0:00

Catch the new Hulu original comedy

0:02

Mid-century modern from the creators of

0:04

Will and Grace, executive producer Ryan

0:06

Murphy and director James Burrows. When three

0:08

best friends move in together, Palm Springs

0:10

will never be the same. They're funny,

0:13

they're fabulous, and they're turning

0:15

life's lemons into spiked lemonade. Shake

0:17

up a batch of cocktails, relax

0:19

by the pool, and get ready

0:21

for some serious shade. Mid Century

0:23

Modern stars Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer,

0:25

Nathan Lee Graham, and Linda Lavin.

0:28

All episodes of Mid-century Modern are

0:30

now streaming on Hulu.

0:32

Something unexpected happened after

0:34

Jeremy Scott confessed to killing

0:36

Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley,

0:38

season one. Every time I hear

0:41

about my dad, oh he's a killer, he's

0:43

just straight evil. I was becoming

0:45

the bridge between Jeremy Scott and

0:47

the son he'd never known. At

0:49

the end of the day, I'm literally a

0:51

son of a killer. Listen to new

0:54

episodes of Bone Valley Season 2,

0:56

starting April 9th on the I

0:58

Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or

1:00

wherever you get your podcasts. Hey

1:02

everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to

1:05

Work in Progress. Hi

1:16

friends and listeners, welcome back

1:18

to another work in progress.

1:20

It is definitely a week

1:22

for the Whipsmarties. I know

1:24

y'all are engaged. I know

1:26

you care about what's going

1:29

on in the world. And

1:31

let's be frank, she's been

1:33

wild. I decided to call

1:35

two of my absolute favorite

1:37

men in America to ask

1:39

them, what the hell is

1:41

going on? And I feel

1:43

so lucky that they are

1:45

both joining us today. Congressman

1:47

Eric Swalwell is here and one

1:49

of my best friends and one

1:52

of the most brilliant democratic strategists.

1:54

I know Jordan Brown is here

1:57

as well. Eric is an absolute

1:59

legend. He represents the people

2:01

of California's 14th congressional district

2:03

up in the East Bay.

2:05

He has served on the

2:07

House Intelligence Committee, overseeing the

2:09

CIA on that committee. He

2:11

has helped lead the House

2:13

in their investigation into Russia's

2:15

interference in the 2016 election,

2:17

the first and second impeachments

2:19

of Donald Trump. He was

2:21

on the House floor on

2:23

January 6th. has done incredible

2:25

work standing up for our

2:27

law enforcement officers who were

2:29

harmed on that day. He

2:31

currently serves on the House

2:33

Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees,

2:35

which is why I really

2:37

wanted to talk to him

2:39

about signal gate, and he

2:41

is the chairman, emeritus, and

2:43

founder of Future Forum, a

2:45

group of young Democratic members

2:47

that are focused on issues

2:49

and opportunities for millennial Americans.

2:51

He's also a dad, a

2:53

husband, and an absolute lovely

2:55

friend. And then we get

2:57

on to Jordan. He is

2:59

one of the most brilliant.

3:02

political strategists that works at

3:04

the intersection of politics, technology,

3:06

and entertainment. He really works

3:08

to drive progressive social change.

3:10

And for more than 15

3:12

years, he has advised local

3:14

state and national political campaigns.

3:16

From Secretary John Kerry's campaign

3:18

at 2004, the Obama campaign

3:20

in 2008 and 2012, and

3:22

for a few years even

3:24

advising Hillary Clinton, he is

3:26

absolutely. brilliant at gathering people

3:28

to ensure that everyone in

3:30

our country has a seat

3:32

at the table. He's helped

3:34

advance legislation and advocacy campaigns

3:36

for issues that run such

3:38

a diverse spectrum. Cancer prevention,

3:40

self-esteem, LGBTQ rights, gun violence,

3:42

mental health, poverty, immigration, HIV

3:44

prevention, and more. And, as

3:46

if he's not busy enough,

3:48

he is a member of

3:50

the Policy and Advocacy Committee

3:52

of Global Citizen, working to

3:54

end extreme poverty by 2030,

3:56

he is an advisor to

3:58

represent us a bipartisan organization

4:00

that brings together conservatives. and

4:02

progressives to pass anti-corruption laws,

4:04

and he's on the board

4:06

of lift communities, an organization

4:08

that partners with working parents

4:10

to break the intergenerational cycle

4:12

of extreme poverty. He is

4:14

also a husband and a

4:16

father to a new baby

4:18

boy who is so sweet.

4:20

Oof! I can't wait to

4:22

talk to both of these

4:24

gentlemen about how they balance

4:26

it all, and what the

4:28

f-the-f-f- We're all supposed to

4:30

do two months in to

4:32

this new administration and, you

4:34

know, the daily horrors. Let's

4:36

dig into what's really happening,

4:38

what deserves our focus, and

4:40

how we remain both engaged

4:43

and hopeful with Eric and

4:45

Jordan. Gentlemen,

4:54

I am so glad you are

4:57

both here today. Jordan, you are

4:59

one of my best friends, always

5:01

one of my first calls, whether

5:03

about life or certainly democracy. And

5:06

Eric, you have become... Not only

5:08

are you someone in the political

5:10

landscape that I look up to,

5:12

whose takes, I always know I

5:14

can trust, who tells your voters

5:17

and Americans around the country the

5:19

truth, but thanks to Jordan, you've

5:21

also become a friend, and the

5:23

fact that I get to text

5:26

you and I have questions still

5:28

makes me feel like deeply cool.

5:30

I think about 20-year-old me in

5:32

journalism school at Annenberg. knowing that

5:35

this is my life now, and

5:37

it's pretty crazy. So bless you

5:39

both for coming. Obviously, everything's nuts.

5:41

We are two months into an

5:44

administration that seems to be taking

5:46

a slash and burn approach to

5:48

everything that is wholly about America,

5:50

our constitution, our morals, our values.

5:52

are not only even our power,

5:55

but our soft power, which I

5:57

think has changed the world for

5:59

the better, in recent decades, certainly.

6:01

I have so many questions for

6:04

you guys about how we got

6:06

here, but quickly, so our friends

6:08

who are listening can get to

6:10

know a little bit about you.

6:13

Will you each tell us a

6:15

little bit about your jobs today?

6:17

you know what you do what

6:19

keeps you busy and how you

6:21

two first connected yeah buddy I

6:24

work in Congress I've been doing

6:26

this for about 13 years like

6:28

I guess I was a child

6:30

sent to Congress but before that

6:33

I was a prosecutor and before

6:35

that I was a congressional intern

6:37

when I was 20 years old

6:39

and was here with September 11th

6:42

happened kind of opened my eyes

6:44

and led me to leave like

6:46

an athletic scholarship after interning here

6:48

for a summer. And never thought

6:50

I'd spend this much time here,

6:53

actually have thought a couple different

6:55

ways that I would maybe be

6:57

doing something else, but Donald Trump

6:59

and his just threat to all

7:02

of our freedoms and what I

7:04

think makes this country so special

7:06

just makes me think I. can't

7:08

leave. I can't leave the fight.

7:11

Like you're in the fight, Jordan,

7:13

you're in the fight. We're all

7:15

in it in our own unique

7:17

way. And this is the most

7:20

effective way I think that I

7:22

can help the people I represent.

7:24

My district's in the East Bay

7:26

in up in Northern California, everything

7:28

from essentially Fremont California up to

7:31

San Leandro and then out to

7:33

wine country in Livermore. And Jordan

7:35

and I met as everyone meets

7:37

when they don't know each other

7:40

in Southern California, which is over

7:42

pickleball. And we've had some pretty

7:44

spirited intense pickleball matches. I love

7:46

that. His husband Colton has been

7:49

a part of that as well.

7:51

And then my wife Brittany, you

7:53

know, has also been able to

7:55

meet Jordan and Colton, whether at

7:57

the DNC or just through friends.

8:00

But Jordan, what I admire about

8:02

Jordan is he's a doer. Like

8:04

he is a let's get shit

8:06

done kind of person and only

8:09

wants to use active verbs as

8:11

far as like, what are you

8:13

going to do to fix this?

8:15

I love that. It's a really,

8:18

it really is an honor. I

8:20

don't use the word lightly to

8:22

be with both of you. And

8:24

so if you know, I adore

8:26

you and it has been so

8:29

much fun, even during the toughest

8:31

times, you know, I think for

8:33

both of us being the same

8:35

age and sort of growing up

8:38

together, we never really thought that

8:40

we would go backwards like this.

8:42

And, you know, we were at

8:44

the Obama inauguration together and I

8:47

still laugh at those photos of

8:49

those two kids who were like,

8:51

Everything's just going to keep getting

8:53

better all the time and you

8:56

know half the thing. We did

8:58

it. Yeah. And now I think

9:00

you know we know that nobody

9:02

really gets you know a full

9:04

lifetime without this kind of a

9:07

backwards thing and so this is

9:09

the fight and I think the

9:11

wisest people among us sort of

9:13

know that and have taught us

9:16

how to do this and and

9:18

Congressman it's it's an honor to

9:20

call you a friend and I've

9:22

admired you long before we met

9:25

in person and There's youth is

9:27

not something that comes up a

9:29

lot when we talk about the

9:31

people running this country and for

9:33

all of the wisdom that we're

9:36

grateful for among our elders We

9:38

have seen in so many painful

9:40

and sad ways over the last

9:42

five or ten years in both

9:45

parties What happens to our country

9:47

and how it can grind to

9:49

a halt or have really awful

9:51

consequences when people who are not

9:54

healthy and in their prime are

9:56

in positions of great power. And

9:58

so for somebody to have gotten

10:00

to where you are as young

10:02

as you were and still are,

10:05

and to be a leader in

10:07

this fight means so much. And

10:09

there's just a handful of people

10:11

like you that are kind of

10:14

in that bucket. One of them

10:16

we were just talking about before

10:18

we started recording is on the

10:20

Senate floor right now, you know,

10:23

our friend and someone we all

10:25

love Senator Booker, and you have

10:27

been a really clear clarion voice

10:29

in the last 70-something days since.

