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00:00Sunday, March 16th, I'm Alicia Menendez with Simone Sanders-Thompson and Michael Steele.
00:05Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Jim Clyburn are going
00:09to join us to discuss the path forward for their party and for this country after a
00:13tumultuous week on Capitol Hill. Plus, Senator Peter Welch on protecting workers from
00:18Donald Trump's purge at federal agencies. And another flashing red light for our
00:24democracy, the president's unhinged speech at the Department of Justice, where he
00:28called for his perceived enemies to be jailed. Grab your coffee, settle in. Welcome to
00:34The Weeknd.
00:47Well, the president has officially signed into law that short-term funding bill.
00:51This is a bill that divided Democrats, specifically in the United States Senate.
00:56The Republican-authored legislation avoids a government shutdown,
01:00but comes with budget cuts. Late last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
01:04gathered support from enough Senate Democrats to help pass the bill. Ten, to be specific.
01:09Democratic leaders in the House blasted the move, saying, quote,
01:12House Democrats will not be complicit. Meanwhile, the House's Democratic Leader
01:18Hakeem Jeffries is organizing a day of action. On Tuesday, Democrats across the country plan
01:24to underscore Trump's dismantling of the federal government. Honestly, it sounds like Democrats
01:30know what they're talking about this week. Well, it's a plan of action.
01:34Yes. And now we'll see how that's
01:36coordinated across the country. I still think, I'd like to know where this is happening. I don't
01:42think it should happen, you know, this be the primary backyard.
01:47It's happening in red districts. I think it's happening in red districts.
01:50That's good.
01:51And this is in consultation with, I mean, what we talked about yesterday a little bit,
01:55that the DNC, the DCCC, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
01:59and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are all banding together to host rallies and
02:06town halls in red districts where Republicans are not going. And you had Tim Walz in Omaha,
02:12Nebraska. Shout out, go Big Red, last night. He was in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday.
02:18So there, for all the people, myself included, that are like, come on, Democrats, find your
02:24footing, congressional Democrats. I think that at least on the House side, they found it.
02:29Well, let's talk about that, because there is an absolute fissure between the Senate and the House.
02:33This is what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on Friday about working with Senate Democrats.
02:39Among the material devastation to everyday people, Senate Dems have now blown a hole in their
02:44ability to work with the House. We had an agreed upon plan. House took immense risk. Then Senate
02:50turned around midway and destroyed it with a fear-based, inexplicable abdication. This is
02:55the part I want to talk about. They own what happens next. We've seen a lot of that language.
03:00It's sort of the same language we saw, Simone, when delegate Stacey Plaskett tagged you in her
03:07post about the fact that it—don't say this was Democrats. Be very clear this was a handful
03:13of Senate Democrats. Well, we're going to find out from one of the key Democratic players right
03:18now, joining us is Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina. You probably heard a
03:24little bit of that conversation. Welcome, Congressman. Thank you very much for having me.
03:29Well, sir, let's just jump right in, OK? There are people that, as soon as yesterday, said,
03:36OK, Democrats, it's time to move on. You have to come together. This is a distraction.
03:42I am not one of those people, sir. I actually think that what we are seeing from House Democrats
03:47versus what we are seeing from some of the Democrats in the Senate is actually very important.
03:54And the fight that you all are exhibiting is not just what the base wants, but it's what this
04:00moment requires. Well, I think you're exactly right about that. You know, the plan of action
04:08that is beginning this week is one that's going to be, I think, very alive, very energetic.
04:19But you know, I've been talking to groups over the past weekend about energy. Energy is a great
04:26thing to have, but it must be harnessed. It must be targeted in order for it to be effective.
04:33You know, I remember back in the 60s, when we had a lot of energy, we had to form
04:37the Senate Nonviolent Coordinating Committee because the energy was just being dissipated
04:42all over the place. So I think that what we are attempting to do now will bring into focus
04:49exactly what is going on here. I'm not saying that the end result coming out of the Senate
04:56is a bad thing. It's always a good thing to keep the government open. But sometimes,
05:02the issue and the way you do something is like playing a game. Sometimes, the way you play the
05:10game is more important than whether or not you win or lose. And I just think that what happened here
05:18was that people were disappointed in the process. And sometimes, that can override,
05:25if not overrule, the end result as well. And that's the danger here.
