Video Infoblog: Bernie Sanders takes down Elon Musk and Donald Trump's "oligarchy" in intense speech

Transcript

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musk has become $138 billion richer

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Zuckerberg has become 49 billion richer

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and Bezos has become 28 billion richer

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since election day 60% of Americans live

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paycheck to paycheck 85 million

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Americans are uninsured or underinsured

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in terms of healthc care does anyone

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really think that the oligarchs give

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damn about ordinary trust me they don't

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Mr President we are living in

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a extremely dangerous

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time and future Generations will look

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back at this moment what we do right now

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and remember whether we had the courage

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to defend our

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democracy against the growing threats of

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oligarchy

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and

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authoritarianism they will remember

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whether we stood with President Abraham

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Lincoln at

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Gettysburg who in 1863 looking out over

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a battlefield with thousands of people

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had died th thousands of soldiers died

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in the fight against

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slavery and he stated that quote this

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nation under God shall have a New Birth

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of freedom and that a government of the

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People by the people for the people

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shall not perish from the

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earth do we stand with Lincoln's vision

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of

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America or do we sit idly

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by and allow this country to move into a

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new

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vision and that is a government of the

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billionaire class

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by the billionaire class for the

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billionaire

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class but it is not just

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oligarchy that we should be concerned

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about not just the reality that today

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three people own more wealth than the

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bottom half of American

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society 170 million three people more

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wealth than the bottom 170 million

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Americans

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it is not just that the gap between the

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very very rich and everyone else is

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growing

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wider and it is not just that we have

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more income and wealth inequality today

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than we have ever

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had on top of all of

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that the reality is that today we are

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moving rapidly under President Trump

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toward

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authoritarianism more and more power

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resting in fewer and fewer

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hands Mr President as we speak right now

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Elon Musk the wealthiest man on the

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planet is attempting to dismantle major

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agencies of the federal government which

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are designed to protect the needs of

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working families and the disadvantaged

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these agencies were created by the US

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Congress and it is congress's

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responsibility to maintain them to

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reform them or to end them it is not Mr

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musk's

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responsibility what Mr musk is doing is

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patently illegal and

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unconstitutional and must be

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ended Mr President two weeks

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ago president Trump attempted to suspend

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all federal grants and

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Loans an outrageous and clearly

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unconstitutional act and as I hope every

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sixth grader every kid in the sixth

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grade in this country knows under the

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Constitution and our form of government

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the president can recommend legis ation

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he can support legislation he can veto

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legislation but he does not have the

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power to unilaterally terminate funding

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passed by the Congress it is Congress

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the house and the Senate who control the

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pur

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strings but in this move toward

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authoritarianism it is not just the

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Congress that has been being attacked it

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is our

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Judiciary this weekend the vice

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president of the United States a

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graduate of Yale law school who clerked

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for Supreme Court Justice said that and

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I quote judges aren't allowed to control

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the executive's legitimate power end

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quote

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really I thought that one of the major

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functions of the federal courts is to

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interpret our Constitution and when

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appropriate serve as a check on the

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unconstitutional power of the

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executive that's not just what I believe

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that is what I suspect every legal

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scholar and lawyer in America

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understands to be the

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case further Mr musk

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meanwhile has proposed and I quote that

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the worst 1% of appointed judges be

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fired every year end quote and he

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demanded the impeachment of Judges that

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have blocked him from accessing

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sensitive Treasury Department

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files no doubt under Mr musk's rule it

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will be him and his billionaire friends

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who determine who the worst judges

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are and no Mr musk I must tell you you

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don't impeach judges who rule against

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you here in the United States you may or

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may not know this Mr musk but under the

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US Constitution we have a separation of

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powers brilliantly crafted by the

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founding fathers of this country in the

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1770s and it has worked pretty well

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throughout our country's history we we

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have an executive Ranch we have a

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legislative branch and we have a

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Judiciary Mr President what we

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are seeing now is not just an organized

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attack on the power of the

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Congress and the responsibility of the

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Judiciary Mr Trump and his friends are

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not just trying to undermine two of the

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three pillars of our constitutional

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government Congress and the courts they

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are also going after the

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media in a way that we have never seen

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in the modern history of this

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country trust me that every member of

