Senator Jeff Merkley is escalating his criticism of President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom project, calling for greater congressional oversight, funding transparency, and a federal audit. The dispute centers on the planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, the demolition of the White House East Wing, and questions over whether congressional authorization is required for the project.
In August 2026, Merkley and other Senate Democrats requested a Government Accountability Office audit examining the project’s funding, approval process, costs, security-related spending, contractor relationships, and compliance with federal procedures. Merkley’s office says the administration has used more than $300 million in previously appropriated federal funding, while the administration has defended the project and its funding approach.
The legal fight has also continued in federal courts, with the Supreme Court later allowing above-ground construction to proceed while litigation continues. The controversy raises broader questions about executive authority, congressional control of federal spending, historic preservation, and transparency surrounding major White House construction projects.
#JeffMerkley #Trump #WhiteHouseBallroom #TrumpBallroom #WhiteHouseBallroomProject #GildedBallroom #TrumpNews #MerkleyVsTrump #WhiteHouseNews #USPolitics #Congress #Senate #CongressionalOversight #WhiteHouseEastWing #EastWingDemolition #TrumpAdministration #GAOAudit #GovernmentAccountability #FederalFunding #TrumpBallroomFunding #WhiteHouseConstruction #SupremeCourt #DCCircuit #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #WashingtonDC #USGovernment
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In August 2026, Merkley and other Senate Democrats requested a Government Accountability Office audit examining the project’s funding, approval process, costs, security-related spending, contractor relationships, and compliance with federal procedures. Merkley’s office says the administration has used more than $300 million in previously appropriated federal funding, while the administration has defended the project and its funding approach.
The legal fight has also continued in federal courts, with the Supreme Court later allowing above-ground construction to proceed while litigation continues. The controversy raises broader questions about executive authority, congressional control of federal spending, historic preservation, and transparency surrounding major White House construction projects.
#JeffMerkley #Trump #WhiteHouseBallroom #TrumpBallroom #WhiteHouseBallroomProject #GildedBallroom #TrumpNews #MerkleyVsTrump #WhiteHouseNews #USPolitics #Congress #Senate #CongressionalOversight #WhiteHouseEastWing #EastWingDemolition #TrumpAdministration #GAOAudit #GovernmentAccountability #FederalFunding #TrumpBallroomFunding #WhiteHouseConstruction #SupremeCourt #DCCircuit #PoliticalNews #BreakingNews #WashingtonDC #USGovernment
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NewsTranscript
00:00:00The ballroom boondoggle is symbolic of so much. First, because he tore down the
00:00:05East Wing, which is often referred to as the People's House within the White
00:00:10House compound. It is where the the public comes in and a lot of events are
00:00:16held. And second, he did it without any sort of review or authority or
00:00:23budget approval or law or anything else that made that possible. And he basically
00:00:27said, if I tear it down quickly, I can get it down before anybody can stop me. And
00:00:31that's what he did. But symbolically, just watching that thing being torn to
00:00:35pieces, that touched a lot of people's hearts and not in a happy way. And then
00:00:40to plan something that's like Louis XIV, a massive gold-plated ballroom. And then
00:00:49it's also symbolic of corporations saying, well, we'll fund it, but there's
00:00:54corporations seeking contracts in favor. So that's a conflict of interest. And then
00:00:59it turns out they're not going to fund it after all or just very little of it. And
00:01:04it's taxpayers. And the cost is now upward to a billion dollars for his gold-plated
00:01:09ballroom boondoggle. It's symbolic of so many pieces. I feel like the reflecting
00:01:14pool is kind of symbolic in a way, too. It was a no-compete contract. And like it created
00:01:23a swamp. And we're talking about a swamp of corruption, a mile deep. And then it was
00:01:29blue, but it faded to gray. And I just felt like it feels like so much of what the president's
00:01:34doing is sucking the color and joy out of the world with these corrosive, corrupt, conflict-of-interest
00:01:41practices. But the ballroom right now is on a stay from a court that said, no, you didn't
00:01:49follow the law. You have to quit. I don't know if the machinery is still turning there
00:01:53because the president doesn't always follow what the courts say. That's another problem.
00:01:58If the courts say stop, and there have been dozens of incidents now, I think over a hundred,
00:02:03in which the courts have said stop, and the executive branch has continued. So that's another,
00:02:08like, breakdown of the separation of powers. Thank you. And go, well, that would never happen
00:02:14here. But it's happening here. So first, I want to thank the groups that helped publicize
00:02:20Common Cause, Project on Government Oversight, or also known as POGO, Indivisible, and CRU.
00:02:28And if you associate with any of those groups, can you wave your hand? Thank you all very much,
00:02:34and I appreciate those groups.
00:02:39And if there are any local elected officials, I'd like you to just have a chance, if you'd
00:02:44like, to stand up and introduce yourself and let folks know you're here. Is there anyone?
00:02:49Boom, boom, boom, boom. Yes, go ahead. Great to have you. Anyone else?
00:02:59I cannot hear you. You cannot hear me?
00:03:08Oh, you cannot hear him. We're getting, okay, great. Okay.
00:03:12Steve Platt, Bend City Council. Very nice to meet you.
00:03:16So good to have you. Welcome. And anyone else?
00:03:21Well, I always appreciate our elected officials, because when they run for office, they know the challenges,
00:03:26but there's always the new and even more difficult challenges after they're in office.
00:03:32It's because the easy things already got fixed, and so you're left with all the tough things.
00:03:37But so what we're going to do is I'm going to kind of get us a little more familiar.
00:03:43I asked my team to compile major different forms of what I consider corrupt activity that didn't exist two years
00:03:54ago.
00:03:55And then after I've gotten, as we go through this, hopefully you each have a page.
00:04:00If anybody didn't get a page, please feel free to wave your hand and we'll get a copy to you.
00:04:05Everybody get one on the way in?
00:04:07And then if you can, think about the five of these items that you have the most concern about.
00:04:16And then what we're going to do after we work our way through these is we have the same 16
00:04:21items lined up, one through 16,
00:04:24and we're going to do an exercise and have you go put your star or are they circles?
00:04:33Circles, your five circles on the ones you consider to be the most dangerous or problematic for our country.
00:04:40So kind of to review, now I can put on this hat.
00:04:46The president sues his own administration and then has his own attorney general basically produce a settlement that gives him
00:04:59two things.
00:05:00One is a $1.8 billion slush fund that he can hand out to whomever he wants.
00:05:05And the second is immunity from tax audits.
00:05:09So that's number one.
00:05:11So you might just think about which things are the most dangerous.
00:05:14I mean, I've never even heard of that happening in any other country for it to happen here.
