Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress with Smarties.
Speaker 1: It has been a very big couple of weeks for
Speaker 1: those of us who believe that all things around us
Speaker 1: in the world are influenced by politics, and thus the
Speaker 1: progress of politics is important to us. Newsflash true for
Speaker 1: every single one of us. So I decided, after last
Speaker 1: week's announcement that Vice President Harris has picked Governor Tim
Speaker 1: Walls as her vice presidential pick in her presidential campaign,
Speaker 1: to call one of the smartest people that I know
Speaker 1: in the world of politics, none other than Simone Sanders
Speaker 1: Town's End. Simone's show The Weekend on MSNBC is one
Speaker 1: of the places I always turned to to get incredible
Speaker 1: coverage on what's happening in the country. Simone rose to
Speaker 1: prominence and tent sixteen as the national press secretary for
Speaker 1: US Senator Bernie Sanders then presidential campaign. At just twenty five,
Speaker 1: she became the youngest presidential press secretary on record, and
Speaker 1: she was named to Rolling Stone magazine's list of sixteen
Speaker 1: young Americans shaping that year's election. At twenty nine, she
Speaker 1: published her book No You Shut Up, Speaking Truth to
Speaker 1: Power and Reclaiming America. And then she served as a
Speaker 1: senior advisor for President Joe Biden's twenty twenty presidential campaign.
Speaker 1: She spent an incredible amount of time working as a
Speaker 1: senior member of the Biden Harris administration. She served as
Speaker 1: Deputy Assistant to the President, senior advisor in chief, spokesperson
Speaker 1: to Vice President Kamala Harris, and all around. Simone is
Speaker 1: an incredible communicator with a passion for problem solving and
Speaker 1: social justice. She happens to be one of my favorite
Speaker 1: friends in Washington, d C. Who've been lucky enough to
Speaker 1: travel the country with doing everything from election organizing work
Speaker 1: to speaking at the Institute of Politics at Harvard. She's
Speaker 1: genuinely the most fun friend and the most inspiring political brain.
Speaker 1: And today she's here to answer all of our questions
Speaker 1: about this election. Nothing is off the table, and for
Speaker 1: that I am so grateful. Also worth mentioning for those
Speaker 1: of you who might be in Brooklyn in September, MSNBC
Speaker 1: Live is hosting an event called Democracy twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: on September seventh at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Tickets
Speaker 1: are available now. I am really hoping I can attend.
Speaker 1: Do not miss it if you are in the area. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get to asking all of the twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: election questions and then some inspiring ones too. To our
Speaker 1: sweet dear friend.
Speaker 2: Sam up.
Speaker 1: Well Simone, my favorite lady, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining me today, and honesty, thank you for taking the
Speaker 1: time in the middle of August from Martha's vineyard, because
Speaker 1: I know you'd rather be on the beach, but we
Speaker 1: have democracy to talk about. So bless you for giving
Speaker 1: me an hour of your time. And all the folks.
Speaker 2: Oh, of course, it's the least I could do. It's
Speaker 2: always good to see.
Speaker 1: You, Hi, honey. How is life? How's your man? How
Speaker 1: how are you? Before we get into like the state
Speaker 1: of the world, life is good.
Speaker 2: My man is good. He was also on Martha's vineyard,
Speaker 2: but he has since gone back to work. It's good.
Speaker 2: Life is good. You know, this is just an extraordinary time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I was supposed to be in the
Speaker 3: We take a trip every year in the summer for.
Speaker 2: Our anniversary, and we're supposed to be in the Bahamas
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 3: Is one of our favorite places to go, and the
Speaker 3: day we were supposed to leave for the Bahamas, we
Speaker 3: decided to stay because that was the day when it
Speaker 3: became clear that all of this stuff was bubbling up,
Speaker 3: like you're not out on that said, he wasn't going
Speaker 3: to be in the race anymore. That Sunday we were
Speaker 3: supposed to be leaving like Monday night, Tuesday morning. No way,
Speaker 3: So we did not go. But it his Those are
Speaker 3: the kinds of things like this. Yeah, oh knew, Sophia.
Speaker 3: I thought you was like a couple of months ago,
Speaker 3: a couple months ago, I did not car by.
Speaker 1: The way, when we were all in DC together in April,
Speaker 1: and you know, we watched the President take the stage
Speaker 1: at the Correspondence Centner, it was, I mean, what a
Speaker 1: swirl of emotion. You know, we were talking about Evan
Speaker 1: and all of the other journalists wrongly imprisoned around the world.
Speaker 1: Britney Griner and her wife were there talking about you
Speaker 1: know what these prisoner swaps look like and advocating for
Speaker 1: Evan's freedom. The President crushed, you know, all of his
Speaker 1: jokes like and I don't mean this as shade against
Speaker 1: Colin Jos. I think he's very funny and he did
Speaker 1: a great job. I thought the President was funnier, which
Speaker 1: you know says a lot and and yet by July
Speaker 1: here we are. Can you can I just ask you
Speaker 1: like some non non political speak opinions, like real talk,
Speaker 1: because now there's people out here being like, well, he
Speaker 1: must have been well and this was a scheme, and
Speaker 1: you know, the word the internet has turned into a
Speaker 1: conspiracy theory cesspool. But like you, you have worked for
Speaker 1: so many incredible elected officials. You have worked in the
Speaker 1: Biden administration for a very long time. You know, closely
Speaker 1: with the President, closely with Kamala Harris. You know the
Speaker 1: ins and outs of this group who is actually working
Speaker 1: on preserving our democracy in the face of fascism. How
Speaker 1: do you just human to human walk us through what
Speaker 1: what did the summer look like? Where does the shift
Speaker 1: come from? How does a president make a decision like that?
Speaker 3: Can you?
Speaker 1: Can you let the lay people in on the realities
Speaker 1: of it?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: It was so I have I have seen the President
Speaker 3: a number of times over the last couple of months,
Speaker 3: and I literally saw him at the White House's June
Speaker 3: teen celebration and I was sitting we had a chance
Speaker 3: to speak with he and the VP and the second
Speaker 3: Gillumpman prior to and then I I was sitting right
Speaker 3: behind him.
Speaker 2: We were all turning around.
