00:01Thank you, Washington!
00:06Thank you, Indivisible!
00:12Thank you to the millions of Americans
00:15from our smallest towns to our largest cities
00:28and every state in our country
00:32who are gathering today at thousands of rallies.
00:37Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House,
00:51called these rallies hate America events.
00:57Boy, does he have it wrong!
01:03Millions of Americans are coming out today
01:11not because they hate America,
01:14we're here because we love America!
01:23We're here because we're going to do everything we can
01:29to honor the sacrifices of millions of men and women
01:35who over the last 250 years
01:41fought and sometimes died
01:45to defend our democracy and our freedoms.
01:49In 1776, with extraordinary courage,
02:00the founders of our country announced to the world
02:04that they would no longer be ruled by the King of England.
02:09A king who had absolute power over their lives.
02:16They demanded freedom!
02:19And to bring that about,
02:24they fought a bloody war against the British Empire
02:29and the most powerful military in the world.
02:34Tens of thousands of Americans died in that eight-year war,
02:41but our forefathers fought on and they won.
02:52And in 1789, after winning that war,
02:58they did something extraordinary.
03:01They established the first democratic form of government
03:06in modern history.
03:13They said loudly and boldly to the entire world,
03:19no more kings.
03:27In America, they said,
03:30we the people will rule.
03:37And today...
03:40No more kings.
03:42No more kings.
03:44No more kings.
03:46No more kings.
03:48And today, today in the year 2025, in this dangerous moment in American history, our message is exactly the same.
04:04No, President Trump, we don't want you or any other king to rule us.
04:11Thank you very much, but we will maintain our democratic form of society.
04:25We will not move toward authoritarianism in America. We, the people, will rule.
04:34When he was sworn in as the nation's first president, George Washington called this attempt at self-government, quote,
04:50an experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people, end quote.
04:56My fellow Americans, in an unprecedented way, that experiment is now in danger.
05:07It is in danger when we have a president who wants more and more power in his own hands and in the hands of his fellow oligarchs.
05:20It is in danger when we have a president who claims that peaceful protests in Portland, Oregon, or Chicago, Illinois, is an insurrection.
05:40And calls in the U.S. military.
05:43And then threatens to arrest the mayors and governors who resist them.
05:54It is in danger when we have masked agents working for ICE, breaking down doors, throwing people into vans without due process,
06:06and taking them to God knows where.
06:09It is in danger when we have a president who sues and intimidates the media,
06:20who wants no criticism of him and his policies,
06:25and who undermines the First Amendment of our Constitution,
06:31the very foundation of American democracy.
06:34Our country is in danger when we have a president who threatens to arrest or imprison political opponents
06:48who stand against him.
06:53Including the Attorney General of New York State,
06:56a sitting U.S. Senator,
06:58and the Governor of California.
07:00It is in danger when we have a president who undermines freedom of thought and dissent at our colleges and universities,
07:12and who attacks law firms that oppose him in court.
07:20It is in danger when we have a president who threatens to impeach judges who rule against him.
07:30It is in danger when we have a president who ignores Congress,
07:38refuses to spend money that Congress appropriates,
07:42and takes away money from states who voted against him.
07:48It is in danger when we have a president who demands that states redraw congressional maps
07:58to ensure that his chosen candidates win future elections.
08:04It is in danger when we have a president who illegally fires tens of thousands of federal employees
08:16countries right here in Washington, D.C.
08:21and throughout our country and rips up union contracts that workers have fought for and won.
08:28It is in danger when we have a president who grossly violates the Constitution
08:38by accepting gifts from foreign leaders,
08:40including a 400 million dollar plane from the royal family of Cutter,
08:54and then allows that family to build an Air Force facility in Idaho.
09:00Let us be clear, this moment is not just about one man's greed, one man's corruption,
09:14or one man's contempt for the Constitution.
09:19This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on earth,
09:24who in their insatiable greed have hijacked our economy and our political system
09:32in order to enrich themselves at the expense of working families throughout this country.
