When I was a senior in high school, our government teacher
took us to the downtown, Flint to the IMA Auditorium, to hear a
speaker. Turns out that all the schools
in the county. It's in school bus, loads of
students to hear the speaker. His name was Ralph Nader and he
was the scourge of General Motors and we and Flint were in
the hometown, the birthplace of General Motors.
So to hear Ralph Nader speak to almost 10,000 people.
In the birthplace of his sworn enemy was quite a moment and I
remember being so inspired by his speech and so moved.
And almost deciding at that moment that I had to live a
different kind of life, I had to I had to be active. way that
nobody really taught us to be as a citizen of this country, but
that day, that stuck with me forever and Ralph Nader to me
was a hero Years. Later years later, I found
myself out of a job and Ralph Nader, heard about that and said
come to d.c., he'll work for me. I'll give you a job and that's
what I did. I went to Washington DC and I
worked at Ralph's headquarters for a couple of years.
It was really a exciting time. I learned a lot.
I put out a little weekly media critique news.
Is letter called The Morris weekly and he funded it and
provided the office space and the staff, and it was quite a
good thing. But through my adult years, I've
also had a complicated relationship with Ralph Nader
and after a couple of years there at his headquarters and I
decided to make my first movie Roger and me about flint and
General Motors. He didn't like that and said, It
was time to end the Endeavor and so I was once again out of a job
and continued making the film collecting unemployment while
making it no income. And when the film came out and
it become a, you know, a big hit people in his office publicly
were critical of the film and it really shocked me, it was kind
of a felt like some kind of weird.
Rail. I never understood it but then
you can't try to figure out it's just not the way it works with
him. But over the years, he continued
to do all the good work that he had done so many things that
people today forget or not don't even know that.
We wouldn't have things like an Environmental Protection Agency.
Like a national highway safety, department of transportation,
all these rules and regulations and things.
Is to save lives and and protect our food and water and all on,
and on and I can't, it would take the rest of the podcast to
tell you all the good Ralph Nader was done in all the lives
lives. He had saved hundreds of
thousands, maybe millions of lives there.
Never would have been a seatbelt in a car or an airbag wouldn't
be oh my God, I could just go down the hole again.
It's you get the point and so when he decided to run for
president, president in 2000 and because I at that time and
actually for a decade or two before that time had been
writing about and talking about the situation with our
environment with our planet, nobody was talking about this
stuff and Ralph was and in the green party was and I thought
the green party was a good idea that the Democratic party needed
a something on its left to nudge it push it poke it, do whatever.
What was needed to be done to try and create a more Equitable
society and try to save this planet.
And so Ralph's idea was that we have to have a green party on
the ballot and every state. And the way to do that is all we
need is five percent of the vote by five percent of all
Americans, who vote voted for the green party.
Green party would stay on the ballot throughout the country.
That's not 5% per state it just it was a combined 50 percent of
all. So in other words let's say you
know nobody voted for the green party and In 20 States, but in
the other 30 States equaled, 5% of the total vote of the whole
country, then the green party existed in his plan was, is that
he would go and campaign in the states.
That would not hurt the Democratic candidate.
In this case, it was Al Gore. So, he would campaign and
States, like, California, and New York State's that were
already going to go blue or red, you know, Republican or
Democrat, Texas, you know, campaign.
There you know, there's no way that the Democrat was going to
win Texas and Actually most of the South but not campaign in
the swing states where it might hurt Al Gore.
And so I and I don't use a whole bunch of people, you know, well,
known people people much more well known that I was Eddie
Vedder Pearl, Jam and Patti Smith, and she's a whole bunch
of people. Got on board the bus to go and
speak at rallies to play at rallies for Ralph.
We had great turnouts, things are going fine and them, it was
time for the debate commission to decide who would get to be at
the presidential. We get to be on the stage, the
presidential debates and Al Gore was insisting that Ralph Nader.
Not be allowed on the stage obviously because he was afraid,
it would it would hurt him but again the NATO strategy was not
to hurt him was just to go and campaign in the states where it
was kind of Of a, you know, already decided who, you know,
was going to win that state, but one score went about convincing
successfully the debate commission to not let Ralph
Nader in the debates. That's when things went awry for
Ralph and Ralph no longer cared about helping Gore or not
hurting Gore, and decided to start campaigning in the swing
States. And this one back on what he
promised to do to myself and And so a bunch of us got off the
bus. We couldn't support that.
We couldn't allow George w-- Bush to become present United
States. I was so terrified.
That what Ralph was doing was going to hurt Gore and help Bush
that in the last week before the 2000 election.
I put together my own tour of the one state.
I thought this was going to come down to Florida and I went from
City to City. See throughout Florida and I
build the tour as an aider voter asks, you to vote for Gore and
my pitch was look I live in New York state or who's gonna win
New York state by a huge margin. So I have the luxury of voting
for Ralph Nader and I will vote for Ralph Nader in New York
state. But you in Florida, it's way too
close here and you don't have that luxury.