10:32

Trump returned to the White House

10:34

in saying this is not right,

10:36

this is not normal, and here's

10:38

what we got to do. So,

10:40

you know, I was playing, Jordan,

10:43

Sophia, I ran when I was

10:45

31 and I ran against a

10:47

guy who had been in Congress

10:49

for 40 years and he was

10:52

81 and I was probably a

10:54

little, in some of the ways

10:56

that I was, you know, trying

10:58

to contrast the age, and showing

11:01

my energy against like someone who

11:03

completely had checked out, like, didn't

11:05

show up for votes in Washington,

11:07

didn't pay any attention to his

11:09

constituents. And I learned in that

11:12

campaign that he had run when

11:14

he was 40, and he had

11:16

beaten somebody in their 80s. So

11:18

as I look at it, like

11:21

my district for essentially 80 years

11:23

before I got there was represented

11:25

by people who stayed way too

11:27

long. So to me, it's like

11:30

it's staring me in the face,

11:32

Jordan, as to like what you

11:34

just said. Don't be the guy

11:36

that sticks for that on too

11:38

long. Like get in and get

11:41

stuff done. Get out. And I

11:43

think that's the hardest part of

11:45

like this job is that people

11:47

don't know when that is. And

11:50

then people around us don't feel

11:52

that they have the permission to

11:54

tell you that. Yeah. And not

11:56

only. Is it so important, I

11:59

think, for folks in our peer

12:01

group to see these trends and

12:03

to say, oh, I'm not going

12:05

to do that thing? I'm going

12:08

to make sure that I'm helping

12:10

with turnover. I'm going to make

12:12

sure that I'm fostering spaces where

12:14

new ideas or evolving ideas can

12:16

be heard. I also think it's

12:19

so important to make sure you're

12:21

training the next generation of leaders

12:23

alongside you, people who can learn

12:25

from your expertise. Like, listen, there

12:28

have been negotiations that nobody could

12:30

have gotten done, but Nancy Pelosi.

12:32

I want to know who is

12:34

being trained to be our policy.

12:37

I want to know, you know,

12:39

who you're going to have your

12:41

eye on in the next 10

12:43

years to say, you should have

12:45

your, you know, eyes, ears, and

12:48

future on this district. It's so

12:50

important, I think to, not that

12:52

it's a stigma even, but in

12:54

a way to de-stigmatize the idea

12:57

that politics is someone else's job.

12:59

In my, the end of my

13:01

first term, Speaker Pelosi told me

13:03

she wanted to speak to me

13:06

on the floor. And I remember

13:08

being so nervous and going over

13:10

to talk to her and didn't

13:12

really know if I was being

13:14

called to the principal's office, like

13:17

what was this about? And she

13:19

told me, she said, you know,

13:21

there are enough young members now

13:23

in Congress that I think you

13:26

should bring them together as a

13:28

group. and go leave them and

13:30

go around the country, talk to

13:32

young people and then come back

13:35

and tell your colleagues what you've

13:37

learned. Wow. And then the next

13:39

term she would appoint me to

13:41

be the youngest, like least junior

13:44

person on the intelligence committee. And

13:46

then she would make me what's

13:48

called the steering and policy chair,

13:50

like the person who chairs the

13:52

committee that puts everyone on committees.

13:55

And so I had the opportunity.

13:57

to sit next to her and

13:59

I And she,

14:01

you know, there's still such a

14:04

deep power divide between like what

14:06

she was able to do and

14:08

what I was able to do.

14:10

But I saw in speaker Pelosi,

14:12

not just with me, but others

14:14

that if you wanted to learn,

14:16

she would meet you there and

14:18

learn. That's really cool. Her advice

14:20

was always. if you don't ask,

14:22

you don't get. And she often

14:24

would say, if you don't buy

14:26

a lottery ticket, you're never going

14:28

to win the lottery. So that

14:31

was kind of telling me, like,

14:33

you have to seek these opportunities.

14:35

And then when you're around people

14:37

like her and others, like you

14:39

can't help but learn. But that

14:41

was a pretty, like, that was

14:43

a big disparity in like my,

14:45

your status in the Congress and

14:47

like the leader. of our party

14:49

and I soaked it up as

14:51

much as I could, but I

14:53

didn't really have anyone between myself

14:55

and Speaker Pelosi. And so what

14:58

I have tried to do with

15:00

the newer members is to be

15:02

the person between them and Hakim,

15:04

who is our leader, because Hakim

15:06

has like limited bandwidth. He can't

15:08

do that with every member. And

15:10

so Congress, for example, I went

15:12

out of my way because I

15:14

saw this young, talented member of

15:16

Congress who was just lighting up

15:18

these congressional hearings. than her name

15:20

is Jasmine Crockett and Jordan's smiling

15:22

because I've since introduced Jordan to

15:25

Jasmine and took her out for

15:27

dinner one night and I said

15:29

like let's not even talk about

15:31

Congress, the job, let's talk about

15:33

like life and how you do

15:35

life. Because that's what no one

15:37

taught me when I had first

15:39

gotten here. Oh, that's so special.

15:41

I do feel like a responsibility

15:43

to try and not just use

15:45

one hand to reach up and

15:47

find mentors, but use the other

15:49

hand to you know, reach down

15:52

to people who have just arrived

15:54

at, you know, where I've been

15:56

and try and help them. And

15:58

I don't know about you, but

16:00

I find that I still learn

16:02

and grow and find fulfillment in

16:04

trying to help others. Of course.

16:06

And now a word from our

16:08

sponsors who make this show possible.

16:10

Catch the new Hulu original comedy

16:12

Mid-century Modern from the creators of

16:15

Will and Grace, executive producer Ryan

16:17

Murphy, and director James Burrows. When

16:19

three best friends move in together,

16:21

Palm Springs will never be the

16:23

same. Bunny, Jerry, and Arthur are

16:25

already close friends, but when they

16:27

decide to live together, it's a

16:30

new chapter with a new family.

16:32

And speaking of family, don't forget

16:34

Bunny's mom, Sibble, who is along

16:36

for the ride. Whether it's a

16:38

trip to Fire Island or a

16:40

local Congresswoman with a wild side,

16:42

these roomies know how to do

16:45

it with style. They're fun, they're

16:47

fabulous, and they're turning life's lemons

16:49

into spiked lemonade. So shake up

16:51

a batch of a batch of

16:53

cocktails, relaxedch cocktails, relaxed by the

16:55

pool, relaxed by the pool, and

16:57

get ready for some serious shade.

17:00

A new comedy with heart, soul,

17:02

and sass. Mid-century modern stars Nathan

17:04

Lane, Matt Bomer, Nathan, Lee Graham,

17:06

and Linda Laban. All episodes of

17:08

Mid-century Modern are now streaming on

17:10

Hulu. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy

17:12

Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield

17:15

in Bone Valley, season one. I

17:17

just knew him as a kid.

17:19

Long, silent voices from his past

17:21

came forward. And he was just

17:23

staring at me. And they had

17:25

secrets of their own to share.

17:27

Gilbert, King. I'm the son of

17:30

Jeremy Lynn Scott. I was no

17:32

longer just telling the story. I

17:34

was part of it. Every time

17:36

I hear about my dad, oh,

17:38

he's a killer. He's just straight

17:40

evil. I was becoming the bridge

17:42

between a killer and the son

17:45

he'd never known. If the cops

17:47

and everything would have done their

17:49

job properly, my dad would have

17:51

been in jail. I would have

17:53

never existed. I never expected to

17:55

find myself in this place. Now

17:57

I need to tell you... how

18:00

I got here. At the end

18:02

of the day, I'm literally a

18:04

son of a killer. Bone Valley,

18:06

season two. Jeremy. Jeremy, I want

18:08

to tell you something. Listen to

18:10

new episodes of Bone Valley, season

18:13

two, starting April 9th on the

18:15

iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or

18:17

wherever you get your podcast. And

18:19

to hear the entire new season,

18:21

add free with exclusive content starting

18:23

April 9th, subscribe to Lava for

18:25

Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I

18:35

think there's such value to intergenerational

18:37

friendships and to having intergenerational mentors,

18:39

you know, and we're all in

18:41

this really sweet spot of our

18:43

lives right now where we have

18:45

both. You know, I have folks

18:48

who are older than me and

18:50

wiser than me that I call

18:52

on and I have folks that

18:54

are younger than me who I

18:56

learned so much from and they

18:58

really, you know, transcend industry, political

19:01

spectrum, and I think that's really

19:03

important. And I'm curious about it

19:05

for you in particular, Eric, and

19:07

Jordan, even knowing what I know

19:09

about how you grew up, this

19:11

willingness to reach across divides and

19:14

learn, and with new information, change

19:16

your mind, but also to require

19:18

that things we know to be

19:20

true or treated as such. really

19:22

stands out to me for you,

19:24

Congressman, because I know you were

19:27

raised in a very Republican household,

19:29

you know, your dad was caught,

19:31

you grew up in that space,

19:33

and I'm really curious how you

19:35

felt free enough to change your

19:37

mind and to say, oh, you

19:40

know, I agree with policies that

19:42

take care of people, and that's

19:44

happening in a different party than

19:46

the one I was raised in.

19:48

How did you? Make that shift,

19:50

how did that go over? with

19:53

your family and then Jordan, can

19:55

you talk to us a little

19:57

bit about your own experiences, you

19:59

know, as a kid and how

20:01

you found your way into this

20:03

democratic space? My parents would say

20:06

that the reason I'm the only

20:08

Democrat in the family is because

20:10

I'm the first one in the

20:12

family to go to college and

20:14

that I was washed by those

20:17

liberal others. But frankly, I don't

20:19

think my parents' values are that

20:21

much different. than mine, except that

20:23

what I observed in them, and

20:25

I talk to my parents every

20:27

week, and visit them as often

20:30

as I can, but they very

20:32

much, I think, are Republicans who

20:34

kind of lead with what they

20:36

don't like about Democrats, as the

20:38

Republican Party that they loved in

20:40

the 80s, like the Reagan Republican

20:43

Party. completely changes and has abandoned

20:45

that. I just hear from them

20:47

and other family members more of

20:49

like what they don't like about

20:51

Democrats and so just by default,

20:53

they're not voting for Democrats, they're

20:56

voting Republicans. And I thought, well,

20:58

what I like about our party

21:00

is like who we're for and

21:02

is someone who grew up, you

21:04

know, going to 11 different schools

21:06

and living in 13 different houses

21:09

before I graduated college, I saw

21:11

two parents who worked hard and

21:13

expected that they would do better

21:15

and dream bigger, but I only

21:17

saw one party that actually sought,

21:19

you know, to advance that, like

21:22

in education, you know, in, like,

21:24

ultimately, you know, Costa College and

21:26

work and retirement security. Republicans offering

21:28

anything on that. But what I

21:30

learned by being raised by Republicans,

21:32

by Republicans by being raised by

21:35

Republicans, by Republicans, by being raised

21:37

by Republicans, by Republicans, by Republicans,

21:39

This is something my I think

21:41

my colleagues need to understand is

21:43

we often say as Democrats that

21:45

you know Republicans, any appeal they

21:48

make to, you know, working class

21:50

Americans or blue collar Americans or

21:52

poor Americans is asking them to

21:54

vote against their interests. We say

21:56

that all the time. I'm like,

21:58

why would they want to vote

22:01

against their interests? Yeah. My parents

22:03

would tell you that their interest

22:05

was not being poor and their

22:07

interest was not being in the

22:09

middle class. And whether that was

22:11

realistic or not, like their interest

22:14

was being like wealthy and they

22:16

didn't want to like be renters.

