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0:44

No Lie. Okay,

0:46

so a lot so a lot has happened

0:49

in the last few days with

0:51

the government narrowly avoiding a shutdown, but

0:53

as expected, a there is a ton

0:55

of misinformation surrounding Elon Musk, pediatric

0:57

cancer research funding, and the impending government

0:59

shutdown. So here's what actually happened. Democrats

1:01

and Republicans had initially negotiated a a

1:03

CR, continuing a a as

1:05

a stopgap measure to keep the

1:08

government funded and open. Pretty

1:10

standard stuff. stuff. At the 11th hour,

1:12

President Musk decided to swoop in

1:14

and run a 20 scorched-earth pressure

1:16

campaign the bill. Why? Probably because he's

1:18

desperate for attention and power and

1:20

wanted wanted to and And Trump was perfectly

1:22

content to see the spotlight, which

1:25

I guess is what is what $400 billion

1:27

buys you. now So have to have to

1:29

scramble Elon says that says that he'll

1:31

fund primary challengers to anyone who

1:33

doesn't the the line of dear leader

1:35

human checkbook. Republicans introduced a new

1:37

bill after Elon demanded cuts, this

1:39

only this one stripped a bunch

1:41

of massively important and bipartisan care care

1:43

provisions, Like, like for example, the the

1:45

Gabriela Miller kids for... Research Act 2.0 which .0,

1:47

which allocated seven more years of

1:50

research funding into pediatric cancer. was And

1:52

there was other provisions too. The the Give Kids a

1:54

Chance Chance Act, which provides for pediatric

1:56

studies of new cancer drugs, the

1:58

Innovations in Pediatric drugs which which provides penalties

2:00

when drug companies don't complete their required

2:02

pediatric studies, may not be lucrative

2:05

enough for these companies to do on

2:07

their own. to do on their own, the Access

2:09

to Care Act, which streamlines out of

2:11

state treatment for medically complex kids

2:13

on Medicaid, medically and on and on,

2:15

right? Medicaid, and on point is So a bunch

2:17

of is that a provisions were excised from

2:20

the were excised and the CR, and Elon the the

2:22

new -down version. In other words, had

2:24

it not been for Elon, there would

2:26

still be pediatric cancer funding in

2:28

the bill. the is what what Elon did his

2:30

political debut. He attacked a bipartisan

2:32

a forced cuts, cuts, and

2:35

applauded a new bill that basically

2:37

said, fuck kids with cancer. cancer. And

2:39

of course, predictably, that rubbed everyone pretty

2:41

terribly. Senator Brian Shaw Brian Shatz, who you'll hear

2:43

from in a few minutes as one

2:45

of my guests this week, he took

2:47

to Twitter of my fuck cancer, especially to

2:49

cancer. fuck These people want to punish these

2:51

precious little kids to pay for tax

2:53

cuts for the wealthiest corporations in human

2:55

history. tax And you might have heard

2:57

this response from Chris Hayes in human history.

3:00

And you might have heard this million

3:02

Chris funding for, ready for

3:04

this? dollars in funding for,

3:06

cancer research. research. called

3:08

the Gabriella Miller Kids

3:10

First Pediatric research program.

3:13

That's where they cut. That That's

3:15

what they cut. established on program

3:17

was established on a bipartisan

3:19

basis Obama. Former Obama. leader

3:22

Eric Cantor was one of the one of

3:24

the driving forces behind it. it. or

3:26

the funding for that program

3:29

out of the bill, seemingly at

3:31

random, because Elon Musk. Elon Musk

3:33

told them to. to. So I be clear about

3:35

what's happened, what's transpired in the last

3:37

24 hours, what's The richest

3:39

man in the world. hours, okay? The

3:41

richest man in billion.

3:44

worth $250 billion took $190

3:46

million away from kids

3:48

with cancer. not

3:50

hyperbole. That's not hyperbole, That

3:53

not exaggeration, that is what

3:55

has happened. Elon himself go

3:57

himself go the tell the to

3:59

to strip. childhood cancer research funding, I can't

4:01

say one way or the other. the

4:03

But what is clear is that that there

4:05

would have been childhood cancer research funding it

4:07

it not been for who who

4:09

expressly called for cuts and then applauded

4:11

them when they were enacted. So if

4:14

you're looking for the person responsible, you you

4:16

found him. Which of course, of course, predictably of

4:18

to a chorus of and right-wing and right

4:20

on Twitter, on Twitter the out that Kids

4:22

Miller Act Act 2 .0 was actually passed

4:24

by the House earlier this year

4:26

and that it languished in the Senate

4:28

that in that, in fact, if Democrats

4:30

wanted this bill so badly, should they

4:33

should have brought it up for a

4:35

vote. And that's a nice talking. but

4:37

the way the the way the Senate

4:39

works is that unless the bill

4:41

passes with unanimous consent, meaning every

4:43

single even a even a single senator

4:45

can object and gum up the

4:47

works. That means even a bill

4:49

like this that would otherwise have votes

4:51

in votes in favor to pass. take

4:53

weeks to pass. It eats up

4:55

valuable otherwise for an otherwise uncontroversial bill.

4:57

That floor time comes at the

4:59

expense of other priorities, like for

5:01

example confirming judges. And Democrats just

5:03

just judges, which is one more

5:05

than Trump confirmed in his first. term. in

5:07

his first term. Here's that in

5:09

the context of judges

5:12

getting confirmed. that in the context

5:14

of judges getting confirmed. I also want

5:16

to thank Chuck Schumer, because getting you half

5:18

the way only You need

5:20

to give the floor time to

5:22

get the votes, the and nothing

5:24

is more precious to a majority

5:26

leader than floor time. leader than floor time. So

5:28

Chuck Demet. dedicating the the

5:30

to to this this project has

5:33

really been significant. Quote, you need

5:35

to give the need to give to get the to

5:37

get the votes and nothing is more

5:39

precious to a a leader than floor time

5:41

to do that. And so you so you

5:43

can see how spending debating hours

5:45

debating an uncontroversial pediatric cancer

5:47

research funding bill has an opportunity

5:50

the on the Senate floor. Since

5:52

the Republican senators Paul, who by

5:54

the way the way object to

5:56

this bill, bill, can use it

5:58

to hold precious democratic time. hostage. So, instead,

6:00

So used their floor time their floor time

6:02

for judges, knowing they could that they

6:05

could simply add this very bipartisan,

6:07

very uncontroversial bill to the omnibus package at the

6:09

end of the year. And that's exactly what they

6:11

did. And this isn't new. It happens

6:14

every year. It is completely new. normal.

6:16

So they added it to the bipartisan resolution,

6:18

and because it's childhood cancer funding, of

6:20

course it should go in the CR. the

6:22

That is why it's there, To to

6:24

catch up on priorities that Congress didn't

6:26

have dozens of hours to burn, to burn. But

6:28

clearly have enough support from both parties

6:30

that it should pass with no problem.

