Al Gore: 'We have to deal with the democracy crisis in order to solve the climate crisis', SF Climate Week keynote - 2025

21 April 2025, San Francisco, California, USA

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that fulsome and overly generous introduction. Thank you very, very much. I really appreciate that, Evan. To all of your colleagues at Climatebase, what a terrific organization. I really appreciate it.

I want to thank Morgan Campbell and all of her colleagues for organizing what I know is going to be an extremely exciting week of events. I looked at the lineup, it’s incredible what you all have got in store. Thank you very much for the energy and passion and enthusiasm. That’s what it needs. This is a time to double down and triple down, and that’s what we’re doing.

I also want to thank the Exploratorium team for hosting us here tonight. I’ve been here before; it’s a great organization. Thank you very much.

I especially want to acknowledge the presence here of my dear friend, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. She’s – she gets a little embarrassed when I use this phrase, but everybody’s using it – the greatest Speaker of the House of Representatives in the history of the United States.

And I want to acknowledge Paul Pelosi, who is my dear friend, thank you.

Nancy, you and I have attended a lot of events over the years where we will hear this person or that person described in a grand, enthusiastic way. And sometimes, there have been times when I think, “well, that’s a little bit over the top.” But that’s not the case with Nancy Pelosi. She is the absolute greatest and best, and thank you very much.

And I want to acknowledge a rookie public servant who is only three months into the job, Mayor Daniel Lurie. You are doing a great job. I remember when I was three months into my first job as an elected official as a member of the House. You can tell early on, and I’ve been getting such great reports from my friends all over the city and all walks of life, every parts of the city. So, keep it up, keep it up. We’re for you, we’re for you.

And I want to acknowledge, if you’ll let me, acknowledge two organizations that are very, very important to me. There is a group of climate leaders trained by The Climate Reality Project’s Bay Area Chapter, and I appreciate you guys being here. One is here from the first 50 that were trained, oh gosh, 20 years ago.

And I’m very grateful to my partner, Colin Le Duc, and our team from Generation Investment Management, which is based here in San Francisco for the US headquarters. Generation is the sustainable investment firm that I co-founded with Colin and David Blood and four other partners back in 2004. We have been here since 2017, and San Francisco is such an important hub for Generation, because we fully recognize the absolutely unique role that the Bay Area plays in shepherding the transition to a sustainable economy.

There is a distinct and diverse blend here of innovators, entrepreneurs, academics, investors, policy leaders, and executives who are dedicated to saving the climate and dedicated to implementing sustainability solutions. And in fact, many of the most successful investments we’ve made in our 21-year history have been right here in the Bay Area. That won’t come as a surprise to you.

It’s great to be in the presence of so many friends and colleagues and to be a part of this great community this evening.

Before I launch into my remarks here, I want to pause to acknowledge the loss last night of one of the most powerful moral voices our world has ever heard: Pope Francis. His humble and historic leadership for social and economic justice, and especially on the climate crisis, fueled a moral movement that continues to light the way forward for humanity.

His encyclical, Laudato Sí’, remains the single most inspiring text on the climate crisis that I have read. I fully recommend it if you have not read it. It’s long, it’s very tightly organized, it’s very deep in its analysis and its moral power, and I urge everyone to read it.

And his moral teaching is especially important right now in our nation because, as we have seen in the past few months, the climate movement in the United States is under attack.

It is abundantly clear, after only three months and one day, that the new Trump administration is attempting to do everything it possibly can to try to halt the transition to a clean energy future and a deep reduction in the burning of fossil fuels. The climate crisis is a fossil fuel crisis, basically 80% of it.

Many of you here today have likely felt the chilling effect of the policies and the rhetoric coming from Washington, D.C. and what the effect has been on businesses and investors and far beyond.

The Dow Jones, of course, today fell another thousand points and since Donald Trump’s inauguration it’s gone down six thousand points. But while the most visible impacts of what the new administration is doing may be in the market for stocks and bonds, that’s not the only thing that he has caused to crash.

The trust market has crashed.

The market for democracy has taken a major hit.

Hope is being arbitraged in the growing market for fear.

Truth has been devalued and confidence in U.S. leadership around the world has plummeted.

We are facing a national emergency for our democracy and a global emergency for our climate system.

We have to deal with the democracy crisis in order to solve the climate crisis.

The scale and scope of the ongoing attacks on liberty are literally unprecedented. With that in mind, I want to note before I use what is not a precedent, I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement. It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it.

But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil, and here is one that I regard as essential. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, a small group of philosophers who had escaped Hitler’s murderous regime returned to Germany and performed a kind of moral autopsy on the Third Reich. The most famous of the so-called Frankfurt School of Philosophers was a man named Jurgen Habermas – best known, I would say. But it was Habermas’ mentor, Theodor Adorno, who wrote that the first step of that nation’s descent into Hell was, and I quote, “the conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power.” He described how the Nazis, and I quote again, “attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false.”

The Trump administration is insisting on trying to create their own preferred version of reality. They say Ukraine attacked Russia instead of the other way around, and expect us to believe it! At home, they attack heroes who have defended our nation in war and against cyberattacks as traitors.

They say the climate crisis is a “hoax” invented by the Chinese to destroy American manufacturing.

They say coal is clean.

They say wind turbines cause cancer.

They say sea level rise just creates more beachfront property.

Their allies in the oligarchic backlash to climate action argue that those who want to stop using the sky as an open sewer, for God’s sake, need to be more “realistic” and acquiesce to the huge increases in the burning of more and more fossil fuels (which is what they’re pushing), even though that is the principal cause of the climate crisis.

You may not be surprised to learn that this propagandistic notion of “climate realism” is one that the fossil fuel industry has peddled for years.

The CEO of the largest oil company in the world, Saudi Aramco has said “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas.”

His colleague, Exxon CEO Darren Woods, has claimed that “the world needs to get real. … The problem is not oil and gas. It’s emissions.”

The American Petroleum Institute says that we need “a more realistic energy approach” – one that, you guessed it, includes buying and burning even more oil and gas.

So, allow me to put this question to all of you: What exactly is it that they want us to be realistic about?

Their twisted version of “realism” is colliding with the reality that humanity is now confronting.

The accumulated global warming pollution (because these molecules linger there on average about 100 years and it builds up over time), it’s trapping as much extra heat now every single day as would be released by the explosion of 750,000 first generation atomic bombs blowing up on the Earth every single day!

Is it realistic to let that continue?

Is it realistic to think that if we opt out of taking action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, we’ll be able to just wish it away and continue with business as usual? Well, Mother Nature makes a pretty good case against that argument. Every night on the TV news is like a nature walk through the Book of Revelation.

Is it realistic, for example, to continue stoking the risk of wildfire in California, after what has already happened to so many communities in Northern California? And just look at the devastation caused by the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

Is it realistic to tell homeowners around the world that the global housing market is expected to suffer a $25 trillion loss in the next 25 years? Fifteen percent of all the residential housing stock in the world if we do not change what we’re doing? Is that realistic in their view?

Is it realistic to continue quietly accepting 8.7 million deaths every single year from breathing in the particulate co-pollution that also comes from the burning of fossil fuels? That is the number of people who are already being killed. According to health experts, it is, and I quote, “the leading contributor to the global disease burden.” When you’re burning coal, oil and gas, it puts the heat trapping pollution up there and it puts the particulate and PM 2.5 pollution into the lungs of people downwind from where the facilities are burning the fossil fuels.

Is it realistic, in their view, for governments to manage 1 billion climate migrants crossing international borders in the balance of this century? That’s how many the Lancet Commission estimates will be crossing borders in the decades to come, if we continue driving temperatures and humidity higher and making the physiologically unlivable regions of the world vastly larger by continuing to put 175 million tons of man-made heat-trapping pollution into that thin shell of the troposphere surrounding the planet. You know what that blue line looks like, that thin blue shell is blue because that’s where the oxygen is. And it’s so thin, if you could drive a car straight up in the air at highway speeds, you’d get to the top of that blue line in five to seven minutes.

That’s what we’re using as an open sewer. Is that realistic? I don’t think it is.

We’ve already seen, by the way, how populist authoritarian leaders have used migrants as scapegoats and have fanned the fires of xenophobia to fuel their own rise to power. And power-seeking is what this is all about. Our Constitution, written by our founders, is intended to protect us against a threat identical to Donald Trump: someone who seeks power at all costs to get more power. Imagine what the demagogues would do as we continued toward a billion migrants crossing international borders. We could face a grave threat to our capacity for self-governance.

Is it “realistic” to continue inflicting the financial toll that the climate crisis is taking on the global economy? According to Deloitte, climate inaction will cost the economy $178 trillion over the next half century. And is it realistic to miss out on the economic opportunity that we could seize by going toward net-zero? Over that same period, climate action would increase the size of the global economy by $43 trillion.

A question with particular relevance in nearby Silicon Valley: is it realistic for the semiconductor industry to experience losses of up to 35% of annual revenues due to supply chain disruptions caused by the stronger and more severe cyclonic storms and supercell storms?

Is it realistic to continue with a system of financing that leaves the entire continent of Africa completely out? Right now, the entire continent of Africa, fastest-growing population in the world, has fewer solar panels installed than the single state of Florida in the United States of America. That’s a disgrace to the makeup of our financial system. But Africa has three times as many oil and gas pipelines under construction and preparing for construction to begin than all of North America. It is ridiculous to allow this system to continue as it is. How is that realistic? Or fair? Or just?

Is it realistic for us, all of us here, to consign our children and grandchildren to what scientists warn us would be Hell on Earth in order to conserve the profits of the fossil fuel industry? The predictions of the scientists 50 years ago have turned out to be spot on correct. Their predictions just a few decades ago have turned out to be exactly right. Should not that cause us to listen more carefully to what they’re warning us will happen if we do not sharply and quickly reduce the emissions from burning fossil fuels?

Is that unrealistic to listen to a proven source of advice?

This newfound so-called climate realism is nothing more than climate denial in disguise. It is an attempt to pretend there is no problem and to ignore the reality that is right in front of our faces.

What’s never present in any of this so-called “realism” is any credible challenge whatsoever to the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC. They never address that. They just wish it away and say, “Oh it’s unrealistic to actually do anything about it.”

I wish we could wish it away, but we cannot.

The hard reality is that the fossil fuel industry has grown desperate for more capital. They’re seeing their two largest markets wither away: electricity generation, number one and transportation, number two. They’ve been losing their share of investment in the energy market to renewables and so they’re panicked.

That explains why they are so aggressively using their captive policymakers to block meaningful solutions. Of course, as you know, they’re way better at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions. They’ve grown very skillful at that.

They are the wealthiest and most powerful industry lobby in the history of the world. They make the East India Company look like a popcorn vendor. They are the effective global hegemon.

They have used their war chests and their legacy network of political and economic power to block any reductions of fossil fuel burning emissions – whether at the international conferences that we call the COPs, the Conference of Parties in the UN process, or at the global negotiations for a plastic treaty. They blocked anything there, too.

Why? They’re losing the first market of electricity generation because 93% of all the new electricity generation installed worldwide last year was solar and wind. They’re losing that market steadily. EVs are rising dramatically. They say they’ve slowed down. Well, we just got the new figures – an 18% increase year-on-year here in the United States. In many countries much faster than that.

And so, their third market – they’re telling Wall Street that they’re going to make up all of the expected lost revenue in their first two markets by tripling the production of plastics over the next 35 years.

Well, we might have a word to say about that. Is that realistic? Because we’ve already found – the scientists say – that some seabirds are manifesting symptoms like Alzheimer’s disease from the plastic particles in their brains and they found that it crosses the blood-brain barrier in humans, and the size of the amount has doubled just in the last decade.

Do we really want to continue that?

It’s crazy, but they are blocking action at both of these international forums and they’re blocking action in the deliberations of nation-states, even in states and provinces, and even at the local level. Anywhere in the world where there is an effort to pass legislation or regulations that reduces the burning of fossil fuels, they are there with their money, with their lobbyists, with their captive politicians, blocking it as best they can.

And the solution is what you’re doing here at Climate Week here in San Francisco. We have got to rise up and change this situation.

That’s also why they are ballyhooing ridiculously expensive and hilariously impractical technologies like building giant mechanical vacuuming machines to suck it back out of the atmosphere after they put it up there. Could that someday be a realistic part of the solution? Perhaps, perhaps. But not now! Not even close.

They use it as a bright, shiny object to distract attention and say, ‘see this, see this, this could be so miraculous, we don’t have to stop burning fossil fuels at all! We can actually continue to increase the burning of fossil fuels because look at this bright, shiny object. We’ve got this vacuuming machine.’

Well, CO2 is 0.035% of the molecules in the air. You’re gonna use an energy-intensive, ridiculous, expensive process to filter through the other 99.965% of the molecules? It’s absolutely preposterous.

In reality, the Sustainability Revolution is powering more and more of our global economy. It has the scale and impact of the Industrial Revolution and is moving at the pace of the Digital Revolution.

By the way, in Texas, which used to have a free market for energy, over 90% of all their new electricity generation last year was solar and wind. And, you know, they’ve got captured politicians there. They’re pushing legislation in Texas to legally require any developers of solar and wind to spend time and money developing more oil and gas before they’re given permission to develop renewables.

That’s not realism, that’s pathetic.

That is a sign of desperation.

They don’t trust the free market. They’re just relying more and more on the politicians who will jump when they tell them jump and ask how high when they tell them to jump again.

So, around the world, the market is transforming. Since the Paris Agreement, the cost of solar has dropped 76%. The cost of wind is down 66%. Utility-scale batteries are down 87%.

In 2004, when Generation was founded, it took a full year for the world to install one gigawatt of solar power. Now it takes one day to install one gigawatt of solar power.

And it’s not just renewables. We’re seeing the Sustainability Revolution rapidly take hold across the rest of the global economy from transportation, to regenerative agriculture, to circular manufacturing, and so much more.

So, as we gather here to kick off Climate Week and as we gather on the eve of Earth Day, we have to treat this moment as a call to action.

So, I’m here not only to respond to the invitation for which I’m grateful, Morgan and others and Evan.

I’m here to recruit you.

Many of you are already working on this, but those of you who are not, I’m here to recruit you. We need you. This is the time and this is a break glass moment. This is an all hands on deck moment.

Now is the time to look at every aspect of your businesses, your investments, and your civic engagement to determine whether or not you can contribute even more to solving the climate crisis.

It’s easy to adopt our own versions of climate realism to say that the challenge is too great. Some people worry about that. To say that our individual role is too small to have an impact. Some use that as an excuse: that if the government won’t act, what can any of us do about it?

