Obama Torches Trump in Comeback Speech

0:00Ben Meiselas:This episode is brought to you by Claude by Anthropic. Claude is the AI for minds that don't stop at good enough. It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you. Whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move, Claude extends your thinking to tackle the problems that matter and finds connections you might have missed. For problems worth solving, get started at claude.ai slash Spotify. He's back. Former President Obama is breaking his silence and in an incredible surprise speech, he's destroying Donald Trump for Trump's attack on our voting rights.

0:42Ben Meiselas:Former President Obama just gave a speech in front of a group made up of Texas state Democratic legislators and former President Obama talked about how the United States was once the envy of the world when it came to voting rights and how it was authoritarian regimes, dictatorships across the world that would rig their elections and how the rest of the world used to look to the United States as a shining example of the way democracy is supposed to work until Donald Trump destroyed it. Let's see what former President Obama said. Let's play it. You've got countries all around the world where the elections are fixed.

1:22and whoever's in charge suppresses and makes it hard for the opposition to compete. And we used to be a shining example to those countries. And people would aspire to the kind of true democracy that America has. And we need to get back to that. Because that's not just a Democratic or Republican idea. That's an American idea. That's what we're fighting for.

1:54Ben Meiselas:In addition, former President Obama also talked about how it is so critical right now to stand up for voting rights as Republicans realize that their ideas are failing, that Americans don't like their ideas. So they have to rig the game. Play this clip. The problem that we've been seeing, not just recently, but this goes back a while, is that the Republicans increasingly recognize their ideas won't sell. Now, let me show you a longer portion of President Obama's speech before these Texas Democratic legislators play this clip. But I am more grateful to you and the rest of the delegation for your sacrifice and what you've done.

2:38And it is important for you to understand that highlighting what is happening in Texas has galvanized and mobilized folks across the country. So I think in these kinds of battles, there is a tendency sometimes to be frustrated because the game is a little fixed in Texas. You know, legislative maps have been drawn in ways that entrench one party rather than creating an even playing field. And so sometimes there might have been a temptation to just kind of sit back and let it happen. And I think thanks to the leadership of people like you, the leadership of Leader Wu, all of the members who have taken this stand, we're slowly waking people up to the realities of what's happening right now.

3:47And let me just say a little bit about this and then I'll turn it over to Attorney General Holder. both he and I believe that the right way to do democracy is not to have the people who are already in office select who's going to vote for them but have the people of America vote and select who's going to represent them that's right yeah and it would be our preference that that was done in a non-biased way, that an independent commission or some sort of neutral approach was taken so that Democrats and Republicans compete fairly, the lines aren't drawn to advantage one party or another, and the people decide based on their ideas.

4:47The problem that we've been seeing, not just recently, but this goes back a while, is that the Republicans increasingly recognize their ideas won't sell. So we've got to fix the game a little bit. And by drawing maps that splinter Democratic voting blocks by packing in Democrats into one district so that they don't have influence in other districts, all those things can have an impact of weakening the impact of Democratic votes and strengthening and increasing the influence of Democrats. of Republican voters. And that's not fair. That's not how democracy is supposed to work. The thing that we've also come to recognize, though, and I think Eric, who's been working on this redistricting issue for almost a decade now, has what we all recognize is we can't let a systematic assault on democracy just happen and stand by.

6:01And so because of your actions, because of your courage, what you've seen is California responding, other states looking at what they can do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering that is highly irregular and is not what we should be doing. to balance out the maps for this upcoming election. And my hope is that rather than have a race to the bottom where every district is predetermined based on how it's drawn, that over time, the American people, ideally with the help of the courts, realizes that there's a better way. And I think that will happen, but it requires civic education. It requires mobilization.

7:09It requires activation of the sort that you have just described and that you guys are representative of. You're setting an example for what all of us have to do.

