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Unknown A
As these protests Emily spring up across the country, Bill Maher has some ideas about how the Democrats and how this resistance is ultimately playing out. He gathered his panel of Farid Dakaria and Ram Emanuel to weigh in on some very cherry picked selective protest demonstrations. Let's take a listen to how that went.
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Unknown B
This is something called the People's Union USA and they have something called Today I got emails about this from people no spend day and it's against the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans. And what it is is you refrain from making any purchases either in stores or online to shun fast food getting gas for a full day. I know that look on your face says it all. You're right. It's so fucking stupid. And blme the idea right.
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Unknown C
Has way too much time on their hand.
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Unknown B
No, this is the thing that's going on today.
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Unknown D
It just it mistakes. This is why I was saying that there really is a movement of people doing interpretive dances protest the Trump administration cuts of usaid. I mean like people are starving. You know. The thing about not winning as you said, is you're left with these kind of absurdities.
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Unknown C
Right.
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Unknown D
The answer is figure out how to win elections. That's yes. What's the Democrats? Listen to the Democrats about Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, both of whom you work for. So these are the only two Democrats since Franklin Roosevelt to won two terms. Right. And what does the party say? They did everything wrong. We've got to get away from. Wait a minute. They're the ones who won the electionses, right? Bernie Sanders didn't win AOC hasn't been president de recently. Like you know the Labor Party does this with Tony Blair. They're like Blair is horrible. He won three elections.
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Unknown A
Yeah.
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Unknown C
Let me get breaking news. 100,000 new community police officers or defund the police. Now which one do you think work? It's crazy on this part, but's an example of this. I think the party, you know, if you're talking about interpretive dance and everything like that and what's really crazy about where the party's gone it is ident. It's taken an identity politics that the only way you have a moral standing is you're somehow been hurt. And that is insane. And if you want to take a moral standing of an identityics based on where you've been hur then we're going to do it about the working and middle class families of this country who's gotten the shaft over the last 30 years. And that is where we.
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Unknown A
Oh, my God, that made me want to kill myself. I mean, it is the neoliberal wing of the party, as represented by Hillary Clinton, who foisted identity politics on us in an attempt to block Bernie Sanders, who was actually talking about working class people and trying to deliver for them. That makes me insane. In addition, pretending like they've been following the Bernie Sanders path to victory and it just hasn't worked out is preposterous. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden did all the things you people would want them to do, and she lost. She lost. Where's the reckoning with that? And then finally to pretend like the only thing that's happening at this point is some cringey interpretive dance protest, which was outside the Kennedy Center, I believe is where that happened. Like, that's just dishonest. That's just dishonest. But they don't want to acknowledge that to the point about, hey, you need to win, you need to take power.
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Unknown A
That Bernie Sanders is out doing town halls in swing districts across the country, talking about oligarchy and fighting back because he wants to put pressure on the moderate, supposedly. Not that such a thing really exists on the Republican swing district members who Mike Johnson needs in order to vote and pass anything. So there are, first of all, a few people out there who actually have a strategy, who are in leadership, but by and large, the grassroots base has been left to fend for themselves. And they are out at these town halls trying to use pressure on public officials in a way that I do think could be impactful. I mean, you see the way, Emily, that they are very uncomfortable, these Republican representatives, when they're actually confronted with these questions. And like you said, they don't have responses. Most of them are just avoiding town halls altogether.
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Unknown A
But I can tell you from being at those Tea Party protests back in 2010, seeing people in person, in your face with a certain view and upset about what's going on. These are human beings that has an impact on you.
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Unknown E
Oh, I believe it.
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Unknown C
Yeah.
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Unknown E
And Rah Emmanuel, by the way, worked for Barack Obama. So the line about identity politics is pretty laughable because the Obama eras, when the Democratic Party, of which he was a sort of card carrying, establishment elite.