6:32

no all of which is to say

6:34

is to say some example example of Chuck Schumer kids'

6:36

research funding. Schumer knew that if it it

6:38

couldn't pass by unanimous consent that he

6:40

could simply put it in the put

6:43

it that is exactly what he did.

6:45

he did. meaning the only person here

6:47

was was actually responsible for shipping cancer

6:49

research funding from this bill from this

6:51

bill was President Again, that is what

6:53

he decided to do with his

6:55

official debut into politics to be

6:57

the reason that childhood cancer research

6:59

wasn't funded. This is what you

7:01

get with Republican leadership. And when

7:03

I say Republican leadership, I mean

7:05

Elon Musk, the new the new of

7:07

the GOP. GOP. You get an unelected

7:09

oligarch so aggressively out of touch

7:11

that he would take to to cancer

7:13

research funding for kids. Senate was able

7:16

to pass the the Senate was able

7:18

to pass the Gabriella Miller by First

7:20

Research Act 2 .0 by unanimous consent

7:22

in the Senate as a standalone bill

7:24

Senator Tim Kane got got Republican Senator Rand

7:26

Paul to finally drop his objection. That's the the

7:28

only reason that this funding is going to go through. to go

7:30

through. After the Republican Human got its

7:32

trip from the from the CR and after

7:34

another Republican senator, Rand Paul,

7:37

stopped objecting. The The only

7:39

reason funding will be because of because

7:41

of Something to remember next

7:43

time the Republicans claim to be

7:45

pro Republicans pro -life. be pro-children or pro-life. Next

7:47

up are my Next up are my interviews

7:49

with Schott and David Hogg. No lies brought to you by

7:51

is brought to you by If politics

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for 15 % off. Now we've got the

9:07

U.S. we've got the from from Hawaii, Shatz. Schatz.

9:09

Thanks so much for coming back on. back on. Thanks

9:12

for having me, Brian. me, Brian. So a

9:14

lot of uncertainty, I I think, initial

9:16

uncertainty about Donald Trump's nominees, it

9:18

does seem like the Republican caucus more

9:20

broadly more more of a sense of

9:22

falling in line right now. So

9:24

I'm curious now. your vantage in the

9:26

Senate, in the does it seem like the

9:28

Republicans no longer have an appetite

9:30

to be pushing back against Trump in

9:32

the way that it seemed to,

9:34

at least in the immediate aftermath least

9:36

Matt Gaetz's nomination, not looking like it

9:38

was gonna succeed. But now we

9:40

still like it was like to succeed. But now we still, you

9:42

know, is the sense among your

9:44

Republican colleagues in terms of whether

9:46

they're willing to push back against

9:48

Trump's more extreme nominees? colleagues in think

9:50

they would like to to push

9:52

back some of the more extreme nominees

9:54

from being confirmed, and I think they're

9:56

trying to figure out. out. you know,

9:58

sort of what the market will bear in

10:00

their own. magga you know, MAGA

10:03

think they right? I think judgment have

10:05

made the judgment that they can

10:07

vote against of maybe two. but if it

10:09

nominees, but if it starts to get to or

10:11

or four or five, then you're doing real know, you

10:14

know, political damage both to and arguably, you know,

10:16

know, the next time you have to

10:18

survive a primary a a red in a red

10:20

So think they're being somewhat

10:22

clever about this. Obviously Gates is

10:24

gone and the Gates is gone the DEA.

10:26

the others are, you know, not

10:28

even actually submitted formally to the

10:30

Senate. So I think the so i

10:33

think that right now ought

10:35

to be be not to comment on

10:37

most of these nominees until they are they

10:39

are formally submitted to the Senate because

10:41

the focus has to be on to

10:43

be on do the Republicans even have

10:45

unanimity on their own

10:47

nominees. nominees How are you you? you thinking

10:49

about this in terms of where

10:51

Democrats should expend their political capital?

10:54

Because obviously, we're in the minority

10:56

everywhere, and Democrats also have

10:58

a tendency to make everything into

11:00

a five alarm fire, which a turn

11:02

kind of makes nothing feel like a

11:04

five alarm fire very much, you

11:06

know, not a who cried wolf, because

11:08

a lot of these things are serious

11:11

and deserving of attention, but it

11:13

has the are of feeling like nothing

11:15

is as has the as it should feel.

11:17

is as you as it should feel. So how into

11:19

this process, into the party more broadly

11:21

move into this process, knowing that you

11:23

only have limited political capital to to

11:25

spend? Yeah, I think that's exactly the right

11:28

way to look at it, which is that

11:30

we do have to pick our spots. that

11:32

But we do think some of the things

11:34

that Trump is going to do things that

11:36

Trump know, our to do, are

11:38

going to overtake us going

11:40

to it's unlikely it's unlikely that gonna

11:42

be as be as, you know, of showing

11:44

judiciousness Trump is Trump is fully doing

11:46

and doing executive orders and nominating

11:49

crazy people, know, it's going gonna be on.

11:51

I But I do agree that

11:53

even for the public on the

11:55

left, there was a sense that

11:57

if everything is an emergency, then

11:59

maybe nothing. thing is an emergency. So we

12:01

have to pick the ones that I

12:04

think resonate with people. And to your

12:06

point, look, there's a lot of work

12:08

that I do in the United States

12:10

Senate that is absolutely essential for Hawaii,

12:12

for America, for democracy. And yet I

12:15

may not emphasize it in my communications

12:17

because It's kind of like infrastructure work

12:19

for democracy itself. And generally speaking, most

12:21

people are like, okay, I'm glad you're

12:24

taking care of that, but that's not

12:26

my main thing. And so when I

12:28

think about what to fight about and

12:30

whom to fight about, we have to

12:32

fight for people on behalf of people

12:35

and not for institutions and on behalf

12:37

of institutions. There's a general sense that

12:39

Democrats want to fight for institutions because

12:41

they are already in charge of those

12:44

institutions. So then it becomes more about.