Well, just as the climate crisis does not recognize borders between countries, it does not either recognize delineations between the duty of government and businesses and all significant participants in the global economy.

Climate change is already impacting your life and work and will more so through disrupted supply chains, increased liability, changes in consumer demand, and more.

This is a moment when we all have to mobilize to defend our country. And remember the antidote to climate despair is climate action. It was in this city in the 1960s that Joan Baez first said that the antidote to despair is action. And we need to remember that now.

And during a time of when people were tempted to despair in the struggle for civil rights in this country, Martin Luther King said something about overcoming the forces that try to discourage you and halt progress. He said this: “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.”

And that’s where we are.

Every one of the morally based movements in the past had periods when advocates felt despair. But when the central choice was revealed as a choice between right and wrong, then the outcome at a very deep level became foreordained.

Because of the way Pope Francis reminded us we have been created as God’s children.

We love our families.

We are devoted to our communities.

We have to protect our future.

And if you doubt for one moment ever that we as human beings have the capacity to muster sufficient political will to solve this crisis, just remember that political will is itself a renewable resource.

Thank you very much.

Winston Churchill: 'The lights are going out on Europe', Public address - 1938

16 October 1938, London, United Kingdom

I avail myself with relief of the opportunity of speaking to the people of the United States. I do not know how long such liberties will be allowed. The stations of uncensored expression are closing down; the lights are going out; but there is still time for those to whom freedom and parliamentary government mean something, to consult together. Let me, then, speak in truth and earnestness while time remains.

The American people have, it seems to me, formed a true judgment upon the disaster which has befallen Europe. They realise, perhaps more clearly than the French and British publics have yet done, the far-reaching consequences of the abandonment and ruin of the Czechoslovak Republic. I hold to the conviction I expressed some months ago, that if in April, May or June, Great Britain, France, and Russia had jointly declared that they would act together upon Nazi Germany if Herr Hitler committed an act of unprovoked aggression against this small State, and if they had told Poland, Yugoslavia, and Rumania what they meant to do in good time, and invited them to join the combination of peace-defending Powers, I hold that the German Dictator would have been confronted with such a formidable array that he would have been deterred from his purpose. This would also have been an opportunity for all the peace-loving and moderate forces in Germany, together with the chiefs of the German Army, to make a great effort to re-establish something like sane and civilised conditions in their own country. If the risks of war which were run by France and Britain at the last moment had been boldly faced in good time, and plain declarations made, and meant, how different would our prospects be today!

But all these backward speculations belong to history. It is no good using hard words among friends about the past, and reproaching one another for what cannot be recalled. It is the future, not the past, that demands our earnest and anxious thought. We must recognize that the Parliamentary democracies and liberal, peaceful forces have everywhere sustained a defeat which leaves them weaker, morally and physically, to cope with dangers which have vastly grown. But the cause of freedom has in it a recuperative power and virtue which can draw from misfortune new hope and new strength. If ever there was a time when men and women who cherish the ideals of the founders of the British and American Constitutions should take earnest counsel with one another, that time is now.

All the world wishes for peace and security. Have we gained it by the sacrifice of the Czechoslovak Republic? Here was the model democratic State of Central Europe, a country where minorities were treated better than anywhere else. It has been deserted, destroyed and devoured. It is now being digested. The question which is of interest to a lot of ordinary people, common people, is whether this destruction of the Czechoslovak Republic will bring upon the world a blessing or a curse.

We must all hope it will bring a blessing; that after we have averted our gaze for a while from the process of subjugation and liquidation, everyone will breathe more freely; that a load will be taken off our chests; we shall be able to say to ourselves: "Well, that's out of the way, anyhow. Now let's get on with our regular daily life." But are these hopes well founded or are we merely making the best of what we had not the force and virtue to stop? That is the question that the English-speaking peoples in all their lands must ask themselves to-day. Is this the end, or is there more to come?

There is another question which arises out of this. Can peace, goodwill, and confidence be built upon submission to wrong-doing backed by force? One may put this question in the largest form. Has any benefit or progress ever been achieved by the human race by submission to organized and calculated violence? As we look back over the long story of the nations we must see that, on the contrary, their glory has been founded upon the spirit of resistance to tyranny and injustice, especially when these evils seemed to be backed by heavier force. Since the dawn of the Christian era a certain way of life has slowly been shaping itself among the Western peoples, and certain standards of conduct and government have come to be esteemed. After many miseries and prolonged confusion, there arose into the broad light of day the conception of the right of the individual; his right to be consulted in the government of his country; his right to invoke the law even against the State itself. Independent Courts of Justice were created to affirm and inforce this hard-won custom. Thus was assured throughout the English-speaking world, and in France by the stern lessons of the Revolution, what Kipling called, "Leave to live by no man's leave underneath the law." Now in this resides all that makes existence precious to man, and all that confers honour and health upon the State.

We are confronted with another theme. It is not a new theme; it leaps out upon us from the Dark Ages' racial persecution, religious intolerance, deprivation of free speech, the conception of the citizen as a mere soulless fraction of the State. To this has been added the cult of war. Children are to be taught in their earliest schooling the delights and profits of conquest and aggression. A whole mighty community has been drawn painfully, by severe privations, into a warlike frame. They are held in this condition, which they relish no more than we do, by a party organisation, several millions strong, who derive all kinds of profits, good and bad, from the upkeep of the regime. Like the Communists, the Nazis tolerate no opinion but their own. Like the Communists, they feed on hatred. Like the Communists, they must seek, from time to time, and always at shorter intervals, a new target, a new prize, a new victim. The Dictator, in all his pride, is held in the grip of his Party machine. He can go forward; he cannot go back. He must blood his hounds and show them sport, or else, like Actaeon of old, be devoured by them. All-strong without, he is all-weak within. As Byron wrote a hundred years ago: "These Pagod things of Sabre sway, with fronts of brass and feet of clay."

No one must, however, underrate the power and efficiency of a totalitarian state. Where the whole population of a great country, amiable, good-hearted, peace-loving people are gripped by the neck and by the hair by a Communist or a Nazi tyranny—for they are the same things spelt in different ways—the rulers for the time being can exercise a power for the purposes of war and external domination before which the ordinary free parliamentary societies are at a grievous practical disadvantage. We have to recognise this.

And then, on top of all, comes this wonderful mastery of the air which our century has discovered, but of which, alas, mankind has so far shown itself unworthy. Here is this air power with its claim to torture and terrorise the women and children, the civil population of neighbouring countries. This combination of medieval passion, a party caucus, the weapons of modern science, and the blackmailing power of air-bombing, is the most monstrous menace to peace, order and fertile progress that has appeared in the world since the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century.

The culminating question to which I have been leading is whether the world as we have known it—the great and hopeful world of before the war, the world of increasing hope and enjoyment for the common man, the world of honoured tradition and expanding science—should meet this menace by submission or by resistance. Let us see, then, whether the means of resistance remain to us today. We have sustained an immense disaster; the renown of France is dimmed. In spite of her brave, efficient army, her influence is profoundly diminished. No one has a right to say that Britain, for all her blundering, has broken her word — indeed, when it was too late, she was better than her word. Nevertheless, Europe lies at this moment abashed and distracted before the triumphant assertions of dictatorial power. In the Spanish Peninsula, a purely Spanish quarrel has been carried by the intervention, or shall I say the "non-intervention" (to quote the current Jargon) of Dictators into the region of a world cause. But it is not only in Europe that these oppressions prevail. China is being torn to pieces by a military clique in Japan; the poor, tormented Chinese people there are making a brave and stubborn defence. The ancient empire of Ethiopia has been overrun. The Ethiopians were taught to look to the sanctity of public law, to the tribunal of many nations gathered in majestic union.

But all failed; they were deceived, and now they are winning back their right to live by beginning again from the bottom a struggle on primordial lines. Even in South America the Nazi regime begins to undermine the fabric of Brazilian society.

Far away, happily protected by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, you, the people of the United States, to whom I now have the chance to speak, are the spectators, and I may add the increasingly involved spectators of these tragedies and crimes. We are left in no doubt where American conviction and sympathies lie; but will you wait until British freedom and independence have succumbed, and then take up the cause when it is three-quarters ruined, yourselves alone? I hear that they are saying in the United States that because England and France have failed to do their duty therefore the American people can wash their hands of the whole business. This may be the passing mood of many people, but there is no sense in it. If things have got much worse, all the more must we try to cope with them.

For, after all, survey the remaining forces of civilisation; they are overwhelming. If only they were united in a common conception of right and duty, there would be no war. On the contrary, the German people, industrious, faithful, valiant, but alas! lacking in the proper spirit of civic independence, liberated from their present nightmare, would take their honoured place in the vanguard of human society. Alexander the Great remarked that the people of Asia were slaves because they had not learned to pronounce the word "No." Let that not be the epitaph of the English-speaking peoples or of Parliamentary democracy, or of France, or of the many surviving liberal States of Europe.

There, in one single word, is the resolve which the forces of freedom and progress, of tolerance and good will, should take. It is not in the power of one nation, however formidably armed, still less is it in the power of a small group of men, violent, ruthless men, who have always to cast their eyes back over their shoulders, to cramp and fetter the forward march of human destiny. The preponderant world forces are upon our side; they have but to be combined to be obeyed.

We must arm. Britain must arm. America must arm. If, through an earnest desire for peace, we have placed ourselves at a disadvantage, we must make up for it by redoubled exertions, and, if necessary, by fortitude in suffering. We shall, no doubt, arm. Britain, casting away the habits of centuries, will decree national service upon her citizens. The British people will stand erect, and will face whatever may be coming.

But arms—instrumentalities, as President Wilson called them—are not sufficient by themselves. We must add to them the power of ideas. People say we ought not to allow ourselves to be drawn into a theoretical antagonism between Nazidom and democracy; but the antagonism is here now. It is this very conflict of spiritual and moral ideas which gives the free countries a great part of their strength. You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. On all sides they are guarded by masses of armed men, cannons, aeroplanes, fortifications, and the like—they boast and vaunt themselves before the world, yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts; words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home—all the more powerful because forbidden—terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words; they are afraid of the workings of the human mind. Cannons, airplanes, they can manufacture in large quantities; but how are they to quell the natural promptings of human nature, which after all these centuries of trial and progress has inherited a whole armoury of potent and indestructible knowledge?

Dictatorship—the fetish worship of one man—is a passing phase. A state of society where men may not speak their minds, where children denounce their parents to the police, where a business man or small shopkeeper ruins his competitor by telling tales about his private opinions; such a state of society cannot long endure if brought into contact with the healthy outside world. The light of civilised progress with its tolerances and co-operation, with its dignities and joys, has often in the past been blotted out. But I hold the belief that we have now at last got far enough ahead of barbarism to control it, and to avert it, if only we realise what is afoot and make up our minds in time. We shall do it in the end. But how much harder our toil for every day's delay!

Is this a call to war? Does anyone pretend that preparation for resistance to aggression is unleashing war? I declare it to be the sole guarantee of peace. We need the swift gathering of forces to confront not only military but moral aggression; the resolute and sober acceptance of their duty by the English-speaking peoples and by all the nations, great and small, who wish to walk with them. Their faithful and zealous comradeship would almost between night and morning clear the path of progress and banish from all our lives the fear which already darkens the sunlight to hundreds of millions of men.

Chris Christie: 'Donald Trump wants you to be angry every day because he’s angry', end of Presidential bid - 2024

11 January 2024, Windham, New Hampshire, USA

Good evening. Good evening. Thank you all for coming tonight. This is one of the cooler venues we’ve been to here, right? Happy to be here in Windham. Thank you all for taking the time to come. Glad we’re having better weather than we had yesterday. We were up in Rochester yesterday and it was snowing like real New Hampshire snow, so it was good to experience that. Thank you all for coming tonight. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate your support.

We started these town halls the same way. I started them the same way ever since we were up at St. Anselms in June to tell you why, why we’re in this race. We’re in this race to tell the truth. From the beginning, we’ve been in this race to tell the truth. Fact is that as we were watching this race come together from where Mary Pat and I were sitting at home in New Jersey, we were really concerned that nobody would tell the truth in this race about what’s really at stake and no one would tell the truth about Donald Trump. No one would tell the truth about his divisiveness, his stoking of anger for his own benefit in putting himself before the people of this country, myself included, who gave him the honor of being President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Personal ambition is a necessary element for any political candidate. You got to get out of bed in the morning and be able to really believe in your heart that you have something to offer to folks that’s better and different. I have no argument with people who are involved in politics being ambitious. You need to have it, but it can’t be what governs your decision making. Ambition can’t be what makes you decide how to do things as a public figure. It could just be the fuel that gets you out of bed, that gets you in front of a room like this, that gets you on the phone raising money, that gets you working for people who you believe in and gets you working for yourself.

I made a political decision eight years ago when I dropped out of the race in 2016. I looked at the polls and I decided that Donald Trump was going to be the nominee and that since I’d known him for 15 years, that I could make him a better candidate and if he won, maybe a better president. I knew his flaws, but I also knew he was going to win the nomination so I decided that I would get behind him and support him. I let the ambition get ahead and in control of the decision-making. After I figured that out, I promised myself and I promised my wife that I would never, ever do that again, and I’m not going to.

For all the people who have been in this race, who have put their own personal ambition ahead of what’s right, they will ultimately have to answer the same questions that I had to answer after my decision in 2016. Those questions don’t ever leave. In fact, they’re really stubborn. They stay, and so I know how I’m answering those questions. I’ve never believed that Donald Trump was a foregone conclusion as our nominee in this race, and I knew that the case had to be made against him. Now, there are people in our party who are resigned with the fact that he was going to be the nominee, resigned with the fact that the case didn’t even need to be made because it would be a waste of time.

They sat on the sidelines and all they did was voice their opposition in private, behind closed doors quietly so no one could hear. That’s not leadership everybody. That’s cowardice. It’s cowardice and it’s hypocrisy. As a party, we need to be willing to take the responsibility for the part we’ve played in getting here. Our country is angry. It’s divided. It’s accomplishing little, and it is leading our citizens to be exhausted. You just look at what’s happening just in the last few days, good people who got into politics, I believe for the right reasons. People like Senator John Barrasso, people like Congressman Tom Emmer stand up and endorse Donald Trump.

They know better. I know they know better. People who continue to deny the results of the 2020 election. People in leadership in the House who go on TV and say that the people who attack the Capitol on January 6th are hostages. I’ll tell you who hostages are. The Israelis who are still being hidden in tunnels in Gaza against their will out of no fault of their own. These people speak louder for the folks who attacked our Capitol on January 6th than they are willing to stand up and speak for the people of Israel who are in tunnels in Gaza. That’s not leadership. That’s ambition and cowardice, which is outstripped their otherwise good judgment.

