Keith Ellison: Nobody is saying you ca n’t study terrorism, you can st...

I raised my right hand and placed my left on the Quran, which was being held by my wife and mom. Suddenly, I was blinded by a cascade of camera flashes.

Keith Ellison

wife mom hands

You know, the elites always want to shame the poor - right? - and everyone else. I mean, the fact is, this economy is based on 70 percent of the people driving consumer demand. If people do not purchase goods and services, this economy will grind to recession. And that is why, if you are going to do a tax cut, it ought to really be aimed at low-income and middle-income people.

Keith Ellison

cutting mean people

I've been winning with 70 percent of the vote, and if you look at my district, you know it's a majority Christian district, and yet we've still been winning with high margins, so I don't feel like I've had any disadvantages for being a minority.

Keith Ellison

majority christian winning

Obstruction, basically, is whether you corruptly influence, obstruct or impede the administration of justice. You tell a chief law enforcement officer get, you know, back off my friend - or I hope you back off my friend and then when he doesn't, you fire him, clearly, that isn't - that is - fits the behavior of obstruction. The question of whether or not you can prosecute the president is open.

Keith Ellison

law-enforcement president justice

Even Hamas - Hamas is a terrorist group - do you know that Hamas came out in opposition to [Donald ]Trump`s statement? That puts the Republican Party, the Democrat Party, and everybody else in the establishment and [Barack]Obama on the same side Hamas is on. And over here all by himself is Donald Trump.

Keith Ellison

terrorist-groups party sides

One thing that I'd just remind young people of is that when John Lewis, who's a member of Congress today, defied George Wallace and led the march from Selma to Montgomery, he was 23 years old. Martin Luther King was the old man in the bunch, and he was 35, so young people need to know that they've always been an important part of our society, have always been at the forefront of pushing for a more just America, and we can't be successful without the impatience, the vigor that young people bring to the fight for social justice.

Keith Ellison

fighting successful kings

Donald Trump is using an age-old trick of right wing populism, much like George Wallace, much like Joe McCarthy, Pitchfork Ben Tillman who in the 1880s and `90s was a rabid hateful racists who whipped up hate and hysteria for his own political benefit.

Keith Ellison

hysteria hate wings

What I hear people talking about are things that anybody of any color or any religion or any sexual orientation can get with. They cannot earn a decent living if they`re working class folks. They`re worried about retirement if they`re in their 40s and 50s. They`re worried about sending their kids to college. If we focus on what really matters, we can get there.

Keith Ellison

college retirement kids

If you unpack the statistics on who is supporting , Donald Trump, it means that there is a lot of people who hold very bigoted racist ideas and there is a lot of them.

Keith Ellison

mean people ideas

Opposing [Donald]Trump aligns you with Hamas.

Keith Ellison

opposing hamas trump

We want to be making clear that if [Donald Trump] tries to deliver on his word, that we will be there to say no.

Keith Ellison

trump want trying

You have to talk about the issue of race, but I can talk to white constituents about racism, if I at least acknowledge that life is not a crystal stair for them either.

Keith Ellison

acknowledge racism

I worked at McDonald's. I cooked. It was one of the toughest jobs I've ever had. These people earn every single penny they get. In fact, they earn way more than they get.

Keith Ellison

mcdonalds jobs people

Progressive economic policies lead to a sustainable economy.

Keith Ellison

economic progressive economy

I'm not against trade...but they're not really trade deals. They're really investment deals between international corporations...They're saying we want to get a race to the bottom so we can exploit the most unfortunate worker.

Keith Ellison

corporations race want

The fact is, yes, statistically, African Americans and Latinos are getting hit harder, but it`s something that we can have real solidarity across racial lines on, to raise the minimum wage, to lower the cost of going to college, to make sure there`s real consumer protection.

Keith Ellison

african-american real college

The main thing I've learned is that we're better together and that our society needs inclusion - right? - not exclusion.

Keith Ellison

our-society together needs

I want to avoid sounding like I'm criticizing because I don't have all the facts in front of me yet. And I am trying to be a unifier.

Keith Ellison

want trying facts

I'm an optimistic guy.It's just as much the case that people will come to me and ask my opinion about how to properly include the Muslim community, as it is that people will come with some hateful stuff too. When people come to me about my religion, it's not always a thing of "we don't want people like you here," which happens sometimes. But mostly it's people who would like to know more. I get a chance to help people understand the religion better.

Keith Ellison

optimistic community people

We have a chance for racial solidarity because all of us, unless you`re in the top 1 percent, are really struggling in this economy.

Keith Ellison

economy chance struggle

Nobody is saying you ca n’t study terrorism, you can study what motivates people to commit acts of terrorism. And we should. But we don’t, not equally. The fact is, this amendment singled out one religious group. It’s wrong and it should be voted down.