00:05:20But second, elected officials issue their own cryptocurrencies and pocket the profits.
00:05:27Now, the first one of these that happened was the Trump meme coin.
00:05:33And realize that generating these coins costs basically nothing.
00:05:39But then people buy them and the money goes in the president's pocket.
00:05:43And the president held a competition last year for the 200 people who bought the most, got invited to a
00:05:52special event at his golf club with him there.
00:05:56And then he said the 20 who were the top group among the 200 were going to get a special
00:06:02event at the White House.
00:06:03I don't think that event actually happened, but that's what he was promising.
00:06:07So I went out to protest.
00:06:11And these limousines and big black suburbans are arriving.
00:06:17And a lot of people from all over the world bought massive amounts of these coins in order to curry
00:06:24access to the president.
00:06:25So that's the number two form of influence buying.
00:06:29Number three, foreign governments buying influence through cryptocurrencies.
00:06:34For example, United Arab Emirates wanted these highly classified, I guess classified is not the right word,
00:06:44chips that do phenomenal calculations that were for security reasons that we do not sell them to UAE, like they
00:06:53were off limits.
00:06:54And so UAE bought $2 billion of a different kind of crypto coin.
00:07:03It's called a stable coin.
00:07:04Basically, if I'm the president, someone gives me $2 billion of American greenbacks.
00:07:13I give $2 billion of my stable coin.
00:07:20And I get to keep that $2 billion until they ask for it back, exchange it back.
00:07:26And I get to keep the interest.
00:07:27So at 4%, that's $80 million a year going into the president's pocket.
00:07:32And just after that, the United States approved those computer chips that UAE wanted that we did not approve before.
00:07:43So that's the third.
00:07:45Fourth, members of Congress trading stocks on industries.
00:07:49I led the battle in the House and Senate well over a decade ago where I started promoting end-to
00:07:55-stock trading.
00:07:56Do you all think we should end stock trading here in the United States by members of individual stocks, by
00:08:02members of the House and Senate?
00:08:05Well, we haven't got it done yet, but the movement has grown.
00:08:09We have a lot more people sponsoring bills, supporting bills.
00:08:13I have folks across the aisle starting to help out.
00:08:17In fact, in the last State of the Union, Trump said he supported an end-to-stock trading by electeds.
00:08:28However, it hasn't ended yet.
00:08:32So I'm hoping he'll really actually help me get that bill passed.
00:08:37Because here's the thing.
00:08:38We've had folks who are controlling drug policy on pharmaceuticals, on key committees,
00:08:44who are trading massive amounts of pharmaceutical stocks at the same time.
00:08:48That type of conflict of interest.
00:08:51And it seems like members of Congress should be serving the public, not serving their portfolios.
00:08:58So it's an insidious form of corrupting policy.
00:09:03And then we have actually another form of stock trading, which is being done by the President.
00:09:09And that's buying stock.
00:09:11So this is number five.
00:09:14Buying stock in companies by the President and his family right before there's a big federal contract given.
00:09:24So the stock goes way up in value right after that contract.
00:09:28It's happened with Dell.
00:09:29It happened with Nvidia.
00:09:32And if that's not insider trading, I don't know what is.
00:09:37But since the President supported an end-to-stock trading, I'd like him to maybe end his own stock trading
00:09:44for his personal profit
00:09:45and doing it on insider information.
00:09:48So that's another form of corruption.
00:09:53The President awarding contracts to companies, this is number six now, in which he, his family, or his allies are
00:09:59investors.
00:10:01You've probably heard many of these stories.
00:10:03There are just so many different companies now where the President and his family buy up stock in those, or
00:10:12award contracts,
00:10:14award contracts to companies in which they've already invested.
00:10:19Okay, number seven.
00:10:20I'm going to try to speed up because there are so many of these.
00:10:22And be thinking about what are the top five that you're most concerned about.
00:10:27And no, you can't have more than five stickers.
00:10:30Only five.
00:10:31So the President redirects without Congressional authorization taxpayer dollars to pet projects.
00:10:38These are things like the billion dollar gold-plated ballroom boondoggle, or the memorial arch, or redoing the reflecting pool.
00:10:50Under our government, the separation of powers, Congress is supposed to authorize and appropriate money to make something happen.
00:11:00It's the President's responsibility under our Constitution to then execute what has been authorized and funded.
00:11:07So when the President starts doing things that have not been authorized or have not been funded, he's breaking the
00:11:16separation of powers.
00:11:17He's becoming more a king, because kings decide, rather than the leader of a republic where Congress sets those.
00:11:26Congress sets them by law, which also means presidents sign off on them, so they have a say in it,
00:11:31but they don't get to do it on their own.
00:11:32And now we have a President doing it on his own.
00:11:36So that was redirecting, without Congressional authorization, taxpayer dollars.
00:11:41Did you see that the initial ballroom, it was going to be all donations by companies?
00:11:47By the way, companies that want key contracts.
00:11:50So that's also kind of a form of corruption.
00:11:52But now it's going to cost upwards of a billion dollars to rebuild the East Wing, and it's going to
00:11:58be mostly paid for by taxpayer dollars.
00:12:00So there's a big shift in what's going on there.
00:12:03The next number eight, so when our country was founded, the leader said, monarchs put their faces on coins and
00:12:14buildings.
00:12:16Presidents don't, because we are a place where power flows up from the people to the decision makers, rather than
00:12:23down from a king.
00:12:25And so it's representative, putting your face and name on things is representative of being a monarch or a king
00:12:33or a dictator, not of being a president.
00:12:36But now we have a president who's putting his name on like everything.
00:12:40Passport, park pass.
00:12:44You've probably heard about the Trumpian coins that are going to be minted that are kind of a fake gold
00:12:50color.
00:12:51They're not gold plated, they're not gold coins, but they are a bronzey gold-esque thing.
00:12:58So that's kind of, maybe it's not money corruption, but it is a change in how we think about the
00:13:04role of a president.
00:13:06Number nine, public officials use insider information to win prediction market bets.
00:13:12This is where the Senate did pass a rule for senators saying we would not bet, we could not, we're
00:13:20not allowed to bet on prediction markets.
00:13:22Yay for that. One little piece of taking on something.
00:13:27But it's not law. There are no defined penalties. The House is not covered. The president is, and the top
00:13:35executives are not covered.
00:13:36And by the way, there's a whole bunch of prediction market bets that should never happen.
00:13:41There should never be bets on elections.
00:13:43Because we have a system under Citizens United where individuals can anonymously run a campaign against someone, a smear campaign,
00:13:55even without the approval of the candidate they want to help.
