1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,120
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,

2
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,120
Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of

3
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,840
Speaker 1: today's best minds, and we have another Republican congress person

4
00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,800
Speaker 1: who's lied about being Jewish. We have a fun but

5
00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,120
Speaker 1: important show today, Democracy Dockets. Mark Elias talks to us

6
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,840
Speaker 1: about what we can do to protect our democracy. Then

7
00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:27,320
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Wisconsin Democrats Chair Ben Wickler, who will

8
00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,880
Speaker 1: explain why this upcoming state Supreme Court race is one

9
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,680
Speaker 1: of the most important races in the country. But first

10
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,680
Speaker 1: we have the host of the Enemy's List, the one,

11
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,400
Speaker 1: the only the Lincoln Projects, Rick Wilson. Welcome back, too,

12
00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:46,479
Speaker 1: Fast Politics. Rick Wilson, are you this morning? We're all

13
00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,200
Speaker 1: a little bleary eyed though I've been up for five hours,

14
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,240
Speaker 1: so I want to talk to you about the alien

15
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: invasion and the spy balloons. They're gonna be mad if

16
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,640
Speaker 1: they're aliens, and we've been shooting him down right, you know.

17
00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,120
Speaker 1: As as as Stuart Stevens, who was a man of

18
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: great wisdom, tweeted the other day he said, you know

19
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,320
Speaker 1: what this probably is is some billionaire from another galaxy

20
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,959
Speaker 1: who bought an expensive faceship to feel important. Now he's

21
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:20,040
Speaker 1: going to be off. I'm not such an aviation nerd

22
00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,800
Speaker 1: that I had the live stream of the Salt Lake

23
00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,840
Speaker 1: City Northern Sector fifteen and Montana tuned in last night. Well,

24
00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 1: that wasn't me. I wasn't listening to the fighter planes

25
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,720
Speaker 1: chase whatever the funk they were chasing in Alaska. I mean, look,

26
00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,560
Speaker 1: the funny part of it is I came into my

27
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,959
Speaker 1: professional career before politics as like the last generation of

28
00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,040
Speaker 1: young Cold Warriors, right, and no one wanted to admit it,

29
00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:47,400
Speaker 1: I think for the last three or four years. But

30
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,520
Speaker 1: the Cold War is really really back. I mean it's yeah,

31
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,840
Speaker 1: but during the Cold War we didn't have two different enemies. Yeah,

32
00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 1: we did until the reproachment between the US and China

33
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,080
Speaker 1: during Nick's and we faced both the Red Chinese as

34
00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:06,160
Speaker 1: they said, and the Soviets. Actually we've got more than

35
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 1: two enemies now, We've got a whole passle of them.

36
00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,200
Speaker 1: But the Oukams Razor answer to this is these are

37
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,079
Speaker 1: some kind of intelligence platform, likely as the first what

38
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 1: was from the Chinese. I think we will have a

39
00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:17,560
Speaker 1: lot of confusion as to what they are and what

40
00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 1: they look like until we start, you know, getting Hiras

41
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,799
Speaker 1: photographs and whacking a few more home out of the sky.

42
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,200
Speaker 1: This is a cold war moment where it's better that

43
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,080
Speaker 1: we relieve the tensions between our nations in low intensity

44
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,320
Speaker 1: things like this, then in high intensity things like in

45
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,239
Speaker 1: China's case, you know, a direct shooting war over Taiwan.

46
00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 1: I'm no military expert, but that seems bad. Yeah, that

47
00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,640
Speaker 1: would be extremely sporty and not great. It would not

48
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,040
Speaker 1: go well for anybody. It's one of those things where, yeah,

49
00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,480
Speaker 1: the Chinese might win, they might take Taiwan, but several

50
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,640
Speaker 1: million people have probably dying in the process. Not a

51
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,640
Speaker 1: fun outcome. But you know, look, my my, that's the

52
00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,760
Speaker 1: Okams razor explanation. The other explanation is, you know they're

53
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 1: here and they're piste off. Wait that's aliens or the

54
00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: Chinese the aliens. I mean, that's the other explanation. Okay,

55
00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 1: I'm hoping they're here. They're piste off. They're all gonna

56
00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:10,720
Speaker 1: look like Donald Trump, and they're gonna come from a

57
00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,840
Speaker 1: planet with nothing but lowering casinos and golf courses. Yeah,

58
00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:18,440
Speaker 1: I'm excited. Why did you treat that ambassador with such

59
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:25,080
Speaker 1: school I'm excited because this has gotten even stupider. I

60
00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,679
Speaker 1: am your huckleberry for getting stupids right, for getting stupider.

61
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,560
Speaker 1: So we have three balloons, all three shot down to

62
00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:37,040
Speaker 1: shutdown very quickly, one shutdown after a couple of days.

63
00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,000
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about the Republican response

64
00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,840
Speaker 1: to the balloon shooting down. Summarize it for you. Yes,

65
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: oh my god, why isn't Joe Biden shooting down in

66
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,160
Speaker 1: the balloon? Shot down the balloon? How explaatory and dangerous? Right?

67
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 1: That's it. Basically, I was talking to a Democratic official

68
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: the other day. They were a little you know, it's

69
00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:57,560
Speaker 1: like we did the right thing, and this was the

70
00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,320
Speaker 1: right thing, and defend Democratic defense official, we did the

71
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 1: right thing, this was done by the book the D

72
00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: O D head point. And we can't make these happy.

73
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,720
Speaker 1: Why which of them can I go talk to still

74
00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,600
Speaker 1: to make sense with them? I said, look, behind closed doors,

75
00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:13,640
Speaker 1: there are probably a half a dozen of them in

76
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,200
Speaker 1: the Senate that get it and are reasonable people and

77
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,000
Speaker 1: and aren't just gonna be assholes for the purpose of

78
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,800
Speaker 1: being assholes. The rest of them are locked in this

79
00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:28,480
Speaker 1: performative horseship kabuki cycle where absolutely everything is the worst,

80
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,120
Speaker 1: the end, the doom, the apocalypse, and it's all Joe

81
00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,920
Speaker 1: Biden's fault. And when then Joe Biden does the thing

82
00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,520
Speaker 1: that either a they said they wanted be they claimed

83
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,279
Speaker 1: Trump would have done, or see that generically speaking, any

84
00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,440
Speaker 1: responsible president would do. And when it turns out he's

85
00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,479
Speaker 1: had these longer considered strategic discussions on how to handle

86
00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,919
Speaker 1: these problems because he's not stupid. He doesn't deal with

87
00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,560
Speaker 1: everything from a place of emotion. They get incredibly upset

88
00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,839
Speaker 1: because the cognitive dissonance there were required to maintain in

89
00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,320
Speaker 1: their lives at all times requires them to treat you know,

90
00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: Joe Biden as the as was said the other day,

91
00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,440
Speaker 1: he's either a senile daughtering old man or he's an

92
00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,839
Speaker 1: international criminal, communist mastermind, right, all right, And there's not

93
00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:14,839
Speaker 1: a lot of room in between the two. I want

94
00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,920
Speaker 1: to quote Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio. This is today

95
00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:23,600
Speaker 1: to Jake Tapper, the Biden administration does seem somewhat trigger happy,

96
00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,280
Speaker 1: although this is certainly preferable to the permissive environment that

97
00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:30,840
Speaker 1: they showed when the Chinese by balloon was coming over

98
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,400
Speaker 1: some of our most sensitive sites. So you damned if

99
00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,600
Speaker 1: you do, damned if you don't. Of course you are

100
00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,960
Speaker 1: that's the game they play. Remember, it's important for people

101
00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,440
Speaker 1: to realize the game we're actually in is not the

102
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,520
Speaker 1: old normative politics of the past. The game we're actually

103
00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 1: in is how can every single day be filled up

104
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,520
Speaker 1: with a message cycle on the Republican machine from Fox

105
00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:58,000
Speaker 1: all the way down to the bottom feeder weirdo crazies

106
00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,080
Speaker 1: on Twitter and social media? How can it all be

107
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:05,960
Speaker 1: filled up every day with a message of crisis, panic, chaos, danger, division.

108
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,400
Speaker 1: Joe Biden is leaving us open to the dangers of

109
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 1: trans tiva sharia law. That's TM bitches. I invented trans tiva.

110
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 1: And this leads me to my next question for you,

111
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,719
Speaker 1: which is this poll that Abby Phillips put up this morning.

112
00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,279
Speaker 1: It's a Washington Post pole. This is the Weaponization Committee,

113
00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,240
Speaker 1: which was Tucker Carlson's idea, a new church committee where

114
00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,920
Speaker 1: Republicans could strike back against uh, you know, and really

115
00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:41,080
Speaker 1: Benghazi Biden. And here is the poll, okay, from the

116
00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,240
Speaker 1: first week of or actually before it even started. What

117
00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,719
Speaker 1: do Americans think about the House Committee on Weaponization of Government,

118
00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,720
Speaker 1: which is about Trump space. I think it's a legitimate investigation.

119
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,760
Speaker 1: Fifty six percent attempt to score political points the MAGA base,

120
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:04,040
Speaker 1: which is the driver of everything inside the Republican Party. Okay,

121
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,120
Speaker 1: there are no moderates who are going to stand up

122
00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,120
Speaker 1: and p bold. There are no more list Cheneys or

123
00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,680
Speaker 1: Adam Kinzinger's. They're gone. They're all dead. Politically speaking, they're over.