12:46

protecting your prerogatives to be at the,

12:48

you know, at the helm of something

12:50

as opposed to, hey, look, people are

12:53

going to get hurt here. Well, I'm

12:55

curious how that how that informs your

12:57

messaging moving forward because I do think

12:59

and I absolutely include myself in this

13:01

that Democrats were broadly focused on protecting

13:04

norms, institutions, democracy heading into 2024. And

13:06

I think what a lot of us

13:08

didn't didn't consider myself of course included

13:10

in this is that for a lot

13:13

of people those very institutions aren't working

13:15

for them I mean a lot of

13:17

people are very unhappy in this country

13:19

they're unhappy with the housing situation with

13:21

their financial situation their own economic situation

13:24

and so when they see Democrats fighting

13:26

for institutions that they believe largely abandoned

13:28

them somewhere along the line that that

13:30

actually exacerbates the the the distance between

13:33

the Democratic Party and the people that

13:35

were trying to reach. So how are

13:37

you looking toward fixing insofar as you

13:39

can the messaging moving forward, you know,

13:41

as we obviously try to claw back

13:44

some semblance of a majority moving forward

13:46

to 26 and 28? I think what

13:48

they're going to do on taxes gives

13:50

us a real opportunity for strategic and

13:53

political and moral clarity, because it really

13:55

is going to be a smash. It

13:57

really is going to be taking a

13:59

bunch of money from working people through

14:01

tariffs and other taxes and transferring it

14:04

to a bunch of billionaires that are

14:06

populating the cabinet. And I think that

14:08

is something that can unite like sort

14:10

of the leftist to the centrist. in

14:13

our coalition and so I think that's

14:15

one rallying point. But again, I just

14:17

think we need to focus on what

14:19

people are actually going through and describe

14:21

the harm in those terms, not the

14:24

harm to the Department of Defense, not

14:26

the harm to the constitution, not the

14:28

harm to the norms of the United

14:30

States Senate, but like how is somebody

14:33

going to pay more or get screwed

14:35

in some significant way? And there's going

14:37

to be plenty of evidence for that,

14:39

but it requires us. And you know,

14:41

there's a thing that happened, I got

14:44

to the Senate, you know, 12, 13

14:46

years ago. And, you know, there's a

14:48

thing that happens when you get to

14:50

the Congress, but particularly to the Senate,

14:53

where I think even your communication shot

14:55

thinks you're supposed to sound like an

14:57

1894 wig, you know, and just sort

14:59

of like clearing your throat for the

15:01

first three minutes and using a bunch

15:04

of jargon. And so it's not just

15:06

about what we focus on, but it's

15:08

about what we don't do anymore anymore.

15:10

And it should not take us a

15:13

couple of minutes to clear our throats.

15:15

We should not find a provocative or

15:17

complicated way to say something that is

15:19

super simple. You know, I'm watching this

15:21

question of drones happen and like Trump

15:24

is saying what like regular people are

15:26

saying, which is like, well, if they

15:28

know, why don't they tell us, right?

15:30

And so I just think we have

15:33

to talk like normal humans. And it's

15:35

a little bit challenging when you got

15:37

a bunch of people who have like

15:39

achieved a pretty important job, not talking

15:41

like the rest of folks. Yeah. Well,

15:44

okay. So you said a lot in

15:46

there that I want to jump in

15:48

on. But the first was that this

15:50

is going to be a cash and

15:53

grab for a bunch of billionaires out

15:55

there. But a lot of these billionaires

15:57

we've seen have have kind of followed.

15:59

over themselves to align themselves with Trump.

16:01

I mean obviously Elon Musk has turned

16:04

Twitter into a right-wing megaphone. You have

16:06

someone like Jeff Bezos who again fell

16:08

over himself to give a million dollars

16:10

to Trump's inauguration fund. Mark Zuckerberg did

16:13

the same. ABC News took what, you

16:15

know, this is just my opinion, what

16:17

could have been a very winnable defamation

16:19

case and turned it into a $15

16:22

million settlement that would go to Donald

16:24

Trump's, you know, foundation or something like

16:26

that. But in any case, a lot

16:28

of these billionaires that will benefit from

16:30

Trump's presidency are also the very people

16:33

that are going to be in charge

16:35

of the media itself. And so how

16:37

do you contend with that barrier when,

16:39

yes, it's going to benefit billionaires, but

16:42

those billionaires are the ones that are

16:44

going to be largely responsible for delivering

16:46

news for delivering news to that messaging

16:48

to people and they're obviously not going

16:50

to do it in a way that

16:53

kind of is insulting to their own

16:55

to their own interests. Yeah I mean

16:57

I think we want to make sure

16:59

not to I mean look I saw

17:02

what happened over the last couple of

17:04

weeks and it was very disappointing and

17:06

alarming so I don't want to diminish

17:08

the importance of that but on the

17:10

other hand you know Ben but don't

17:13

break right I mean it's it's not

17:15

as though the Washington Post reporting. But

17:17

there's any evidence that the Washington Post

17:19

reporting, for instance, or NBC's reporting, is

17:22

being manipulated by its billionaire owners. Now,

17:24

we need to be vigilant about that.

17:26

And I think the lesson that I

17:28

have taken from all of this is,

17:30

like, billionaires are not going to save

17:33

us. There's not like, oh, a bunch

17:35

of good billionaires are going to come

17:37

in and fight the bad billionaires. Like,

17:39

their interest do not align with regular

17:42

people, and that's the problem, right? And

17:44

so... We have to be the party

17:46

to the extent that the Republicans have

17:48

become a party that is against institutions.

17:50

Now we have these incredibly powerful people

17:53

who oversee international corporations, who have cozied

17:55

up to Donald Trump. And I think

17:57

it's very important for that to be

17:59

clarifying, right? During Black Lives Matter, during

18:02

all the climate negotiations, during January 6,

18:04

all these corporations, because they're front facing

18:06

with consumers. sort of nominally we're on

18:08

the right side of history, but I

18:10

think what we realize is something that,

18:13

you know, Secretary Pete said, I think

18:15

on a talk show, which is like,

18:17

hey, rich people are going to do

18:19

rich people things, right? And that's, and

18:22

they can have a veneer of being

18:24

like pro climate or pro choice or

18:26

pro innovation, but in the end, they

18:28

want super low tax rates and they

18:30

want very little in the way of

18:33

regulation. And if they can get some

18:35

subsidies and some subsidies and some contracts.

18:37

along the way that's exactly what they're

18:39

going to do. So we just have

18:42

to have real clarity. They are not

18:44

the ones that are going to save

18:46

us. I'm curious what your thoughts are

18:48

in terms of our language, right? We

18:50

speak in a way that's that's safe,

18:53

in offensive, uncontroversial, and I think that's

18:55

in large part owed to the fact

18:57

that this is the big 10 party,

18:59

this is the party that focuses on

19:02

people who are marginalized or largely left

19:04

behind. And so that informs... in large

19:06

part, how we speak to folks, because

19:08

you know, you don't want to say

19:10

the same things that certain folks on

19:13

the right can say, and they don't

19:15

have to worry about blowback, because that's

19:17

a, well, at least before this election,

19:19

a largely homogenous group of people. So

19:22

how do you kind of square those

19:24

two things, where... You want to have

19:26

language that sounds human, that appeals to

19:28

regular people, but at the same time,

19:30

when you make sure that you appeal

19:33

to so many, so many people within

19:35

such a broad tent, so such a

19:37

large swath of people out there, you

19:39

have to do it in a way

19:42

that I think isn't going to offend

19:44

anyone. So have you thought about that

19:46

as like the Democratic Party is predicament

19:48

more broadly? Maybe. I mean, I guess

19:51

I, first of all, I'm not sure

19:53

that. it's like impossible to find a

19:55

way to sound normal without offending someone

19:57

like we can sound normal we can

19:59

sound like a regular person and still

20:02

not like offend part of our coalition

20:04

there's a way to be kind there's

20:06

a way to appreciate diversity without sounding

20:08

like you just got you know spit

20:11

out of a faculty lounge and and

20:13

you've like learned a bunch of or

20:15

you're 19 and you're learning a bunch

20:17

of new language about the world and

20:19

you're like road test So I'm not

20:22

sure I accept the premise that like

20:24

it's some super high degree of difficulty

20:26

thing to like talk normally. I just

20:28

think if we started to talk normally,

20:31

that would do like 80% of it.