We want to change this party, and if we want to change this country, it’s hard work. It’s not easy. From the moment I got into the race, the decision that I made was really simple. I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win. I feel no differently today because this is a fight for the soul of our party and the soul of our country. Why have we resisted the calls to drop out of this race? Because unlike some of the other candidates, we’re fighting for something bigger than ourselves. We’re fighting for something bigger than self-interest. We’re fighting for something bigger than the next title. I’ve got plenty of titles, enough titles to last me the rest of my life. US Attorney, governor, husband, father, son, brother. I have enough titles to last me for the rest of my life. We are fighting for something bigger.

It’s something that conventional wisdom thinkers just can’t possibly understand. And so they’ve been saying for weeks and weeks and weeks because some polls that I should drop out of the race that I should get out for that reason. The smallness of the campaigns who spend more time arguing and worrying about who should get out of the race than they have spent going after the front-runner. They spend all their time saying, “Oh, Christie should get out. Scott should get out. Pence should get out. Hutchinson should get out. Burgum should get out. They and their donors have a different target every day to try to minimize the attention for their own campaign. How their own campaign is a campaign that doesn’t play to win. It’s a campaign that plays to not offend.” The problems in our country, the divisions and influx at our border, the problems with our enormous debt, the failures of our education system,

All of those things and much more will not be solved by people who are too afraid to talk about what the real problems are. If we ever have a hope of restoring this party to be a governing party of principles, we have to be willing to do the hard work and take some of the heat that comes with it. We have candidates in this race who have run away from forums where they’re afraid they were going to be booed. I run into the forums where I know I’m going to be booed because being booed for telling the truth is a badge of honor.

I’m proud of everything we’ve said and done so far, and I’m proud of all the people who have supported us and are willing to do what needs to be done to restore the soul of our country. See, because in the end, all those issues that we’ve talked about at all the town halls, they’re all really important, but they’re no more important than the most important issue, and that is the character of the candidate.

You don’t know what’s going to come across the next President’s desk. You think you can predict it, but you can’t. No one asked George W. Bush or Al Gore what they would do if four airliners were hijacked and flown into symbols of American power and killing thousands of Americans. No one asked them that in New Hampshire in 2000, but I was glad we had a man of character sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office when that attack came, because I knew George Bush would do everything he needed to do to protect this country and its people and put them first, not himself first.

Imagine just for a moment, if 9-11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk. The first thing he would’ve done was run to the bunker to protect himself. He would’ve put himself first before this country. And anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be President of the United States is unfit themselves to be President of the United States.

Campaigns are run to win. That’s why we do them. I see the chairman here in New Hampshire. He knows we run campaigns to win. My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and the division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump. It’s also been the win the nomination and defeat Joe Biden and restore our party and our country to a new place of hope and optimism in this country. I’ve always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn’t see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out. And it’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight for President of the United States.

I know, and I can see it from some of the faces here, that I’m disappointing some people by doing this. People who believe in our message and believe in what we’ve been doing. I also know though it’s the right thing for me to do because I want to promise you this. I’m going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again, and that’s more important than my own personal ambition.

So we have to decide now. We have to decide in the next 10 months, who do we want to be as a country? We forget that people are walking thousands of miles still to get here. We talk about the problems in the border and there are problems and we have to fix them, and we have to secure our border, and we have to do it in a way that’s smart and sensible and will work, because it’s not right to have a porous southern border in this country.

But I want you to remember something. Those people who are coming over that border, many of them are walking hundreds if not thousands of miles to get there because here is where they see hope. Here is where they see freedom. Here is where they see success. Here is where they see that flag, which means for them, thousands of miles away in other countries, all of those principles. We are still the indispensable nation for the rest of the world. We need to be the indispensable nation once again to each other. We need to believe in America as much as they believe in America. Right now, they believe in America in a way that this country, angry, divided, with selfish leadership, who puts their own ambition first, isn’t doing for our country anymore. We need to change that, and every election is an opportunity to change it.

We have people in this race, all they will do is tell you how bad everything is, how angry we should be. And there’s certainly sufficient reason for anger at the failures of the leaders we’ve selected, but they’re doing it not for that reason. It’s not a moment of honesty and transparency. Believe me, it’s not. It’s because they believe when we get angry, what we’ll do is naturally relate to the angriest voice in the room.

Donald Trump wants you to be angry every day because he’s angry. He wants you to be angry so that you’ll relate to his anger and then to vote for him. Please understand this. I have known him well for 22 years, more than anybody else in this race has known him, and I can promise you this. If you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and the decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first or he puts you first, how much more evidence do you need that he will pick himself? And if that is what we have there, then people are going to remain angry, remain divided, and become even more exhausted than they are today.

The country that I think we should choose is the country that recognizes that our differences have always been our strength, not a weakness. Not something to divide us and anger us, but our differences have been our strength. We’ve come from different countries at different times to different places with different skills, with different religions, and yet only here can those people become an American. Can’t go to Germany and become a German, can’t come to Great Britain and become British, but you can come here and become an American, a real part of this country.

The moment we become a place where people no longer want to come in search of a better, freer, stronger nation, that will be the real problem that will be harder to solve. We back our allies

Around the world and they shouldn’t have to think twice about having America’s support. Yet, we have petty politics interfering with supporting freedom fighters in Ukraine. We have petty politics interfering with defending our friends in Israel. We have petty politics interfering with making sure Taiwan is armed to fight off the Chinese. They use the border as an excuse not to do those things.

How about we have a country where we can do all those things because leadership aspires to something greater? Not to appealing to the lowest common denominator, which is what the leadership of the last decade and a half in the White House has done, including the current president.

We need a country that once again feels like everyone has a stake in what we’re doing, that we can bring people together. It’s hard. It’s hard to do that. I did it for eight years in New Jersey, in a Democratic state with a Republican governor, and it’s hard. Because we have real disagreements, but those disagreements are small compared to the things that we have in common.

But it takes effort. We have to work at it. We have to believe that the other person has a rightful place in our country. We have to believe that whether we agree with them or not, they got elected too and they have a right to have a voice, and to be heard, and to have a vote and to have it count.

This race has always been bigger than me. It’s bigger than any one person if you do it the right way. I tried to change conversation in this race. I tried to force the conversation in this race, the conversation about the real thing that’s going on here. I stood on those debate stages, every one of them. The pundits in the media and the professional politicians who worked for other campaigns said I wasn’t going to make any of them right before every debate. No, Christie won’t make this one. He won’t make this one. I made every one of them.

But when I stood on there, I watched the other candidates arguing with each other as if the race was between us. Pretending as if the guy who’s in front and wasn’t there, wasn’t to be spoken about like Voldemort in the Harry Potter books. He who shall not be named, because they feared even bringing up his name would make him appear with his magical mystical powers to end their political careers. So they say ridiculous things, make ridiculous points.

Let me tell you, if Donald Trump becomes the nominee of this party, the moment that it happened was when Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis, and Tim Scott and Mike Pence and Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy stood on that stage in Milwaukee in August, and when we were asked, would you support someone who is a convicted felon to be President of the United States, they raised their hands. Give Ron credit. He had to look at everybody else first to see if he wanted to raise his hand, but then he raised his hand. Kind of like cheating off somebody’s paper in high school.

They raised their hands and I did not and will not, and I cannot countenance that behavior. I want you to imagine for a second that Jefferson, and Hamilton, and Adams, and Washington and Franklin were sitting here tonight. Do you think they could imagine that the country they risked their lives to create would actually be having a conversation about whether a convicted criminal should be President of the United States? I can’t tell you how many people in New Hampshire have asked me, “Why isn’t there a law against that?” The answer is because nobody ever thought that someone would have the audacity to run for President as a criminal and they never thought that any American electorate would actually support it. It’s not their fault that they didn’t put it in the Constitution along with 35 years old and a natural-born American citizen. They didn’t think let’s throw in here and not a criminal. They thought maybe we’d get that part. We’re going to show them now whether we do or we don’t in the next 10 months. Do we get it or don’t we? I’m out here saying what I’m saying for the last eight months because I didn’t want to take the chance that you might not get it. I wanted to be the voice that was telling you, this is unacceptable. We deserve better.

Now there’s some people who want the courts to save us. It’s not up to the courts to save us. I remember what Benjamin Franklin said, I’m sure many of you do too. When he was walking down the street in Philadelphia after the Constitutional convention and a woman approached him on the street and said, “Mr. Franklin, what kind of government did you give us?” He said to the woman, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Benjamin Franklin’s words were never more relevant in America than they are right now. The last time they were this relevant was the Civil War, which of course we know was caused by slavery. The last time those words were that relevant back in those days, and now we are confronted 160 years later with that question again.

A republic, if we can keep it. It’s up to you. I’ve been running ads all over New Hampshire, ending it saying, “It’s up to you,” and it is. It’s not up to me. I’ve done everything I can and it’s not about me. The other candidates, some of them have made it about them. It’s okay, but you forget that the privilege to serve in public office is not about you, but about the people who give you the privilege, then you lose your way.

So tonight is a sad night for me and for Mary Pat because believe it or not, we really love the people in this state. We loved being here. Both, of our experiences in 2016 and in 2024 and coming to New Hampshire and holding two hour town hall meetings and answering every question has been one of the great joys and honors of our lives. The relationships we’ve made here have been lifelong relationships now that we’re going to keep going forward, no matter what else we do with our lives and our careers.

I look around this room and see so many people who have been to so many of these meetings and have been so wonderfully supportive of us. I’d start to name names, but then I’d screw that up and I’d forget somebody who is really important to us. So I’m not going to do that. You know who you are and you know how much we treasure our relationships with you. But I will mention one person, because she texted

… with me, either last night or this morning. And she said to me, “Please, please don’t drop out. We need you.” And that was our friend Tony Papas. And because I had decided at that moment in my heart, and so had Mary Pat that we were going to, I didn’t respond to you.

Tony Papas (27:27):

I understand.

Chris Christie (27:29):

Because I didn’t want to lie to you. But I turned to Mary Pat and I handed her the phone and showed her. I said, “These are the kind of people that we’re fighting for. The people who believe that what we have to offer is something important and special, and that what we’re talking about matters.” And it meant a lot to me to get that text from you, Tony, because I know that you’ve been through a lot of campaigns here in this state. And to hear from you that you wanted me to stay made me feel guilty, but also made me feel wonderful. And both those feelings can exist at the same time. And I thank you for that. And what Tony, and I pointed out what Tony is represented by a lot of people in this room who we’ve heard from over the last few weeks, and we appreciate it very much.

We appreciate your friendship, your hospitality, your warmth, your questions, your challenges, and everything that you’ve provided to us in this state, both eight years ago and over the last eight months. I’ll just end with this. I believe and have always believed that this is the greatest country That the world has ever seen. And I still believe that today. The phrase “Make America Great Again” has always offended me because it implied that America wasn’t great. America is great. It was great long before those red hats showed up, and it will be great long after they are consigned to history. This country is a great country and the only thing that stops us from having it be greater is our willingness to work hard enough to make it greater.

It is not easy to stand up and fight for what we believe in when the wind is blowing in our face. It is not easy to stand up and fight the loudest voice in the room. It isn’t easy to look at someone who we know is unfit and unable to represent what the heart of this country really is and tell them, ” Thank you for your service. It’s time for you to go home.” But that’s what we need to do in the next 10 months if we are going to keep in concert with the spirit of this country. I don’t know how anybody could want to be President of the United States if they don’t love America. And you cannot love America if you don’t love every American. Love the Americans who look different than you. Love the Americans who speak different than you. Love the Americans who think different than you. Love the Americans who believe and have faith that is different than yours. We have had Donald Trump and other candidates in this race say they don’t want people coming to this country if there’s not of our religion.

We don’t have a religion in America. Our Constitution is founded on there being no national religion. Yet we’re abandoning that too by continuing to respond positively to the siren song of someone who would actually say something like that as a candidate for President of the United States meant to only divide. If we don’t stand for those principles, we will be the generation that gave this country away. I refuse. When I got into this race, I refused. And tonight, even though I’m suspending this campaign, I am not going away and my voice is not going away. And I’m going to continue to say all the things that I’ve said and whatever platforms are permitted to me as we go forward, the very same things and new things that I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to comment on as we go forward. Because I’m not going to be part of the generation that gives this country away. I am not going to be part of a generation who willingly stands by and says, “It’s too hard. He’s too loud, he’s too strong.”

That’s what defeat looks and sounds like. And the only country that can defeat America is America. And the only people that can stop it are us. So I thank you for the enormous honor to have the chance to run for President of the United States again. I thank you for your time to listen to what I’ve had to say and to give it thought and consideration. I thank you for the opportunity to come into your homes, into your neighbor neighborhoods, into your schools, into your churches, and to be able to make the case for the kind of America that I hope we have. And I thank you most of all for with your attendance at these events for and your questions for continuing to renew my faith in America and Americans.

I love this country because my heart is open to every American and every person who cares about making this a better place. And so while I’m disappointed by the results of this election, I will never be disappointed by the opportunity and experience that I’ve had. And I promise you that in whatever way, Mary Pat and I can figure out, we are going to continue to fight for you and for this country in a way that will make you proud that we met. As I’m proud to have met all of you through this process. So thank you for coming tonight and thank you for all your support. I appreciate it very much.

Joe Biden: 'Is democracy still America’s sacred cause?', launch of reelection campaign, January 6th anniversary - 2024

5 January 2024, Valley Forge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Thank you.  Please.  Thank you.  Please.  Thank you very, very much.

Today — the topic of my speech today is deadly serious, and I think it needs to be made at the outset of this campaign.

In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks: to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire that existed in the world at the time. 

His mission was clear.  Liberty, not conquest.  Freedom, not domination. National independence, not individual glory. 

America made a vow.  Never again would we bow down to a king. 

The months ahead would be incredibly difficult.  But General Washington knew something in his bones, something about the spirit of the troops he was leading, something — something about the soul of the nation he [that] was struggling to be born.

In his general order, he predicted, and I quote, “with one heart and one mind,” “with fortitude and with patience,” they would overcome every difficulty — the troops he was leading. 

And they did. They did.

This army that lacked blankets and food, clothes and shoes. This army whose march left bloody, bare footprints in the snow.  This ragtag army made up of ordinary people.  Their mission, George Washington declared, was nothing less than “a sacred cause.”  That was the phrase used: “a sacred cause.” 

Freedom, liberty, democracy.  American democracy. 

I just visited the grounds of Valley Forge. I’ve been there a number of times from the time I was a Boy Scout years ago.  You know, it’s the very site that I think every American should visit because it tells the story of the pain and the suffering and the true patriotism it took to make America.