124
00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,360
Speaker 1: It's done. The American people get to see Jim Jordan

125
00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,800
Speaker 1: in his weird, sweaty no jacket mentally deficient. I mean,

126
00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,200
Speaker 1: the guy looks like somebody who was raised on mold,

127
00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,360
Speaker 1: lead paint and plastic bottle of vodka, you know, from

128
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,200
Speaker 1: the womb. He's stupid. They see him being stupid. They

129
00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,680
Speaker 1: see Comber I mean and by the way, just as

130
00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,360
Speaker 1: quick aside, Okay, was there some fucking meeting inside the

131
00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:38,920
Speaker 1: caucus were like, you know, we need somebody who's dumber

132
00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 1: than Jim Jordan's but also really lacks any kind of charisma, humor,

133
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,320
Speaker 1: warmth or engagement. But but he has to be really stupid,

134
00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:49,840
Speaker 1: he has to be a stupid person. So who did

135
00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:55,440
Speaker 1: they pick? Comber? Yeah? Comber is doing the media rounds. Yeah,

136
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,880
Speaker 1: he makes Jim Jordan's look like he's a Nobel Prize

137
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:03,080
Speaker 1: winner and string he's so terrible on television here's the

138
00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,280
Speaker 1: reality of all of it. We live in our bubble

139
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:10,679
Speaker 1: of Washington, New York media, the politics bubble tallahassee. Yeah

140
00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,320
Speaker 1: and then yeah, we'll believe me. Every fucking report in

141
00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,600
Speaker 1: America is about to start getting an apartment here. Every

142
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 1: political consultant on the Republican side from Washington. You cannot

143
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,440
Speaker 1: now go out to a restaurant in this town without

144
00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,560
Speaker 1: seeing some Republican from Washington who I've known for twenty

145
00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,760
Speaker 1: or thirty years, and they act really uncomfortable because you

146
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:30,200
Speaker 1: know what I do every time I go up like

147
00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,000
Speaker 1: a Labrador retriever, like, hey man, it's so good to

148
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,280
Speaker 1: see you up because there this town is full of

149
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 1: like snitches. Now right to the same people are like

150
00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,520
Speaker 1: I had one guy literally literally like I go up

151
00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,560
Speaker 1: to this table at this restaurant in the night, I'm like, hey, buddy,

152
00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:47,920
Speaker 1: how are you because I know there's in the santis

153
00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,040
Speaker 1: people in the same restaurant. It's like, she looks like

154
00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:57,360
Speaker 1: I've killed this fucking dog. So well, it's good you're

155
00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,920
Speaker 1: having a good time. But put more about the apocalypse.

156
00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,080
Speaker 1: What is nice to know that there's a lot of

157
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,440
Speaker 1: Florida funckery, But I want to ask you, what we're

158
00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:11,640
Speaker 1: seeing now is a Republican Party that's extremely mad and

159
00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,120
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell. We're seeing a lot of like Rick Scott v.

160
00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,679
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell. And even in my mind, I think Rick

161
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,520
Speaker 1: Scott gets crushed by Mitch McConnell. I don't think you

162
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,920
Speaker 1: come from Mitch McConnell unless you're sure you have a

163
00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,640
Speaker 1: kill shot. Excuse my obviously metaphorical metaphor. There is a

164
00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,679
Speaker 1: thing about politicians from Florida. And Rick Scott and Rhonda

165
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 1: Santis were both inheritors of this mighty political machine. Okay,

166
00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: and Rick Scott had all of his own money, But

167
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,080
Speaker 1: this mighty political machine that elects these guys over and

168
00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,240
Speaker 1: over again, it makes it. All of this old money

169
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,959
Speaker 1: that he got from me from stealing for medicare is

170
00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,560
Speaker 1: which he now wants to sunset, which which is like

171
00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,679
Speaker 1: a prank movie starring Voldemort as a heist. I'll tell

172
00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:01,559
Speaker 1: you what going to do. Are going to see all

173
00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:06,000
Speaker 1: the old people's money, eat marcute food, Grandma. But that

174
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,920
Speaker 1: system that elected both of these guys made their lives

175
00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,000
Speaker 1: feel and Marco also, they made their lives feel easy.

176
00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,239
Speaker 1: It made their political lives feel easy, and they conflate

177
00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,160
Speaker 1: easy electoral wins with being good at internal politics. Rick

178
00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:26,120
Speaker 1: Scott as the personality of a komodo dragon. Vaguely interesting

179
00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,920
Speaker 1: to watch on a nature documentary, But you don't want

180
00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,040
Speaker 1: to be near that bacteria infected giant killing machine. He's

181
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,320
Speaker 1: not a great guy to be around. He's not a

182
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,760
Speaker 1: warm or engaging person. He doesn't fit in with the club.

183
00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,720
Speaker 1: He's not one of the guys. Now he says, that's okay.

184
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,760
Speaker 1: He likes that. He's sort of about it. I'm an outsider. No,

185
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,079
Speaker 1: he would desperately like to go to the prom. He

186
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:49,840
Speaker 1: would desperately like to be one of the cool kids.

187
00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: He would desperately like to sit at the right lunch table.

188
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 1: Right Meanwhile, the cool kids here are Mitch McConnell. So

189
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,800
Speaker 1: this is not But yes, I know it's it's it's

190
00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,760
Speaker 1: the club you don't want to be in, right, right, right,

191
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,920
Speaker 1: But Mitch McConnell. And I wrote this in my second book.

192
00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,880
Speaker 1: Washington is littered with the bodies of people in the

193
00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,720
Speaker 1: Republican Party who thought they were gonna fuck Mitch McConnell.

194
00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,160
Speaker 1: And you don't have to like him, and you don't

195
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,600
Speaker 1: have to to think he's a good person, to recognize

196
00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:19,840
Speaker 1: he has game, to recognize that as a Senate Minority leader,

197
00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,680
Speaker 1: he arguably has more power than Chuck Schumer. Well, I'm

198
00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,040
Speaker 1: not going to completely go along with that, but yes,

199
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,160
Speaker 1: the difference will someday break the spell of inertia with

200
00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,640
Speaker 1: that guy. We're going to agree to disagree here, but

201
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,520
Speaker 1: I do think that we are seeing Republicans. I mean,

202
00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,880
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell got Donald Trump three Supreme Court seats, two

203
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:45,040
Speaker 1: of which he didn't have any claim to correct. I listen, listen,

204
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:52,560
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell is extraordinarily good at politics. Okay, absolutely extraordinarily

205
00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,400
Speaker 1: good at it. Again, you don't have to like you.

206
00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:56,360
Speaker 1: And this is this is like the curse of being

207
00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,040
Speaker 1: an ex Republican. If I praise the game the guy plays,

208
00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:04,120
Speaker 1: I will get emails people. Now he's good at what

209
00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,839
Speaker 1: he does. Miss McConnell is a dark force in our

210
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,760
Speaker 1: politics at this point because he let Donald Trump off

211
00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 1: the hook over and over again, and for the one

212
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,280
Speaker 1: fucking time he could have used the superpowers for good,

213
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,040
Speaker 1: not for evil, he chose not to. Oh, no question.

214
00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,200
Speaker 1: And I also think ultimately he thought Donald Trump that

215
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,080
Speaker 1: the leopard wouldn't eat his face, and the leopard is

216
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,880
Speaker 1: in fact coming for his face. Oh listen, the leopard

217
00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,880
Speaker 1: now has eight or nine seats, okay, and those eight

218
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,160
Speaker 1: or nine seats in which he now has complete control

219
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,760
Speaker 1: that the maga's now have complete control over. It's a

220
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:41,000
Speaker 1: growing number, not a shrinking number. Listen. After when the

221
00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,000
Speaker 1: monster of the Tea Party, which I was a part

222
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,440
Speaker 1: of building, sorry, got loose and put up people like

223
00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:49,160
Speaker 1: Richard Murdoch, a lot of adults in the room that

224
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:51,800
Speaker 1: included guys like me in the consulting world, and guys

225
00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,640
Speaker 1: like the Coke team, and a whole bunch of other people,

226
00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:58,120
Speaker 1: and most importantly Mitch McConnell, there was a vowel we

227
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,960
Speaker 1: are never having these goddamn crazies to over the party again.

228
00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,640
Speaker 1: We are never letting them put their fucking crazy candidates

229
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: on the ballot again, because we could have won a

230
00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:12,640
Speaker 1: sweeping majority in but the crazies were in charge. So

231
00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:15,760
Speaker 1: if you were, if you were the then equivalent of

232
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,160
Speaker 1: a maga, if you were a Tea Party lunatic, somebody

233
00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:19,360
Speaker 1: was going to come to your house and hold a

234
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,920
Speaker 1: pillow over your face politically speaking, until you stopped twitching.

235
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,640
Speaker 1: It happened, a lot happened all over the country. That

236
00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,120
Speaker 1: was a McConnell operation. There was a desire to get

237
00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:33,280
Speaker 1: rid of the factory. Well this year McConnell did not

238
00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,480
Speaker 1: get his choices for you, and so the the the

239
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,920
Speaker 1: NRSC and the combined campaigns spent half a billion dollars.

240
00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: Now part of that was Rick Scott fucked it up

241
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:46,839
Speaker 1: and spent a hundred seventy five of the building out

242
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:53,360
Speaker 1: his own political lists and operations on their budget. Scott,

243
00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:59,200
Speaker 1: who could have seen it coming over institution, used it

244
00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:02,880
Speaker 1: for his own benefit, corrupted it and spent all the money.

245
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,240
Speaker 1: Who could have seen it? I just don't it's so unprecedented.

246
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:12,720
Speaker 1: How did this happen? Yeah, unbelievable. But Scott and McConnell

247
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:15,640
Speaker 1: are now in open warfare. And when Mitch mcculloughy that,

248
00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:17,559
Speaker 1: I said, well, I've fund it. Hard to believe he

249
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,560
Speaker 1: could even be reelected in his own state. It was

250
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,560
Speaker 1: a large snow vault paper in the country. Yeah, that

251
00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,880
Speaker 1: was Mitch McConnell equiped what I'm saying. I will give

252
00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,360
Speaker 1: you two options. There's a luger on the table, there's

253
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,640
Speaker 1: one bullet in it. You make the right you make

254
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,280
Speaker 1: the right choice for your family. You know, that's Mitch McConnell. Like,

255
00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,720
Speaker 1: that is a clear signal that Scott now, Rick Scott

256
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,720
Speaker 1: has half a billion dollars of his own money, which,

257
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,120
Speaker 1: by the way, if you want to talk about like

258
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:45,320
Speaker 1: where the fun did income in and quality happened in

259
00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,480
Speaker 1: this country, the guy has not had any kind of

260
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,440
Speaker 1: business at all since he was thrown out of h

261
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,800
Speaker 1: c A in the early two thousand. Okay, when he

262
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,880
Speaker 1: ran for governor of Florida, he was worth about a

263
00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,560
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five million dollars and Conservatives is now

264
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,320
Speaker 1: and he's very clever about how they put it in

265
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,080
Speaker 1: trust for his kids and his wife all the ship.