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9:29but when I think about 1961 you know the voting rights act hadn't yet passed civil rights act hadn't yet passed march on Washington happened when I was a baby a toddler and so because of the struggles and the fights and because of the courts recognizing they had a role to play in strengthening rather than weakening democracy. Our democracy got systematically stronger during my lifetime. And most of the lifetimes of most of the people who are in that conference room that you guys are sitting in. The problem is, I think, there's a tendency to take it for granted. And I think we became a little bit complacent over the years.

10:20We assumed that things would continue to get better. that our democracy would become more inclusive, that it would become more fair, that we'd make it easier for people to vote rather than harder for people to vote, that the votes would be counted rather than suppressed. And what we forgot is that history doesn't always move in a straight line, and it's not always two steps forward and another two steps forward. Sometimes it's two steps forward to step back. And we're in a moment right now where not just gerrymandering, but efforts at voter suppression, efforts at questioning the results of elections, efforts at the executive branch unilaterally doing things that bypass Congress and the people's representatives, militarization of cities, politicization of our justice departments and our military.

11:29Those are trend lines that remind us that this precious democracy that we've got is not a given. It's not self-executing. It requires us to fight for it. It requires us to stand up for it. And so as tired as y 'all may be and missing home and ready to get a change of clothes because you didn't pack enough and all that, I want all of you to be returning, feeling invigorated and know that you have helped to lead what is going to be a long struggle. It's not going to be resolved right away. And it's going to require ultimately the American people understanding the states and realizing that we cannot take our freedoms and our democracy for granted.

12:32you've helped set the tone for that and i'm grateful for it and here is the incredible way

12:38Ben Meiselas:that obama closes this speech let's play it and and maybe one last thing i want to point out because obviously uh we're talking to democrats

12:51but the stakes that are involved right now actually impact republicans as well The Republican Party started as a party that was the party of Lincoln.

13:21Illinois Republicanism was about expanding and protecting the union and democracy and perfecting it.

13:36and when I got to Washington when I was in the state legislature like all of you there were differences between Democrats and Republicans but there was still the capacity to work together and when I got to the Senate there were Republicans who I disagreed with on certain issues but there was an agreement on the rules and a quorum and conduct that there were some things that were bigger than party. And I think there are still a bunch of Republicans out there, voters, as well as some of your colleagues, some people in Washington, who would like to see a return to a sense of fairness and a sense of independence, where a Republican legislature, just like a Democratic legislator, could listen to their district and the people they represent and sometimes break with the White House and sometimes do things based on their conscience and not try to fix the rules or rig the rules in ways that just shoved through the agenda of a narrow faction.

15:01And when we have fair voting rights, and we have fair maps, and we're fairly competing, that's good for everybody, not just one side. and and and that's what we should be aspiring to over the long term is is a situation in which there are rules that that are fair for everybody and then we compete just like a basketball game we started off talking about george gervin we we wouldn't want to be in a game where if one team gets down suddenly they get to change the rules suddenly their baskets count for four points and yours only count for two you won't want to be in a basketball game where the other team starts to lose and suddenly they want to fire the ref and put in their own cousin to referee the game and so So the beauty of our democracy, just like any other system we build, is when we protect the integrity of the process.

16:25And that's what's at stake here is the integrity of the process. and when you have a process that has integrity, when you have a democracy that has integrity, then sometimes you may lose an issue. Sometimes you may lose a vote. Sometimes the other side wins an election and they do some things that you don't like, but you know because it's fair, if you can persuade the people next time, then you can take the country in a better direction. That's what we need. That's what this country stands for. That's why it's been the envy of the world. You've got countries all around the world where the elections are fixed and whoever's in charge suppresses and makes it hard for the opposition to compete.

17:16And we used to be a shining example to those countries. And people would aspire to the kind of true democracy that America has. And we need to get back to that. Because that's not just a Democratic or Republican idea. That's an American idea. That's what we're fighting for. All right? I love you all.

17:44Ben Meiselas:Powerful words there by former President Obama. Tell me what you think. I'd like to see more speeches by him, if I'm being honest. I'd like to see him out there more because every time he speaks, it's so on point. It's so inspiring. Let me know what you think. Leave comments below. Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.midastouch.com. All 100 % USA union made.

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