The Highwire with Del Bigtree - DEL ADDRESSES THE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY

Episode Date: August 8, 2024

Del discusses Biden’s long awaited live public statement to address his inevitable withdrawal from the 2024 Presidential race for what he called “the defense of democracy”. Hear our take on why pulling in Kamala at this juncture in the race is a complete disregard for basic democratic principles and frankly undermines her credibility.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

I want to sort of dive into a space, and if you've been seeing the highway we're stretching out, I want to make it really clear. We are a nonprofit, and there are certain rules to being a nonprofit, which means technically I am not here to tell you who to vote for. I am making no selections whatsoever. But we are allowed to talk about attacks, what we believe are on our democracy, or when we think this country isn't running the right way. So I'm never going to tell you who to vote for. and frankly, I don't think any news station in this country should be. Freedom of the press means you express you're not afraid to challenge every single politician that's out there and every single party that's out there.

If you see issues with it, that's what we're here to do. So today I'm going to weigh into this space, but I make no judgments other than the fact that I am really starting to struggle with these ideas of democracy and republic. And when I think of what our founding fathers meant for this country, I think we should start asking some serious questions. Are we representing what those founding fathers and what the heart of America stands for? This week, as we all waited throughout the weekend, and finally heard on Sunday that President Biden is not going to seek re-election.

Something that I think many of us expected but wondered, was he going to finally make that decision? The Democratic Party being torn apart over the last couple of weeks, We've discussed the cognitive issues that we saw and even the potential that it could have been a vaccine injury. We've covered this all from our perspective. But I want to talk about the statement that was made last night by President Biden and really specifically just this idea. I revere this office, but I love my country more. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president.

But in the defense of democracy, which is a stake, I think it's more important. than any title. I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our union is not about me. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future, all merit of the second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes us. personal ambition. So I've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. I sort of want to point out this idea that in defense of democracy I am making this decision, you know, that is what is at stake. First of all, you know, I

think we were all getting really tired of this kind of language. We've gone way too far with the rhetoric. I think it's one of the reasons we had an assassination attempt is that this idea that the other, you know, candidate or the other party for that matter is the end of democracy as we know it. We have all taken a part of this. We are all to blame, at least most of the people who I've met and many of you who I consider friends, but I see your commenting online. We've gotten used to it. Our media has trained us to speak like this, but it is tearing our nation apart. And I just want to point out because, you know, I've been an athlete my whole life, especially when I was younger playing sports, whether it was soccer or

football or whatever it was. I want to say this. Anytime, if you're an athlete, do you remember when you would look across the field and you'd see the team that was arguing and screaming at each other and blaming each other for what went wrong or why the play didn't work? And there's just, there's no cohesive energy over there. Have you ever seen that team win? Because that is what is happening here in the United States of America, the United States of America. If we are not united, then this entire dream falls apart. We have issues that we're talking about in the high wire all the time every single week, whether it's AI, central digital currencies, or mandated medical cartels, you know, taking over our nation, our sovereignty hanging in the

balance. And if we're sitting and screaming at each other, instead of paying attention to those that are on the other side of the wall of this castle and are taking our rights away, then shame on us. And I just want to say this idea of democracy. I'm not going to get, I know so many of you in the audience right now are screaming whether it's a democracy or a republic. That is not an argument I want to have today. I want to take President Biden at his words that he is here to save the democracy. So can we have the definition of a democracy? Please, this is Webster's dictionary, a government by the people, a rule of the majority, or B, a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a

system of representation, usually involving periodically held free elections. So what is so incredibly ironic about this statement by President Trump. He's going to save democracy because that's what's at stake here in the United States of America. And by saving democracy, what he means is he's going to what, throw out democracy, throw out the power of the people and select the next leader of the Democratic Party, which is what just happened this week in the selection of Kamala Harris. I find this to be one of the greatest hypocrisies I've seen in my life. The idea that a person that has not been elected by any citizen in this country right now went through no primary process, but the way we're going to save democracy is by circumventing it and dictating to the nation

who your, you know, one of your choices is going to be in election. This is the type of thing we hear Vladimir Putin doing, selecting his opponents so that he's, you know, he's, you know, one of your choices is going to be in election. I'm, you know, the best choice. And then you've got to start asking questions. How long, how far back was this decision made? Was it just made this weekend? Or was this the plan all along when no primaries happened? When there were plenty of Democrats that were out there saying, I think the president should have to debate us on a stage and prove that he is cognizant, that his mind is working at the level that it should be to run the United States of America. That was what's being said. And instead, the DNC circumvented that primary process, made all sorts of crazy rules.

