GLOBE, REMEMBER WHAT THEY FOUGHT FOR AND WHY IT IS UP TO US TO MAKE SURE THEIR SACRIFICES WERE NOT IN VAIN. JOINING ME NOW, JOHN MEACHAM, THE ROGERS CHAIR IN THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY AT VANDERBILT. HE OCCASIONALLY ADVISES PRESIDENT BIDEN ON HISTORICAL MATTERS AND MAJOR SPEECHES. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE CALL TO SERVE, A VISUAL BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE HW BUSH, WHICH COMES OUT THIS TUESDAY. JOHN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMING BACK TO THE SUNDAY SHOW. TALK ABOUT WHY IT IS AN AFFRONT TO THE FALLEN THAT A FORMER PRESIDENT AND POTENTIAL FUTURE PRESIDENT IS PRAISING AUTHORITARIANS AND PARENTING NAZI SLOGANS AS PART OF HIS CAMPAIGN >> WELL, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PATRIOTISM AND NATIONALISM. AND THAT MAY SOUND OVERLY DORKY BUT IT IS INCREDIBLY REVEL RELEVANT TO WHERE WE ARE NOW, AS YOU HAVE JUST LAID OUT. PATRIOTISM IS ALLEGIANCE TO AN IDEA, OUT OF PRINCIPLES, AND THE UNITED STATES, ARE BEST PATRIOTIC STAKES FINDS ITS EXPRESSION IN ALLEGIANCE TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, AS OUR MISSION STATEMENT, THE CONSTITUTION, AS IT HAS BEEN SAID, IS OUR USERS GUIDE. NATIONALISM, HOWEVER, IS ABOUT ALLEGIANCE AND PROTECTION AND PRIVILEGING OF YOUR OWN KIND, PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE YOU, PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN WHERE YOU WERE BORN, CORELIGIONISTS, THAT THERE IS A SAMENESS TO IT, AND IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY INVOLVE PRINCIPAL. THE MORTAL THING ABOUT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS THAT WE, IN FACT, HAVE MANAGED, DESPITE ALL OF OUR IMPERFECTIONS, PUT THE PRINCIPLE THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THE MOST IMPORTANT SENTENCE ORIGINALLY IN ENGLISH BY THOMAS JEFFERSON, WE PUT THAT SENTENCE AT THE HEART OF THE NATIONAL? FEAR MEANT AND THE MEN AND THE WOMEN WHO WE COMMEMORATE TODAY, TOMORROW, AND WHATEVER WE PONDER, THIS REMARKABLE DEMOCRATIC, D SYMPTOMS THAT LETS US LIVE LIVES OF CONSEQUENCE AND LIBERTY, WHENEVER WE THINK ABOUT THEM, IMAGINING PEOPLE, WE ARE COMMEMORATING PEOPLE WHO WERE WILLING TO DIE FOR THAT PRINCIPLE, NOT FOR JUST PEOPLE WHO LOOKED LIKE THEM, BUT FOR A PRINCIPAL THAT WE WERE ALL CREATED EQUAL. AND TO INTRODUCE AND PROMULGATE AND DEFEND AND REPEAT ALL OF WHICH PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE DONE. A VERNACULAR OF DICTATORSHIP AND AUTHORITARIANISM AND AUTOCRACY IS TO UNDERMINE THE VERY SYSTEM THAT THEY WISH TO REPRESENT. AND TO MY MIND, IT IS A CHOICE WE ARE MAKING TO 49 TO 50% OF THE COUNTRY FOR SOME REASON, ARE CHOOSING TO ENABLE THIS AUTHORITARIAN MOVEMENT. AND IT IS INCUMBENT, THEREFORE, NOBODY ELSE TO STAND UP AGAINST IT. >> AND TO THAT POINT, JOHN, YOU KNOW WHAT WORRIES ME? THAT A SIZABLE CHUNK OF THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE APPEARS READY TO GIVE UP ON DEMOCRACY, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS LIKE SENATOR VANCE, WHO IS OUT THERE PRAISING AUTHORITARIANS. SO TALK ME OFF THE LEDGE. IF YOU THINK I AM WORRYING TOO MUCH. >> NO, DON'T JUMP BUT STAY ON THE LEDGE. BECAUSE BY BEING ON THE LEDGE, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO TELL THE STORY OF WHAT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY SHOULD BE. AND IF YOU TELL THAT STORY, THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE HAVE IS TO TELL THE STORY AND TO SHOW HOW DEMOCRACY, IN FACT, DELIVERS FOR PEOPLE. YOU ARE NOT AT ALL