00:13:58And if you have the ability to bet on millions and millions of dollars on election and then secretly do
00:14:05a smear campaign to win your bet,
00:14:07we have changed an election from the process of selecting the person best qualified to serve into the process of
00:14:18winning money.
00:14:19All right. So that was number nine. All right. My team's saying speed it up. All right.
00:14:26The president abuses government powers to coerce political opponents.
00:14:30This is like when he proceeded to stop the security clearances for law firms or the research grants for universities
00:14:39in order to get them to do his bidding.
00:14:42Number 11. Okay. I'm on speed dial now.
00:14:45The president threatens broadcast licenses to silence criticism.
00:14:49This was both threatening the broadcast licenses but also mergers for the media.
00:14:54If they put things on the air he didn't like. It's really an interference with free speech.
00:14:59The president accepts lavish gifts from foreign governments.
00:15:02The most biggest example of that is the president accepting a 747 luxury jet to become the next Air Force
00:15:12One.
00:15:12It costs us more to refit it and we, the government, we, the taxpayers paid the bill than it would
00:15:18have cost to complete the other ones that were under construction.
00:15:22And he intends to keep that plane when he leaves office, have it associated with his presidential library so he
00:15:29can fly around the world on an Air Force One equivalent plane.
00:15:34The Supreme Court accepting gifts from people with cases before the court.
00:15:40This, this is just like the Supreme Court, are you kidding me?
00:15:44Every other court has ethics rules except for the Supreme Court.
00:15:47So we've got Supreme Court justices taking the fanciest of vacations and proceeding to accept things like a decked out
00:15:55bus, a $300,000 bus, as gifts from people who have issues before the court.
00:16:01That's, it's horrific.
00:16:03Billionaires and corporations, number 14. Billionaires and corporations spend massive sums of money in elections.
00:16:08This really is like Elon Musk bragging about the 500 million and under Citizens United.
00:16:14You have groups like the, the, the crypto world put $40 million into an Ohio Senate race over basically a
00:16:22two to three day period.
00:16:24Massive amounts of, of money under the Citizens United.
00:16:28And I just, it's like that money is so insidious in, in corrupting the outcome of, of legislation.
00:16:37And yet we, it's, so it's, it's a huge problem.
00:16:41Okay.
00:16:43President, number 15.
00:16:44President using special government employees to direct programs despite them having undisclosed conflicts of interest.
00:16:51Elon Musk is kind of the poster child for that.
00:16:54And 16.
00:16:55Presidential family members and close associates conduct official negotiations with foreign governments while also closing private business deals at the
00:17:05same time.
00:17:06Okay.
00:17:07That's 16.
00:17:08And there's some we left out.
00:17:09The pardons.
00:17:11Have you heard about the pardons?
00:17:12How many people have, have paid huge sums in order to get, to get pardons?
00:17:16All right.
00:17:17So now take the next five minutes.
00:17:20Pick, go up to those and put your, your, your, your circles on the five that you think are the
00:17:26worst.
00:17:26So off we go.
00:17:29We'll come back in five minutes.
00:17:44If you are unable to go to the board and need a staff assist, please raise your hand and we'll
00:17:49grab your stickers and place them for you if you're interested.
00:18:09Okay.
00:18:09Everybody agrees.
00:18:10You said you left me some, you left me some materials on that?
00:18:14You left me some materials on that?
00:18:16Yes.
00:18:17I left them there with your guy outside.
00:18:18Okay.
00:18:19Great.
00:18:19Great.
00:18:20Great.
00:18:20Okay.
00:18:20Great.
00:18:21Okay.
00:18:21The President, the President calls us Democrats, we call them Trump Publicans.
00:18:26Remember that.
00:18:27Trump Publicans.
00:18:29They are not Congressmen.
00:18:31I am, I'm just trying to stay out of the name calling and more be into like how do we
00:18:35fix these challenges.
00:18:36But I, well, but we need to get the people who are disaffected from the Republican Party to vote for
00:18:45the Democrats.
00:18:46We should say they are not, the Republican Party doesn't exist.
00:18:50Yes.
00:18:51No, I hear you.
00:18:52But here at this town hall, I'm representing Democrats and Republicans.
00:18:55We're trying to solve these problems.
00:18:57I understand that the fundamental thing that Trump did is he destroyed the Republican Party.
00:19:02I hear you.
00:19:03I watched all the, you know, the, the, the dialogue when, when, when he, you know, had the eight Republican
00:19:15candidates and he just tried to, I mean that's, that was the key.
00:19:21Thank you for coming and thank you for your comments.
00:19:23Thank you very much.
00:19:24You're welcome.
00:19:24You're welcome.
00:19:25You're welcome.
00:19:25And I greatly appreciate being heard for on your exposition.
00:19:29You're very welcome.
00:19:31You're welcome.
00:19:32Hi there.
00:19:33How you doing?
00:19:34I'm Sue Bastien.
00:19:35Hi Sue.
00:19:36And I was in D.C. last month.
00:19:40Okay.
00:19:40To lobby Congress about the Citizens United.
00:19:43Yes.
00:19:44And I thought it's too late because they've already shredded the Constitution.
00:19:48But, you know, all the times I've been to D.C., this was by far the worst.
00:19:54I mean, I've been shot and gassed and thrown in jail there.
00:19:58But this was the worst.
00:19:59And I'll tell you why.
00:20:00It's because it's a total military police state now.
00:20:05I just could not believe it.
00:20:07And it's just hideous.
00:20:10And I was going to ask you this.
00:20:11Kind of the, the authoritarian influence.
00:20:14The whole gang.
00:20:14And I was going to ask you this question.
00:20:19Okay.
00:20:19But it's in a folder that I've given with your people.
00:20:23Okay.
00:20:23And this is what happened in France.
00:20:26And I see the same thing happening here.
00:20:30That organizations like the ACLU and Concerned United Citizens with Science.
00:20:40Yeah.
00:20:41They're doing a great job.
00:20:43But the politicians are not.
00:20:45And so I'm so thankful you're here.
00:20:48We have you on the west coast.
00:20:50And we have Bernie on the east coast.
00:20:52There's stickers up.
00:20:52Thank you so much.
00:20:53And we have John Ossoff in-
00:20:55Georgia.
00:20:56In Georgia.
00:20:57Yes.
00:20:58You're welcome.
00:20:59Hi.
00:20:59Greetings.
00:21:00Hello there.
00:21:00We met.
00:21:03Number five.
00:21:04No bid contracts.
00:21:06No debt contracts?
00:21:08The reflector pool they didn't bid on.
00:21:11Oh I know.
00:21:12I know.
00:21:13Contracts that are not competed.