Today, we gather in a new year, some 246 years later, just one day before January 6th, a day forever shared in our memory because it was on that day that we nearly lost America — lost it all. 

Today, we’re here to answer the most important of questions. Is democracy still America’s sacred cause?  I mean it.  (Applause.)

This is not rhetorical, academic, or hypothetical.  Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time, and it’s what the 2024 election is all about.  

The choice is clear.  Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you.  Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future.  He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power. 

Our campaign is different.  For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America.  It’s about you.  It’s about every age and background that occupy this country.  It’s about the future we’re going to continue to build together.

And our campaign is about preserving and strengthening our American democracy.  Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol.  It was almost in disbelief as you first turned on the television. 

For the first time on our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful tranfer — transfer of power in America — first time — smashing windows, shattering doors, attacking the police. 

Outside, gallows were erected as the MAGA crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” 

Inside, they hunted for Speaker Pelosi [of] the House, was chanting, as they marched through and smashed windows, “Where’s Nancy?”

Over 140 police officers were injured. Jill and I attended the funeral of police officers who died as a result of the events of that day. 

And because Donald — because of Donald Trump’s lies, they died because these lies brought a mob to Washington. 

He promised it would be “wild,” and it was.  He told the crowd to “fight like hell,” and all hell was unleashed. 

He promised he would right them — right them.  Everything they did, he would be side by side with them.  Then, as usual, he left the dirty work to others.  He retreated to the White House.

As America was attacked from within, Donald Trump watched on TV in the private small dining room off my Oval — off the Oval Office. 

The entire nation watched in horror.  The whole world watched in disbelief.  And Trump did nothing. 

Members of his staff, members of his family, Republican leaders who were under attack for the — at that very moment pled with him: “Act.  Call off the mob.” 

Imagine had he gone out and said, “Stop.” 

And still, Trump did nothing.  It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history: an attempt to overturn a free and fair election by force and violence.

A record 81 million people voted for my candidacy and to end his presidency.  Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million. 

Trump’s claims about the 2020 election never could stand up in court.  Trump lost 60 court cases — 60.  Trump lost the Republican-controlled states.  Trump lost before a Trump-appointed judge — and then judges.  And Trump lost before the United States Supreme Court.  (Applause.)  All of it, he lost.

Trump lost recount after recount after recount in state after state.  But in desperation and weakness, Trump and his MAGA followers went after election officials who en- — who ensured your power as a citizen would be heard.  These public servants had their lives forever upended by attacks and death threats for simply doing their jobs.

In Atlanta, Georgia, a brave Black mother and her daughter, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were doing their jobs as elected workers until Donald Trump and his MAGA followers targeted and threatened them, forcing them from their homes and unleashing racist vitriol on them.  Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was just hit with $148 million judgment for cruelty and defamation that he inflicted against them. 

Other state and local elected officials across the country faced similar personal attacks.  In addition, Fox News agreed to pay a record $8- — $787 million for the lies they told about voter fraud.

Let’s be clear about the 2020 election. Trump exhausted every legal avenue available to him to overturn the election — every one.  But the legal path just took Trump back to the truth that I had won the election and he was a loser. (Applause.)

Well, knowing how his mind works now, he had one — he had one act left — one desperate act available to him: the violence of January the 6th. 

And since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol.  Nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty.  Collectively, to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison. (Applause.)

And what has Trump done?  Instead of calling them “criminals,” he’s called these insurrectionists “patriots.”  They’re “patriots.”  And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office. 

Trump said that there was “a lot of love” on January the 6th.  The rest of the nation, including law enforcement, saw a lot of hate and violence. One Capitol police officer called it a “medieval battle.”  That same officer called vile — was called vile, racist names. 

He said he was more afraid in the Capitol of the United States of America, in the chambers, than when he was fighting as a soldier in the war in Iraq.  He said he was more afraid inside the halls of Congress than fighting in the war in Iraq.

In trying to rewrite the facts of January 6th, Trump is trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election.  But he — we knew the truth because we saw it with our own eyes.  It wasn’t like something — a story being told.  It was on television repeatedly.  We saw it with our own eyes. 

Trump’s mob wasn’t a peaceful protest.  It was a violent assault.  They were insurrectionists, not patriots.  They weren’t there to uphold the Constitution; they were there to destroy the Constitution.

Trump won’t do what an American president must do.  He refuses to denounce political violence. 

So, hear me clearly.  I’ll say what Donald Trump won’t.  Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system — never, never, never.  It has no place in a democracy.  None.  (Applause.)

You can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. 

You know, Trump and his MAGA supporters not only embrace political violence, but they laugh about it.  At his rally, he jokes about an intruder, whipped up by the Big Trump Lie, taking a hammer to Paul Pelosi’s skull and echoing the very same words used on January 6th: “Where’s Nancy?” 

And he thinks that’s funny.  He laughed about it.  What a sick — (laughter and applause).  My God.

I think it’s despicable, seriously — not just for a president, for any person to say that.  But to say it to the whole world listening. 

When I was overseas — anyway.  (Laughter.) 

Trump’s assault on democracy isn’t just part of his past.  It’s what he’s promising for the future.  He’s being straightforward.  He’s not hiding the ball. 

His first rally for the 2024 campaign opened with a choir of January 6th insurrectionists singing from prison on a cell phone while images of the January 6th riot played on a big screen behind him at his rally.

Can you believe that?  This is like something out of a fairy tale — a bad fairy tale.

Trump began his 2024 campaign by glorifying the failed violent insurrectionist — insurrection at our — on our Capitol.

The guy who claims law and order sows lawlessness and disorder.

Trump’s not concerned about your future, I promise you.  Trump is now promising a full-scale campaign of “revenge” and “retribution” — his words — for some years to come.  They were his words, not mine.  He went on to say he would be a dictator on day one.

I mean, if I were writing a book of fiction and I said an American president said that, and not in jest —

He called it, and I quote, the termina- — quote — this is a quote — the “termination of all the rules, regulation, and articles, even those found in the U.S. Constitution,” should be terminated, if it’s his will.

It’s really kind of hard to believe. Even found in the Constitution, he could terminate?

He’s threatened the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the death penalty.  Says he should be put to death because the Chairman put his oath to the Constitution ahead of his personal loyalty to Trump.

This coming from a president who called — when he visited a cemetery, called dead soldiers “suckers” and “losers.”  Remember that?

Sometimes, I’m really happy the Irish in me can’t be seen.  (Laughter.)

It was right around the time I was at Beau’s grave, Tommy.

How dare he?  Who in God’s name does he think he is?

With former aides, Trump plans to invoke the Insurrectionist Act — the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy — which he’s not allowed to do in ordinary circumstances — allow him to deploy U.S. military forces on the streets of America.  He said it.

He calls those who oppose him “vermin.”  He talks about the blood of Americans being poisoned, echoing the same exact language used in Nazi Germany.

He proudly posts on social media the words that best describe his 2024 campaign, quote, “revenge”; quote, “power”; and, quote, “dictatorship.”

There’s no confusion about who Trump is and what he intends to do.

I placed my hand on our family Bible, and I swore an oath on the very same steps of the Capitol just 14 days after the attack on January the 6th.

As I looked out over the capital city, whose streets were lined with National Guard to prevent another attack, I saw an American that had been pushed to the brink — an America that had been pushed to the brink.

But I felt enormous pride — not in winning.  I felt enormous pride in America because American democracy had been tested and American democracy had held together.  And when Trump had seen weakness in our democracy and continues to talk about it, I saw strength — your strength.  It’s not hyperbole.  Your strength.  Your integrity.  American strength and integrity.

Ordinary citizens, state election officials, the American judicial system had put the Constitution first and sometimes at their peril — at their peril.

Because of them, because of you, the will of the people prevailed, not the anger of the mob or the appetites of one man.

When the attack on January 6th happened, there was no doubt about the truth.  At the time, even Republican members of Congress and Fox News commentators publicly and privately condemned the attack.

As one Republican senator said, “Trump’s behavior was embarrassing and humiliating for the country.”  But now, that same senator and those same people have changed their tune.

As time has go one — gone on, politics, fear, money, all have intervened.  And now these MAGA voices who know the truth about Trump on January 6th have abandoned the truth and abandoned democracy.

They made their choice.  Now the rest of us — Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans — we have to make our choice.

I know mine.  And I believe I know America’s.

We will defend the truth, not give in to the Big Lie.  We’ll embrace the Constitution and the Declaration, not abandon it.  We’ll honor the sacred cause of democracy, not walk away from it.

Today, I make this sacred pledge to you.  The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.  (Applause.)

America, as we begin this election year, we must be clear: Democracy is on the ballot.  Your freedom is on the ballot.  (Applause.)

Yes, we’ll be voting on many issues: on the freedom to vote and have your vote counted, on the freedom of choice, the freedom to have a fair shot, the freedom from fear.  And we’ll debate and disagree. 

Without democracy, no progress is (inaudible) possible.  Think about it.  The alternative to democracy is dictatorship — the rule of one, not the rule of “We the People.” 

That’s what the soldiers of Valley Forge understood.  And so was me — was what we have to understand it as well.  We’ve been blessed so long with a strong, stable democracy.  It’s easy to forget why so many before us risked their lives and strengthened democracy, what our lives would be without it.

Democracy means having the freedom to speak your mind, to be who you are, to be who you want to be.  Democracy is about being able to bring about peaceful change.  Democracy — democracy is how we’ve opened the doors of opportunity wider and wider with each successive generation, notwith- — notwithstanding our mistakes.

But if democracy falls, we’ll lose that freedom.  We’ll lose the power of “We the People” to shape our destiny.  If you doubt me, look around the world.  Travel with me as I meet with other heads of state throughout the world. 

Look at the authoritarian leaders and dictators Trump says he admires — he, out loud, says he admires.  I won’t go through them all.  It would take too long.

Look, remember when he — when he refers to what he calls the “love letter” exchanges between he and the dictator of North Korea?  Those women and men out there in the audience who ever fought for the American military, would you ever believe you’d hear a president say something like that?

His admiration for Putin — I can go on. 

And look at what these autocrats are doing to limit freedom in their countries.  They’re limiting freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, women’s rights, LGB[T]Q rights, people are going to jail, so much more. 

It’s true: The push and pull of American history is not a fairy tale.  Every stride forward in America is met with a ferocious backlash, many times from those who fear progress and those who exploit that fear for their own personal gain; from those who traffic in lies told for power and profit; from those who are driven by grievance and grift, consumed by conspiracy and victimhood; from those who seek to bury history and ban books.

Did you ever think you’d be at a political event talking about book banning in a presidential election? 

The choice and contest between those forces — those competing forces, between solidarity and division — is perennial.  But this time, it’s so different. 

You can’t have a contest — you can’t have a contest if you see politics as an all-out war instead of a peaceful way to resolve our differences. All-out war is what Trump wants. 

That’s why he doesn’t understand the most fundamental truth about this country.  Unlike other nations on Earth, America is not built on ethnicity, religion, geography.  We’re the only nation in the history of the world built on an idea — not hyperbole — built on an idea: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal.”

It’s an idea declared in the Declaration, created in a way that we viewed everybody as equal and be — should be treated equally throughout their lives.

We’ve never fully lived up to that.  We have a long way to go.  But we’ve never walked away from the idea.  We’ve never walked away from it before.  But I promise you, I will not let Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans — (applause) — force us to walk away now.

We’re living in an era where a determined minority is doing everything in its power to try to destroy our democracy for their own agenda.  The American people know it, and they’re standing bravely in the breach. 

Remember, after 2020, January 6th insurrection to undo the election in which more Americans had voted than any other in American history?  America saw the threat posed to the country, and they voted him out.  In 2022, historic midterm election, in state after state, election after election, the election deniers were defeated. 

Now, in 2024, Trump in running as the “denier-in-chief” — the election denier-in-chief.  Once again, he’s saying he won’t honour the results of the election if he loses.

Trump says he doesn’t understand.  Well, he still doesn’t understand the basic truth, and that is you can’t love your country only when you win.  (Applause.)  You can’t love your country only when you win.

So, I’ll keep my commitment to be president for all of America, whether you voted for me or not.  I’ve done it for the last three years, and I’ll continue to do it. 

Together, we can keep proving that America is still a country that believes in decency, dignity, honesty, honor, truth.  We still believe that no one, not even the President, is above the law.  We still believe — (applause) — the vast majority of us still believe that everyone deserves a fair shot at making it.  We’re still a nation that gives hate no safe harbor. 

I tell you from my experience working with leaders around the world — and I mean this sincerely, not a joke — that America is still viewed as the beacon of democracy for the world. 

I can’t tell you how many — how many world leaders — and I know all of them, virtually all of them — grab my arm in private and say, “He can’t win. Tell me. No, my country will be at risk.” 

Think of how many countries, Tommy, you know that are on the brink- — on the edge.  Imagine. 

We still believe in “We the People,” and that includes all of us, not some of us.

Let me close with this.  On that cold winter of 1777, George Washington and his American troops at Valley Forge waged a battle on behalf of a revolutionary idea that everyday people — like where I come from and the vast majority of you — not a king or a dictator — that everyday people can govern themselves without a king or a dictator. 

In fact, in the rotunda of the Capitol, there’s a giant painting of General George Washington — not President Washington — and he is resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. 

A European king at this — at the time said, after he won the revolution, “Now is the time for him to declare his kingship.”

But instead, the mob that attacked the Capitol, waving Trump flags and Confederate flags, stormed right past that portrait.  That image of George Washington gave them no pause, but it should have.

The artist that painted that portrait memorialized that moment because he said it was, quote, “one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world.”  End of quote.

George Washington was at the height of his power.  Having just defeated the most powerful empire on Earth, could have held onto the power as long as he wanted.  He could have made himself not a future president but a future monarch, in effect. 

And, by the way, when he got elected president, he could have stayed for two, three, four, five terms, until he died.  But that wasn’t the America he and the American troops at Valley Forge had fought for.

In America, genuine leaders — democratic leaders, with a small “d” — don’t hold on to power relentlessly.  Our leaders return power to the people.  And they do it willingly, because that’s the deal.  You do your duty.  You serve your country. 

And ours is a country worthy of service, as many Republican presidents and Democratic presidents have shown over the years. 

We’re not perfect.  But at our best, we face on — we face head on the good, the bad, the truth of who we are.  We look in the mirror and ultimately never pretend we’re something we’re not.  That’s what great nations do.  And we’re a great nation.  We’re the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.  We really are.  (Applause.)

That’s the America I see in our future.  We get up.  We carry on.  We never bow.  We never bend.  We speak of possibilities, not carnage.  We’re not weighed down by grievances.  We don’t foster fear.  We don’t walk around as victims. 

