Transcripts For CSPAN Lincoln Project Founders On The Future Of The GOP 20240713

Listened to them littleknown statesmen from illinois deliver a speech that not only altered the course of his life but what impact the future of our nation. Scores of day, individuals have filled your seats. Eager to explore the issues that define who we are as a country. Tonight, you have a seat to another perspective on americas next chapter. Inspired by the man who would ultimately reunited country after the most divided time in its history. And preserve the Great American experiment. Abraham lincoln later viewed that Cooper Union Speech as the turning point for his election to the white house. Here he made an impassioned argument against the expansion of slavery in the United States. In treating his audience to have faith. That right makes might. His words did more than make a president. Lincolnsclarity of imperative has given voice to those employing others to do what is right for the greater good. No matter their political ideology. Event, we will be featuring programs all season long that harp on this theme of right makes right. We will feature speakers who shaped the movement. Justice, equality, sustainability. What they believe is honorable and ethical and furthers the common good. I hope you will find your seat again here for one of these programs. Tonightsased that conversation is happening on such a significant date. The Lincoln Project has undertaken a bold task in our current partisan climate. Advocating for the importance of placing country before party. In support of our constitution and of our democracy. Everyoneike to remind that the cooper union is a 501 c 3 educational organization. We are prohibited from participating in or intervening in any Political Campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. [applause] in all seriousness, frost, this is not about any one candidate. This is about the vibrancy of our democracy. It is about fostering an environment in which people with a range of perspectives can debate those views in service of a larger goal. In service of the health of our nation. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming the linking project. The Lincoln Project. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the Lincoln Project. Smith, jennifer horn, ron says low. Seslow. They designated me to lead off in leadoff i shell. Shall standing here in this great hall behind this podium one cannot help but feel the weight and voice of history upon us. It is a threat of history that is so often saw it i our political leaders in this country. Becausearely obtained it is so hard to do it in good times. Ambition to be politically great almost never suffices. Almost never comes without a moment of crisis, a catalyst, or a call. And Abraham Lincoln when he spoke at this podium which had lets not raise the bar too high for my performance. He taught us a lesson in that moment. Whatking in articulating would become the foundation of the Republican Partys moment. On except about the of the expansion of slavery. That the south was never ever going to break on this question. That the moral dimension that would eventually lead to a crisis that could tear this country apart and did that lesson he taught that night was that political choices are fundamentally moral choices. Moral choices. And that is a lesson that has been easily forgotten. I do not like the practice of both sides in politics. I try to avoid that. The American Political Culture has accepted a disconnect between the political and the moral dimension of choices. And we are seeing it right now in the white house. On thise was and anyone stage, the architects and operators and storytellers of the political system that we must acknowledge is breaking. That we must acknowledge is broken beyond recognition. And is insufficient for country as great as ours. Tonight we speak about the purpose and the mission and the future of the Lincoln Project and what it means for a future of the nation in crisis. It is a crisis of National Purpose than a crisis of our character and our national identity. Regarding the very propositional nature of this country that anyone can become an american. That america is an ideal. Not a race or soil or blood type. Whether we will be a nation of idolaters or ideas, just as lincoln could not be described as never slavery, we cannot be described as never trump. We can you always america. I would like to think the men and women on this stage are always america. The change in our politics required each of us to walk away from relationships and friendships and work. That we built over the years. Decades. I got a lot of mileage. I am old. It required all of us to walk away from archrival past. We have sin great and not so great men and women that we work for and fought for a base themselves and abandon principles and embrace the kind of low corruption of high treason that sits in the white house today. But we had the as leave me someone said a particular set of skills. Made us a nightmare for people like donald trump. [applause] we are called to this task. We fight hard. We fight very hard. Sometimes you might think we fight dirty. But that is the better we are in today. We fight hard and we strive for the right. Told this lincoln nation to do to do our duty. Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the Lincoln Project. [applause] it is always a challenge following rep. Olson on stage. Wilson on stage. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. I come from california. I do want to speak a little bit about the Cooper Union Speech we are celebrating and honoring 160 years ago. For me, i know i cannot us escape the fact the address the aoper union was fundamentally moral pronouncement on race in america. It was not just about the eagles of slavery. Slavery. It was about our americanness and the concept that others could somehow join in the families of who we are in the idea of those who could not join had basic founding principles. And history should remember that while the first republican s National Ambitions were cemented in his speech in this great hall, the current republican president s ambitions were launched with a speech given not far from here as well. The speech at cooper union and the speech at trump tower offered to radically different perspectives on how republicans view and spoke about race and of americans defining issues their day. Indeed, the speeches could not be more diametrically opposed in tone, and most importantly in character. O views that cannot exist in one party. The view of lincoln bold,. Onfident, righteous the view of trump cowardice. Fear, and isolationism. As a californian i have seen with the future of trumps party looks like. I have seen the effects of the Republican Party that cowers in the face it the face of change. I have seen a party that has devolved