00:21:14Yeah.
00:21:15Yeah.
00:21:15No.
00:21:15They're dedicated to France.
00:21:17Yeah.
00:21:19I don't know if you just heard.
00:21:20But there was a contract for legal services for immigrant children to make sure they have representation.
00:21:25Yeah.
00:21:25I heard it on the news this morning.
00:21:26The contract was given to a company that does not have any expertise in that.
00:21:29Head Start.
00:21:30Those people who are getting left by the lawyers are doing pro bono work.
00:21:35Yeah.
00:21:36Yeah.
00:21:40Just for being amazing.
00:21:42Amazing.
00:21:44Thank you for coming.
00:21:45Thank you for being engaged.
00:21:47So.
00:21:47So.
00:21:49By the way.
00:21:50This is.
00:21:51This.
00:21:52Take a look at this.
00:21:53Do we have a copy up here at the podium?
00:21:55Which thing?
00:21:56The book.
00:21:57Ring the window.
00:21:57Okay.
00:21:58Okay.
00:21:58Great.
00:21:59Great.
00:22:00Okay.
00:22:01So.
00:22:02I'm in Oregon.
00:22:03I'm staying in the Ice Saints because you are still here.
00:22:06I know.
00:22:06I'm still here.
00:22:07It's like.
00:22:08It's tough.
00:22:08It's tough.
00:22:09It's tough.
00:22:09It's been a few years now.
00:22:11But I'm still here.
00:22:12So.
00:22:13Do you want to mingle over there and walk around?
00:22:15No.
00:22:16No.
00:22:16Because I think it will slow things down.
00:22:17I get people.
00:22:17I want people to come.
00:22:18Come on.
00:22:19Come on.
00:22:20Come on.
00:22:20Come on back.
00:22:20Hi there.
00:22:21Hi there.
00:22:22Hi.
00:22:23I'm the Vice President of my local union here at COCC for Classified.
00:22:25Oh great.
00:22:25Great.
00:22:25I was like technically I'm a little elected.
00:22:27No.
00:22:28I was like no.
00:22:28Yeah.
00:22:29Okay.
00:22:29Thank you so much for coming.
00:22:30I came right after work.
00:22:31I brought one of my co-workers to.
00:22:32Oh thank you.
00:22:33And to which union?
00:22:35I'm in the Classified Union.
00:22:36Okay.
00:22:37I'm the Vice President of, I'm one of the Vice Presidents.
00:22:42We have two.
00:22:42That's awesome.
00:22:43But thank you so much.
00:22:44You're so welcome.
00:22:45Hey Amy.
00:22:46Oh no.
00:22:46Amy.
00:22:46No.
00:22:46You're campaigning for Amy.
00:22:47Yes.
00:22:48Hello.
00:22:49Good to see you.
00:22:50I'm so grateful you're there.
00:22:53I'm still in this awful game.
00:22:57Is there, the Republicans had the 2025 plan and they've just been.
00:23:05Yes.
00:23:06I know.
00:23:06Project 2025.
00:23:08When the Democrats take it back in November.
00:23:10Do we have a plan to take back all of this policy?
00:23:15Well, I am certainly pressing for us to have such a plan.
00:23:19So, it kind of just split three categories.
00:23:22One around authoritarianism.
00:23:23One around corruption.
00:23:24And one around the cost of living on healthcare, housing, education, good paying jobs.
00:23:30So.
00:23:31They want to say thank you real quick.
00:23:33Okay.
00:23:34Every time I call, I thank you and your staff and I've cried and so thank you for the work.
00:23:38Thank you for coming today.
00:23:42Hello.
00:23:42Greetings.
00:23:43Follow you closely.
00:23:44All right.
00:23:45Let's get started.
00:23:45Okay folks.
00:23:48Okay.
00:23:51Okay.
00:23:51Tell us if you want the posters up here.
00:23:56I want you to bring up the top three.
00:24:01You don't have to count them carefully.
00:24:08Okay.
00:24:09So, what we're going to do now is my team is going to bring up the posters that have, that
00:24:15appear at least on first glance to have the largest number of dots.
00:24:19I see all of them got dots.
00:24:22There's a lot of really serious issues here.
00:24:25And while I'm waiting for them to bring those up, I wanted to draw your attention to this
00:24:31pamphlet which we had on your way in.
00:24:34If you didn't get a copy on the way in, you can get a copy on the way in.
00:24:37Ring the alarm bells.
00:24:39And this is less about corruption than it is about authoritarian takeover of our nation.
00:24:46And what happened was at the President's inaugural address for his second term, I was sitting maybe
00:24:54about 12 feet away, and I noticed that everything he said in his inaugural speech was very different
00:25:02from anyone I'd heard before.
00:25:03Normally it's, I won.
00:25:05I have an agenda.
00:25:06I have a mandate.
00:25:06I'm going to work with Congress to get it passed.
00:25:09We're going to move fast.
00:25:11But instead it was nothing about Congress.
00:25:14It was all about I'm going the executive order here, executive order there, executive order here.
00:25:20And it was like a king issuing fiats or orders.
00:25:26And standing behind him were billionaires.
00:25:32You know, Jeffrey Bezos was behind him and Elon Musk was behind him and a few others.
00:25:37And wow, I was like, these two things are very different.
00:25:43And a month or so in, I just started to get, we look like we're sliding into an authoritarian world.
00:25:51And we've heard of republics failing now across the world, not from men with guns storming the executive offices
00:26:03or home or the Congress, but from authoritarian personalities destroying a republic from the inside.
00:26:11So I read the literature about places that have slid, have been democracies that slid into being, being basically dictatorships.
00:26:24And it's happened in places as diverse as Venezuela or at one point Chile, at Nicaragua, Hungary, Russia, Turkey.
00:26:39I mean, there's many examples.
00:26:40And looking at those examples, I put together the 10 strategies.
00:26:46So there are the first page in here, the 10 rules of Trump's authoritarian playbook.
00:26:51And so this is a little bit different than turning to corruption, but it is a form of corruption of
00:26:58our democracy.
00:26:59You fire the referees, you get rid of the inspector generals.
00:27:03You put loyalists in charge of things who will follow orders even when they break norms or laws of the
00:27:09constitution.
00:27:09You demonize one group of individuals in the country to rally hate behind your cause.
00:27:17In this case, demonizing recent immigrants.
00:27:20You disregard due process.
00:27:22You tell ICE they don't need a warrant in order to knock down a door.
00:27:27You silence free speech or discourage free speech.
00:27:31You steal the power of the purse from Congress.
00:27:33You abuse government authorities.
00:27:35You weaponize the justice system with an enemy's list.
