No Kings protest Austin | Beto O'Rourke full speech

Hey, don't you, don't you feel so much better just for being here today and being with all these beautiful people? Let's hear it for Hands Off Central Texas and the organizers and the volunteers and the patriotic Americans who made this possible. We need this right now, because if we're honest with ourselves and if we're honest with one another, at times we are tempted to despair. As we see the most powerful people in this country, try to make a virtue of their cruelty, their corruption, their obscene defiance of that which separates us from barbarism and unites us in our humanity, the rule of law, the Constitution, and government of, by, and for the people. They want us to think that their rise to power, their authoritarian control in America is inevitable. But I want you to look around here today and remember what you saw at the Capitol and on your march over here. We are the antidote to that despair. We are the antidote to that fear, and our ability to work together, united in the broadest possible front that this country has ever seen, is the absolute key to our victory in November of 2026. Are you with me? So do not forsake hope at this moment. Instead, count yourself lucky to be alive at this moment of truth for America, how many generations before ours literally had the chance to fight for everything that matters when this country was on the line. Let's remember who we are, where we come from, and what we are made of. We are the people who defeated the most powerful empire on the planet to win our independence and to ensure that no American would ever bow to a king again. We are the people who brought the Confederacy to its knees and forced their surrender to ensure that we would fulfill the promise of our independence, that all of us are created equal and will be treated equally under the laws of this land. We are the people who defeated the divisions of Hitler's Third Reich overseas to stop fascism abroad so that it could never be in power here in America. And we are the people who overcame peacefully and non-violently the armed and elected thugs of Jim Crow to win voting rights and civil rights for each and every single American, no matter the differences between us. That is who we are. All of that service, all of that struggle, all of that sacrifice has flowed through these 249 years to us, here today in Austin, the year of our Lord, 2025. And what we do with this inheritance will define us in the eyes of history and determine the future for this great country. So I wanna tell you that we are going to come through this challenge just as we came through the challenges before, united, together, each and every single one of us fighting for the ideal that is America and replacing these false virtues of this current regime with freedom and fairness and prosperity and opportunity for each and every single Americans, whether you are five generations or whether you got to this country five days ago. We count you as our fellow humans and our fellow Americans. So I ask you, are we going to be united and stay together? Are we gonna continue to fight each and every single day until we win the elections in November of 2026? Are we ever gonna give in? The fight, we are gonna fight, we are gonna fight, we are gonna fight, we are gonna fight, we are gonna fight, we are gonna fight, and we are going to win. Let's do it, Texas. Thank you.