Congressman Jaime Raskin, a key member of the January 6 Committee and one of the chief prosecutors of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, spoke powerfully and eloquently with a gravitas and passion unlike anything I have watched in recent years concerning the necessity of fighting to protect democratic freedoms at home and abroad. He was the keynote speaker at J Street’s opening session of our national conference in Washington, D.C. last evening, December 2. The link to his 30-minute speech is below, and it is worth watching in its entirety. He spared no punches and, as a constitutional scholar, his words cut to the chase in revealing the principles of American democracy and our constitutional system and thereby articulated the threat that America has been experiencing these past few years.

He said: “Just as there is a furious struggle between democratic nations and tyrannical regimes, there is a profound struggle taking place within each society at the same time,” Raskin said, warning of the danger of a returned Netanyahu administration backed by the far-right in Israel.

“The inclusion of political extremists in the government of a democratic society, as we have seen here in the Trump administration, constitutes a clear and present danger to democratic values, the rule of law and human rights,” Raskin said.

The struggle to defend democratic freedoms and our shared values of equality, justice and peace has become truly global, and American leadership is an indispensable part of the fight.

“From the autocrats in Moscow to the kleptocrats in Mar-a-Lago to the theocrats in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the enemies of democracy are on the march,” he said. “The struggle to defend democracy in America is the struggle to defend democracy and human rights on Earth today.”

Watch Congressman Jamie Raskin’s full address here >>