266
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,240
Speaker 1: I talked to someone recently said they believe Rick Scott

267
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,800
Speaker 1: is worth five hundred and seventy five million dollars. So

268
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:13,840
Speaker 1: he can die. He can dump another hundred mill into

269
00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,360
Speaker 1: his campaign and not break a sweat. Yeah, or someone

270
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 1: else's which is probably more his choice. One of the

271
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,200
Speaker 1: things that I think is a really important data point

272
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,680
Speaker 1: which I haven't seen so much reporting on, is that

273
00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,080
Speaker 1: while Kevin McCarthy elevated the people who did not make him.

274
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,560
Speaker 1: Speaker Mitch McConnell actually punished the people who came at him.

275
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:38,520
Speaker 1: And Josh Holly has been downgraded and kicked off a committee,

276
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,040
Speaker 1: while Matt Gates has been elevated, And I want you

277
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,080
Speaker 1: to talk about that for a minute. Look, Kevin McCarthy

278
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,200
Speaker 1: has made a deal. And the deal is with the

279
00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:51,600
Speaker 1: proverbial devil. What is the fundamental of all Mustapha lan deals.

280
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,320
Speaker 1: The devil always fucks you in the end. That's the

281
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,640
Speaker 1: typical arch type of the whole low key trickster devil character.

282
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,800
Speaker 1: They always break their word, they always break the deal.

283
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,160
Speaker 1: Kevin every day is like, Nope, that leopard is not

284
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,280
Speaker 1: going to eat my face as you as your analogy

285
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,280
Speaker 1: just wasn a minute ago. They are so excited to

286
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,320
Speaker 1: eat his face. They're gonna eat his face over the

287
00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:14,960
Speaker 1: debt ceiling, the funny party season. He's wedged. He's got

288
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,120
Speaker 1: these these handful of moderates that we're pressuring at Lincoln

289
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,360
Speaker 1: to like say that you won't crash the economy, and

290
00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,560
Speaker 1: they're like hammona halmona hammana. But the Gates people, part

291
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,520
Speaker 1: of the deal behind closed doors was we will never

292
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,160
Speaker 1: vote for a debt ceiling increase without massive Social Security

293
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,680
Speaker 1: and benefits cuts. So McCarthy he really wants to be

294
00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,600
Speaker 1: speaker for longer than the next fourteen months. He really does,

295
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,920
Speaker 1: but it's very difficult to see how he gets there

296
00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:42,680
Speaker 1: because he has made a deal with the crazies. It

297
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 1: also says something about the House caucus that for the

298
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,600
Speaker 1: most part the whole show, Remember he was Donald Trump's candidate,

299
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,200
Speaker 1: and everybody that was in his caucus for Donald Trump's people,

300
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:54,200
Speaker 1: and all those two hundred plus people that were with

301
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,840
Speaker 1: him from the beginning were always Donald Trump's people because

302
00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,240
Speaker 1: they wanted Donald Trump to be happy. Because Donald Trump

303
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,440
Speaker 1: runs the republic Party base to this minute, to this

304
00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:04,679
Speaker 1: very second. And man, I have some new polling on

305
00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:06,919
Speaker 1: that scar which it would scare the ship out of

306
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,199
Speaker 1: Republicans if they read it. Yeah, tell us about the

307
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,800
Speaker 1: new polling. One more thing, McConnell understands how to punish

308
00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 1: and reward. Okay, his problem is McConnell is not good

309
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,600
Speaker 1: at the outside game of social media politics and of

310
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,879
Speaker 1: the entertainment industrial complex of the Republican Party. That's a

311
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:25,520
Speaker 1: continuing story. Both of them made those choices based on

312
00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,320
Speaker 1: bad predicates. I saw some polling on Friday briefing. I

313
00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,200
Speaker 1: wasn't on Friday, and Donald Trump has the suicide vest

314
00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,760
Speaker 1: On and he's sitting in a car loaded with explosives

315
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,159
Speaker 1: and it's parked in the middle of a minefield. And

316
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:43,080
Speaker 1: if he decides that he's piste off and says I've

317
00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:45,800
Speaker 1: been treated very badly, do not vote, we run to

318
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,959
Speaker 1: sanctimonious and he loses, he wouldn't even have to run

319
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,959
Speaker 1: as an independent. He wouldn't even have to put John Jr.

320
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 1: On the ballot, which, by the way, is how they'll

321
00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,240
Speaker 1: get out of the sore loser laws in most states. Wait,

322
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,520
Speaker 1: what if Trump loses in the primary. A lot of

323
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:02,880
Speaker 1: states don't let you run in a primary and then

324
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,080
Speaker 1: file it as an independent. Twenty two of them don't

325
00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:08,280
Speaker 1: let you do that. The trick they're gonna do is

326
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,680
Speaker 1: they'll just put Don Jr. On the ballot in those

327
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,159
Speaker 1: states to draw off just enough Republican votes to kill it,

328
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,800
Speaker 1: to kill the party. He will not allow Rhonda Santis

329
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,840
Speaker 1: or any other Republican to become president of the United States.

330
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,159
Speaker 1: And he has then from the numbers I've just seen it.

331
00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,959
Speaker 1: We'll be talking more about these soon. He has and

332
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,920
Speaker 1: even if it's even if I'm off by a factor

333
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,760
Speaker 1: of five, the number of Republicans who will either stay home,

334
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,720
Speaker 1: leave the party right Trump in vote for another third

335
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,360
Speaker 1: party candidate if Trump doesn't have the nomination, it's astounding.

336
00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,800
Speaker 1: And this was a an enormous national survey, enormous, deep,

337
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,199
Speaker 1: academically rigorous. It's not some you know, fly by night

338
00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,640
Speaker 1: brand new polling firm. It really illustrated to me why

339
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,560
Speaker 1: everybody who's like, what are you still talking about Trump?

340
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 1: It's the Santisis party. No, no, no, bless your hearts,

341
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,760
Speaker 1: it is not. It is Donald Trump's party, and it

342
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,560
Speaker 1: is still Donald From's party at a level that people

343
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,160
Speaker 1: haven't even contemplated. The Santas is very fat and happy

344
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,560
Speaker 1: right now. Metaphorically speaking, he's never happy, but with this

345
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:15,760
Speaker 1: belief that that the billionaire class and that the elite

346
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 1: conservative media National Review, well and also Fox News and

347
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,160
Speaker 1: Rupert Rupert's got a hard on for him right now

348
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:24,840
Speaker 1: will stick with him, and they will, and that they

349
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,040
Speaker 1: have enough influence now inside the base to make it

350
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:32,800
Speaker 1: impossible for Trump to win. It's exactly inverted. The MAGA

351
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,280
Speaker 1: base now is losing faith in Fox News because now

352
00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:38,880
Speaker 1: they don't really care. They're like, I'm on Twitter, I'm

353
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 1: on oh a n I'm on Telegram. That base is moving,

354
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,320
Speaker 1: That media bubble is falling into a different iteration than

355
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,560
Speaker 1: it wasn't sixteen. And as much as National Review wants

356
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:54,399
Speaker 1: to be the tiger beat of of the Republican Party

357
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:57,840
Speaker 1: and treat Rhonda Santa's like he's Shaun Cassidy in nineteen

358
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,960
Speaker 1: seventy seven, and they squee about on him and every article,

359
00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,120
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, the bull leadership of FRONTA Santa

360
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: squis shown today because he got up and took a

361
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,280
Speaker 1: crap this morning. I mean, they can't stop. Those people

362
00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,520
Speaker 1: are so distant from the base. Now the base is becoming.

363
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,399
Speaker 1: I knew in sixteen during a lot of focus grouping

364
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,480
Speaker 1: that it was more alien than the than the establishment understood.

365
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:20,919
Speaker 1: I knew by twenty and we could all see it

366
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,920
Speaker 1: by twenty that it was this new conspiracy world and

367
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,399
Speaker 1: this alternate facts universe that was created over time by Trump.

368
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,880
Speaker 1: But now it I mean, speaking of alien invasions. They

369
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,239
Speaker 1: have language. There's been linguistic drift inside who the Republicans are.

370
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,359
Speaker 1: They speak a different vernacular than the rest of the country.

371
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,520
Speaker 1: In the world does now they believe things that are

372
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,879
Speaker 1: not true because they're not prompted by the things that

373
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,600
Speaker 1: used to drive American politics. Rick Wilson, thank you for

374
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,440
Speaker 1: joining us. As always, I'm a ray of fucking sunshine,

375
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 1: I know, but here we are. Mark Elias is the

376
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:03,040
Speaker 1: founder of Democracy Docket. Welcome too fast politics. Mark, thank

377
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 1: you for having me. We're very excited to have you.