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Congress will tell you that the people

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working in the media and media

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organizations are not perfect we have

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all had our experiences with the

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media media like everything else makes

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mistakes every

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day but I do hope that every member of

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Congress

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understands that you cannot have a

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functioning

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democracy you cannot have a free flow of

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information you cannot have the pursuit

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of truth without an independent

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press a press not

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intimidated by presidents of the United

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States but a president who write it who

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writes it and sees

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it the way they understand it to be and

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in that regard I want to mention to my

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colleagues what president Trump has done

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just in recent months Mr Trump has sued

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ABC and received a $155 million

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settlement he has sued meta the parent

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company of Facebook and Instagram and

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received a $25 million settlement he has

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sued CBS and his parent company paramont

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and is right now in negotiations over a

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settlement he ass sued the de Mo

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register for a poll results that he

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didn't like and his FCC is now

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threatening to investigate PBS and NPR

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major news outlets in our country in

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other words

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we have a president of the United States

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who is using his incredible power and

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the power of His

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agencies to go after media in this

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country who are saying and doing things

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he does not

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like how are we going to have an

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independent

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media if journalists are looking over

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their shoulders fearful that their

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reporting will trigger lawsuit from the

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most powerful executive in the

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world Mr President in the midst of all

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of

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this I think that now is the time to ask

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a very very simple question something I

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think that is on the minds of millions

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of

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Americans what do Mr musk Mr Trump and

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their fellow

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billionaires really want

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now it's not really taking over

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Greenland the Panama Canal all that

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stuff the real question is what is their

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endgame what is their goal what are they

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striving

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for and in my view uh the answer really

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is not

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complicated it is not

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novel it is not new it is in fact

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exactly what ruling classes throughout

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history have always

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wanted and have always

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believed to be their rights their

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rights and that is more power for

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themselves more control for themselves

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and more wealth for

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themselves and in their pursuit of more

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power more control and more wealth they

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are determined

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to not allow

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democracy and the rule of law to get in

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their

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way for Mr musk and his fellow oligarchs

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the needs the concerns the pain the

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ideas the dreams of ordinary people are

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simply an

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impediment to what they the oligarchs

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are entitled to and that is really what

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they believe they are entitled to all of

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the wealth and the power they have and

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they are determined to stop anyone who

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gets in their way Mr President this

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process this

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phenomenon that is going on right now is

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not the first time that we have seen

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this in our country's

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history as I

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think many Americans understand in

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pre-revolutionary

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America before the

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1770s before the creation of the United

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States and the writing of our

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constitution the ruling class of that

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time governed through a Doctrine called

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the divine right of

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kings the belief that the king of

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England was an agent of God that God

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appointed him and that he was not to be

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questioned by mere mortal human beings

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he was appointed by

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God in modern times we no longer have

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the divine right of

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kings what we now have is an

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ideology being pushed by the

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oligarchs which

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says that as a very very wealthy group

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of people often

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self-made often the masters of

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revolutionary new

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technology and as high IQ

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individuals it is their absolute right

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to

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rule in other

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words the oligarchs of

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today are our modernday

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Kings and Mr President it is not just

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power that they want

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the despite the incredible wealth that

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they currently have they want more and

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more and more their greed has no end

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today Mr musk is worth

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$42

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billion Mr Zuckerberg is worth 252

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billion and Mr Bezos is worth 249

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billion with combined wealth of 93

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billion these three people own more

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wealth than the bottom half of American

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society

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170 million

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Americans and not surprisingly since

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Trump was

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elected their wealth has soared musk has

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become $138 billion richer Zuckerberg

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has become 49 billion richer and Bezos

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has become 28 8 billion richer since

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election day in

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November meanwhile Mr President while

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the very rich become much richer 60% of

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Americans live paycheck the paycheck 85

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million Americans are uninsured or

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underinsured in terms of

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healthare

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25% of our seniors in this country are

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trying to survive on

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$115,000 a year or less

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$800,000 Americans are homeless and we

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have the highest rate of childhood

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Poverty of almost any major country on

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Earth and real inflation adjusted wages

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for the average American worker has not

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gone up in 50 years

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does anyone really think that the

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oligarchs give a

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damn about ordinary trust me they don't