If you like Ralph and your for Ralph, I'm asking all the Nader
voters in Florida to please vote for Al Gore and And and one of
my last one of the last night said, before the election, I was
in Tallahassee. And the next morning, I woke up
and I walked out onto the onto the street and walking right by
me on the Promenade was governor.
Jeb Bush. And he sees me and I see him and
he walks over to me and he holds out his hand to shake.
Shake my hand and he says, to me, how much did the Democrats
pay you to come down here and I said not enough.
Of course they didn't pay me anything but the headline that
morning in the Tallahassee newspaper was something to the
effect of Mater. Mater, supporter more: V Gore
and once I got the front page of the so bullshit seeing that and
you know, this is not of course what the bush people wanted.
They wanted all the native voters in Florida to get out
there and vote for Nader. And here, I was Criss crossing
the state telling Nader voters as a native order myself.
Of that in Florida. You can't do that.
You got to vote for Gore. You cannot let bush get into the
White House, so was I successful?
Yes. Once they finally counted, all
the votes a year later, they realize that Gore had.
In fact, one, but Daddy, bushes judges, justices on the Supreme
Court, put it into the vote counting in Florida.
Would let the vote be finished and then voted in ruled in.
Over of Sonny's candidacy. So bushes, appointees to the
Supreme Court, ended up essentially guaranteeing and
saying that the new president of States would be George w-- Bush.
And that was that. Well, of course, a lot of people
ended up blaming blaming Ralph Nader for this but of course
they were making the assumption that Ralph's voters, if there
had been no green party on the ballot would have voted for Gore
and I knew that was a false assumption.
Because a lot of these green voters will never vote for a
Democrat and they would have stayed home, nonetheless, that
became the Mantra and people were filled with hate toward
Ralph Nader. I didn't catch a whole lot of
crap from people mainly because I had made it very clear that in
the swing States, you had the vote for Gore and then I my own
dime. Did my own tour in the week?
Leading up to the election of Ida to try, and make sure that
that state would not vote. Not only do not vote for Bush,
but not vote for Nader either. And I, you know, again, it felt
really let down by Ralph and maybe that's on me.
That, that part, I'm guilty of that.
I made the assumption that Ralph wouldn't do what he did.
But he was angry, he had a right to be angry, he should have been
kept out of the debates, nonetheless, we ended up with
bush and then we ended up in a horrific War.
We also were attacked in Bush was notified a month before the
9/11 attacks that Osama Bin Laden was planning to attack the
United States probably via airplanes.
He was on vacation and chose to pay no attention to the memo
that he received from the National Security Agency.
And and so there was no preparation and everyone caught
off guard on 9/11 2001. So, you know, the rest of the
story, you know how it all went down.
And it made the idea that if Ralph it cost, the election,
he'll even worse to anybody who had anything to do with it, but
especially to Ralph and he became persona non grata and and
nobody, you know, he was no longer invited on to talk shows.
He was not invited to anything. He was a pariah and he and I
didn't talk to each other for a very, very, very long time.
It was really the second time that I had been.
I've been let down by him. But you know, I'm, I'm I'm a big
boy. I realized this is how politics
works. You can't take any of this too.
Personally, and really isn't personal.
It's not about me. It's about what happened to this
country and its what happened to the world.
As a result of having George W. Bush's president, the United
States. And so there, I was two weeks
ago, not even two weeks ago. Go hopped on a train to d.c.
I wanted to be there for the impeachment.
Didn't know if we could get in went to the office of Capitol
Hill of our congressmen from Flint, Dan kildee, to see if he
could get me tickets to get in. And as I open the door to enter
his office, there is Ralph Nader right there.
It kind of I was in shock for a minute and shook his hand and
greeted him. We got talking a little bit
about what he was doing and what was going on.
He was going from door to door to different members of Congress
to give them his new book. This is that a pietschmann day.
He's literally delivering books to members of Congress.
But I had heard over the years from members that actually, they
talked to Ralph and his staff quite often Ralph is still going
20 years after that fateful election in the year 2000.
Here's where I live. Mater.
Still at work. Still these 85 years old.
Still doing this. Still fighting the fight, and
still having a staff, do all this research and they used this
research. I mean, members of Congress are
using research done by Rob's office.
This has been going on for years.
Public doesn't know this, but they, but they've maintained,
especially certain Democrats have maintained a relationship
with his office because of because he's the man, he's the
guy that's done the work. He's the guy that does the
research and all the people, all the young people in his office
that do All this work, all the young women and men there that
do this research and share it with Congress, all in the
interest of helping us. You and me, and there was Ralph
right there, standing there on impeachment day.
And I said, so, what have you been up to?
And he said, well, number of things I'm really working,
really fighting Boeing. Now, with the 737 Max Jets, you
know, the to that crashed in one in Ethiopia, one in Indonesia.
Shh. And I thought, yeah, that's that
sounds like something Ralph would be doing.
He be trying to do something to make sure these planes are safe
and, and Dan was standing there, kind of person.
He said, yeah, it sounds like an idea for a book unsafe at any
altitude, we all kind of laughed and thought it was actually it
would be a good book. And then Ralph said to us my my
great niece was on the plane in Ethiopia that Crashed and she
died and it got kind of quiet in the office there.