Like I think there was one in New Hampshire that the DNC passed. That if you went and campaigned in New Hampshire as a Democratic candidate, that that would disqualify you from getting those votes that your votes would be handed to President Biden. I mean, some crazy stuff like that. You can check me, but they did everything they could to keep there from being an actual primary. And now here we find ourselves shockingly backed up against. the wall because we're run out of time. We run out of time, therefore there's no time for a democratic process. And whose fault is that? So the same people that robbed us of that time,

robbed us of the opportunity to see President Biden on a debate stage with other Democrats that would possibly have been able to do a better job. Now we're out of time, can't have that process. So to save democracy, we're going to dictate to you who your choice actually is. I think this is a really, really sad day for the party that is named the Democratic Party. I'm not alone, shockingly. This statement was put out by Black Lives Matter. A statement on Kamala Harris securing enough delegates to become Democratic nominee. This is just some of what they said.

Now, Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new, Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public. This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable. While the potential outcome of a Harris presidency may be historic, the process to achieve it must align with true democratic values. We have no idea where Kamala Harris stands on the issues now that she has assumed Joe Biden's place, and we have no idea of the record of her potential vice president because we don't even know who it is yet. We do not live in a dictatorship. delegates are not oligarchs. Any attempt to evade or override the will of voters in our primary system,

no matter how historic the candidate must be condemned. We demand an informal virtual snap primary now that the incumbent president is no longer in the running. Certainly that is just one opinion by a shocking group that we haven't really been fans of here at the high wire, but today we're aligned and so I'll point that out. I agree. Let me be perfectly clear. I'm not saying that Kamala Harris is a bad choice to be the head of the Democratic Party and their nominee. I have a problem with the fact that she was selected and not elected. I also think it undermines her credibility. It undermines her voice when she says she stands for democratic values when she was dictated upon us instead of elected. I, you know, been watching so many of my friends that are Democrats out there celebrating

this move. And I just wonder, is this what we've come to that the end justifies the means that throwing out the entire process of involving the people, the people's choice for, of by the people of the United States of America? Oh, who needs that? We don't have enough time for that right now. My God, I mean, this on the back of the COVID pandemic, where apparently our Constitution was only made for the good times as soon as there's any pressure, just throw it out. We don't have time for it. We don't have time to figure out what the people need. We don't have time to test a vaccine. We don't time to have an election.

These are really scary decisions, and it even goes a step further. I would say this, even if you are selecting Kamala Harris, let's see what happens in the convention. If you find yourself having to circumvent your own convention, now you really got to start asking yourself some serious questions. This is the headline I'm talking about, of course. Democrats plan to push ahead with virtual roll call ahead of their convention with Harris favored. The Democratic Party plans to push forward with a virtual roll call, which delegates to its convention can choose a presidential nominee before they gather next month in Chicago. Why are they doing that? I mean, so let's just throw out everything we know to be our electoral process.

That's the way we save democracy. These are the types of things that I think we should all be calling out. I've said it before. I've been politically marooned for years. I am disenfranchised by the entire party system now. It does appear that no matter who gets elected, the problems just get worse. The inflation keeps going up. No one can claim to have downsized government in any sort of way.

Both of these guys have been president. We've got Donald Trump now has been president. So has Joe Biden. They both were a disaster during COVID, which is something that we covered. They both locked down our economy, destroyed jobs, rushed, you know, a vaccine onto the market that is now proving to not only be harmful, it's also ineffective. So for all of this, I'm calling it all out. And I also want to say this just to be perfectly fair. I think it's ridiculous that Donald Trump didn't show up for any of the primaries in the Republican Party either.

Those candidates deserve to test the medal of President Trump in front of public on television, of course. He showed himself fairly stalwart when he was up against Joe Biden, but that was after he got the nomination. And we could say, well, it would have turned out that way anyway. This forgiveness of the destruction of our democratic process is going to get. get us all in jeopardy no matter what side of the fence you are on. We have got to come together and say the democratic process must be saved in order to save our republic.