We take charge of our destiny.  We get our job done with our peop- — the help of the people we find in America, who find their place in the changing world and dream and build a future that not only they but all people deserve a shot at. 

We don’t believe — none of you believe America is failing.  We know America is winning.  That’s American patriotism.  (Applause.)

And it’s not winning because of Joe Biden.  It’s winning. 

This is the first national election since January 6th insurrection placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy — since that moment.  We all know who Donald Trump is.  The question we have to answer is: Who are we?  That’s what’s at stake.  (Applause.)  Who are we? 

In the year ahead, as you talk to your family and friends, cast your ballots, the power is in your hands.  After all we’ve been through in our history, from independence to Civil War to two world wars to a pandemic to insurrection, I refuse to believe that, in 2024, we Americans will choose to walk away from what’s made us the greatest nation in the history of the world: freedom, liberty.  (Applause.)

Democracy is still a sacred cause.  And there’s no country in the world better positioned to lead the world than America. 

That’s why — (applause) — I’ve said it many times.  That’s why I’ve never been more optimistic about our future.  And I’ve been doing this a hell of a long time.  (Laughter.)

Just have to remember who we are — with patience and fortitude, with one heart.  We are the United States of America, for God’s sake.  (Applause.)

I mean it.  There is nothing — I believe with every fiber that there is nothing beyond our capacity if we act together and decently with one another.  Nothing, nothing, nothing.  (Applause.)  I mean it.

We’re the only nation in the world that’s come out of every crisis stronger than we went into that crisis.  That was true yesterday and it’s true today, and I guarantee you will be true tomorrow. 

God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  (Applause.)

Thank you.  Thank you.

Liz Cheney: 'I love my party ... but I love my country more', First Amendment Award Oration - 2021

9 November 2021, Loeb School, New Hampshire, USA

Thank you. Well, it is wonderful to be here with you today, and I only regret that I have
to follow Tara and Jon because what a tremendous story, and what a tremendous story
for citizens and for the students here that at the end of the day, it’s individuals who
make the difference, and it’s individuals who have to make the difference. So, I couldn’t
be more humbled and honored to be here. So, thank you all and congratulations on a
wonderful and well-deserved award.
It’s wonderful to be here at the Loeb School. I want to also thank Joe very much, and
thank the Union Leader. You know, I think that we all have seen, particularly in recent
years, that it is increasingly rare that journalists — journalism is an entity that focuses
on the truth, focuses on the facts. We can always count on that here, and count on that
from the Union Leader. And so it’s wonderful to be here, wonderful to be able to honor
the integrity and the truth telling of the Union Leader, as well as of Tara and Jon. So, I’m
thrilled to do that.
I’m especially pleased to be here and have the chance to talk about our Constitution
and talk about the First Amendment. When I think about the First Amendment, the first
thing that I think about is the history of this great nation. And I actually had the chance
this morning to do something I have never done before, and that was to visit the Eliot
Burying Ground in Roxbury. And if you haven’t been, it’s a wonderful place. It happens
to be, I think, maybe the second oldest cemetery in Boston, but there are fifteen
Cheneys buried in the Eliot Burying Ground. And it is a wonderful — It was very moving.
I FaceTimed my parents. It took more time for them to figure out how to FaceTime than
it did to get there, but do not tell them I told you that. But some of the very first Cheneys
who came to America are actually buried at Eliot Burying Ground. William Cheney is
there. He came in 1640, and he was part of the great immigration of Puritans who were
trying to escape religious persecution in England, and who came to the United States
thinking and hoping that we would become “a city on a hill.”
Some of my Cheney ancestors then moved to New Hampshire shortly after the
Revolutionary War, and my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was born
in Merrimack County, not far from here, in 1829. Samuel Fletcher Cheney moved to
Defiance, Ohio, and enlisted in April of 1861 when President Lincoln first called for
troops when the Civil War began. He fought in the Union Army for four years. He was
on Sherman’s March to the Sea, and he was in the Grand Revue parade in Washington,
D.C. — marched past the reviewing stand with President Andrew Johnson and General
Grant. And he knew, like all of the others who fought to preserve our Union — He
exemplified the idea that’s enshrined in the motto of New Hampshire: Live Free or Die.
They knew the price of freedom. They knew that it had to be fought for and defended.
And they knew that they were the ones who had to do it.
One of the greatest blessings of this country is that in every generation we have had
citizens who’ve been willing to serve, citizens who’ve been willing to answer that call
and to defend our freedom. And as we meet here today, I can tell you without a doubt
that the task for which so many generations have fought and have sacrificed now falls to
us.
Shortly after the impeachment back in January, I got a message from a Gold Star
Father and he said to me, “Standing up for truth honors all who gave all.” And I think
that is something I will certainly never forget and something that I think we all have to
remember every day. This task now falls to us and the question for every one of us, not
just for those of us who are elected, but for every one of us, is this: In this time of
testing, will we do our duty? Will we do what we must? Will we defend our Constitution?
Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics? Or will we
look away from the danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar?
There is no gray area when it comes to that question. When it comes to this moment,
there is no middle ground.
Our Founders provided that every elected official would swear an oath. And it’s not an
oath to a party. It’s not an oath to an individual. It’s a solemn oath that we swear before
God to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Founders
established this oath because they knew the danger of faction. They knew that the
survival of this great American experiment, the survival of our Republic, depended upon
public servants of goodwill doing their duty to the Constitution, putting loyalty to the
nation and its founding ideals above self-interest. This is no small thing. In fact, it is
everything.
Today, too many political leaders seem to have forgotten the sacred nature of that
oath, at precisely this moment when it matters most. We are confronting threats globally
that are in many ways unparalleled. We’ve watched in the last week as the Chinese
have tested a hypersonic weapon. We’ve seen reports come out in just the last few
days that they may have a thousand nuclear weapons by 2030. We are seeing a North
Korea on the march, Iran on the march, Russia on the march — nations around the
world testing America. At precisely this moment we need to make sure that we are
unified. We need to ensure that as a nation we are working together to fight to preserve
our freedom, to fight to preserve those ideals.
And at this moment, when it matters most, we are also confronting a domestic threat
that we’ve never faced before: a former president who’s attempting to unravel the
foundations of our Constitutional Republic, aided by political leaders who have made
themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man.
Just last night, former President Trump was invited by House Republican leaders to be
the keynote speaker at our annual large fundraising dinner. At the dinner, he reportedly
said, once again, that the “insurrection was on November 3rd,” and that the events of
January 6th — when a violent mob invaded the Capitol in an effort to overturn the will of
the American people and stop the constitutional process of the counting of electoral
votes — that those events were a “protest,” that they were justified.
Political leaders who sit silent in the face of these false and dangerous claims are
aiding a former president who is at war with the rule of law and the Constitution.
When our constitutional order is threatened, as it is now, rising above partisanship is
not simply an aspiration. It is an obligation — an obligation of every one of us.
You know, I am a conservative Republican. I disagree strongly with nearly everything
President Biden has done since he has been in office. His policies are bad for this
country. I believe deeply that conservative principles: limited government, low taxes, a
strong national defense, the family — the family as the essential building block of our
nation and our society, those are the right ideals for this country.
I love my party. I love its history. I love its principles, but I love my country more. I know
this nation needs a Republican Party that is based on truth, one that puts forward our
ideals and our policies based on substance. One that is willing to reject the former
president’s lies. One that is willing to tell the truth: that millions of Americans have been
tragically misled by former President Trump, who continues to this day to use language
that he knows provoked violence on January 6th.
We need a Republican Party that is led by people who remember that the peaceful
transfer of power is sacred and it undergirds the very foundations of our Republic. We
need Republican leaders who remember that fidelity to the Constitution, fidelity to the
rule of law, those are the most conservative of conservative principles.
In the months since January 6th, I have sometimes heard people say something like,
“Well, what happened was bad, but it wasn’t that big a deal because our institutions
held.” To those people, I say, our institutions do not defend themselves. We the people
defend them.
Our institutions held on January 6th because there were brave men and women,
elected officials at every level of our government who did their duty, who stood up for
what was right, who resisted pressure to do otherwise. And our institutions held
because of the bravery of the men and women in law enforcement and in our military,
our Capitol Police, some of whom are here with us today, our metropolitan police, the
ATF — men and women in law enforcement who defended the most sacred space in
our Republic, our Capitol building.
Our institutions held because there were 140 law enforcement officers who fought for
hours and held the tunnel on the West front of the Capitol, preventing a violent mob of
even more, thousands more, from entering our building. Because of these brave men
and women, Congress was safe and we carried out our constitutional duty to count the
electoral votes.
That is why our institutions held. Because men and women of courage and honor
recognized one of the most fundamental principles in a Republic — and that is the
principle that no citizen in a Republic is a bystander. No one is. Every one of us is called
to defend this great experiment of government of, by and for the people.
In all the history of mankind there has never been a place like America. Our nation is
far from perfect, but we know that it is our founding documents, our founding principles,
the Constitution, our Bill of Rights, that provide the path forward for freedom and for
justice for every one of us — and not just for us, but for all mankind.
We’ve been entrusted with this nation by God and by every generation that has
cherished and protected her since our founding. And we have a duty not just to protect
and defend the nation, but we have a duty to protect our ideals and our freedoms by
safeguarding our history.
As we’ve watched over the last several years, it has become even more clear than ever
that American history is lacking in our schools. We have to teach our children what is
special about this nation.
Our children need to know about the boys of Pointe du Hoc. They need to know about
Doolittle’s Raiders, the battles of Midway and Iwo Jima. They need to know about the
courage of the young Americans who fought the Nazis at the Battle of the Bulge and the
Japanese on Okinawa. They need to learn why America was right to end the war by
dropping atomic bombs. And they need to know about the fundamental decency of a
nation that established the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
They need to know about the horror of the Holocaust and what it means to promise
‘never again.’ They need to know that once there was an empire that was so evil and so
bereft of truth, it had to build a wall to keep its citizens in, and that the free world, led by
America, defeated it. And we did that, by the way, on this day in 1989 when the Wall
came down. They need to know about the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, the
courage of the first responders, and the heroism of the passengers on Flight 93. They
need to learn about great men — great men like George C. Marshall and Dwight
Eisenhower and Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, and great women like Margaret
Thatcher. They need to know what it took to prevail over evil in the 20th Century and
what it will take in the 21st. And we must make sure that our children know that it’s the
brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces who defend our freedom and
secure it for millions of others as well. Our children need to know that they are citizens
of the most powerful, good, and honorable nation in the history of mankind — the
exceptional nation. Ordinary Americans have done heroic things to guarantee her
survival.
America’s future and the future of freedom for all the world now depends on us. If we
do our duty, if we stand for truth, if we put love of country above partisanship, if we
honor our oaths, if we conduct ourselves as public servants in a way that is worthy of
the sacrifice of the men and women who wear the uniform of this nation, then we will be
able to hand this exceptional country with our freedoms secured to our children. And we
will be able to say to them, “In our time of testing, we did not falter and we did not fail.”
And our children and their children will know we loved our country more.
Thank you to every one of you for your love of this nation, your love of our Constitution
and our Bill of Rights. And thank you very much for your steadfast fidelity to those
things

Peter Malinauskas: 'The Liberal Party are not our enemies', Election night victory - 2022

19 March 2022, Adelaide, South Australia

To our friends men and women of Labor, to the people of South Australia.

I stand here with my feet firmly on the lands of the Kaurna people. I pay my respects to their elders past present and emerging, but the way we pay our respects first and foremost, is not with our words, but with our deeds. And I affirm to each and every one of you here tonight, and the people across our state, that I very much look forward to, for the first time in the history of our Federation, having an initiated Aboriginal man leading our state's Aboriginal affairs movement, but also actively delivering on a state based voice treaty and truth for the Aboriginal people of our state.

Only only a few short moments ago. I received a telephone call from Steven Marshall. Stephen Marshall's call was utterly generous. It was gracious. And it was done with the class that we have become incredibly familiar with. Stephen Marshall has been the leader of the Liberal party in South Australia for nine years including four years as premier. And that is a very significant contribution to his party, and to our state. And we very much thank him for it

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberal Party of Australia is an essential component of our Federation. It's essential component of our democratic process. And I take this opportunity, this is important, I take this opportunity to acknowledge that the Liberal Party are not our enemies. They may be our adversary. They may be our adversary, but they are not our enemies. And we thank them, on what is a significant tonight for them too. There are a lot of there are a lot of MPs and candidates tonight who have not been successful at this election, and in our democracy, that is a particularly difficult price to pay. And I want to acknowledge all of the families of those MPs who have lost their positions tonight. Politics is a tough business. And while we are right to be proud of our efforts tonight, we should acknowledge the hard work of others.

But first and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of South Australia. It is not lost on me, the significance of the privilege and the size of the responsibility that you invested in me in my team. Which means for my all of my MPs tonight, particularly the newly minted ones, and I'm incredibly proud of each and every one of them, it means that we've got a big job to do.

I think sometimes on election nights, when governments change hands, that the successful party can confuse the elation of electoral success with an inflated sense of achievement. Naturally people of South Australian Labor are right to feel satisfied tonight, but true satisfaction for us comes in realising our ambition, our ideal of delivering a fairer, better society and more opportunity for those who need it most.

To that end, I do believe that we have the policy and the plan to realise that ambition, but more than that, I know that I lead the team to deliver it. I want to thank one of the most intelligent, compassionate, hardworking, and reliable people I've ever met in my entire life, our great deputy leader, and future deputy premier, Susan Close.

[ 'Susan, Susan']

If we were cheeky, we'd be cheering out 'Dr. Susan', but that's another thing. People may not know, but Susan has been working so diligently behind the scenes compiling our policy effort, which is substantial. And I simply would not have been able to be here tonight without her. So thank you very much, Susan.

In the next parliament of South Australia, there will be a, a new longest serving MP. It's characterised as 'the father of the house'. And I do want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the longer serving MP in our parliament now. An individual that has been in serving in the parliament, have I get this maths right, for over 25 years. Every team needs a lion, and in Labor we have a loyal Labor lion in the honourable Tom Kousantonis. I've known Tom for a while, but, and we don't always agree, and when we when we disagree, it can get interesting. But the thing about about Tom is that he and I, like every other South Australian are utterly committed to our families and the long term future of our state. And I thank him for his service.

To the whole of my parliamentary team though. the confidence that you've invested in me from the moment I became leader has provided me with the greatest privilege of my life — up until a couple of hours ago— and I thank you for the confidence that you invested in me too.

