Maddow: To block Trump's agenda, help Republican politicians find their spines
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Why is Governor J.B. Pritzker concerned about democracy?
Let's do something different. Want some inspiration? I know this is like not typically the way that we start things, but I don't know. Complain, go ahead. Send me your complaints. Governor J.B. Pritzker is the governor of Illinois. He gave his state of the state speech today. And I'm going to show you some of it. I'm sure you about three minutes of it. And I know this is a little bit of a weird thing to put at the top of a national newscast. But I just you know what? I think this is really something and I think you should watch it. This is from the end of his state of the state today. Check it out.
As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois, once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided that they wanted to march there. The leaders of that march knew that the images of swastika-clad young men goose-stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population, so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps. The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly, but I know the history intimately and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here's what I've learned. The root that tears apart your house's foundation begins as a seed, a seed of distrust and hate and blame. The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn't arrive overnight.
It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame. I'm watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. After we've discriminated against, deported, or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities, once we've ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends, after that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face, what comes next? All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don't want to repeat history, then for God's sake, in this moment, we better be strong enough to learn from it. My oath is to the constitution of our state and of our country. We don't have kings in America, and I don't intend to bend the knee to one.
If you think I'm overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this. It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. And all I'm saying is that when the five alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control. Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978, just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only 20 of them showed up, but 2,000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after 10 minutes.
It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame. Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the tragic spirit of despair overcome us when our country needs us the most. Thank you.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker today speaking 30 days into the second presidential term of Donald Trump, raising the alarm explicitly that you don't need much longer than that to destroy a democracy and cause a major problem for the world and for humanity in perpetuity.
How is Kathy Hochul responding to Trump's actions in New York?
Another big state Democratic governor today, Kathy Hochul of New York, gave a shorter, more pugnacious version of kind of that same message today after Trump ordered the end to a popular congestion pricing program in New York City. And in so doing, he proclaimed himself the king. He posted online a picture of himself in a crown with the phrase, long live the king, under a message about his action toward New York City. Here was New York Governor Kathy Hochul's response.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why is Governor J.B. Pritzker concerned about democracy?
0:00–4:28
2
How is Kathy Hochul responding to Trump's actions in New York?
4:28–7:29
3
What strategies are Democrats using to oppose Trump's agenda?
7:29–10:20
4
Why is Senator Bill Cassidy's stance on vaccines significant?
10:20–14:21
5
What is the controversy surrounding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation?
14:21–23:53
6
How has Trump's foreign policy shifted U.S. alliances?
23:53–42:41
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