00:00I have not been able to sleep for days because of Donald Trump's escalating language about
00:05how he intends to act as it pertains to the Iranian civilian population.
00:10Over the weekend, we know on Easter Sunday, he talked about bombing power plants and bridges
00:18and basically confessed in advance that his intention is to commit war crimes, and then
00:25waking up this morning to say that he will end civilization in Iran as we know it is nothing
00:31short of apocalyptic.
00:33It's been the worst time of my life.
00:36This has been a massive challenge.
00:38As the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress, and as somebody who has actually studied the
00:45region, I've lived in the Middle East, I studied international relations in both undergrad and
00:50graduate school, focused on Iranian studies, I speak the language.
00:54I know a lot about Iran and its history and the regime apparatus and how they operate,
00:59so I also am very aware of how detrimental the way Trump has gone about this war is ultimately
01:07going to be for the Iranian people.
01:09Because the way they're going about bombing civilian infrastructure, it's only the people
01:14who suffer in this.
01:15The regime, this is a gift to them.
01:18So, it's been really hard for our family, and I will say, being so vocally anti-war,
01:24I mean, I have been the subject of significant harassment and threats over the last month or
01:29so.
01:30I don't feel safe at home.
01:33We've been doxxed, got really crazy threats.
01:37It's, I think, there's a lot of both orchestrated online propaganda when you are staunchly anti-war,
01:46and also some organic from real people that's been something I never wanted to experience.
01:53So, my parents are from two different cities.
01:57My dad grew up in Tehran, which is the capital, and my mom grew up in Esfahan, which is the
02:03second or third largest city, and it's a really beautiful, historic city.
02:07My, you know, they grew up there during, you know, much better times.
02:13It was during the late Shah's rule, and while it wasn't a full democracy, the country was
02:19very open, very pro-West, and a lot more rights, you know, were had by women, for example.
02:26And I don't, I mean, neither of my parents ever wanted to leave Iran.
02:30I don't think, had the revolution not happened, I mean, I would not be sitting here today.
02:35And I think many Iranian-American families across the country have had
02:39very vigorous debates at the dinner table, and I think everyone's really on edge.
02:44I think at the beginning, a lot of people were very hopeful about
02:47change that this might bring, and I'll say I think about 30 percent of the diaspora still feels that
02:52way, but as the war has gone on, and as people have come to see that Donald Trump doesn't have
02:59good intentions, and doesn't have a plan as it pertains to a real future for Iranian people,
03:04or any sort of transition to democracy, I think reality has set in that he was selling a fantasy.
03:10We need to amp up the pressure on this administration in any way possible.
03:15I think the more and more members of Congress call for the invocation of the 25th Amendment,
03:20the better. We've seen just overnight that number go from just a couple of us to over 50 members of
03:26Congress have said that the 25th Amendment must be invoked. Now, of course, that needs to come from
03:31the Cabinet. I have been repeating over and over again that I think Vice President J.D. Vance has
03:36an opportune moment right now as somebody who wants to run for the presidency in 2028 and who has long
03:43stood against endless wars. This is his moment to show that. I worry that Trump will follow through
03:49on his threats. And I mean, we have to be honest with ourselves that we've never had a President
03:55of the United States use language like this, even if it's just words on a true social post. For the
04:02President of this country and the leader of the free world to take to social media and say we will
04:10end
04:10a civilization of a country of 90 million people, what are we still doing here if this is not the
04:20time that Americans rise up and say, no, this is not who we are, this is not what we want
04:26in our
04:26president, and that leaders, irregardless of their political party, do everything they can to stop this
04:33person. Like, this is this is math.
04:40Thank you very much.
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