I said, I'm really sorry to hear that Ralph.
So now she was really, she has 24.
She was, she was a good woman, she was there, helping people in
Africa, and, and she's dead now because of a corporation decided
to cut some corners, and save some money.
In this kind of corporate serial killing of the people that died
on these two crashes and his eyes kind of wild up in the he
said I'm not going to let them get away with us and I said, hey
I know we're supposed to call go over to the impeachment.
It's happening right now. You know, do you have a half
hour? I'd love to sit down and I'm
doing it. I have my podcast equipment with
me. I said, we do, you do a podcast
with me right now? I'd love to.
I'd love to talk. Talk to you and catch up after
the all these years. And he said, yeah, sure.
And I said, I said to the congressman come, do you mind if
we use your office here? And he said no sure, come right
in come right in here and give some privacy and we sat down and
we spoke for the first time and for any given length of time and
almost almost 20 years and and that's what you're going to hear
now my half hour or so, with an old comrade, a fighter for the
common good. And someone who I want to ask
you listening to this. I want you to consider that
perhaps, maybe, maybe it's time to forgive Ralph.
It's time for some Redemption. Ralph would probably say that he
doesn't need any forgiveness and he in some ways might be right,
but I think that we need everybody.
Now all hands on deck to get rid of trump and in this interview
you'll hear that he knows that too.
And at the end of it, well, you'll hear.
I came to my own conclusions about my own complicated history
with Ralph Nader. And I'm really happy to share
this kind of rollicking. Somewhat intimate conversation
with him here on Rumble with Michael Moore.
so now I'm in the cannon office building here on Capitol Hill,
the house office building and this is for certain number of
Representatives have their offices right across the street
from the House of Representatives and I Ducked
into our congressman, from Flint Michigan, Dan kildee, and to see
him, and coming out of the door was none other than Ralph Nader
and it was both stunning and wonderful to see him.
It's been a number of years since I've seen Ralph in person,
and I asked him if he would just sit down with me here in
represented, killed his office and he graciously representative
allowed us to sit in here and talk to Mr. Nader for a few
minutes. Ralph welcome, first of all to
my podcast and how are you celebrating impeachment day
here, you know, these too many of the Democrats are professing
their remark. Michael by saying, this is a sad
day. It's not a sad day to Glorious
Day to hold, President, Trump Lawless Outlaw that he is
buffoon ignorant narcissistic racist, sexist, sexual predator,
serial liar Insider To violence just for starters.
Is that all you got Ralph really?
Yeah? Right you're right.
It's always a glorious day whenever we take our
Constitution and enact its powers in favor of the people,
but it's it is on the level that it's sad on is that we the
people should not have had to suffer for three years with this
individual who's in the White House, what he's been doing.
And I'm not talking about just the big stuff that we all know
about why he's being impeached. I'm talking about Day, his
administration has cut out a regulation, out of the EPA has
given over more of our public lands to oil and gas companies.
I mean, you just go down the list.
He's made our oceans more dangerous.
He's, I mean, these things don't even appear on the news anymore
because we're so consumed with the fact that he conspired with
people in another country to rig the next election.
The Democrats went with an arrow assault.
Basically, they went with the Ukraine which doesn't move the
public opinion needle important is that is in terms of
influencing the next election but they had ten other arrows in
their quiver. He's impeaching himself in one
area or another though. Gross contempt of congress
Beyond to your crane. Number one, the spending money
does not authorize that violates the power of the purse.
That would have outraged James. Madison said that the emoluments
enriching himself Lawless War's over See's.
Yep. And the other one, which you
alluded to he is shredding the life-saving protections and the
health protections American people by disabling and
dismantling EPA and occupational.
Safety and health administration, Auto Safety
agency, crushing the civil servants pushing out the
scientist. Why isn't that an impeachable
offense? That was right in the house.
Judiciary report, Michael, they made a big deal out of the
defiant refusal to enforce the law.
Ha a stir, you know, he's turned the US government over to the
pollution poisoned happy and agreed Lobby.
I can tell you why they chose this route.
I'm not in on the inner circle of how they made the decision to
do the impeachment, but I think look you, you know, it's kind of
like a comedian has to know the room you have to read the room
and I think Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats correctly, read the
room, that that list, I cut you off, there's a 30 or 40 more
things. Yeah, on that.
It's so many things. The American people who work
hard every day. Many of them.
Work, two jobs, a few. Some of them work three jobs,
they're barely able to keep their heads above water, to try
to keep track to try to focus the American public around 40
articles of impeachment. I mean it's like it's like me
asking you right now name the 32 teams in the NFL.
Go ahead Ralph. Yeah, I'm waiting.
Yeah. Go ahead.
Can you name them? No name, a lot of them, but
yeah. He's always 10 lies ahead of
them. Yes, insults ahead of them,
violating this violin that does spend any time on the
government. Overseeing, his Crooks is
corrupt heads of these agencies and they're going to give him a
pass. You know what?