20:33

But there's another part of this, Brian,

20:35

you might be, I think, underestimating, which

20:37

is it's also just pollsters, right? And

20:39

this is, I want to be very

20:42

clear, pollsters didn't ask for this like

20:44

Apex. position in democratic strategy, but they

20:46

now have it. You know, I've seen

20:48

this in the climate space, I've seen

20:51

this in civil rights space, they will

20:53

test a particular proposition like three or

20:55

four different ways, like here's the way,

20:57

here's the most, here's, here's the way

20:59

to say it that polls the best.

21:02

right? And often that is the way

21:04

to say it that offends the least

21:06

people because you get somebody who maybe

21:08

isn't actually sympathetic to your point of

21:11

view, but if you say it in

21:13

a certain way, it may be hidden

21:15

enough that they go like, yeah, I'm

21:17

fine with that. So the thing pulls

21:19

at 71, you know, 29 rather than

21:22

65, 35, whatever the heck it is,

21:24

right? And I think the problem with

21:26

that is that given that one of

21:28

our most basic problems is that we

21:31

don't penetrate into whole universes universes universes

21:33

of people because we're not saying things

21:35

that are interesting. You have a captive

21:37

audience and you ask a hundred people

21:39

70 out of 100 are going to

21:42

go like, yeah, that's the least offensive

21:44

way to phrase that. But one of

21:46

the, I think, um, talents that Donald

21:48

Trump has is to say things in

21:51

maybe ways that are a little offensive,

21:53

but they are interesting enough that they

21:55

penetrate. Now, I don't think we should

21:57

go out of our way to say

21:59

things wacky, but I do think we

22:02

need to. calibrate this question of like,

22:04

oh, this polls at 65, not 62,

22:06

to okay, but does the 65 one

22:08

sound like a person or do you

22:11

sound like you're like AI spitting out

22:13

a recommendation? And I think a lot

22:15

of times we sound like we are

22:17

actually trying to angry people. And I

22:19

think we just have to get a

22:22

little more comfortable, you know, just saying

22:24

what we think. And I just remember

22:26

when Trump tried to institute the Muslim

22:28

ban, we had a bunch of pollsters

22:31

come to us and say, hey, you

22:33

might want to be careful about this,

22:35

because it's actually polling, you know, relatively

22:37

strongly. And Booker and Murphy and a

22:39

number of others and I. basically told

22:42

these people to fuck off and fought

22:44

the Muslim ban. And you know what

22:46

happened? Is the numbers moved because people

22:48

want to hear the argument and lacking

22:51

an argument. Sure, people are going to

22:53

agree with whatever is presented to them.

22:55

And I think that's one of the

22:57

lessons here is that we. It's important

22:59

to get public opinion data, but our

23:02

job is to move public opinion, not

23:04

just to follow it. Right. And I

23:06

feel like for so long it feels

23:08

like Washington lags behind everybody else and

23:11

are the last people to jump on

23:13

board. Also to your point, I think

23:15

that eventually when you defer to the

23:17

65, to the 71 approval versus 65,

23:20

and you chip away at the authenticity

23:22

of your own message enough, eventually that

23:24

filters down to make it more of

23:26

a brand problem because... Then, you've done

23:28

so many messages that were poll tested

23:31

to be palatable for the most amount

23:33

of people. And that becomes the sense

23:35

of what democratic messaging is. It's always

23:37

just a little bit more chipped away

23:40

at. to sound a little bit more

23:42

safe and unoffensive and uncontroversial to the

23:44

broadest swath of people and it starts

23:46

to lose its humanity more broadly and

23:48

so like we clearly have a brand

23:51

problem within the Democratic Party that I

23:53

think could benefit from some sense of

23:55

authenticity or relatability in the messaging itself.

23:57

And just plain speaking, right? Like I

24:00

don't want to like increase my degree

24:02

of difficulty like so much that it's

24:04

like, you know, because there's a little

24:06

bit of... like what do we mean

24:08

by authenticity? I don't think people need

24:11

to know your personal life story. I

24:13

just think you need to sound like

24:15

a person. That's all. And I just

24:17

want to make a very kind of

24:20

narrow point. It's not Latin X, right?

