Richard Gere: We're living in the darkest moment that I've experienced on this planet. Whoever thought America could turn like this? Whoever thought that a maniac like this would be president of the United States and dismantle all the good things? America has never been a perfect place, but it has a perfect ideal that it's moving towards and always has, and it's been self-corrective. First day, this guy dismantled almost everything that was good about the US government and the US people. How is this even possible? Because we went to sleep. We didn't care. We didn't vote. We didn't really listen. You know, of course, I didn't vote for this guy, but I didn't do enough work to skillfully convince people around me. People close to me, not close to me, that this was insane to elect this person as president of the United States. We all have to take responsibility for this. But how quickly, this was in weeks, he had dismantled America. And you see how quickly our world can be taken from us if we fall asleep. And so we have to see the cues. We have to see the cues, this dictatorship of the monsters. How quickly it happens. We have to be vigilant. We can't sit back and go, "Ah, life is good, I'm fine. You know, I've got food, I've got money, blah blah, I've got my house, I've got another car, I'm thinking about this, blah blah, I'm okay. I know he's a bad guy, but it's okay." It's not okay! It's never okay.

Merz: "Ukraine has been defending its freedom for more than 4 years." (AfD members laughing) Merz: "That’s telling sign, ladies and gentlemen. They laugh about it, they laugh about fate of millions of people in Ukraine and they travel to Moscow for their champagne receptions."