To the most successful campaign director in Australia, Mr. Reggie, Martin,

Reggie Reggie, Reggie

Reggie,and I met in an old beat up Hyundai Excel, driving around visiting night workers many, many years ago. And it's hard to believe we're here today. But Reggie has been a, a loyal servant of the party for a long time. He is been campaign director for three separate elections. He's won two out of three of them, and I say two outta three ain't bad, Reggie. So well done.

The leader of the opposition, isn't blessed with the an abundant array of resources, so you rely on the few staff that you, that you have. And each, every one of my staff have been truly exceptional over the last four years and I thank them all. But they've been, ablely led by the hardest worker I know anywhere in the Labor movement, my good mate John Bistrovic. So thank you very much John.

To to all the volunteers that dedicate themselves to a night like tonight, but also doing some good in the Labor Party, we can't do it without you. I thank each and every one of you.

To Every every single Labor leader in the history of our great party, always stands on the shoulders of giants. And in the case of the Australian Labor party, those giants are millions of hardworking men and women across this country, ably represented by the Australian trade union movement. It takes a lot of courage to represent your fellow worker and sometimes put yourself in harm's way. And tonight I do want to particularly acknowledge all those hardworking people within our health system. Every doctor, every nurse, every hospital orderly, they've all served us so incredibly well during the pandemic, but a particular shout-out tonight to our ambos.

But Labor at its best, always, always embraces the notion that to achieve the right balance between the interests of capital and Labor, then hardworking individual contractors, sole traders, small and medium business owners, then they are equally as important to our ambitions for a fair society as any other of Labor's traditional constituencies. So I acknowledge them as well.

To my mother, Kate, who's here somewhere. To my mother, Kate and her late parents Bob and Ursula, to my father, Peter and his late parents, Peter and Etta.They've taught me everything I know and taught me the value of hard work, and I can't thank you enough. I'd also like to acknowledge my parents in law, Robin and Vicki and collectively that unit represents the most professional babysitters you've ever met in your entire life. And I thank them for all their hard work

Friends, there's a there's a quote that I think in Australian democracy, in western liberal democracy around the world, we should reflect on a little bit more often. It comes from a retired Supreme Court justice by the name of Felix Frankfurter. He famously said that 'the highest office in any democracy is the office of citizen'. When it comes to our democracy, there's never a truer word spoken. I think sometimes we are vulnerable to taking that for granted. This morning, I experienced the most humbling moment of the campaign. This morning, I was at Woodville Gardens polling booth, and I arrived there with Retab and Michelis Atahali, Syrian refugees who only six months ago became citizens of Australia. They were voting for the first time today.

They came, they came from a town just outside of Aleppo where their home was bombed only a years ago. Everything they had was lost. They had a young son, and they had nowhere to live. They fled to Lebanon where they waited for four or five years trying to find a permanent place they could call home. And it was Australia that opened our heart to this beautiful Syrian family, who by then had grown to having three children. And they came to this nation seeking one thing above all else, the opportunity to have a say on their destiny and their future. And today, as Annabel and I lined up at the polling booth next to them, it struck me —here I was, as the leader of their Labor party, the alternate premier of the state, standing next to this beautiful couple who were voting for the very first time, who came here with nothing to their name. And at that very moment, as we were standing next to each other, our votes were worth exactly the same. One could sense the hope, the desire, the aspiration that their votes, their votes had the power to deliver a better society, a fairer future, not just for themselves, but for their children and their children. The democratic ritual is one that we should never take for granted, particularly now, more than ever, at this special moment in time, we get one shot to recover from a global pandemic as a state and as a nation.

And when we look back on this moment in 20 years time, let them say that this generation was the new reconstruction generation. Let them say that we took this opportunity to deliver an economy that left noone behind. Let them say that we took this opportunity to invest in education, training, and skills so that every young person could fulfil their potential. Let them say, Let them say that this generation realised the opportunity of a clean energy future and all the jobs it can provide. Let them say, that we had a generational investment in health and mental health to ensure that people call Triple Zero, the ambulance rolls up on time.

Let them say, let them say that in this moment, this most unique occasion, that this generation decided not just to think about the next four years, but for the next generation to live out on that truly egalitarian, Australian ideal that we care for others more than we care for ourselves. Thank you very much.

Donald Trump: 'We will not allow corruption to steal our election', post election update - 2020

6 November 2020, White House, Washington DC, USA

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Good evening. I’d like to provide the American people with an update on our efforts to protect the integrity of our very important 2020 election. If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking to them very strongly, but a lot of votes came in late.

I’ve already decisively won many critical states, including massive victories in Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, to name just a few. We won these and many other victories despite historic election interference from big media, big money, and big tech. As everybody saw, we won by historic numbers, and the pollsters got it knowingly wrong. They got it knowingly wrong. We had polls that were so ridiculous and everybody knew it at the time.

There was no blue wave that they predicted. They thought there was going to be a big blue wave. That was false. That was done for suppression reasons. But instead there was a big red wave, and it’s been properly acknowledged actually by the media. They were, I think, very impressed, but that was after the fact. That doesn’t do us any good.

We kept the Senate despite having twice as many seats to defend as Democrats, and in a really much more competitive states. We did a fantastic job with the Senate. I think we’re very proud of what’s happened there. We had many more seats to defend. They spent almost $200 million on Senate races in South Carolina and Kentucky alone, two races, and hundreds of millions of dollars overall against us.

At the national level, our opponents major donors were Wall Street bankers and special interests. Our major donors were police officers, farmers, everyday citizens. Yet for the first time ever, we lost zero races in the House. I was talking to Kevin McCarthy today. He said he couldn’t believe it. Zero racist, very unusual thing, zero, and actually won many new seats with, I think, many more on the way.

This was also the year of the Republican woman. More Republican women were elected to Congress than ever before. That’s a great achievement. I won the largest share of non-white voters of any Republican in 60 years, including historic numbers of Latino, African American, Asian American, and Native American voters. The largest ever in our history. We grew our party by 4 million voters. The greatest turnout in Republican Party history.

Democrats are the party of the big donors. The big media, the big tech, it seems, and Republicans have become the party of the American worker, and that’s what’s happened. And we’re also, I believe the party of inclusion. As everyone now recognizes, media polling was election interference in the truest sense of that word, by powerful special interests.

These really phony polls, I have to call them phony polls, fake polls, were designed to keep our voters at home, create the illusion of momentum for Mr. Biden and diminish Republican’s ability to raise funds. They were what’s called suppression polls, everyone knows that now, and it’s never been used to the extent that it’s been used on this last election.

To highlight just a few examples, the day before election, Quinnipiac, which was wrong on every occasion that I know of, had Joe Biden up by five points in Florida, and they were off by 8.4 points and I won Florida easily, easily. So they had me losing Florida by a lot and I ended up winning Florida by a lot. Other than that, they were very accurate.

They had him up four points in Ohio and they were off by 12.2 points, and I also won Ohio, great state of Ohio very easily. And the Washington Post said, “Biden up 17 points in Wisconsin,” and it was basically even. They were off by about 17 points, and they knew that, they’re not stupid people. They knew that. Suppression.

There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of those states are run in all cases by Democrats. We were winning in all the key locations by a lot, actually, and then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away in secret and they wouldn’t allow legally permissible observers.

We went to court in a couple of instances and we were able to get the observers put in. And when the observers got there, they wanted them 60, 70 feet away, 80 feet, 100 feet away or outside the building to observe people inside the building. And we won a case, a big case, and we have others happening.

There are lots of litigation, even beyond our litigation. There’s a tremendous amount of litigation generally because of how unfair this process was, and I predicted that. I’ve been talking about mail-in voting for a long time. It’s really destroyed our system. It’s a corrupt system and it makes people corrupt, even if they aren’t by nature, but they become corrupt. It’s too easy. They want to find out how many votes they need, and then they seem to be able to find them. They wait and wait, and then they find them, and you see that on Election Night.

We were ahead in vote in North Carolina by a lot, a tremendous number of votes, and we’re still ahead by a lot, but not as many because they’re finding ballots all of a sudden. “Oh, we have some mail-in ballots.” It’s amazing how those mail-in ballots are so one-sided too. I know that it’s supposed to be to the advantage of the Democrats, but in all cases they’re so one-sided.

We were up by nearly 700,000 votes in Pennsylvania. I won Pennsylvania by a lot. And that gets whittled down to, I think they said now we’re up by 90,000 votes and they’ll keep coming and coming and coming. They find them all over and they don’t want us to have any observers. Although we won a court case, the judge said, “You have to have observers.” Likewise in Georgia … And they’re appealing, actually they’re appealing. We want a case that we want people to watch and we want to observers and they’re actually appealing, which is sort of interesting. I wonder why they’d appeal? All we want to do is have people watch as they do the vote tabulations.

Likewise in Georgia, I won by a lot, a lot, with a lead of over getting close to 300,000 votes on Election Night in Georgia. And by the way, got whittled down and now it’s getting to be to a point where I’ll go from winning by a lot to perhaps being even down a little bit.

In Georgia, a pipe burst in a far away location, totally unrelated to the location of what was happening and they stopped counting for four hours. And a lot of things happened. The election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats. We also had margins of 300,000 in Michigan. We were way up in Michigan, won the state. And in Wisconsin, we did likewise fantastically well, and that got whittled down. In every case, they got whittled down.

Today, we’re on track to win Arizona. We only need to carry, I guess, 55% of the remaining vote, 55% margins, and that’s a margin that we’ve significantly exceeded. So we’ll see what happens with that, but we’re on track to do okay in Arizona. Our goal is to defend the integrity of the election. We’ll not allow the corruption to steal such an important election, or any election for that manner. And we can’t allow silence, anybody to silence our voters and manufacture results.

I’ve never had, I’ve been doing a lot of public things for a long time, I’ve never had anything that’s been as inspirational by people calling, talking, sending things to us. I’ve never seen such love and such affection and such spirit as I’ve seen for this. People know what’s happening and they see what’s happening and just before their eyes, and there are many instances which will be reported very shortly.

There’s tremendous litigation going on, and this is a case where they’re trying to steal an election. They’re trying to rig an election and we can’t let that happen. Detroit and Philadelphia, known as two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country easily, cannot be responsible for engineering the outcome of a presidential race, a very important presidential race.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have gone to the State Supreme Court to try and ban our election observers and very strongly. Now we won the case, but they’re going forward. They don’t want anybody in there. They don’t want anybody watching them as they count the ballots, and I can’t imagine why. There’s absolutely no legitimate reason why they would not want to have people watching this process, because if it’s straight, they should be proud of it. Instead, they’re trying obviously to commit fraud. There’s no question about that.

In Philadelphia, observers have been kept far away, very far away. So far that people are using binoculars to try and see, and there’s been tremendous problems caused. They put a paper on all of the windows so you can’t see in, and the people that are banned are very unhappy and become somewhat violent.

The Eleventh Circuit ruled that in Georgia, the votes have been in by Election Day, that they should be in by Election Day, and they weren’t. Votes are coming in after Election Day. And they had a ruling already that you have to have the votes in by Election Day. To the best of my knowledge, votes should be in by Election Day, and they didn’t do that. Democrat officials never believed they could win this election honestly, I really believe that. That’s why they did the mail-in ballots, where there’s tremendous corruption and fraud going on.

That’s why they mailed out tens of millions of unsolicited ballots without any verification measures whatsoever, and I’ve told everybody that these things would happen because I’ve seen it happen. I watched a lot of different elections before they decided to go with this big, massive election with tens of millions of ballots going out to everybody. In many cases, totally unsolicited.

This was unprecedented in American history. This was by design. Despite years of claiming to care about the election security, they refuse to include any requirement to verify signatures, identities, or even determined whether they’re eligible or ineligible to vote. People are walking in there, they have no idea. They just take in the numbers. They’re writing down things, the workers, and doing a lot of bad things. And we have a lot of information coming and litigation that you’ll see that will shake even you people up, and you’ve seen it all.

The officials overseeing the counting in Pennsylvania and other key states are all part of a corrupt Democrat machine that you’ve written about. And for a long time, you’ve been writing about the corrupt Democrat machine. I went to school there and I know a lot about it. It hasn’t changed since a long time ago and hasn’t changed. It has gotten worse.

In Pennsylvania, partisan Democrats have allowed ballots in the state to be received three days after the election, and we think much more than that, and they’re counting those without even postmarks or any identification whatsoever. So you don’t have postmarks, you don’t have identification.

There have been a number of disturbing irregularities across the nation. Our campaign has been denied access to observe any counting in Detroit. Detroit is another place, and I wouldn’t say has the best reputation for election integrity. Poll workers in Michigan were duplicating ballots. But when our observers attempted to challenge the activity, those poll workers jumped in front of the volunteers to block their views so that they couldn’t see what they were doing and it became a little bit dangerous.

One major hub for counting ballots in Detroit covered up the windows again with large pieces of cardboard, and so they wanted to protect and block the counting area. They didn’t want anybody seeing the counting, even though these were observers who were legal observers that were supposed to be there.

In Detroit, there were hours of unexplained delay in delivering many of the votes for counting. The final batch did not arrive until 4:00 in the morning. And even though the polls closed at 8:00 o’clock, so they brought it in and the batches came in and nobody knew where they came from.

We’ve also been denied access to observe in critical places in Georgia. In multiple swing states, counting was halted for hours and hours on Election Night. With results withheld from major Democrat run locations only to appear later, and they certainly appeared and they all had the name Biden on them, or just about all. I think almost all. They all had the name Biden on them, which is a little strange.

I challenge Joe and every Democrat to clarify that they only want legal votes because they talk about votes and I think they should use the word legal, legal votes. We want every legal vote counted, and I want every legal vote counted. We want openness and transparency, no secret count rooms, no mystery ballots, no illegal votes being cast after Election Day. You have Election Day and the laws are very strong on that. You have an Election Day and they don’t want votes cast after Election Day and they want the process to be an honest one. It’s so important.

We want an honest election and we want an honest count and we want honest people working back there because it’s a very important job. So that’s the way this country is going to win. That’s the way the United States will win, and we think we will win the election very easily. We think there’s going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it’s going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land, we’ll see. But we think there’ll be a lot of litigation because we can’t have an election stolen by like this.

And I tell you, He trum Small elections were a disaster. Small, very easy to handle elections were disastrous. This is a large scale version, and it’s getting worse and worse every day. We’re hearing stories that are horror stories, absolute horror stories, and we can’t let that happen to the United States of America.

It’s not a question of who wins, Republican, Democrat, Joe, myself. We can’t let that happen to our country. We can’t be disgraced by having something like this happen. So it will be hopefully cleared up. Maybe soon, I hope soon, but it’ll probably go through a process, a legal process. And as you know, I’ve claimed certain states and he’s claiming states and we can both claim the States, but ultimately I have a feeling judges are going to have to rule. But there’s been a lot of shenanigans and we can’t stand for that in our country. Thank you very much.

