- 2 days ago
During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) listed out ten ways the Trump administration was "wrecking the country."
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00:01The senator from California.
00:04Mr. President, over the last 250 years, this country has grown from a handful of rebellious colonies
00:12to an economic, scientific, military, cultural, technological, and agricultural behemoth.
00:19And crucially, through it all, we have remained a democracy,
00:23devoted to the hard work our founders envisioned of making our nation a more perfect union.
00:29Progress has not always been straightforward, but it has been consistent over time,
00:35and nothing short of extraordinary.
00:38Which is why it is all the more heartbreaking to see so much damage,
00:43so much self-inflicted harm imposed on our country by this administration over the last 170 days.
00:52Indeed, if you were to design a presidency and policies to diminish our scientific
00:58and technological prowess from within, it would look a lot like this administration.
01:04If you were determined to kill our clean energy future and retreat from any hope of addressing climate change,
01:11it would look a lot like this.
01:14If you wanted to undermine our standing around the world, befriend dictatorships,
01:18and betray our fellow democracies, it would look a lot like this.
01:24If you wanted to deliberately tear at the social fabric and cohesion of our country,
01:30set state against state and people against people to the point of conflict in the streets,
01:36it would look a lot like this administration.
01:40The president and his cabinet have been tearing down so much of what makes this country special,
01:48and so quickly that it has been hard to see the big picture,
01:52hard to separate the biggest harms from merely the most sensational or the most proximate.
01:59One hundred days was not enough time to evaluate the harms this administration had already inflicted on our country and its people,
02:07but one hundred and seventy days just might be sufficient.
02:13So today I want to go through the top ten ways this administration has been wrecking the country,
02:19from the thoughtless and irresponsible, to the illegal and unconstitutional,
02:25to the deliberately cruel and malicious.
02:29I want to tell you what the actions of this presidency have really meant for the country and for our future.
02:36So here they are.
02:38The top ten ways the administration is wrecking the country.
02:43Number ten.
02:45Donald Trump is waging an all-out war on America's research universities.
02:51America's universities have been the envy of the world for much of the last century.
02:57Powering scientific achievement and economic growth, dramatic breakthroughs in medicine,
03:02significant achievements in the arts, technological innovation,
03:06and all of the attendant economic benefits have been driven by a decades-old partnership
03:12between universities and the federal government.
03:16As a part of this grand bargain, the federal government invests in research conducted at top universities,
03:22and the country enjoys the benefits.
03:26From brilliant scientists and academia, the military gets new technologies and capabilities,
03:31including innovations in fusion energy, laser technology, electronic jamming capabilities, and so much more.
03:40Our healthcare is improved, and our lifespans are increased by university-led research into new medicines,
03:48medical implants, and devices.
03:50Food science helps us grow healthier crops and produce more food with less water and less pesticides.
03:57You would be hard-pressed to find a field of scientific endeavor in which university research has failed to deliver.
04:07Now, all of that is on the chopping block.
04:11The administration has canceled tens of billions of dollars in university research funding.
04:16It is stopping some of the best and brightest students from coming to the U.S. to study
04:22by banning international students from attending.
04:26Already, some of the world's most promising students are choosing to go elsewhere,
04:32to China, or the U.K., or Sweden, or Canada.
04:36The reason we want the very best students is that we can remain the global leader in every field of endeavor.
04:45That is what makes us great.
04:47But this, this is a one-way brain drain in the wrong direction.
04:54The administration is also raising taxes on research universities and threatening the removal of accreditation
05:01from universities which fail to bow to the president's ideological and political whims.
05:08And it is using real concerns about anti-Semitism on campus as a pretext,
05:14or the policies of athletic departments that it disfavors,
05:18to justify attacks on universities that will do nothing but set the country and our economy back.
05:26Their real agenda is to change the agenda at schools,
05:32to eliminate academic independence,
05:35and to indoctrinate students in an ideology that is more to their liking,
05:40turning administration bureaucrats into a kind of thought police.