into fear and anger over hope and aspiration. Ive seen a party that regresses into one of identity politics. A party that has become the home of an aggrieved racial minority, white in at is 80 state that is only 36 white. [applause] the california Republican Party has become a hollow shell of its former self. The birthplace of aspirational reagan conservatism has become a wasteland of dystopian trump nationalism. Those of us working on the Lincoln Project will fight for a different future, and we want you to join us. [applause] as Abraham Lincoln did 160 years ago i want to conclude by speaking to my republicans, the average order the average voter. The people on stage have dedicated their lives, careers, to working for the values the Republican Party articulated here by Abraham Lincoln. We have worked alongside of you, registered voters with you, worked precincts and campaign. We have fought with you. We know you. You,ow that many of millions, struggle with what you are seeing every day. Wondering what this party has become. And like you we know that what we are witnessing is not normal. It is not ok. It is not who we are. [applause] most important it is not who you are. And we know you are feeling this way because you know, you know this is not right. [applause] my advice to you, my fellow republicans follow lincolns message. Do what is right. Do what is morally right. When faced with much harder warces, slavery, secession, lincoln compelled us to rely on her better nature. He reminded us in these times it is our character being defined. Right makes might. He taught us. In fact, it is the only thing that can. Thank you. My fellow travelers. [applause] hello, im ron. Im a millennial. [laughter] it is well understood that my generation entered adulthood not able to take for granted some of the things our parents were. Economic stability, job opportunity. Now, my generation is being forced to learn that democracy cannot be taken for granted either. [applause] that the balances and the checks put into our system require enactment by Public Servants and that sub service sub service can be costly. The price of defending democratic ideals rises steeply when one party sacrifices its moral court in exchange for political advantage. [applause] as you may know, around the 1960s the gop realized it would be mathematically impossible for a republican to win a National Election ever again. Soon after came the southern strategy which exploited racism in the south to to white democrats. Later, the party coopted the church, creed of the moral majority and weaponized antigay sentiment, leaving a legacy of politically advantageous hate that i experienced personally growing up gay in a conservative evangelical home with pastors for parents and going onto work and republican politics for 17 years. [applause] as a publican republican strategist, i struggle to reconcile my hope for retaining the moral of lincolns party with the reality of a perverse yet more entrenched ideology or nevaeh of a cynical electoral calculation born of a cynical electoral calculation. That maligned my identity as a gay man. I didnt suddenly become troubled by the gop in 2016, but i did begin to despair of change from within. This modern party that had been built on exploiting minority groups had become unrecognizable from the one that Abraham Lincoln catapulted into victory from this podium 160 years ago today in a speech in which he meticulously laid out the wrongness of slavery and the moral imperative of standing against it. In his cooper union address, lincoln affirmed that there are moral truths and it is our duty to articulate them, and to create a country that reflects them. They certainly include that human lives are sacred and that people ought to treat one another with dignity. And there are fundamental tenets of democracy, that power is not its own justification, that the rule of law must be sacrosanct, that lies corrupt trust. Allowing trump and trumpism to prevail then and now amounts to abandoning such a moral foundation. To approving the exchange of what is right to what is expedient, to believing that there are no rules other than the ones you bend or break or make to win. That winning is the ultimate virtue. That might equals right. My generation started life as civics classes were dying and dilemma ethics were supplanting instruction and virtue, and moral relativism was blossoming. This world we have inherited has shaken us. We are learning, in an era of fake news, the preciousness of truth and the labor required to gather it. [applause] witnessing the court of Public Opinion so easily roused to sanction hatred, we are anxious for sturdier moral ground. And recognizing the threat of foreign interference in our democracy, we long for a leadership that, rather than gladly accept advantage, will rise to her defense. [applause] i would now like to introduce [applause] amen, brother. Ron, thank you and thank you to everyone who has come this evening, and to my fellow members here and those who arent here this evening. I would like to say to president sparks sent everyone else her, i have two great uncles who attended this institution. They were both electrical engineers and i am not. [laughter] i had written some words about party and politics and the practice of it. As i was Walking Around the lobby, i started thinking about something that was both indicative of president lincoln and indicative of the sacred ground that you have invited us to here tonight. You know, cooper said that, in his words, a union was a collectivity of a sheer will to achieve it, and i think that at least for this small band and a band that grows every day across this country and with the help of folks like you, i do not think we could have a better definition of union, and i also think it is appropriate that president lincoln was talking about union that was on the verge of a massive rupture and one that he would ultimately help to reunite and hope to bind up those wounds, although we know he did not have the opportunity. We know also that this is a hall and school of builders. President lincoln was a builder. Frederick wilson was a builder. They might not have built buildings, but they built belief, and they built movements, and in their own ways, they built the politics that so many of us knew about and expected for so long, and it is in that tradition and in their tradition and in their hallowed footsteps that we stand here before you tonight, so i ask that you permit me just a couple of minutes to talk about that building. We like to think about america as a home. For many of us who were born here, it was a home we have taken for granted. For those who have come here, let my ancestors and i am sure your ancestors, it was a home they could only dream of, and when they got here, they made the best of it, but we must build a new political home in this country. The