22:18

They want to be homeowners and

22:20

have like, you know, nice vacations

22:22

and not have to worry about

22:24

money. And I think sometimes Democrats

22:27

are seen by people like my

22:29

parents as like we want to

22:31

keep people in the status that

22:33

they're in and we'll support you

22:35

there, but we don't want you

22:37

to be ambitious. And so I

22:40

have tried in my own like

22:42

to talk about issues is to

22:44

say, you know what, I root

22:46

for success. I want you to

22:48

be wealthy. I just want everyone

22:50

to have the same chance at

22:53

doing it. I want a free

22:55

market economy, not a free for

22:57

all economy, but I think that

22:59

helps us connect with working class

23:01

folks like my parents who aspire

23:03

to get out of like the

23:06

status that they were in. Yeah,

23:08

gosh, I've never really thought about

23:10

it in that way because it

23:12

seems so obvious to me that

23:14

if we're fighting for social programs

23:16

and free education and making sure

23:19

kids can eat in school and

23:21

making sure you're drinking water safe

23:23

like it's because we want you

23:25

to be healthy enough and supported

23:27

enough to advance in your life.

23:29

It's wild to hear that to

23:32

so many people the policies we're

23:34

trying to enact that allow for

23:36

advancement make people afraid that they

23:38

might stagnate. Yeah, and I think

23:40

it's that because that's a feeling

23:42

that you just want to keep

23:45

me here and you don't want

23:47

to see my advancement or or

23:49

against the you were you. on

23:51

a crusade against the rich and

23:53

so therefore like you want when

23:55

you say you're for the middle

23:58

class you want me to always

24:00

be in the middle class. Wow

24:02

that's so interesting I'm like no

24:04

I want everybody to do well

24:06

I just want rich people to

24:08

pay their taxes. Correct. That's like

24:11

literally all I want. Was it

24:13

really eye opening for you like

24:15

you know being a kid in

24:17

the Bakersfield area and then having

24:19

jobs that you know take you

24:21

to DC and you live in

24:24

LA and you have to be

24:26

on the East Coast all the

24:28

time like. Do

24:30

you feel like understanding smaller city sector

24:33

life so personally helps you remember the

24:35

kinds of things the congressman's talking about?

24:37

Yes, is the short answer. The longer

24:40

answer is I think, you know, it's

24:42

more informed by the people I grew

24:44

up with and the place I grew

24:46

up in. And so I grew up

24:49

in a small town in the Central

24:51

Valley near Bakersfield and it's... I grew

24:53

up in a very, you know, a

24:55

conservative Christian household. But I think it's

24:58

important to point out that in the

25:00

80s and 90s, that looked much different

25:02

than it does now. My parents went

25:04

to church, but and they voted. But

25:07

there was not 24-hour news on in

25:09

the House. There were not breaking news

25:11

alerts. And between elections, they didn't think

25:14

much about who was president or speaker

25:16

of the House. And it was not

25:18

something that dominated my childhood or our

25:20

lives. you have these really clear memories

25:23

of coming home in high school when

25:25

you know before my own political identity

25:27

had formed and before I sort of

25:29

came to terms with being gay and

25:32

I had gotten the yard signs from

25:34

a friend's house for these propositions, two

25:36

of them that were in the late

25:38

90s on the ballot in California. One

25:41

was a really draconian measure that was

25:43

anti-immigration, but really inhumane and awful, and

25:45

the other was that marriage, you know,

25:48

was between a man and a woman

25:50

putting that in the Constitution. And my

25:52

mom said, I don't want those in

25:54

my yard. is a Republican Christian woman.

25:57

And I was like, wait, what do

25:59

you mean? Like, I got it from

26:01

this friend's house and like, is now

26:03

what we believe? And she's like, I

26:06

don't, you know, people can live how

26:08

they want to live. And we, you

26:10

know, whatever, like I don't want to

26:13

put those in my yard. And I

26:15

was like, oh, and it was my

26:17

first time kind of remembering, and you

26:19

know, this is my mom who has

26:22

since left the Republican Party because the

26:24

Republican Party. My story is part of

26:26

this larger journey, where like, you now

26:28

have a lot of people on the

26:31

right, I think, who are confused that

26:33

this country was founded as a Christian

26:35

country, because we are really headed that

26:37

way, to the point where I find

26:40

myself getting in debates on social media

26:42

with people who are like, yes, we're

26:44

getting back to our Christian roots, and

26:47

it's like, you missed the entire point

26:49

of why the people who founded this

26:51

country did so. Yeah. So you can

26:53

be a Christian and I can choose

26:56

to not be or I could be

26:58

Buddhist or whatever else. Yeah, it's the

27:00

antithesis actually of a Christian nation, but

27:02

people miss the fine print, I guess.

27:05

Yeah, so I guess what I feel

27:07

and when I think back to like

27:09

all the people I grew up with,

27:11

they're hardworking. Many of the kids I

27:14

grew up with served in the wars

27:16

in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them

27:18

work tough jobs and you know, a

27:21

prison system that's like really. in need

27:23

of reform, but still like, you know,

27:25

or other like working class like manual

27:27

labor jobs. And they're not, you know,

27:30

I think there's just this assumption, they

27:32

probably all voted for Trump. And they

27:34

don't, there is something that feels to

27:36

me like, what I don't understand the

27:39

most and I'm seeking to understand is

27:41

to meet a lot of the people

27:43

on the right who are driven by

27:45

their religion to vote for Trump, seems

27:48

to believe that their religion is under

27:50

attack. when what it seems like to

27:52

me is they just want everyone else

27:55

to have the same religion they have.

27:57

So that when I think about where

27:59

I go. up all of those things

28:01

are sort of swirling around and you

28:04

know sort of feel like informed the

28:06

way that I'm taking in what's

28:08

happening in this moment. Yeah

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Plus on Apple Podcasts. It's

30:37

an interesting thing certainly

30:39

for me. You know,

30:42

my full-time job is

30:44

not politics. I have

30:46

a calling, I believe,

30:48

to use my platform

30:50

and ability as a

30:52

storyteller and a communicator

30:55

to help people understand

30:57

this stuff. I'm passionate

30:59

about it. And yeah,

31:01

it is tough when

31:04

the sort of live

31:06

and let live seems

31:08

to have been lost. And

31:10

this iron fist, you do

31:13

it our way, you copy

31:15

these things, you know, very

31:17

handmade's tale, vibe,

31:19

seems to be everywhere. It's

31:22

scary to me. I think

31:24

part of it is because

31:27

it seems like What's

31:29

happening is being downplayed.

31:31

It seems like what's

31:34

up is down. It

31:36

seems like, not just

31:38

that the double standards

31:40

have gotten so crazy,

31:42

but that we have

31:44

really lost the plot

31:46

on facts. And I think

31:48

the facts, you know, fact, science,

31:51

truth. Constitution kind of have to

31:53

be the foundation of the House.

31:55

Like we've all got to have

31:57

a foundation based on justice, not

31:59

someone's... about their faith, because

32:01

to your point, Jordan, you

32:04

can't rule that way because

32:06

then what if someone who

32:08

had a faith that isn't

32:11

your faith was ruling? How

32:13

would you feel about that?

32:15

Like, we need the law

32:17

to sort of be our

32:20

spot. And it seems like

32:22

there's a lot of lawlessness

32:24

going on that I can't

32:27

quite understand because as a

32:29

citizen, as a concerned constituent,

32:31

it feels like No matter

32:34

how you vote, some of

32:36

this stuff should bother you.

32:38

I think number one, this

32:41

signal leak, which by the

32:43

way, just for our friends

32:45

at home, Jordan and Eric

32:47

and I scheduled this chat,

32:50

I was like, can y'all

32:52

just give me and the

32:54

listeners some perspective on, you

32:57

know, this first 60 to

32:59

90 days of this new

33:01

administration and then highly classified

33:04

top secret information was leaked

33:06

on a non-secured devices on

33:08

personal phones. on a social

33:11

media app, not secure. plans

33:13

that are not meant to

33:15

be viewed or discussed outside

33:17

of a skiff. And they

33:20

accidentally put a journalist on

33:22

the group chat. Like this

33:24

is the kind of embarrassing

33:27

drunk thing you might do

33:29

in college when you put

33:31

the person who's surprise party

33:34

you're planning on the chat

33:36

at 2 a.m. Or like,

33:38

I don't know, that's a

33:41

very positive, you know, what

33:43

if. What does this mean

33:45

and what is what is

33:47

true? I just wish everyone

33:50

who's listening could see the

33:52

resigned face you just made

33:54

you put your hands over

33:57

your eyes and like the

33:59

sky. I'm like, how

34:01

do I even ask the question?

34:04

This is so insane. I can't

34:06

believe it's happening. Well, it shows

34:08

one, like, how dumb they are

34:11

and should not be in charge

34:13

of our safety, right? Like, my

34:15

first job, no matter what I

34:18

do, is to keep the people

34:20

I represent safe. Like, when you

34:22

feel safe, nothing else can happen,

34:25

right? Like, you can't have commerce,

34:27

you can't have education. You can't

34:29

do anything else until you feel

34:32

safe. So that's the president's first

34:34

job is to make us safe.

34:36

And these idiots failed that test.

34:39

Then they lied about it, right?

34:41

They compounded their inability to keep

34:43

us safe by just gas sliding

34:46

the American people about it. And

34:48

they did it as if, like,

34:50

there would be no penalty for

34:53

it at all. they've been proven

34:55

right because my Republican colleagues don't

34:57

want to talk about it at

35:00

all. And I'll say, like, I

35:02

think my Democratic colleagues, like, have

35:04

with what little resources we have

35:07

being in the minority, have a

35:09

lot of resources as far as

35:11

like communication and building public sentiment,

35:14

certainly have elevated, you know, that

35:16

these guys are not going to

35:18

keep us safe. I do want

35:21

to say, though, is dark as

35:23

it feels right now. public

35:26

sentiment is working. For example, you're

35:28

seeing on the president's like big

35:30

beautiful bill as he keeps calling

35:32

it where he's going to take,

35:34

you know, $900 billion and give

35:36

tax cuts to the wealthiest people

35:39

and, you know, no one that

35:41

we know or anyone who needs

35:43

help is going to get it.

35:45

It's going to be a billionaire

35:47

bro tax package. Public sentiment has

35:49

been so hard and so strongly

35:52

against that that there are already

35:54

stories this week that they're actually

35:56

considering raising the highest income level

35:58

bracket. So to anyone who's like,

36:00

does any of this matter, you

36:02

know, what are you going to

36:05

do? We can't wait for the

36:07

midterms. Like we're already seeing that,

36:09

you know, the public sentiment, like

36:11

protesting and being engaged and whatever

36:13

the outcome is going to be

36:15

in Wisconsin and Florida. I think

36:18

it's going to go our way

36:20

that it's moving. the administration and

36:22

it's affecting what they're going to

36:24

do which to me just means

36:26

we can't stop we can't let

36:28

up same thing in the courts

36:30

we've won nearly 40 cases you

36:33

know in the courts and so

36:35

what are they doing right they're

36:37

trying to impeach judges now because

36:39

they they see that oh they

36:41

have found an effective path not

36:43

just democratic appointed judges but judges

36:46

appointed by Reagan and Bush. are

36:48

citing with us. And so the

36:50

courts can be speed bumps. And

36:52

I say all of this because

36:54

we essentially have to live, we

36:56

have to allow democracy to live

36:59

long enough so it can hopefully

37:01

live forever. That means get through

37:03

these court cases, win in Wisconsin,

37:05

win in New Jersey and Virginia

37:07

and the governor's races this year,

37:09

have the electoral infrastructure where you

37:12

can have free and fair elections,

37:14

win the midterms, and then cut

37:16

our time and hell. Yes. in

37:18

half. But here's what drives me

37:20

crazy, Congressman, and you said it.

