22 At the time, the deep state and all of its factions coalesced and came together, utilizing every re- source that they had at their fingertips – which is a great deal. People believed them at that time but it is a different time now. C. Austin Fitts: The fake news worked. Cynthia McKinney: That’s right. C. Austin Fitts: One of our great opportunities now is that the fake news is not working; it’s breaking down. We will talk about this more later, but there are a large number of people in Congress, in the Senate, and government offi- cials who have been harmed by the deep state and the fake news cycle. Now there is a huge opportunity, if we can break the fake news cy- cle, to start protecting the leadership that really is trying to enforce the Constitutional law. Cynthia McKinney: There are a few members of Congress who have come and gone – like me – who campaigned against the deep state, against the fake news, and had to succumb to it. But there is one member of Congress, in particular, who I always give a shout-out to, and he’s a Republican, Walter Jones from North Carolina. Initially he was the guy who conceived ‘Free- dom fries’ instead of calling them French fries because the French refused to go to war with the US against Iraq at the time. He was a true believer in the lies and the propaganda. But over the course of many people challenging, he heard them and decided that he had been lied to. I personally saw him carry his Congressional letterhead everywhere he went. The purpose was that he was always writing ‘I’m sorry’ notes to all of the families of the soldiers who died in Iraq. That man is someone who I look up to, and I’m just happy that he is still in the Congress. He is that beacon out there, and is the one – I believe – who we can count on to champion what we’re talking about in terms of the Constitution. C. Austin Fitts: One of the most important things we can do to enforce the Constitution is to support the leaders who are willing to enforce the Constitution. So the day that Walter Jones’ starts getting more support from people than Chuck Schum- er or John McCain – and we’ll discuss John McCain later. Cynthia McKinney: That’s right. C. Austin Fitts: So let’s turn to the Constitu- tion. One thing that I’ve begun to appreciate as a result of starting this conversation about how we enforce the Constitution is that I’m learning how few people really understand how powerful the Constitution has been, as both a spiritual and a legal covenant, and how important it is to protecting us. In other words, we take it for granted. We don’t understand what is going to happen if it goes away. So what I would really appreciate is if you would say a few words about why you believe in the Constitution – having been a Congress- woman and having dealt with many different political and legal issues in the United States and globally. What does the Constitution mean to you, and why do you think it’s important? Cynthia McKinney: I’ll start by saying that it is the governing structure of our state. It pro- vides the state with legitimacy when the rules and regulations and values that are professed in the Constitution are abided by, not only by the citizens, but also by those who are elected in the republic to represent the citizens. The only issue is, who gets defined as a ‘citizen.’ So you can have a wonderful document, but if it’s not implemented correctly, or if imperfect people implement it, then the appearance is that you have an imperfect document. Maybe it’s not imperfect; it’s just that we haven’t reached the ideal to which those who wrote the Constitution aspired. So that is what I would say. The Constitution, also – as any constitution does – expresses our values. What is it that we stand for as citizens of the United States? If we say one thing and do another, then of course the state loses its legitimacy. If the citizens allow the state to lose its legitimacy, then one of the questions that I’ve been grappling with is: To what extent are we also complicit in the transgressions of the state?