24:22

Like the, the Latin X thing became

24:24

this thing people fought over, right and

24:26

about. It's not Latin X. It's center

24:28

the needs of. It's, it's norms. It's

24:31

institutions. It's even you know the Kamala's

24:33

sort of closing message on the economy

24:35

was like opportunity economy. Yeah. I don't

24:37

know what the hell that is. Like

24:40

I'm sure it. I'm sure you hit

24:42

the right no rich right which was

24:44

the left liked it because it sounds

24:46

fair and good but also entrepreneurs liked

24:48

it because they like opportunity and so

24:51

we settled on it but the problem

24:53

is it doesn't sound like a something

24:55

a regular person would say so I

24:57

think the first question always is is

25:00

the thing we're saying something you could

25:02

imagine someone you went to high school

25:04

with actually saying out of their mouth

25:06

right and. I just and again like

25:08

I think the Kamala campaign did an

25:11

extraordinary job under difficult circumstances and she

25:13

was an amazing candidate but I remember

25:15

just hearing that they're gonna center the

25:17

needs of the middle class and I

25:20

was like I don't know anyone outside

25:22

of politics who says center right center

25:24

is not a verb and it's a

25:26

small thing but it's not a small

25:28

thing because when you're trying to show

25:31

people that you live the life that

25:33

they live or at least that you

25:35

find it relatable. People know you live,

25:37

you know, people know where I work,

25:40

right? And people know that there's like

25:42

fancy sculptures and that I gotta wear

25:44

a suit. So they don't expect me

25:46

to like, you know, to be an

25:48

auto mechanic. But they want me to

25:51

be able to interact with an auto

25:53

mechanic in a way where it's not

25:55

like I'm all confused. The test I

25:57

use is whether or not my sister

26:00

would understand because my sister got her

26:02

degree in exercise science. she deals with

26:04

athletes, spends most of her time in

26:06

the gym. And so if I'm really

26:08

like trying to figure out even something

26:11

so simple as, okay, does a normal

26:13

person know what GOP means, and I'll

26:15

ask her, and she has no idea,

26:17

then I'll know that when I'm talking

26:20

about stuff so that I can better

26:22

relate to regular people, don't use certain

26:24

words. And I think that if I

26:26

asked my sister what, you know, what

26:28

the care economy was, or whether she

26:31

was, you know what it means. like

26:33

kind of like an overhaul? What's happening,

26:35

I guess, behind the scenes, is going

26:37

to be obviously much more helpful? And

26:40

to that point, is going to be

26:42

obviously much more helpful. And to that

26:44

point then, what's the deal with the

26:46

rest of the Republican conference? Like, what

26:49

do your colleagues think of this? Is

26:51

there some sense that our messaging needs

26:53

to change? Is there some sense that

26:55

there has to be kind of like

26:57

an overhaul? What's happening, I guess, behind

27:00

the scenes within the Democratic Party? I

27:02

think the Democrat, I mean, look, I

27:04

can't speak for the entire like Democratic

27:06

Party. I can, I can speak for

27:09

my Senate colleagues. We know it went

27:11

poorly and we know we need to

27:13

make some fundamental shifts. I do think

27:15

it's language and, and, and, and choice

27:17

of words. I also think there's, and

27:20

I'm sure Brian, you're thinking about this

27:22

pretty deeply, we also have like an

27:24

ecosystem problem. They have a full on

27:26

right wing noise machine, and we just

27:29

simply don't to the extent that like,

27:31

like, um, progressive philanthropy and big donors

27:33

have invested in journalism. It has mostly

27:35

been, you know, straight down the middle

27:37

journalism, which is very important, like pro-publica

27:40

and all that stuff, and they provide

27:42

an enormous public service. But there's nothing

27:44

comparable to the kind of propaganda ecosystem

27:46

that's been established on the right, and

27:49

I think some people are thinking about

27:51

how to fix that. I'm a little

27:53

less interested in the kind of left-right

27:55

calibration. post election because it's just not

27:57

obvious to me that we were either

28:00

too far to the left or too

28:02

far to the right look we you

28:04

know we lost Florida by a lot

28:06

and reproductive choice I mean didn't hit

28:09

the 60% threshold that it needed but

28:11

it still did very very well same

28:13

Arizona so there are a lot of

28:15

places that are voting for progressive policies

28:17

and the things that we thought were

28:20

going to be our ticket to electoral

28:22

success but just weren't and so I

28:24

just think we need to here's the

28:26

opportunity right to the extent that it

28:29

was sort of an article of faith

28:31

that communities of color were already always

28:33

going to go decisively for Democrats, right?

28:35

And then that kind of got blown

28:37

up in the last election cycle. To

28:40

the extent that young people were considered

28:42

a reliable democratic constituency and that got

28:44

blown up, it's certainly worthy of alarm.

28:46

It's really worthy of alarm. But it

28:49

also shows that a lot of these

28:51

coalitions are maybe not as damn fixed

28:53

as we think, right? And that most

28:55

of the people in rural... communities that

28:57

didn't vote for Democrats, never heard from

29:00

Democrats, like not at all, did not

29:02

hear from Democrats. And so we have

29:04

to start communicating with folks. And the

29:06

one thing I'll add to is that

29:09

because we're earnest, because we want to

29:11

solve problems, and all of those are

29:13

the reasons that you should put us

29:15

in charge of things in the government,

29:17

but it's also a little bit of

29:20

a hindrance when it comes to winning

29:22

over folks, because let me tell you.

29:24

It's culture not policy, right? It's how

29:26

we talk. It's how we come off.

29:29

It's a vibe thing. And sure, if

29:31

we had policy that were affirmatively offensive

29:33

to rural people, that would not help.

29:35

And I don't want to harm anyone

29:37

anyway. But it's not like if we

29:40

just pass a farm bill, right? Or

29:42

for instance, if we do a big

29:44

pension fund bailout, then the teamsters are

29:46

going to end up voting for us.

29:49

Like one of the things that we

29:51

have learned is even as we deliver.

29:53

in red communities, they keep slipping away

29:55

from. And so it's not like we

29:57

can totally just policy our way out

30:00

of this. We have to figure out

30:02

what it is about us that is

30:04

pissing them off. And some of that

30:06

is this idea that politics is really

30:09

downstream from culture and that we have

30:11

to meet people where they are, talk

30:13

to even the thing I just said,

30:15

meet people where they are, nobody knows

30:18

what the fuck that means. We have

30:20

to talk like regular people and relate

30:22

to people in normal ways. Yeah, I

30:24

think that's all so well put. And

30:26

I think it's a big relief to

30:29

me, and I'm certain a lot of

30:31

people watching and listening right now, to

30:33

hear you putting your finger very correctly

30:35

on the mark of all of these

30:38

things, and to know that we've got

30:40

somebody like you in the Senate who

30:42

understands this stuff to a degree that

30:44

I think we're going to need to

30:46

understand moving forward. So with that said,

30:49

thank you for taking the time today

30:51

and happy holidays. Happy holidays. Thanks Brian.

30:55

I'm joined now by the co-founder of

30:57

March for our lives, David Hogg, David,

31:00

thanks so much for joining. Thanks so

31:02

much for having me. So you have

31:04

an announcement here, I wanted to give

31:06

you the floor and let us know

31:08

what you have to say. Yeah, after

31:10

many conversations with people and being pushed

31:12

by a number of my friends and

31:14

allies, I'm announcing my run for vice

31:16

chair of the DNC, which is a

31:18

role that a decision I did not

31:20

make lightly. This is not something you

31:22

do because it's fun, let me tell

31:24

you. It's because it's necessary. Like all

31:26

things in life, the most important things

31:28

to do are rarely the easiest. And

31:30

I'm somebody who has not always been

31:32

very, let's say, consistently publicly supportive of

31:35

every decision that the Democratic Party has

31:37

made, but I'm not here just to

31:39

criticize it. I want to build something

31:41

better. And I want to live in

31:43

a reality where We acknowledge the fact

31:45

that we actually lost, right? With the

31:47

most frustrating thing to me, to be

31:49

honest with you, and I want to

31:51

apologize for sounding angry in this, it's

31:53

because I am angry. We raised $2

31:55

billion. much of it coming from small

31:57

dollar donors. And the general sense, and

31:59

this is not directed towards anyone person,

32:01

it's a broader cultural problem I think

32:03

we have within the party, general sense

32:05

that I've gotten after the election is,

32:07

well guys, you know, we might have

32:09

said that Donald Trump is a huge

32:12

threat to democracy, that he's a fascist

32:14

and other things like that. and that

32:16

was obviously what you know the general

32:18

divide was before the election but it's

32:20

okay we tried our best and the

32:22

reality is you don't say that you

32:24

don't have that mentality right we choose

32:26

to consistently live in our own safe

32:28

little bubble and in a comfortable reality

32:30

instead of an uncomfortable one where we

32:32

could actually win and instead of actively

32:34

choosing just to listen to people's the

32:36

reason we've lost this election it was

32:38

ours to win the reason why we

32:40

lost is because we did not listening

32:42

to not only help us you know,

32:44

not only did we put our fingers

32:47

on our ears and say, la, la,

32:49

la, la, I, your inflation is not

32:51

that bad, rent's going up is not

32:53

that bad, crime is not that bad,

32:55

because look at these charts, look at

32:57

these stats. Instead, what we did is

32:59

we paid consultants to push our fingers

33:01

so far into our heads that had

33:03

tickled our brains. who drowned out these

33:05

things. And what we need to do

33:07

as a party is actively choose to

33:09

live in an uncomfortable reality. To listen

33:11

to the people who don't agree with

33:13

us at times, especially within the party,

33:15

and have no conversation. It's not to

33:17

say that we can make everybody happy.

