Latest / Real Patriotism / Wake Up, Media and Call It What It Is

Transcript

Wake Up, Media and Call It What It Is · Real Patriotism

• 0:00
  This is what the road to autocracy looks
• 0:02
  like, and news organizations like the
• 0:04
  one I used to work for need to stop
• 0:07
  normalizing it. One year into President
• 0:09
  Trump's second term, and it is clear he
• 0:11
  is exercising power in a way no
• 0:13
  president ever has. In just the first
• 0:15
  days of 2026, we've seen four major
• 0:18
  steps toward authoritarianism. First,
• 0:21
  military aggression. 2026 began with
• 0:24
  Trump declaring that the US had taken
• 0:26
  over the sovereign nation of Venezuela,
• 0:29
  that we were going to run it,
• 0:30
  >> we're going to be running it with a
• 0:32
  group and we're going to make sure it's
• 0:33
  run properly.
• 0:34
  >> And that he would personally oversee the
• 0:36
  distribution of billions of dollars from
• 0:38
  its oil reserves. Congress has just shut
• 0:41
  out of this adventure despite the clear
• 0:43
  commands of the Constitution. And now
• 0:45
  he's threatening Greenland. Second,
• 0:47
  violence against protesters. ICE has
• 0:50
  been acting like Trump's personal police
• 0:52
  force, terrorizing communities that are
• 0:54
  governed by his political opponents. The
• 0:56
  administration's response to Renee
• 0:58
  Good's death was to vilify this mom of
• 1:00
  three and label her a domestic
• 1:03
  terrorist. She was so loud and so crazy.
• 1:07
  >> It's a tragedy of her own making.
• 1:09
  >> An act of domest domestic terrorism,
• 1:11
  >> a lunatic fringe,
• 1:13
  >> a professional troublemaker. Third,
• 1:16
  bullying the central bank. The Justice
• 1:18
  Department has opened a criminal
• 1:20
  investigation into Federal Reserve Chair
• 1:22
  Jerome Powell, nominally over
• 1:23
  renovations to the Fed's headquarters in
• 1:25
  Washington. But Powell's extraordinary
• 1:28
  public statement made clear what this is
• 1:30
  really all about.
• 1:32
  >> The threat of criminal charges is a
• 1:33
  consequence of the Federal Reserve
• 1:35
  setting interest rates based on our best
• 1:38
  assessment of what will serve the public
• 1:40
  rather than following the preferences of
• 1:42
  the president. Every nationalist
• 1:44
  strongman, tinpot dictator, or corrupt
• 1:47
  cowo wants easy money because easy money
• 1:50
  produces a sugar high in the economy.
• 1:52
  Rapid growth, soaring markets, political
• 1:55
  applause. But inflation inevitably
• 1:57
  follows and then savings disappear,
• 1:59
  inequality deepens, and dependence on
• 2:02
  the state grows. That's why presidential
• 2:04
  pressure on the Fed is never just about
• 2:06
  interest rates. It's about power. And
• 2:09
  fourth, seizing control of elections. In
• 2:12
  a recent interview with the New York
• 2:13
  Times, Trump admitted he wanted to use
• 2:16
  the military to stop the counting of
• 2:17
  votes in the 2020 election. That's
• 2:19
  right. He said he regretted not ordering
• 2:22
  the National Guard to seize voting
• 2:24
  machines. Trump is making clear he will
• 2:27
  only accept elections he wins. And he's
• 2:30
  preparing for the midterms with
• 2:32
  executive orders expanding federal
• 2:34
  authority over voting systems, Justice
• 2:36
  Department retrenchment from voting
• 2:38
  rights enforcement, federal demands for
• 2:41
  state voter registration files, and
• 2:43
  repeated public flirtations with
• 2:45
  deploying the military in the name of
• 2:47
  law and order. So the pattern here is no
• 2:50
  longer subtle. You control the money,
• 2:52
  control the force, control the voices,
• 2:56
  control the vote. These are the
• 2:58
  essential strategic moves of
• 2:59
  authoritarian rule. So what do we do?
• 3:03
  Well, the most important thing is for
• 3:05
  many people the hardest. Open your eyes,
• 3:08
  see what is happening in front of you
• 3:10
  and call it by its name. Then put your
• 3:13
  shoulder to the wheel and get busy
• 3:16
  saving this country we love.