00:27:38You use the military to suppress dissent.
00:27:41And you rig the next election.
00:27:43I wrote one page on each of these asking the question, are they happening now in the United States of
00:27:48America?
00:27:49Are any of you concerned?
00:27:51Raise your hand if you're concerned about these things happening here.
00:27:54Isn't it incredible?
00:27:55Whoever thought, whoever imagined that this could happen here?
00:27:59Like, no, we've had two centuries of practice.
00:28:02We have norms to establish.
00:28:04It couldn't happen here.
00:28:05So that's the ring the alarm bells.
00:28:07It is very much happening.
00:28:09And this coming November election, with all the things that Trump is doing to try to rig it, it's super
00:28:14dangerous.
00:28:15But there's also things that citizens can do.
00:28:18And so we inserted this, your power as a citizen.
00:28:22The most important things are protest and doing everything you can to make sure in the next election you reject
00:28:30authoritarian practices as you vote.
00:28:34And so let's do everything we can to save our republic.
00:28:41And now we'll shift back to the corruption side.
00:28:44And what do we got?
00:28:45Come on over.
00:28:47All right.
00:28:48So what we're going to do is I'm going to read the issue and then have folks raise their hand
00:28:55who are concerned about it.
00:28:56We're going to take comments and we'll run the microphone around the room.
00:28:59Is this the first one, the highest?
00:29:02Okay.
00:29:02Issue number 11, the president threatens broadcast licenses to silence criticism.
00:29:09There we go.
00:29:11All right.
00:29:12So raise your hand if this was something that you put your circle on.
00:29:18And let's get some comments.
00:29:20Okay.
00:29:20Quickly, whoever has a microphone, give it to somebody with their hand raised.
00:29:24And maybe start with just your name if you would.
00:29:35So it seems a no-brainer.
00:29:42All right.
00:29:43Fine.
00:29:44This issue just seemed to be right out of the gate unconstitutional, so kind of a no-brainer.
00:29:50Okay.
00:29:52It made the point.
00:29:53It's absolutely unconstitutional.
00:29:55And we have, you know, freedom of speech.
00:29:58But I have been astounded by the number of folks who have told me how careful they are about what
00:30:03they say in their workplace now for fear of getting their organization targeted by, because, hey, maybe you, your organization
00:30:13is getting a grant.
00:30:14Or maybe they need cooperation in some other way from a federal program.
00:30:17Okay.
00:30:18Who else raised their hand would like to comment on this?
00:30:19Okay.
00:30:20Let's get the microphone to somebody else who has their hand up.
00:30:23And then, Stacy, how about bring it over here?
00:30:27I think it's important that you realize that when you control the media, they control people and how they feel.
00:30:33And we have to be careful about what we're listening to and propaganda.
00:30:38To me, it's a powerful weapon to control the broadcasting systems.
00:30:42So that's really important to me.
00:30:46When you control the media, you control how people feel.
00:30:50And that's so true.
00:30:52And one of the things that is eating away at our republic is that, well, I've been around a few
00:31:01decades now.
00:31:02So I'm going to turn the clock back to the 70s and 80s when I was first coming out of
00:31:09high school and getting involved.
00:31:11And you still had three networks that basically broadcast over the air.
00:31:17They were subject to kind of a political neutrality where they had to present two sides of an issue.
00:31:23They often gave information that wasn't accurate, but everybody got the same information.
00:31:28And yet we still had huge debates over Vietnam, huge debates over the question of civil rights.
00:31:35But we started with the same information.
00:31:37Now we can see how much the media controls has an impact on how we frame issues because we've got
00:31:45media that plays to the right.
00:31:48And like Fox News, we've got media that plays the left like MSNOW.
00:31:53And depending on what media you're tuned into, you get a very different picture of the world.
00:31:58So changing or influencing the media, a major tactic of an authoritarian leader, is extraordinarily dangerous for democracy.
00:32:09So thank you for making that point.
00:32:10Who's next?
00:32:11Right over here.
00:32:14My name is Joe Grassi.
00:32:16Everybody who knows me knows I like to talk.
00:32:19But December 15th is my birthday, and it was also the day that they ratified the Ten Amendments.
00:32:27Most people should look up their birthday and see what happened in the past to give them a clue.
00:32:34I would suggest that we have a day of celebration on that day.
00:32:39And the First Amendment isn't their, you know, freedom of speech.
00:32:45Our forefathers knew what was important.
00:32:49They needed to hear from us.
00:32:50That's why you and Wyden have been coming for all these times.
00:32:54I worked with the Independent Media Center in Seattle during WTO.
00:32:58I helped start the KPOV here, the local community radio.
00:33:03And you have to push the envelope.
00:33:06There was a real hard time getting pirate radio to become low powered.
00:33:13So there is going to be a struggle.
00:33:15People don't want to hear it.
00:33:16But if we have two ears, we're supposed to listen twice as much as what we speak.
00:33:23So thanks for listening.
00:33:26Yeah, thank you, Joe.
00:33:28And one of the things I'm concerned about is the consolidation of media ownership
00:33:33because we have companies that own like hundreds of radio stations.
00:33:39And there is now effort to allow cross ownership, so radio and television or newspapers, radio, television.
00:33:47And there is just last week there was announcement of a new potential rule that would allow in a local
00:33:57market for one company to own multiple of the outlets in a local market.
00:34:02So you're hearing basically may only hear one voice.
00:34:06How many people think that's a great idea?
00:34:09How many think that's a terrible idea?
00:34:11Amen.
00:34:12I hope that if that becomes a rule, I hope we can use the Congressional Review Act to strike it
00:34:18down.
00:34:19Okay, who else under this topic?
00:34:21I see right here and I see clear in the back.
00:34:26And then Stacy, way in the back.
00:34:30Oh, thank you.
00:34:32Hello.
00:34:33My name is Natalia Krass.
00:34:35I'm a college student here in Oregon.
00:34:37And as a young person, I think this really pertains to what I'm going through and how I'm supposed to
00:34:42be growing up and, you know, navigating this world.
00:34:45And I love to learn.
00:34:47I love to educate myself and I love to ask questions.
00:34:49And if everything is silenced, if we don't see both sides of the story, if we're not being told everything,
00:34:55how are we supposed to ask questions and have critical thinking and critically evaluate issues and then come to an
00:35:00independent decision and be able to grow from that and learn from that?
00:35:03Because these arguments, when they're only one side and you have no way to back it up or looking at
00:35:08the other side, it's very shaky.
00:35:10And how are we supposed to build strong future leaders who don't actually know what's going on and what's been
00:35:15happening?
