00:00Everything, it seems, is rigged, rigged, rigged, rigged.
00:03You don't like the economy?
00:04Rigged.
00:05What about your healthcare?
00:06Rigged.
00:07The political system?
00:09Rigged, rigged, rigged.
00:11Now, this has always been a feature of American politics, but President Donald Trump really
00:14upped the ante on this during his first run for the presidency in 2016.
00:18And he really took the cake on the idea that things are rigged when he explained that the
00:23reason he lost the 2020 election is, well, he didn't lose because, in fact, the election
00:28was rigged and stolen.
00:29And now Democrats are getting in on the action almost just as much.
00:34In Georgia, Senator John Ossoff, the incumbent Democrat, is telling voters that everything
00:39that's wrong with Washington is because somebody is getting rich at your expense.
00:43The problem is that the people's elected representatives don't represent the people.
00:48They represent the donors and special interests.
00:51In Maine, Democratic challenger Graham Plattner hopes to unseat Susan Collins, a Republican,
00:56by telling everybody that the oligarchy has everything rigged against you for them.
01:02I'm not afraid to name an enemy, and the enemy is the oligarchy.
01:05Now, this is fine so far as it goes.
01:07It has a long tradition in American politics, and politicians certainly aren't going to blame
01:11voters for what's going wrong.
01:13The problem is more and more Americans are believing them, and they're beginning to think that there's
01:19nothing they can do to change the direction of this country or change bad public policy,
01:25when in fact we have a government and we have elections that give Americans a chance to change
01:31things they don't like.
01:32What do I mean by the fact that most people now, or that many people, are beginning to
01:37question whether they have any say in anything?
01:39Take a look at the latest Harvard Youth Poll.
01:42Younger voters think that the 2026 elections, this fall's midterm elections, might in fact
01:47be rigged against them.
01:49And 50% of younger voters believe they have zero say in government.
01:53What happens when more people believe this than just younger voters?
01:57Take a look at what happened on January 6, 2021.
02:00In 2021, President Trump told his supporters that the election was rigged, and you know what
02:06happened next.
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