05:45Coming in at number nine of the top ten ways the administration is wrecking the country,
05:53taking away food from hungry kids in America.
05:58Donald Trump promised to make America healthy again, but he is not.
06:04Instead, he has settled for making America hungry again.
06:08The budget just realized, through their big ugly bill,
06:13makes a multi-hundred billion dollar cut to the SNAP program.
06:19That's supplemental nutrition and food assistance.
06:23Basically, food for hungry kids and families.
06:28This isn't a cut that can be explained away with a vague multi-purpose phrase or platitude,
06:35like waste, fraud, and abuse.
06:38Or by engaging in funny math.
06:40Feeding hungry families is not wasteful.
06:43Providing fresh food at schools for kids that can't otherwise afford to eat
06:48is not a fraud.
06:50And helping seniors living on the edge of poverty afford a meal is not an abuse.
06:56But taking this food away to fund tax cuts for wealthy people and corporations,
07:02that is a fraud.
07:04That is a waste.
07:05And that is an abuse.
07:07These cuts will mean more kids who are unable to get a school lunch.
07:13More seniors literally sitting and starving in their homes.
07:18An America that is more hungry than before.
07:22An America that though it is the richest nation on earth,
07:26and the most productive agricultural nation on earth,
07:30has chosen to adopt more hunger as its policy.
07:35Moving on to number eight.
07:38Coming in at number eight of the top ten ways the administration is wrecking the country,
07:44Donald Trump is destroying our alliances with democratic nations around the world,
07:49and aligning our country with dictators.
07:53Across administrations and decades, America has been a symbol of stability for the globe.
07:58A trusted partner.
08:00A champion of freedom and democracy.
08:02We have stood up to evil empires and championed the cause of liberty.
08:06And though we have made more than our share of mistakes in trying to rebuild other nations in our image,
08:12we have strived to achieve a foreign policy consistent with our values.
08:18Now in just the first few months, so much of that legacy has been betrayed.
08:24So many of our alliances have been degraded.
08:27So much of our standing in the world has been made small.
08:31So many of our friends have become estranged.
08:34Our treaty partners unsure of whether they can count on us in a pinch.
08:41Donald Trump likes to talk about peace through strength.
08:45He likes to think that bullying our friends or extorting a price for our security guarantees is what makes us strong.
08:53But he is wrong.
08:55He trashes our relationships with our friends.
08:58He belittles the Canadians and the British who fought and died alongside American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
09:07He denigrates Ukrainians and their brave president who fight nobly in the defense of their democracy and their sovereignty.
09:15And he insists on Ukraine paying tribute in the form of mineral rights to secure his support.
09:23He flatters and fawns over the Kremlin dictator.
09:26At least he did.
09:28Until even Trump could see that he was being made to play the fool by a mass murderer who did not want peace, only further mayhem.
09:38And who can say how long Trump's new resolve against Putin will last before it is overtaken by caprice or self-interest?
09:48The only true constant of Trump's foreign policy has been that the United States will be there for you if and only if it is pleasing to the president.
10:00If you flatter him.
10:02If you bow and scrape before him.
10:04Or if there is something in it for him personally.
10:08Like a 400 million dollar aircraft.
10:12Or a multi-billion dollar crypto deal for his family.
10:16He has made it plain that American foreign policy is part protection racket and part just racket.
10:25All of this means that America is less safe and secure.
10:30With fewer friends we can rely upon out of any sense of shared sacrifice or values.
10:36The mutual defense clause of Article 5 of NATO has been invoked only once.
10:41And that was on our behalf after we were viciously attacked by terrorists on September 11th.
10:49Our friends and allies rushed to our defense.
10:53And not just out of a sense of treaty obligation, but because of a shared sense of purpose and our common humanity.
11:01The problem with turning every relationship into a transitional or transactional one is that everyone will want something in return.
11:11And no one will be there when you really need them.
11:16Moving on.
11:18Number seven of the top ten ways the administration is wrecking what is best about this country is their pointless economically suicidal and self-destructive attack on the development of renewable energy.