He's going to say, he's going to say Nancy Pelosi had the
majority, she could have passed all those wild charges that I've
Violated the Constitution but she didn't do it and don't you
know why? Because it's all lies, it's all
fake. I didn't do anything wrong.
He's going to say that a thousand times of your trunk
impersonation. Um, yeah, that built up with
that, is that it? But that is the genius of him.
And I, and I've tried to say this from the beginning when I
first said before the election that he was going to win.
I mean, I live in Michigan. I could see what was going on.
And, and of course, he showed up, he was in, he had a rally
every week, leading up to the election.
And, and Hillary, unfortunately, only came once or twice to me to
ship, Michigan didn't go at all to Wisconsin.
And, and I, so, I just, I went to a couple of his rallies and
I'm like, wow, he this guy is good, and if you don't respect
your opponent, if you don't actually have some sort of, I
don't know what the word is not admiration.
But some sort of understanding of who the enemy is Know Thy
adversary. Well, I think a lot of liberals
just wanted to go. Trump.
No One's Gonna vote for him. It's going to be a carnation.
It's going to reality show. Reality show, people love
reality shows, he was on for 14 Seasons.
You don't me Seasons. I was on with my show for no.
Okay, I mean Seinfeld, when he gets seven or eight, I'm telling
my friends, maybe a dozen maybe I don't think a dozen but Trump
14 seasons and and out where I live.
I understood why you know we don't know Trump you don't know
Trump in Michigan, who's Trump? We Only about Queens.
Wouldn't know what is this? Here's what we know about
Queens. Archie Bunker was from there and
Trump, that's it to bigots different size of the economic
scale. That's all we know about Queens,
who, you know, and just put on a book Mark, Greene called fake
president on Trump. And in, my echo epilogue is
directed to the Trump voter, it's called.
Thank president, fake, president.
Why are they running off to Trump order?
If they read the epilogue, you get my take on how to convey and
communicate with Trump voters, who he is.
Betraying a thousand ways that's a great Title.
By the way, it's a little redundant.
If you if I can say yeah. You now when you say present you
don't need to say fake. We already know the fakery
that's going 100,000 workers exposed to silicosis.
He's quick. He's breaking the protection of
Osha and they're dying. You want to try to actually
convince Trump voters to change their minds doll.
That's a lot of work. I I did that the first year and
I think a lot of eight million Obama voters voted for Trump.
Okay. So there we can reach out and
And we can convince them to I know a lot of them people in
Flint and Saginaw on Detroit who didn't like Trump at really at
all. Not certainly not personally but
they wanted to throw a hand grenade or Molotov into the
system that had let them down. And so Trump appeared to Bernie
appeared to be that the people to.
So you also Michael. You also lied like crazy.
He was going to get them more manufacturing jobs, it's a lie.
He was going to get them cleaner.
Air water and health insurance, a lie.
He was going to cut their taxes alai.
Cut the taxes for the rich created a deficit.
Drained, the money for the repair, the infrastructure, and
sent a bill to the children, grandchildren of America and
including their grandchildren. Would they ever tolerate a
having a relationship with the neighbor or friend or co-worker?
Who is that? Kind of monster, immoral,
monster liar, sexual predator, you know, they I don't buy this.
I think what's And is they hated the alternative so much and they
hated Washington turning their back on him so much that they
saw this bomb thrower. And they said we're going to
we're going to send our votes to yeah.
Yeah. I think that's what that is.
What happened. But now the people that are for
Trump three after watching him for three years if they're still
for him, I think the whatever energy we have left in us
because we're all filled with this despair, there's a malaise
that's across the country right now.
All our Focus has to be on getting out the people on our
side. The people who believe in these
things. We believe in don't stay home
this time. Let's come out, let's get
everybody out. It's all about getting the vote
out of the on voters. You can be 110 million,
non-voters largest political party in America, right?
The non-voting party, you get 10 million out in seven states and
start in August September October developing relationship
when might drop. Yeah.
Yeah, potluck suppers. And then you, you give them
transportation to the pole. Yes, that's how I want our
energy to be focused on this coming year.
Those of us who those who are listening to this.
Now, you've got a conservative brother-in-law, You've just had
Thanksgiving dinner with him last month.
You're going to have Christmas dinner again.
Maybe you'll get through it again.
Maybe you won't, maybe he shouldn't be invited.
You know, just because the children are at the table and
they don't need to hear these, you know, comments bigoted
comments. But but Ralph, I just, I don't
know. I think my, my energy now is
just getting out our people getting off the non-voters, you
know, getting seven different sort of this movement in
Kentucky, Mitch Mitch no, no, well it's a non-profit Civic.
Get out the vote and they've got there.
Raised five million dollars. They've got staff all over
Kentucky and they don't they don't trust the Democrats to be
the worst campaigner in modern American history.
While they can switch on how they going to ditch them in
there because of a Democrat because they're going to the
Democrat who's challenging was a former Fire part pilot.
She thinks she doesn't need any co-pilots, right?
So they think she's going to make the same mistake trying to
be both ways and Kentucky, you know, no public never.