05:31This afternoon, I'm going to be celebrating the 152nd anniversary of one of the largest
05:36AME churches here. I'm going to be talking about this process. I'm going to be on Tuesday
05:44with various—two other big entities in my congressional district. I'm going to be talking
05:49about this process. And then I'm going to have it videoed and sent out all over the country,
05:55because I want people to know that Democrats are not dead. We are not in denial. We know exactly
06:04what's going on, and we won't have to share it with people in real time in order to be effective.
06:11And I'm hopeful that we won't just have town hall meetings. They are great.
06:16But go to places where we have entities involved, like the Divine Nine groups. A lot of them are
06:23having things going on, the faith community. And then share these meetings with the rest of
06:30the country, and I think we'll be in a better place. Congressman, I agree with you on the
06:36process side of it. As a former party chairman, that is an essential element, particularly in
06:42coordinating between the political arm, the DNC, in your case, the RNC, in my case when I was
06:48chairman, and our legislative branches, the House and the Senate. What broke down in that process
06:55for you? Because it's very clear, the House had drawn a very strong battle line. And I think it's
07:02one that was appreciated not just by Democrats. And I think it's a mistake to think that this is
07:06just Democrats. A lot of Republicans like me, a lot of independent voters out there, looked at
07:12the CR and said, there are no guardrails in here. You are giving this administration a blank check.
07:18Since they've already started the process of firing federal employees indiscriminately,
07:23breaking up agencies with impunity, this doesn't get better with this CR.
07:31So the Dems had drawn that bright line. What was the problem with the Senate
07:35that they couldn't understand the process? I don't know. I thought the Senate was on board.
07:42If you remember when Leader Schumer announced that the votes were not there,
07:48I thought that this was the time for the whole country to focus on exactly who was where.
07:55When I saw the numbers, 22 percent of the American people said Trump was responsible.
08:00Around 31 percent said the Republicans were responsible. Add that up. I'm not good in math,
08:05but that's over 50 percent of the American people blaming the Republicans.
08:10Let's keep the focus on them for 24, 48 hours, if need be, and let the country see exactly
08:19who is doing this and talk about these guardrails that were not there. Because what we're doing here,
08:25irrespective of what's in this bill, we've got an administration that decided that they're going to
08:31do what they've done well, please, irrespective of what anybody else says, including the courts.
08:38So let's help the American people, help them focus on exactly who is doing what.
08:47And if we had done that for about 24, 48 hours, I think we'd be in a better place today.
08:53Harkin Jeffries did a great job bringing the House Democrats together, all but one,
09:03voted to not give a blank check to this president. And then it goes to the Senate.
09:13For the first 24 hours, they seem to be on board. And then all of a sudden,
09:19there's this change. What happened in the 24-hour period, I'm not sure. But nobody
09:25should be blaming Harkin Jeffries for that. So when I say—you see people saying,
09:29well, we need new leadership. Jeffries played it by the rules. He played the game the way it
09:37ought to be played. And somehow, he got blindsided. Well, let's talk then about the elephant in the
09:45room. There has been reporting about mumbling within the caucus about the possibility,
09:50an appetite for primarying Senator Schumer. Are you hearing those same whispers? Do you
09:56think that is the conversation Democrats should be having right now?
09:59I'm not saying that Democrats should be having that conversation, but I do know this.
10:03The Democrats are. Some Democrats are having that conversation. I've heard that before I left our
10:10retreat. As you know, the House Democrats were in retreat this weekend, this past weekend,
10:17out in Lansdow, Virginia. And yes, there was a lot of discussion going on there,
10:23especially when word got out that there was a big change in the 24 hours. We went into that
10:30convention solidly in support of what we had done, what we felt was a Democratic way of going
10:39forward for the next several days. And then all of a sudden, we started getting word that, no,
10:45there's been a reverse, of course, here. And sure, that disappointed a lot of people,
10:51and a lot of discussions are going on. But I want people to keep focused on the real issue here,
10:57and that is bringing this democracy in full bloom for our children and grandchildren.
11:05This democracy is a threat, and everything we do, it should be focused on the fact
11:11that we are going to have to do the things that are necessary to preserve this democracy,
11:18to continue this trek toward a more perfect union, and to do the things that are necessary
11:24for our children and grandchildren to be proud of our efforts. Right now, I'm not too sure
11:29that we're in that place. Mr. Clyburn, before we let you go,
11:34yesterday, the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which hasn't been invoked since World War II.
11:42It was the specific act that was used to intern Japanese Americans on American soil.