11:34Renewable energy can lead the world away from a climate catastrophe.
11:38It can be an economic slingshot catapulting us into an abundant energy future that is American made.
11:47It can truly make us energy independent instead of simply more dependent on the fossil fuel industry.
11:55But Trump has attacked clean energy with a vengeance.
11:59Repealing incentives passed during the Biden administration.
12:03And why?
12:04Because they were passed during the Biden administration.
12:08And because Donald Trump made a promise to oil companies in exchange for campaign cash.
12:14Lots of it.
12:16More than a billion of it.
12:18The big ugly bill phases out tax credits meant to stir spur development of solar and wind power.
12:26And replaces them with tax credits for coal.
12:30If you were wondering whether you heard that right, you did.
12:34Tax credits for coal mining.
12:37Tax credits for coal mining.
12:38In the year 2025.
12:40At a time when we've harnessed the capacity of the sun and the wind to power entire communities,
12:46we are disinvesting in a renewable energy future in order to fund an industry from the 1800s.
12:56It is the policy equivalent of investing in black lung.
13:00And it will choke our energy supply over time and kneecap our economic potential.
13:06China knows this.
13:09In May, China installed 93 gigawatts of solar capacity.
13:15That's enough to power almost 70 million homes.
13:20And they did it in a single month.
13:23China is installing almost 100 solar panels every second.
13:29And that's not because the Chinese Communist Party is populated by a bunch of crazy environmentalists.
13:35It's because they know this is the industry of the future.
13:41They want to dominate the global market in clean energy.
13:44And thanks to Donald Trump, they will.
13:48So how will Trump's energy policies impact you at home?
13:52It means your energy bills are going to go up, way up, by hundreds of dollars a month.
13:58Renewable sources of energy are the vast majority of new energy coming online in America.
14:05Take that away and we are reliant on the same old capacity, your same old utility, less competition, and higher prices.
14:15Costing you more to heat your home in the winter or cool it down during the hot, hot summer.
14:21It means more families will make the impossible choice between paying their utility bills and putting food on the table.
14:30Now, earlier I talked about this administration's cuts to research universities.
14:37Which brings me to number six.
14:39The broader attack on health and science.
14:42The administration is slashing the National Institutes of Health, the nation's premier medical research agency.
14:51They have cut NIH by almost half.
14:56Almost half.
14:58Now, I'm no scientist, but I took enough science classes in college to know my way around a lab.
15:04And I'm certainly no economist, but I can do basic math.
15:08And I can tell you with certainty as anyone can who looks at this,
15:12that cutting NIH in half, massively gutting research grants and positions,
15:18will lead to the cancellation of clinical trials and new treatments,
15:23and to Americans needlessly suffering from any number of illnesses and disease.
15:30It will mean scaling back research efforts on everything from cancer to Alzheimer's to HIV AIDS,
15:37destroying years or decades of research in any number of fields
15:41that might have been weeks or months away from a breakthrough.
15:46That hurts everyone.
15:49There isn't a senator in this body who hasn't been visited by families with sick children or sick parents
15:57or constituents who are ill themselves.
16:00Constituents who have pleaded with us that we increase funding for NIH,
16:05who have put a human face on the hope that they or their loved ones might be saved.
16:11Saved if only we invest in NIH.
16:17And now we turn our back on them.
16:20And for what?
16:22For what?
16:24At number five of the top ten ways the administration is wrecking the country,
16:32we have the massive doge cuts to the federal workforce and federal agencies everywhere.
16:40Elon Musk and his lot of unqualified, unvetted, unrestrained tech pros
16:45have taken a chainsaw to any number of federal grants, federal contracts, federal departments,
16:51and federal jobs without the slightest understanding of the human consequences.
16:57Musk may have held himself harmless during these massive cuts.
17:01He managed to use his position in the administration to expand his billions in government contracts at Starlink.
17:09But everyone else was made to suffer.
17:12Now that he is gone, the wrecking crew continues its work.