Speaker 3: JiTT and Chatten and so you know this, I really
Speaker 3: think this notion of the president being unwell is something
Speaker 3: that did start, as I like to say, in the
Speaker 3: bowels of the internet, but had made its way into
Speaker 3: mainstream conversation to the point where people who like the president,
Speaker 3: who are supportive of him, who are you know, Democrats
Speaker 3: their whole lives, will say, oh, but he must not
Speaker 3: be well. I see the signs. Everybody want to be
Speaker 3: you know, a doctor off webmbu, you know, every every
Speaker 3: other day, depending on who.
Speaker 2: You talk to. But I would just say, you know,
Speaker 2: Joe Biden is still.
Speaker 3: The president, right and so he is the president until
Speaker 3: January twenty, twenty twenty five. And so I this notion
Speaker 3: that if he was on, if Joe Biden was unwell,
Speaker 3: knowing him the way that I know him, he would
Speaker 3: tell us. He would tell us, because health is not
Speaker 3: something to play with. But let me just that back up.
Speaker 3: This notion that the president was maybe too old, if
Speaker 3: you will, to run for reelection is something that they're
Speaker 3: that voters, number of voters across the country thought it
Speaker 3: was something that there were folks who were elected officials.
Speaker 2: In Washington, d C.
Speaker 3: They this was something I would hear elected officials strategies say.
Speaker 3: And some people might say, Okay, well that's an ageous
Speaker 3: argument because you know, Donald Trump is not for three
Speaker 3: years younger than Joe Biden. Look at people like Nancy
Speaker 3: Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, and I'm thinking of Bevy Smith
Speaker 3: who always talks about it gets greater later. And you
Speaker 3: know Mika Brazinski has the forty the fifty over fifty
Speaker 3: list and.
Speaker 2: Always talks about things, you know, your second wave of life.
Speaker 3: And so I understand this notion that it is a
Speaker 3: It was an agist remark to make an agency to
Speaker 3: say that, like, oh he there should be he's too
Speaker 3: old to be to run for president again because.
Speaker 2: He's doing the job right now and was doing it.
Speaker 3: I would I would argue very very well, I mean,
Speaker 3: the people that just came home the hottest situation like that, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was real.
Speaker 3: It was real, and people's perception is reality. And if
Speaker 3: people perceive, if their thoughts, that was their reality. And
Speaker 3: you just supposed those very real thoughts and feelings that
Speaker 3: folks had with the fact that they maybe didn't see
Speaker 3: the president enough in organic situations. I think that he
Speaker 3: is really great at a town hall or uh in
Speaker 3: people people scenarios and in these random off the record
Speaker 3: stops that aren't previously announced. But he pops into a
Speaker 3: space in place and sits there and talks with people
Speaker 3: and answers their questions.
Speaker 2: I don't think he's always as great on a prompter. Right.
Speaker 3: There are some people that just say they they exude
Speaker 3: more good stuff when they.
Speaker 2: Are organically in the mix and not on a teleprompter.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of Americans were seeing Joe Biden
Speaker 3: through the filter of the teleprompter and looking and being
Speaker 3: and the duties of the president.
Speaker 1: Can I also say something that I think which you
Speaker 1: know you you are a wildly professional administration person. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can't say this, but I'm gonna go ahead and
Speaker 1: offer my thoughts. The entire time I watched that debate,
Speaker 1: I was like, I wouldn't know how the fuck to
Speaker 1: respond to this.
Speaker 2: Either.
Speaker 1: This is nonsense. This man is nonsensical. He's not even
Speaker 1: saying things. First of all, he's not saying anything that's true,
Speaker 1: like Trump is just straight up up there lying. Nobody's
Speaker 1: fact checking the guy. Of course, the president is looking
Speaker 1: at him like, what the how do I even which
Speaker 1: insane thing you just said? Do I pick to respond
Speaker 1: to first?
Speaker 2: But so Fia.
Speaker 1: But the double standard is very real for these two men.
Speaker 1: And to your point, perception does shape reality. And while
Speaker 1: it is undeniable, this is not an opinion, this is
Speaker 1: not an emotion. This is on paper, fact, data, policy,
Speaker 1: historic investment. Joe Biden is the most effective president we
Speaker 1: have had in America for either party in over sixty years.
Speaker 1: Thank God for the American Rescue Act, thank God for
Speaker 1: the Infrastructure Bill, which, by the way, all the GOP
Speaker 1: folks who voted against her are out bragging about the
Speaker 1: investments they got made.
Speaker 3: Literally, we need to make sure we keep the energy
Speaker 3: credits because that's what's Republicans were like, Look, would they
Speaker 3: sent a letter to Mike Johnson and they want to
Speaker 3: keep the energy credits because that has spurred business development
Speaker 3: in their district.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's almost like the Democrats know what they're doing.
Speaker 3: Your assessment of the debate is not wrong, Like, yes,
Speaker 3: Donald Trump was saying and saying like is that anybody
Speaker 3: would be like, well, what is going on?
Speaker 2: But the problem is it's not just anybody.
Speaker 3: Joe Biden as the president who planned and prepares for this,
Speaker 3: he knew his team wasn't.
Speaker 2: The debate and the debate performance it was.
Speaker 3: It was bad, Like there's the only way to say
Speaker 3: the performance was bad. But baked into that performance from
Speaker 3: other people, again, the perception that they had is that, oh, well,
Speaker 3: I thought he was too old in.
Speaker 2: General, he seemed a little office mark.
Speaker 3: Maybe he wasn't well he would maybe he didn't feel
Speaker 3: good that day, which he said he was. He had
Speaker 3: a cold, and so all of that that played into
Speaker 3: what people already thought, and they see the debate performance
Speaker 3: and like, oh, he's gone up for the job now, I.
Speaker 2: Frankly do not believe.
Speaker 3: And I might be in the in the in the
Speaker 3: small here, but it is not my belief that that
Speaker 3: debate performance should have led to where we are now.
Speaker 3: And I say that knowing and respecting and having deep
Speaker 3: love for Joe Biden and knowing you're respecting and having
Speaker 3: deep loved for Vice President Harrison.
Speaker 2: I've had a range of emotions over when that.
Speaker 3: Week that everything went down, because I have had the
Speaker 3: privilege of knowing and working for them both.