11:50On the backdrop of that happening, you have Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently being held
11:55in Louisiana. It seems to be that the administration has said he has not—there are no—he hasn't
12:02committed any crimes. And so, the question on the table is, well, who is allowed free speech in
12:07America, it feels as though? What can be done about these things? Because it does
12:12seem that we are at a boiling point in this country, whether people feel it every day or not.
12:19Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because I think that we have to be very, very careful. You
12:23know, you talk about that act. It was used against Japanese and other Asians. And we see a Supreme
12:31Court that is, for some reason—I've been reading these cases coming out on voting and these cases
12:43on immunity. And, you know, you go back and read the slaughterhouse cases, you read those cases
12:50coming out of the Civil War that gave us Jim Crow, and you see eerily similar language and spirit.
13:01And that's what has me really staying up at night, because this Supreme Court seems
13:10to be focused on times gone by. How do we give complete immunity to a president of the United
13:19States and think he's not going to use it time and time again, thinking he's going to get back to you
13:27and he's going to still have his decisions in his favor? That's what's going on here.
13:33I hope that these trial judges at the district level and these—hopefully all,
13:41except maybe one or two—of our circuit courts will hold a line, because the Supreme Court seems
13:49not to be willing to hold a line on these things and to continue our pursuit of a more perfect
13:56union, using those old cases. You know, just think about it. They're using a case here
14:03that was designed for war. You saw what the Supreme Court did with that case, Shelby v. Holder,
14:11that says that since people are not being discriminated against now, we're going to get
14:19rid of those things that kept them from discriminating. And within 24 hours,
14:25those states that wanted to discriminate start passing new laws again. I don't understand what
14:30this reasoning is all about. You've got to know, if you do that, that these people are going to
14:38take advantage of it, if that's what their proclivities are. And so, we are in a pretty
14:44bad place here, because this Supreme Court seems to be hell-bent on turning the clock back.
14:52We are absolutely going to continue to follow these cases. Congressman Jim Clyburn of South
14:57Carolina, thank you for your time this morning, sir. Good to see you. Still to come, folks,
15:01House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will join for his first television interview
15:06since that explosive budget vote, plus the terrifying message that Trump sent during an
15:11unhinged, hour-long—what was spelled like a campaign rally at the Justice Department—political
15:17analyst and former congressman from Florida, Carlos Corbello, and former New York congressman,
15:23again, New York, now a senior advisor for vote vets, Max Rose. We got congressmen from every
15:29area. We got congressmen everywhere. They just popped up. Different area codes. Area codes.
15:34Good morning, gentlemen. So, Congressman Rose, I want to start with you, because we just had a
15:39very interesting conversation with Congressman Clyburn. And one of the things that we got into
15:45was the process here, where the House had really kind of, you know, defined the wall,
15:51and they were going to hold that line. And Senate Democrats were the ones blowing the holes in the
15:58wall. Talk about that breakdown in communication, understanding what was important in that moment,
16:06that there be a unified House and Senate on this, not just a unified House.
16:11Sure. So, what Leader Jeffries did, in I think a truly remarkable fashion,
16:17is he kept the House Democratic caucus unified under the notion that this is not a choice
16:24between the present CR vote and a shutdown. It is a choice between the present bill,
16:31which they call the CR, was not actually a CR. It cut things like the PACT Act,
16:36which serves millions of veterans across the country to provide support and services for those
16:42who did things like man burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. And instead, what they really
16:49supported was what's known as a clean CR, a one-month, 30-day continuation of government as is,
16:58with also the protection that the Trump administration would actually respect
17:04that 30-day CR and not just start continuing with these doge cuts. That's the choice that
17:11Leader Jeffries presented to the American people. The problem is, is that then the Senate turned
17:16around and said, no, no, no, no, no, this is just a choice between this bill and a government
17:21shutdown. Everyone in their right mind doesn't want a government shutdown. That's not what the
17:26conversation truly was. And that's what went so horribly wrong here. And truly, the Democratic
17:32Party would be in a much better position right now if, in a bicameral fashion, Democrats had
17:37just looked to Leader Jeffries and the route that he was taking in the House, and they all had taken
17:42that route. Congressman Carbello, let's talk about some of the cuts that we've seen. On Friday,
17:47Trump signed an order to gut Voice of America and other agencies. If we drill down something
17:52near and dear to your and my heart, that means the dismantling of radio and TV Marti. Their
17:59employees were placed on leave. For those who don't know, this is a Reagan-era effort to promote
18:05democracy, to promote the free flow of information to Cubans on the island. It is absolutely
18:10devastating. As you well know, Congressman, where are all the Miami Cubans in Congress
18:15who would be hair on fire right now if a Democrat had done this? Well, Alicia, I think we have to
18:22give them a little time. Hopefully, they will speak out. But I'll tell you, a lot of us covered
18:27how Donald Trump grew so much support in the Hispanic community. I can tell you,
18:33some of these early moves have started to erode some of that support. As you can imagine, here
18:38in South Florida and throughout the country, but especially here, temporary protected status for
18:43Venezuelans and that revocation, that really disappointed a lot of people. Now you have this
18:49news with radio and TV Marti. This is something that, as you said, numerous administrations over
18:55the years have tried to cut, to diminish. They have been able to do it to some success,
18:59but the institution has survived. And now you have Donald Trump doing it. So we'll see how
19:05the community reacts. But I suspect that there will be more people who start questioning, hey,
19:11we gave Donald Trump a chance. Maybe some of us had never voted Republican before.