378
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,320
Speaker 1: And I tried to have anyone who has like a

379
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:14,560
Speaker 1: legion of far right haters. Then you got the right guy,

380
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 1: like the demonization and how much they hate you, And

381
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:20,520
Speaker 1: I have that too. I mean I don't have it

382
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,800
Speaker 1: on the same scale, unfortunately for me, but you know,

383
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 1: I have people at come over to me at Seapack

384
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,040
Speaker 1: and yell at me for some real or imagined slight

385
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 1: And so I feel your pain explained to me. How

386
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,679
Speaker 1: you got a little bit about how you got to

387
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: be the great demon to the right. It's a question

388
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 1: I asked myself all the time, because there's really nothing

389
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 1: about my background or early legal career that would have

390
00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 1: predicted it. I was, you know, I grew up in

391
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,399
Speaker 1: a Jewish household in New York, went to college and

392
00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 1: Upstate New York, went to do law school, came to Washington,

393
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,640
Speaker 1: d C. Was at a big law firm. Yeah, I

394
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,360
Speaker 1: was representing Democrats and voting rights and and all of that,

395
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 1: But there was a sense in DC for most of

396
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:17,160
Speaker 1: my career that the fights between the parties would be

397
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:22,359
Speaker 1: on policies, but fundamentally both parties were committed to democracy.

398
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 1: So I think I became demonized because after sixteen it

399
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,800
Speaker 1: became clear that the bipartisan consensus that I thought existed

400
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,520
Speaker 1: around you know, basic principles like we don't ban books,

401
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:40,919
Speaker 1: you know, we don't we don't elect authoritarian crazy people,

402
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 1: and we believe in democracy. I thought that was bipartisan,

403
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:45,560
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden I realized that the people

404
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 1: on the other side didn't. And now that led them

405
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,639
Speaker 1: to focus a lot of their energy against me. And

406
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: there's people like you because we're just continuing to say

407
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 1: the same things we've always said, and they have become

408
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,359
Speaker 1: part of a cult like organization. Yeah. No, I mean

409
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 1: it is completely interesting. But you had been fighting for

410
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: voting rights and then you sort of kicked it up

411
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,119
Speaker 1: a notch a couple of years ago and went on

412
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 1: your own and started really being focused on these statewide

413
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: cases and so I want to get into that because

414
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I think you've been so demonized

415
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: is you are very effective. Yeah. So we started my

416
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: team and I started focusing on the mechanics of voting

417
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 1: and litigating a lot of lawsuits. You know, people right

418
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: now I think that we're in the slow period of

419
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,200
Speaker 1: the election cycle, and I remind them we're litigating forty

420
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,639
Speaker 1: voting cases in seventeen states. We have two cases that

421
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,359
Speaker 1: were waiting on the U Supreme courture rule on and

422
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: all of that is the product of trumps um. You know.

423
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: Donald Trump decided that he was going to attack voting,

424
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,920
Speaker 1: an attack voting rights, and attack access to the ballot,

425
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 1: and I felt like it was important that I do

426
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,600
Speaker 1: everything I could to prevent that. Yeah. A noble and

427
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:17,199
Speaker 1: also very important job. Yeah. I grew up in a

428
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:21,159
Speaker 1: household that was immigrant and pro democratic, and there was

429
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: a sense that we owed to this country to protect

430
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 1: voting rights, minority rights, the rights of freedom and democracy.

431
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: And so it never occurred to me to do anything

432
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: other than that. And as the country took a very

433
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:42,439
Speaker 1: dangerous term a turn rather under Donald Trump, I became

434
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 1: more and more committed to those fights because someone has

435
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: to take those fights on. Yeah, So I want to

436
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:51,960
Speaker 1: ask you, and I think I relate to this a lot.

437
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,399
Speaker 1: I mean in my own obviously I'm not nearly as

438
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: effective as you are, but I relate to this feeling

439
00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 1: that if I don't do this, no one else well right,

440
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 1: which is something that we have really seen a lot

441
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 1: of people have that kind of feeling after Trump is um.

442
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you what states are things

443
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: going great in? That's the first question. So I wrote

444
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,679
Speaker 1: a piece recently for Democracy Docket about the five things

445
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: that every Democratic controlled trifecta state. There seventeen states that

446
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,879
Speaker 1: Democrats control everything the five laws they need to pass.

447
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,159
Speaker 1: So there are certainly states that are doing better. You know,

448
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:37,359
Speaker 1: California has comparatively better voting laws. There are states that

449
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,879
Speaker 1: have made dramatic improvements in their voting laws. You know,

450
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: Michigan made dramatic improvements in its voting laws. But I

451
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 1: am quick to point out that there is more that

452
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 1: every state can do, and every state ought to be

453
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: looking for ways to improve access to voting in their

454
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,160
Speaker 1: states and to strengthen our democracy so that the next

455
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,360
Speaker 1: time we have an authority hurry and candidate on the right,

456
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 1: which unfortunately is likely not more than a couple of

457
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: years away, or less than a couple is likely less

458
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: than a couple of years away. They are hardened against it.

459
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: So I don't want to be a Debbie downer and

460
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 1: just say they are all bad, but they all can

461
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: stand to be improved. And Democrats right now have a

462
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: historic opportunity to do that, and they need to take it,

463
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 1: and they need to go big, and they need to

464
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 1: make those changes where they can, and then we need

465
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: to fight as hard as we can in every other

466
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,680
Speaker 1: state to ensure that voting rights and democracy or protective.

467
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 1: So what states are you really worried about? So I

468
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: continue to be very worried about Georgia, even though you know,

469
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,000
Speaker 1: we've had a couple of good elections like Goes in Georgia,

470
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 1: because Georgia has really instituted not just a legal system

471
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 1: of challenging voter eligibility, but a culture now of it.

472
00:26:55,160 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: And thousand Georgians were challenged, which is really an extraordinary number.

473
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: It's larger than any mass challenge since the Voting Rights Act.

474
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: And in we saw a hundred thousand Georgians challenge Republicans

475
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: and their allies are mounting these mass challenges to prevent

476
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,000
Speaker 1: tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Georgians from

477
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,640
Speaker 1: being able to vote. So Georgia is high on my list.

478
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 1: I continue to be very worried about Texas, which has

479
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,840
Speaker 1: some of the worst voting rules in the in the country,

480
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: and Florida, which has had pretty good voting rules, but

481
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: which right now has an authoritarian leader who has undermined

482
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: voting in the passage of already one anti voting bill,

483
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: undermined the redistricting process and contravention of the state constitution,

484
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 1: and is now in the book banning phase of authoritarian

485
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,679
Speaker 1: I would say those are the states I'm principally focused on,

486
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 1: But I'm also worried about Ohio. Ohio just passed a

487
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 1: series of restricted voting laws that you know, made the

488
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,679
Speaker 1: I D laws tighter, made drop boxes harder to to

489
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:03,120
Speaker 1: be used, shortened periods of time for people to request

490
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: and return mail in ballot. So I wish I could

491
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 1: say it's just a handful of states, but pretty much

492
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 1: any place Republicans control the legislative incumbernatorial process we are

493
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: worried about and focused on. Yeah, that seems like a

494
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,159
Speaker 1: really important data point I'd love to focus on. Like

495
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: Wisconsin is a great example because they have this Supreme

496
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: Court election in April. Tony I versus a Democrat is

497
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: in his second term, but he has been unable to

498
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: change the voting rights there because of the state legislature.

499
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 1: I was shocked here that it's one of the hardest.

500
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, number forty seven or forty eight

501
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: artist states to vote in Wisconsin has an upcoming state

502
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 1: Supreme Court election. Wisconsin. The state Supreme Court there is

503
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 1: an interesting court in that you have three very progressive justices,

504
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: you have four very servative justices. There is one of

505
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 1: those conservative justice whose seat is up for election now,

506
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: and if that were to flip to a progressive justice,

507
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 1: you would see I suspect I don't know, but I

508
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 1: would suspect you would see a much much more favorable

509
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 1: landscape for voting because a lot of the problems in

510
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: Wisconsin have come at the hands of the Wisconsin legislature,

511
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: but also the state Supreme Court there that takes an

512
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: anti voting cast to many of its decisions. In this arena.

513
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: We just saw in North Carolina how much this can matter.

514
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 1: You went from a four three Democratic court to now

515
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: a five to Republican court, and already those five justices

516
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: have granted rehearing in two voting in democracy cases that

517
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: were decided just last year. So you know, I hope

518
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 1: everyone in Wisconsin participates in that election. Yeah. The thing

519
00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you where I'm going with this

520
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 1: is there are a number of red states that have

521
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: blue governors, and I'm thinking of Kentucky. Well, Michigan is

522
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 1: now purple, but there are a bunch of these Louisiana,

523
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 1: a bunch of these states where democratic governors have come

524
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 1: in but they haven't been able to fix the voting situation.

525
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 1: Can we talk about that? Is that because of these

526
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: state legislatures. So I think it's been hard for Democrats

527
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: to fix the voting situations unless they control all three

528
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 1: pieces of the process. And that's really unfortunate. And you

529
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 1: can see that with Governor Eavers in Wisconsin, probably more

530
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,000
Speaker 1: most dramatically. But one of the phenomena of the current

531
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 1: era we're in is that there are no pro voting Republicans.

532
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: So if Republicans control a legislative body by just one vote,

533
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: all the efforts to improve voting will fail. All of them.

534
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 1: And so look at Pennsylvania now, where you now have

535
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 1: a democratic govern er and a Democratic state House. I

536
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 1: still think it's going to be impossible to get for

537
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: Governor Shapiro to fix the problems in Pennsylvania because as

538
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,239
Speaker 1: long as they control one chamber, they're going to block it.

539
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: And that is a problem you know from state to state.

540
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: In North Carolina, Roy Cooper very good Democratic governor on voting,

541
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: but the state legislature there just is so hostile to

542
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: it that there's not a lot that can be accomplished. Unbelievable.

543
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: How worried are you about this sort of higher up

544
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: situation like the Supreme Court is very trumpy? I mean,

545
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 1: how worried are you about the other courts and things

546
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: getting kicked up there? Yeah, so, look, we have the

547
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,000
Speaker 1: Supreme Court we have. I'm not going to try to

548
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: sugarcoat that, but I always point out to folks that

549
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: very few cases go to the U. S. Supreme Court.