37:22

There seems to be no accountability.

37:25

Pete Higgs, Telsi Gabbard, these people

37:27

perjured themselves under oath, testifying to

37:29

elected officials about what was in

37:31

that group chat. Donald Trump is

37:33

trying to impeach judges that are

37:35

impartial and he's calling them Obama

37:38

judges, Democrat judges, you said it,

37:40

some of them were appointed by

37:42

President Bush. They are weaponizing identity

37:44

and they are lying about it.

37:46

And I am frustrated as a

37:48

citizen because calling for the impeachment

37:51

of judges who won't do your

37:53

bidding when your bidding is to

37:55

break American law is fascism, making

37:57

people bend the knee in advance

37:59

as fascism. These insane executive orders

38:01

against law firms that are now

38:03

committing to do tens of millions

38:06

of dollars in pro bono work

38:08

to defend Trump's indefensible legal desires.

38:10

It really, I mean, disappearing people

38:12

to Venezuelan gulags. Like, the canaries

38:14

in the coal mines are, they're

38:16

past singing, they're dying. And it

38:19

seems like nobody's paying attention or

38:21

doing anything about it. And I

38:23

understand on the one hand how

38:25

important it is for people to

38:27

see how depraved the administration wants

38:29

to be. I understand that we

38:32

are so lucky that that journalist

38:34

was added to that group chat

38:36

because at least we had a

38:38

whistleblower because to be clear for

38:40

the folks listening at home things

38:42

happening in that group chat aren't

38:45

happening in a secure channels but

38:47

b monitored channels, which means they

38:49

would have been, had we not

38:51

found out about this. It would

38:53

have been very hard to FOIA

38:55

any of these records, which is

38:58

the Freedom of Information Act for

39:00

folks at home, who might not

39:02

be as politically obsessed as the

39:04

three of us are. Like, they're

39:06

trying to erase accountability. And we

39:08

know it, and then they lied,

39:11

and then they lied under oath,

39:13

and now what. The Republicans don't

39:15

want to talk about it, but

39:17

I actually believe this is the

39:19

kind of thing that should unite

39:21

all of us from the most

39:24

liberal to the most conservative. This

39:26

is an attack on the safety

39:28

of our nation and on our

39:30

national security and the call is

39:32

coming from inside the house. So

39:34

how do we call for accountability?

39:36

if the people in majority power

39:39

don't want it because it's their

39:41

people doing the bad shit? Like,

39:43

are the Democrats gonna call for

39:45

hexets to resign? I know you

39:47

already have. What do we do

39:49

from here? How do we stop

39:52

this? Because right now it feels

39:54

like we have no ammo in

39:56

this fight. Right. So we have,

39:58

as I said, we have public

40:00

sentiment, we have congressional hearings where

40:02

we can put every. official now

40:05

on notice when they come testify,

40:07

we can ask them, are you

40:09

using signal chat to communicate? You

40:11

know, are you discussing classified, you

40:13

know, information in non-secured spaces? Are

40:15

you using your personal phones? And

40:18

you lock them in on those

40:20

answers because when in the house

40:22

means that you can then bring

40:24

accountability, you know, if they were

40:26

lying. But again, that's not the

40:28

only thing that we can do.

40:31

And on the judges. I'll just

40:33

say small victories will lead to

40:35

big victories for us. But I

40:37

heard something today in a judiciary

40:39

committee hearing. It was set a

40:41

couple weeks ago when Trump was,

40:44

you know, tweet raging about impeaching

40:46

judges, Musk was saying, let's impeach

40:48

judges, this like brand new member

40:50

of Congress from Texas, who's just

40:52

looking to like raise money, introduces

40:54

articles of impeachment that he has

40:57

no intention of actually following up

40:59

on, just as doing it. please

41:01

Trump. So he gets his hearing

41:03

today in the judiciary committee and

41:05

they bring in Newt Gingrich as

41:07

their witness to talk about like

41:09

judges and the funniest thing happened,

41:12

not a single Republican on the

41:14

committee other than the moron who

41:16

wrote the articles of impeachment that

41:18

he won't even move on supported

41:20

impeaching judges, not even Newt Gingrich.

41:22

And so what that tells me

41:25

is that this was like popular

41:27

three or four weeks ago. turning

41:29

public sentiment against Trump and Musk.

41:31

because of the signal chat issues,

41:33

because of the terrorists, because of

41:35

the tax cuts, and because of

41:38

what he's doing to the rule

41:40

of law. I mean, the federal

41:42

workers losing their jobs, the slashing

41:44

of USAID. So we created this,

41:46

so in this hearing today, where

41:48

I was ready, you know, to

41:51

go in, you know, ready to

41:53

grow down for democracy in our

41:55

debate, and they didn't even, no

41:57

one wanted to defend it. And

41:59

so that means to me, we

42:01

created like a hot stove, right.

42:04

We created a hot stove that

42:06

they didn't want to touch. And

42:08

so they didn't go in there

42:10

wanting to defend Trump on this.

42:12

So we just have to create

42:14

in hot stoves that they don't

42:17

touch so that, you know, none

42:19

of us, you know, suffer the

42:21

consequences. And that small victory, but

42:23

as I said, small victories will

42:25

lead to big victories. Eric, I

42:27

quote you all the time when

42:30

I think the most lucid easy

42:32

to understand example that's been given

42:34

about what it's like to be

42:36

a number of Congress these days

42:38

comes from you when you gave

42:40

the WWE analogy. Can you, and

42:42

it just helped me to understand,

42:45

you know, just the sort of

42:47

two-faced nature of public and private.

42:49

Yeah, will you give that to

42:51

us? Yeah, so Sophia, it took

42:53

me a while to realize that

42:55

I work with pro wrestlers. And

42:58

what I mean is that when

43:00

we're in a committee hearing or

43:02

on the house floor, or they're

43:04

on Fox News, they are like

43:06

one persona, like they're the ultimate

43:08

warrior, the understander, the rock, whatever.

43:11

But I would start running into

43:13

these guys, you know, behind the

43:15

committee room and like we call

43:17

it an ante room that's just

43:19

off, or at the congressional gym,

43:21

or just like bumping into them

43:24

at the Dunkin Donuts line. And

43:26

they would like come up to

43:28

me and they'd be like, hey,

43:30

Swalwell, hey buddy, like, how are

43:32

you doing? And like I would

43:34

look at him like they have

43:37

three heads because they had just

43:39

like scorched me. on Fox News

43:41

or in a hearing. And I

43:43

came to realize that, like, to

43:45

them, it's just the persona they

43:47

have to carry. Like, they can

43:50

hit me over the head with

43:52

the steel chair when we're in

43:54

the ring, you know, like in

43:56

the committee hearing, but backstage when

43:58

there's no camera for them to

44:00

perform to, just two guys doing

44:03

a gig. And I'm like, wait,

44:05

but like, it's not a gig.

44:07

Like, yeah. And the fans that

44:09

you are trying to please are

44:11

called constituents. One time during the

44:13

second impeachment of Trump when I

44:15

was one of the prosecutors in

44:18

the Senate, I had made this

44:20

presentation about like the violence of

44:22

the day and I had the

44:24

police officer portion of the presentation.

44:26

And it was very emotional and

44:28

even Mitch McConnell was like sitting

44:31

in the front row, like wiping

44:33

the tear from his. Wow. Because

44:35

we're watching police officers just being

44:37

crushed. And then we take a

44:39

break and I. go to the

44:41

bathroom and as I'm washing my

44:44

hands I see in the sink

44:46

next to me Ted Cruz washing

44:48

his hands and he looks over

44:50

at me and he tries his

44:52

hands and he puts his fist

44:54

out and he goes hey I'm

44:57

Ted and I look at him

44:59

and I'm like with my fist

45:01

hey Ted and he can tell

45:03

I'm so confused because the night

45:05

before he was on Fox News

45:07

calling Adam Schiff and me out

45:10

by name saying the worst thing

45:12

and he goes I want you

45:14

to know You're doing a really

45:16

good job out there. He goes,

45:18

no, I mean it. And I'm

45:20

like, like, what is he talking

45:23

about? But again, it's just like,

45:25

he's just like, it's crazy. So,

45:27

and that, there are a few

45:29

of them, though, I will give

45:31

you, like Marjorie Taylor Green, not

45:33

a pro wrestler. Like, she believes

45:36

her crazy. And I respect that.

45:38

I actually respect somebody who's like,

45:40

this is what I believe. What

45:42

I don't respect, what I have

45:44

a harder time squaring, is people

45:46

who actually know better and they

45:48

just do. it anyway because they

45:51

think yeah the you know political

45:53

attainment or like political theater yeah

45:55

it is hard to blame those

45:57

people there because that is the

45:59

only thing that has been rewarded

46:01

on the right and you know

46:04

like in when Trump was elected

46:06

for the first time in the

46:08

primaries in 2016 and got the

46:10

nomination there nobody else was really

46:12

the kind of only playing to

46:14

that Fox crowd or only playing

46:17

to like the most fringe elements

46:19

on the right and what Trump

46:21

did is make the fringe the

46:23

center of that party and it's

46:25

like so now to compete you

46:27

have to mimic him no one

46:30

can quite do it right and

46:32

so you know if it wasn't

46:34

so high stakes you would almost

46:36

feel sorry for them you know

46:38

because they look so ridiculous trying

46:40

to do this but it's like

46:43

like you said it's like the

46:45

stakes are too high like this

46:47

isn't supposed to be entertainment but

46:49

like it is kind of yeah

46:51

the restly analogy it's like there's

46:53

this royal rumble right now where

46:56

they're all competing to like who

46:58

can outdo the other in service

47:00

of Trump, right? Like one of

47:02

them wants to put Trump on

47:04

Mount Rushmore, one of them on

47:06

the $200 bill, one of them

47:09

wants to rename Dulles after Trump.

47:11

So it's just like this pathetic

47:13

effort to just try and be

47:15

the most in, you know, service

47:17

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47:19

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49:47

makes me feel crazy because not

49:49

only is it also stupid, but

49:51

as you said, Jordan, it is

49:53

so high stakes. This is life

49:55

and death for people. When our

49:58

veterans lose their health care. And

50:00

we know how many veterans commit

50:02

suicide in this country every week.