Speaker 2: Yes, but the faux pas here and this is this
Speaker 2: that you gotta.
Speaker 3: To handle your politics, and the people around the president
Speaker 3: did not handle.
Speaker 2: His politics as well as they should have.
Speaker 3: What I mean by that is there are members of
Speaker 3: Congress who called up the White House the day after
Speaker 3: the debate and they said, oh, it was bad, and
Speaker 3: we da da dah, I want to talk to the
Speaker 3: president blah blah blah, and they were rebuffed. They said,
Speaker 3: it's fine. The people at the White House said it
Speaker 3: was fine. The folks, some of the folks on the
Speaker 3: campaign said don't worry about it. And those members of
Speaker 3: Congress specifically, they felt like that the campaign apparatus around
Speaker 3: the president, the people closest to him, and even the
Speaker 3: President himself, given what he said close debate. I mean
Speaker 3: he was at the waffle house looking great, by the way, Okay, yes,
Speaker 3: but saying, oh, it's hard to debate a liar, Yes, sir,
Speaker 3: it is. But let's say I didn't have a good
Speaker 3: knight and we didn't get to I didn't have a
Speaker 3: little more a.
Speaker 2: Week later, yes, And I think by the time he arrived.
Speaker 3: To that point, the cake was already baked on.
Speaker 2: The people that wanted to orchestrate his demise.
Speaker 1: Very well, said I like that phrase, I'm going to
Speaker 1: borrow that and credit you. The cake was already baked, yeah, regardless.
Speaker 2: But it was a decision, yes it was. It was
Speaker 2: an untenable position.
Speaker 3: I mean they made it unable, so it was like
Speaker 3: he could have though, decided to bike it. Heals in
Speaker 3: and say sure, I'm the president. Fourteen million people voted
Speaker 3: for me, and I'm staying in this race. But Joe
Speaker 3: Biden is a good man. Frankly, he's a better person
Speaker 3: than maybe.
Speaker 2: All of us.
Speaker 1: I agree and listen to have done again, no emotion here,
Speaker 1: just the data, to have done more for this country
Speaker 1: than any other president in sixty years, and to be
Speaker 1: handed for you know, I'll say, you can't sandwich. He
Speaker 1: did the right thing. He did a valiant thing, He
Speaker 1: did a kind thing. And look, I don't stand politicians,
Speaker 1: to be clear, I don't think they're my heroes. I
Speaker 1: admire public service. I admire it in the military, I
Speaker 1: admire it in an elected office. I do not admire
Speaker 1: the folks out here lobbying on behalf of the gun lobby.
Speaker 1: But you know that's a whole separate piece of the pie.
Speaker 1: Like people who want to dedicate themselves to make this
Speaker 1: country better. I respect and admire, and that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: I agree with everything. There are policies of the president
Speaker 1: that I am not a fan of. There are a
Speaker 1: lot more that I am a big fan of. And
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I think, if I
Speaker 1: have learned anything from women who've been at this longer
Speaker 1: than me, and particularly some of the black women in
Speaker 1: my life who have been at this generationally like you,
Speaker 1: I have learned that my thirst for immediate action and
Speaker 1: evolution in our political sphere is at times childish. We
Speaker 1: are working for longevity, We are working for the preservation
Speaker 1: of generations. I would like us to be at utopia now,
Speaker 1: but I know it's something we have to build, and
Speaker 1: I know you have to be patient and invest. You know,
Speaker 1: political action is not a sexy, one night stand. It
Speaker 1: is a lifelong, cultivated marriage. And so as I sit
Speaker 1: here and I think about how you continue to press
Speaker 1: a country toward progress, how you don't let folks get
Speaker 1: left behind or forgotten about anywhere in any class you know,
Speaker 1: in any protected group or group that is not protected enough,
Speaker 1: I know that that requires dedication and selflessness. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go ahead and again say the thing that I
Speaker 1: can say as a civilian, which is I think the
Speaker 1: President was incredibly generous to look at the landscape of
Speaker 1: the country and regardless of how I feel or what
Speaker 1: I know about myself, it's not my time at this time.
Speaker 1: And the surge of joy that we have been able
Speaker 1: to watch with Vice President Harris stepping up and by
Speaker 1: the way, being able to teut her incredible legacy thus far.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, vice presidents never get any credit for
Speaker 1: anything that they're doing. But when you look at the list.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's not the job if you are a
Speaker 3: vice president running around getting a bunch of credit.
Speaker 1: I agree. But she has done some very substantive and
Speaker 1: historic work, from reproductive rights to working to stabilize Central
Speaker 1: America with with you know, US partnership, and you know,
Speaker 1: working on immigration despite the fact that the Republican's torpedo
Speaker 1: the bipartisan immigration bill because Trump said so, which is psychotic.
Speaker 1: But here we are, like, she has done incredible things,
Speaker 1: and now we've got Coach Wallace in the group, and
Speaker 1: it's like America Dad has come to hang out with
Speaker 1: our favorite and I'm so happy. Tell us how you're feeling,
Speaker 1: tell us what the temperature is, so I am feeling I.
Speaker 3: Am feeling like this energy is amazing. But to be
Speaker 3: very clear, we did not get to this moment.
Speaker 2: If on Joe Biden's way out of the race, he
Speaker 2: doesn't say.
Speaker 3: Oh, when I endorse my vice president, Yes, because there
Speaker 3: were a lot of people, a lot of people now
Speaker 3: who are like oh, on the on the Kamala Harris train,
Speaker 3: who were on the open convention train, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Just I'm looking at these people like, oh, okay.
Speaker 3: And because he endorsed his vice president the president, he
Speaker 3: when he originally told her to be his running mate, said,
Speaker 3: I would believe she is ready on day one, and if.
Speaker 2: I am not able to be the president, I know
Speaker 2: she's able to do the job. He carried that through all.
Speaker 3: When it mattered the most, he stood behind his vice
Speaker 3: president that frankly stood with him, and Joe Biden is
Speaker 3: in fact, because he did that, he was the bridge
Speaker 3: that he promised us he would be.
Speaker 2: He was the bridge that he always said he wanted
Speaker 2: to be apened the door and the service.
