00:00Thanks very much for joining me.
00:02We are living in a very, very crazy and unprecedented time.
00:06And if you are feeling a bit unsettled, a bit overwhelmed, you are not alone.
00:12Welcome to the club.
00:14Let me say a few words as to where we are today, as I see it, and where we should
00:20be
00:20moving in the future.
00:22Today, as I think you all know, we have a president who is an authoritarian, who wants
00:28more and more power in his own hands and does not believe in democracy or the rule of law.
00:36He is a narcissist, and if he had his way, I suspect that half the buildings in the country
00:42would be named after him.
00:44He is a pathological liar.
00:47He is a corrupt kleptocrat who has increased his wealth and the wealth of his family by
00:53billions of dollars since he has been president.
00:55And despite campaigning against endless wars, he and his pal Netanyahu started an unprovoked
01:04war with Iran that has already killed many thousands of people throughout the region, increased
01:10the destabilization of an already unstable area, and has driven up prices here in the United
01:17States and around the world.
01:19But it is not just Trump and his policies that worry people.
01:26Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of our
01:33country.
01:34While 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck, trying to afford housing and food
01:41and health care and other basic necessities of life, the richest people in our country have
01:47never, ever had it so good.
01:49The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.
01:55And if you can believe it, one man, Mr. Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire, now owns
02:03three times more wealth than the bottom half of our nation.
02:08And that is 170 million people.
02:13Meanwhile, economists tell us that our younger generation will likely have a lower standard
02:20of living than their parents.
02:23But it's not just Trump and income and wealth inequality that is bothering people.
02:28Today, as climate scientists have been predicting for years, we are now experiencing record-breaking
02:35heat waves in the United States and throughout the world, heat waves that have caused many
02:41thousands of deaths.
02:43In addition, as a result of rising temperatures, we are seeing more and more drought, flooding,
02:49and forest fires.
02:51And yet, because of the incredibly stupid policies of Trump, we are cutting back on the development
02:59of renewable energy and putting more and more money into fossil fuels.
03:05But it's not just Trump, it's not just income and wealth inequality, it's not just climate
03:10change that people are worried about.
03:14Increasingly, Americans are concerned about the impact that AI, artificial intelligence, will
03:20have on their lives.
03:21Let us be clear, AI and robotics are the most transformational technologies in the history
03:29of humanity.
03:30They will impact our economy with the likely loss of many millions of jobs.
03:36They will eviscerate our privacy rights, undermine our democracy, and negatively impact the mental
03:43health of our children.
03:44And if AI ever becomes independent of human control, it could threaten the very existence
03:52of humanity.
03:54Oh, and by the way, our healthcare system is broken and dysfunctional.
04:01We have a major housing crisis.
04:05Some 20 million families are spending at least half of their limited incomes on housing.
04:12We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on earth.
04:16And one out of three seniors are struggling economically.
04:23So why do I mention all of these things?
04:27Honestly, really, Boy Scout honor, it is not to depress you.
04:32It is simply to remind you that the crises facing this country are enormous and in many ways unprecedented.
04:43And what that means from a political perspective is that the only way we can effectively address
04:51these crises is through bold and decisive action.
04:57Establishment politics and the same old, same old status quo policies are not going to work.
05:05That is precisely what got us here in the first place.
05:09And that is what we have got to move away from.
05:15All of which leads me to the Senate Democratic primary in Michigan on August 4th.
05:21And what's going on there is absolutely unbelievable.
05:26In that primary, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is the candidate that I and almost all progressives are supporting.
05:34He is running against an establishment Democrat, Congresswoman Hailey Stevens.
05:39As a physician, Abdul knows how broken our healthcare system is and supports Medicare for all.
05:46He understands that we need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, and that we must make
05:51it easier for workers to join unions.
05:54He understands that at a time when the billionaires have never, ever had it so good, we need progressive
06:00taxation in this country and that the billionaire class has got to start paying their fair share
06:06of taxes.
06:07He understands that AI and robotics must work for ordinary people and not just make the big
06:13tech billionaires who own the industry even richer.
06:17He understands that instead of spending huge amounts of money on the Pentagon, we should start
06:23building the millions of units of low-income and affordable housing that this country desperately needs.
06:30He understands that we can create millions of good-paying jobs by transforming our energy system
06:36system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
06:42And very importantly, he understands that at a time when so many Americans are hurting, we
06:49should not be providing the extremist Netanyahu government in Israel with billions and billions
06:56of dollars in order to destroy the Palestinian people.
07:00Now, that is what Abdul believes and what he is fighting for.
07:05And as a strong progressive, there really is nothing terribly surprising about that.
07:10That's what progressives believe.
07:12But here is what is surprising, shocking, and frankly, disgusting.
07:20It turns out that Abdul El-Sayed is not really running against Haley Stevens.
07:25He is running against AIPAC, the right-wing super PAC that supports the extremist Netanyahu government
07:34in Israel, as well as other billionaire-funded super PACs.
07:39Unbelievably, and I want you to please hear this, AIPAC and allied billionaire-funded super PACs have
07:49already spent, already spent nearly $50 million to defeat Abdul in the Democratic Senate primary.
08:00$50 million in one state, the state of Michigan, and there is still three weeks left to go.
08:08And that, it turns out, is almost 15 times all of the spending in support of Abdul.
08:19My friends, what you're looking at in Michigan right now is what a corrupt, billionaire-funded campaign finance system is
08:30all about.
08:32This is what the undermining of American democracy is all about.
08:44And let me say to my friends in Michigan, I would really urge you to vote for Abdul even if
08:52you don't agree with everything that he says.
08:54Because it is absolutely imperative that if we're going to save democracy, we have got to tell the billionaire class
09:03they cannot buy elections.
09:06So this is a lot more than whether Abdul, what Abdul's position is or what Haley Stevens positions are.
09:15This is whether or not democracy survives or we let billionaires control our political process.
09:22So, let us all stand together. Let us take on oligarchy. Let us take on a corrupt campaign finance system.
09:32Let's do everything that we can to make sure that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is the next United States Senator
09:39from Michigan.
09:40Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is the next United States Senator from Michigan.
09:41Thanks all very much.
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