So they're saying we're going to get out and in Independent Mass
turnout of votes. Now, the vote for who?
Well, they're not saying, but they know to vote against
McConnell. Yeah.
But all that was votes have got to go into one pot.
Yeah, to get him out. Is that's okay.
You don't State the obvious. Yeah, I'll state it for you.
You have to over the Democrat? Yeah.
Okay. We can say that.
Hey, we will go back a long way you and I okay, no, seriously,
people still come up to me on the street who remember, you
know, the green party and all this and they're like you know,
so yelling at me and this guy who runs ditch he's got the
model for the Tree, which is why, which is Civic parallel.
Get out the bow. You don't have to beg the
Democrats phone Banks don't work, you know, a few days
before the election. They don't know how to get out
the vote. So you have a parallel movement,
Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan to get out the vote.
Now, you have Bloomberg's willing put millions of dollars,
that's what he really doesn't know how to do it.
Now, he thinks just adds know you have people on the ground in
the neighborhoods. You get the influentials.
Going to have developed a relationship.
I'm going to have my my podcast here in the coming weeks and I'm
going to tell him Mike. All right.
Your job in this election, you're the bank, you're the
bank. And that's what you need to do.
Not run for president, just be the bank and and you're like the
ATM machine for Democrats who are running for a by ballot,
proposals on gun control and whatever Mike Bloomberg.
Hi, I'm Mike Bloomberg, I'm the bank.
That's that's his job, okay? You know, I just want to say
before you know it's so wonderful running into you and
we're heading back over to the to the gallery.
They're just too bad, they don't have songs at the end of the
boat. The should play America the
Beautiful. Yeah, you know, I thought when
Nancy Pelosi went up and cheered the American flag there in the
beginning, I thought she was going to ask everybody to stand
and do that or the Pledge of Allegiance or something to just
look, can we just acknowledge that this country actually did
stand for something that we are about something that we're still
a work in progress and we are going to have our - Tower today
by doing what we're doing and and you know be around 2 is
going to be around too often around each but I just say we
round to us, I'll tell the Democrats I run into here today
after after this is done. They I know we all want to go
home for Christmas. You want to let Congressman slut
can go on the offensive? Teach you how to go on offense?
Yes Michigan. Could they put her on the
defense know? I know I know those ten
moderates changed the whole ballgame because Nancy wants the
job back. Spent a lot of time there was
not time in the CIA. I know where I'm planning to
have a little bit of during the Days.
I'll have some kind of, you know, there's there's nothing we
have to, you know, when your ex CIA you've got to go through a
kind of a relearn ever the book, fake, know him, fake present.
We're going to stop by her office.
That's good. This is, this is this is this
gets you on the offensive against Trump.
You don't win by being defensive.
The second thing that the Democrats have to do as soon as
this vote is done. Is there are I think close to
250 bills that this house has passed.
I want people, first of all to know, the people came out, the
non-voters came out in the off year election.
They come out and they made this.
They made this Democratic house and they put a lot of women in
and and if they don't see any result from that, I don't know
if they'll come back again and vote I needed to come back
about, I need them know at least that the Democrats passed, 250
bills and HR 1. The very first bill that got
past you know this company under this is like something you
wrote. Yeah, 40 years ago about how our
elections are run, how it's how they're how it should be simple,
and easy for people to be able to vote instead of all the
roadblocks. And why doesn't the Senate
they've got past the sea? One of these bills, they won't
pass them. They won't even talk about them.
This has been a very active, very busy house session and all
the stuff just sits on Mitch McConnell's desk.
And and we all know, they don't know how to nail him with, with
the names of the bills. They just say, 200 bills are
over there, he hasn't signed them.
Well, this podcast, we have it, we're gonna have a special
section on this podcast called passed the bills and that
passed, the buck passed the bills and and we are going to
name the bills if they don't actually have a real name.
Umm, you know, for like, you know, operation, you know, fog
of war. The Republicans have.
Yeah, well, I'll have on meanings for all of the clean
Estuary bill. By the Republic's is to poison
yester. Exactly, right.
So, so but this is where, this is where our side.
We always need a little help, which is weird that we have a
communication problem. When we are.
We Are The Writer's, the communicators, the artists all
the things they rail against Hollywood, Etc.
And, and somehow, we're unable to often communicate what this
really says in very A simple remember was Kevin Phillips set?
The Republicans go for the jugular and the Democrats go for
the capillaries. Yeah.
They're much more aggressive with less.
I know that's evidence. We're Kinder people.
You know, we don't juggling over the jungle, you know, all that
blood sprays everywhere and people die.
You don't want me to die. We, you know, we actually, we
are filled with a heart that has love in it.
I believe, Nancy Pelosi when she says this, that there that that
she was raised this way, I do believe in America.
And she doesn't pray in the meantime, actually believe she
prays and listen, I was, you know, and not been over the
years. Yeah, a big supporter of Nancy
Pelosi, but I want, I seriously want to start a GoFundMe page,
to build a statue to her just because, but in the moment she
has pulled this off. You have a - man amazing.
