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It is from Crash Course World History. It is at around 5 minute and 33 second. Here is the context:

So this idea that the Islamic empire wasn't always a califate for much of its history, it was just an empire is very important. Because it gets to how not-different ways of organizing people are when it comes like us and them.

I cannot really get what the host mean by the phrasal verb because what this and other dictionaries give, doesn't seem to fit.

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    The second part of the text makes no sense!
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented Jul 20, 2018 at 10:30
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    You must have learned by now that this crash course guy uses the English language like a sledge hammer, swinging wildly at things he wants to knock down rapidly. He does not use it as a precision implement. This is yet another marvellous example from him of how not to teach people.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented Jul 20, 2018 at 10:46

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The transcript is not correct. It should be:

So this idea that the Islamic empire wasn't always a califate —for much of its history, it was just an empire— is really very important because it gets to how not different ways of organizing people are, when it comes to, like, "us" and "them".

gets to is being used to mean something like "brings us to consider" or simply "shows".

I'm not sure of this, but I think the speaker means something like "surprisingly similar" when he says "how not different":

That the Islamic empire wasn't always a califate—for much of its history, it was just an empire—is really very important because it shows how surprisingly similar ways of organizing people can be, when it comes to forming constructs such as "us" and "them".

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    +1 I do like the hyphen in OP's transcript: not-different.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jul 20, 2018 at 10:48

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