00:00Those values are being vandalized in real time.
00:02Our republic is being vandalized in real time.
00:04This historic project of our founding fathers.
00:06It's the 250th anniversary this year.
00:10And every day we're fighting the fight to save our republic.
00:14I wanted you to talk about how important are these values to you and your constituents.
00:19And does it help shore up the transatlantic relationship if California stands up for them?
00:24Well, that's why I'm here.
00:24I mean, it's not the rule of law.
00:26It's the rule of dawn.
00:28And I hope it's dawning on all of you.
00:30That's the case.
00:32It's the law of the jungle.
00:34Might makes right.
00:35You know, it was interesting.
00:36You mentioned Rubio's speech today.
00:38I liked it totally.
00:39I liked this notion of Western civilization.
00:42If he's referring, in that case, to the best of Roman republic and Greek democracy, co-equal branches of government.
00:49If he's referencing popular sovereignty and the rule of law, I align with his remarks.
00:54If it's about an imperialism and an imperial presidency, I don't necessarily.
01:00So I'm here to sort of fill that void and to express what I hope you understand, that Donald Trump
01:09is not only temporary, but he may be among the most un-American presidents ever to have resided at 1600
01:18Pennsylvania Avenue.
01:21And I really believe that.
01:23I don't say that lightly.
01:27He's an invasive species.
01:31He's taken over the Republican Party.
01:33You know, I sit every single day in Ronald Reagan's old office.
01:36Ronald Reagan was governor of California.
01:38Ronald Reagan would be ashamed of this moment in time.
01:42You know, Ronald Reagan, whose last speech in the Oval Office was about Lady Liberty's torch, about the energy and
01:50daring of newcomers and what defines America from the rest of the globe.
01:57Those values are being vandalized in real time.
01:59Our republic is being vandalized in real time.
02:01This historic project of our founding fathers.
02:03It's the 250th anniversary this year.
02:07And every day we're fighting the fight to save our republic.
02:12I mean, you have leaders that are here that the president of the United States tried to indict.
02:21Senator Mark Kelly tried to indict him this last week.
02:25A grand jury.
02:25Six members of the United States Congress.
02:27He's going after his political enemies.
02:304,000.
02:31I'll conclude.
02:32I don't want to take too much time on this.
02:35But I want to remember all those images of masked men, the secret police, something familiar in Germany.
02:42Those first images came out of my state.
02:45The second largest city in the United States of America.
02:47We saw 4,000 National Guard federalized.
02:50First time.
02:51We're never sitting there like this.
02:52And 700 active duty Marines sent not overseas, but to the second largest city in the United States of America.
02:59Militarizing the streets of my city.
03:01Masked men.
03:02Masked men showing up.
03:03Unaccountable.
03:04No ID.
03:06Smashing windows.
03:07Dragging people out.
03:08People disappearing in the United States of America.
03:11Two people gunned down and killed just recently.
03:14It's a long way of saying this.
03:16I'm here because our immune system has been woken up.
03:21But so has the American people.
03:23And I think increasingly the rest of the world.
03:25And I've seen it reflected in Davos.
03:27I see it reflected here in Munich.
03:30In a very positive and powerful way.
03:32He exploits weakness.
03:34That's his strength.
03:38But he responds very differently to conviction, character, purpose, where people are expressing themselves firmly and formally.
03:47And I believe that the tone and tenor of Rubio's speech today is reflected in that.
03:54It has been reflected in the actions of many European leaders.
03:57And I believe Europe feels more united today than it has in some time.
04:03And perhaps maybe that is the one contribution of Donald Trump.
04:14Mr. President, same question to you.
04:17How important is your support of these values to your constituents and to your stewardship of the transatlantic partnership?
04:32No, no, no, not at all.
04:35Not at all.
04:35Quite the contrary, Governor.
04:37Quite the contrary.
04:39I think what you just said is really moving.
04:42Of course, we're watching it in the news.
04:44We read the reports.
04:46We see.
04:46But if the governor says there were 5,000 people coming into my city with masks, that is something that
04:53makes you afraid.
04:55Because to us, America is a special country, the land of freedom, the land of liberty.
04:59It's a country with these big values, living and breathing these big values.
05:05And, of course, that's the country that also brought these values over to us after the darkest times of the
05:11German history.
05:12We brought the world into darkness.
05:15And then the Americans came and showed us how we could do it.
05:18And then hearing such stories, it makes me very concerned.
05:23And there are two levels to me that make me think, that make me wonder.
05:27You know that the Christian Democratic Union, my party,
05:32historically speaking, always had a relatively good relationship to the grand old party, to the Republicans.
05:37But we Christian Democrats at the moment do not recognize the Republicans anymore.
05:43And, of course, we continue looking for contact.
05:45We continue looking for these touch points.
05:48But we can see that those people who we had contact with, who we have contact with,
05:53either no longer are there anymore or have nothing to say, have no power anymore.
05:57And that is a development that is quite problematic for us.
05:59And that's why, of course, it is even better than ever before that we always kept a good contact with
06:04Democrats as well.
06:06That's one level.
06:07The other level is that, of course, it also affects us as a country.
06:11It affects us as Europe.
06:15What seemed to be a given for us is no longer that.
06:19For me, it was always a given.
06:20And this was my absolute conviction, my personal certainty.
06:25If anything in this world becomes difficult, if anything becomes dark, if the light goes out,
06:30then, at the very least, America and the Europeans, and then, of course, especially the Americans and we Germans,
06:38will be standing side by side in the face of that darkness.
06:41And that is no longer the case.