00:35:15And as someone who wants to, you know, change the world, right, I'd like to know what's going on and
00:35:21what I'm being faced with and actually hear both sides and then make my own opinion and also talk to
00:35:26people from other opinions.
00:35:28Because isn't that the beauty of it, to explain your side and see theirs and come to a compromise or
00:35:33a solution?
00:35:33So I just think that that's really pressing, especially in today's age with social media and everything. We should be
00:35:37able to know what's happening.
00:35:42I really strive to hear both points of view. On the way up here from the coast, I was listening
00:35:50to AM 720, the Lars Larson show.
00:35:55That's one source of a side I don't hear too much. Well, very different from, but I hear also that
00:36:07story. I hear it from my Republican colleagues.
00:36:10I hear it from the literature I read and before town halls. I watch Fox News to find out kind
00:36:15of what are people going to be asking about from two different directions.
00:36:18But it's hard. I mean, it is hard to deliberately bridge. So my wife Mary was back visiting friends from
00:36:28high school in Minneapolis.
00:36:31And they asked her if we'd do a little mini town hall because they had some questions for me.
00:36:38And so they get on and they started asking me questions. And that group of friends from high school are
00:36:47a more conservative group.
00:36:48And I would explain my viewpoint. And finally, one of them said, look, Jeff, how are we supposed to know
00:36:55what's real?
00:36:57How are we supposed to know? We're raising our kids. We have jobs. We hear a certain viewpoint expressed on
00:37:04the channel we watch for news.
00:37:07And now we hear from you something very different. How are we supposed to know?
00:37:11That's a really tough question to answer. But I do encourage folks, read and listen to diverse things that, things
00:37:20that don't reinforce your preexisting viewpoints to, you know,
00:37:25make allowance for the possibility that there's another way of framing and looking at an issue that we need to
00:37:30understand. So that's a great point.
00:37:32You're studying here at the community college?
00:37:35I attend the University of Oregon.
00:37:37University of Oregon. All right.
00:37:40Duck.
00:37:43Okay.
00:37:49Hi there. My name is Matt Samuels. I'm a student here at COCC.
00:37:55And I just wanted to bring the issue 11 back up because it's Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Jon Oliver.
00:38:05I like to think I gained my voice from comedians.
00:38:10And it's amazing that comedians nowadays are becoming more of like a political influence, especially on my generation, maybe even
00:38:18the older generation.
00:38:19But I think it's important to find your voice in this day and age.
00:38:25And when that influence above us, you know, from social media, from Stephen Colbert, when that is our influence, it's
00:38:35really important to have that, that exposure,
00:38:39to have someone holding, even if it's a comedian, holding someone else accountable.
00:38:45And when that's taken away, the safety that I feel to speak out, to have my voice heard, that wavers
00:38:55a little bit.
00:38:55But for those of you who may know me, I'm downstairs in the fitness area.
00:39:03That's where I'm tending to find my voice these days, just at work.
00:39:08And you spoke about, you know, employees, people at work being silenced.
00:39:14I choose to use my voice in those moments and strike up conversations with people I disagree with, because I
00:39:23think you can do it anywhere.
00:39:24It can be done anywhere.
00:39:25A conversation can be had at any time.
00:39:28And I think it's important that we remember we have that voice, and we deserve to voice how we feel.
00:39:36So that's just what, that's something I wanted to talk about.
00:39:41Thanks so much for raising that.
00:39:44I was thinking about.
00:39:51All right, we're going to pivot soon, but I was thinking about how family dinners around holidays have become a
00:40:01challenge.
00:40:05Because while you say you can do it anytime, anywhere, right?
00:40:08But with both sides, not just saying the other side is wrong, but saying they are evil, the emotions get
00:40:19very, very high.
00:40:20And I think it has caused to make it harder to have the sorts of conversations.
00:40:25I feel like the conversation almost needs to start with, look, let's talk about our views, but let's do it
00:40:32in a way recognizing that both of us would benefit from hearing each other.
00:40:39And if you don't, if a person doesn't agree with that, it may not be a productive conversation, but it's
00:40:44hard.
00:40:45It's hard, because that intensity, the chasm between the parties is enormous.
00:40:52When I was first an intern for Senator Hatfield, the two parties overlapped tremendously, and all kinds of coalitions existed
00:41:03between Democrats and Republicans,
00:41:05and you didn't have the cable television channels and the social media on top of it.
00:41:10Now it's harder, and I just want to recognize that it's gotten emotional harder.
00:41:14Okay, we're going to switch to the next topic.
00:41:17Issue number seven, the president redirects, without congressional authorization, taxpayer dollars to his pet projects.
00:41:25Raise your hand if you mark this, and we'll get a microphone in somebody's hand.
00:41:29Team, just find somebody close by who wants to comment.
00:41:33Keep your hands up if you'd like to say something.
00:41:35Okay, right here, and then right here.
00:41:38All I can say is that's just terrific.
00:41:40I never thought it would happen in my lifetime.
00:41:42My name is Joni.
00:41:43Joni says it's horrific.
00:41:46Horrific.
00:41:47Okay.
00:41:47And then it would never happen in her lifetime.
00:41:49Yes.
00:41:51Hi.
00:41:52I am most concerned about our scientific literacy in this country and what he has done to NIH,
00:42:00which has been the crown jewel in government service and in the world.
00:42:08And he's just destroyed it.
00:42:12And I have a lot of friends who, you know, are having trouble with their grants because of that.
00:42:18So most concerned about the scientific research enterprise.
00:42:22You know, it's a huge powering force here.
00:42:24We've got a lot of scientists who are now going overseas to get jobs.
00:42:27We have a lot of post-graduate students who have a specialty whose grants have been canceled, who have basically,
00:42:34what do I do now?
00:42:35You know, what I spent many years becoming an expert on a little slice of science.
00:42:40What do I do with my life and how will I actually contribute?
00:42:45And we are seeing researchers, for example, our agricultural research stations, a ton of those folks were fired.
00:42:53I got on the line with folks around Oregon, got on line with the administration.
00:42:57We said, what are you doing with, you know, our shellfish scientists being fired or our wheat, dry land wheat
00:43:05researcher being fired or our grapes and berries researcher being.
00:43:08And we got most of them rehired.
00:43:10But the point is, tons of research grants have been left unacted on or canceled or clawed back.
00:43:20And all of that, like the insanity of it.
00:43:24And by the way, did you hear about the maritime sensors that are off the coast?
00:43:33So when I found out about that they were pulling the sensors out of the water with these extraordinary arrays
00:43:40that are essential to understanding the California current,
00:43:43the upwelling of nutrients, the growth of kind of the phytoplactin at the very base of the food chain, the
00:43:53salinity, the temperature, the current direction, all of it.
