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Hey everybody, thanks very much for
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joining.
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Generally speaking, the more important
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the issue is, the less it is discussed
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here in Washington DC. We talk about a
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whole lot of things, but most often stay
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away from the real issues that impact
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people's lives and impact our entire
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society. Let me give you just one
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example
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today.
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We are living under a corrupt campaign
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finance system which is undermining our
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democracy
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and it allows billionaires to control
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not only our political system but our
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legislative process. That's it. Bottom
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line. You think you live in a democracy?
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Well, yeah. You get one vote. Elon Musk
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gets one vote. But he also has the
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ability to put $290
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million into a campaign to allow Donald
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Trump to become elected president. That
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sound like a democracy to you? Not to
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me. And increasingly what we are seeing
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now as a result of Citizens United and
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the growth of super PACs are not
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candidates debating issues. That's
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democracy. You disagree with me, that's
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fine. Let's have a debate. But what you
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are seeing is competing 302 ads that are
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funded by billionaire controlled super
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PACs. So when you watch TV, you're on
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the internet, you see some group saying
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citizens for this, citizens for that. In
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most cases, those are organizations
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that are funded by billionaires
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that are spending all kinds of money
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trying to defeat somebody or trying to
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elect somebody. And a lot of this began
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with this horrific uh Supreme Court
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decision in 2010. And by a five to four
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decision, the Supreme Court decided
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that we are infringing on the free
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speech of billionaires if we just don't
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allow them to spend as much money as
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they want to destroy democracy.
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So that's basically what the Citizens
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United Supreme Court decision was about.
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So what's happened since then is that we
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have seen political spending going up by
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more than 1600%.
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In the 2024 elections,
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100 billionaire families on both sides
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of the aisle spent $2.6 billion. You got
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that? A 100 families spent $2.6 billion.
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that was double double what they spent
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in 2020 and I ex have every reason to
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believe that that is going to go up and
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up and up. So you're going to contribute
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20 bucks which we desperately need. We
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appreciate and that is vitally important
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to maintaining our democracy and Elon
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Musk is not going to contribute 20
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bucks. He's going to contribute $290
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million maybe more in the future. Who
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knows? So
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what does this tell you about our
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political system? It tells you that if
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you contribute like Musk $290 million,
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you become appointed by Donald Trump to
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be the most important person in the
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United States government. You become
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head of Doge and you now can implement
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your extreme right-wing ideology, break
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unions, throw tens of thousands of
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federal employees out on the street, cut
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back on Social Security employees,
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employees at the Veterans
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Administration, and lay the groundwork,
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by the way, for the privatization of
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major government agencies. That's what
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you get when you contribute
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$290 million. But it is not just Elon
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Musk.
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Uh in early July, uh just a few days
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ago, uh Republicans in Congress passed,
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as you all know, I hope you know,
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Trump's big, beautiful bill, which in my
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view, is probably the most destructive
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piece of legislation uh passed in the
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modern history of our country. And this
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legislation provides a trillion dollars
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in tax breaks to the top 1%. So all
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these guys who made campaign
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contributions, they're going to get it
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back in spades. You know, you contribute
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a few hundred million or $10 million,
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you're going to get that back big time
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in a tax break. Massive tax breaks for
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large profitable corporations. And it's
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all paid for by cuts to Medicaid,
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nutrition, and education. In fact, some
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have suggested that this is the largest
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transfer of wealth from the working
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class to the top 1% uh in the history of
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our country. Further, as a result of
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this legislation, over 16 million
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Americans are going to lose their health
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insurance and sadly, and you know, just
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hurts me to have to say this, but
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studies suggest that some 50,000
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Americans will die unnecessarily every
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year because when you're thrown off
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health care, you don't have access to a
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doctor and so forth.