Mr. President [crosstalk 00:16:50]

Brian Leung: 'The more people we have, the safer it is here', Storming of Hong Kong Legislative Council -2019

1 July 2019, Hong Kong

On 1 July, after months of anti-government protests, protesters stormed Hong Kong's Legislative Council building. Inside, one protester, Brian Leung Kai-ping, removed his face mask and addressed the crowd with an impassioned plea to remain and occupy the legislative chamber. Leung's plea was ultimately unsuccessful: protesters abandoned the building in the face of an approaching police clearance operation. However his courage in removing his mask, thereby exposing himself to almost certain arrest, became the emotional high point of the night and remains a key symbolic moment in the months of ongoing protests. Leung is now in exile in the USA.

Some people broke into the legislative council building (LegCo), in spite of the risks to their lives, pathed the way for us to come inside.

If we retreat, we will become the rioters tomorrow as TVB would coin us.

They will be filming the destruction and mess in the LegCo building, condemning us as rioters.

Thus, now we cannot be separated in this movement anymore.

If we are to win, we win it together. If lost, we lose ten years. Our entire civil society, would not recover from this the next ten years.

Our students would be arrested. Our leaders would be arrested.

So this time, if we are to win, we must win together.

If you could stay in the occupy, if you have considered carefully that you can stay in the occupy, join us to occupy here.

The more people we have here, the safer we will be.

The police cannot fire tear gas here, we will die from it. They cannot disperse 1,000 of us from here using batons. Right?

Let’s urge people outside who can join the occupy to come in and join us.

Because there is no return for us anymore, since we took this step. It cannot be a flash mob anymore. This moment, we are not doing a flash mob. Because it is a once in a lifetime chance to occupy the Legislative Council.

We’re at the point of no return.

So if you have the ability, stay and occupy here.

If not, you can surround the LegCo in a peaceful manner, using your body to protect us, okay?
We cannot lose anymore.

If we go back and sleep in an air conned room tonight , tomorrow morning nothing would have happened in Hong Kong.

Sacrifices made the past month would be in vain.

Do we want the three lost lives, the blood and sweat we shed for many days, to be wasted for nothing?
We cannot lose anymore.

I urge students outside not have picnics anymore, do not do flash mobs anymore. Come in and join us in the occupy.

In the Sunflower Student Movement, after students occupied, adults, leaders advocating for peace, Legislative Council members, were at the entrance to protect us (them).

Therefore, we, as students, first, do not be distracted. We need to have enough brothers and sisters, enough friends, with the courage with the courage to come into this chamber together.
The more people we have, the safer it is here.

The reason why I remove my mask, is to let everyone know that we Hongkongers, have nothing more to lose.

HongKongers cannot lose anymore.

If we lose again, it’s ten years. Think about it, ten years.

Our civil society would sink to the bottom., the government then,
[I’m with you … ]



Bruin Leung was a guest on the Speakola podcast

Franklin D Roosevelt: 'We must be the great arsenal of democracy', fireside chat broadcast - 1940

29 December 1940, Washington DC, USA

This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security, because the nub of the whole purpose of your President is to keep you now, and your children later, and your grandchildren much later, out of a last-ditch war for the preservation of American independence and all of the things that American independence means to you and to me and to ours.
Tonight, in the presence of a world crisis, my mind goes back eight years to a night in the midst of a domestic crisis. It was a time when the wheels of American industry were grinding to a full stop, when the whole banking system of our country had ceased to function.
I well remember that while I sat in my study in the White House, preparing to talk with the people of the United States, I had before my eyes the picture of all those Americans with whom I was talking. I saw the workmen in the mills, the mines, the factories; the girl behind the counter; the small shopkeeper; the farmer doing his spring plowing; the widows and the old men wondering about their life's savings.

I tried to convey to the great mass of American people what the banking crisis meant to them in their daily lives.

Tonight, I want to do the same thing, with the same people, in this new crisis which faces America.

We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism.

We face this new crisis -- this new threat to the security of our nation -- with the same courage and realism.

Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.

For, on September 27th, 1940, this year, by an agreement signed in Berlin, three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together in the threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion program of these three nations -- a program aimed at world control -- they would unite in ultimate action against the United States.

The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world.

It was only three weeks ago their leader stated this: " There are two worlds that stand opposed to each other." And then in defiant reply to his opponents, he said this: "Others are correct when they say: With this world we cannot ever reconcile ourselves .... I can beat any other power in the world." So said the leader of the Nazis.

In other words, the Axis not merely admits but the Axis proclaims that there can be no ultimate peace between their philosophy of government and our philosophy of government.
In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, it can be asserted, properly and categorically, that the United States has no right or reason to encourage talk of peace, until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world.

At this moment, the forces of the states that are leagued against all peoples who live in freedom are being held away from our shores. The Germans and the Italians are being blocked on the other side of the Atlantic by the British, and by the Greeks, and by thousands of soldiers and sailors who were able to escape from subjugated countries. In Asia the Japanese are being engaged by the Chinese nation in another great defense.

In the Pacific Ocean is our fleet.

Some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us. But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war-makers should not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere.

One hundred and seventeen years ago the Monroe Doctrine was conceived by our Government as a measure of defense in the face of a threat against this hemisphere by an alliance in Continental Europe. Thereafter, we stood (on) guard in the Atlantic, with the British as neighbors. There was no treaty. There was no "unwritten agreement."

And yet, there was the feeling, proven correct by history, that we as neighbors could settle any disputes in peaceful fashion. And the fact is that during the whole of this time the Western Hemisphere has remained free from aggression from Europe or from Asia.

Does anyone seriously believe that we need to fear attack anywhere in the Americas while a free Britain remains our most powerful naval neighbor in the Atlantic? And does anyone seriously believe, on the other hand, that we could rest easy if the Axis powers were our neighbors there?

If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the high seas -- and they will be in a position to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration to say that all of us, in all the Americas, would be living at the point of a gun -- a gun loaded with explosive bullets, economic as well as military.

We should enter upon a new and terrible era in which the whole world, our hemisphere included, would be run by threats of brute force. And to survive in such a world, we would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy.
Some of us like to believe that even if (Great) Britain falls, we are still safe, because of the broad expanse of the Atlantic and of the Pacific.

But the width of those (these) oceans is not what it was in the days of clipper ships. At one point between Africa and Brazil the distance is less from Washington than it is from Washington to Denver, Colorado -- five hours for the latest type of bomber. And at the North end of the Pacific Ocean America and Asia almost touch each other.

Why, even today we have planes that (which) could fly from the British Isles to New England and back again without refueling. And remember that the range of a (the) modern bomber is ever being increased.

During the past week many people in all parts of the nation have told me what they wanted me to say tonight. Almost all of them expressed a courageous desire to hear the plain truth about the gravity of the situation. One telegram, however, expressed the attitude of the small minority who want to see no evil and hear no evil, even though they know in their hearts that evil exists. That telegram begged me not to tell again of the ease with which our American cities could be bombed by any hostile power which had gained bases in this Western Hemisphere. The gist of that telegram was: "Please, Mr. President, don't frighten us by telling us the facts."

Frankly and definitely there is danger ahead -- danger against which we must prepare. But we well know that we cannot escape danger (it), or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads.

Some nations of Europe were bound by solemn non-intervention pacts with Germany. Other nations were assured by Germany that they need never fear invasion. Non-intervention pact or not, the fact remains that they were attacked, overrun, (and) thrown into (the) modern (form of) slavery at an hour's notice, or even without any notice at all. As an exiled leader of one of these nations said to me the other day, "The notice was a minus quantity. It was given to my Government two hours after German troops had poured into my country in a hundred places."
The fate of these nations tells us what it means to live at the point of a Nazi gun.

The Nazis have justified such actions by various pious frauds. One of these frauds is the claim that they are occupying a nation for the purpose of "restoring order." Another is that they are occupying or controlling a nation on the excuse that they are "protecting it" against the aggression of somebody else.

For example, Germany has said that she was occupying Belgium to save the Belgians from the British. Would she then hesitate to say to any South American country, "We are occupying you to protect you from aggression by the United States?"

Belgium today is being used as an invasion base against Britain, now fighting for its life. And any South American country, in Nazi hands, would always constitute a jumping-off place for German attack on any one of the other republics of this hemisphere.

Analyze for yourselves the future of two other places even nearer to Germany if the Nazis won. Could Ireland hold out? Would Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing pet exception in an unfree world? Or the Islands of the Azores which still fly the flag of Portugal after five
centuries? You and I think of Hawaii as an outpost of defense in the Pacific. And yet, the Azores are closer to our shores in the Atlantic than Hawaii is on the other side.

There are those who say that the Axis powers would never have any desire to attack the Western Hemisphere. That (this) is the same dangerous form of wishful thinking which has destroyed the powers of resistance of so many conquered peoples. The plain facts are that the Nazis have proclaimed, time and again, that all other races are their inferiors and therefore subject to their orders. And most important of all, the vast resources and wealth of this American Hemisphere constitute the most tempting loot in all of the round world.

Let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which have crushed and undermined and corrupted so many others are already within our own gates. Your Government knows much about them and every day is ferreting them out.

Their secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension to cause internal strife. They try to turn capital against labor, and vice versa. They try to reawaken long slumbering racist and religious enmities which should have no place in this country. They are active in every group that promotes intolerance. They exploit for their own ends our own natural abhorrence of war. These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people, to divide them into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves.

There are also American citizens, many of then in high places, who, unwittingly in most cases, are aiding and abetting the work of these agents. I do not charge these American citizens with being foreign agents. But I do charge them with doing exactly the kind of work that the dictators want done in the United States.

These people not only believe that we can save our own skins by shutting our eyes to the fate of other nations. Some of them go much further than that. They say that we can and should become the friends and even the partners of the Axis powers. Some of them even suggest that we should imitate the methods of the dictatorships. But Americans never can and never will do that.

The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender.

Even the people of Italy have been forced to become accomplices of the Nazis, but at this moment they do not know how soon they will be embraced to death by their allies.

The American appeasers ignore the warning to be found in the fate of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and France. They tell you that the Axis powers are going to win anyway; that all of this bloodshed in the world could be saved, that the United States might just as well throw its influence into the scale of a dictated peace, and get the best out of it that we can.

They call it a "negotiated peace." Nonsense! Is it a negotiated peace if a gang of outlaws surrounds your community and on threat of extermination makes you pay tribute to save your own skins?

Such a dictated peace would be no peace at all. It would be only another armistice, leading to the most gigantic armament race and the most devastating trade wars in all history. And in these contests the Americas would offer the only real resistance to the Axis powers.

With all their vaunted efficiency, with all their (and) parade of pious purpose in this war, there are still in their background the concentration camp and the servants of God in chains.

The history of recent years proves that the shootings and the chains and the concentration camps are not simply the transient tools but the very altars of modern dictatorships. They may talk of a "new order" in the world, but what they have in mind is only (but) a revival of the oldest and the worst tyranny. In that there is no liberty, no religion, no hope.

The proposed "new order" is the very opposite of a United States of Europe or a United States of Asia. It is not a government based upon the consent of the governed. It is not a union of ordinary, self-respecting men and women to protect themselves and their freedom and their dignity from oppression. It is an unholy alliance of power and pelf to dominate and to enslave the human race.

The British people and their allies today are conducting an active war against this unholy alliance. Our own future security is greatly dependent on the outcome of that fight. Our ability to "keep out of war" is going to be affected by that outcome.

Thinking in terms of today and tomorrow, I make the direct statement to the American people that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war if we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack in another war later on.

If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is risk in any course we may take. But I deeply believe that the great majority of our people agree that the course that I advocate involves the least risk now and the greatest hope for world peace in the future.
The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask us to do their fighting. They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters which will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security. Emphatically we must get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough, so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had to endure.

Let not the defeatists tell us that it is too late. It will never be earlier. Tomorrow will be later than today.

Certain facts are self-evident.

In a military sense Great Britain and the British Empire are today the spearhead of resistance to world conquest. And they are putting up a fight which will live forever in the story of human gallantry.

There is no demand for sending an American Expeditionary Force outside our own borders. There is no intention by any member of your Government to send such a force. You can, therefore, nail -- nail any talk about sending armies to Europe as deliberate untruth.
Our national policy is not directed toward war. Its sole purpose is to keep war away from our country and away from our people.

Democracy's fight against world conquest is being greatly aided, and must be more greatly aided, by the rearmament of the United States and by sending every ounce and every ton of munitions and supplies that we can possibly spare to help the defenders who are in the front lines. And it is no more unneutral for us to do that than it is for Sweden, Russia and other nations near Germany to send steel and ore and oil and other war materials into Germany every day in the week.

We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its vast scale we must integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free nations which are resisting aggression.
This is not a matter of sentiment or of controversial personal opinion. It is a matter of realistic, practical military policy, based on the advice of our military experts who are in close touch with existing warfare. These military and naval experts and the members of the Congress and the Administration have a single-minded purpose -- the defense of the United States.

This nation is making a great effort to produce everything that is necessary in this emergency -- and with all possible speed. And this great effort requires great sacrifice.

I would ask no one to defend a democracy which in turn would not defend everyone in the nation against want and privation. The strength of this nation shall not be diluted by the failure of the Government to protect the economic well-being of its (all) citizens.

If our capacity to produce is limited by machines, it must ever be remembered that these machines are operated by the skill and the stamina of the workers. As the Government is determined to protect the rights of the workers, so the nation has a right to expect that the men who man the machines will discharge their full responsibilities to the urgent needs of defense.

The worker possesses the same human dignity and is entitled to the same security of position as the engineer or the manager or the owner. For the workers provide the human power that turns out the destroyers, and the (air)planes and the tanks.

The nation expects our defense industries to continue operation without interruption by strikes or lockouts. It expects and insists that management and workers will reconcile their differences by voluntary or legal means, to continue to produce the supplies that are so sorely needed.
And on the economic side of our great defense program, we are, as you know, bending every effort to maintain stability of prices and with that the stability of the cost of living.

Nine days ago I announced the setting up of a more effective organization to direct our gigantic efforts to increase the production of munitions. The appropriation of vast sums of money and a well coordinated executive direction of our defense efforts are not in themselves enough. Guns, planes, (and) ships and many other things have to be built in the factories and the arsenals of America. They have to be produced by workers and managers and engineers with the aid of machines which in turn have to be built by hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the land.

In this great work there has been splendid cooperation between the Government and industry and labor, and I am very thankful.