WRONG TO BE TERRIFIED ABOUT THIS. THIS IS ALSO A COUNTRY, LET'S BE CLEAR, THAT FOR MUCH, FAR MORE OF ITS YEARS OF EXISTENCE, WHO HAVE LIVED OUTSIDE OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THAT WE HAVE LIVED INSIDE COMPLIANCE. RIGHT? YOU AND I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE. THIS COUNTRY WASN'T FOUNDED IN 1619 OR 7076, THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED IN 1965, WHEN THERE WAS ACTUAL, THE BALLOT BOX WAS ACTUALLY INTEGRATED AT PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIDE OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT IN 1965 THAT REMOVED THOSE RACIST 1920s PHOTOS THAT ONLY ALLOWED, TENDED TO ONLY ALLOWED FAVOR NORTHERN EUROPEANS. SO WE ARE A VERY YOUNG COUNTRY. A VERY YOUNG DEMOCRACY. AND SO YOU HAVE TO STAY ON THE LEDGE. AND KEEP POINTING OUT THE THINGS YOU POINTED OUT. >> YEAH, AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS ONLY TWO YEARS OLDER THAN I AM. I WAS BORN IN '67. YOU KNOW, ONE MORE THING, BECAUSE TRUMP HAS CRANKED UP HIS PROPENSITY FOR REJECTION LATELY AND IS TRYING TO TURN PRESIDENT BIDEN'S ATTACKS ON TRUMP AGAINST HIM. LISTEN TO WHAT HE SAID, WHAT TRUMP SAID AT THE LIBERTARIAN CONFERENCE LAST NIGHT. >> JOE BIDEN'S RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRAT PARTY IS A FASCIST MOVEMENT THAT WANTS TO THROW YOU IN JAIL, THE FACT IS THAT JOE BIDEN IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. >> YOU KNOW, TRUMP IS ENGAGED IN ALL THIS PROJECTION, THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS THAT HE HAS CAST DOUBT ON THE ELECTION RESULT EARLIER AND MORE OFTEN WITH EACH CAMPAIGN. WHAT IS TRUMP UP TO WITH THIS? >> EXACTLY THAT. AND IT IS WORKING, BY THE WAY. THE POLLING SHOWS THAT AN EXTRAORDINARY NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS, FOLKS THINK THAT DEMOCRATS ARE A GREATER THREAT TO DEMOCRACY THAN REPUBLICANS ARE. THIS IS WHY THE TRUTH MATTERS. THIS IS WHY THE REPETITION OF THE TRUTH, HOWEVER IT MAY SEEM HOMILETIC, IT MAY SEEM COMPETITIVE, IT MAY SEEM BORING, IT MAY SEEM PREACHY BUT THERE IS A REASON WE NEED TO KEEP PUSHING THIS. IT IS BECAUSE PRESIDENT TRUMP IS VERY, VERY GOOD AT FLIPPING THESE THINGS AROUND. AS PART OF AUTHORITARIAN PLAYBOOK. IT IS ABOUT THE AUDACITY. IT IS ABOUT A BIG LIE. WE DEALT WITH THIS IN AMERICAN HISTORY BEFORE. WE DEALT WITH THIS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY BEFORE. BUT IT IS ONLY DEALT WITH IF THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE TRUTH, WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT TRUMP IS SAYING THERE, CONTINUE TO STAND UP AND INSIST THAT AS JOHN ADAMS SAID, FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS, IT IS SIMPLY THE FACT THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN IS DEFENDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY , ALL OF IT IMPERFECTIONS AND DONALD TRUMP HAS SELF-EVIDENTLY , WITH THE EVIDENCE OF OUR OWN EYES, AGAIN AND AGAIN, ATTEMPTED TO UNDERMINE IT AND SO IF YOU WERE TO STAND WITH TRUNK BECAUSE YOU THINK PRESIDENT BIDEN IS X, Y, OR Z, BE VERY COGNITIVE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING. YOU'RE NOT JUST CASTING A VOTE FOR MARGINAL TAX RATE, YOU ARE NOT JUST CASTING A VOTE FOR A PARTICULAR POLICY. IF YOU DO THIS, YOU'RE CASTING A VOTE TO UNDERMINE FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. AND AS PRESIDENT BIDEN WAS SAYING, THAT IS NOT A HYPERBOLE. >> THAT IS NOT HYPERBOLE AND IT WOULDN'T JUST UNDERMINE AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS, IT WOULD DESTROY
