VIDEO: Seth Moulton Announces Candidacy for President
New York, NY - Today, during an exclusive interview on Good Morning America, Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
Transcript:
Seth Moulton, Moral Compass
Seth: I was first called to service in my college church by a minister who's the greatest mentor I ever had. He talked a lot about the importance of service, about how it's not enough just to believe in service. You gotta find a way to give back yourself. You couldn't help but sit in this church and be hit by the names on these walls. And I had so much respect for them that I wanted to do my part, too. So I joined the marines. My parents weren't exactly thrilled.
Seth’s Mom: I was really scared for him.
Seth: Even in a war I disagreed with, there's nothing I'm more proud of than being a grunt, being on the ground, serving with those Marines. Before I knew it, I was commanding a platoon in the
first company of Marines into Baghdad.
Seth’s Mom: As an American. I was proud to have him representing me. As his mother. I spent four tours being terrified.
Seth: But it turned out that the war was based on a lie about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. And we lost great, brave Americans. I returned home and decided to run for Congress because I realized that a lot of Americans are feeling betrayed by Washington the same way that we did in Iraq. Ask anyone who's lost their job to a changing economy, or a child to opioids, or has to choose between heat and food in the winter, they're feeling forgotten.
Liz: He was 54 points down...
Dad: ...to an 18 year incumbent.
Liz: His campaign manager, his pollster, told him to quit. And you don't tell Seth to quit.
Seth: I am proud that our race has been held up in recent days as a model for how races should be run. And how politics should be conducted.
Liz: He is the sweetest, kindest man. He's extremely devoted. Seth would bend himself into a pretzel to take care of somebody.
Sister: Seth is the kind of person that if he sees something wrong, he is going to try to fix it.
Veteran You got that spirit for our country. And that's what we need... An honest politician that has a heart for this country, that’s not going to put up with the stuff of division.
Liz: The person that takes on Donald Trump needs to be a tank. They need to be a tank that no matter what is thrown their way, what fire, what lies, what vitriol, the tank just keeps moving, and that’s
Seth: Seth When the president tweeted that this is the greatest political witch hunt in American history, I just said, as the representative of Salem, Massachusetts, I can assert this is false.
Liz: There's nothing that sways him to do anything else other than what he believes is right.
Seth: Decades of division and corruption have broken our democracy, and robbed Americans of their voice. It's all led to an administration that's turned away from our values and is shredding or moral authority. The greatest generation saved our country from tyranny. It’s time for our generation to step up and do the same. There are already Americans across this country with the moral courage to get it done. Women marching for respect. Teachers walking out for fair pay, kids fighting for safe schools. I spent years of my life carrying guns every single day as a Marine, but weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools. While our country marches forward, Washington is anchored to the past. It starts with growing our economy, with the new jobs, the green jobs, the tech jobs, the advanced manufacturing jobs that are going to make us the world leader in the next century. It starts with tackling climate change and making sure that we have a planet without an expiration date. As a veteran of combat and of the Armed Services Committee in Washington, I will cut the massive weapons programs we don't need so that we have the money to invest in the future. We should build a cyber wall to stop Russia from hacking our elections. And most important, we need to restore our moral authority in everything we do. Whether it's appointing a cabinet member, negotiating a treaty, or signing an executive order, I will always uphold America's values. I'm running because we have to beat Donald Trump, and I want us to beat Donald Trump because I love this country. We've never been a country that gets everything right. But we're a country that, at our best, thinks that we might. I'd be honored if you'd join me in this mission.