550
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: You know, the Supreme Court here is between seventy and

551
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: ninety cases a year. There are hundreds of thousands of

552
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: cases decided every year. There are are more than ten

553
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: thousand that are where Supreme Court reviews sought and they

554
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: don't hear a lot of these cases. And everyone always

555
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 1: says to me, but aren't the aren't the federal courts

556
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: really bad? And I keep saying, well, there are a

557
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: heck of a lot better now than they work two

558
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 1: years ago. Right, President Biden is appointing really good judges. Now,

559
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: are the courts still more conservative than I wish they were?

560
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: On voting rights? Yes, but let me give you one

561
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: ray of sort of potential hope. So we my law

562
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:35,040
Speaker 1: firm alias law Groups, sued Alabama for violating the Voting

563
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 1: Rights Act and there were districting and the three judge

564
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: panel agreed that Alabama had broken the Voting Rights Act.

565
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,960
Speaker 1: Two of those judges have been appointed by Donald Trump.

566
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 1: One had been appointed initially by Ronald Reagan. Now that

567
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: case is now before the Supreme Court, which kind of

568
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 1: goes to your macro point. But we we have to

569
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: keep fighting. We can't just let the other side wants

570
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 1: us to look and say all is lost, and we

571
00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: have to just keep fighting and picking our battles. And

572
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: if you look at the with lost record, we've actually

573
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,520
Speaker 1: done pretty well in court in the last few years. Well,

574
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,640
Speaker 1: I mean, it goes to this idea that Democrats tend

575
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 1: for such a long time, Democrats didn't do these small

576
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: important fights, you know, at the state legislature, and they

577
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 1: were so focused on the big picture that Republicans picked

578
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 1: up things that you know, I mean, it's like this

579
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 1: idea that there are you know that Democrats had uncontested

580
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: elections in certain places. So I do think when Democrats fight,

581
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 1: especially when they're fighting for things like the right to vote, ultimately,

582
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,080
Speaker 1: I mean, the country was founded on this sort of Yeah. Look,

583
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 1: one of the reasons you asked me early on why

584
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 1: Republicans have demonized me. One of the reasons why they've

585
00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 1: demonized me is I am a Democrat, and I fight hard.

586
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: I fight hard, and I don't stop fighting. I will

587
00:33:57,720 --> 00:33:59,959
Speaker 1: fight for democracy, and I will fight for the right

588
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: to vote. Even when the odds are long, We'll keep fighting.

589
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 1: And I think that we as Democrats need to realize

590
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:12,399
Speaker 1: that the first order of the agenda for every Republican

591
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: governor and every Republican legislature is to curtail democracy. It's

592
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 1: too banned books, it's it's restrict voting rights. It's to

593
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:27,320
Speaker 1: do things to undermine our democratic government. And I wish

594
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: frankly Molly that when Democrats had power, their first order

595
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 1: on their agenda was to expand democracy, was to strengthen

596
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,359
Speaker 1: institutions of our voting system. But you know, there are

597
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,280
Speaker 1: so many things competing for the priorities of those governors

598
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,359
Speaker 1: and legislatures that I think, you know, I always say

599
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 1: Republicans have one thing they want to get done, and

600
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 1: Democrats have fifty things they want to get done. I

601
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 1: want to ask you about one of the suggestions in

602
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: your pieces to limit the number of partisan pol watchers.

603
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,799
Speaker 1: Can you just go in for a minute on that

604
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 1: and explain to us. Sure. So, there are a number

605
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 1: of aspects of the American voting system which are sort

606
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,319
Speaker 1: of relics of a different era, and one of them

607
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 1: was the idea that, you know, you would have representatives

608
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,800
Speaker 1: of the parties at the polls who would watch the

609
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: voting process. And there were a lot of reasons why

610
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,440
Speaker 1: historically that may have been appropriate or not appropriate. But

611
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 1: what we've seen is the Republicans weaponize every aspect of

612
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: the voting an election process to try to undermine it.

613
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 1: And one of the ways they do that is by

614
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 1: using the ability to put people in the polls to

615
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 1: harass voters and harass election officials. And so you know,

616
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: we need to make sure first and foremost that people

617
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: who show up to vote are not being intimidated, they're

618
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,759
Speaker 1: not being harassed, they're not being photographed. There are not

619
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: people in body armor outside the drop boxes with guns

620
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:05,000
Speaker 1: asking them questions, right, and so you know, I I

621
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 1: what I say is that we need to be clear

622
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: that someone who is watching the polls is only allowed

623
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: to watch. They're not allowed to talk, they're not allowed

624
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 1: to comment, they're not allowed to threaten, and that they

625
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,839
Speaker 1: can have to do it from a safe distance so

626
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 1: that people and election officials don't feel threatened by their presence.

627
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,799
Speaker 1: So that's one of the five things that I think

628
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:34,319
Speaker 1: every democratic controlled state could enact today. Yeah, I mean

629
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 1: you could see why Republicans are not going to be

630
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 1: into that. Yeah, but again, you know, let's start with

631
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 1: the seventeen states where Democrats control the process right exactly.

632
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 1: This is so interesting. I just want to ask you

633
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 1: one quick question is what are you watching right now?

634
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: What's like on the horizon, So on the voting horizon specifically,

635
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 1: you know, state legislatures and meet people don't realize oftentimes

636
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: that you know, Congress meets every year, in theory every

637
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 1: month of every year. State legislatures oftentimes meet only part year,

638
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: and they almost always meet this time of year. So

639
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: we're watching a number of states potentially restrict voting. You know,

640
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,680
Speaker 1: Idaho is likely going to enact a law that removes

641
00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 1: state issued college ideas from the acceptable form of iding.

642
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 1: We already saw Ohio pass a omnibus voter suppression law

643
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: that we're already suing. We see bad voting bills moving

644
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:38,600
Speaker 1: their way through states like Florida, states like Georgia, states

645
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 1: in the Deep South. So we're watching all of those

646
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,799
Speaker 1: to see which of those become law. And as I

647
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 1: always say, if a state is going to pass a

648
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,759
Speaker 1: restriction on voting that violates constitution or law, they're going

649
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,400
Speaker 1: to get suit. And that's my continued message to them today.

650
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 1: That's a good message. Thank you so much. I hope

651
00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 1: you'll come back anytime. I'd love to. I know you,

652
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 1: our dear listeners are very busy and you don't have

653
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: time to sort through the hundreds of pieces of pundentry

654
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:11,360
Speaker 1: each week. This is why every week I put together

655
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,640
Speaker 1: a newsletter of my five favorite articles on politics. If

656
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 1: you enjoy the podcast. You will love having this in

657
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:22,360
Speaker 1: your inbox every Friday, So sign up at Fast Politics

658
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 1: pod dot com and click the tab to join our

659
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:33,280
Speaker 1: mailing list. That's fast politics pod dot com. Ben Wickler

660
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:37,560
Speaker 1: is the state chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Welcome

661
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 1: to Fast Politics, Ben, So great to be back with you.

662
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,880
Speaker 1: I wanted to have you on because a couple of

663
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: weeks ago we had Al Franken on, and Al Franken

664
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: was saying that there's a really big, big election coming

665
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 1: up right now that and it's sort of counterintuitive because

666
00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:57,799
Speaker 1: you think, like, oh, the big election is the run

667
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,800
Speaker 1: up to twenty four, but no, you in the great

668
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: state of Wisconsin have a big election coming up. Can

669
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:08,920
Speaker 1: you explain to us what's going on. Wisconsin is a

670
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 1: bluish right purple state. I say bluish because Democrats have

671
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,319
Speaker 1: won fourteen in the last seventeen statewide elections here. But

672
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:18,360
Speaker 1: we have the policies of a bright red state in

673
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: the Deep South, because we have an incredibly right wing

674
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,880
Speaker 1: state legislature that is elected based on the most gerrymandered

675
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 1: maps in the country. And all of that is happening

676
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:32,120
Speaker 1: because we have a state Supreme Court that is dominated

677
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,440
Speaker 1: by a four three conservative majority, and those things in

678
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,160
Speaker 1: combination mean that Wisconsin is one of the hardest states

679
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:40,759
Speaker 1: to cast a ballot, were rated forty seven fifty and

680
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: ease of voting were the second hardest state to register

681
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:46,399
Speaker 1: to vote in the country. We're right to work state.

682
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,239
Speaker 1: It's hard to organize a union. All these different laws

683
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:53,359
Speaker 1: are tilted against Democrats. And that has been the state

684
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:56,720
Speaker 1: of affairs for about twelve years since since the Scott

685
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,200
Speaker 1: Walker in the right wing swept into power. But on

686
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 1: April four everything could change because in our four three

687
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,239
Speaker 1: conservative majority Supreme Court, the right wing chief Justice is

688
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 1: retiring and so there's an open seat for a ten

689
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: year term that will determine the balance of power on

690
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 1: our state Supreme Court. And if a progressive candidate wins

691
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,319
Speaker 1: that race, we could have a state Supreme Court that

692
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,840
Speaker 1: rules are gerrymandered maps unconstitutional, and demands new maps that

693
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: are actually fair. It could strike down we have one

694
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,279
Speaker 1: of the most extreme abortion bands in American history, was

695
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,720
Speaker 1: passed in thee There's no exception for rape or incest

696
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 1: with the life of the health of the mother. If

697
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,799
Speaker 1: two doctors agree that the mother's life is imperiled, then

698
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:41,840
Speaker 1: you could get a legal abortion, but it is so bad,

699
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 1: like you can't finish getting trained as an O, B

700
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,359
Speaker 1: G y N in Wisconsin because it's not clear if

701
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 1: this law from before the invention of modern medicine applies

702
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 1: to abortions as standard care for miscarriages or a topic

703
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: pregnancies people are people are getting having the bleeding for days. Well,

704
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:01,040
Speaker 1: the hospitals try to figure out whether they're going to

705
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,720
Speaker 1: be have doctors sent to jail if they provide basic

706
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 1: routine care for people. And this law is going to

707
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 1: come before the state Supreme Court and determine that. This

708
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 1: is our Kansas subortion referendum. Essentially, we don't have a

709
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 1: value addition of mechanism, so abortion voting rights, like our

710
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,440
Speaker 1: state Supring Court over and over has figured out how

711
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,480
Speaker 1: to roll back voting freedoms. That could change if we

712
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 1: win a majority, and the maps and all of that

713
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 1: could take effect before. So this is the election in

714
00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:30,919
Speaker 1: the state that's been the tipping point state in both

715
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: of the last two presidential races, the only state where

716
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 1: four the last six presidential races has come down to

717
00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 1: less than one percentage point. This race will determine the

718
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 1: playing field whether it's slanted to the right or fair.

