OTHERS, ARE THEY WILLING TO SAY,
NO, WE’RE GOING TO FIGHT FOR
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?
THAT’S GOING TO BE THE QUESTION.
>> IT WAS POINTED OUT, CHRIS,
THAT FREEDOM IS ALWAYS ONE
GENERATION AWAY FROM BEING
EXTINGUISHED AND WE’RE REMINDED
OF THAT ADMONITION TONIGHT.
WE ARE AT A VERY DANGEROUS HOUR
IN THIS COUNTRY.
NEVER BEFORE IN OUR HISTORY HAS
AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT EVER
SUGGESTED STOPPING AN ELECTION
FOR THE PURPOSES OF MAINTAINING
POWER BECAUSE IF THE ELECTION
WERE TOMORROW HE WOULD BE
CRUSHED IN THE ELECTION AND
INCREASINGLY THERE IS VERY
LITTLE WAY IN TERMS OF STRATEGY
FOR TRUMP TO WIN THE ELECTION.
WHAT HE’S ATTEMPTING TO DO IS TO
SEW CHAOS, SEW DOUBT, QUESTION
THE LEGITIMACY OF THE DEMOCRATIC
PROCESS, GETTING IN POSITION TO
TRY TO STEAL THE ELECTION.
HE IS AN ILL LIBERAL MAN, AND
THIS IS AN AUTOCRATIC MOMENT,
AND WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND IT AS
SUCH.
BUT IN THE END, IT IS NOT DONALD
TRUMP’S RIGHT TO BESTOW UPON OR
TAKE AWAY THE VOTING FRANCHISE.
THAT FRANCHISE HAS BEEN PAVED
WITH THE BLOOD OF AMERICAN
MARTYRS.
AND IT IS OUR INHERITANCE, ALL
OF OURS.
>> YEAH.
>> JOHN LEWIS SAID THAT WE ALL
CAME HERE IN DIFFERENT BOATS.
WE ALL CAME HERE IN DIFFERENT
SHIPS.
BUT WE’RE IN THE SAME BOAT NOW.
AND THE REALITY OF IT IS THIS.
FROM LEXINGTON AND CONCORD TO
GETTYSBURG TO JOHN LEWIS, WE
WILL VOTE IN THIS COUNTRY.
WE TELL THE GOVERNMENT WHAT TO
DO, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, NOT TRUMPISTAN.
AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE THE
LAST CHECK ON THIS MOST
ILLIBERAL MAN.
SO THERE WAS A QUESTION THAT
MORE ROBUSTLY DEBATED IN THE
1970s AND ’80s THAN IT WAS IN
THE ’90s AND THE EARLY YEARS OF
THIS CENTURY, AND IT WAS
CONTEMPLATING A FASCISTIC
PROJECT.
COULD THAT HAPPEN IN AMERICA?
COULD THERE BE AN AUTHORITARIAN
MOVEMENT THAT COULD COME TO
POWER IN THE UNITED STATES?
AND THE ANSWER WAS ALWAYS NO.
THE HIGH WATERMARK FOR THAT WAS
THE GERMAN-AMERICAN IN 1938
SELLING OUT MADISON SQUARE
GARDEN.
BUT THE QUESTION OF COULD IT
HAPPEN HERE, IT IS HAPPENING
HERE.
WHEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES DISPATCHES AND THREATENS
TO TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ARMED
STORM TROOPERS LACKING BADGES
AND IDs, SHOVING PEOPLE INTO
WHITE VANS, SLOWING THE MAIL
DOWN, WHICH IS A FEDERAL CRIME
TO INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF AN
ELECTION, DIVIDING THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE, QUESTIONING THE
LEGITIMACY OF THE ELECTION,
SUGGESTING THAT HE WILL NOT
ACCEPT THE RESULTS OF THE
ELECTION, TALKING ABOUT
SUSPENDING THE ELECTION AND HAVE
NO DOUBT IF DONALD TRUMP COULD
STOP THIS ELECTION FROM GOING
FORWARD FOR THE PURPOSES OF
REMAINING IN POWER FOR THE REST
OF HIS LIFE LIKE THE MAN HE
ADMIRES LIKE PRESIDENT XI, LIKE
PRESIDENT PUTIN, HE WOULD DO SO.
