Transcription
Protests. We're going to see so many protests this summer, and we're going to see the administration pushing back on the protests, and it's going to be dangerous.
Why do we protest in the United States of America? And I can't speak for any other countries. That's why I always limit that. Protests indicate whether or not a government is legitimate. That's why they matter. You are not protesting to get rid of a certain senator. You are not protesting to say, "I want a different law." You are protesting because the people who are in power are putting in place policies that you do not support. And I guess it could be a single law. Um, but what you're really doing is you're saying to your neighbors who are not involved, "I don't support this government, and you shouldn't either."
That's a different thing than fighting against ICE, for example. And the reason I make that distinction is because in the protests, there's a lot of fighting going on on social media right now about what those protests should look like because there are a lot of things going on that are horrific. Um, the separation of children, the rendition of these poor souls to these infamous prisons. I mean, I could just go on at great length, but as angry as those things make you in American politics, what changes things is getting those people who are not otherwise on your side, either because they're apathetic or they're a little doubtful or whatever, to join you. And the way that you do that is by looking non-threatening, by demonstrating that you stand for American values that they share. And so I actually have an American pin on underneath my coat. It's really cold in here. I urge everybody to carry the symbols of American democracy, to wear pins, to carry American flags, to really deck yourself out as the people who own American democracy because we do, and to really recognize that what the protests are designed to do is to say, "We are America. This is the value. These are the values that America should stand on. Please join us."
That doesn't mean you're going to agree with everything that the people around you think or that they are with you. And as I say, we can work all that out in the wash on the other side of this. But I'm saying all this because people sometimes mistake the idea that protests are designed to fight back against the system and the people in the system. In fact, the minute in the United States anyway that you start to demonstrate violence, you lose all those people you need on your team because they were kind of apathetic to begin with. Um, and they just don't want to have any part of it. One of the theories behind people like Dr. King was that nonviolence is important. He had a number of reasons, but people like me look at it and say nonviolence is important because that brings those people on board. The minute they see violence, they don't want any part of it. So the protests on our side to take back American democracy must be nonviolent. They should be as American as they possibly can be in that their symbolism and, you know, Declaration of Independence, multiculturalism, um, you know, all of those things are who we are. And the recognition that the fight here is for public opinion. It's to demonstrate that the Trump administration is not popular. And that's of course why he's determined not to have those protests on June 14th because he wants everyone to just see him, when the reality is he's deeply unpopular. The cost of this parade is infuriating a lot of people. Hey, the cost of sending the troops to Los Angeles at this point is pegged out at $134 million. Uh, there's a budget from the Department of Homeland Security for advertising to make people feel better about Trump. You know, all that stuff are things that Americans don't like.
So going into this moment when you're thinking about things you can do, recognize that the war, and I mean that that is going to happen for the next several months, is for legitimacy, is for the idea that we are the Americans and those people who are ripping children away from their parents are not; they are not representing our values. So it's just kind of a different lens to look at protesting. But it also means that the protesting that goes on in the streets should look a certain way. But you don't have to just protest in the streets at certain times. You need to be anywhere where the discussion of American values—and by that I mean book banning and school boards and education and art and science—There's all kinds of programs to stand up for science this summer. You need to be in those places. And you also need to be on social media saying to people what it is that's happening that is personally affecting you. You know, the cancer—the cuts to cancer research, for example, the cuts to the weather service, the cuts to science, the many different ways in—or here's another one that somebody brought up to me today—the people who are deployed and the families of the people who are deployed don't want to be in this position. That's not why they signed up for the military. That's not why they have taken the hits that they have in their lives. You know, they don't want to be political pawns. They're there to defend the United States of America. You know, the degree to which we can speak up about that will help to convince people who are not that involved right now to get involved because we need their voices. We need at least 3.5% of the American population. And we need continually to demonstrate that those people in power, those vicious people in power who are also showing their incompetence are not the people that we want to have carry this country forward.
So I hope that gives you a little bit of calmness. Anyway, uh, it's scary. I'm not going to deny it's scary. We're all exhausted. It just—things just keep coming. Um, but it's really important to recognize the difference between what Trump is trying to project and what's real. And the reality is what's going to get us out of this because it will enable us to puncture that false image. And again, you can see this all over social media. There's all kinds of bots and trolls working non-stop overtime to try and convince us that the protesters in LA are violent, and this is very much a psychological operation. We need to push back with that same kind of fervor.
All right. Um, I hope that's enough for today. I'm going to go back to writing and, um, you know, keep the faith because it's going to be a hell of a ride. Um, but we have no choice but to move forward.