despondent during the covid 19 period of isolation and despondency and his depression overcame him. but tommy left us a farewell note which said, please forgive me, my illness won today, look after each other, the animals and the global poor for me. all my love, tommy. he was a poet, he was a playwright, he was a political activist, he was a second year student at harvard law school. the sky was the limit in terms of what he was going to be able to contribute to us but he was drowning in pain and we lost him on the last day of 2020. we have wanted
about the current state of american democracy. just to stick with tommy and you speak so movingly and beautiful about him and it strikes me that tommy wasn t just your smart, talented, beautiful son, he also had become something of a moral compass for you, a sort of conscience and adviser and somebody that you did discuss politics with a great deal. that s right. tommy was kind of a political savant, a natural kind of a thoroughbred. they were so many political influences in his life. but he was disenchanted, i d say at a very early age with conventional electoral parliamentary politics, the kind of politics that i do. and he really was far more connected to visionary, moral politics and movements for change.
perhaps anybody can imagine, that is the loss of your son. why did you decide to do that? well, ifelt like i didn t really have a choice. i was drowning in grief and agony and tommy was a remarkable young man who had great moral and political passion in his life. he grew increasingly despondent during the covid 19 period of isolation and despondency and his depression overcame him. but tommy left us a farewell note which said, please forgive me, my illness won today, look after each other, the animals and the global poor for me. all my love, tommy. he was a poet, he was
the trauma over loss of tommy very quickly merged with the trauma of the january six insurrection and attempted coup in the congress of the united states by donald trump and his supporters. as i tell it in this book that i ve written, these two traumas really converged in my life and are inextricably interwoven in my psyche. yeah, i have the book right in front of me, congressman. unthinkable, it s called. it is in a sense a love letter to your son, tommy and it s also a sort of letter full of love and despair about the current state of american democracy. just to stick with tommy and you speak so movingly and beautiful about them it strikes me that tommy wasn t just your smart, talented, beautiful son, he also had become something of a moral compass for you, a sort of
please forgive me, my illness won today, look after each other, the animals and the global poor for me. all my love, tommy. he was a poet, he was a playwright, he was a political activist, he was a second year student at harvard law school. the sky was the limit in terms of what he was going to be able to contribute to us but he was drowning in pain and we lost him on the last day of 2020. we have wanted to continue to act in ways that would be befitting his memory and his spirit and it would make him proud of what we are doing. so we wanted to tell the world about him and his remarkable essays and poetry and writings. and we wanted to continue to struggle for the things he believed in. as you were suggesting,