of Americans. This bill would also provide
02:44a $420 billion tax break to large corporations that are stashing their profits in offshore tax havens
02:53like the Cayman Islands. And by the way, this particular tax break makes it easier for these
03:00companies to invest in robots and artificial intelligence, and as a result, throw millions of workers out on the streets.
03:11And now, how does Trump and the Republicans pay for these huge tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations?
03:18Well, at a time when over 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, when our current
03:27health care system is already broken, this bill slashes Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act
03:33by more than $1 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this bill would eliminate
03:40health care for 16 million Americans. And a recent study from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania
03:48concludes that when you throw 16 million low-income and working-class people off of the health care
03:55they have, it will result in 50,000 unnecessary deaths every single year. Further, this bill makes massive cuts to
04:05nutrition, education, and other programs that working families depend upon for their survival.
04:13In other words, this unspeakable piece of legislation takes from the most vulnerable people in our country,
04:21people who are barely hanging on today, and gives it to the very richest people who have never,
04:27ever had it so good. And in many ways, this legislation epitomizes exactly what Trumpism is all about.
04:38If you are rich and powerful, and you can make large campaign contributions, you are entitled to massive tax breaks
04:49that will make you even richer. If you are working class or low-income, you are entitled to nothing.
04:58But the struggle we are engaged in now is not just to defeat this terrible piece of legislation.
05:04We are also engaged in an unprecedented effort to defeat authoritarianism and maintain our democracy.
05:13Never before in American history has a president acted with such disdain for our Constitution and for the rule of law as Trump is doing right now.
05:25He has usurped the power of Congress by putting a hold on appropriations that Congress has authorized,
05:32firing thousands of employees at abolishing agencies that Congress established. All that is illegal.
05:39He and his supporters have usurped the power of the judiciary by threatening to impeach judges who rule
05:47against Trump's policies. He has sued media and extorted them for large settlements, including ABC,
05:54Meta, and the Des Moines Register. He is now in negotiations with CBS and its parent company,
05:59Paramount, which he sued for $20 billion. Why? Oh, he didn't like an interview they did with Kamala Harris.
06:07His administration is attempting to zero out funding for PBS and NPR because they provide a more
06:14objective source of news than he is comfortable with. He has called CNN and MSNBC illegal.
06:25This is clearly a man who cannot tolerate criticism of him or what he does, which is exactly what
06:33authoritarianism is all about. He has extorted money from law firms who represented clients he didn't like.
06:42And he's going after universities whose courses he disagrees with. What he is saying, rather bluntly,
06:50if you stand up to Donald Trump, he will punish you. And that is not the America that so many brave Americans fought and died to defend.
07:04And now we have the situation unfolding in Los Angeles. So let me be clear. Trump's deployment of the National
07:11Guard of Marines in California is not about the protests. It is not about ICE. And it's really not
07:20about immigration. It's just another example of Trump using extremely dubious legal authority to expand his
07:30never-ending quest for more power and his effort to move this country toward authoritarianism.
07:39Trump's argument for his deployment of the troops is nothing less than absurd and laughable.
07:48Does anybody really believe that we are in the midst of a foreign invasion or a rebellion against the United
07:57States? Those are the legal arguments that Trump has used to nationalize the National Guard in California.
08:07Defeating Trumpism and the oligarchs who support him will not be easy. That's clear. These guys have
08:15enormous amounts of wealth and enormous amounts of power. But if there is anything that we learned from
08:22Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s successful effort to combat racist officials and segregation, it is that
08:30disciplined resistance is the best way forward. Burning cars or throwing rocks at police officers is precisely
08:41what Donald Trump wants. If we are going to defeat Trumpism, it is going to require a multifaceted approach.
08:51So let me tell you a little bit about what we are doing. We have already held, as many of you know, 18
08:58fighting oligarchy rallies in 12 states with over 250,000 people in attendance. Over a quarter of a
09:06million people came out, including many independents and Republicans. And we will soon be announcing
09:12a new series of rallies which will be located in rural conservative areas, exactly the areas that we
09:21have got to turn around. Further, we have hired organizers in congressional districts where Republicans
09:28won with slim margins. We are also training thousands of people on how to run for office from school
09:36board to Congress. And we have already announced our support for a number of strong progressive
09:41candidates of candidates with more to come. In other words, we are building the kind of grassroots
09:49political infrastructure that is needed if we are going to defeat Trumpism.
09:54Let me get a little bit more specific. Short term, we are mobilizing opposition around the country
10:00to Trump's disastrous budget reconciliation bill. That bill has got to be defeated. Medium term,
10:08with Republicans holding only a four-vote majority in the House and a six-vote majority in the Senate.
10:16We are working hard to end their control of Congress. If we are successful, that will go a long way
10:24to putting the brakes on Trump's reactionary agenda. Longer term, we are building a political movement
10:32which is taking on the billionaire class, taking on the right-wing extremist Republican
10:37party and taking on a corporate-dominated Democratic Party whose leadership is wedded to maintaining the
10:46status quo. We are fighting to quote President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 for quote, a government of the
10:56people, by the people and for the people. If there was ever a time in American history when we need to come
11:06together, now is that time. If we continue to fight for the basic principles of economic, social,
11:14racial, and environmental justice, I am confident that we will not only get through this unprecedented
11:22crisis in modern history, but that we will lay the foundation for a better and more just America