Speaker 3: And because Vice President Harris had been doing the work
Speaker 3: this entire time, you know, much has been made. People
Speaker 3: A lot of people had thoughts prior to you know,
Speaker 3: her locking up the nomination and whatnot, saying oh, I
Speaker 3: don't know if she's up for the challenge, she can
Speaker 3: do it. And those people, in my opinion, had not
Speaker 3: been paying attention to her for the last year and
Speaker 3: a half, two years three. I mean, I just don't
Speaker 3: think they've been paying attention. I think they let her
Speaker 3: presidential campaign and how well it didn't do color what
Speaker 3: they believed like they had a prison a filter on
Speaker 3: and they could not see her for what they could
Speaker 3: not see her in her work for what it truly was,
Speaker 3: and that is in fact, transformational.
Speaker 2: Serious.
Speaker 3: She has been a true governing partner to the president,
Speaker 3: and she's happened that she enjoyed campaigning and people, and
Speaker 3: I think that's coming true on the campaign trail.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute after a few
Speaker 1: words from our favorite sponsors. People who wanted to ignore
Speaker 1: her record have also ignored her record as a senator
Speaker 1: as you know, a district attorney. I'm just like, at
Speaker 1: the attorney general, I'm like, I'm so sorry, what what
Speaker 1: are you missing about? How progressive and fair and inclusive
Speaker 1: to everyone this woman has always been. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: I know more about her because I grew up in California.
Speaker 1: But she is an incredible candidate, and beyond just ignoring
Speaker 1: her record, I also think a lot of people need
Speaker 1: to go back to social studies class because I'm like,
Speaker 1: do y'all not know how civic works. She is the
Speaker 1: literal vice president of the United States of America. She's
Speaker 1: not like a random person being installed.
Speaker 2: As the nominee. Like she is the active vice president
Speaker 2: of the United States.
Speaker 3: And people and the delegates within the Democratic Party, they
Speaker 3: voted for her, they won her.
Speaker 2: I mean to be very clear. In the primary, when
Speaker 2: people voted for Joe Biden, they were voted for Carl Hairs.
Speaker 2: They vote for her exactly.
Speaker 3: And then when Joe Biden bout out of the race
Speaker 3: and then endorsed his vice president, she just didn't say, Okay,
Speaker 3: it's me and it.
Speaker 2: Is a coordination. She is.
Speaker 3: She got on the phone and she went to work
Speaker 3: calling people for their endorsements. And the hours after the
Speaker 3: President made us all aware via social media that he.
Speaker 2: Was no longer in this race, it's my understanding that
Speaker 2: she was.
Speaker 3: On the phone calling up anybody, members of Congress, union folks,
Speaker 3: calling them up saying I want this one and two,
Speaker 3: I want your endorsement, and that is that. That's like
Speaker 3: campaign one on one, Honey. You get on that phone,
Speaker 3: you call the people, you have the conversations, and you
Speaker 3: ask for what you want. A closed mouth will not
Speaker 3: get fed and a closed mouth will.
Speaker 2: Not get a vote. Okay. So I just think she
Speaker 2: had the right mindset.
Speaker 1: Here exactly exactly, and so can you talk to us
Speaker 1: about how you view the campaign? And look, I want
Speaker 1: to be very sensitive. This is a historic moment. I again,
Speaker 1: I'm a Californian. I know her record. I will never
Speaker 1: forget what it felt like to watch the news and
Speaker 1: watch her at the time years ago say you will
Speaker 1: start performing marriages. I mean, she has stood up for
Speaker 1: equity and decency and everyone in our country for so long.
Speaker 1: So you know I've got those opinions. Also, it is
Speaker 1: a historic, incredible moment. We have a black woman running
Speaker 1: for the president of the United States of America, and so.
Speaker 2: It's like, what I don't want to do is make
Speaker 2: it about a man.
Speaker 1: But this is also the week that she announced Tim
Speaker 1: Walls as her VP.
Speaker 2: Pick.
Speaker 1: I happen to love coach. I think he is a
Speaker 1: miraculous person because he manages being sort of like a
Speaker 1: quintessential older, sweet white guy dad football dude to also
Speaker 1: be a kind and cclude of man who has proven
Speaker 1: incredibly for his state that you can bring everybody along
Speaker 1: and nobody loses, not even guys like him who you know,
Speaker 1: want to say they're suddenly losing it in America, where
Speaker 1: women like you and I are no longer under threat
Speaker 1: every day, just maybe still most of the time. Like
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's a weird argument, but like he
Speaker 1: kind of does away with a lot of the complaints
Speaker 1: that come out of these bot farms on the right.
Speaker 1: So I want to focus on her and I want
Speaker 1: to talk about him. How does it feel, you know,
Speaker 1: from inside the administration? What do you see since the
Speaker 1: announcement of him being the pick? Yeah, tell give me
Speaker 1: the inside baseball here a little bit.
Speaker 3: I've talked to a number of current administration officials, you know,
Speaker 3: folks that still work for the president and vice president
Speaker 3: on the official side. And I talked to a bunch
Speaker 3: of the campaign folks, the senior campaign leadership, but also
Speaker 3: maybe what we would call rank and file campaign staff
Speaker 3: who just were watching a new just like the rest
Speaker 3: of us, Like oh, Joe Biden's out up. Kamla Harris
Speaker 3: is them, Oh we're doing this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, people are excited. I think people are very excited.
Speaker 3: I think folks are surprised by how much the momentum
Speaker 3: has continued to build and these I don't remember the
Speaker 3: last time it's been a while since a Democratic candidate
Speaker 3: for president has had a airport hangar rally that has
Speaker 3: been filled to the brim and spilling over.
Speaker 2: So that is an exciting piece.
Speaker 3: The senior leadership though, and I would also note the
Speaker 3: Vice President herself, I think that they are very clear eyed,
Speaker 3: clear eye that this is still going to be a fight,
Speaker 3: that there are people in this country that want what
Speaker 3: Donald Trump and Jade Vance are selling and the vision
Speaker 3: that they are offering, and that nothing is going to
Speaker 3: be handed to them.
Speaker 2: They know that the race is going to be close.
Speaker 3: And so I don't think that the Vice President herself
Speaker 3: is is high, if you.
Speaker 2: Will, on the sugar high.