home we have is pretty ratty. It has got two sides that do not talk to each other. One side is actually blatantly on fire at the moment. [laughter] and so we must decide what that new home looks like. We know that we will not all agree on what this house should be. We do not agree on design. We do not know what the rooms are windows will look like, but here is what we know. It must be big enough for anyone else to, to join us. [applause] it must be built with a wide, open front door. It must be built with windows that allow both the sunshine to come in and for those people in it to look out and see a better day. And i would say this. When we think about these things, the people that we hope to help us build this house will not be working in a vacuum. There will be plenty of folks who live and those houses that exist now who will defame us, who will try to stop us. They will tell us the house is not the right size. It is not the right color. It is not the one they want, and they will do everything they can to stop this, but here is what we know, that in this country, it is not the homogeneous coalition that ultimately succeeds. It is the heterogeneous coalition that ultimately succeeds. [applause] for People Like Us today who might not otherwise agree on everything. No one agrees on everything. The idea of purity, regardless of party, is irresponsible, and it is unrealistic. [applause] what i would ask is that we try to build this house not just for today, tomorrow, or for next month, but for next year but beyond, and we hope that you join us in this construction project, and we thank you for being here tonight. [applause] thank you. Thank you, reed. When Abraham Lincoln stood here 160 years ago, the United States was a nation of 34 million people. 25 million lived in the north, and 9 million in the south. 5 million lived in freedom in the south, and 4 million lived in bondage. Abraham lincoln knew a great storm was coming. He knew that the union was going to fracture, and he knew that there would be a great, costly war, but the idea is an idea that breathes life into a new nation in 1776. That idea was the most radical expression of Human Dignity and freedom ever put on paper by the mind of man, that all men are created equal and are endowed by our creator with inalienable rights, amongst them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And in the great war that would follow that would kill 600,000 people on the shores of our land, lincoln reconsecrated the idea of america, the only nation in the history of the world founded not on ethnicity, not on territory, not on land, but by an idea, which is why when somebody takes the oath of citizenship, they are as much an american in that instant as a descendent of the mayflower. [applause] one of the great battle captains of the civil war was William Tecumseh sherman. In 1861, he was a colonel in the union army, and in his letters, he was deeply skeptical of the potential leadership of a backwoods barbarian, as he was described, from illinois. Uneducated. Unsophisticated. And not up to the task. With months left in the war but the outcome clear, Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address talked to the country not of retribution, not of an imposition of cruelty, but he said it would now be time to bind up the wounds of the nation, to care for the widow and the orphan, with malice towards none and Charity Towards all. And when he was martyred weeks later, sherman, who had last seen him with grant at city point in virginia, the great union army headquarters, was asked to reflect on Abraham Lincoln, and what he said was that he had met all of the great men of the world, the kings, the emperors, the industrialists, but he had never met a man who possessed more of the qualities of greatness and goodness than Abraham Lincoln. When we think about this despicable and vile chapter in our history, we must do as lincoln instructed from this very spot 160 years ago. Have faith. This season of malice and meanness and indecency will pass. [cheers and applause] a president not long remembered was james buchanan, who, if he were with us today, would be grateful for donald trump. [laughter] because at long last, for the 15th president , the title of worst president in the union goes away. [laughter] [cheers and applause] [whistling] it is again up for grabs. [laughter] we do not remember the incompetence that preceded the greatness and the restoration of our greatest president , because we are an optimistic nation and an optimistic people who understand at our core that our best days are yet to come, and this is our responsibility. We are americans. And there is no inheritance that is richer, greater, more powerful than that. It has been bequeathed to us through sacrifice and suffering that beggar the imagination, and what we are asked to do is be stewards of that great gift that has been handed down through the generations to preserve it and to strengthen it. The great act of optimism in American History was lincolns insistence at the height of civil war, where the outcome was by no means certain, that the unfinished dome of the capital be completed. That under it, the government of the United States by the people, for the people would be reconsecrated, and under that dome is a sacred place. It is where we send to represent us people who should feel great privilege for the opportunity to be part of the story of america. We see an abdication of duty, of responsibility, a forfeiture of decency, and a basic misunderstanding of concepts like right and wrong. [applause] but [applause] but this will pass. And all of us here are called to action, not passivity. We are called, as lincoln reminded us 160 years ago, and his words ring through the ages, that right makes might, and we are called to participate, to fight, but when that fight is won to understand what will always be true is this. Whatever our differences may be, we are all americans, and we are bound together and have more in common than ever could be sundered from us, and that is the mission of this organization, and we look forward to fighting with you to make this country great again. [applause] [cheers and applause] thank you. And it is hard to be the last one, following all of these guys. My name is jennifer. I am the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. More importantly, i am a mom, five children. [applause] and that is what leads me here today. Let us have faith that right makes might, and let us dare to do our duty as we understand it. These were the words that Abraham Lincoln, standing at this hall at this podium 160 years ago today, and in that address, lincoln made the most persuasive, most effective argument against the continuation of slavery in america, and it propelled him to the white house. By invoking the brilliance and inspiration of our founding fathers, lincoln