719
00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:47,120
Speaker 1: And even before the next presidential race, and Wisconsin most

720
00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,719
Speaker 1: likely tipping points state in the electoral College, we have

721
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 1: Tammy Baldwin up for re election in the Senate, which

722
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 1: could determine the Senate majority. And in a state again,

723
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,319
Speaker 1: Republicans have six of our eight congressional seats, so if

724
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 1: we get fair maps, we could win two House seats,

725
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,880
Speaker 1: which would take a big chunk out of Kevin McCarthy's

726
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,520
Speaker 1: micro House majority. It's all all happening here and it

727
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 1: all comes up this April four. That is completely crazy.

728
00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: How do you run an election a Supreme Court election?

729
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: Because that is sort of counter intuitive for it it

730
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: is I mean, frankly, the right has figured out a

731
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 1: long time ago that these are really really important races.

732
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:24,880
Speaker 1: But exactly as you say, I think, you know, we

733
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,160
Speaker 1: have this idea of a judiciary that's not just going

734
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,759
Speaker 1: to be carrying water for the Republican Party. But the

735
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 1: Republican Party is totally intertwined with the Federalist society, with

736
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: these right wing lawyer networks, so they've been pouring money

737
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 1: into these races, and on our side sometimes we do

738
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:43,960
Speaker 1: this time has to be all hands on deck, all

739
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,319
Speaker 1: the way through the state party in Wisconsin, or it's

740
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,919
Speaker 1: in our constitution to be neutral when there's two progressives running.

741
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,480
Speaker 1: There's two progressives in the primary, which is February twenty one,

742
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,360
Speaker 1: but the second that's over, we'll have one progressive candidate

743
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,400
Speaker 1: and one conservative candidate. It's officially a nonpartisan race. So

744
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: on the ballot it doesn't say d are next to

745
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 1: the candidate's names. What that means is that the campaign

746
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,720
Speaker 1: and the party and grassroots groups have to educate people

747
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,480
Speaker 1: about which candidate has which values so that when they

748
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:12,120
Speaker 1: walk in, when they see the names of the candidates,

749
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 1: they know that Dan Kelly and Jennifer Doro, the true

750
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: right wing candidates, would probably uphold the nine abortion man

751
00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,359
Speaker 1: and stomp on their voting rights and everything else, and

752
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: to not vote for them, but for one of whichever

753
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: the progressive candidate is either either Janet pro to say

754
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: it's or Everett Mitchell. What that means is that we're

755
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:30,400
Speaker 1: going from kind of zero to sixty on name recognition.

756
00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 1: We have to educate voters that there is an election.

757
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 1: These are the stakes, these are the candidates, these are

758
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 1: the issues. But it also means like normally, these races

759
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 1: are way lower turnout, like half or even a third

760
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:43,759
Speaker 1: of the turnout of the November election with partisan candidates.

761
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:46,399
Speaker 1: It means that in this kind of environment, every time

762
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 1: you are a volunteering make a phone call or talk

763
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 1: to a member of your family or a friend, or

764
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,840
Speaker 1: donate a few bucks to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin,

765
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:57,320
Speaker 1: which would always encourage UM, those donations go much further

766
00:43:57,600 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 1: because you're essentially taking people who are died in the

767
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 1: Democrats and just making sure that they know that this

768
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,439
Speaker 1: election counts as much as their elections did last fall,

769
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 1: or as they will in You don't have to convince

770
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 1: someone to share your values. These people share your values.

771
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 1: They just don't know this election is happening. And that

772
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: means that the impact of actually doing campaign work in

773
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 1: this kind of environment is vastly higher. Yeah. No, I

774
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,520
Speaker 1: mean it sounds like it isn't it sort of cheaper too,

775
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 1: because this is so off season. If that makes no sense,

776
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 1: It's exactly right. These elections, I mean, this will probably

777
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 1: be the most expensive judicial race in in U. S history,

778
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:38,040
Speaker 1: which sounds impressive until you find out that the last

779
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,080
Speaker 1: most inpressive judicial race was fifteen million dollars, and like

780
00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:44,680
Speaker 1: the November elections last year, where billions of dollars, like

781
00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:48,000
Speaker 1: individual states would have several hundred millions of dollars poured

782
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: into races like our Senate race or the governors race

783
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin. This is a this is bargain basement politics

784
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:57,880
Speaker 1: with you know, super deluxe, five star political impact. I

785
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 1: want to just talk to you a minute about some

786
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:05,360
Speaker 1: of the lessons from Wisconsin. Like a lot of pundon said,

787
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 1: and you never said this, and you know you are

788
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,200
Speaker 1: on the ground in Wisconsin, which I find very helpful.

789
00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:14,960
Speaker 1: A lot of pundon said that Mandela Barnes was too

790
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:20,160
Speaker 1: lefty and that he wasn't gonna win because he was

791
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:22,279
Speaker 1: too lefty. I don't know where that came from, but

792
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 1: I heard a lot of pundon saying that he barely

793
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 1: lost and if polls had been more accurate, he would

794
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:33,799
Speaker 1: have been able. I mean, Ron Johnson really could have

795
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,279
Speaker 1: been defeated had there been more accurate polling towards money.

796
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 1: I mean, do you think that's true? Am I crazy?

797
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:41,399
Speaker 1: I think you're right. And this is part of what's

798
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,359
Speaker 1: so frustrating is that it's exactly the punditry that you're

799
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,719
Speaker 1: describing that led to the loss. And what I mean

800
00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:48,920
Speaker 1: by that is people came out of the gate and

801
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 1: we're like, uh, like, you know, the prioritize Wisconsin. And

802
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,239
Speaker 1: so in the in the part of the campaign right

803
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: after the primary, when Mandela became the nominee, Republican superbacks

804
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,360
Speaker 1: came in that the you line, the biggest Republican donors

805
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,440
Speaker 1: in the country. They poured millions in the Diane Hendrix.

806
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:08,360
Speaker 1: Between those two right wing billionaires, they put in twenty

807
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: nine million dollars in independent expenditures, and the funding gap

808
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,800
Speaker 1: between the two sides was twenty six million dollars favoring Republicans.

809
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:19,120
Speaker 1: So these two families alone, who by the way, had

810
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,479
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks that from

811
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:26,359
Speaker 1: Ron Johnson. So they putting all this money. But if

812
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,200
Speaker 1: there had been like a few million dollars and ads

813
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:32,320
Speaker 1: in September from more than we had from from progressive

814
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 1: groups like we wouldn't have Mandela wouldn't have fallen behind

815
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:38,920
Speaker 1: in that period when people were overwhelmingly seeing attack ads

816
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:42,920
Speaker 1: and not seeing a defense and CounterPunch, and when so

817
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:46,120
Speaker 1: Mandela during that time was doing this very intensive fundraising

818
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 1: and by kind of early mid October had the funds

819
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 1: to go back on offense, and like independent groups came

820
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: in as well, and that got us to about even

821
00:46:56,719 --> 00:46:59,960
Speaker 1: in terms of Republican versus Democratic ads. And he would

822
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,600
Speaker 1: people saw his message and the GOP's message. He gained

823
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:05,839
Speaker 1: a point a week and ended one point down. If

824
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:07,879
Speaker 1: that man had come in two weeks earlier, he would

825
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:09,640
Speaker 1: have won by two points and saw it and had

826
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 1: ed Or if he had more money as Democrats did

827
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:14,360
Speaker 1: who won across the country, if there had been a

828
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 1: flood of money at the end the way that you

829
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,480
Speaker 1: know there was for like Sarah Gideon and right Sarah Gideon,

830
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:22,920
Speaker 1: and that's just exactly right, that could have taken a

831
00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: resulted in a victory too. In a funny way, Mandela

832
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,560
Speaker 1: kind of proves the case that he could have won.

833
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,400
Speaker 1: Like he came closer than any other Democrat did in

834
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 1: the country to flipping an incumbent Republican seat. He did

835
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 1: better than rust Sfengel did in twenty sixteen or twenty

836
00:47:36,680 --> 00:47:39,080
Speaker 1: Like he had a powerhouse campaign. It just didn't have

837
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 1: enough money, and it didn't have enough money because Pundon said,

838
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a chance, And I mean that was

839
00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:49,360
Speaker 1: a message I kept hearing, he's too lefty, he's black.