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Unknown A
Member of, he was an architect of the ideological direction. I mean, he selected for what type of candidates would be backed by the dnc, which went great for the dnc. And by the way, to your point about Obama, sorry to jump in, but Obama is good at getting himself elected. How did the Democratic Party do under Obama? They lost 1000 stateh housee legislative seats across the country. They lost governor's mansion, they lost rural America. That happened under Obama. So don't tell me about how great he was for the party because, yeah, he was good at getting himself rected. But they lost the House, they lost the Senate, they lost the state houses, they got totally destroyed and redistricting because of the Tea Party wave. And guess who gets elected after Obama? Donald Trump. And you think that you don't take any of the blame for setting up the political preconditions that lead to that?
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Unknown A
Like, give me a break, give me a break.
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Unknown E
So, yeah, I mean, the other thing that's funny about this, now, Democrats are working with a lot here and polling is increasingly bearing this out. So 54. This is a new PBS poll. 54% of independents say that the President is changing the country for the worse, that early changes have been for the worse. And that is also a big chunk of people who say 2/3 of independence say Trump is rushing to make change without considering the impact of his decisions. 56% of independence in this poll view Elon Musk unfavorably. So the answer to that is not Mar and Rah Emmanuel ism. Right. They're not tapping into what people are upset about at all. They're not like, riding the ship. Just, this is a serious dynamic in terms of. And it's something Trump has benefited from forever. And it's led the Republicans to take wrong lessons from all this.
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Unknown E
And it's going to do the same for Democrats. Just because public opinion is going in one direction, it doesn't mean that it's great for Democrats. Democrats actually have to proactively come up with something better than Muskm. You can't just rely on people being unhappy with Musk because then people end up picking what they see is the lesser of two evils. And that doesn't always go in Democrats favor.
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Unknown A
Yeah, there was that James Carill piece in the New York Times. I think that was like, just don't do anything.
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Unknown E
Definitely made there.
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Unknown A
Arg. And we've heard this argument too, before from I think, Hakem Jeffries. Oh my God, what a pathetic loser. Said something. Oh, let them punch themselves down. Don't swing at every pitch, et cetera, et cetera. Think of how Republicans responded to Obama. Did they say, oh, just let them punch themselves. We're just gonna sit back. That'sn toa destroy them.
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Unknown E
Green egg and ham and the Senate floor.
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Unknown A
I mean, come on, get real. You have to fight, you have to offer. And it's not enough to let them manifest the horrors of their own agenda. You have to offer an alternative vision, if nothing else. Even if you think, and I think it is possible, that just through the declining favorability and potential economic collapse, they'ording, by the way of the Trump Musk administration, that Democrats could do well in the midterms. But this isn't just who cares what party is in control if they're not delivering ultimately for people's lives. And so you can't lose sight of that either. You have to explain how you are going to actually deliver material, make life better for people, make the country better, make the world a better place. If you're not doing that, why do you even exist as a political party? What is the point of this other than a racket for consultants and for politicians to get their attention and be able to insider trade?
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Unknown E
So it's not just going to be enough to know that you should be talking about the price of egs as opposed to identity politics and dancing outside the Kennedy Center. You actually need to explain what Democrats are going to do to lower the price of eggs. Because one of the interesting things in the PBS poll is actually that there's a growing sense from the public, this is a quote from the article, that the country is headed in the right direction. 45% of Americans believe so, which was up 10 points from December, and now at the second highest point of the last 15 years. What's very interesting about that is it gets the lesser of two evils. Point is that if your answer to Trump and Musk, who are increasingly struggling with independence, is going to be like, if your answer also sucks, doesn't mean that you're going to beat Trump and get your power back.
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Unknown E
You have to have an answer that's better. Otherwise people are going to continue doing lesser to evil dynamics, which doesn't work out well for the Democrats, even though they're like, Trump and Musk are so crazy. It's going to be great for us. Well, no, it's only going to be great for you if you're better. If you have a better answer about the price of eggs and you don't, you do not. Hey, if you like that video, hit the like button or leave a comment below. It really helps get the show to more people.
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Unknown A
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Unknown E
That'S right, get the full show help support the future of independent media@breakingpoints.com.