50:04

That is life and death. It

50:06

is a betrayal of our people.

50:08

And to say kids should go

50:10

hungry in school, feels like a

50:13

betrayal of who we are. And

50:15

I guess what frightens me about

50:17

what Trumpism has unleashed is such

50:19

a movement of the over-10 window.

50:21

We have seen the spectrum of

50:23

acceptability get pushed so far into

50:26

violence and belittling and bullying. It's

50:28

so classless and something I respect,

50:30

particularly about our country, about our

50:32

working class folks, like we have

50:34

always had a level of honor.

50:36

We haven't always done everything right,

50:38

but there has been like a

50:41

grit and a and and some

50:43

level of decorum to what we

50:45

believe in and it's just gone.

50:47

And the way that they talk

50:49

about people and the way that

50:51

they talk about women and the

50:53

way it's just like. It pains

50:56

me, and I guess I'm curious

50:58

in terms of how we communicate

51:00

about this stuff, because you said,

51:02

Congressman, that public sentiment is working.

51:04

And Jordan, you are an incredible

51:06

communicator out in the world to

51:08

explain why the political is personal.

51:11

how everything that happens in our

51:13

world, everything around us, is a

51:15

result of policy. I'm breathing clean

51:17

air on the East Coast right

51:19

now because of the EPA. I

51:21

can trust the water that comes

51:23

out of my sink to drink

51:26

because of policy. And I'm curious

51:28

about the keep the pressure applied

51:30

from the public and how you

51:32

see us doing that best Jordan

51:34

because I know that the protests

51:36

happening around the country aren't being

51:39

covered on the mainstream news right

51:41

now. We're barely seeing them on

51:43

Instagram. We got to go looking

51:45

to see tens of thousands of

51:47

people in the street, you know,

51:49

that big rally AOC and Bernie

51:51

did in Colorado, just a few

51:54

weeks ago, for example, how do

51:56

you encourage us to keep that?

51:58

foot on the gas pedal of

52:00

public sentiment. What's your advice for

52:02

listeners who want to be involved,

52:04

who don't want to see federal

52:06

workers lose their jobs, veterans lose

52:09

their health care, kids lose access,

52:11

you know, to healthy start and

52:13

snap? What do we do? Because

52:15

people feel overwhelmed because of this

52:17

flood-the-zone strategy? And I don't want

52:19

us to risk the momentum of

52:21

sentiment. Well, it's a tough answer

52:24

because the answer is essentially we

52:26

have to, what I would say

52:28

for people, find the person who

52:30

most represents you and your beliefs

52:32

personally and support them. And, you

52:34

know, I often, every member of

52:36

Congress, you know, says, call my

52:39

office because that is the thing

52:41

that I really get a barometer

52:43

on what people are thinking. And

52:45

I think that's really true. And

52:47

Eric, you can tell us. But

52:49

the other thing I would say

52:52

is I often look at members

52:54

of Congress who I know and

52:56

admire. I'll look at their social

52:58

media comments. And often it's like,

53:00

yes, give them hell, you're fighting.

53:02

Thank you. But just as often

53:04

with the Democrats, since Trump came

53:07

back into power, it's like, OK,

53:09

OK, but this feels performative. that

53:11

we are living in a truly

53:13

unprecedented moment in American history. The

53:15

Democrats don't run anything in our

53:17

federal government, not the White House,

53:19

not the Senate, not the House

53:22

of Representatives, and not the highly

53:24

partisan Supreme Court. So the question,

53:26

it's the wrong question. It's why

53:28

is the Republican Party accepting a

53:30

reality in which there is no

53:32

red line? The president of the

53:34

United States can help our adversary.

53:37

can unwind a hundred years of

53:39

economic prosperity and protection of democracy

53:41

around the world and have no

53:43

consequences no senators privately come into

53:45

the White House to be like

53:47

hey you better stop this or

53:49

you're going to lose the support

53:52

of Congress. I mean Nixon you

53:54

know President Clinton when he was

53:56

impeached had those types of private

53:58

things happening to him to sort

54:00

of make sure that They were

54:02

responsive to the political realities of

54:05

like, hey, if you keep doing

54:07

this, we're going to lose and

54:09

we're all going to lose our

54:11

seats and you got to stop

54:13

or you got to resign. This

54:15

is a moment in which none

54:17

of that is happening. And Donald

54:20

Trump signed an executive order this

54:22

week to try to take over

54:24

elections and make it harder to

54:26

people. So they're literally doing everything

54:28

they can to make where they

54:30

can't lose. And so there's this

54:32

weird thing going on, I think,

54:35

I think, with my colleagues, where

54:37

it's this wishful. type of thinking

54:39

where, well, we can just keep

54:41

enabling him because if, to Jordan's

54:43

point, Trump makes it harder for

54:45

people to vote, and if Elon

54:47

Musk is successful in Wisconsin and

54:50

buying that election, that I will

54:52

have a ballot box that's harder

54:54

to get to and hold me

54:56

accountable and a billionaire willing to

54:58

bankroll my election, so I'm invincible.

55:00

So that's kind of the accountability

55:02

problem. that we have right now.

55:05

But to Jordan's point, that question

55:07

in the comments on social media,

55:09

like, what are you doing besides

55:11

like giving us, you know, a

55:13

good show and a committee hearing,

55:15

I am telling like myself, our

55:17

family and my constituents, we all

55:20

in our activism have to go

55:22

one rung higher. So whatever we

55:24

were willing to do in the

55:26

last. election. For now we have

55:28

to go one run higher. I

55:30

think we're going to have to

55:33

go a few rungs higher ultimately

55:35

to save this thing, but right

55:37

now just take yourself one run

55:39

higher. What I'm doing personally is

55:41

I'm going to Republican districts where

55:43

they will not hold town halls

55:45

and I'm holding the town hall.

55:48

I was in Annapale and Aluna's

55:50

district two weekends ago. 600 people

55:52

showed up. I did it with

55:54

the former Republican in Congress. We

55:56

have a 1,500 person wait list

55:58

and we listened to those constituents

56:00

and there was talent in that

56:03

crowd who may end up being

56:05

a candidate to run against her

56:07

in the future. committing to doing

56:09

that is my one rung hire

56:11

to your listen. I would say,

56:13

if you've never gone to a

56:15

public protest, go to your first

56:18

public protests, April 5, there's going

56:20

to be one day of our

56:22

country. If you've never gone to

56:24

a city council meeting, go to

56:26

a city council meeting. If you've

56:28

gone to a city council meeting,

56:30

but you've never put yourself on

56:33

the agenda to speak. It's a

56:35

public agenda, not speaking, but just

56:37

go one run hire for now

56:39

on personal activism. And I think

56:41

that's what it's going to get

56:43

us going to get us out

56:46

of this. hell that we're in

56:48

right now. Yeah, I really like

56:50

that. When Jordan mentioned, you know,

56:52

how important it is for you

56:54

guys to hear from callers, can

56:56

you give us a little bit

56:58

inside baseball on that? Because a

57:01

lot of people are nervous to

57:03

call their elected representatives. They're not

57:05

quite sure what to say. They're

57:07

not quite sure if it's going

57:09

to be impactful. So how much

57:11

does that matter in congressional offices?

57:13

If that's the only thing you

57:16

do, I would say it probably

57:18

won't. make you feel that much

57:20

better and I probably won't move

57:22

the needle too much for the

57:24

congressional office. But as I said,

57:26

if you're willing, if that's all

57:28

you've ever done, if you're willing

57:31

to go one run higher and

57:33

also go to their town hall

57:35

or go to their office, there's

57:37

been protests at different offices around

57:39

members who won't hold town halls.

57:41

I think that starts to add

57:43

up because when you're a member

57:46

and you're seeing that the phone

57:48

lines are, you know, hot today

57:50

and There's 200 people outside my

57:52

congressional office demanding that I hold

57:54

it. And my dams are blowing

57:56

up of people saying, you know,

57:59

why won't you talk to me?

58:01

Like that reaches me. And I

58:03

can be quite effective. And I

58:05

get a report every week of

58:07

like what the call volume is,

58:09

what the email volume is, what

58:11

the mail, we call it the

58:14

mail report. And I also just

58:16

like talking to the interns and

58:18

our staffers. And I'll say like,

58:20

how is it on the phones?

58:22

So just want a sense of

58:24

what it's like. And you can

58:26

tell if it's a stressful day

58:29

because people are calling and, you

58:31

know, they're pissed off. So yes,

58:33

that works, but it doesn't work

58:35

if you're the only one doing

58:37

it, and it doesn't work if

58:39

that's the only thing that you're

58:41

doing. So we need a lot

58:44

of people to do things like

58:46

that, and we need to do

58:48

more than just, you know, calling

58:50

your reps. how to speak about

58:52

the issues that are important to

58:54

you. And I think it's a

58:56

really great resource. I have an

58:59

alarm on my calendar that goes

59:01

off every Monday. And it's like,

59:03

call your representatives. Once a week,

59:05

takes 10 minutes. Got to do

59:07

it. And I do think to

59:09

continue to remind your reps that

59:12

they work for you. You know,

59:14

you said it. Your job is

59:16

to keep your constituents safe. and

59:18

then to work to better their

59:20

lives. And I think a great

59:22

way to remind people of how

59:24

to do that is to stay

59:27

in communication. Can you give me

59:29

a little overview? I know we're

59:31

coming up on time. I feel

59:33

like I could talk to you

59:35

both for hours. I think one

59:37

of our former allies. I think

59:39

my office has been like a

59:42

therapist couch for ally neighbors and

59:44

their leaders to come in and

59:46

just asked me like what did

59:48

we do wrong? I bet. I'm

59:50

just like on this apology tour

59:52

of like It's not you. You're

59:54

like, you've done nothing wrong. This

59:57

is crazy. It does exactly right.

59:59

One of those means. Yeah, well,

1:00:01

and thank you for taking the

1:00:03

time out of your day to

1:00:05

come and talk to us about

1:00:07

this. Can you give us a

1:00:09

quick overview of things that listeners

1:00:12

should be watching? Like, what are

1:00:14

Trump and Musk coming for that

1:00:16

people need to know? We know

1:00:18

it's health care. We know it's

1:00:20

abortion access. We know it's gay

1:00:22

marriage. We know it's voting. The

1:00:24

VA. Are there things you really

1:00:27

want people to know they should

1:00:29

be tracking and watching? Yes. On

1:00:31

this, it's called reconciliation. That's the

1:00:33

name of the procedural process. But

1:00:35

for Trump to give nearly a

1:00:37

trillion dollars in tax cuts to

1:00:40

billionaires, Republicans in Congress will have

1:00:42

to vote for it. And they

1:00:44

have a very narrow majority. And

1:00:46

so watch who benefits. and who

1:00:48

loses? Who does he take that?