840
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,759
Speaker 1: I don't know again that that Wisconsin isn't going to

841
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 1: elect someone who's black, even though he had one. I mean,

842
00:47:55,760 --> 00:48:00,040
Speaker 1: I think that's really racist, honestly, and I always I

843
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:05,120
Speaker 1: think he won a very type primary, like the man

844
00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:08,840
Speaker 1: had proven that he could win, and then somehow the

845
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 1: pundent class decided that he couldn't. There was there was

846
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:15,680
Speaker 1: this kind of you know, spug national fad of being like,

847
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:18,440
Speaker 1: oh the polls. At first, the polls were saying Democrats

848
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 1: were going to do great, and then it became, oh,

849
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,319
Speaker 1: the polls must be overstating the case for Democrats. And

850
00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:24,719
Speaker 1: then these right wing garbage polls came flooding in saying

851
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:27,719
Speaker 1: Democrats we're gonna lose in a red wave landslide. And

852
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,000
Speaker 1: a lot of people started freaking out about states where

853
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: Democrats won by a bunch of points, you know what

854
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,239
Speaker 1: I mean, Like, yeah, like Washington State is a really

855
00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,600
Speaker 1: good example. Yeah, like keep your eye on the ball

856
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: man in Wisconsin. When you have a fully funded campaign

857
00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:45,120
Speaker 1: on both sides, both sides started and then it's like,

858
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:48,360
Speaker 1: are you going to actually do everything? You need to

859
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:51,600
Speaker 1: do to push it over the finish line. The we

860
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:54,000
Speaker 1: are internal polls on election day it said we were like,

861
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:56,600
Speaker 1: we're gonna lose by one point and we did. And yeah,

862
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:59,719
Speaker 1: that period where people were saying, oh, I know you're

863
00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:02,960
Speaker 1: theocratic state chair. You have to say mandeloquo wins like no, no, no,

864
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,040
Speaker 1: like we really good winness race. Right. I want to

865
00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 1: ask you one other really annoying thing. But you are

866
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:11,759
Speaker 1: a state chair who's really good at your job. That

867
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 1: happens for sure, but usually in the media we tend

868
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:17,520
Speaker 1: to focus more on the state chairs that are not

869
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:19,920
Speaker 1: so good at their jobs. I mean, I live in

870
00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:22,640
Speaker 1: New York, so our state chair is terrible and needs

871
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:26,680
Speaker 1: to resign tomorrow. So I want to ask you, what

872
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 1: do you think the sort of secret to being a

873
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,440
Speaker 1: good state chair is? And I should say there are

874
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 1: some dynamite state chairs. Lura Barnes in Michigan, who I

875
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,920
Speaker 1: learned from all the time Michigan is incredible, yes, and

876
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 1: heard of the secret, Like you look at the fact

877
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:44,480
Speaker 1: they have a traffic to now that came about because

878
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:47,160
Speaker 1: Lavora was doing this work to win Supreme Court races

879
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:50,440
Speaker 1: years ago. And like you know, supporting these statewide ballot initiatives.

880
00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:52,840
Speaker 1: We don't have about initiative process and Wisconsinent in Michigan

881
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:55,240
Speaker 1: they do. They used it to the hilt. These downbout

882
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:58,840
Speaker 1: like election judges, all this stuff that created the recipe

883
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,640
Speaker 1: where you get to blow out success two in one way,

884
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:03,960
Speaker 1: that's the key first DAI party chairs is like you

885
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:05,759
Speaker 1: have to figure out all the dominoes that have to

886
00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:07,279
Speaker 1: fall to get to the point where you have the

887
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:10,960
Speaker 1: wins that you need and then not skip those local

888
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:15,440
Speaker 1: elections that wind up having huge downstream consequences. That's one piece,

889
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:18,719
Speaker 1: and other pieces having the elected officials, either you're in

890
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,440
Speaker 1: a state where there or not state wide Democrats, so

891
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:23,560
Speaker 1: the party can actually kind of do this without meeting

892
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:27,239
Speaker 1: their support or have alignment from the Democrats. Elect the

893
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 1: Democrats in your state that you're actually gonna build a

894
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,479
Speaker 1: power base at the state party that can do work

895
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:36,279
Speaker 1: independent of the let's say governor's campaign or Senate campaigns.

896
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,880
Speaker 1: And we're Lavoora and I are both lucky to have

897
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:40,799
Speaker 1: that with our elect the Democrats in our states. They

898
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:43,640
Speaker 1: want a strong party, but in some places the state

899
00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 1: party chair is kind of chosen by the governor and

900
00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 1: their job is to, you know, not make the governor

901
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:50,239
Speaker 1: look bad as opposed to figure out how to win

902
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:53,440
Speaker 1: every possible election you mean, like in a state that

903
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 1: I might live in. But yeah, so that is a

904
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,400
Speaker 1: good point though, that you focus on winning every single election.

905
00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:02,640
Speaker 1: I was at this thing last night and I actually

906
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,719
Speaker 1: got to meet Maxwell Frost, who is a friend of

907
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:09,799
Speaker 1: this podcast and also a twenty five year old congressman

908
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:13,120
Speaker 1: from Florida, and we were talking about that there's going

909
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:17,319
Speaker 1: to be a state chair election in Florida and that

910
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:20,960
Speaker 1: Democratic Party has had a very tough time, So I

911
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:25,680
Speaker 1: just was curious sort of about the kind of you know,

912
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:28,800
Speaker 1: the macin nations there and how it works. So every

913
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:32,160
Speaker 1: state has different procedures for choosing their chair. I had

914
00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 1: to run a campaign with I had a campaign manager. Yeah,

915
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:38,600
Speaker 1: I remember that, Elliott. It was like a big whole thing.

916
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,319
Speaker 1: Other places it's like the state Central Committee, which is

917
00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:43,440
Speaker 1: big or small depending on the state makes the choice.

918
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:47,880
Speaker 1: But if there is a Democratic powerhouse politician in the state,

919
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:50,279
Speaker 1: usually people who are on those committees don't want to

920
00:51:50,280 --> 00:51:52,160
Speaker 1: be on the wrong side of that person. It's not

921
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:54,239
Speaker 1: always true, but like you kind of have to line

922
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 1: up the big stakeholders, and then in some ways, like

923
00:51:57,760 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 1: you know, if you're not facing a wall of opposition

924
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,480
Speaker 1: like that, you want to I think the second big

925
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:03,920
Speaker 1: thing is state chairs should be organizers at heart, and

926
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:05,920
Speaker 1: I tend to think it's good for like the dificial

927
00:52:05,960 --> 00:52:07,600
Speaker 1: also to be organized as at heart. But you want

928
00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:10,080
Speaker 1: to be thinking not just about like how you look

929
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 1: in the media or what your position on something is

930
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:13,759
Speaker 1: going to be. You want to think how do I

931
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:16,600
Speaker 1: motivate and mobilize and organize other people to all come

932
00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:18,440
Speaker 1: around this common goal to do this thing that has

933
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:21,160
Speaker 1: to happen, because that's fundamentally the work of the party

934
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:25,399
Speaker 1: is building alignment across this big, messy democratic coalition. It's

935
00:52:25,400 --> 00:52:28,160
Speaker 1: not just like for the party to issue a statement

936
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,480
Speaker 1: when something happens in the news, and so much work

937
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:33,680
Speaker 1: goes in on the back end to like ensuring that

938
00:52:33,719 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 1: there are candidates running for X, Y and Z offices

939
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 1: and making sure that like there's a strategy for what

940
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:40,239
Speaker 1: the grassroots group should do versus what the party can

941
00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:42,800
Speaker 1: uniquely do. Well, all of that work has to proceed

942
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,399
Speaker 1: the moment when people actually go to the polls. Sort

943
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:47,719
Speaker 1: of the Biden plan, which I actually think is quite

944
00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:52,200
Speaker 1: smart now, is that he's going around after this State

945
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:55,680
Speaker 1: of the Union address and sort of bragging about the

946
00:52:55,760 --> 00:53:01,200
Speaker 1: infrastructure and the Inflation Reduction Act and bringing these blue

947
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:04,200
Speaker 1: collar I mean, I think the phrase blue collars is

948
00:53:04,239 --> 00:53:06,600
Speaker 1: not the right phrase and nor should we use it.

949
00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:09,560
Speaker 1: But you know, these jobs that you can work without

950
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:13,040
Speaker 1: a college degree. Do you think that will speak to

951
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:17,040
Speaker 1: wisconsinan's or do you think they don't. It's just like

952
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,120
Speaker 1: some of these people just are never gonna, you know,

953
00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,680
Speaker 1: go along with Biden and just too mad Wisconsin as

954
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:27,920
Speaker 1: an electorate that's overwhelmingly folks without a college education and

955
00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,680
Speaker 1: lovingly white folks without a college education, although you know,

956
00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:33,880
Speaker 1: the working classes multiracial here and everywhere else. President Biden's

957
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:35,920
Speaker 1: message it comes from his gut, you know what I mean.

958
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:38,680
Speaker 1: It's not just like a focus group pulled us a thing.

959
00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:41,000
Speaker 1: It's it's something that is quart of who he is

960
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: and it is perfect for the state. He came to Madison, first, Madison, Wisconsin,

961
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:50,839
Speaker 1: or outside of Madison, DeForest, a laborers training facility. I

962
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:53,880
Speaker 1: was there yesterday and he spoke. I was. I was

963
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,319
Speaker 1: in a folding chair right next to a kind of

964
00:53:57,719 --> 00:54:01,440
Speaker 1: concrete hole in the or that is used in training

965
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:03,680
Speaker 1: to teach people how to replace sewer lines toward the

966
00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:05,799
Speaker 1: facility before, like, this is where the actual work gets

967
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 1: done there. You know, there were earth movie equipment and

968
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:11,160
Speaker 1: and you know all the stuff that people actually use

969
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:13,759
Speaker 1: in the shot for the TV cameras. And there were

970
00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:16,279
Speaker 1: workers who were very packed the place, people in hard

971
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:19,000
Speaker 1: hats and reflective vests, and the work that they do

972
00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:21,200
Speaker 1: is going to be empowered and supported. The person introduced

973
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:23,640
Speaker 1: him explain how her life had been transformed by the

974
00:54:23,719 --> 00:54:26,640
Speaker 1: Laborers Union because she was able to figure out how

975
00:54:26,640 --> 00:54:29,160
Speaker 1: to have a family supporting job without having a college degree.

976
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:32,440
Speaker 1: That is, it's both great policy and it's great politics.