00:43:58And both sides of the aisle got together and lobbied hard to get those sensors put back in.
00:44:04They aren't putting it back in yet, but they are going to be put back in.
00:44:07But that's another, like, why? Why? Why?
00:44:10This extraordinarily expensive, incredibly successful scientific project.
00:44:15And the answer appears to be because those sensors help you understand climate change, so they took them out of
00:44:22the water.
00:44:23That's just horrific.
00:44:25But they're going back in, so we're going to get them back in.
00:44:28But research, thank you.
00:44:30Okay, who's next? Yes, here.
00:44:33And then over here, Gavin in the row.
00:44:40Okay.
00:44:41Okay.
00:44:42I think on number seven, the ballroom is the project that comes first to mind.
00:44:47But it just seems we have someone who is tone deaf.
00:44:50People are experiencing affordability, gas, even if you're upper middle class.
00:44:56Things have never, you know, life is not easy.
00:44:59And coming from a design construction background, which he claims to be Mr. Construction, you usually get design and budget
00:45:10approval, and then you proceed.
00:45:14And I don't think it happened that way.
00:45:17Plus, we were told a lie that it would not be paid.
00:45:20And I just, how do we, right now it goes back and forth with it's on hold, and then, you
00:45:27know, gilding statues.
00:45:29Like, I mean, he should be held accountable and pay that money back.
00:45:32I mean, if, how do we prevent someone from being corrupt and holding them accountable the next time?
00:45:39Yeah.
00:45:40The ballroom boondoggle is symbolic of so much.
00:45:43First, because he tore down the East Wing, which is often referred to as the People's House within the White
00:45:50House compound.
00:45:51It is where the public comes in and a lot of events are held.
00:45:58And second, he did it without any sort of review or authority or budget approval or law or anything else
00:46:05that made that possible.
00:46:06And he basically said, if I tear it down quickly, I can get it down before anybody can stop me.
00:46:11And that's what he did.
00:46:12But symbolically, just watching that thing being torn to pieces, that touched a lot of people's hearts and not in
00:46:18a happy way.
00:46:19And then to plan something that's like Louis XIV, a massive gold-plated ballroom.
00:46:28And then it's also symbolic of corporations saying, well, we'll fund it.
00:46:32But there's corporations seeking contracts in favor, so that's a conflict of interest.
00:46:38And then it turns out they're not going to fund it after all or just very little of it.
00:46:43And it's taxpayers, and the cost is now upward to a billion dollars for his gold-plated ballroom boondoggle.
00:46:51It's symbolic of so many pieces.
00:46:53I feel like the reflecting pool is kind of symbolic in a way, too.
00:46:56It was a no-compete contract, and it created a swamp.
00:47:05And we're talking about a swamp of corruption a mile deep.
00:47:08And then it was blue, but it faded to gray.
00:47:10And I just felt like it feels like so much of what the president is doing is sucking the color
00:47:15and joy out of the world with these corrosive, corrupt conflict of interest practices.
00:47:22But the ballroom right now is on a stay from a court that said, no, you didn't follow the law.
00:47:29You have to quit.
00:47:31I don't know if the machinery is still turning there because the president doesn't always follow what the courts say.
00:47:37That's another problem.
00:47:38If the courts say stop, and there have been dozens of incidents now, I think over 100, in which the
00:47:43courts have said stop, and the executive branch has continued.
00:47:47So that's another, like, breakdown of the separation of powers.
00:47:52One more comment, and then we're going to switch to issue next.
00:47:56Okay.
00:47:56Back there.
00:47:56Okay.
00:47:57And then maybe a speed roundup here.
00:47:59Hi.
00:47:59I'm Amy Sabadini.
00:48:00I live here in Bend.
00:48:02And I actually want to push back a little on issue number seven because I don't think it's that unusual
00:48:08for presidents to grasp for more power.
00:48:11What is unusual is how much Congress is lying down and letting it happen.
00:48:19And I want to thank you because you and Senator Wyden show up on national news pushing back, and you're
00:48:26brave, and I want you to know that we see you.
00:48:31Please keep doing it.
00:48:36And I don't know if he's here today, but I have a friend who's a federal judge.
00:48:41The federal judges who are pushing back, thank you.
00:48:45The Supreme Court is not pushing back, and as a history teacher, I'm seeing a change.
00:48:50It's that the three branches, checks and balances, is not working because of a lack of willpower and because of
00:48:57the leverage that the president is holding over people, whether it be, I don't know what the dirt is he
00:49:03has over them, but thank you.
00:49:09You've pointed out something really important, which is there might be presidents who want to do a lot of crazy
00:49:15things, and they realize Congress will stand up or the courts will stand up quickly.
00:49:21And so what's contributing to this problem, let's talk first about Congress.
00:49:25You have a House and Senate leadership that's new.
00:49:29They don't have a decade of kind of gravitas in dealing with presidents, and so they essentially haven't had either
00:49:40the personal will or the standing with their colleagues to say,
00:49:44Mr. President, we're the same party.
00:49:46We support a lot of your stuff.
00:49:48What you're doing now is stepping over the line, and you cannot step over that line.
00:49:51We are defending the Constitution.
00:49:53We took an oath to the Constitution.
00:49:54We need the leadership of the House and Senate, whichever party it is, to always defend the congressional role, the
00:50:03power of the purse, the power of taxation, the question of war, and oversight, the big four.
00:50:11And then the Supreme Court really contributed to this problem.
00:50:16And, of course, one was the money in politics, the Citizens United stuff that allows unlimited donations secretly and mostly
00:50:25spent in smear campaigns.
00:50:26Okay.
00:50:27But then the case Trump versus the United States said the President can do anything that is a crime, but
00:50:35it's not a crime as long as he puts a government stamp on it.
00:50:37So this gave the President full comfort, breaking the law and never worrying about it, and then because of pardon
00:50:47power.
00:50:47And he demonstrated that he would use it when he pardoned everybody who assaulted the Capitol on January 6th.
00:50:54So the executive branch largely feels they don't have to follow the law.
00:51:00That's what it means.
00:51:01So now we have an executive branch out of control, breaking the law without consequences.
00:51:06So the Supreme Court through Trump versus USA really contributed to the problem we've seen in the breakdown that enabled
00:51:16our current President to do what he's doing.
00:51:20Okay.
00:51:21All right.
00:51:22We've got to switch.
00:51:23Issue number one is the third.
00:51:25President sues the federal government, awards himself a massive settlement, $1.8 billion slush fund, and immunity from tax audits
00:51:37for himself and his family.
