00:00Oh, it's good to be home!
00:04Oh, thank you.
00:08Oh, hi, I'm Andrea. Hi, everyone.
00:12Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you.
00:16And Dougie's here, too!
00:20Oh, please have a seat.
00:24Please have a seat. Oh,
00:28it's wonderful to be home, and thank you all.
00:32Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, in
00:3620 years, Andrea, my goodness.
00:40I mean, your babies are grown.
00:44Good evening, everyone. Thank you for supporting Emerge.
00:48Thank you for supporting Emerge.
00:52It is so wonderful to be home and to be
00:56back with all the leaders who are here
00:58and to celebrate
01:00this extraordinary organization,
01:04which is an organization of so many
01:06exceptional leaders,
01:08those who found the courage
01:10to run for office
01:12and those who support them.
01:14Emerge, I will say
01:16something you know. Throughout my
01:18entire career and life,
01:20I have always believed
01:22in the ideals of our nation.
01:24The ideals reflected in
01:26the Declaration of Independence
01:28that all are created equal
01:30and endowed by
01:32our Creator
01:34with certain inalienable rights.
01:36Ideals
01:38advanced and affirmed
01:40by the service and sacrifice
01:42of generations
01:44of patriots.
01:46The ideals
01:48that ground the Constitution
01:50of the United States
01:52that here in our country
01:54power
01:56ultimately
01:58lies
02:00not with the wealthy
02:02or well connected
02:04but with all of us.
02:06With we the people.
02:08Now, of course, I recognize
02:12that America has never
02:14fully lived up
02:16to these ideals.
02:18That for all the gains
02:20we've made,
02:22the American dream has
02:24for decades been slipping
02:26further out of reach
02:28for so many.
02:30And that the American people
02:32deserve leaders
02:34and that the American people
02:36deserve leaders
02:38who make their lives
02:40better
02:42and make our country
02:44stronger.
02:48But sadly
02:50we have seen
02:52quite the opposite
02:54over these past few months.
03:00Now, I know tonight's event
03:02happens to coincide with the 100 days
03:04after the inauguration
03:08and I'll leave it to others
03:10to give a full accounting
03:12of what has happened so far.
03:16But I will say this.
03:18Instead of an administration
03:22working to advance
03:24America's highest ideals,
03:28we are witnessing
03:30the wholesale abandonment
03:34of those ideals.
03:44And what we are also seeing
03:46in these last 14 weeks
03:48is Americans
03:50using their voice
03:52and showing their courage.
03:54We all know
04:00President Trump
04:02and his administration
04:03and their allies
04:04are counting on the notion
04:06that fear
04:08can be contagious.
04:10They are counting on the notion
04:12that if they make some people afraid,
04:14it will have a chilling effect
04:16on others.
04:18But what they are overlooking,
04:26what they have overlooked
04:28is that fear
04:30is not the only thing
04:32that's contagious.
04:34Courage is contagious.
04:36The courage of Americans
04:46who are banding together
04:48in the face of the greatest
04:50man-made economic crisis
04:52in modern presidential history.
04:54Americans across the political spectrum
05:00who are declaring
05:02that the President's reckless tariffs
05:06hurt workers and families
05:10by raising the cost
05:12of everyday essentials,
05:14devastate the retirement accounts
05:18that people spent a lifetime paying into,
05:22and paralyze American businesses,
05:26large and small,
05:28forcing them to lay off people
05:30to stop hiring
05:32or pause investment decisions.
05:36The courage of Americans
05:39we are seeing
05:40who are rallying
05:41at Social Security offices
05:43to protect their hard-earned benefits.
05:47Of Americans who are speaking out to say
05:51it is not okay
05:53to violate court orders.
05:55Not okay.
05:57Saying,
06:02it is not okay
06:04to detain
06:06and disappear
06:08American citizens
06:09or anyone
06:10without due process.
06:11The courage of judges
06:15to uphold the rule of law
06:17in the face of those
06:18who would jail them.
06:19The courage of judges
06:20to uphold the rule of law
06:22in the face of those
06:23of those who would jail them.
06:28Of universities
06:29that are defying
06:30unconstitutional demands
06:32that threaten the pursuit
06:34of truth
06:35and academic independence.
06:36And I will tell you,
06:37the courage of all these Americans
06:38inspires me.
06:40And I have been inspired by the movements
06:54like the one in Wisconsin
06:55that put Susan Crawford
06:56on the Supreme Court.
06:57By the State of the People Power Tour
07:04that is aiming to ignite
07:06a grassroots movement
07:08to lift up voices
07:10and advance freedom and justice.
07:14And by leaders across the spectrum,
07:17including congressional leaders
07:19like Cory Booker,
07:20Chris Van Hollen,
07:22Chris Murphy,
07:24Jasmine Crockett,
07:25Maxwell Cross,
07:27AOC and Bernie Sanders.
