I woke up this morning, and, like I have for many, many years, the first place I surveyed for the news of the day was the Drudge Report, and as I scanned the headlines, I came upon one that I couldn't resist. George Santos, the disgraced former New York congressman expelled by
an overwhelming vote, is now on CAMEO. When I saw it, before I came to my senses, I almost succumbed to the nonsense, to the insanity, to the fact that what's playing out in front of us, though it is deadly serious, plays out like a joke, a farce, a Saturday Night Live episode that never ever ever stops. The parody has outraced the reality. The reality can't keep up. It is
an extraordinary moment. The absurdities around us continue to pile higher, and hire and hire, and no doubt there are thousands and thousands of people who will avail themselves of the opportunity to have George Santos call someone they know and
say something stupid. At any rate, it's likely that soon George Santos will be in a federal prison, where he belongs to be, because he is a fraud a com man, an utterly an absolutely disreputable figure, and that he found his way into the Congress from the state of New York under the nose of the New York Times says everything you need to know about the absolute neglection act of our politics by the American news media, which has become an essential partner to the political class that they
are supposed to cover. Instead, they are in the conflict business, making billions for cliques, sensationalizing lunacy and nonsense, and never ever leveling straight with the American people. There are so few that have stood up, stood tall, have done the right thing, have followed their oaths and their consciences, and did their duty to the American Republic. Let's be clear about something. The burden of standing up to Donald Trump has never been particularly high. What it called for was
the ability to hold firm against mean tweets. It's hardly the same as running across Omaha Beach, which happens within a living lifespan of people who to this day in
this country walk, live and breathe. But in this moment of profound cowardice and cynicism, what we've seen is a profound moral capitulation to the most unworthy of men, who has built the most unworthy of causes, but one that is within dangerous reach of shattering America's democracy and taking away the agency, the liberty, the freedom to choose from
millions and millions of Americans. The American government will be come a conspiracy of self interest between the political leadership, the business leadership, the media leadership, and technology company leadership
of the country. There will be a small cast of oligarchs who direct in control, substantially and overwhelmingly the lives of ordinary people who are captive to breaking a leg and being popularized by the medical bill, who are prisoners of the algorithm that is dictated to them and to their children, or to the addictions that came from the license given to some of the greediest people in American history, who are directly responsible for killing a million of our
fellow citizens with poison that the government told the American people was safe. All of this has led us to this moment of maximum danger where there has been an absence of truth telling. Watch Joe Scarborough say something deeply important. Nobody is telling the truth, nobody is saying the quiet part out loud, and yet the situation continues to worsen. There are new polling numbers out today that again show Donald Trump is winning. He is winning in the key
swing states. He is on the march, And there is a great national delusion, abetted by a great national conspiracy of silence from much of the news media that refuses, refuses to directly level with the American people around the simple and central fact in danger of this moment and in this era, Donald Trump is on the edge of returning to political power. The event an election is less
than one year away. One of the people who has stood tall in this moment is the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of a Vice President of the United States who before this last election advised his daughter daughter, defend the Republic. The American Republic is one of the greatest creations and achievements over the entirety of human history, and it is in danger. It is in danger because of a combination of malice and cynicism, selfishness,
and neglect. But it is not yet too late. This moment will require an articulation of the importance of union. We talk often in America about our disagreements and about our differences, and we apologize to each other in advance for any affront to the possibility that you might be exposed to a contrary idea. It has led us to a dangerous place. What it is time to talk about
is what we share in common. And what we share in common is a heritage of Americanism, and what Americanism is is a philosophy of freedom that believes in the American Constitution as a vehicle to guide us as we move into the future. That gives us the flexibility to conduct our own revolutions in our own time, to bring
about change to face injustice. What we have been given by our ancestors is a profound gift, and what the gift requires us to appreciate is that in union together across a mighty continent, that we are stronger together, that we are free together. That we must respect and understand the limitations of the ambition of the people who seek to lead us. They are not kings or emperors. They are of us, and they are below us. Our government
is a government of ordinary people. Our system requires that it be of the people, by the people, for the people. In this moment is challenging that premise that central idea, and that idea must be held up, It must be affirmed,
it must be celebrated. We must defend it. We must defend the idea that in America, the people decide the outcome of elections and thus the destiny of the nation, and that the power to do so can never be taken, not because someone wants it, not because someone demands it, not because someone needs it, not because someone is said
that they lost it and were overeating. That's for you, Kevin McCarthy, because what you did was, at a moment when Donald Trump was flat on his back, was breathed life, political life back into the lungs of this sick, demented old man in demagogue who stands on the edge now a few years later, of taking back the power legitimately that he legitimately lost, with no intention of ever giving it back again. What Elizabeth Cheney is talking about is
important and necessary and timely. We must talk about it. We must talk about it everywhere in every corner of the country. We must understand this moment together what is at risk. We, Despite whatever differences exist in America between us politically, the majority of Americans support freedom, ours, our children's and each others. It must be defended. It must be defended now. It must be defended so that the next generation will know what we have known, the fruits
of liberty and its promises. It's time to reform America, not burn it down. And that's what this next election is about, Mark my words. A great time and season of testing is ahead for the American people and it is time to choose America or Trump.