This business of not it's been amazing to watch this business
of how she done this, this business of caution, by Nancy's
cost for she's lost four out of five last congressional
election. This is that's the past Ralph.
This is the new name. Party of the future is this, is
there these older than Bernie? You're dealing, just saying
you're dealing, Democrats are dealing with a corrupt
government of corporatism, militarism and nepotism.
What are they waiting for, right?
Well, I think that this day today is a turning point in that
and and many of them, if John F, Kennedy, Kennedy was alive and
he was writing a sequel to Profiles in Courage.
These 15 plus Democrats that are running in districts that Trump
won in 16. It's been a real profile in
Courage so far today to hear them, stand up there and say
what they've said knowing I could cost him the election and
they put their country and they put truth and honesty ahead of
their own political agenda and their career.
That's been a powerful thing to see today and I'm guessing it's
inspired other members of Congress to like you know, this
Not my time to just sit back and be quiet.
So we're here on actually a historic day and I think many of
the funnies are taking place not just on the house floor.
Not just in the gallery but all across this country and we are
going to we're going to zoom out of the gate.
Everybody's going to be talking to their families over the
holidays and and this will have been an exhilarating moment for
all of us. I truly truly believe that and
you as you know, I you can't get more pessimistic than me.
So hear me out when I say this is just the first step we have
to have Round two, with all the other articles of impeachment.
They've destroyed the Constitution imperiled the
Republic because otherwise he's going to get away with it.
And he's going to Glow all the way through to election day.
Who do you predict is going to win until November you predicted
right in 2016? When you said Trump was going to
win? Everybody laughed at you while
it's not next November and I'm not a soothsayer, okay?
If the election were today, who would win?
I hate to say it Donald J Trump. I mean, I'm sorry.
Here's here's what I actually believe if the election were Day
Hillary won by three million votes in the popular vote, the
Democrat. Whoever the Democrat would be on
the ballot tonight that Democrat would win the popular vote by
four to five million votes and Trump could still win.
So elected, by the Electoral College.
Exactly which Republicans, the Democrats lost to like shin
since 2000, because they won the popular vote, locks the
Electoral College, and you still can't get him to go after the
Electoral College and Joan. And I joined the National.
Be the first to say that. A citizen of this country.
I should have been organizing something the day after bushes.
The Supreme Court that was appointed by Bush has dad
appointed Sonny Boy as president of the United States while they
were still counting the ballots in Florida, just one more
example of how we don't have a true democracy and I should have
the next day with others. You should, we all should have
done this. We should have, we should have
made the attempt to get rid of the Electoral College back then.
You know, it's underway now. They gotta run.
It's called the national popular vote.
We may not be able to get rid of the electoral college, but we
have enough States. Now that, you know, about the
stand, the video, large National popular vote, Europe.
There's been enough States. Now with 196 electoral votes, we
only need to 70 100 that have passed this law.
That says our state's electors will go to whoever wins the
popular vote Nationwide. Even if our state didn't vote
for that person, we believe the person in the white house should
be the person, the American people wanted We've got enough
states that have passed that law to equal 196.
Electrodes Democratic party's not making a big deal out of.
So there's only 74 more yet. What I've said to Republicans is
you want to support this because this could come back on you,
someday, you're going to wish that the popular vote was that
was the real vote. So anybody listening to this
lookup National popular vote dot org, it's a really good idea,
we're only 74 electoral votes away states that hold those, it
was Proposed and run by Steve Silverstein an entrepreneur from
from San Francisco. He's got seven staff and they've
got all these bills through California, Illinois,
Connecticut, Maryland seven staff.
It's a lot easier than we think. Before we go.
I want to just say this, you brought up the 2,000 vote where
you and you were running the green party and of course, you
know, you have heard this since then people blame you and this
and that and whatever. But except cord, doesn't he
knows who he's, he's got ten others to blame that.
No, that's what I was just going to tell you.
So I was speaking in Nashville few years ago and he heard I was
speaking there and he called me up.
Got my number somehow. And and so once you come over
for breakfast tomorrow, if you're going to still be here
Tipper and I will will make you breakfast.
I said oh wow. Great free food.
You know me, right? So anyway, so I went over there
the next morning my other sister.
With me and we sat there on stools in the kitchen as he and
Tipper made the ham and eggs and really wonderful breakfast.
And I said to him, I said, geez, I'm just wondering how you feel,
whether it's about me or anybody about the election, you know,
you blame Ralph for your loss and he said to me, absolutely
not. He said that is the absolute
wrong way to look at it. I blame me.
I blame me why he said, I didn't allow President Clinton to go
around and campaign for me, and he started listing these
Arkansas. Yeah, even in Arkansas, everyone
Arkansas, you've been president Don.
Exactly. So he won the popular vote.
Remember my 500,000 won. The popular was stolen from a
man in Florida in seven different ways.
Yes. And then the Supreme Court
Scalia 54. Yes, judicial coup d'etat.
Yes. But but he push an office.
He said he wishes that people were not angry at you.