17:16Doge accidentally cut nuclear safety staff and had to rush and try to rehire them.
17:23They cut specialists in bird flu and then they had to try to rush and rehire them.
17:28Remember those coal tax credits I mentioned earlier?
17:31Well, they're cutting mine safety efforts, making dangerous work even more so.
17:39They doged USAID and diminished our soft power around the world.
17:44They are dismantling the Department of Education and selling off our children's education piece by piece.
17:53And they would cut NASA in half.
17:58There is no more high profile example of America's scientific and technological prowess than our space program.
18:07And sadly, there is no better example of its deliberate forfeiture.
18:12In my lifetime alone, our space program was the first to plant a flag on the moon.
18:18We launched the first solar probe.
18:21We took the first photos and landed the first rover on Mars.
18:25We are sending more humans into orbit than ever and on track to land the first human on Mars.
18:31We did those things not because they were easy.
18:35No, we did those things, as President Kennedy once said, because they are hard.
18:41Because space exploration can teach us things about our life on Earth that propel innovation here at home.
18:48Innovation that allows us to travel faster, live longer, and live better.
18:54And because exploring space can provide the most profound thoughts of our place in the universe.
19:00And whether amidst all of that, we are alone.
19:05This agency that has brought such hope and excitement and pride, pride, will be brought low.
19:16It may be one small step for Doge, but it represents one giant leap backward for mankind.
19:23The Trump administration has also paused the hiring of critical seasonal firefighting staff.
19:30Laid up probationary employees just as we begin another devastating fire season.
19:36They cut staff and programs at NOAA and the National Weather Service.
19:40Herding early earthquake warning, early warning of all disasters.
19:45Warning that is pivotal when tragedy strikes, like it did in Texas this week, in North Carolina months ago, or in Los Angeles in January.
19:57They cut staff who run the phones at Social Security while closing regional offices.
20:02Making it harder for seniors to get the benefits they paid into their entire life.
20:07Because that was the goal.
20:10That was the goal.
20:12And for all the pain that Doge has inflicted and continues to inflict,
20:16the only thing that bastard agency has really served to accomplish
20:20is making government less effective, less efficient, and less trustworthy.
20:25Because more than anything else, the Doge bloodletting has killed the trust of countless Americans.
20:33Trust that the federal jobs and programs they relied upon would continue.
20:38Trust that they might be paid less than private sector workers to do the work they love.
20:44To unravel new mysteries in space, in the oceans, in our bodies, in ourselves.
20:49But that they could rely upon the government as an employer.
20:52That they could be insulated from political and partisan considerations.
20:56That they would not become some ideological arm of the president or his party, or its collateral damage.
21:04Now that trust is gone.
21:07And the loss of that talent and that trust just might be the most expensive loss of all.
21:19Now number four.
21:21At number four of the top ten ways in which the administration is wrecking our country and our economy, tariffs.
21:29The on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, tariffs.
21:34The ill-considered, ill-executed, unpredictable, unproductive, costly, indiscriminate, and self-destructive tariffs.
21:43For a president who ran on lowering costs, his most significant economic action has been a colossal backfire.
21:51Prices for your 4th of July barbecue last week were the highest they have ever been.
21:56Like the cost of burgers or beer.
21:59Phones are now more expensive.
22:01Cars are more expensive.
22:02Prices at Walmart, Target, Costco, up, up, up.
22:06And on Amazon, they were going to add a specific line item for the cost of the Trump tariffs.
22:13Besides each affected product.
22:16Until the Trump administration begged its owner, Jeff Bezos, not to be so transparent with their own customers.
22:24Because it made the president look bad.
22:27This didn't stop Amazon from adding the Trump tax to the price of the goods you buy on Amazon.
22:35It's just stopped Amazon from showing you just how much more you were paying.
22:41And while you get poorer because of these tariffs, America is not getting any stronger.
22:48While your pocketbook is getting hit, so too is our standing around the globe.
22:54After all these chaotic tariffs give our trading partners all too accurate an impression that we are unpredictable.