33:19

Let's have no, you know, I have

33:21

no delusions about that. But the reality

33:24

is we have to listen to those

33:26

that are raising serious concerns about key

33:28

constituencies. During the DNC, I was on

33:30

the National Finance Committee. And in that

33:32

room at the Chicago Art Museum that

33:34

we were at, I raised the question

33:36

of what are we doing about young

33:38

men? And the amount of vitriol that

33:40

I heard back of saying, why would

33:42

you ask that question that's such a

33:44

dumb thing to be focused on, we

33:46

don't need to focus on that, is

33:48

emblematic of the broader problem at hand.

33:50

And then I understand as a party

33:52

there is a taboo around talking about

33:54

young men, because often that has been

33:56

to the exclusion of women, obviously. But

33:59

the reality is we need to have

34:01

a more nuanced view of it and

34:03

understanding that empathy is not a zero-sum

34:05

game. And if we can isolate young

34:07

men, it is actually going to be

34:09

worse for everybody, including women. The other

34:11

thing, too, is that when I raised

34:13

concerns over a year before election day

34:15

about young voters, I heard from those

34:17

same consultants that we paid to, you

34:19

know, stuff our fingers in our ears

34:21

even further, that... Young voters were not

34:23

something we needed to worry about that

34:25

I was dumb for even thinking about

34:27

this and that everything was going to

34:29

be fine. And then unfortunately I was

34:31

proven correct with the election and I

34:33

hope that other constituencies were going to

34:36

make up for it and that would

34:38

help bring us across the finish line

34:40

and that just didn't end up being

34:42

the case in part because our answer

34:44

to voters was not to listen to

34:46

their feelings it was to tell them

34:48

how to feel. Well, David, there's obviously,

34:50

I think like the elephant in the

34:52

room in terms of democratic leadership is

34:54

that this party is largely a gerontocracy.

34:56

I mean, we have, we have, we

34:58

have, for a party that, that. claims

35:00

the majority of support, not enough, but

35:02

the majority of support among young people,

35:04

the fact that we have such an

35:06

old leadership class, I think, is a

35:08

major cause for a concern here and

35:11

probably the reason why there is so

35:13

little ability to relate to the issues

35:15

plaguing regular people, whether it's housing costs,

35:17

whether it's just regular cost of living.

35:19

So how do you... How do you

35:21

plan on navigating what is going to

35:23

be an environment that's hostile to young

35:25

people? You're in your mid-20s. So how

35:27

do you plan to navigate this environment

35:29

that is inherently hostile to young people,

35:31

that's shown it's hostile to young people

35:33

in light of your run for vice

35:35

chair of the DNC? I mean, to

35:37

be honest with you, it's not easy.

35:39

This is one of the toughest things

35:41

that I've done because you're not, you

35:43

know, it's one thing to be questioned

35:45

and criticized by Republicans, it's another thing

35:48

to be questioned by the people that

35:50

are on your side, right? I know

35:52

why I'm in this. I did not

35:54

choose to be involved in it. in

35:56

Democratic politics, I was forced into it

35:58

because of the fact that we don't

36:00

have a choice of whether or not

36:02

to make our kids safe in our

36:04

schools. And the reason why I'm doing

36:06

this is because I know that I

36:08

don't do this, there are no other,

36:10

there are a few other people of

36:12

my age that actually could, that can

36:14

have the voice, that can raise the

36:16

money, that can get into those rooms,

36:18

and can speak out. And I need

36:20

to make sure that I'm working, working,

36:23

working, and open, and open, working, open,

36:25

and keeping it open. And with that

36:27

too realizing that I'm the underdog in

36:29

this race, you know, but I'm not

36:31

going to try to contort myself and

36:33

say, well, you know, I'm going to

36:35

twist myself in all these different ways

36:37

to try to earn your boat and

36:39

all these other things. And the reality

36:41

is, we need some serious changes. And

36:43

I think anybody that can't see that

36:45

is part of the problem. And I

36:47

understand that may cost me votes, but

36:49

I would much rather tell people what

36:51

I am actually feeling than see them

36:53

bullshit talking points over and over and

36:55

over again. That are part of the

36:57

reason why we've got here. I'm not

37:00

scripted. Sometimes that's a disadvantage, but the

37:02

reality is at least you know what

37:04

I am feeling and you know why

37:06

I am in it. It's because of

37:08

what we saw yesterday in Wisconsin, it's

37:10

because of what we see every day

37:12

in our country, in my own, where

37:14

I live, right? that it's gone down

37:16

by over 10% in the past four

37:18

years. But the reality is, in my

37:20

own neighborhood, there have been, in the

37:22

past six months, two drive-by shootings that

37:24

happened, right? And carjackings that have happened,

37:26

and cars being dropped off after they

37:28

were carjacked. I know the stats, but

37:30

I know that the answer to somebody

37:32

in my, to my neighbors, not to

37:35

say, no, you don't understand. That drive-by

37:37

shooting that woke up, you know, your

37:39

partner at two in the morning in

37:41

the other night, wasn't, wasn't that bad,

37:43

because crimes actually, because crimes actually down,

37:45

What we need to do is bring

37:47

people in that are working outside of

37:49

the beltway. I'm traveling constantly, the work

37:51

I'm doing with leaders, we deserve to

37:53

elect more young people, knocking doors, not

37:55

in blue states, not just in blue

37:57

states, not just in purple states, but

37:59

in states as red as Alabama, where

38:01

our first race was, where I was

38:03

knocking doors in Birmingham, Alabama, right? Not

38:05

easy. to have, but those are the

38:07

conversations we need to, because we can

38:09

either choose to continue to live as

38:12

increasingly the party of the consulting class

38:14

or become the party of the working

38:16

class by actually listening to people. It's

38:18

not to say that I'm perfect or

38:20

that, you know, I, frankly, that I

38:22

know every single thing and how to

38:24

fix it perfectly. I'd be lying to

38:26

you if I said that I did,

38:28

but the reality is I know how

38:30

to listen. And I think that's half

38:32

the battle right now. Basically. pointing to

38:34

statistics as some type of a substitute

38:36

for people's lived experiences and saying, well,

38:38

okay, there is no problem with crime

38:40

because it's down 10%. It's like, well,

38:42

that's not going to change the fact

38:44

that what I'm seeing with my own

38:47

eyes when I see a carjacking, for

38:49

example, it shows me that there is

38:51

an over-reliance in the Democratic Party on

38:53

saying, look, things are fine. And I'm

38:55

guilty of it too, by pointing to

38:57

these macroeconomic figures, as if that makes

38:59

it easier for any... to be able

39:01

to afford something at the grocery store

39:03

that they simply can't afford. And I

39:05

think that does exacerbate the gap in

39:07

terms of how regular people and the

39:09

Democratic Party and politicians and even folks

39:11

like me and the media are able

39:13

to connect with each other and that

39:15

is the disconnect right there. I view

39:17

your age and your lived experience as

39:19

a strength. Do you... by virtue of

39:21

the fact that you're not completely swallowed

39:24

up subsumed by the Democratic Party machine

39:26

or beltway media, I view it as

39:28

a strength. Do you think that in

39:30

this race, your age and your lived

39:32

experience are going to be viewed as

39:34

a strength versus a liability? And if

39:36

not, how do you convince people that

39:38

it will be, that it should be?