19:17And now look at what's happening. I ran into a lady just a week ago who works at radio and TV
19:23Marti, and she was expressing to me her dismay at the way this was all being handled.
19:30I mean, there are so many things that were cut in the same order.
19:36Reuters has a—the headline was, Trump signs order to gut Voice of America. Other agencies,
19:42the order instructs the agencies, largely little-known entities, to some, not all of us,
19:48including one that provides for museums and libraries. In addition to the Agency for Global
19:54Media, the order targets the Federal Meditation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson
19:59International Center for Scholars—the scholars, Congressman Rose, they came for the scholars—the
20:04Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness,
20:09the Community Development Financial Institution Fund, and the Minority Business Development
20:14Agency, all for cuts. Max Rose, you have all of the—I mean, the Minority Business
20:19Development Agency, this is the entity that literally helps businesses across the country
20:26get that—get those certifications that they need to be able to do business with the government.
20:32They don't just help—let's just be very clear. They don't just help Black people
20:35and Latino and Hispanic folks. Veterans are also eligible for some of these contracts under this.
20:43What is happening here? And do you think the connection is really being made for people
20:48that the dismantling is literally happening from the inside out, and it's not just in D.C.? It's
20:54going to hit your community, as well. Can you—did you get to hear, Simone?
20:57We caught the—we caught the end. And unfortunately, we're all too well used to this story
21:04at this point. Look, this is why what just happened with the Senate voting for this Republican bill
21:12is so absolutely the wrong way to go, because what they're doing is dismantling in an
21:18unprecedented way the government services that people like the veteran community and so many
21:24other communities rely on each and every day to start small businesses, to get loans, to get
21:31resources when they're in a time of need, to get aid for things like education and health.
21:38They're ignoring every piece of budget that everyone could ever imagine having been passed
21:44in a prior way. And then we think that they're just going to continue with business as usual?
21:49No, you have to stand up, reject things like this CR that just got put forth, and demand that we
21:56are actually—that they meet us halfway, because as a consequence of the filibuster, they need the
22:01Democrats, and the Democrats should be showing that power.
22:04Carlos, I think probably you know, as Congressman Rhodes, about town hall meetings and the
22:12importance of having that communication with your voters. What's your assessment of the edict coming
22:18out of the leadership to member Republican members? Don't do town halls. We don't need to go explain
22:25what we're doing to disrupt everything, to bring out the pain. We don't need to feel the pain.
22:31How do you assess this avoidance within the party? And what does it say that they don't
22:37want to go out and talk about what they're doing or allowing to happen under the leadership of
22:43Musk and Trump? Michael, leadership always tends to be
22:48risk-averse and is always trying to advise their members to limit exposure, to not take risk with
22:55their votes, to not speak out when they feel strongly about it. And I think that's a big
23:00mistake. Fortunately, some Republicans are still showing up to town halls, because I think it's
23:05important for them to hear from people, for them to understand the human side of all of this. And
23:11I think that's also what the opposition should be focused on, not defending the status quo in
23:16government, because I don't think that's going to get anyone very far, but certainly putting the
23:21human stories behind all of this. Who are these people who are being let go? What are the jobs
23:27that they were doing? And these Republicans need to go out there and listen to that. If they
23:31believe in this, they need to be able to defend it. And if not, they need to hear from people
23:36and understand what the consequences of all of this are. By the way, there's a very good way
23:41to do this. I think most people out there believe that we can reform and make government more
23:47efficient. Michael, I know you and I have talked about that for decades. The how matters, though.