American industrial genius, unmatched throughout all the world in the solution of production problems, has been called upon to bring its resources and its talents into action. Manufacturers of watches, of farm implements, of linotypes, and cash registers, and automobiles, and sewing machines, and lawn mowers and locomotives are now making fuses, bomb packing crates, telescope mounts, shells, and pistols and tanks.

But all of our present efforts are not enough. We must have more ships, more guns, more planes -- more of everything. And this can only be accomplished if we discard the notion of "business as usual." This job cannot be done merely by superimposing on the existing productive facilities the added requirements of the nation for defense.

Our defense efforts must not be blocked by those who fear the future consequences of surplus plant capacity. The possible consequences of failure of our defense efforts now are much more to be feared.

And after the present needs of our defense are past, a proper handling of the country's peacetime needs will require all of the new productive capacity -- if not still more.
No pessimistic policy about the future of America shall delay the immediate expansion of those industries essential to defense. We need them.

I want to make it clear that it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible speed every machine, every arsenal, every (and) factory that we need to manufacture our defense material. We have the men -- the skill -- the wealth -- and above all, the will.

I am confident that if and when production of consumer or luxury goods in certain industries requires the use of machines and raw materials that are essential for defense purposes, then such production must yield, and will gladly yield, to our primary and compelling purpose.
So I appeal to the owners of plants -- to the managers -to the workers -- to our own Government employees -- to put every ounce of effort into producing these munitions swiftly and without stint. (And) With this appeal I give you the pledge that all of us who are officers of your Government will devote ourselves to the same whole-hearted extent to the great task that (which) lies ahead.

As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your Government, with its defense experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. The decision as to how much shall be sent abroad and how much shall remain at home must be made on the basis of our overall military necessities.

We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war.
We have furnished the British great material support and we will furnish far more in the future. There will be no "bottlenecks" in our determination to aid Great Britain. No dictator, no combination of dictators, will weaken that determination by threats of how they will construe that determination.

The British have received invaluable military support from the heroic Greek army and from the forces of all the governments in exile. Their strength is growing. It is the strength of men and women who value their freedom more highly than they value their lives.
I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war. I base that belief on the latest and best of information.

We have no excuse for defeatism. We have every good reason for hope -- hope for peace, yes, and hope for the defense of our civilization and for the building of a better civilization in the future.

I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all the implements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith.

As President of the United States I call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of this nation which we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call upon our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.

John F Kennedy : 'Even though we never like it', On the importance of the press to a free society - 1962

December 1962, Washington DC, USA

President Kennedy had been on the end of much press criticism for the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. 

Sandor Vanocur (NBC): You once said that you were reading more and enjoying it less. Are you still as avid a newspaper reader, magazine—I remember those of us who traveled with you on the campaign, a magazine wasn't safe around you.

JFK: Oh, yes. No, no, I think it is invaluable, even though it may cause you—it is never pleasant to be reading things that are not agreeable news, but I would say that it is an invaluable arm of the presidency, as a check really on what is going on in the administration, and more things come to my attention that cause me concern or give me information. So I would think that Mr. Khrushchev operating a totalitarian system, which has many advantages as far as being able to move in secret, and all the rest—there is a terrific disadvantage not having the abrasive quality of the press applied to you daily, to an administration, even though we never like it, and even though we wish they didn't write it, and even though we disapprove, there isn't any doubt that we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press.

Dilma Rousseff: "We are not in a dialogue between my neck and the gallows, senator" -

7 May 2008, Palácio do Congresso Nacional, Brasilia, Brazil

This was an answer from Brazilian left-wing politician (later to become president) Dilma Rousseff, in response to a question made by senator Agripino Maia, a former member of the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to the late 80s. Maia questioned the honesty of Rousseff's statements. It was asked over 15 years after those dark days had passed, but it sought to compare Rousseff's current political predicaments with her behaviour as a victim of that regime's brutal policies. Rousseff delivered this famous smack down.

Senator José Agripino Maia (DEM):  You have lied to the dictatorship; are you going to lie here?

Dilma Rousseff: ny comparison between the military dictatorship and Brazilian democracy can only come from those who do not value the Brazilian democracy.

I was 19, I spent three years in jail and was brutally tortured, senator. And anyone who dares to tell the truth to his interrogators, compromises the life of their equal and gives people away to be killed. I am very proud to have lied, senator, because lying in torture is not easy. Now, in democracy, truth is spoken; on the face of torture, the ones who have courage, dignity, they lie. And that (applause), and that, senator, is part of, and integrates my biography; I'm very proud, and I'm not talking about heroes.

Happy is the people who does not have such heroes, senator, because to endure torture is something very difficult, because we are all very fragile, all of us. We are humans, we feel pain, and the seduction, the temptation to talk about what happened and tell the truth is immense senator, the pain is unbearable, you can not imagine how unbearable it is.

So I am proud to have lied, I pride myself immensely in having lied, because I saved companions of their own torture and death. I have no commitment to the dictatorship in terms of telling the truth. I was in a field and they were in another, and what was at stake was my life and that of my companions.

And this country, which has gone through everything it did, which built democracy, which allows me to be here today, which allows me to speak to you, has no similarity to that; this dialogue here is of the democratic kind. The opposition can ask me questions, I'll be able to answer. We're on equal human and material conditions.

We are not in a dialogue between my neck and the gallows, senator. I'm here in a democratic, civilized dialogue, and so I believe and respect this moment. Because of that, at every time, I've come here before this committee. So I start my speech by saying that, because that is the rescue of the process that took place in Brazil. I will repeat again:

There is no room for truth, and that's what kills in the dictatorship. What kills in the dictatorship is that there is no room for the truth because there is no room for life, Senator. Because some truths, even the most trivial, can lead to death. All that’s needed is to just “botch the cooking” while in the interrogation.

And I believe, senator, that we were at different times of our lives in ’70.
I assure to you, I was between 19 and 21 years old and, in fact, I fought the military dictatorship, and of that I'm very proud.

Bill Clinton: 'I want you to know that the world is looking to you', Sydney - 1996

21 November 1996, Sydney Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Prime Minister. Thank you, Premier Carr. Mr. Lord Mayor, Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Carr. Andrew Hoy, thank you very much for reminding us how you defeated us in Atlanta—[laughter]— and thank you for what you said about the Olympics.

Premier, you invited me to come back in the year 2000 to the Olympics. I have to make full disclosure—this morning when I woke up, the very first thing Hillary said to me was, "Now, in 2000, I think you ought to make me your official representative to the Olympics in Sydney," which means I suppose I'll have to come back as her valet if I wish to come. [Laughter] But I've had such a good time here, I'd like to come back in any capacity.

I thank you all very much for your hospitality. It's a great privilege for me to stand here in Sydney Harbor, to be in these beautiful botanical gardens, where I had the privilege this morning to go on my morning run right by this site; to see the magnificent opera house, where I had the chance to tour on an impromptu basis this morning. A wonderful and surprised guard even took me up to the organ, and I virtually got to count all 10,500 pipes. [Laughter] This is a magnificent place. I'm also glad to be here in the shadow of Harbor Bridge. If any of you followed our campaign at all, you know I'm kind of into bridges this year. [Laughter] And I think that that's a bridge that will take you into the 21st century in good shape.

As the Prime Minister and the Premier have said, Americans have visited Sydney and felt welcome for a long time. You might be interested to know that almost exactly 100 years ago, our great American writer Mark Twain came to Australia. Now, Mark Twain is famous for many things, his great books "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," "Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," all those books, but those of us in public life in America appreciate him because he was always puncturing the pompous and always reminding people that they should have a very sort of philosophical and goodhumored attitude about their troubles in life.

And we got to talking about Mark Twain last night in this very harbor, and I told the Prime Minister—I said, "Prime Minister, you're riding high now, but the first time you get in trouble remember what Mark Twain said about dogs. Mark Twain said, ‘Every dog should have a few fleas; keeps them from worrying so much about being a dog."' [Laughter] Now, whenever I complain at home, that's what my staff tells me. Just once I'd like to be a flea instead of a dog, though, in this business. [Laughter]

Anyway, Mark Twain came here almost 100 years ago, and I found out something that I did not know until we decided to make this trip. Like all of us, he was struck by what he said was "the lavish hospitality of Sydney's people." He liked the warmth of Sydney in every way. But he said that Sydney reminded him, more than any other place, of one particular town in America, which was exactly as far north of the Equator as Sydney is south of it, my hometown, Little Rock, Arkansas. Interesting. Except Sydney got the better of the comparison—[laughter]—because while he said they were a lot alike and the people were very friendly, Sydney was better because it didn't have Little Rock's cold winters. He wrote, "You could cut up an Arkansas winter into a hundred Sydney winters and still have enough left for Arkansas and all the poor." Well, that's another reason for me to come back in Sydney's winter, to see if it's true.

This is a remarkable community and a remarkable nation. In this new global culture that we're all experiencing, Australia's contribution has been far out of proportion to its population in modern art, in learning, in music, in theater, in opera, in the cinema; the novels of Patrick White, Thomas Keneally, David Malouf; the paintings of Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale, Utopia artists; the films of Baz Luhrmann, Peter Weir, and so many others; and according to the young people in my group, bands like Midnight Oil and Silverchair; Dame Joan Sutherland; and great jazz musicians. I want to thank you, Prime Minister, for making it possible for me to hear James Morrison and Grace Knight yesterday. They were magnificent. Thank you very much.

I'm glad to stand here today with Andrew Hoy, who did lead your remarkable team to its remarkable showing in the centennial Olympics in Atlanta. His own gold medal performance, repeating his victory in Barcelona, were one of the things that made the games such a great success. And I am very pleased that at the dawn of our new century, the Olympic torch will arrive here in Sydney. We know the Olympics will be an enormous success for Sydney, just as they were for Atlanta.

The Olympics have captured the imagination and the heart of people everywhere. I have thought a lot about why, maybe because we all love athletics and maybe because we all love competition, but I think there's more to it than that. And there's something I hope you will be able to play upon here in Sydney because you're perfectly positioned to do it. I think people yearn for the Olympics today because they work pretty much the way we think the world should work. There are rules and everybody follows them, and everybody has a chance to play without regard to their race or gender or where they start out in life, and people are valued based on their performance and their effort.

Even those who do not win medals—and most of the people who will come to Sydney won't come close to winning a medal—but everybody gets a chance to do his or her best, to reach down deep inside, and everybody's better off for having tried. Unlike so many other human endeavors, including the field of politics, no one wins by tripping his or her opponent up in the competition or standing before a microphone and bad-mouthing the other side. You only win by playing by the rules and doing well. And I think the world should work more that way.

When the world comes to Sydney for the Olympics, either literally or over the electronic media, they'll have a chance to see a city and a nation struggling to meet that ideal. We have a chance on the verge of this new century to make it possible for more people than ever in human history to live out their dreams and to live up to their God-given potential.

This city has people who traced their origins to more than 140 different nations. There are only 197 different national groups represented in the Olympics. In our largest county, Los Angeles County, we have people from over 150 of those groups. We're becoming an increasingly interconnected world. Australia has a higher percentage of immigrants who came here and built decent lives and strengthened your country through hard work than almost any other country on Earth.

When you drive down the streets of Sydney tonight and you look at all these different people making a contribution to your country, think with sadness but prayerful hope about all the people who live around the world who are still being persecuted because they are different from their neighbors, because they have different religious views or they're from different racial or ethnic or tribal groups.

Think of the terrible spectacle we have seen in Africa just in the last few days, hundreds of thousands of refugees trooping back and forth looking for a safe place to spend the night, parents losing their children along the way, just because they're in different tribes. And to those of us of untrained eyes who have never been there, they look the same as those who carry guns and would oppress them.

Think of what it's like in the Holy Land, for all of us who are either Jewish or Muslim or Christians, where people still believe they cannot live with one another because they worship only one God but in a different way.

Think of what it is like in Bosnia, where there is literally biologically no difference between the Serbs, the Croats, and the Muslims; where they belong to different religious groups by accident of political history; where people killed each other's children with abandon after having lived for decades in peace.

But there is a lot of evidence that we can all do better than that. And when the world comes to Sydney, they will see that. So think about that. Think about how every day in every way, when you bring in people who are those like me who trace their roots to England or Ireland or Scotland, to various Asian countries or South Asia or Latin America or the Middle East or Africa—every day you do that when the world is looking at you, you offer a rebuke to all those who would take away the lives and the futures and the fortunes of the children of this world because they are different from them.

We somehow must find a way to let our children define themselves in terms of who they are, not who they are not; in terms of what they believe, not what someone else believes; in terms of what is good inside them and what can be developed into something really beautiful, instead of what can be developed in terms of hatred, so they can know that they're better than somebody else who's different from them. That is the single great challenge that is keeping us from making the 21st century the era of greatest possibility in human history. And I cannot think of a better place in the entire world, a more shining example of how people can come together as one nation and one community than Sydney, Australia.

I'm so grateful that you'll be here for the Olympics in 2000. I want you to know that the world is looking to you. And I also want you to know that America will keep looking to you. The Prime Minister mentioned our comradeship in World War I, the first time our soldiers ever fought together. The Australians had been in combat for more than 3 years when America's troops first went to France. And one of them asked the Americans, "Are you going to win the war for us?" The American answered, "Well, I hope we'll fight like the Australians." Ever since then the spirit of Australia has been renowned in America. We respect it, and we love working with you.

Again let me say, as I did in Canberra yesterday, the United States and people all over the world are especially in your debt for your determination to end nuclear explosions on Earth and your leadership in helping us to complete the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

We are in your debt for setting a standard of caring about people beyond your shores. Time and again you have sent peacekeepers into harm's way to end bloodshed: Rwanda, Haiti, Somalia, Cambodia. Almost two-thirds of all the United Nations peacekeeping missions have had Australian troops. Whenever the troubled places of the Earth call out, Australia has always been there to help. Throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the entire world, you are seen as a beacon of strength and freedom and democracy.

Today, when for the first time in history more than half the world's people actually are ruled by governments of their own choosing, we know it is the powerful example of Australia and other freedom-loving peoples that made it possible. Today, more people will live lives of dignity and peace because of the work that Australia has done in the historic struggle for freedom.

So let me say again, I have had a wonderful time here. I have enjoyed it immensely. I am about to go try to survive a golf game with your most famous golfer. But more than anything else, on behalf of all the American people, I want to thank you for what you have done and been for the United States and the world together. And I want to wish you well as we work through this 21st century together. And I want to ask you to remember again when the Olympics comes here, if you can live by the rules which govern the Olympics and show that light to the world, it will stand as a beacon of hope for all that everyone who lives on the face of the Earth can become in this great new century. And that can be the enduring legacy of Sydney in the year 2000.

Thank you. God bless you. God bless Australia and the United States.