07:34All who in different ways
07:37have been speaking
07:39with moral clarity
07:41about this moment.
07:44So here's one of the other things
07:48I wanted to talk about tonight
07:49and to highlight.
07:51So, look,
07:53some people are describing
07:55what's been happening
07:56in recent months
07:58as absolute chaos.
08:01And, of course,
08:02I understand why.
08:04And it's certainly true
08:05of those tariffs.
08:07Tariffs that, as I predicted,
08:10are clearly inviting a recession.
08:15But, friends,
08:17please let us not be duped.
08:20into thinking everything is chaos.
08:24Right.
08:25I know it may feel that way.
08:27But understand,
08:30what we are in fact witnessing
08:34is a high-velocity event
08:38where a vessel is being used
08:43being used for the swift implementation
08:47of an agenda that has been decades
08:49in the making.
08:50An agenda to slash public education.
08:56An agenda to shrink government
09:00and then privatize its services.
09:02all while giving tax breaks
09:06to the wealthiest among us.
09:09By the way,
09:11an agenda that is not lowering costs,
09:15not making life more affordable,
09:20and not what they promised.
09:25It's an agenda,
09:28a narrow, self-serving vision of America,
09:38where they punish truth-tellers,
09:42favor loyalists,
09:45cash in on their power,
09:49and leave everyone to fend for themselves.
09:54All while abandoning allies
09:57and retreating from the world.
09:59And folks,
10:03what we are experiencing right now
10:06is exactly what they envisioned for America.
10:13Right now,
10:14we are living in their vision for America.
10:19But this is not a vision that Americans want.
10:25We are living in a moment
10:30when the checks and balances
10:32upon which we have historically relied
10:35have begun to buckle.
10:37And we here know
10:39that when the checks and balances
10:42ultimately collapse,
10:44if Congress fails to do its part,
10:48or if the courts fail to do their part,
10:52or if both do their part,
10:55but the President defies them anyway,
10:58well, friends,
11:01that is called a constitutional crisis.
11:03And that is a crisis
11:07that will eventually impact everyone.
11:11Because it would mean
11:14that the rules that protect
11:16our fundamental rights and freedoms
11:19that ensure each of us has a say
11:23about how our government works
11:26will no longer matter.
11:29And if that happens,
11:33the one check,
11:36the one balance,
11:39the one power that must not fail
11:44is the voice of the people.
11:47And look,
12:00look, right now,
12:02I know a lot of folks are wondering
12:04what's going to guide us through this moment.
12:07How are we all going to figure out
12:11how to chart the course?
12:14But that's not a reason
12:15to throw up our hands.
12:18In fact,
12:19please allow me, friends,
12:20to digress for a moment.
12:22Okay.
12:24It's kind of dark in here,
12:25but I'm asking a show of hands.
12:26Who saw that video
12:27from a couple of weeks ago?
12:29The one of the elephants
12:30at the San Diego Zoo
12:31during the earthquake?
12:33Google it if you've not seen it.
12:38So that scene has been on my mind.
12:42Everybody's asking me
12:43what you've been thinking
12:44about these days.
12:45Well,
12:46so in the video,
12:51for those who haven't seen it,
12:52here those elephants were.
12:54And as soon as they felt the earth
12:57shaking beneath their feet,
13:00they got in a circle
13:02and stood next to each other
13:05to protect the most vulnerable.
13:09Think about it.
13:12What a powerful metaphor.
13:14Because we know
13:18those who try to incite fear
13:23are most effective
13:26when they divide and conquer,
13:29when they separate the herd,
13:35when they try to make everyone
13:38think they are alone.
13:42But in the face of crisis,
13:46the lesson is don't scatter.
13:52the instinct has to be
13:56to immediately find
13:59and connect with each other
14:01and to know that the circle
14:03will be strong.
14:13So I'll end with this.
14:15I am not here tonight
14:16to offer all the answers.
14:18But I am here to say this.
14:21You are not alone.
14:24And we are all in this together.
14:27And straight talk,
14:29things are probably going to get worse
14:32before they get better.
14:35But we are ready for it.
14:38We are not going to scatter.
14:41We are going to stand together,
14:45everyone a leader.
14:48And emerge.
14:50You have a special role to play.
14:54Organizing is as important as ever.
14:58Mobilizing is as important as ever.
15:02Running for office is as important as ever.
15:07So please, everyone here,
15:10please keep doing what you are doing.
15:13And to everyone,
15:15let's lock it in.
15:17Lock it in.
15:19Lock it in.
15:21Gear up for the hard work ahead.
15:25And please,
15:27always remember,
15:30this country is ours.
15:35It doesn't belong to whoever is in the White House.
15:41It belongs to you.
15:43It belongs to us.
15:45It belongs to we, the people.
15:54God bless you.
15:55And God bless America.
15:56Thank you all.
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