23:02That we are unstable.
23:03That America, with all its power, is unreliable.
23:07So those trading partners are flocking elsewhere.
23:10They go to China, or to India, or elsewhere.
23:14The fact is we have so alienated, even our closest friends and allies,
23:21that some countries like Canada have gone beyond reciprocal tariffs to a downright boycott of American goods.
23:29Devastating American farmers, small businesses, and consumers alike.
23:36The art of the deal, indeed.
23:41Which takes us to number three.
23:43And this administration's attack on our healthcare.
23:47When the Senate passed Trump's big ugly bill last week,
23:5050 of our colleagues put their stamp on a budget that will devastate Medicaid.
23:54That will mean hospitals and clinics close.
23:57That millions of Americans will lose access to life-saving care.
24:02That will mean people get their care denied.
24:06That will mean the long, hard fight against opioids will be set back by cuts to substance abuse treatment.
24:13After promising that Medicaid would not be touched, that our healthcare would not be harmed,
24:19they cut it by one trillion dollars.
24:24Trillion with a T.
24:27To fund tax cuts for wealthy people by the trillions.
24:32And when your hospital closes, because it loses millions of Medicaid dollars,
24:38it won't matter whether you were personally on Medicaid.
24:42Your hospital will be gone.
24:45You and everyone else will have to drive farther to find an emergency room,
24:51to have a baby, to get dialysis, or to be treated for a stroke.
24:55The quality of your care will decline.
24:58Your access to care will diminish.
25:01Especially reproductive care, but every kind of care.
25:05Most of us will pay more, a lot more, for the care we receive.
25:10But some will go without care altogether.
25:15In the richest nation on earth, we will move farther away from universal quality care,
25:23to a period of even greater scarcity, even shorter lifespans, even lesser quality of life.
25:30And again, for what?
25:33More tax cuts for wealthy people who don't need them?
25:36And who already have all the care that they need?
25:41Now we have reached number two.
25:46Number two of the top ten most destructive acts of the administration.
25:51Trump's undermining of the rule of law.
25:55The assault of the rule of law began almost immediately with the pardon of 1,550 people
26:04who committed one of the most serious offenses in the nation's history,
26:09attacking the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
26:15In granting pardons to hundreds of offenders who used violence that day against police officers,
26:21Donald Trump sent a powerful message to his followers.
26:25That they may use violence on his behalf and he would have their back.
26:30That he would insulate them from the law and from accountability.
26:34And more than that, that he would promote them, advocate for them,
26:38appoint them to high positions in a new justice department.
26:42A department oriented not towards justice, not devoted to a rule of law, but devoted only to him.
26:51In Trump's justice department, we are no longer a nation of laws,
26:55but a nation of men to be rewarded or punished according to the president's whims.
27:01A mayor of New York charged with corruption has his case dismissed.
27:05Not because of any prosecutorial misconduct or lack of evidence, but because he is useful to the president on an unrelated policy matter.
27:17In Trump's justice department, the absence of evidence or lawful predication is no bar to initiating a criminal investigation.
27:26When a political pretext will do.
27:28He is using the department as both sword and shield.
27:32A sword to pursue his enemies.
27:35And a shield to protect his friends.
27:38And to protect no one.
27:42No one more than himself.
27:45A president given immunity by Supreme Court justices.
27:50He appointed.
27:52Acting like a convicted felon because he is a convicted felon.
27:57Now engaging in the most blatant graft and corruption.
28:02Accepting gifts and gratuities.
28:04Airplanes and commissions.
28:05In the hundreds of millions.
28:07In the billions.
28:08And without any fear of investigation.
28:10Let alone prosecution.
28:12The inspector generals are gone.
28:16The watchdogs are gone.
28:18Only the dogs are left.
28:20To feed on the carrion that was the rule of law.
28:23When courts try to restrain the Trump administration's illegality.
28:28His departments ignore their orders.
28:31We saw it with the Alien Enemies Act.
28:33We see it with the unlawful impoundment of FEMA funds.