09:39Yes, yeah, I am talking about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and the other multi-billionaires
09:58who were sitting right behind Trump when he was inaugurated.
10:03Remember that?
10:04Yes.
10:05The very same billionaires who funded his campaign,
10:10who have bestowed gifts upon him,
10:13and who have seen huge increases in their wealth and power since Trump took office.
10:25Yeah.
10:26Yes, I am talking about the insanity of one person,
10:32Mr. Musk owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households.
10:45I'm talking about the incredible injustice of the top 1% in America,
10:53now owning more wealth than the bottom 93%.
10:58I'm talking about the richest people in America,
11:04becoming much, much richer,
11:07while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck,
11:13struggling every day to pay their rent and mortgages,
11:18pay for childcare and education,
11:21pay for their healthcare and prescription drugs,
11:25afford decent quality food for their kids,
11:29and maybe, just maybe,
11:31put aside a few bucks for their retirements.
11:34I am talking about our nation,
11:38the richest country in the history of the world,
11:43having the highest rate of childhood and senior poverty of almost any major country on earth.
11:52I am talking about our great nation,
11:59having 85 million Americans uninsured or underinsured,
12:05and 800,000 people who are homeless,
12:11including people a few blocks from here.
12:15All the while, while Mr. Musk is on his way to becoming a trillionaire,
12:30I am talking about the incredible danger of the richest people in this country
12:36pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence and robotics,
12:45which, in the next decade,
12:47will decimate tens of millions of jobs for the American working class.
12:53I am talking about a billionaire class
13:00who believe that they have the divine right to rule
13:06and who not only want massive tax breaks for themselves,
13:12but who reject any form of accountability or checks on their power.
13:23My fellow Americans,
13:25we rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s.
13:31We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.
13:49And now let's take a look, brief look,
13:52and where we are today,
13:55where we are today on the 18th day
13:57of a government shutdown
14:00which is depriving millions of federal employees
14:04of the paychecks they desperately need
14:07and deserve.
14:12Let me cut to the chase
14:14and tell you exactly
14:16what this shutdown is all about.
14:19As a result of Trump's big, beautiful, disgraceful bill,
14:29which made massive cuts to Medicaid
14:32and the Affordable Care Act,
14:3415 million,
14:3815 million low-income
14:41and working-class Americans
14:43are going to lose the health care
14:46they desperately need to stay alive.
14:49And my friends, studies suggest
14:55that when you throw those 15 million people
14:59off of the health care they presently have,
15:0250,000 of them will die unnecessarily
15:07every single year.
15:1550,000 Americans will die unnecessarily
15:20every single year.
15:22But that's not all.
15:24As a result of that same terrible piece of legislation,
15:28over 20 million Americans are going to see on average
15:32a doubling of their health insurance premiums
15:36through the Affordable Care Act.
15:41In my state of Vermont just the other day,
15:43people received notices from insurance companies
15:46that their health care premiums
15:48in some cases would triple or quadruple.
15:53And that is going on all over the country.
16:00At a time when we already pay
16:03by far the highest prices in the world
16:07for health care,
16:09millions of Americans are going to see
16:12outrageous increases in their health care premiums
16:16which they cannot afford.
16:18And why is that happening?
16:24Why are the Republicans making a broken health care system,
16:30a dysfunctional health care system even worse?
16:34Why are they bringing our health care system
16:39to the verge of collapse?
16:41We all know the answer.
16:45We all know the answer.
16:48It was to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks
16:54to Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Ellison,
16:59and the rest of the 1%.
17:04One trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid
17:08and the ACA are trillion dollars in tax breaks for the 1%.
17:17That, my fellow Americans,
17:20is what this shutdown is all about.
17:23And let me be as clear as I can be.
17:28No, I will not vote for a budget
17:32that throws 15 million Americans off their health care.
17:37No, I will not vote for a budget that doubles premiums
17:49for 20 million Americans.