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Now, the point that I want to make is I
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don't want to go into this bill
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uh at this time, but I want you to think
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about something. Think about how every
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single Republican member of the House
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and Senate,
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almost everyone, there were a few
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exceptions, voted for this horrific
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bill. Okay? Virtually every member of
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the Republican member of the Senate,
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Republican members of the House. Now, do
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you think, and I know these people, do
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you think that they don't know about the
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impact that these massive cuts to
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Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and
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education and nutrition are going to
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have on their constituents? You think
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they don't know that? And many of their
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constituents, by the way, are working
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class and poor.
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The answer is they do know it. They're
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not stupid. They know exactly what
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they're doing. But they also know
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that if one day they were to have stood
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up and said, "You know what? I represent
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the district. It's working class. It's
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poor. A lot of people on Medicaid, kids
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trying to go to college. I can't vote
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for this thing." What do you think would
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have happened to them the very next day?
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And what would have happened is one or
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another of the oligarchs or the big
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money interests would have said, "You're
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not voting for Trump's bill. You are out
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of here. We are going to primary you."
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And I'll give you an example of that. Uh
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there's a guy named Tom Tillis who is a
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US senator uh from uh North Carolina. I
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don't know Tillis all that well, but you
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know, he represents his state. uh seems
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like a you know normal type Republican,
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but he made a mistake. He actually
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studied what was in the bill and it
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turns out that it would cause that
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legislation would cause over 650,000
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people in North Carolina to lose their
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health insurance. And having a sense of
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decency, uh he said, "You know what?
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That's unacceptable. I represent the
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state of North Carolina. I can't vote to
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throw 650,000 people off the hill and
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turn out. Well, you know what happened?
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The day after
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he made that public statement that he
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was not going to vote for this bill,
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Donald Trump issued a ruthless
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denunciation of him and threatened to
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primary him. You, Tom Tillis, Senator
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Tillis, you're voting against me. You
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are out of here. And you know what
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happened? A few hours a few hours after
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Trump issued a statement, Tom Tillis
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announced, "I am not running for
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reelection to the United States Senate."
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He stood up, represented his
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constituents, and the billionaire class
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said, "That ain't the way it works. We
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pay you to do what we want. You don't do
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it, you are out of here."
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But it was not just the big beautiful
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bill, Trump's big beautiful bill. Uh we
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saw that uh in December of 24
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uh in what was called the uh comm CR
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continuing resolution here where we had
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worked I had was actually my and my
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staff were really much involved in this
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working on a continuing resolution to
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make sure that the government didn't
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shut down and you know frankly it was
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not the world's greatest bill it wasn't.
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We were working with conservative
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Republicans, but that bill would have
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put funding, increased funding into
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primary health care, into dental care,
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the mental health care needs, into
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nutrition programs for the elderly, and
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apprentichip apprenticeship programs for
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young people. In other words, it was a
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reasonably good piece of work. It took
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months of negotiating Democrats,
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Republicans. We were involved in that
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stuff. That bill was all set to be
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passed. And then you know what happened?
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Just as the Congress was set to pass
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that appropriations bill, Elon Musk sent
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out a series of tweets. And what he said
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is, "You vote for that continue." And he
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lied about what was in the bill. You
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you're going to vote for that continuing
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resolution. We're going to primary you.
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You're out of there. And in minutes,
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legislation that had been worked on for
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months, Democrats, Republicans,
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progressives, conservatives came
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together. All that Musk had to do was
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send out that series of emails. It was
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over. That's it. Republicans said,
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"Forget it. We're not supporting that
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anymore."
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But it is not just Musk
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and it is not just Republicans. This
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system, political system, campaign
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finance system is just unbelievably
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corrupt and it impacts the Democratic
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party as well. Let me give you a few
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examples of how big money and a corrupt
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campaign finance system impacts
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Democrats.