was able to inspire his audience at and americans across the country to join him in doing what was right, what was moral, what was most american. That is fighting for freedom and equality for all. Lincolns address at cooper union changed the course of American History. So, too, did it determine the path of the Republican Party. From his presidency, our party charted a course towards freedom. We were the freedom fighters, who stood not only with lincoln but with suffragettes as they fought for the right to vote, with Martin Luther king in the fight for civil rights, and with Ronald Reagan as he confronted the menace of communism. This is the Republican Party that i proudly called my own for over 30 years, but this is not the Republican Party of today. Ours has become a party of fear, division, and fealty to a corrupt and dangerous leader. [applause] the party of trumpism cannot also be the party of lincoln. [applause] this is the terrible dichotomy that those of us who still hold dear the principles of our 16th president simply cannot reconcile. I am a republican because i believe that the principles upon which our party was founded, the principles of lincoln, straightened and raised up everyone in our community, regardless of who they are or how they vote, republican or democrat, straight or gay, married or single, black or white. I am a republican because i believed all of those years that we were fighting for the same principle that Abraham Lincoln so eloquently articulated in this great hall so many years ago. Ours is a nation of great ideals, built on shoulders of exceptional men and women, not republicans and democrats, but extraordinary americans, who led with strength and courage and sacrifice. Lincoln was not alone on this stage. Frederick douglass, lisbeth elizabeth stanton, theater theodore roosevelt, susan b anthony, and so many others who have crossed these boards to give voice to the american ideals of freedom and opportunity for all. My husband and i raised five Children Together in the unshakable belief that america is truly the greatest nation on earth, a beacon of hope for freedomseeking people everywhere. Everything we do, everything my husband and i do, our jobs, our activism, our volunteerism, what and how we teach our children, is fueled by the commitment to make a better world for them and their children, because, yes, i am also now a grandmother. [laughter] and my grandchildren are beautiful and perfect. [laughter] i believe that the overwhelming majority of americans are motivated by the same thing. We all just want the best world possible for our kids. That is why i stand here today, joining these other patriots on the stage with me not just in a fight against a president that i believe poses an existential threat to the republic, but in the fight for, for what is true, what is honorable, what is constitutional. [applause] in the words of Abraham Lincoln, fighting for what is right, that right makes might, and in the faith that in the end, we will all come together and dare to do our duty. Thank you. [applause] i want to start by saying thank you, first. It is our great, great privilege for us to be here this evening in this extraordinary space, in this really critical moment in our nations history. We are going to kind of continue from here and have a nice conversation amongst ourselves, hopefully one that is engaging and that will bring all of you into it, as well. I want to start by saying thank you to some special people here at cooper union, the amazing team at cooper union who have worked closely with us and made us feel so welcome. They all deserve a round of applause. [applause] the president , we are profoundly grateful for the occasion to participate in here and for your strong leadership of this historic institution. Thank you, president sparks. Thank you. [applause] a special thanks also to the very talented folks behind the scenes, creative director mindy lang and Media Communications director kim newman. [applause] my personal gratitude to the great hall producer, tim marbach. Not only is he incredibly talented, he is patient. He is kind, and he has just been a joy to work with, and he deserves a round of applause. [applause] but most importantly, i want to thank all of you for caring about the history of our founding and the future for our nation and what that means for all future generations to be here tonight to be part of this great conversation, so thank you to all of you, as well. And now, we are going to get started. First of all, i need to say that, unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, a couple of our family members were not able to be here today. George and john wanted to be a part of this but were not able to. Sounds a little bit like the beatles, george and john, but i am confident these men will more than make up for it for all of us, so im going to start and try to moderate a conversation amongst these people. It is a little bit like herding cats, i think, sometimes, but hopefully, it is going to be something that is enjoyable for everyone. And i am going to start by asking steve to kind of expand a little bit more on one of the things you were talking about, much of what you were just talking about, but when we talk about right makes might, what is the immediate application, the contemporary application of what lincoln was talking about with what were seeing at this moment in our nations history . Steve what i think we have all seen over the last couple of years, and certainly it is the case for me, that the foundation of our democracy is a lot more fragile than i ever thought it was. And we look at donald trump unrestrained since his acquittal by the United States senate. We see the drawing up of enemies lists. We see what would have been covered by the news media in a foreign land not long ago as a purge, something you would have seen in a Banana Republic somewhere, playing out in washington, d. C. We see the blatant interference in the criminal Justice System by the executive, and we are moving very close to a mind line where the awesome power of those institutions could well be unleashed against americans who speak in a way that the politically powerful find offensive. Retribution with the instruments of the state. And so the elected members of congress, members of a coequal branch of government, took an oath not to donald trump, not to trump tower, not to the trump family. They took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We see interference in our elections process and our sovereignty from hostile foreign powers that are aided and abetted by the american head of state himself. We see a willful, blind eye by the men and women in positions of power and responsibility who are afraid of a tweet. Im happy they were not called to storm normandys beaches. [laughter] [applause] and so, the preservation of the American