977
00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:37,880
Speaker 1: And the best message always not only demonstrates what your

978
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:40,200
Speaker 1: values are and makes a contrast with the other side,

979
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:42,680
Speaker 1: it also speaks to the personal story of the person

980
00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:45,560
Speaker 1: delivering the message. And this same does for like who

981
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 1: Biden is and what he's fought for his whole life

982
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:49,640
Speaker 1: his I've never seen him give a speech where he

983
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,360
Speaker 1: doesn't talk about how a job is more than just

984
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:54,560
Speaker 1: a paycheck. It's about dignity, pride, and so forth. And

985
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,840
Speaker 1: that resonated so much in that room yesterday. In Madison

986
00:54:58,680 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 1: into Forest. I hope that he criss crosses the country

987
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,920
Speaker 1: with that message because it it connects like directly to

988
00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:05,920
Speaker 1: people's hearts and the kinds of conversations they have when

989
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,279
Speaker 1: they're not talking about politics, and that that's the test

990
00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:10,440
Speaker 1: you I was on to meet. Yeah, such a good point,

991
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:13,040
Speaker 1: you know. After that State of the Union address, my

992
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:16,200
Speaker 1: feeling is I think he's better at this than he

993
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: was twenty years ago. It's interesting, like there's a reason

994
00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:22,520
Speaker 1: why he's why he's President of the United States, and

995
00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:25,120
Speaker 1: you know, there's a reason why Brack Obama picked him

996
00:55:25,120 --> 00:55:27,560
Speaker 1: as vice president. Why you got elected over and over

997
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,279
Speaker 1: and over and over. Starting very young, and I do

998
00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:33,560
Speaker 1: feel like he's grown. I've found it really impressive. And

999
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: part of what's interesting to me is if you look at,

1000
00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:39,680
Speaker 1: you know, these polls that like have dooming gloom, they

1001
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,239
Speaker 1: often reflect a caricature of President Biden that has been

1002
00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:46,799
Speaker 1: intentionally crafted by right wing media, and when people see

1003
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:49,880
Speaker 1: him give a speech, it just rips those caricatures to shreds.

1004
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:53,560
Speaker 1: He's not the person that you see on Fox News,

1005
00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:56,520
Speaker 1: like they're selectively editing the worst moments for somebody who

1006
00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:59,200
Speaker 1: grew up working to overcome a stutter. This is like

1007
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:01,120
Speaker 1: he can give a speech, he can connect to a

1008
00:56:01,200 --> 00:56:03,719
Speaker 1: human level with the people, one after another. I mean,

1009
00:56:03,719 --> 00:56:05,520
Speaker 1: he was on his feet for hours when he was

1010
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:09,000
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin yesterday. Sometimes, you know, I feel like Republicans

1011
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:11,239
Speaker 1: have created these low expectations for him to soar over

1012
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:16,719
Speaker 1: I like, I'm feeling it's true, Ben, this was so great.

1013
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:19,439
Speaker 1: I hope you will come back because Wisconsin is where

1014
00:56:19,440 --> 00:56:23,040
Speaker 1: it's all happening. Thank you. I'm sorry to tell you.

1015
00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:26,240
Speaker 1: We wake up every day and living it. If anyone

1016
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,759
Speaker 1: who's listening right now wants to be involved, go to

1017
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:32,200
Speaker 1: with stems dot org slash donate or with stems dot

1018
00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:35,919
Speaker 1: org slash volunteer. Honestly, like, spend a few hours calling

1019
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:38,799
Speaker 1: Democrats in Wisconsin about this election and you will get

1020
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:42,080
Speaker 1: so fired up because people do care so much, and

1021
00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:44,880
Speaker 1: a lot of people lack the most basic knowledge about this.

1022
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:46,960
Speaker 1: We will train volunteers. You don't have to have any

1023
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:49,279
Speaker 1: prior experience. You don't need to know anything about this race.

1024
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:51,359
Speaker 1: If you've listened this far on the podcast, you're now

1025
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:54,240
Speaker 1: an expert and you can make a giant, giant difference

1026
00:56:54,239 --> 00:57:03,520
Speaker 1: with with dollars and with time. Thank you, Ben Mirick Wilson. Yes,

1027
00:57:04,160 --> 00:57:06,840
Speaker 1: we brought the band back together for the moment of gray.

1028
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:10,439
Speaker 1: What is your moment of My moment of this week

1029
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:15,000
Speaker 1: is Elon Musk turning off vital parts of Starlink, the

1030
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:19,240
Speaker 1: satellite system for Ukraine. Oh Jesus. They are desperately trying

1031
00:57:19,240 --> 00:57:22,200
Speaker 1: to fend off a gigantic Russian human wave attack that's

1032
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:24,640
Speaker 1: coming in the coming days and weeks. And this week

1033
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:28,120
Speaker 1: Starlink unilaterally decided a program by that's being paid for

1034
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:30,040
Speaker 1: by the U. S Department of Defense, Thank you very much.

1035
00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:32,600
Speaker 1: They decided to shut it off and not allow the

1036
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:36,800
Speaker 1: Ukrainians to use it for drones gathering intelligence. This is

1037
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:40,560
Speaker 1: going to give the Russians a massive advantage on the battlefield.

1038
00:57:40,840 --> 00:57:42,960
Speaker 1: This is going to give the Russians a massive advantage

1039
00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:48,360
Speaker 1: in combat operations. And once again, this is a company

1040
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:51,800
Speaker 1: that is that is wholly controlled by one guy who

1041
00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:55,880
Speaker 1: is now listening not to his advisors, his attorneys, his

1042
00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:01,600
Speaker 1: even the shareholders at Tesla. He's listening to Pizza Jack

1043
00:58:01,800 --> 00:58:04,280
Speaker 1: and Mike Sernovich and all the rest of this mouth

1044
00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:10,200
Speaker 1: breathing weirdo nat pop goon group. And he controls a

1045
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:13,560
Speaker 1: piece of technology that has been able to save the

1046
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:18,000
Speaker 1: Ukrainian people from a genocidal Vladimir Putin, and now he's

1047
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:20,880
Speaker 1: switching off key elements of it. That, to me is

1048
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:23,000
Speaker 1: my moment of fuckory. I wish I had a more

1049
00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:25,680
Speaker 1: lighthearted moment of for you. And I know I get

1050
00:58:25,720 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 1: a lot of people like, how dare you assign the

1051
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:31,000
Speaker 1: government would interfere with a private company. Our tax dollars

1052
00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:33,120
Speaker 1: are paying for this. I'm a big old free market

1053
00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:36,240
Speaker 1: guy and everything, but SpaceX does a lot of business

1054
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:39,040
Speaker 1: with the government, and you know what, I'm an I'm

1055
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:41,160
Speaker 1: an old hand at this. I've been around defense contractors

1056
00:58:41,200 --> 00:58:44,080
Speaker 1: my whole professional career, working in the defense parman and

1057
00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 1: then for some defense contractors. There's a lot of give

1058
00:58:46,600 --> 00:58:48,800
Speaker 1: and taken in the real world. You know, folks didn't

1059
00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:50,680
Speaker 1: mind when Donald Trump wanted to tell companies how to

1060
00:58:50,760 --> 00:58:52,800
Speaker 1: run things. I think that somebody I would get on

1061
00:58:52,800 --> 00:58:55,240
Speaker 1: the phone with Glynn shot while at SpaceX, the CEO SpaceX,

1062
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:58,160
Speaker 1: and of startling you know what, you know, we might

1063
00:58:58,200 --> 00:58:59,960
Speaker 1: have to review some of these things because I'm really

1064
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:02,520
Speaker 1: concerned that our corporate cultures aren't matching up right now,

1065
00:59:03,240 --> 00:59:05,320
Speaker 1: So don't worry about your launch. We will, We'll get

1066
00:59:05,360 --> 00:59:10,880
Speaker 1: your permit eventually. I mean, we've got to look at

1067
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:15,840
Speaker 1: other competitors in the market. It's a crowded field. And again,

1068
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:18,000
Speaker 1: as a free market guy, I hate that kind of ship.

1069
00:59:18,440 --> 00:59:22,960
Speaker 1: But as someone who's watching a guy who is very

1070
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 1: obviously under the influence of this very dangerous clack of

1071
00:59:29,280 --> 00:59:34,400
Speaker 1: all right, neo Nazi, ideological crazy people. This is their dream.

1072
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:36,280
Speaker 1: Their dream was never Donald Trump. Their dream was an

1073
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:39,360
Speaker 1: actual person with billions of dollars, and they've got it.

1074
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:42,000
Speaker 1: If I've been having a fun moment of the R

1075
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:46,120
Speaker 1: I p James O'Keeffe, but you know, yeah you and

1076
00:59:46,160 --> 00:59:49,320
Speaker 1: I'll take that from my moment of great James O'Keeffe.

1077
00:59:49,480 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: She's being benched by Project Veritas, the organization he started

1078
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:58,320
Speaker 1: for not completely clear, right, I mean, some level of

1079
00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:02,240
Speaker 1: staff abuse, but probably there's more than that. He'll be

1080
01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:04,160
Speaker 1: shocked to other staff abuse on the right and a

1081
01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:08,120
Speaker 1: lot of these organizations, Molly including but in in O'Keefe's case,

1082
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:11,120
Speaker 1: it's particularly delicious because of course he's a dick to

1083
01:00:11,200 --> 01:00:14,080
Speaker 1: his staff. He may have some other things that haven't

1084
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:17,280
Speaker 1: come out yet, but they're publicly facing complaint was that

1085
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:22,920
Speaker 1: O'Keefe is spending their money doing musical theater. Yes, amazing,

1086
01:00:23,280 --> 01:00:30,080
Speaker 1: James O'Keefe rolls across the plane. Thank you. Rick Wilson,

1087
01:00:30,640 --> 01:00:36,080
Speaker 1: you're very welcome. That's it for this episode of Fast Politics.

1088
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:39,360
Speaker 1: Tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to your the

1089
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:42,760
Speaker 1: best minds and politics makes sense of all this chaos.

1090
01:00:43,120 --> 01:00:45,680
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to

1091
01:00:45,720 --> 01:00:49,120
Speaker 1: a friend and keep the conversation going. And again, thanks

1092
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:49,760
Speaker 1: for listening.