Speaker 3: She's doing the work, she's doing the work, and I
Speaker 3: think she's clear and she's resolute.
Speaker 2: That's just from knowing her. That's just the kind of
Speaker 2: that's just the kind of person she is.
Speaker 3: When the states get high and when everybody is having
Speaker 3: fun and people are like, oh, this is our moment.
Speaker 2: She's always like, okay, but focus because the reality is
Speaker 2: is that there are.
Speaker 3: Was as we had this conversation, We'll just say less
Speaker 3: than ninety days until election day, but it's even sooner
Speaker 3: than that, Sophia, until people start voting in this country
Speaker 3: after convention, within the first week of September and key
Speaker 3: places across the country, folks are going to start going
Speaker 3: to the battle box and cast their vote. Tim Wallas
Speaker 3: is an excellent to be very clear, any pick the
Speaker 3: Vice President would have made would have been an excellent
Speaker 3: pick because the candidates that the contenders that I'm aware
Speaker 3: that were in the in contention, all of them amazing
Speaker 3: representatives of the Democratic Party apparatus, amazing people that would
Speaker 3: have been great, great, great running mates and excellent vice presidents.
Speaker 3: If Kadlah Harris is to be elected, Tim Walls, though
Speaker 3: the Vice President felt was right for her, and as
Speaker 3: a you select a running mate, it's the first major
Speaker 3: decision that a nominee makes. It's literally the first presidential
Speaker 3: level decision that they may because you are picking the
Speaker 3: person that, in the event you cannot do the job.
Speaker 3: To be very clear, that this is the person you
Speaker 3: want to have your job and someone that you want
Speaker 3: to work with and be your governing partner for the next.
Speaker 2: Four, maybe even eight years.
Speaker 3: So she obviously felt like she had that in Governor Wall,
Speaker 3: someone who is the current chair of the Democratic Governor's Association.
Speaker 2: Like this man.
Speaker 3: People talk about Governor Walls like he just fell out
Speaker 3: of a pricking apple tree and found his way up
Speaker 3: into to be the running made of potential next Vice
Speaker 3: President of United States for America. Like no, he too
Speaker 3: has done the work throughout his career, and I would know.
Speaker 3: He's a native Nebraska like myself. So the folk are
Speaker 3: taking credit for ten Walls.
Speaker 2: But this is going to be a fight, Sophia, And
Speaker 2: if the news currently is any indication they're going to
Speaker 2: be attacked from the Trump and Band's campaign that the
Speaker 2: Harris Walls campaign are going to have to contend with.
Speaker 3: We we have yet to see either of the major
Speaker 3: either of the candidates fraying either of the tickets, whether
Speaker 3: I'm talking about Donald Trump and Jade Vance or Vice
Speaker 3: President Harris and Governor Wallas fit for joint interviews together. Right,
Speaker 3: That's something that usually happens when Secretary Clinton chose Tim
Speaker 3: Kaine as her running mate in twenty sixteen, about forty
Speaker 3: eight hours later they were doing a joint interview. When
Speaker 3: Vice president then candidate Biden chose then Senator Harris as
Speaker 3: his running mate in twenty twenty, about four years ago actually, frankly,
Speaker 3: oh wow, my goodness, about four years ago this week, crazy,
Speaker 3: Maybe about almost two weeks later, about twelve days later,
Speaker 3: they set together for a joint interview. So it just
Speaker 3: depends this is unprecidented because, to be very clear, not
Speaker 3: only in two weeks time did Vice President Harris stand
Speaker 3: up a campaign apparatus and she's a running mate.
Speaker 2: Like she's also teasing out what her policies are gonna be.
Speaker 3: I would not suggest anybody sit down for in depth
Speaker 3: interview anywhere and you're not sure what your policies are, honey,
Speaker 3: because they're gonna have to answer those questions. But should
Speaker 3: they maybe are they gonna or are we gonna start
Speaker 3: saying them take more questions as they're out and about
Speaker 3: with the reporters that are traveling with them.
Speaker 2: I think they should.
Speaker 3: The kaple of Harris, I know that's what that's what
Speaker 3: she did when I worked for and what she's continued
Speaker 3: to do over the last couple of years, a couple
Speaker 3: of years as the vice president.
Speaker 2: So that is where I see this race right now.
Speaker 3: It is I don't think people, though, should should trample
Speaker 3: on the enthusiasm.
Speaker 2: Have you heard people say, I'm like, oh, why are
Speaker 2: they so incided? Yeah?
Speaker 1: But I don't care. I'm just so happy. It feels
Speaker 1: nice to feel happy about our future again. It feels
Speaker 1: nice that good people can go and do good things
Speaker 1: for other people. You know it Trump unleashed. Look, there's
Speaker 1: always been hey, but Trump unleashed like a hate machine
Speaker 1: on steroids. And it's so tiring. It is tiring to
Speaker 1: to have to fight tooth and nail to just remain
Speaker 1: at baseline and to begin I believe for so many
Speaker 1: people in this country to see that we could get
Speaker 1: like up pass baseline into goodness. That there could be
Speaker 1: more infrastructure investment, there could be more job creation. You know,
Speaker 1: communities that have historically had you know, their working classes
Speaker 1: dying in coal mines or contracting cancer posts that lifetime
Speaker 1: of work could actually be the first communities to get
Speaker 1: green sector jobs where they work in safe environments and
Speaker 1: have healthcare, like you know, kids get to eat in school,
Speaker 1: even some of the attacks of the right on governor laws.
Speaker 1: They're like, hey gave kids tampons, And I'm like, y'all,
Speaker 1: I'm a forty two year old woman and I was
Speaker 1: at the Modern Art Museum in Grand Rapids last week,
Speaker 1: got my period a day early and couldn't get a tampon,
Speaker 1: and was like, I'm a grown ass person who has
Speaker 1: to freak out about this. I don't know what I
Speaker 1: would do if I were twelve and I needed to
Speaker 1: go take a math test in the next, you know,
Speaker 1: next class, and this was happening to me.
Speaker 2: Like I didn't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe sure children didn't go hungry was a radical, you
Speaker 3: know position.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that I didn't eat.
Speaker 2: Folks have what they need.
Speaker 3: For their health care situation, which, to be clear, like
Speaker 3: women get periods, girls get periods, like this is this
Speaker 3: is this is part of what happens students.
