>> RICHARD, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
BE SAFE.
GARRETT HAIG AND PETER
ALEXANDER, THANK YOU.
>> ZELENSKYY'S ADDRESS REMINDS
US OF ANOTHER WAR TIME LEADER,
WINSTON CHURCHILL IN 1941.
LET'S BRING IN JON MEACHAM.
JON, WE TALKED ABOUT CHURCHILL
AND MANDELA'S SPEECH, THE FIGHT
FOR FREEDOM HEARD ACROSS THE
WORLD, AND HERE NOW ZELENSKYY, A
MAN WHO SEEMS IN THE WORDS OF
BOBBY KENNEDY TO HAVE THE POWER,
ALONG WITH HIS FELLOW COUNTRY
MEN AND WOMEN.
TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN
SEEING TODAY NOT ONLY FROM THE
UNITED STATES BUT ALSO FROM A REVITALIZED EUROPE.
REVITALIZED EUROPE.
>> THE CHURCHILL ANALOGY IS
FASCINATING
FASCINATING.
CHURCHILL SPOKE TO CONGRESS, I
THINK, THREE TIMES.
TWICE DURING WORLD WAR II AND
AGAIN DURING THE COLD WAR.
ALL THOSE SPEECHES CAME AFTER
AMERICA WAS ALREADY IN THE WAR
AS A FULL ALLY.
IT WAS AFTER PEARL HARBOR.
IT WAS AFTER HITLER INVADED --
SORRY.
IT WAS AFTER JAPAN DECLARED WAR
ON US AND HITLER DECLARED WAR ON
US.
IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S AS
IF CHURCHILL HAD BEEN INVITED IN
1939 OR 1940 TO ADDRESS THE
CONGRESS.
HE WAS ALWAYS AT PRIVATELY LOBBI
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT FOR ARMS, FOR
AID, HE SAID, YOU KNOW, THAT
THINGS ARE AFOOT WHICH WILL BE
TOLD AS LONG AS THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN IN ANY CORNER
OF THE GLOBE WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT
THE BRITISH DEFIANCE.
HE TALKED ABOUT BRITISH
DEFIANCE, AND I SUSPECT
ZELENSKYY ALLUDED TO CHURCHILL
WHEN HE ADDRESSED THE BRITISH
PARLIAMENT.
IT WOULDN'T SURPRISE ME IF
THERE'S SOMETHING FROM THE
AMERICAN SPEECHES THAT CHURCHILL
GAVE IN THE SPEECH TODAY, AND
REMEMBER THE GREAT ONE WAS THE
FRENCH GENERAL WHO HAD
DISMISSIVELY SAID THAT BRITAIN
WOULD HAVE HER NECK RUNG LIKE
CHICKEN AND CHUJRCHILL SAID SOME
CHICKEN, SOME NECK, AND THERE'S
A KIND OF DEFIANCE, AND
CHURCHILL EMBODIED THAT THEN AND
IN A FASCINATING WAY, ZELENSKYY
HAS, I THINK, EXCEEDED ANY
EXPECTATIONS IN TERMS OF BOTH
SUBSTANTIATIVE AND SPIRITUAL
LEADERSHIP.
I THINK HE'S CAPTURED THE
IMAGINATION OF MUCH OF THE FREE
WORLD AND WHEN FOREIGN LEADERS
LIKE MANDELA, LIKE CHURCHILL,
WHEN THEY ADDRESS THE CONGRESS,
IT'S ALMOST AS IF THERE'S THIS
VIRTUAL CONVERSATION UNFOLDING
BETWEEN THE DEMOCRACIES, THE
FOLKS AROUND THE WORLD WHO ARE
DEVOTED TO THE RULE OF LAW.
IT'S A REMINDER THAT THERE ARE
THESE LARGER QUESTIONS THAT
UNITE US, AND REMEMBER, FROM THE
VERY FEW PEOPLE WHO STILL SEE
THIS AS SOMEHOW REMOVED FROM OUR
CONCERN, THINK ABOUT THE TRAUMA
OF THE 1930s AND 1940s, AND I
UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES AND
THE ANALOGIES, BUT BROADLY PUT,
FRANKLY ROOSEVELT SAW AND THE
BEST SAW, TRUMAN SAW LATER THAT
DEMOCRACIES TEND NOT TO GO TO
WAR WITH EACH OTHER.
HOW DID WORLD WAR I BEGIN,
AUTOCRACIES WENT TO WAR.