00:51:39Raise your hand if you put that up there, and keep your hand up if you'd like to comment on
00:51:44it.
00:51:48Okay.
00:51:49And then who's next?
00:51:50Right back here.
00:51:51Okay.
00:51:51And then we've got somebody on the far side.
00:51:55Hi, my name is Marissa.
00:51:57I'm a resident of Bend.
00:52:00We can talk about all of this stuff until we're blue in the face.
00:52:03We can all be mad at it.
00:52:04But I think what all of us really want to know is what you and your colleagues are actually going
00:52:09to do to stop him from awarding himself stuff,
00:52:13stop him from making his face the name all over everything, and stop him from silencing us and not being
00:52:21able to stand up to him.
00:52:23So, great question.
00:52:26We can talk until we're blue in the face, but what are we going to do about it?
00:52:29And really what I wanted to say following the set of town halls, and I'm going to do three more
00:52:36of these town halls like this.
00:52:37Okay.
00:52:38These are items, and here are ways we can fix it legislatively.
00:52:43Let's build momentum to tackle these problems.
00:52:48These problems are real.
00:52:49But that will be kind of the next step.
00:52:52I mean, I can tell you off the cuff, the president threatens broadcast licenses.
00:52:58Well, how do you stop that?
00:53:01It's actually not easy because it's influenced by the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission who could say everything you
00:53:12want that's very nice.
00:53:13Nonpartisan, of course I wouldn't do this or that.
00:53:16Meanwhile, absolutely uses, like applies political pressure in kind of a quiet way.
00:53:25We've got to make it unacceptable to do it secretly or publicly.
00:53:29And the public side we may be able to tackle by law, but how else?
00:53:33So, I'm trying to kind of think through, and if anyone wants to throw in suggestions on how we tackle
00:53:38these pieces, we really need, and this is where the groups that I read at the beginning who are working
00:53:44on national issues, they're asking themselves that question.
00:53:47How can we develop an agenda to restore the integrity of our government?
00:53:54So, that is really important.
00:53:55Okay.
00:53:56Right over here.
00:53:59My name is Joe Craig.
00:54:00I live right here in Bend.
00:54:02So, on this one, Todd Blanche got in last week.
00:54:07He was voted in, and Cassidy was crying because Murkowski said she wasn't going to vote for him, so that
00:54:13meant he had to.
00:54:15And he went out there and he cried.
00:54:17But I'm tired of seeing the Republicans crying.
00:54:21What are the Democrats going to do?
00:54:23How are they going to get the word out of all this corruption going on?
00:54:28And I mean, January 6th, I'd like to see somebody tell me that those people were right.
00:54:38You know, it's crazy.
00:54:40Yet, you see the senators and the House members, with ours next to their name, defending them and not stepping
00:54:50up.
00:54:50And I just don't know what you're going to do as a Democrat and what you can do.
00:54:55Yeah.
00:54:56So, in my town halls, I'm representing everybody.
00:55:01Right?
00:55:01Democrat, independent, Republican.
00:55:04So, rather than frame it as what Democrats are going to do, I want to frame it as what I'm
00:55:09hoping every member of Congress will do and how my instinct is.
00:55:14And in this situation where you mentioned a colleague who provided the last vote for Todd Blanche, right, he didn't
00:55:30have to.
00:55:33But you do see that the folks who have lost their primaries and are not coming back or never competed
00:55:42in the primary because, like Tom Tillis, they are speaking up a lot more than those folks who are staying.
00:55:49The things that the folks leaving are saying are actually felt by the rest of the caucus, right, the majority
00:55:57caucus.
00:55:58But they're not willing to speak up because of the wrath of a president and the fact that there's not
00:56:08a collective group standing up together under their leadership, under the leadership of their majority caucus.
00:56:14So, if you don't have your leader standing up to say, here's the line, defend it, we will not go
00:56:20there.
00:56:20And the whole, this is a great example, though, of another check and balance that's been destroyed.
00:56:26And because the whole idea was presidents might be inclined to put loyalists and incompetent people, but we will stop
00:56:35that by having the power of the Senate to say, no, that person's not qualified.
00:56:41That was the whole intent. Senate has to re-exercise that authority to say, hell no, when someone's appointed and
00:56:50they're incompetent or unethical.
00:56:56Okay, who else? A couple more, and we're down to about two minutes.
00:56:59So, speed round over here and then young man right here in black.
00:57:05Hello. My name is Chase Feinhold and I am a student here at COCC and an Air Force vet.
00:57:11Forgive me. Thank you for your support. I'm about to read this. My speech professor might have an issue with
00:57:19that.
00:57:21In my opinion, this form of corruption is the worst, and I'm so glad many of you see it similarly.
00:57:27I have three major issues with this form of corruption.
00:57:30One, this demonstrates Donald Trump's huge ego that he thinks he has the power and a right to blatantly do
00:57:38this kind of corruption in front of everyone.
00:57:40Secondly, it shows the continued collapse of our independent federal bodies under this administration.
00:57:47And third, it is an example of the anti-weaponization fund.
00:57:54It is a blatant use of our patriotic symbols in the case that $1.776 billion was going to be
00:58:04awarded to J6ers in a slush fund.
00:58:08And this is a continued soiling of our patriotic symbolism and corruption within our state.
00:58:14And it just drives me insane. Thank you.
00:58:17Chase, thank you.
00:58:19Chase, thank you.
00:58:20Thank you for your service.
00:58:22And I'm reminded of when I went to the first No Kings rally, and I was in Lapine.
00:58:30And then I came up here to Ben.
00:58:32But veterans came up to me and said, we were sent to war with the understanding we're there to defend
00:58:38and advance the values of our country.
00:58:40And we're not going to let an authoritarian man destroy our republic.
00:58:45Well, it's not just a responsibility for our veterans, it's a responsibility for all of us.
00:58:49But I felt those who have risked their lives in the service, really, it's powerful to hear their voice.
00:58:57And Chase, thank you.
00:59:00So we are out of time.
00:59:03So I want to wrap this up in this way.
00:59:05I wanted to remind folks that if you're concerned about the direction of our country, think about the ways you
00:59:14can be involved even more, more than attending one of my town halls.
00:59:20If you are alone, it's tempting to put a pillow over your head and hope that you'll wake up and
00:59:28things will be better.
00:59:29And that's a great path to being ineffective and depressed.
00:59:34But if you join a group that shares your values, whatever group that is, then you'll be energized and you
00:59:44will be effective.
00:59:44And our republic needs that now more than any time in our entire lifetimes.
00:59:52So together, let's save our republic.
00:59:54Thank you so much.
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