17:52No, I will not vote for a budget
17:58that forces nursing homes, rural hospitals,
18:01community health centers to lay off staff
18:04and close their doors throughout this country.
18:07All to give huge tax breaks to the billionaire class.
18:19So today, right now, I say to my Republican colleagues,
18:24come back from your month-long vacation.
18:34Start negotiating and do not allow the American health care system
18:41to be destroyed.
18:43End this shutdown.
18:45My fellow Americans, we are the greatest country
18:57in the history of the world.
19:00And when we stand together
19:02and don't allow demagogues to divide us up,
19:07there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
19:17Yes, yes, we can create a vibrant democracy
19:23by ending citizens united
19:26and not allowing billionaires to buy elections.
19:29Yes, we can join the rest of the industrialized world
19:39and guarantee health care to every man, woman and child
19:43as a human right.
19:44Yes, we can build millions of units of low income
19:53and affordable housing and allow our younger generation
19:58to enjoy the American dream
20:00and own a home of their own.
20:06Yes, we can make public colleges and universities
20:11tuition-free
20:12and have the best childcare and public school system
20:20in the entire world.
20:26Yes, we can expand Social Security
20:30so that every senior in our country
20:33can retire with dignity.
20:35Yes, we can raise the minimum wage to a living wage
20:43and guarantee every worker the right to join the world.
20:49and the right to join a union.
20:52Yes, we can lead the world
20:56in transforming our energy system
21:00away from fossil fuels
21:02and create millions of good jobs
21:04as we save the planet.
21:06Yes, we can guarantee
21:11that every woman in this country
21:14has the right to control her own body.
21:17Yes, yes, we can have a foreign policy
21:30that guarantees that never again
21:33will American taxpayer dollars be used
21:36to starve children in Gaza or any place else.
21:40And now let me raise a question
21:50that I have been asked over and over again, you know.
21:53Bernie, great ideas, but how are you going to pay for them?
21:57Great question, thanks for asking.
21:59And here is the answer.
22:03At a time when the wealthiest people in America
22:08have never, ever had it so good.
22:13At a time when billionaires are paying an effective tax rate
22:18lower than a truck driver or a nurse.
22:21Yes, the top 1% and large profitable corporations
22:28will pay their fair share in taxes.
22:40My fellow Americans, the establishment,
22:44including the corporate media and many of my colleagues in Congress
22:50want you to believe that you are powerless.
22:55They want you to believe that you cannot change the status quo.
23:01But that is a lie.
23:05Throughout the history of our country,
23:08when Americans have stood up and fought for justice,
23:12they have prevailed.
23:20When the founders stood up to King George,
23:23they were told it was impossible.
23:27But they won.
23:32When abolitionists fought to end slavery,
23:36they were told it was impossible.
23:39But they won.
23:44When workers organized to form unions
23:47and stood up to their bosses,
23:49they were told it was impossible.
23:52But they won.
23:54When women demanded the right to vote,
23:59they were told it was impossible.
24:02But they won.
24:04When black Americans fought to end segregation,
24:09they were told it was impossible.
24:12But they won.
24:14When the LGBT community
24:18stood up for their rights,
24:21they were told it was impossible.
24:23But they won.
24:26Brothers and sisters,
24:29they did it then.
24:31We can and will do it now.
24:34And how do I know?
24:40How do I know that we will succeed?
24:43Take a look at this huge crowd right here in our nation's capital.
24:54But it is not just here.
24:56As I understand that today, October 18th, 2025,
25:02there are more people out on the streets,
25:05in more communities,
25:07all over our country
25:09than we have ever seen in American history.
25:19Brothers and sisters,
25:21this is not the end.
25:23This is just the beginning.
25:25Together, when we stand united,
25:35when we don't allow Trump or anybody else to divide us up by the color of our skin,
25:41or where we were born, or our sexual orientation,
25:45when we stand together,
25:47we will create the kind of nation that you and I know we can become.
25:57We can and will create a nation devoted to freedom, justice, and democracy.
26:08Thank you all very much.
26:38Download the One India app now.
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