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While outspent by Republicans,
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over 80 Democratic billionaires, 80
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Democratic billionaires donated tens and
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tens and tens of millions of dollars to
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help elect Kla Harris to be president of
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the United States. I personally, many of
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you know, worked very hard trying to get
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her elected. But what ended up happening
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is all of that money from all of these
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billionaires heavily influenced her
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campaign. So instead of running a
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campaign that took on powerful special
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interests and made it clear that she and
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the Democratic party were going to stand
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with a working class which is struggling
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terribly right now instead of saying I
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am with you. We're going to take on
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these billionaires. She ran a campaign
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designed not to antagonize the business
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community or the oligarchs. In fact, as
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some of you may recall, one of her main
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spokespersons was the billionaire Mark
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Kubin Cuban.
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Billionaire influence on Democrats goes
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well beyond campaigns. And I'll tell you
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another issue where it is very, very
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impactful. If tomorrow a Democrat would
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simply say, you know what, I can't
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continue to fund this Netanyao
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government. They're starving children
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right now. Humanitarian blockade. Netao
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is a war criminal. You know what would
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happen to that candidate?
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Apac and other super PACs would say,
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"You're finished. You're out of here."
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Just like Musk is saying to the
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Republicans.
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And they have a track record. So, it's
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not an idol threat. they have already
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defeated, you know, some very good
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Democrats, people like Corey Bush, Jamal
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Bowman, uh, and other candidates who had
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the courage to say, you know what, I'm
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not going to support more military aid
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to continue the war in Gaza. So what you
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have right now
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is a political system in which both
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parties are heavily dominated by
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oligarchs and billionaire funded super
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PACs.
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And it is also playing out as we speak
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right now in New York City
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where Mr. Mandadi
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pulled off a major upset, some of you
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may know, and defeated Andrew Cuomo, who
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was the heavy favorite to win because
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Mandavi, Sauron Mandabi, talked about
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issues of relevance to workingclass
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people
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and the city responded to him and he won
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the election.
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He won the Democratic primary and
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there's going to be a general election
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come November.
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And you know what's going on right now
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as we speak openly? I mean they don't
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apologize for it. The richest people in
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New York City are saying we are prepared
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to spend hundreds of millions of dollars
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to defeat Mamami.
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That's it. That's your democracy. People
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spoke. Democrats selected a candidate
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and the billionaires are unhappy with
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that. Actually in fact one billionaire
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just the other day said it publicly. not
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afraid, not embarrassed by it. He said,
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"I met with Mr. Puo, Mr. Adams, the two
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other two Democrats. Cuomo lost. Adams
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is running as an independent and uh I
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think Adams is a superior candidate. I'm
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going to support him right out in the
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open. We the billionaire class like this
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candidate."
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So, that's kind of where we are right
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now. This is an issue
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of enormous consequence.
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It impacts who wins, who loses
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elections, and it impacts our
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legislation.
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So, we have got to now stand up, fight
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back in every way that we can. Short
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term, we got to make sure that Zaran
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Mdani becomes the next mayor of New York
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City. We got to help in every way we can
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to see that he wins.
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medium-term, we got to make sure that
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super PACs are not allowed to play a
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role in Democratic primaries
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and longer term, we've got to overthrow
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this disastrous Citizens United Supreme
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Court decision. So, that's a lot to do.
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But if we want to save American
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democracy,
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if we want to have a government that in
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any way, shape, or form represents
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working people and not just
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billionaires, those are the things we've
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got to do. So this is a big issue. Not a
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whole lot of people are talking about
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it, but it is the most significant
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political issue that we face. You can't
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talk about healthcare. You can't talk
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about housing. You can't talk about
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education without talking about the role
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that super PACs play in allowing
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billionaires to dominate our government.
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So a lot to be done. Let's go forward
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together because at the end of the day,
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yeah, they got the money, they got a lot
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of power, but they are just 1%. Last I
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heard, 99% is a lot bigger number than
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1%. So, let's not let them divide us up.
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Let's stand together. Let's take them
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on. Let's beat them. Let's create a
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government that works for all, not the
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few. Let's save American democracy.
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Thank you.