Speaker 1: Men's stream and pads are.
Speaker 3: You know, they're necessary, they're necessary products. I didn't know
Speaker 3: making sure that, you know, young girl girls who are
Speaker 3: at school can have access to those items and not
Speaker 3: have to you know, see if they've got a dollar
Speaker 3: or a dollar twenty five, or they have change in
Speaker 3: their pockets in order to get the what they need
Speaker 3: is a radical position, Like I just I didn't know
Speaker 3: the ensuring that people in a state capital somewhere are
Speaker 3: not overriding your doctor when your doctor tells you what
Speaker 3: you need for your health care is a radical position,
Speaker 3: to be very clear, which is why I think is
Speaker 3: really important to fear that people are very specific, right.
Speaker 2: And so when when.
Speaker 3: The some of the attacks on Governor Walls are specifically
Speaker 3: about how he was as a governor, they say he
Speaker 3: was a very conservative member of cong He was a
Speaker 3: he was a moderate Democrat, right, and he got elected
Speaker 3: in a conservative district in two thousand and six and
Speaker 3: served in that district until he left her to run
Speaker 3: for governor. And he during that time he had a
Speaker 3: high grating from the NRA right all of these things,
Speaker 3: and they say, well, that was Congressman Walls, but Governor
Speaker 3: Walls are somewhat different, and they think that the campaign
Speaker 3: is going to have to contend with this. They're gonna
Speaker 3: have to beat this back aggressively, in my opinion, because
Speaker 3: narrative is a very powerful thing, and because he is
Speaker 3: new on the national stage of so many people, they
Speaker 3: cannot allow this narrative to take hold. So you gotta
Speaker 3: be specific, like, Okay, what things the governor walls do
Speaker 3: that you didn't agree with?
Speaker 2: Feed over children? Yeah, let's just ask the questions here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's ask the questions. And by the way, I
Speaker 1: loved that he took to the Internet to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a hunter. I've grown up with guns. I
Speaker 1: used to at an A rating from the NRA, and
Speaker 1: then when I learned what they were spending money on
Speaker 1: ensuring that these mass shootings keep happening, I changed my
Speaker 1: opinion and now I'm proud to have an F rating.
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, you're great, You're just great. It's
Speaker 1: it doesn't all have to be so hysterical. But I
Speaker 1: think part of the reason that it's hard is because,
Speaker 1: at least in my opinion, as you know, a political
Speaker 1: nerd for sure, but a civilian, we do deal with
Speaker 1: on the right a lot of projection, a lot of
Speaker 1: what folks on the right are guilty of, they're saying
Speaker 1: the Democrats are doing. And it's tricky when one group
Speaker 1: is like, well, no, we don't do that, and the
Speaker 1: other group is, you know, screaming hysterics all the time.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really feel like a level playing field. It's
Speaker 1: like we show up, you know, to the argument like
Speaker 1: I always think of it like West Side story, Like
Speaker 1: you got one group showing up to the fight with
Speaker 1: like little switchblades. You've got the other group showing up
Speaker 1: with an uzi and you wonder why, Like everything feels crazy.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute. But here's a
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors.
Speaker 3: I think people need to hear Donald top in his
Speaker 3: own words, unfiltered, because that is who he is and
Speaker 3: that is what voters are getting exactly.
Speaker 1: And when he doesn't have the softball questions prepped from
Speaker 1: his friends at Fox News, and he has to actually,
Speaker 1: you know, speak his opinions or speak off the cuff.
Speaker 1: I mean the way his disdain for women and his
Speaker 1: racism pours out of his body. I'll come to the
Speaker 1: you know, Kamala Harris observations he made in a moment,
Speaker 1: but even the fact that he dared to say with
Speaker 1: a straight face, I've been the best president for black
Speaker 1: people since Abraham Lincoln. Excuse me, sir, excuse me. First
Speaker 1: of all, no, you haven't the programs you've defunded, the
Speaker 1: people you've come for what you have promoted out in
Speaker 1: the world, like from policy to personal aspect, you are
Speaker 1: a nightmare. But the fact that you would say that is.
Speaker 2: So shocking to me.
Speaker 1: And it's also I mean not shocking.
Speaker 2: I guess that's what's wild.
Speaker 1: He shocks me, but it doesn't surprise me. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: the way to say.
Speaker 3: Because he's a salesman and Donald Trump believe. Look, if
Speaker 3: you say anything enough times, people may start to believe it, right,
Speaker 3: Like it's this whole thing about like why it could
Speaker 3: be why do demo Why are Democrats regularly ranks lower
Speaker 3: on the economy? Literally, generic Democrats lawer on the economy
Speaker 3: than like a generic Republican because for years Republicans have
Speaker 3: just said they're great on the economy.
Speaker 2: They just said they're good on it, even.
Speaker 1: Though the data proves the opposite.
Speaker 2: Honey, where are the policy to back it up?
Speaker 3: So Donald Trump is trying to use that when it
Speaker 3: comes to He actually used that strategy on a number
Speaker 3: of different things. But like that's why he does things
Speaker 3: like that. And for so long people never fact checked him.
Speaker 3: They would just let him say the crazy thing.
Speaker 2: And it's like, well, Donald Trump, yep, says again blah,
Speaker 2: blah black.
Speaker 3: And now people are like wising up to it, and
Speaker 3: the media apparatus is like, Okay, we're not gonna We're
Speaker 3: not going to allow this to go and check. There's
Speaker 3: still some issues with the way in which Donald Trump
Speaker 3: gets away with things, but I think that he is
Speaker 3: being held accountable more now than ever before.
Speaker 1: One of the good sides of this much connectivity is
Speaker 1: we just know so much more existing in the world
Speaker 1: because we see it. So when he says on the
Speaker 1: stage at the NABJ that, you know, he can't believe
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris is black, that she quote was always of
Speaker 1: Indian heritage, was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know
Speaker 1: she was black. And then he goes on to say,
Speaker 1: you know, and she's she's turned black. Is she Indian
Speaker 1: or black? And I was like, bro, First of all,
Speaker 1: it's insane to me that in the year twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four you don't understand that mixed race people exist. It's
Speaker 1: wild that you would say this when your running mate's
Speaker 1: wife is also and heritage, so his children are mixed,
Speaker 1: your your would be hopeful vice president's kids and Sir
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris went to historically black college. She's a member
Speaker 1: of the AKA, like.