They should be angry at him and he said in this is what he said
to me. He said because in the end Mike
it's my responsibility to convince you or anybody who was
thinking of voting for the green party.
It's up to me to convince you to vote for me and somehow I failed
to do that, you know I don't know if this is the wrong
podcast I have a story to tell you, no I'm serious.
Maybe I should just I should just tell it now.
I got a call. Yeah John your Chief of Staff
knows the story. John Richard I got a call a week
10 days before the election. And they knew Florida was going
to be very close. And so someone from the gore
campaign called me and said, you're close to Ralph.
What could we do? To convince him to, yes, tell
everybody, vote Green in California and New York and
Texas. Wherever doesn't, you know,
wouldn't hurt the election to have him.
Tell Nader voters in Florida to just to please just in Florida,
vote for Gore. We want to talk, we want to talk
to Ralph, we want to talk to him about, you know, just tell us
what what position could go or think about altering.
That would be be more Progressive whether it was
Health Care, Union issues, you know, whatever.
Could we could, we could we talk to Ralph?
I think also they, they have brought up on the phone of.
They would be very interested in talking to you about a cabinet
position. So they so the voters, your
supporters would know that you would have a voice in the
administration. And I said, well first of all
you don't know, Ralph there's no quid pro quo with grow with
Ralph. I mean it's just not you know,
but I know that Ralph is smart enough politically to know that
if you can appoint the right people if you will if you will
change your position to make it better on health care or
whatever. I'm sure he'd want to talk to
you. It's better than that.
We pushed minimum wage in Florida, which is winning issue.
12 referendum, as you know, a few years later, chief of
Stanzi. I wouldn't do it your chiefest
and over your Chief of Staff. Came back to me and said, no,
no, we don't want to talk, but when I was in Florida, who
cares, who picks these up? I gave the Democrats
Republicans, the whole platform carry be the author, take the
praise, but the one thing they could have, one was the minimum
wage issue, because a few years later up against the wall Mart's
and all the people want a referendum.
If you've been right Lord, you've been right on this stuff
forever. Yeah, all the ideas that now, I
think most people In the Democratic party, subscribe to
was originated by you. You and whether it is, we're
talking about minimum wage or Healthcare safety issues
environmental issues. You are the oh gee.
You know what that means? The LG you're like to do the
original guy, the you got it all going back in the 1960s.
I mean, people are alive today because you got laws passed with
seatbelts and airbags. Literally thousands more
Americans would be dead. Had not Ralph Nader been on this
Earth. I mean, that, is that your
legacy is intact in this way? No, we've got to let for the
future because they're rolling. Everything back my quest for a
rolling. It back question you about 2,000
is when there was that week or two, there were you I said to
your Chief of Staff, you are literally the most powerful
person in America right now because you could actually help
solidify Gore's, when And you can get things for us
politically that we needed back then and you held that power and
you chose not to use it and I'm just I'm wondering why because
man that would be the Envy of most envious position to be in
where you could have said, yes, I'll help you in Florida.
If you'll do this for the people.
Well it would have been looked at very cynically but I don't
have retroactive Clairvoyance. I thought he was going to take
Florida who Ever dreamed. This bumbling Governor from
Texas, couldn't put three sentences together with a
horrible record in Texas, against children and pollution
and so on would have taken that close by the way, he lost
forever. You know, the recount a year
later with the media, he lost Florida, the Florida Supreme
court ordered recount, it was blocked by Scalia, and the
Supreme Court 54 that would have ended up saying he won Florida.
Because, you know, the hanging shags, all the shenanigans he
won Florida, who would ever dreamed it would You didn't have
a sense that you have, you know, what have this power?
No way. Wow, who would have thought the
Bush was going to win to begin with because he didn't win the
popular vote, right? He lost the popular.
It's right anyway. Well listen, you are hero still
to millions and millions of Americans and regardless where
other people have a disagreement about 2000, or whatever.
Nobody will ever fault or say a bad word about how you have
spent your life fighting. People.
You I know you personally, I know what you've given up,
you've not been able to have the life of a normal life.
That normal people get to have, you've devoted your entire
waking moment and on waking moment and I'm probably your
honor have nightmares. But I'm telling you this man
eats really healthy. There's a lot of garlic on the
plate, I'm just saying that there's some Lebanese.
His, your parents had a restaurant, I think.
Yeah, in Connecticut. Yeah.
So, You were raised in that Lebanese restaurant, you keep
eating that Lebanese food and you look 20 years younger than I
know we have the only long Museum in the world.
My hometown, the American Museum of tort law tort laws wrongful
injury, sexual assaults, opioids product defects contaminated
water food. Tour Museum dot-org, by the way,
don't worry, big lesson. The big lesson from 2000, is the
Democrats began to scapegoat instead of looking in the mirror
saying, why haven't we Landslide the worst Republican party in
history? They're looking for scapegoats,
you even blamed little green party in 2016.
Dr. Stein. So they got to start looking in
the mirror. I think that has happened.