Republic and the American Democratic experiment, and think about that word. Experiment, that is what we have always called this, because no democracy in all of recorded Human History has endured. We are the oldest republic that has ever existed in the history of earth, and so we should not take for granted that it endures on our own without participation. I conclude by saying that lincoln warned that if the country were ever to be destroyed, it would come from within, not from without, but the great tragedy, the great threat to american democracy turns out not to be the fascists or the communists. It turns out maybe to be the indifference of too Many Americans at the hands of a con man from new york city. [applause] jennifer ron, can you build on that . You talked about the imperative to stand up. You and i were chatting before this started. Everyone in the audience, when lincoln was here, they knew that slavery was wrong, and he called on them to do something about it. Kind of building on steves contemporary application of lincolns message. Ron yes. He was not talking to an audience that opposed what he had to say. The Republican Party was not going to win. They did not even have a candidate. They were sort of despairing. Everybody in the room knew that slavery was wrong. It was not controversial. Actually, for most of the speech, if you read it, it is rather tedious, you know, but if you read it, most of it actually is about reminding them that the federal government does actually have a role, that there is nothing stopping the federal government from regulating slavery. But he closes by reminding them not just that slavery was wrong, because everyone agreed with him, but it is not enough to just know it is wrong. It is not enough to know something is wrong when it is very wrong and not do anything. [applause] the idea behind right makes might only works if you put it into action. You have to stand up. You have to stand up for what is right. And so so the reason i think he got such a huge applause and catapulted the Republican Party to victory because people believed that win or lose, and it was very likely to be a losing battle at that point that is why they were so despairing. But win or lose, being right was more important. Standing for what was right was more important, emphasis on the standing part. [applause] jennifer yes. Following onto one thing that ron said, because this is one thing we were talking about. We launched december 17, and we probably launched what was the 258,000th oped about donald trump is a bad president. [applause] rick writes one every 20 minutes. [laughter] rick the people have spoken. But i think that what we saw, what we were so surprised by and, frankly, so heartened by was the overwhelming, organic response to just having stood up. [applause] and it did not have to be us. And it did not necessarily have to be that day, and it did catalyze something that i think folks, be they republicans, democrats, independents, not affiliated, not voters, were looking for someone to stand up and say enough is enough. And what ron was talking about today was what lincoln did in that speech was provide the courage of the convictions that so many new in that room, in this room, but did not know how to articulate it and did not know what to do about it. And so i think of what we have seen at the beginning so far is that people were looking for that. And it is not our courage on this stage. It is our courage collectively, as ron said and others said, that we have to do something about it. It is all well and good to say, yes, i agree with you, but liking a tweet or clicking on facebook does not count. [applause] jennifer reed, i will direct my next question to you, and this leads right into it, which is ok. We talk on our website. The Lincoln Project was founded to defeat trump and trumpism at the ballot box, to defeat trumpism at the ballot box, and we need everyone to join that effort if it is going to happen, but it is easier to understand what and why on defeating trump, but what is trumpism . The beginner, kind of the starting point of this whole Lincoln Project thing, putting a white paper together and sharing it with all of us. But what is trumpism, and how do you define that . And then how do you defeat that at the ballot box . Reed well, i guess the flexibility of trumpism is whatever it is he says it is at the given moment, so it has got a pretty broad definition. I think though for the folks up here and others involved who are either apostate republicans, like rick is a apostate, and for some of us do not belong to the party anymore. And there is a reason for that. For me, anyway, as soon as donald trump was nominated in 2016, i thought if this is what it takes for a republican to get nominated, you can count me out. I was a rino to begin with. [applause] i was never sort of to the far right to begin with. And so i think what we now see is why was the Republican Party, as steve likes to say, one of the greatest Political Institutions that humankind has ever known . Because it had a positive outlook, right . Politics is ultimately to be successful is a game of addition, not subtraction, of optimism, not pessimism, and of growth, not resentment. And i think what we see now is the gop, which probably we have with for 100 years just on this stage. If you have no ideology, and you are merely a vehicle to gather power, money, and territory, we have a name for things like that. They are called gangs. [applause] jennifer i remember near the end of the 2016 cycle, i was chairman of the party at that time, and it was a very difficult cycle for me. And i believe it was when the tape came out about the conversation on the bus between the republican nominee and billy bush. Reed this is a family show. Jennifer i am trying to keep it that way. What world do we live in when we talk about things the president of the United States said, and we are worried about being familyfriendly . Oh, my god. I was going to a rally or a phone bank or something, and my husband was in the car, and this had come out, and so the director, the state director for New Hampshire, of trump for president , called and said, i know you have heard about this. Your staff told me you are really upset and that you were going to say something, and i had said many things over the past 12 months leading up to this. And he was trying to calm me down, saying, we have finally got a Good Relationship between your office, and can you just not say anything . [laughter] been the worst thing, and i remember saying to him very quietly, not trying to start a fight. Look, i made a promise to myself a long time ago when i first got involved in politics that i would never say or do anything i could not defend it to my children at the dinner table. [applause] i have to say something. And that is where this president has led us. Which one of you was