Speaker 3: Even if she didn't go to a HBCU, I know,
Speaker 3: not a member of a sorority, Like whether one is
Speaker 3: black or not has nothing to do with the school
Speaker 3: they went to. And then the sorority that they well
Speaker 3: what donald thought to tell anyone who they are, but.
Speaker 1: Just wild to me observing it to go sir, You
Speaker 1: can't say like, oh, I met this person and didn't
Speaker 1: realize her family history. She's the Vice President of the
Speaker 1: United States of America, whose entire life is on the record.
Speaker 1: If you've ever watched a speech she's given, ever paid
Speaker 1: attention to groups she advocates for, or knew anything about
Speaker 1: her personal history. To be proud of where you come from, Like,
Speaker 1: my mom's family is Italian, my dad's from Canada.
Speaker 2: Guess what.
Speaker 1: I'm a dual se citizen in Canada and I try
Speaker 1: to go to Italy at least once a year to
Speaker 1: see my family. I love both places.
Speaker 2: You don't owe anyone an explanation. I sure don't.
Speaker 1: I sure don't.
Speaker 2: You don't owe.
Speaker 3: Anyone an explanation for that, and neither does the Vice president.
Speaker 3: But she shares her rich history being a daughter of immigrants,
Speaker 3: a daughter of Oakland, California, someone whom her mother, who
Speaker 3: she often talks about, her mother, shambla who she says,
Speaker 3: you know, her mother knew she was raising two young
Speaker 3: black girls, that that's how the world would see her children,
Speaker 3: and she made sure she instilled in us the richness
Speaker 3: of our full heritage. So this idea, this is why
Speaker 3: I think Donald Trump is doing two things on that
Speaker 3: stage with that particular comment.
Speaker 2: One he was speaking to.
Speaker 3: Just frankly, the racist parts of our electorate, because they
Speaker 3: do exist, and the folks who and the racist parts
Speaker 3: of our electorate saying, you don't even know what she is?
Speaker 2: What you sure you want her to be president? That's
Speaker 2: essentially what he was saying. But I also think he
Speaker 2: was speaking to this un your current.
Speaker 3: That exists within communities of color that say, well, who
Speaker 3: is who is actually a person of color?
Speaker 2: Who's actually black?
Speaker 3: And I think that the second thing that he was
Speaker 3: doing is a lot more. It's it's sinister, It's something
Speaker 3: he himself didn't understand.
Speaker 2: He probably saw it on the internet as somebody said
Speaker 2: it to him.
Speaker 3: But either way, no one in this country owes anyone
Speaker 3: else an explanation about their their their identity, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean about who they are, like the beauty
Speaker 3: of That's what Governor Walls was saying.
Speaker 2: You don't give what to say. Mind your own damn business.
Speaker 2: But like if Donald Trup wants.
Speaker 3: To ask these kinds of questions, and if hee would
Speaker 3: like to ask the vice president like well is she
Speaker 3: actually black? I do not suggest these are questions one
Speaker 3: should ask, Okay, but if you, if you, if you
Speaker 3: decide you'd like to ask them, perhaps they shouldn't be
Speaker 3: asked on a debase stage while you're standing next to her.
Speaker 2: And she said herself like, if you have you have.
Speaker 3: So much to say, maybe you should say it's my face.
Speaker 3: But those are not things that he would do. But
Speaker 3: the fact that it made its way onto a stage
Speaker 3: where the cameras were on, in a room full of journalists,
Speaker 3: and now that veryist, the sinister comments have been repeated
Speaker 3: large and everyone has heard it.
Speaker 2: It opens the door for folks in their own communities
Speaker 2: to repeat some of the same sinister language that Donald
Speaker 2: Trump is sent in.
Speaker 3: And so this is why it's just like Donald Trump
Speaker 3: could be defeated at the ballot box. It's November, like
Speaker 3: Vice President Harris. She's running a good campaign. It's still
Speaker 3: you know, in less than ninety days.
Speaker 2: She could win. And even if she wins, While.
Speaker 3: Donald Trump may be defeated, Trumpism is not going away.
Speaker 3: And I think there is a larger conversation that is
Speaker 3: to be had about how trump Ism has so ingrained
Speaker 3: itself within the DNA of the current Republican Party apparatus.
Speaker 2: That it's not going to be enough to just defeat
Speaker 2: him at the ballot box.
Speaker 3: Because there are people who have been elected all over
Speaker 3: this country, some in Congress, some in state legislatures, some right,
Speaker 3: some in the Secretary of State's.
Speaker 2: Office, some election officials, Oh yeah, election officials, and they
Speaker 2: believe with Donald cup believes that's what's so dangerous about
Speaker 2: this moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is scary. Well, it's very scary to have
Speaker 1: supposed American civil servants adhering to the language and goals
Speaker 1: of dictators and despots who we've judged around the world,
Speaker 1: and when they think the one in their own backyard
Speaker 1: could make them rich, they go the hell with democracy.
Speaker 1: You know that that is stressful for me as a
Speaker 1: passionate citizen also daughter of immigrants who you know, all
Speaker 1: my family is here because of this idea, of this
Speaker 1: American dream, and it's surreal to see how quickly people
Speaker 1: are willing to sell it out. But it is why
Speaker 1: I feel hopeful, because what I appreciate is that the
Speaker 1: Vice President and Governor Walls are reminding us it's not
Speaker 1: hard to live next to people. It's not hard to
Speaker 1: be good to people. It's not hard to say, listen,
Speaker 1: you do this, I do that online, my business, you
Speaker 1: mind yours. Let's make sure everybody has rights. You know,
Speaker 1: I loved that that Governor Wall said rights are not
Speaker 1: like a pie. There's enough for everybody to go around,
Speaker 1: Like you can have yours and they can have theirs,
Speaker 1: and them having theirs doesn't threaten yours. Like we can
Speaker 1: actually all just listen to each other. And it's nice
Speaker 1: to have folks presenting us with a vision of an
Speaker 1: America where we as a country get to solve problems
Speaker 1: together instead of fight each other to see who wins
Speaker 1: within our walls. That's just not useful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not sustainable either, Like, no, it's not what
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 3: You know, the President always talks about like America being
Speaker 3: an idea, and it is America is an idea it's
Speaker 3: an experiment, frankly, and it is an experiment that only
Speaker 3: it's it's like it's a system that only works if
Speaker 3: you're working, okay, and it is it is. I like
Speaker 3: what you said about how it's kind of like our
Speaker 3: democracy is like a long time. It's like a committed
Speaker 3: marriage situation. It is something every single day, and some
Speaker 3: days you'll get it right. There will be some days
Speaker 3: there will be setbacks. But I just haven't traveled all
Speaker 3: over you know, we've traveled all over this our great country,
Speaker 3: but also the world.