39:40

You know, I think part of it

39:42

is people need to speak out publicly.

39:44

The delegates need to see that that

39:46

the general the democratic electorate supports me

39:48

right there are 48 members of the

39:50

DNC that can vote on this position

39:52

for DNC vice chair. And I need

39:54

people to speak out publicly about supporting

39:56

me in this mission, supporting me in

39:59

this role, because it's not, this disruption

40:01

is not going to come from the

40:03

inside a lot of the time. What

40:05

we need to do too is make

40:07

sure that, yeah, I want to go

40:09

back to the question that you had,

40:11

that you said earlier too about like

40:13

how we're a gerontocracy. I think to

40:15

some extent that is certainly true. Obviously,

40:17

you know, I have eyes and I've

40:19

been in these rooms and I'm often

40:21

the youngest person in there by a

40:23

decade plus. I do think that we

40:25

need experience though, you know, I think

40:27

that we can. And it's possible for

40:29

me about to be critical of the

40:31

party, but also give, you know, give

40:34

credit where credit is due. I think

40:36

the DNC was one of the best,

40:38

you know, events that I have ever

40:40

been to, but the reality is our

40:42

job isn't just to throw an an

40:44

amazing party. As a part, right. our

40:46

job is not to tell voters how

40:48

to feel, it is to listen to

40:50

voters about how they feel and meet

40:52

them where they're at. And I think

40:54

my age in this case in particular,

40:56

in some ways it's an advantage because

40:58

I don't need to contort myself and

41:00

I have not put myself in a

41:02

box to say, well, you know, I

41:04

really want to get this consulting job,

41:06

so I'm going to contort myself so

41:08

I can go and work for, you

41:11

know, this presidential campaign or this congressional

41:13

race, I don't care about winning. I

41:15

care about making a difference and making

41:17

sure that people like me in the

41:19

future don't have to exist because school

41:21

shootings and gun violence don't happen. And

41:23

the bigger thing is too, I know

41:25

right now our party is not in

41:27

the place that it needs to be

41:29

on guns. We have made progress. We

41:31

have. I have to acknowledge that, right?

41:33

We passed the first gun law in

41:35

30 years and it's potentially saved over

41:37

a thousand lives with a number of

41:39

people that have been prevented. from buying

41:41

guns like the AR-15 since the passage

41:43

of the Safer Communities Act and the

41:46

billions of dollars that we put into

41:48

community safety and violence intervention programs. But

41:50

the reality at the same time is

41:52

I know for a fact, if we

41:54

had 60 votes in the Senate as

41:56

Democrats, Democratic leadership, not our electorate to

41:58

be clear, not the general consensus that

42:00

the party but the leadership of the

42:02

Democratic Party is going to say, well,

42:04

we actually can't ban assault weapons because

42:06

we need to be worried about these

42:08

10 other seats and we need to

42:10

do all this other stuff. Instead of

42:12

going in the philosophy of Governor Tim

42:14

Walsh that I totally agree with, which

42:16

is that we do not, as a

42:18

party, we should not be banking political

42:20

capital just to save it. We are

42:23

given the honor of serving by the

42:25

American people to deliver for them to

42:27

lower health care costs and not give

42:29

them bullshit talking points to address the

42:31

housing crisis in our. in our blue

42:33

states and cities in something other than

42:35

a press release a lot of the

42:37

time. We need to become the party

42:39

of building. We need to become the

42:41

party that actually listens when people are

42:43

telling us that they have these problems.

42:45

Part of the reason why I'm running

42:47

for this is because I've lived a

42:49

lot of the failures of our system,

42:51

unfortunately. And I am somebody that, even

42:53

in my position, both my parents were

42:55

our public servants, my mom was a

42:58

teacher. My dad was an FBI agent

43:00

and a Navy helicopter pilot pilot veteran.

43:02

After the DNC, I had to fly

43:04

straight back home not to go and

43:06

campaign, but to help my dad transfer

43:08

into hospice with my family. And that

43:10

was one of the most painful things

43:12

that I ever had to do, because

43:14

I saw how the system lets down

43:16

people that had served it the most

43:18

time and time again. I saw how,

43:20

you know, my dad, despite serving as

43:22

he was also a teacher on top

43:24

of all that. Despite literally serving his

43:26

country his entire life was even on

43:28

his death and still denied the benefits

43:30

that he was entitled to because of

43:32

his Parkinson's very likely being caused by

43:35

his exposure to jet fuel and seeing

43:37

how even with his health care even

43:39

with the hospice that we do pay

43:41

for my dad's health care to have

43:43

a person 12 hours a day in

43:45

our home to help take care of

43:47

him was over $19,000 a month. And

43:49

Having to make a spreadsheet of how

43:51

long you can afford to keep a

43:53

loved one alive and cared for in

43:55

the way that they deserve to be

43:57

is something that no Democrat, no Republican,

43:59

no. No American should ever

44:01

have to do. And we're in a

44:03

crisis right now. We talk about a

44:05

gerontocracy within the party. We talk about

44:07

it in the country too. We're in

44:09

a sandwich moment for our economy and

44:11

our country where we are in an

44:13

incoming, the tide has receded and gone

44:15

out to sea, but it's before the

44:17

tsunami arrives right now with the massive

44:19

explosion that we are going to have

44:21

in elder care costs and increasingly child

44:24

care costs that are going to cripple.

44:26

our country if we do not build

44:28

a democratic party that actually delivers in

44:30

something other than its talking points because

44:32

it actually has the courage to deliver

44:34

and understand that we're not elected just

44:36

to stay elected forever we're elected to

44:38

do the right thing and fight for

44:40

people like my father fight for people

44:42

like my classmates and actually get something

44:44

done on all the issues that are

44:46

affecting us. I think what you said

44:48

about we are not there to bank

44:50

political capital for future elections is so

44:52

spot on. I mean look Democrats have

44:54

lost their majority. And so all of

44:56

that banked political capital gets you what

44:58

at this point? Like we're in a

45:00

position where we're completely in the wilderness.