28:37With the lawless withholding of state funding.
28:39With attacks on foreign assistance.
28:41Appropriated by Congress.
28:42With racial profiling.
28:44And illegal renditions to foreign prisons without due process.
28:48Or frankly.
28:49Any kind of process.
28:51Which brings us.
28:54To number one.
28:55The number one way in which Donald Trump.
29:00And his administration are wrecking this country.
29:03And that is by destroying the very idea.
29:07Of America.
29:09Our nation was formed.
29:12As an improbable experiment.
29:14An experiment based on the unproven idea that people.
29:19Possessed sufficient virtue to be self-governing.
29:23That we did not need to be ruled by a tyrant.
29:26From that humble and daring beginning.
29:29The idea grew.
29:30That a country so constituted.
29:32So organized.
29:33Could not only rule itself.
29:35But could attract the best and the brightest.
29:38The most industrious.
29:39Of souls from all over the earth.
29:42And make them Americans.
29:45That there would be no caste system in America.
29:48That here.
29:49Anyone with the drive.
29:50The talent.
29:51And the intellect.
29:52Could prosper.
29:53That there were no limits to what we could achieve.
29:55That idea.
29:57That became America.
29:59Was our most powerful appeal.
30:01Our calling card.
30:03At home and around the world.
30:05It has driven people to our shores.
30:08It has inspired people.
30:09In dark prison cells in Iran.
30:11In labor camps in China.
30:12In gulags in Russia.
30:14And in impoverished places everywhere.
30:16To dream of America.
30:18What it stands for.
30:20And what it might mean to them.
30:22If only they were so lucky.
30:24So very lucky.
30:26To one day.
30:27Move to this great place.
30:29Called America.
30:30Called America.
30:31And Donald Trump's destruction of that idea.
30:37The idea.
30:38Of America.
30:39As the last best hope.
30:41Of mankind.
30:42Is the worst offense.
30:44Of this administration.
30:49During Ronald Reagan's.
30:51Final speech as president.
30:53He spoke of a man.
30:55Who wrote to him.
30:56Of the uniqueness.
30:57Of America.
30:58You can go.
31:02To live in France.
31:03The man wrote.
31:04But you cannot become a Frenchman.
31:07You can go to live in Germany.
31:09Or Turkey.
31:10Or Japan.
31:11But you cannot become a German.
31:12A Turk.
31:13Or a Japanese.
31:14But anyone from any corner of the earth.
31:18Can come to live in America.
31:21And become an American.
31:25Other countries.
31:26Reagan said.
31:27May seek to compete with us.
31:29But in one.
31:30Vital area.
31:32As a beacon of freedom.
31:34And opportunity.
31:35That draws the people of the world.
31:37No country on earth.
31:38Comes close.
31:39This he said.
31:42Is one of the most important sources.
31:45Of America's greatness.
31:47We lead the world.
31:49Because unique among nations.
31:50We draw our people.
31:52Our strength.
31:53From every country.
31:54And every corner in the world.
31:56And by doing so.
31:57We continually renew.
31:59And enrich our nation.
32:01While other countries.
32:03Cling to the stale past.
32:05Here in America.
32:06We breathe life.
32:08Into dreams.
32:10We create the future.
32:12And the world follows us.
32:13Into tomorrow.
32:14Tomorrow.
32:15Thanks to each wave.
32:16Of new arrivals.
32:17To this land of opportunity.
32:19We're a nation.
32:20Forever young.
32:21Forever bursting.
32:22With energy.
32:23And new ideas.
32:24And always on the cutting edge.
32:26Always leading the world.
32:27To the next frontier.
32:29This quality is vital.
32:31To our future.
32:32As a nation.
32:33If we ever closed the door.
32:35To new Americans.
32:36Our leadership in the world.
32:38Would soon.
32:39Be lost.
32:41That was Ronald Reagan.
32:46And now we have Donald Trump.
32:49A president.
32:50Who more than any other.
32:52In our history.
32:53Clings.
32:54To a stale past.