Ralph, I think it happened in in 2018 in the off year election
and you're sitting right here, we are right here outside the
place where the Democrats are standing up and doing what we
need them to do. And this man has to go that guy
who has our Oval Office, our White House that he has got to
go. And I would just, I just want to
believe I know this is a crazy thought that the Senate Hey, how
about this prompt? You can keep the majority of
Republican Senators. There's 53 of them, you can keep
33 of them, you have the majority, but I don't, I want to
believe that of the 20 that are left that there's 10 of them
that are in the Mitt Romney sort of thinking, where I do believe
they have actual core, beliefs, religious beliefs, and Trump
must seem like the devil to them.
Sure. When they're not in front of a
camera or microphone, they know who he is.
That's 10 of that, those Republicans and another 10 just
for own their own self-interest. If they don't vote to remove him
we're going to remove them. Come November watch what's going
to happen? I mean if there's one prediction
I feel good about is that we're going to have a Democratic
Senate next year and it's going to be maybe by more than just a
3. We're going to need to flip it.
And I think those stem, I think those Republicans who are on the
edge of possibly being tossed, they know it too.
And this is their moment to take a stand for righteousness.
And so, in my, in my fantasy world, those 20 Republicans,
they come they frankly, I think all we need to do is all we need
is a subpoena to see what else they put on that server in the
white house, then the Ukraine call, they've been putting shit
on that server. Ralph for three years and
opportunities for hiding stuff there.
I want to know what's there, because I think when the
American people here, the other calls that are there They won't
need a map to go find out where because nobody no, nobody knows
where Ukraine is. But when the American public,
here's what else is on that it will be so audacious that think
of all the emails were he's done in the American worker, the
American Consumer patients, not just the emails in the tweets
I'm talking about. Yeah, this is this is
Republicans, if you're listening, man.
Yeah, you ever hear of the wigs? You're in an implosive moment.
And I don't think, you know, just how bad it's going to be
for you and we actually don't want to tell you how bad it's
going to be because then you might actually do something, but
I think we'd rather you do the right thing and remove Trump,
we'd be we'd be willing to have a maybe the Senate will be, you
know, 51/49, you know, but you remove him.
You might save yourselves. Maybe I believe in Redemption
Ralph, including for you. And for me, you're okay with the
Any, for your Pence, a penny for your pets?
It was don't be afraid of Mike Pence.
All right? If he ends up being the
candidate, he'll be the easiest person to defeat.
Make sure he doesn't have dinner with a woman who is not his
wife. Yeah yeah.
I she's only want to go there off, we've been talking to Ralph
Nader here on my podcast. This is Michael Moore, you're
listening to rumble with Michael Moore Ralph.
We got to get back over to the gallery.
It would go and and see what's going on.
There. And I got and I have to have my
who's the, who's the Roman that, I guess, any of them.
Right Nero. Caligula Collegiate?
Well, I'm not going there. Ralph either Ralph when this is
what happens when you pass. How old are you now?
Ralph, how are you? So, I don't say now.
Come on, we can look it up. There is the only true aging is
the erosion of your ideals. Yeah, you're sharp as a tack,
first of all. And number two, you have never.
Eroded any of your ideals. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Appreciate, thank you for having
a conscience and thank you for fighting for the rest of us and
we love you for it. Never do that you too.
Well, there's jury's still out on me but thank you for what
you've done. Thank you much.
All right let's get back over to the House of Representatives and
off. I went back to the House of
Representatives where I was able to sit there in the gallery,
watch the debate and the vote and witness the third only
president ever in peace. In the history, the United
States that night. But on the way back home I
thought a lot about this conversation with Ralph and I
thought yes I look that's just who I am.
I believe in Redemption, I believe it's ridiculous to hold
grudges and anger, and hatred and animosity even to the people
that do wrong, even to the people that do things that we
disagree with. But I want another, I want
another step in my thinking about the this, what is it that
we disagree with with Ralph Nader.
He has, since the 1960s has been doing this, fighting fighting
fighting, for the person, that that doesn't have with the rich,
have fighting for people's safety, fighting for economic
Justice. And while I are, you may not
like, decisions he's made, or things he's done or ways, he's
behaved or whatever, you know, as Al Gore said to me, I don't
blame Ralph Nader. I blame myself.
It was gorgeous job to win that election to convince people to
vote for him. And all Ralph did was do what
any free citizen could do in any democracy, which is run for
office, and that's what he did. And he stood, for the things
that he always stood for, he stands for those things today,
and You know my heart is has the room to make peace with Ralph
Nader and to welcome him into joining our fight to remove
Donald Trump from the White House and to get somebody in
there who's going to fight for the things that we all believe
in. We have no other choice and
there is no time to be living in the past right now, We have to
be all about the next minute. The next hour, February 3rd and
Iowa, February 11th, in New Hampshire, super Tuesday, the
whole bit, this whole spring, my friends, all of us have to get
busy and I welcome her off Twitter to be part of this Ralph
Nader. Thank you.
And thanks to those of you who were willing to listen to my
little rant here about Out, forgiveness and Redemption and
knowing who's on whose side here and welcoming them.
That's it, that's it for tonight.
Thank you.