The Salafi call is based on following the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the righteous predecessors

The Shaykh : Then, here we clarify the matter somewhat; we say: Why do we call ourselves Salafis and speak of the Salafi call? We have mentioned to you repeatedly that all Muslims call for following the Book and the Sunnah, but this following is not restricted to a specific subject or a limited, clear, and distinct methodology. We saw that it is necessary to restrict the call to the Book and the Sunnah to what the righteous predecessors were upon. So, how were the righteous predecessors? Were they all scholars? Were they all cultured and wise, or was only a few of them scholars while the majority were not? Was there this division that the writer dwells on, where scholars are commanded to follow the Book and the Sunnah, while the general public must follow a specific school of jurisprudence? Every Muslim knows by necessity that in the centuries attested to as being the best, there was no adherence to a specific school of jurisprudence. We all know that there was no difference between a scholar, a student, and an ignorant person in that there was no school in the time of the righteous predecessors called the school of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, to which some people would belong and say, "I am an Abi Bakri." Nor was there a school of 'Umar, nor a school of 'Uthman, nor a school of 'Ali. So, these three centuries attested to as being the best—what were the general people like, whom the writer wants to impose rigidity and adherence to schools of jurisprudence upon? What were the general people like in those golden centuries?
I say in general terms, and the details are known: how they were, so how they must be today. How the general Muslims were in the centuries attested to as being the best, so the general Muslims today and after today must also be. We strive to revive the true Islamic life. History must repeat itself; the Muslims, their scholars, must return to being as their scholars were, and the Muslims, the followers of the scholars and the general Muslims, must return to being as the followers of the scholars and the general Muslims were there. So, if we say, "No, we call the cultured and the scholars to follow the Book and the Sunnah, and we keep the general Muslims on their schools of jurisprudence out of fear of deviation and out of fear of the alleged misguidance," that means we are not sincere when we call for reviving the true Islamic life.