HOW DID WORLD WAR II BEGIN,
HITLER WAS ON THE MARCH,
DICTATORSHOP WAS TAKING ON
DEMOCRACY.
AS CHURCHILL WOULD REMIND US
OFTEN, WITH GREATNESS COMES
RESPONSIBILITY.
HE MAY NOT WANT TO BE INVOLVED
IN THE CAUSES OF THE WORLD BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY CHOICE BECAUSE
WE DON'T HAVE ANY CHOICE BECAUSE
THOSE CAUSES TO QUOTE RFWK AS JO
JUST
YOU JUST SAID, WE ARE ALL
LINKED.
>> SO WE ARE ABOUT EIGHT MINUTES
AWAY NOW AS MEMBERS OF THE
SENATE AND THE HOUSE WILL BE
ATTENDING AND YOU SEE IT IN THE
LIVE PICTURES ON YOUR SCREEN
THERE, A VIRTUAL ADDRESS.
THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED, BY
UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT, VOLODYMYR
ZELENSKYY.
HE WILL BE INTRODUCED BY SPEAKER
PELOSI, AND AS WE GET CLOSER TO
THE MOMENT, I WANT TO TALK TO
YOU, JOE MOORE, ABOUT THIS
CONCEPT OF ZELENSKYY BEING ABLE
TO BEND HISTORY IN A WAY THAT
OTHERS IN RECENT HISTORY HAVE
NOT, REALLY TEACHING AMERICANS,
AND I'LL SPEAK JUST FOR
AMERICANS ABOUT THE PRECIOUSNESS
OF DEMOCRACY AND SO PRECIOUS
THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY AT A
FRIGHTENING JUNCTURE RIGHT NOW.
THIS IS ABOUT ALL OF US IN THE
END.
BUT TEACHING ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN
A WAY THAT THE EXTREME CRACKS
AND DIVISIONS THAT WE'VE
WITNESSED IN RECENT YEARS.
THOSE DIVISIONS THAT WE'VE
EXPERIENCED, JUST HAVEN'T BEEN
ABLE TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OF A
FREE PRESS, THE IMPORTANCE AND
PRECIOUSNESS OF A DEMOCRACY.
THIS MAN HAS BEEN ABLE TO RELY
PIERCE THROUGH THAT.
>> IT'S BEEN A CLARIFYING
MOMENT.
YOU KNOW, MIKE BARNICLE, I KNOW
YOU WANT TO GO TO JON MEACHAM
NEXT.
I WAS HEARING BEFORE, AND IT
GROWS TIRESOME, HEARING ABOUT
THE DECLINE OF AMERICA.
MY 6th GRADE TEACHER SAID
AMERICA WAS IN DECLINE AND MAY
NOT LAST ANOTHER DECADE.
I MUST SAY, IT'S VERY VERY
TIRESOME BY NOW, BUT I HAVE BEEN
HEARING OVER THE PAST FIVE, SIX
YEARS, THAT WE WOULD NEVER GET
BACK TO A 9/11 MOMENT WHEN THE
DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTY
COULD COME TOGETHER.
NO, I KNEW WE COULD.
I KNEW WE WOULD AND HERE YOU
ARE.
YOU HAVE NANCY PELOSI, YOU HAVE
MITT ROMNEY, PEOPLE ON THE RIGHT
AND THE LEFT COMING TOGETHER TO
SUPPORT A MAN WHO'S A SPIRITUAL
LEADER OF DEMOCRACY IN THE WEST
AND AROUND THE WORLD RIGHT NOW,
MIKE BARNICLE, AND THIS HAS BEEN
A CLARIFYING MOMENT TO SHOW THAT
SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE
DIVIDED US, WELL, THEY'VE JUST
BEEN SILLY.
WE SEE VERY CLEARLY BETWEEN
RIGHT AND WRONG FROM DEMOCRACY
AND AUTOCRACY, FROM THE TILL
LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES OF CENTRAL
AND EASTERN EUROPE AND FROM
RUSSIA, AND WHAT LIBERAL
DEMOCRACY PROMISES AND WHAT IT
INSPIRES AND WHAT IT'S INSPIRED
IN UKRAINE.
>> YOU KNOW, JOE, HISTORY IS
LITTERED WITH THE GHOSTS OF
THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERESTIMATED
AMERICA AT EVERY TURN, AND
NEARLY EVERY TURN POLITICALLY,
ECONOMICALLY, AND
GOVERNMENTALLY.