talking about, mike, about dignity . Just basic human decency . The dignity of each life and each individual. You know, talk a little bit more, kind of moving on, building on what reed said about trumpism and where that is leading us today. You have a unique experience. Each one of us can have our own, unique experience. Expand on that more. Mike i find it fascinating. Here on stage, we are talking about some pretty broad ideals. We talk about dignity. Rights. What is rights . Unfortunately, i think we are at a time when people are starting to take some of these universal truths and bend them to their own filters. I think, to me, the most striking thing, and there have been a lot of striking things that have happened the past few years, but the lack of courage from the elected leadership with the party that so many of us have worked on. [applause] [whistling] and everyone thought it would be the Political Consulting class that would have to stand up for more righteousness of the party, and yet, here we are. [laughter] the idea that right makes might, in celebration of lincolns speech, you do what is right, and the force and power of being righteous will ultimately be a rallying point for people to follow along, and this idea that we could build a national movement, and lets not move from that principle. When i saw the u. S. Senate, because of its numbers, the republican numbers, and there were republican members, so many of whom we all know, and watching them publicly i do not want to say struggle. Were deeply concerned, as we say, they were troubled. [laughter] that really is the definition of might justifying right. The exact opposite of what was articulated on this stage 100 60 years ago and saying, because we have the numbers, we will justify whatever it is we are doing, and i could not, at that moment again, that was in february. That was like 160 years ago to the month from the catalyze ization of this movement, this party. That, to me, is probably the most profound change, the loss of elected leadership, where there is one that stands out in every one of these fights. And my hope is when this band of warriors decided to jump together look. We have all put up a lot. There is not one of us, if you have known any one of us who do not start from the beginning saying, this is wrong. Lets head into the fight here, i think that began, as reed was saying, that needs to be the rallying cry. When enough people stand up one by one and say, enough. I am done. Those voices join a larger chorus. Those drops become a flood, and that is what we need to make sure is happening at this moment in time. [applause] jennifer i remember when trump won that i genuinely believed that the republicans in our senate would be our i do not know protectors, but that they would then become the voice for sincere republicanism. [laughter] i believed it. I believed it. And as i watched each one fall one after the other, it was just one after the other after the over. It was genuinely heartbreaking for me for a time, and then it became something that made me so angry, i did not know how to express it. And, rick, you have been following this as closely as everybody. You get the opportunity to comment on it fairly regularly. [laughter] from time to time. What the heck happened to our republican senators . What happened . Rick you know, john f. Kennedy wrote a famous book at one time called profiles in courage. For my third book, i think i will write one called profiles in chicken you know what, and about the u. S. Senate. [laughter] rick kidding aside, there are a couple of groups in the senate. You can kind of have a typology of where the senate is today. There is a fairly large group who robustly despise donald trump, but they are terrified of him. It is what i call fomt, fear of mean tweets. They live in absolute terror at all times that donald trump will get on the twitter machine and say, senator john smith does not like me enough. You should have a qanon maga lord run instead. This causes their whole day to go south. There is a Smaller Group, and they are particularly egregious characters, and they all believe they are going to be president one day. And this is josh hawley and marco rubio and ted cruz and mike lee and joni ernst, and they feel when he is gone, they are going to run trumpism through the car wash and get to the white house. I have got news for them. First off, the trumps are never going away, unless it is gitmo. [applause] and all of these ambitious, young men and women in the senate who think theyre going to be president one day understand the nature of the monster. They understand that the base of trumpism demands fealty and loyalty to donald trump, no matter what. And i promise you, sue collins could twist herself like a teenage hungarian gymnast around anything that donald trump does, well, of course, i saw him kill the girl, but i am going to have to think about it. I am kind of concerned. [laughter] [applause] and these guys in the senate, this younger class that believes they are going to be president one day, they honestly think, i am just going to stay under the radar. I am going to say the right things, and someday, i can retcon this whole thing as they do on tv. You cannot wind it back. There is a Smaller Group in the senate, and that is the Mitch Mcconnells and Lindsey Grahams who have a sort of broader, ideological thing. I think it was steve who described Lindsey Graham as the pilot fish who follows along the shark. [laughter] i like to think of him more as a seagull picking at the garbage barge. [laughter] idea that they are going to use trump is a vehicle, and it gives lindsay attention and affection. Judges andonnellist taxes. This part of the gop they do not understand that no matter how much Fried Chicken you feed the alligator while you are sitting on the dock, it is still going to come up on the dock and eat you. [laughter] you cannot make him happy. There is nothing that is going to satisfy him, short of a crown robe perhaps. A all of the things that they give trump because they think is going to make him happy will not suffice. Just acquitting him in the senate, i guarantee that he is still, what have you done for me lately . What are you going to do for me next . There was a joke, dont be the first person to stop clapping when stalin is speaking. They all live in that world now, where they are all constantly required to look at the absurdities and corruption and evils of trump and say, well, you know, kids in cages is bad, but you know what is worse . Singlepayer health care is so much worse than that. I mean, my god, we might have a democratic judge on the bench. God for bid. This idea that they can never stop bowing and scraping has defined their character. It has become what they are, and they are low men endorsing and empowering a lower man, and it is a true [applause] it is a true lack of