23:53And if you're doing it in a way that's reckless, that's hurting people needlessly, well,
23:58that probably has to change. That's exactly right. Former Congressman Carlos Cabrillo,
24:03thank you. And Max Rose, thank you, sir. Appreciate you both. Next, we need to talk about
24:08how Tesla is complaining about Donald Trump's trade policy. Say what? Yep, the electric car
24:15company led by Elon Musk wrote a letter to the U.S. trade representative warning that Trump's
24:21tariffs will have a negative impact on its bottom line. Now, how the hell did that happen?
24:27Tesla stock has been struggling, losing half its volume since mid-December. The company's
24:33dealerships have also been the target of protests after Musk joined forces with Trump. Last week,
24:39the president said he wants to label people who attack Tesla as domestic terrorists. OK,
24:45so that's the that's the crazy, funny part of this. But it's no surprise that just days ago,
24:51Trump and Musk effectively turned the White House South Lawn into a car dealership,
24:55showcasing Tesla's in a sad, a sad PR stunt. And I just want to go ahead. No, please. No,
25:02no. Well, that everybody got thoughts about the White House. And let me just say something,
25:07you know, I don't have a Tesla. Everybody knows I've been driving a Mercedes. However,
25:13I want you to know prior to this whole debacle, I wanted a Tesla. Y'all know it's like ten dollars
25:18to fill it up. I can't get a Tesla now because you know why this is because of what you just
25:24can't. Oh, I mean, this is why Senator Kelly, Mark Kelly got rid of his Tesla. You can't be
25:29a walking billboard for the BS. I will say, though, Elon Musk said that they did this when
25:36Biden was the president, that they had a so it's bad when Trump does it, but it's not bad when
25:41Biden does it. And I just want to note Biden did not do a do an ad for one particular car company.
25:46He had an electric vehicle summit that Elon Musk was not invited to. That's what that part
25:54was invited to. Look, I never had a design for one of these cars because of the man who designed
25:59the car. So even back in the day, even back in the day, I, you know, my mama taught me how to read.
26:06She taught me how to read people. And I saw this coming a long time ago.
26:10It's the reason why I said every Bond villain rolled into one. You know, they they look good.
26:16They sound good. And they produce great stuff, you know, that lulls the masses into, oh, he's a great
26:23guy because he produces a car I like. He shoots rockets to the moon. But you got to peel all that
26:29back, folks, and read what's on the next page. And the next page will tell you what his history has
26:34been, what people say about him in his business and how he runs his business. And if you didn't
26:40want to, you know, if you want to know everything you need to know, just look what he did with
26:44Twitter. I mean, he's doing now. I do want to clarify one thing here, which is there have been
26:50some violent protests. No one is condoning violent protests the same way I did not condone
26:55violent protests when it happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. That just doesn't meet
27:01the definition of domestic terrorism. And we have go ahead, Simone. Well, no, at least I keep going.
27:07My point is, it doesn't meet the standard definition. But you're you're saying something
27:13because the president of the United States is saying he can deem whatever action he wants
27:18domestic terrorism. That's it. I'm. Again, I'm not scared. I refuse to live in fear, but I am concerned.
27:25There she is.
27:27Going to keep talking about other cuts ahead. Donald Trump's plan to gut the Department of
27:31Education, the president of the largest teachers union in this country, joins us next. This is The Weekend.
27:42A buyout, a rift and a shutdown. I mean, that's what we got here. I've never seen that.
27:46This is like a hatchet, not a scalpel. None of this is going to help kids like none of this is
27:51going to help kids. None of this is going to put a single dollar in a child's school to help kids.
27:55It's just going to. I mean, and that's the point, I think, cause chaos.
28:00Education department workers describing Donald Trump's gutting of the agency's workforce
28:04just days ago, nearly half of all DOE employees were fired. Education Secretary Linda McMahon
28:10said the layoffs reflect the department's commitment to efficiency. In reality, the move
28:16fits Trump's plan, a plan backed by Project 2025 to eliminate the agency altogether.
28:23But Trump is facing a legal fight. On Thursday, 21 Democratic state attorneys general
28:28sued his administration to block the dismantling of the education department,
28:32calling it unlawful. Joining us now, Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association.
28:39President Pringle, thank you so much for being here. I guess first your reaction to
28:45Donald Trump doing exactly, frankly, what he told us he was going to do when he was on the campaign
28:49trail. He said he wanted to get rid of the Department of Education. They have taken
28:55serious steps to hollow it out. Your reaction to this? I know you all have also filed a lawsuit
29:02that we want to get into as well. That's right, Simone. It's good. It's good to be with you.