1:00:50

Because right now, the only way

1:00:52

for the billionaires to get their

1:00:55

tax cuts is for him to

1:00:57

take away health care and Social

1:00:59

Security benefits. Period. We should be

1:01:01

watching that. As you try to

1:01:03

make it harder to go to

1:01:05

the ballot box, you're seeing lawsuits

1:01:07

being brought to stopping. Leader Jeffries

1:01:10

just brought a lawsuit on behalf

1:01:12

of House Democrats on one of

1:01:14

the executive orders that makes it

1:01:16

a lot harder for people to

1:01:18

vote. Also, if you live in

1:01:20

a democratic state. meaning like Democratic

1:01:22

governor, make sure your governors are

1:01:25

maxing out democracy because we talk

1:01:27

a lot about voting rights and

1:01:29

access to the polls, but it's

1:01:31

not like we're perfect in blue

1:01:33

states. It's not like you have

1:01:35

voting lines of 30 minutes or

1:01:37

less in a blue state, right?

1:01:40

Like there's still hours long lines

1:01:42

in state. So we should have

1:01:44

high expectations on our secretaries of

1:01:46

state and governors in blue states

1:01:48

that in the lead up to

1:01:50

this upcoming election where the midterms

1:01:53

are on the line that we

1:01:55

are maxing out democracy. And we

1:01:57

are leading by example, not the

1:01:59

lowest common denominator, as it relates

1:02:01

to like how people, you know,

1:02:03

get to the polls and are

1:02:05

able to vote. I love that.

1:02:08

Thank you so much. Thank you,

1:02:10

Congressman. I'm going to ask Jordan

1:02:12

a last couple of questions, but

1:02:14

please go to your meeting. We're

1:02:16

with you. We love you. You

1:02:18

too. You're in it. I love

1:02:20

it. It inspires me. It reminds

1:02:23

me why we all have to

1:02:25

stay in it. And just so

1:02:27

options, but you care about, you

1:02:29

know, making sure our freedom and

1:02:31

our opportunities do not evaporate on

1:02:33

the watch. So I care about

1:02:35

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1:05:00

Jordan, you're doing a really cool

1:05:03

thing that really makes me feel

1:05:05

excited because we do this a

1:05:07

lot together. I mean, you're one

1:05:09

of the people I talked to

1:05:11

about, as I said earlier, everything

1:05:14

going on in life, but certainly

1:05:16

what's going on in the world.

1:05:18

And I've sat... on many a

1:05:20

flight, in many a car canvassing,

1:05:22

and certainly on many a night

1:05:24

in your backyard or mine over

1:05:27

a bottle of wine, trying to

1:05:29

figure out why people that actually

1:05:31

are so much more aligned than

1:05:33

the algorithms or these media silos

1:05:35

would have us think, think they're

1:05:38

so far apart. And I think

1:05:40

any time you sit down with

1:05:42

people you know you break bread

1:05:44

you meet their kids you spend

1:05:46

time in their town you realize

1:05:48

we all want a lot of

1:05:51

the same things and You decided

1:05:53

to take those conversations out into

1:05:55

the world and ask, what if

1:05:57

you're wrong? Can you sit and

1:05:59

talk to someone who has a

1:06:02

different opinion than you and make

1:06:04

space for their thoughts and feelings?

1:06:06

Can you come to some sort

1:06:08

of mutual agreement? And you've done

1:06:10

a lot of those conversations over

1:06:12

dinners and... and at gatherings, but

1:06:15

now you're doing it in this

1:06:17

space, in the podcast space. Why

1:06:19

did you feel like this was

1:06:21

the moment? And what do you

1:06:23

think you've learned so far? Thanks

1:06:26

for asking. Yeah, it is, first

1:06:28

of all, as somebody, you know,

1:06:30

your podcast is one of, you

1:06:32

know, it doesn't that I subscribe

1:06:34

to and listen to. And so,

1:06:36

first of all, respect, because it's

1:06:39

a lot harder than I thought

1:06:41

it was going to be. made

1:06:43

me do this. Number one, I

1:06:45

married the love of my life,

1:06:47

whose family, you know, like most

1:06:50

American families has every political viewpoint

1:06:52

represented, but several people who are

1:06:54

major Trump supporters and RFK supporters

1:06:56

who are really excited about this

1:06:58

new moment in our country. And

1:07:01

so I found and I love

1:07:03

spending time with them. And what

1:07:05

I realized is when I'm getting

1:07:07

all these news alerts that make

1:07:09

me want to puke. they're like

1:07:11

pumping their fist in the air

1:07:14

that they love them because it's

1:07:16

it's not because they're bad people

1:07:18

it's because I mean first of

1:07:20

all they may have different values

1:07:22

than me but we share a

1:07:25

lot of the same values but

1:07:27

really what it is like they

1:07:29

spend every waking moment in a

1:07:31

totally different reality than I do

1:07:33

right so everything that they are

1:07:35

subscribed to or that their algorithm

1:07:38

shows them is representing this viewpoint.

1:07:40

And I think, you know, we

1:07:42

know that YouTube radicalized a lot

1:07:44

of people, right? With the algorithm

1:07:46

of like, if you like this,

1:07:49

you're gonna like this. And then,

1:07:51

yeah. there's this famous experiment that

1:07:53

if you sign up with no

1:07:55

information about yourself and you want,

1:07:57

you know, within like 30 videos,

1:07:59

you're watching some fringe conspiracy video.

1:08:02

So this has been something that

1:08:04

is people aren't choosing to do.

1:08:06

It's happened to them and it

1:08:08

has broken our society. And so

1:08:10

the second reason is when Trump

1:08:13

won the first time, it was

1:08:15

very close and a shock and

1:08:17

a shock. And I think there

1:08:19

was this sense among many of

1:08:21

us that this is a fluke.

1:08:23

You know, where there was something

1:08:26

unique to like the right head

1:08:28

vilified Hillary Clinton for so long

1:08:30

that just like she couldn't win.

1:08:32

Yeah. And he won this time.

1:08:34

It was not close. It wasn't

1:08:37

a blowout, but you know, he

1:08:39

won every battleground state. It was

1:08:41

close in the popular book, but

1:08:43

it was the kind of thing

1:08:45

where like we all went to

1:08:47

bed that night, knowing years ago.

1:08:50

And so it wasn't like this

1:08:52

drawn up thing. It really humbledled

1:08:54

me. Because it's not helping me

1:08:56

to sort of just like stay

1:08:58

in my bubble, but it's really

1:09:01

uncomfortable to talk to people. You

1:09:03

know, my husband and I had

1:09:05

a baby and there are like

1:09:07

millions of people out there who

1:09:09

think that's not okay or that

1:09:12

it's wrong. And it's so tempting

1:09:14

to just be like, put my

1:09:16

little blinders on and be like,

1:09:18

everyone who's in my circle loves

1:09:20

us and is all good, but

1:09:22

I'm not doing that. And I'm

1:09:25

choosing to sort of engage in

1:09:27

some of those tougher conversations where.

1:09:29

I think it's the only way

1:09:31

out of this. Yeah, I agree.

1:09:33

I mean, part of the, you

1:09:36

know, the joy for me of

1:09:38

my career is that it takes

1:09:40

me to live in so many

1:09:42

places around our country, sometimes around

1:09:44

the world. I'm always kind of

1:09:46

tickled when I spend time with

1:09:49

really conservative people and we get

1:09:51

along really well and they're like,

1:09:53

I thought you were going to

1:09:55

be a banshee. I'm like, no.

1:09:57

I just... I just want us

1:10:00

to care about each other. And

1:10:02

if the media you are receiving

1:10:04

isn't telling you about these true

1:10:06

things, you know, the RFK of

1:10:08

it all, for example, people are

1:10:10

like, yeah, too many EPA regulations,

1:10:13

deregulate, and I'm going, y'all are

1:10:15

worried about supposedly worried about heavy

1:10:17

metals in foods. Do you know

1:10:19

how they get there? They get

1:10:21

there from environmental pollution. They get

1:10:24

in the water in the soil

1:10:26

and then it's in the food

1:10:28

we eat. And what bothers me

1:10:30

is realizing that the right in

1:10:32

particular has weaponized the gotcha moment,

1:10:34

but they'll take the smallest slice

1:10:37

of a whole big pie and

1:10:39

say this slice is the information

1:10:41

and they leave out all the

1:10:43

rest of the context, all the

1:10:45

rest of the facts. And so,

1:10:48

you know, yesterday, for example, when

1:10:50

Aaron Parnas broke the news that

1:10:52

they are removing the terms safe

1:10:54

drinking water. from EPA legislation, I'm

1:10:56

going, this is going to hurt

1:10:58

you no matter how you voted.

1:11:01

It's going to potentially poison my

1:11:03

kids and yours. And so I

1:11:05

think being willing to sit down

1:11:07

with people and get us out

1:11:09

of these silos, you know, get

1:11:12

us out of the W.W.E. energy

1:11:14

that Congressman Swalwell was speaking about.

1:11:16

I'll never forget years ago a

1:11:18

friend you and I have in

1:11:20

common a comedian who shall remain

1:11:22

nameless because I don't want to

1:11:25

blow up a spot, but told

1:11:27

me that because of a project

1:11:29

he'd wound up spending some time

1:11:31

with Tucker Carlson. And was like,

1:11:33

he's actually really smart and totally

1:11:36

hates Trump and thinks the whole

1:11:38

thing's bullshit. But knows all the

1:11:40

rich people are making a ton

1:11:42

of money. So they're gonna go

1:11:44

along with it for a little

1:11:47

while. And you know, they don't

1:11:49

assume America's gonna blow up or

1:11:51

anything. And I was like, huh?

1:11:53

Like we're saying this like it's

1:11:55

a good thing. You know it's

1:11:57

bullshit, but you know it riles

1:12:00

people up in their homes. It

1:12:02

makes people upset. It makes people

1:12:04

not trust their doctors. It's not

1:12:06

just a money grab, it has

1:12:08

real consequences.

1:12:11

And so I think when

1:12:13

we can actually

1:12:15

be with people

1:12:17

and reconnect, it can

1:12:19

hopefully push back

1:12:22

against some of that

1:12:24

really poisonous messaging. The dynamic of

1:12:26

something that's happening on the right

1:12:29

and something that's happening simultaneously on

1:12:31

the left that I think feeds

1:12:33

what you just described. So on

1:12:35

the left, we could be a lot better. There

1:12:37

are some people who are open to being allies

1:12:39

with some of the groups we fight for. They

1:12:42

feel really a lot of pressure and nervousness around

1:12:44

using the right terminology or saying

1:12:46

something right. And we know now

1:12:48

that a lot of the online

1:12:50

discourse that the left perpetuated alienated

1:12:52

alienated alienated alienated alienated people. who

1:12:54

was sort of with us on the issues, but

1:12:57

they're kind of like, you guys are too much.