06:43We saw a very unfortunate spectacle in the Oval Office when President Zelensky was really embarrassed.
06:50A president whose country is fighting for freedom, and, of course, it was the California National Guard
06:56who was the first ones who came very, very early and helped the Ukrainians.
07:02You trained them.
07:03You gave them the weapons.
07:06And then we see that.
07:08And that's why it's a true fracture.
07:12And now we have to deal with that here in Europe, of course.
07:15And I just want to say one more thing.
07:17I think there's a world coming up that is based on deals.
07:20It's no longer based on values.
07:22And that is something that is very, very new to all of us.
07:26And I think we have to tell the people only the dealmakers profit off the deals, but not the people.
07:32None of you will profit off these deals, only the dealmakers.
07:36You have to know that.
07:37It's a world of the powerful and rich, and it's a world that is dangerous.
07:41And I still want to say, and I think also the German military, the European military would agree,
07:52it does make sense that the Americans always, you know, with Bill Clinton, with Biden, with Trump one, Trump two,
08:01of course,
08:01that the Americans said, listen, you Europeans, you need to really do your homework.
08:11It cannot be the American taxpayers who pay for Europe's safety and security.
08:18You have to do more for that.
08:18And I think, and I agree with you on that, I think that the only positive thing is at the
08:24moment is that we are finally growing up in Europe,
08:27that we become sovereign, that we become more resilient, that we really understand that we have to take care of
08:34our own destiny.
08:34But I think when it comes to the rule of law, when it comes to freedom, I think we are,
08:39of course, at a completely different level.
08:41And I think that's also what I said in the very beginning.
08:43And still, I would like to say that Germany should be careful to apply all of these debates to the
08:52transatlantic relationship.
08:54We should not have these debates damage this valuable relationship.
08:58We must maintain the transatlantic relationship.
09:00We must keep with it.
09:01We must build bridges, for example, by way of talking to a governor like you, such an impressive governor who
09:11runs the fifth largest economy of the world, California, of course.
09:13And I think it's very important.
09:15And I think we all have to be aware that this American way of life, that what America embodies is
09:22still at the core of America.
09:24It's still in there.
09:25And that's why we have to foster the dialogue.
09:28We have to stay together.
09:29And what we must not do is we must not be divided.
09:33Let's stay together.
09:34Let's stay in touch.
09:36Let's have these encounters.
09:37I think that's what we can.
09:39And best at this level, on the state level, on the subnational level.
09:43And that's why it's great to have such a panel.
09:50And if I may pick up, I appreciate your generous words.
09:53And Trump is temporary.
09:56It's important.
09:57I understand that.
09:58He'll be measured in a matter of years, not decades.
10:01If he were a younger man, I wouldn't necessarily say that.
10:05There's no question he would seek a third term.
10:09Unquestionable, in my mind.
10:10And I don't say that lightly.
10:11I could back that up.
10:13But his time of life, not his state of mind, make this a temporary moment.
10:18And that's why it's so important.
10:20In the spirit, again, of this conversation, this notion of subnational relationships, stable partnerships.
10:26We are now, unfortunately, the United States, and I've never thought this happened in my lifetime, the source of more
10:31instability than any other nation in the world, the United States of America.
10:36And that's why we have to remind folks that this is not permanent.
10:40And I know there's a lot of pessimism that somehow it's irreparable.
10:44We'll never go back to our original form.
10:46And I understand that.
10:46Once a mind is stretched of what's possible, it never necessarily goes back to its original form.
10:51But I say, it's not dead, it's dormant.
10:54You may need to sleep with one eye open.
10:58It will take time.
11:01But it's certainly not dead.
11:03And it's not representative.
11:05Again, he is an historic president.
11:07And it's important you understand this.
11:10Historically unpopular.
11:12He is going to get crushed in the midterm elections.
11:16Crushed in the midterm elections.
11:18He's going to lose his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs.
11:25He will lose that at the Supreme Court in a matter of months.
11:29That's been the source of most of his energy and most of his negotiating power.
11:35And by the way, the source of most of his direct dealing, the most corrupt president in American history.
11:42What are so many of the foreign policy trips have in common?
11:45Members of his family, they're first.
11:48Setting the tone and tenor, setting the course of the deal.
11:51For the tower, the golf course, for the investments, for the crypto.
11:56Whitcoff, not just Trump.
11:59Partnerships with the family.
12:00It's all there in plain sight.
12:02It's open.
12:02It's not the 400 million dollar planes as the tithing and gifts.
12:09Billions and billions of dollars in the last year.
12:12It's not about policy making.
12:13It's about profit making.
12:16And the tariff capacity has been one of his principal tools for self-dealing.
12:21But the challenge is, and this is a challenge in terms of not bending the knee and standing firm and
12:26tall.
12:27Not just governments and foreign leaders, but corporate leaders, universities, law firms, and the media.
12:35The imperative of standing trawl.
12:38Because right now, President Xi is blushing.
12:43Crony capitalism.
12:45It's not free enterprise.
12:46It's not a healthy horse pulling a sturdy wagon, as Churchill once said.
12:49It's state capitalism.
12:52NVIDIA.
12:53The tithings.
12:55Intel.
12:56MP materials.
12:58Golden shares at U.S. Steel.
13:01Kiss the ring.
13:04That's not the America I grew up in.
13:06And it's not the America you just described.
13:09And God bless.
13:09We're inspired by it, as we all were.
13:12Hardly perfect.
13:14And so that's the imperative of this moment.
13:17To establish different relationship to this moment.
13:21And to remind people that this is temporary.
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