32:56I can forgive the president.
33:00For his reckless tariff policies.
33:03For his sycophantic hires.
33:06Or his foolish tax giveaways.
33:07To the rich.
33:08But I will never forgive him.
33:11For the damage he has done.
33:14And for the damage he continues to do.
33:18To the very idea of America.
33:21For how the rest of the world.
33:23Now views this country.
33:25And more critically.
33:27More catastrophically.
33:28How we have come to view.
33:31Ourselves.
33:32Tackling immigrants to the ground.
33:37People who are landscapers.
33:40Or farm workers.
33:41Or restaurant workers.
33:42Or garment workers.
33:44Let alone beating them.
33:46While they lay there.
33:47As agents did.
33:48The father of three.
33:50U.S. Marines.
33:52Is not.
33:54How Americans treat.
33:55The hard-working people.
33:56Who come here.
33:58In search of a better life.
34:00Using the military.
34:01Against our own citizens.
34:03So.
34:04So in chaos.
34:05And division in our cities.
34:06In our cities.
34:07Is not consistent.
34:09With the idea.
34:10Of America.
34:11This is not an America.
34:13Confident of its future.
34:14And of its place.
34:15In the world.
34:16Able to inspire people.
34:17Around the world.
34:18Able to see the best.
34:20In ourselves.
34:21In ourselves.
34:22On a day that Benjamin Franklin.
34:27Watched our nation.
34:28Being formed.
34:29On a day he witnessed.
34:31George Washington.
34:32Preside over the Constitutional Convention.
34:34Seated in a chair.
34:36With an image of the sun.
34:37Embossed on its top.
34:39Franklin pulled some of his colleagues aside.
34:42And remarked to them.
34:45About hardest.
34:46How artists.
34:47Often have a difficult time.
34:49Distinguishing between a rising and setting sun.
34:53In their art.
34:54I ought.
34:56I have often.
34:57Franklin said.
34:58And often in the course of this session.
35:01Looked at that emblem.
35:03Behind the president.
35:04Without being able to tell.
35:06Whether it was rising or setting.
35:08But now at length.
35:11I have the happiness to know.
35:13That it is a rising.
35:15And not a setting sun.
35:17Today I know that a great many Americans.
35:22Fear that our sun is setting.
35:24But I do not believe that.
35:27I have more faith in America than that.
35:31We have overcome far greater challenges in our history.
35:35Than our present difficulties.
35:38And those who would bet against this country.
35:40Would be wise not to.
35:41Those who have.
35:43Are far more likely to be proven the losers.
35:47Than the winners of that bet.
35:50The sun is not setting on our republic.
35:53But eclipse like.
35:55It is obscured.
35:57And the actions of this administration.
35:59Have cast a kind of.
36:01Shadowy darkness.
36:02Over the land.
36:04Though our sun is not setting.
36:06Neither is it rising.
36:09Nor will it rise of its own accord.
36:11In this respect.
36:13Franklin's celestial metaphor falls short.
36:17We have no control over the sun.
36:20Our orbit has been predetermined by forces.
36:24Well beyond our time and understanding.
36:27We are powerless to change its trajectory.
36:32But we are not powerless to change our own.
36:36We are not powerless to save our country.
36:38To remember who we are.
36:40To once again.
36:42Capture the imagination.
36:43The hopes.
36:44And aspirations of a weary mankind.
36:47Our sun.
36:50America's sun.
36:51America's sun.
36:53Will rise again.
36:55And shine brightly unto ourselves.
36:57And to all nations.
37:00But it will take all of us.
37:03Working together.
37:04And well into the future.
37:05To make it so.
37:07Until then we must press on.
37:11Doing all we can to mitigate the harms of the current administration.
37:15Until we can end them.
37:18Until we can bind up our nation's wounds.
37:21As Lincoln said.
37:22And begin again.
37:24The sacred work of restoring.
37:26The very best.
37:28Of America.
37:30Mr. President.
37:32to yield back.
37:33I gotta give it back.
37:36,
37:40.
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