1:12:59

At the same time on the right, there's

1:13:01

this famous John Lennon quote that's one of

1:13:03

my favorite quotes. It's so simple, don't hate

1:13:06

what you don't understand. To me, it

1:13:08

just gets at everything, right? So we

1:13:10

know that with the gay rights movement, things

1:13:12

got a lot better for queer people once

1:13:14

you had a gay neighbor or a teacher

1:13:16

or a coach or just someone that you

1:13:18

knew in your new and your life. That

1:13:21

was gay. And you like, I liked this

1:13:23

person. They should have rights. They should have

1:13:25

rights. Yeah. And you know, so that is

1:13:27

the natural trajectory. And so what they do

1:13:29

on the right is parody, the

1:13:32

most extreme examples,

1:13:34

right? So with regard to

1:13:37

gender, if one person posts

1:13:39

on Twitter, my pronouns

1:13:41

are like a tree, there is an

1:13:43

entire news cycle of the

1:13:46

right wing media sphere that

1:13:48

is like, oh, now you can identify

1:13:50

as a tree. you know, what's

1:13:52

next? You're going to identify as a

1:13:54

spaceship when in reality 99.9% of people who

1:13:56

feel, you know, who are non-binary or have

1:13:59

some gender nonconform. issue, which is like

1:14:01

a real thing. It's an actual

1:14:03

thing. It's a serious thing. And

1:14:05

it's always been a thing. It's

1:14:07

not new. It takes so little

1:14:09

effort and energy just to, you

1:14:11

know, be human about it. But

1:14:14

all of that is suddenly non-serious

1:14:16

because they're expert at taking those

1:14:18

fringe things. And there's an example

1:14:20

with every year of making something

1:14:22

really fringe look like, oh, this

1:14:24

is what the left trying to

1:14:26

do. When you call night on

1:14:28

one, they don't want anyone to

1:14:30

pick up, right? No more police

1:14:33

because one guy got killed, you

1:14:35

know, on YouTube, and you know,

1:14:37

to me, like the most haunting

1:14:39

image so far, of what you

1:14:41

were describing earlier, of like the

1:14:43

bending the knee and the total

1:14:45

subservience of the major law firms,

1:14:47

but was seeing them jackhammer, black

1:14:49

lives matter, jack hammering them. Yeah,

1:14:52

where the NFL taking the words

1:14:54

end racism out of the end

1:14:56

zone and it's like across the

1:14:58

culture, government, business, the news media,

1:15:00

everyone, there is a real cost,

1:15:02

real or perceived, but it almost

1:15:04

doesn't matter because the things that

1:15:06

they are doing are trying to

1:15:08

placate Trump so he doesn't come

1:15:11

after them. Yeah, and it's scary.

1:15:13

It's scary to give in to.

1:15:15

cruelty and what frustrates me is

1:15:17

it's the opposite of efficient. You

1:15:19

have any idea how much money

1:15:21

it costs to jackhammer up three

1:15:23

city blocks in Washington DC and

1:15:25

repave them? Yeah. For what? You

1:15:27

know, the cuts that we're seeing,

1:15:30

you know, cutting USAID when there's

1:15:32

an Ebola outbreak in Africa. It's

1:15:34

like, what are we doing? And

1:15:36

you know, medications already on the

1:15:38

ground and these clinics are being

1:15:40

told, throw it away. life-saving medication.

1:15:42

They're being told to throw it

1:15:44

away. The cruelty and the wastefulness

1:15:46

is so hard for me, but

1:15:49

I agree with you. They they

1:15:51

message with these slogans that can

1:15:53

be so far off from what's

1:15:55

true. And what it seems to

1:15:57

have done in my observation is

1:15:59

it's made it, it's made truth

1:16:01

feel like a non necessity. People

1:16:03

don't even care what's true anymore.

1:16:05

They're just tired and that is

1:16:08

scary. So I'm curious. How do

1:16:10

you encourage people to? stay hopeful.

1:16:12

What helps you not just throw

1:16:14

your hands up in the air

1:16:16

and go back to bed in

1:16:18

the morning, aside from your perfect

1:16:20

precious little baby? So cute. I

1:16:22

try really hard to practice what

1:16:24

I preach is the first thing.

1:16:27

So, you know, I'm someone who

1:16:29

has spent 20 years trying to

1:16:31

help Democrats win elections and raise

1:16:33

money in this really broken system

1:16:35

where wealthy people like Elon Musk,

1:16:37

but he's certainly not the first.

1:16:39

He's just the largest contributor, but

1:16:41

you know, our system is broken,

1:16:43

right? And we have to work

1:16:46

with the system we have in

1:16:48

order to change it. But one

1:16:50

of my favorite personal sayings is

1:16:52

you have to win elections in

1:16:54

order to govern. So in order

1:16:56

to help all these people that

1:16:58

we care about, we first have

1:17:00

to win an election. And that

1:17:02

means you have to convince enough

1:17:05

Americans that we have better ideas.

1:17:07

And so yeah. What I mean

1:17:09

by practicing when I preach is,

1:17:11

you know, this analogy I use

1:17:13

a lot is like we are

1:17:15

at the social media broke politics,

1:17:17

right? We hate us all where,

1:17:19

put on a jersey that was

1:17:21

red or blue. And so think

1:17:24

about how fanatically you love your

1:17:26

favorite sports team. You go to

1:17:28

the games, you get season tickets,

1:17:30

you're cheering and screaming for them,

1:17:32

you watch highlight reals. It's very

1:17:34

hard then in the big game.

1:17:36

to get somebody to actually get

1:17:38

hey can you take off this

1:17:40

jersey go to the other side

1:17:43

of the field sit in those

1:17:45

stands and not cheer for these

1:17:47

players so you don't know or

1:17:49

you hate yeah and so what

1:17:51

I I try to do that

1:17:53

is have moments where I can

1:17:55

at least acknowledge that there's someone

1:17:57

in my party who I disagree

1:17:59

with or I think they did

1:18:02

something wrong or that's harmful for

1:18:04

the country. And I want to

1:18:06

be able to articulate that. But

1:18:08

I expect from all of the

1:18:10

people who voted for Trump is

1:18:12

the same thing. So a very

1:18:14

powerful question that I've been asking

1:18:16

to my friends and family who

1:18:18

voted for him and support him

1:18:21

is just simply this. Is there

1:18:23

anything? that he could do that

1:18:25

would cause you to stop supporting

1:18:27

him. It's a really powerful question

1:18:29

and people, it takes them a

1:18:31

really long time to answer. And

1:18:33

if you're so, politics has become

1:18:35

like religion, the fervor is so

1:18:37

real that it's scary. But that's

1:18:40

to me, like, if we can

1:18:42

answer that, then we're kind of

1:18:44

cooked, right? Unless we can figure

1:18:46

out a way to win an

1:18:48

election because That really is what

1:18:50

it comes down to in this

1:18:52

moment is we've just never had

1:18:54

this moment before where like you

1:18:56

know famously Trump said when he

1:18:59

was running the first time I

1:19:01

could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue

1:19:03

and yeah support it felt so

1:19:05

extreme to say but not only

1:19:07

was he right about that it's

1:19:09

I could cozy up to Vladimir

1:19:11

Putin who runs America's base adversary,

1:19:13

I could dismantle NATO, I could

1:19:15

ruin the American economy with pointless

1:19:18

tariffs that will cause a trade

1:19:20

war, and we know don't work,

1:19:22

and I won't lose support. So

1:19:24

it's like at this point, what,

1:19:26

you know, where can we go,

1:19:28

what can we do? Right. Well,

1:19:30

what do you think? I do

1:19:32

think that, you know, we obviously

1:19:34

can't give up, and we have

1:19:37

to remember You know, Kamala Harris

1:19:39

got 48% of the popular vote.

1:19:41

Yes. Trump got 49. Each of

1:19:43

the battleground states was within, you

1:19:45

know, a point. There's not something

1:19:47

fundamental that has happened in the

1:19:49

country. We had this really difficult

1:19:51

situation as Democrats where everyone saw

1:19:53

in real time that President Biden

1:19:56

was no longer up to the

1:19:58

job. There was a panic, you

1:20:00

know, and there was this process

1:20:02

or lack of a process, really,

1:20:04

a very difficult position for Vice

1:20:06

President Harris to step into, and

1:20:08

I think she did a really

1:20:10

wonderful job. She had a hundred

1:20:12

days to do something that most

1:20:15

people who have ever run for

1:20:17

the job have two years. Yes.

1:20:19

So there's not something that's totally

1:20:21

broken about the, or is it

1:20:23

humbling? Yeah. Could we have a

1:20:25

more attractive message? Yes. Could we

1:20:27

have more dynamic leaders step up

1:20:29

to the plate? For sure. But

1:20:31

the only way that they can

1:20:34

have a permanent majority is if

1:20:36

enough of us sit back quietly

1:20:38

while they fix the courts and

1:20:40

make... And by fix you mean?

1:20:42

Yes, sorry, fix them in the

1:20:44

way, like, rig them, the better

1:20:46

word. But there's a playbook, you

1:20:48

know, from Hungary to Brazil to

1:20:50

all kinds of other countries in

1:20:53

the world. It's just a playbook

1:20:55

that everyone knows about. It's how

1:20:57

to be. The authoritarian playbook. And

1:20:59

so like Congress and Swalwell said,

1:21:01

there's a million things we can

1:21:03

do to push back against it.

1:21:05

And they are all in some

1:21:07

ways equally important. So, you know,

1:21:09

the leaders, the future, our future

1:21:12

leaders come from state and local

1:21:14

politics, right? So like, Obama was

1:21:16

a state senator in Springfield, Illinois,

1:21:18

right? The religion was the governor

1:21:20

of Arkansas, like one of our

1:21:22

smallest states. And so we've, I

1:21:24

think. Again, identifying somebody

1:21:27

that you think represents your values

1:21:29

and that you're excited about. And

1:21:31

kind of supporting them helps motivate

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on Hulu. Something unexpected happened after

1:22:34

Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle

1:22:36

Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1.

1:22:39

I just knew him as a

1:22:41

kid. Long silent voices from his

1:22:43

past came forward. And he was

1:22:45

just staring at me. And they

1:22:48

had secrets of their own to

1:22:50

share. Gilbert King? I'm the son

1:22:52

of... I was no longer just

1:22:54

telling the story. I was part

1:22:57

of it. Every time I hear

1:22:59

about my dad, oh he's a

1:23:01

killer, he's just straight evil. I

1:23:03

was becoming the bridge between a

1:23:06

killer and the son he'd never

1:23:08

known. If the cops and everything

1:23:10

would have done their job properly,

1:23:12

my dad would have been in

1:23:15

jail, I would have never existed.

1:23:17

I never expected to find myself

1:23:19

in this place. Now, I need

1:23:21

to tell you how I got

1:23:24

here. At the end of the

1:23:26

day, I'm literally a son of

1:23:28

a killer. Bone Valley, season two.