AMERICA IS STRONGEST WHEN
AMERICA STANDS TOGETHER, AND
AMERICA NOW STANDS TOGETHER AT
LEAST OVERSEAS IN EUROPE.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES HAS PERFORMED REMARKABLY
WELL.
WE ARE ABOUT TO SEE TODAY,
ANOTHER MAN WHO HAS MET THE
MOMENT.
A MAN WHO SEVERAL MONTHS AGO OR
PERHAPS FIVE OR SIX WEEKS AGO,
PEOPLE WOULD HAVE LOOKED AT THE
PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, AND SAID,
WHAT, COME ON, HE'S A COMEDIAN.
HE HAS MET THE MOMENT AND
HISTORY IS FILLED WITH PEOPLE
WHO HAVE MET THE MOMENT.
I WAS REREADING ONE OF YOUR
FAVORITE POLITICAL SPEECHES AND
MUCH MORE THAN A POLITICAL
SPEECH IN RETROSPECT.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY'S RIPPLE OF
HOPE SPEECH, IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH
AFRICA.
ON JUNE 6th, 1966, TWO YEARS TO
THE DAY THAT HE WAS ASSASSINATED
AND TO REREAD THAT SPEECH TODAY
IS TO REREAD THE ESSENCE OF
AMERICAN HOPE GOING FORWARD
THEN, AND GOING FORWARD TODAY.
>> AND THOSE LINES, AGAIN, ONE
OF THE GREAT LINES FROM THERE,
JON MEACHAM IS WHEN BOBBY
KENNEDY SAYS IN CAPETOWN, SOUTH
AFRICA, HE SAID FEW HAVE THE
ABILITY TO BEND HISTORY ITSELF,
AND YET WE FIND HERE WITH
ZELENSKYY JUST LIKE THOSE UNION
WORKERS, IN 1980, JUST LIKE
MANDELA, AND LET'S GO BACK TO
LEXINGTON AND CONCORD, JUST LIKE
PEOPLE THERE.
WE HAVE ZELENSKYY WHO SEEMS TO
BE BENDING HISTORY BEFORE OUR
VERY EYES.
>> YOU KNOW, THE THRILLING AND
TERRIFYING THING ABOUT DEMOCRACY
IS THAT IN FACT, ALL OF US IN
THE END HAVE THE CAPACITY TO
BEND HISTORY.
A DEMOCRACY IS THE FULLEST
MANIFESTATION OF ALL OF OUR
DISPOSITIONS BAR NONE, AND YES,
THERE ARE STRUCTURAL QUESTIONS,
AND YES, AS SENATOR KENNEDY WAS
SAYING IN CAPE TOWN, NOT ALL OF
US ARE GIVEN GREAT EPIC SCOPE.
IT'S ONE OF THE GREAT LESSONS OF
LITERATURE.
GEORGE ELLIOT, THE 19th CENTURY
NOVELEST.
SHE WROTE THAT NOT EVERYONE CAN
BE A SAINT TERESA, AND FOUND AN
ORDER AND CHANGED ALL OF
PERSONDOM, BUT EVERYONE CAN MAKE
LIFE A LITTLE LESS DIFFICULT TO
ANOTHER.
AND UNTIL THE END, THOSE ARE THE
TABLE STAKES OF DEMOCRACY, AND
ZELENSKYY HAS, YOU KNOW, HIS
DISPOSITION IN MIND, WINSTON
CHURCHILL'S DISPOSITION OF HEART
AND MIND, THE PEOPLE OF SALMA,
THE MEN WHO HIT THE BEACHES OF
NORMANDY.
THE PEOPLE AT TIANANMEN SQUARE,
THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE
BERLIN WALL.
ALL OF THIS MAY SOUND
SENTIMENTAL, BUT IT HAS THE
VIRTUE OF BEING TRUE THAT THOSE
FOLKS IN THIS KIND OF
MYSTERIOUS, YET DISCERNIBLE
COMMERCE BETWEEN THE LEADERS AND
THE LED MADE DEMOCRACY WHAT
LINCOLN CALLED THE LAST BEST
HOPE.
>> RIGHT.
>> AND THE KEY THING THERE IS,
YES, IT'S THE LAST BEST HOPE,
BUT IT'S ALSO THE BEST HOPE, AND