personal and moral courage because they are afraid of twitter. [applause] [cheers and applause] jennifer and i was afraid these guys may not have enough opinions to fill an hour and a half. [laughter] rick i did not even drop a single fbomb. [laughter] jennifer so talking, continuing the conversation about republicans in the senate and the fact that not only were they voted as they did in the impeachment trial, not only did they essentially denied known fact not that it is the first time a politician has done that, but, i mean right . There was enough information publicly available. And many of them, in fact, as referenced earlier even said, well, i believe they have proven that the president did this, but asking a foreign power to help him be elected again does not rise to impeachment . That is really the message we got from a lot of them. So, steve, we are on a path where donald trump could, in a very realistic world, become a twoterm president. [groans] it could happen. It could happen. So the question not if we all stand together and not let it. That is exactly what this is all about. Exactly. [cheers and applause] but my question for you, steve, in a realistic way, thinking about the impact of individual americans on those institutions that make us what we are as a very unique nation, what does a second donald trump term mean . What does that look like . [groans] steve he will be unrestrained, and he will be validated, and what i would say, we talk a lot about the Republican Party and the implications for it as an institution with its wholesale corruption and fealty as an agent or agents of a cult of personality. But it is really hard to ponder what happens to the Democratic Party if it fails for a second time to deny the white house to donald trump. It will be an institutional failure of a magnitude that is beyond my ability to describe, that the Opposition Party would be unable to offer the American People Something Better than what we have. [applause] you, i sitto tell and i watch these debates, and it is not making me feel good. At all. If you cannot tell, i am normally a happy person. [laughter] and so go through a debate, i am watching joe biden get compared to george wallace. And i am watching not a single word be said about trump or trumpism, right . About the defining issue that is facing the country. I think this is an exigent circumstance. It is an emergency. When you look at the impeachment trial and the counts of impeachment, here is what i find terrifying, and i think it was undercovered as part of the story, because most of the focus was on the russian interference, and how loathsome is it when we think about republican members of congress who do not just bow and scrape to donald trump but are television repeating verbatim Russian Intelligence Agency misinformation . [applause] but the bigger issue is this. It always has been. What he tried to do was to instigate, to conjure out of whole cloth a criminal proceeding against a u. S. Citizen in a foreign country that he is sworn to protect. Now, that u. S. Citizen happened to be the former Vice President of the United States. If you can do that to that guy, you can do it to anybody. And that ought to terrify all of us. And the last thing i just want to say about all of this [applause] is, man, i wish john mccain was still here, because [cheers and applause] [whistling] because i promise you good people that the old man would not have tolerated this bs for five seconds. [applause] i want to echo something that steve said about the democratic debates and just bring the name Jeremy Corbyn to your radar. The Labour Party Running against an unpopular conservative on the brexit platform, which sounds like wall building and throwing out brown people, managed to destroy the labour party, a fairly effective party, by choosing the wrong candidate and by having the wrong debate, and so, it is important to remember a fundamental rule of all reelections. All reelections are a reflection of the incumbent. This guy or somebody else. This girl or somebody else. They are always a referendum, whether it is dogcatcher or president. What is not part of referendum . What is on page 611 of your Health Care Program . They are drilling down in the last debate into issues that are so obscure that i assure you, if we had a focus group, everybody would be calling out for food. Uber eats would be knocking on the door because they were so checked out of the debate. They need to focus the selection election on what it is about. Do you want four more years of a robustly corrupt, kleptocratic scumbag and the white house or someone else . [whistling] [applause] if democrats do understand and i mean quickly that they need to consolidate the field, make this choice. Do you want donald trump or Something Better and brighter . Do not give them a longer list laundry list of promises. They are not going to believe it anyway. Get out there and fight against a corrupt and corrupting force. [applause] [cheers and applause] jennifer i am searching through the text s. Again, no fbomb jennifer i am searching through the text of lincolns speech for the word scumbag. I do not see it here. [laughter] i do not know where it came from. We gave our followers on twitter the opportunity to offer up some questions over the last 24 hours, and i want to make sure we do not get to the end of the program without giving one or two of them a voice. And we are already, believe it or not, getting to the end of the program, so i need you all to answer in lightning fashion. I will try to get to several of them. They want to know more about the Lincoln Project, so some quick yes no answers. Are we only going to focus our ads in swing states . Reed . Reed we will focus our ads in the places where they make the most sense from an elect oral and resource perspective. As you saw in our oped, no matter who the democrats nominate, donald trump could still win. And so we will we focus our resources. When we talk about defeating those people who have taken on trumpism, that will be republican members of the senate who are up. [applause] and taking them out, and that will be in those districts that went from red to blue in 2016 to 2018, defending those seats there, so should trump win a second term, at least we have tried to put some firewall up around him. [applause] jennifer in the most possible nutshell answer possible, mike, when was it that you said enough is enough, i have to do something . Mike i think it was when i was vacationing in california, curiously at the exact same time that donald trump descended the escalator and ended up ruining my vacation because i had to do media on that. As a young latino who joined this party because of the idea that it could lift my community up and work towards a better america, there is something profoundly personal about what is happening. And we all have, because we