1:23:30

Jeremy. I want to tell you

1:23:33

something. Listen to new episodes of

1:23:35

Bone Valley, season two, starting April

1:23:37

9th on the I-Hart Radio app,

1:23:39

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1:23:44

entire new season, add free with

1:23:46

exclusive content starting April 9th, subscribe

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to Lava for Good Plus on

1:23:51

Apple Podcasts. Who

1:23:55

are you excited about? Who are

1:23:58

the leaders that you love? Right.

1:24:00

now. So many people. I think

1:24:02

the first that comes to mind

1:24:05

is the wonderful new governor of

1:24:07

Maryland who you and I met

1:24:09

together, Westmore. Yes. In addition to

1:24:11

just being like a wonderful human

1:24:14

being, you know, he and his

1:24:16

wife are so dynamic and he's

1:24:18

already done it a lot that

1:24:21

was bipartisan in Maryland. I love

1:24:23

Congressman Richie Torres from the Bronx.

1:24:25

He was the first gay man

1:24:28

of color. to be elected, along

1:24:30

with Mondair Jones, the former congressman

1:24:32

from New York. I think Ritchie

1:24:34

Torres is great. I love Gina

1:24:37

Raymondo, who was a governor before

1:24:39

she was in President Biden's cabinet,

1:24:41

Ruben Gallego, the new senator from

1:24:44

Arizona, who is Kirsten cinema, boo.

1:24:46

Boo. Reuben is wonderful. I got

1:24:48

to campaign with him quite a

1:24:51

bit this year and just, I

1:24:53

guess, last year and just adore

1:24:55

him and his family. Pete Buttigadge,

1:24:58

you know, who's obviously new, but

1:25:00

you know, we forget that Pete

1:25:02

Buttigad won the Iowa caucus in

1:25:04

2020, right before COVID started. Yeah.

1:25:07

He's a serious, serious leader of

1:25:09

our party. Jasmine Crockett, who's Congressman

1:25:11

Swallow mentioned. She's so wonderful. She's

1:25:14

a brilliant lawyer, but you know,

1:25:16

she's obviously filling that void that

1:25:18

people feel sometimes like, why don't

1:25:21

we have someone who's like more

1:25:23

of a fire? You can really

1:25:25

like take it. So that's Jasmine

1:25:27

Crockett if you don't know her.

1:25:30

Yeah, she's amazing. Somebody. somebody I

1:25:32

posted something about how disrespectful Marjorie

1:25:34

Taylor Green was to a journalist

1:25:37

this week and someone was like

1:25:39

you have nothing to say about

1:25:41

Jasmine Crockett and I said honey

1:25:44

Jasmine Crockett is just matching their

1:25:46

volume yeah I'm like if you

1:25:48

don't like it get your people

1:25:50

to stop yeah yeah and I

1:25:53

was in a room recently with

1:25:55

her and there was just tremendous

1:25:57

grassroots support for her. Kind of

1:26:00

unlike anything like people whipping their

1:26:02

napkins at the table. Like, yeah.

1:26:04

Got it. There's a lot of

1:26:07

talent in Michigan. Obviously, the one.

1:26:09

Yes. Gretchen Whitmer and the new

1:26:11

son. We love Big Gretch. Lockkin.

1:26:13

She's wonderful too. Yeah. So there's

1:26:16

a lot of people. We have

1:26:18

wonderful, wonderful talent. But to me,

1:26:20

it's like, what happened in 2017

1:26:23

when Trump won is a bunch

1:26:25

of talented bad-asses ran for office.

1:26:27

a bunch of veterans, nurses and

1:26:30

doctors, people who were running the

1:26:32

PTA and saw what was going

1:26:34

on with schools. And they're now

1:26:36

in Congress. And they're like amazing,

1:26:39

you know, Abigail Spamburger from Virginia,

1:26:41

born Underwood from Illinois, who was

1:26:43

a, who was a nurse, and

1:26:46

saw what was found out the

1:26:48

Affordable Care Act, and was like,

1:26:50

no, you know, that is how

1:26:53

we fight back and build and

1:26:55

win. So to your listeners, I

1:26:57

would also say like, like, There's

1:26:59

nothing magical about running for Congress.

1:27:02

Start small, like, but get in

1:27:04

the mix if you care about

1:27:06

the school board. Even being involved,

1:27:09

you know, in your community organizations

1:27:11

matters right now. Yes, absolutely. It's

1:27:13

all such good advice in it.

1:27:16

And it does remind me of

1:27:18

the power lovers that we as

1:27:20

citizens can still pull and push

1:27:22

on, which feels exciting. Who do

1:27:25

you hope? will make a bid

1:27:27

for our party for president in

1:27:29

2028? Well, it's a tough thing

1:27:32

to answer because what I think

1:27:34

about in my quiet moments is

1:27:36

like, has something changed that we,

1:27:39

to the degree that like we

1:27:41

won't go back to how it

1:27:43

was before? So know that we've

1:27:45

always had, if there's a Venn

1:27:48

diagram of like what makes you

1:27:50

a talented politician and what makes

1:27:52

you a talented actor or entertainer,

1:27:55

big overlap. from Ronald Reagan to

1:27:57

Jesse Ventura to Donald Trump. And

1:27:59

there are many more, you know,

1:28:02

Sonny Bono. So what I don't

1:28:04

know is like, are we at

1:28:06

a place now where we need

1:28:08

a celebrity to win? And I'm

1:28:11

just not sure. So there's a

1:28:13

world in which you have George

1:28:15

Clooney or Matthew McConaughey or The

1:28:18

Rock running for the Democratic nomination

1:28:20

a year and a half. Well.

1:28:22

None of those people would be

1:28:25

a bad president. I think any

1:28:27

of them would be 1,000 times

1:28:29

better than Donald Trump and JD

1:28:31

Vance. That is very different though

1:28:34

from a primary that has people

1:28:36

to judge in Westmore and Gretchen

1:28:38

Whitmer and Amy Klobuchar and Or

1:28:41

is there someone from business? You

1:28:43

know Howard Shoulton Michael Bloomberg tried

1:28:45

last time Is Mark Cuban gonna

1:28:48

throw his hat in the ring?

1:28:50

I don't think he will but

1:28:52

or is there someone else who

1:28:54

runs a beloved you know Bob

1:28:57

Eiger who's run the most beloved

1:28:59

corporation on earth for 20 years

1:29:01

like yeah Iran well Oprah so

1:29:04

I don't know what I hope.

1:29:06

There's not one person. I know

1:29:08

that we will have a really

1:29:11

competitive primary. Vice President Harris might

1:29:13

choose to run again. And I

1:29:15

just I know that I'm proud

1:29:17

to be a Democrat right now

1:29:20

because the people standing on our

1:29:22

primary stage are going to look

1:29:24

like the country. And there will

1:29:27

be kind of everything. And I

1:29:29

hope that what I do think

1:29:31

we've moved beyond is identity politics.

1:29:34

And we know why they started

1:29:36

and why we needed them, right?

1:29:38

Marginalized groups had to organize to

1:29:40

get rights. But now what we

1:29:43

have realized is that most people

1:29:45

who are in those communities don't

1:29:47

want to be grouped into that.

1:29:50

And so, you know, six months

1:29:52

ago we had Ombres, Kone Harris,

1:29:54

right, for like Latino men who

1:29:57

were with Harris, like people didn't

1:29:59

react well to that. And so

1:30:01

I think ideas and talking about

1:30:03

the future and the aspirational part

1:30:06

of like being an American who

1:30:08

has enough money to like have

1:30:10

a nice life, that is what

1:30:13

our nominees should and I think

1:30:15

will. represent rather than like, oh,

1:30:17

here's the gay candidate, here's the

1:30:20

black candidate, here's the Latino candidate.

1:30:22

That's not what we need. And

1:30:24

I don't think that's what our

1:30:26

party will offer going forward. Right.

1:30:29

Well, and I guess what's frustrating

1:30:31

is if you are, you know,

1:30:33

described by any of those words,

1:30:36

people act like, that's your whole

1:30:38

personality or the whole reason you're

1:30:40

a candidate. It must be DEA.

1:30:43

It must be DEA. And it's

1:30:45

like, no, these are just people.

1:30:47

who will ensure that people are

1:30:50

represented. It's like it's not that

1:30:52

complicated. And I do hope that

1:30:54

the more conversations we can have

1:30:56

in our communities, the more engagement,

1:30:59

we see people participating in from

1:31:01

town halls to making calls to

1:31:03

Congress, to protesting, to volunteering. My

1:31:06

wish is that it reminds us

1:31:08

that we all really are in

1:31:10

this together. And at the end

1:31:13

of the day, the more people

1:31:15

that are represented in any room,

1:31:17

the better the outcomes in that

1:31:19

room are for everyone. Even the

1:31:22

people who have traditionally had the

1:31:24

power. So I hope we can

1:31:26

show people another way. And for

1:31:29

now I'm really grateful to have

1:31:31

both of you gentlemen on my

1:31:33

speed dial. We'll just keep going.

1:31:36

Thank you for everything you're doing

1:31:38

and you know it's like Eric

1:31:40

said at the start of the

1:31:42

conversation you don't have to be

1:31:45

doing this but I think knowing

1:31:47

you for almost 20 years like

1:31:49

it's what makes you come alive.

1:31:52

And it's in your bones and

1:31:54

I know that out of your

1:31:56

millions of followers, just as many

1:31:59

are coming to you for how

1:32:01

to be a citizen as they

1:32:03

are for their favorite show or

1:32:05

podcast and that's a real testament

1:32:08

to how you show up in

1:32:10

the world and the reputation you've

1:32:12

built. for fighting for everyone, even

1:32:15

the people that don't look like

1:32:17

you. So, thank you. Thanks, Jordan.

1:32:19

Thank you. I met a really

1:32:22

sweet gal in Wilmington about a

1:32:24

week ago who said, I'm going

1:32:26

to law school because of you.

1:32:28

I followed all this stuff, you

1:32:31

know, since middle school, and now

1:32:33

I'm going to law school. And

1:32:35

I was like, oh my God,

1:32:38

this makes me want to sob.

1:32:40

She's going to be a human

1:32:42

rights attorney. And it was very

1:32:45

special. It is meaningful to do

1:32:47

this work with you. It's meaningful

1:32:49

to get to have these conversations

1:32:51

with everyone who's listening at home.

1:32:54

Thank you all for being here.

1:32:56

And I do hope that some

1:32:58

of this pragmatic advice has reminded

1:33:01

you to stay hopeful and stay

1:33:03

in the game because we're not

1:33:05

going to seed our territory. We're

1:33:08

not going to seed this country

1:33:10

to anybody who wants to take

1:33:12

it apart. Damn it. Well, I

1:33:14

love you. I love you. Thank

1:33:17

you for having me. Every time

1:33:19

I hear about my dad, oh,

1:33:21

he's a killer, he's just straight

1:33:24

evil. I was becoming the bridge

1:33:26

between Jeremy Scott and the son

1:33:28

he'd never known. At the end

1:33:31

of the day, I'm literally a

1:33:33