45:02

And so every step that we didn't

45:04

take to make sure that we have

45:06

a living wage, every step that we

45:08

didn't take to make sure that we

45:10

have a living wage, every step that

45:12

we didn't take to make sure that

45:14

we have a living wage, to make

45:16

sure that we didn't take to make

45:18

sure that we have union legislation, If

45:20

you're not going to actually give people

45:22

a reason to vote for you the

45:24

next time, because you didn't exercise that

45:26

power when you had the opportunity. Exactly,

45:28

but it's even more than that, because

45:30

we did deliver on a lot of

45:32

great stuff. And that's part of what

45:34

kills me. We did do good stuff,

45:36

whether it was the most climate study

45:38

in human history, right? The first gun

45:40

law in 30 years, the creation of

45:42

gun violence prevention, that survivors have been

45:44

pushing for for years to create. And

45:46

an office that was literally coordinating, coordinating.

45:48

basically every mass shooting that they could

45:50

going on the ground talking to survivors

45:53

and getting them the support that they

45:55

need not from some obscure office in

45:57

the DOJ or a different government agency

45:59

but directly from the president of the

46:01

United States. So that when there was

46:03

a shooting, for example, in Lewis and

46:05

Maine, they were on the ground there

46:07

talking to them about, okay, there are

46:09

a lot of people in this shooting

46:11

that were deaf or hard of hearing.

46:13

How do we get them ASL interpreters

46:15

so that they can get the therapy

46:17

and support that they need and deserve

46:19

to build a government that they need

46:21

and deserve to build a government that

46:23

actually delivers for the people and it

46:25

wasn't in a partisan way. At the

46:27

same time, we also need this simple

46:29

vibe. our policies. I think that's one

46:31

of the biggest obstacles that we have

46:33

is we over complicate everything. We treat

46:35

so much of our communication like this

46:37

is a graduate student seminar at Georgetown

46:39

or something like that when what we

46:41

need to be treating it as is

46:43

having a conversation with our neighbor about

46:45

the fact that he's having to take

46:47

care of his mom who's, you know,

46:49

elderly and having to handle all the

46:51

health care costs. You know what we

46:53

say to them is we don't want

46:55

to have a system where you go

46:57

bankrupt because you want your mom to

46:59

have the best health care. period. It's

47:01

not complicated. We want to have a

47:03

system, in my opinion, where veterans are,

47:05

the onus is not on our disabled

47:07

veterans to prove to our government why

47:09

they are disabled and how that service

47:11

connected. The onus is on the very

47:13

government that set them to the war

47:15

in the first place to actually talk

47:17

about why their service is, why their

47:19

disability is not service connected, rather than

47:22

the veteran that has already sacrificed so

47:24

much because we're willing to spend so

47:26

much money going into bullshit wars like

47:28

a wrap. for example, in doing that,

47:30

we should at least take care of

47:32

our veterans afterwards. And when I'm out

47:34

there, when I saw the work that

47:36

was being done on the PAC Act,

47:38

that Republicans sunk at the last second,

47:40

right? It's just out of spite for

47:42

veterans like my father and Democrats, when

47:44

there are people, veterans that I am

47:46

friends with, that were sleeping outside of

47:48

the capital, pulling a firewash on the

47:50

steps of the United States Senate. Until

47:52

they pass that legislation those are the

47:54

real Americans that we need to be

47:56

talking to and empowering in the party

47:58

and listening to right because we did

48:00

deliver for them, but we need to

48:02

communicate better that we did that in

48:04

the first place. David talked to me

48:06

about what people who are watching right

48:08

now can do to help and also

48:10

what the structure is of the DNC

48:12

vice chair spot. If I'm not mistaken,

48:14

there are five DNC vice chairs, is

48:16

that correct? Okay, and so how many

48:18

people are running right now and what's

48:20

the best way for people who are

48:22

watching and listening to be able to

48:24

help you make your case? So I

48:26

don't want to get into too many

48:28

of the specifics of the logistics of

48:30

the election because I don't want people

48:32

to just like turn this off. But

48:34

basically there's a gender balance and it's

48:36

very likely there's only going to be

48:38

one seat available for a guy for

48:40

vice chair right now. And the best

48:42

way that people can support me, the

48:44

election is coming up and just... but

48:46

just over a month or so from

48:49

now. But the best way people can

48:51

support me is tweeting out that they

48:53

support me, talking about it, posting about

48:55

it, and tagging people that are delegates

48:57

for the DNC. And the first lens

48:59

that I can tell you about are

49:01

your state party Democratic chairs and vice

49:03

chairs as well. And also. I'm still

49:05

very new to this and I've tried

49:07

to do as much of the homework

49:09

as I can, but the DNC is

49:11

at times a bit of a scare

49:13

and a little hard to understand, but

49:15

nonetheless, the best thing that I can

49:17

have is that public support out there

49:19

from you all because it really just

49:21

comes down to those 400 some odd

49:23

people. And they need to know that

49:25

the people that are not just the

49:27

party insiders and other people with normal

49:29

people support my run for this because

49:31

I am the underdog. The reality is,

49:33

like I said. because I'm not scripted,

49:35

because I'm not trying to contort myself

49:37

and not lie to people, but just

49:39

manipulate the truth that I'm saying to

49:41

people about why I'm doing this, but

49:43

just being completely open with them about,

49:45

you know, I think it would be

49:47

a good idea. If God forbid, you

49:49

know, we had a massive shift of

49:51

20 points to the right of 18

49:53

to 29 year olds, hear me out,

49:55

maybe we should have somebody of that

49:57

age demographic in the room. Just,

50:00

what, what. It's exactly the right point. the right point. I

50:02

think, you know, look, I think your

50:04

passion is I think, and you hit on so And undeniable. think,

50:06

of the right you hit on so many of

50:08

the right points here in terms of

50:10

what Democrats need to do, especially from a

50:12

messaging perspective, being able to just communicate

50:14

with people in a way that regular people

50:16

can understand and appreciate. And that's something

50:19

that we've lost thus far and that we

50:21

need to get back. And we need

50:23

to get back with a certain subset of

50:25

the population that I think you can

50:27

relate to a hell of a you lot

50:29

better than the vast majority of people out

50:31

there. of people out of luck on the rest

50:33

of your run here. I'm sure And luck we'll be

50:35

I'm sure we'll we'll be talking before

50:37

before the elections actually Just go so much. Just

50:40

go win this again to Senator Thanks again Hogg. That's

50:42

and David this episode. That's it for this

50:44

episode. Talk to you next week. to No Lie with

50:46

Brian Tyler You've been listening to No Graber, Music by

50:49

produced by Sam Graber, music by YouTube by Nicholas

50:51

for YouTube by want to support If you want

50:53

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50:59

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51:01

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51:03

to you can go to Brian to learn more. to learn

51:05

more.