have all been affected personally by it. But for me, it was immediate and visceral. Look, there have been those crazy cranks in the shadows of conventions that we have all known. Peculiar conspiracy theories that harbor bad sentiments towards people. We know that. That is just part of the political process. What i have been most disillusioned and hurt by is people i worked with for 20 and 25 years who have somehow found the rationale to continue to work towards a broader aim of what the trump agenda is doing,. ,hat has been the most personal personally painful element of what is going on. People that you thought were brothers and sisters in arms, and people who actually believed what was articulated on the stage by Abraham Lincoln, and it is clear they do not. I do not even like going on escalators anymore, believe it or not. [laughter] i use the stairs or the elevator. [laughter] jennifer it comes down for all of us in different ways. Silver, silver, silver. I am going to go to our token millennial here and encourage you to be as brief as possible. You and i had a conversation in the last 24 hours about crossing the rubicon, a phrase you used, and what i am hoping and praying that democrats will actually accomplish, what they will offer the American People as a choice,. But, ron, you made it clear to me that youre going to vote blue no matter who, so [cheers and applause] ron yes. I appreciate the applause, but that was not an easy thing to do, to come to. That was not an easy conclusion to come to, for obvious reasons. But i am more terrified, and i am terrified, i think because of all of the reasons steve laid out, about what can happen in a trump second term, but i am also really terrified about what lessons both parties learn if trump is reelected. And parties learn lessons after every single election. Whatever worked. Whoever won, everything we did was right. That is how it works. Victory has 1000 fathers. Ron bingo. Right. That is just how the institutions function. So if trump is reelected in 2020, the Republican Party is going to learn there really are no rules, that they get to make them every single time, and they can do whatever they want. Not just trump, but the people who work there. The bench several players deep. They see what is happening now, and a victory in 2020 for trump will signal to them that all bets are off. That, to me, is dangerous, far more dangerous than Bernie Sanders for a term, frankly. [laughter] because, and i get this is hard for all of us to reconcile with the reality that he might be the democratic nominee, but it is difficult. Sorry, but that is difficult for me. But i am far more afraid of donald trump for four more years for all of the reasons i just explained than i am of Bernie Sanders in a white house and a senate that is probably not going to let anything through, that is too outrageous, and we live to fight another day. It is not the ideal outcome. [applause] jennifer so we had a whole list of topics and ideas that we hoped to be able to discuss that we have not been able to get to , which i guess we should have expected. I will try to wrap things up, although i think i cannot possibly do better than all of these gentlemen here in expressing this. You know, we talk about we had hoped that george would be here to talk about the constitution, for example, and the desecration of the constitution under this administration. And so much i think everything that we are all talking about, and i know all of you are truly, sincerely, deeply concerned about or you would not be here, has to do with weakening and ultimately destroy those constitutional, foundational Building Blocks on upon which the american experiment is built and what happens. They have all referred to this in different ways. What happens when we allow those Building Blocks to be destroyed, and they fall out from under who we are and what we are as a nation . How do you rebuild the foundation of a building . I think that is really what is the most frightening, and so, when that is lost, how do you get it back . Do you get it back . Is it possible to get it back . When i talk about my fear for my children, my commitment to assure a better world for my children, and i think that is what we are all motivated by, i think that is exactly what is at the core of that. That we are and always have been the greatest nation on earth, the greatest idea that was ever conceived. This extraordinary experiment, that continues decade after decade after decade to not just meet but to far exceed any expectation we ever had for this idea of constitutional democracy, assuring freedom and equality and opportunity for all. That is who we are as americans. That is what we are all fighting to preserve for our children, for our childrens children, for future generations. That is why this is so important to all of us. That is why we are doing this, why we are here, and why we are so grateful that you are here, as well. A final thank to cooper union for having us all here and for all of you. Thank you very much. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] 3, 2, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 1. And lift off. Shouldersliftoff, the of the Space Shuttle, america will continue the dream. On wednesday now so will space two astronauts into since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011. Russians andn two one american aboard the International Space station. Tomorrow night at 8 00 p. M. We will explore Space Exploration as we hear the stories of the people and places. The sun, it is incredible. It changes you. It changed me. Fundamentally it gave a cognitive shift in the way i think about humanity. And an early flight to study the curvature of the earth. A recordbreaking 72,000 feet. Laboratory fore the Cognitive Communications test. We still talk about the role we played on the front lines of the cold war, because the space race was a Major Initiative within the cold war. Here fornauts who came Navigation Training needed to know the night sky better than anyone. To an observatory in operation since 1884 and specializes in the talk of the of the moon, and two women who left their mark on the nation. When that shuttle goes, it might be one body, but there will be 10 souls with me. When the movie hidden out, it showed everyone who Katherine Johnson was, what she did and how profound she was in the pages of American History. The history of Space Exploration. The former chief Security Officer joined a discussion on how the Russian Internet and media ethics officials from Santa Clara University also talk about whats happening with the 2020 election. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming out tonight. My name is rachel miro. I had to look at the sheet of paper to make sure. [laughter] rachel i am the Senior Editor of our Silicon Valley desk here in san jose. I say here in san jose i