29:08Donald Trump told us exactly what he was going to do. It's one of the reasons why educators all
29:13over this country read Project 2025. So they had an idea of what was coming at them. But let's be
29:19clear. All students will be impacted by these cuts. All students will be impacted by the decision of
29:27Linda McMahon to fire half of her staff. We know that there is no department that's going to be
29:35available to answer the calls of our parents and students who are applying right now for college
29:41and they couldn't get through because the tech people who actually run the site were fired.
29:48So I want to emphasize that the impact of this will go so far beyond what anyone thought would
29:57happen. And who is left to fill those gaps for our students? Our educators. They're always left.
30:02You know I taught science for 31 years. And every time there's a gap, we try our best to stand
30:09in those gaps. We take money from our own pockets. But we can't fill these gaps when we have students
30:15with disabilities who aren't going to get what they need. And we have a Secretary of Education
30:21who doesn't even know what the signature program, IDEA, Linda, that means Individuals with
30:28Disabilities Education Act, say it with me. When you don't even know what that is, we know our
30:36students with disabilities aren't going to get what they need and what they deserve.
30:40I love it when an educator educates the uneducated. I really appreciate that moment because
30:47President Pringle, the reality of it is the Department of Education was established in 1979
30:52by the Congress. This department, despite all the BS and the noise and the wrangling and the crazy
30:58by Trump and Musk and Doge, can only be undone by Congress. But you're exactly right about what
31:05you're stating about the dismantling. Let's fire the resource teachers. Let's fire the individuals
31:13within the teaching community and the administrative community of education
31:19to create disruption. You have, for example, you have this storyline in which you've got
31:27Pritzker, Governor Pritzker, making the point that there is no plan for kids, noting the Illinois
31:32Governor, instead of proposing anything to improve math and reading score for students or to support
31:38those who work long hours to educate our children, they're making it harder for working class students
31:43and their parents to get ahead by firing more than half of the department's workforce with no notice
31:48and no due process. That is the reality right now. How do you and the job you have up against this
31:57challenge hold the line for your teachers and the administrators and the school systems
32:05that are being buffeted right now by this deliberate storm against them?
32:11Well, first of all, Michael, it is about educating people. It absolutely is. You know, most people
32:17don't know what the Department of Education does. Educators know. And parents who have students
32:22with disabilities, they know, too. But it is about educating folks all over the country and
32:28every congressional district that every student will be impacted, because guess what's going to
32:33happen? We all know class sizes are going to be cut. Math and arts classes are going to be cut.
32:39After-school activities are going to be cut. We know exactly what's going to happen to our students
32:45when you have a government, Trump and Musk, who are stealing from our schools. And not just that.
32:51Their plan to voucherize and privatize our public schools, we know what they're doing.
32:58They want to dismantle public education in this country. And we know that public education is
33:03the foundation of this or any democracy. We need people to pay attention and understand that long
33:11game, even, Michael, as we stop, as we slow things in the short term. That's why we're so
33:18encouraged by the filing of the suit by the attorney's generals. They have been incredible.
33:23We're so encouraged by governors across the country, like Governor Pritzker, standing up and
33:29saying, no, if you cut these funds, they will gut the funding in my state. I will not be able to meet
33:36the needs of the people in my state. So we are coming together and making sure that people
33:41understand they have the power. They have the power. And we're asking them to join us on March
33:4719th. Text ACTION to 48744 and join our educators, our students, our parents, community leaders,
33:56organizations all over the country who are walking into our schools and telling our students,
34:03we will protect you. We love our public schools. I want to be clear. Everything we're saying about
34:10the dismantling of this department, it is not made up out of whole cloth. It is coming
34:15from the mouth of the secretary in charge of this department. Take a listen to what she said on Fox
34:21News. That was the president's mandate. This directive to me clearly is to shut down the
34:29Department of Education, which we know will have to work with Congress, you know, to get that
34:32accomplished. You you went where I think this conversation is going, President Pringle, which is
34:38privatization. What happens to America's students and America's teacher if they are to succeed in
34:45privatizing America's education system? This country was built on the belief, the core values
34:54that education should be available to all. It should be high quality, universal education for
35:01all. And if we walk away from that, then we're walking away from our core values. So you,
35:09Linda said it. You heard her say it. We need to believe it.