Speaker 2: And I still I still would rather.
Speaker 3: There's no place in the in the world i'd rather
Speaker 3: be than be an American.
Speaker 2: Like the privilege, just the privilege.
Speaker 3: And when I went to the White House, one of
Speaker 3: the one of the things about working at the White
Speaker 3: House is when you travel abroad on behalf of the
Speaker 3: United States government. And I traveled with the Vice President
Speaker 3: when she went on all of her to call them oconaces.
Speaker 3: I don't know why they call them oconass but it's
Speaker 3: an in a national trip. And when we would travel abroad,
Speaker 3: it's like they didn't care if the people abroad, it
Speaker 3: doesn't matter if it is a president that was a
Speaker 3: democratic president that was elected or Republican president that was elected.
Speaker 2: We are Americans. You're representing a America and we that
Speaker 2: is how that you us.
Speaker 3: The people abroad are not looking at us as Democrats
Speaker 3: or Republicans are independents.
Speaker 2: They're looking at us as Americans.
Speaker 3: And when you when you step off a plane in
Speaker 3: a foreign country as a representative of America, it is
Speaker 3: one of the highest privilege. It is quite possibly the
Speaker 3: highest privilege I feel like I have ever been afforded
Speaker 3: to represent America.
Speaker 2: It's probably how it's how they are left in.
Speaker 3: The Olympias build Yeah America right now, We're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we're rooting for because because.
Speaker 2: They are, they are representing all of us.
Speaker 3: And that's that is why who is in the White
Speaker 3: House matters. Who the president is matter is honey, Because
Speaker 3: these guard grils that y'all think exist, let me tell
Speaker 3: you it is only as good as the people the
Speaker 3: president surround themselves with, and the Congress that is willing
Speaker 3: to do their job, and the Supreme Court that is
Speaker 3: that is that is that.
Speaker 2: Is willing to stay in their.
Speaker 1: Box held to ethical standards.
Speaker 2: Come on now, and the Congress is has been unbilling
Speaker 2: to do their job.
Speaker 3: The Republicans in Congress, and then the Supreme Court they
Speaker 3: have they it's like the ethical standards don't exist.
Speaker 1: Well, they've all been bought and paid for.
Speaker 2: I'm on now, they're not there.
Speaker 3: And I just I don't know how better to tell
Speaker 3: people that so much of what happens in the White
Speaker 3: House and in the federal government is just a bunch
Speaker 3: of people sitting in that room saying what it is
Speaker 3: they'd like to do.
Speaker 2: And those people are often the.
Speaker 3: President, the president's chief of staff, maybe it's a vice
Speaker 3: president and their team and the.
Speaker 2: Core team around them.
Speaker 3: And if those people do not have the same reverence
Speaker 3: for the role and the job and don't feel the
Speaker 3: same way about stepping off the plane as Americans that
Speaker 3: I just described, well, then honey weed for a ride, right.
Speaker 1: Well, And I think it's been very important for us
Speaker 1: to realize, to your point, how fragile the guardrails are.
Speaker 1: People assume they're made of steel, and they're kind of
Speaker 1: made of glass. We can't risk all of this repeat
Speaker 1: harm done. The idea is that we get better at
Speaker 1: achieving the ideals of the American experiment, and folks who
Speaker 1: are willing to sell off the American Experiment for parts
Speaker 1: I think shouldn't ever be back in the White House again.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious only because I mean, my god, I
Speaker 1: love having like really timely, topical, deep conversations with you
Speaker 1: about this stuff. But I also want to, like, I
Speaker 1: just want to give you all your flowers for a moment.
Speaker 1: You are an incredible human. You are an incredible American.
Speaker 1: You are an incredible friend. You have been someone that
Speaker 1: I enjoy learning from advocating alongside, who has been willing
Speaker 1: to sit you know, do the things in public and
Speaker 1: the big advocacy, but like we've also sat at like
Speaker 1: the IOP in a back classroom at Harvard talking to students,
Speaker 1: and like you've been an ear for me to vent
Speaker 1: about my life and ask questions like what do I
Speaker 1: do in this situation that's really hard for me right now?
Speaker 1: And so I think people can forget when they look
Speaker 1: at someone like you who has done all the work
Speaker 1: that you've done, that you are so young, Like Simone,
Speaker 1: you were twenty five years old when you became the
Speaker 1: national Press secretary for Senator Sanders on his presidential campaign,
Speaker 1: Like how how did you.
Speaker 2: Get that passion that ten years ago? Yet that hell
Speaker 2: Loo years next year.
Speaker 1: Wow, this is what I'm saying. Like you were twenty
Speaker 1: five years old, you were a baby, So where did
Speaker 1: the passion come from? And then how did you handle
Speaker 1: the pressure at that age? Like, because I want to
Speaker 1: know how you got there and how you did it.
Speaker 1: And then looking back from here almost ten years later,
Speaker 1: what advice you might give young folks who want to
Speaker 1: follow in your footsteps.
Speaker 3: Well, first, let me say you were very kind you
Speaker 3: all thought phobia. You do such a great job of
Speaker 3: just I think when I when I see you and
Speaker 3: a number of people like you, right, but I think
Speaker 3: of this Nina Smong quote. Nina Smith says, it is
Speaker 3: an artist's duty to reflect the times.
Speaker 2: And there are so meaning and I mean.
Speaker 3: You are you are an actor, you're a director, you're
Speaker 3: a philanthropist, but you're an artist. At the end of
Speaker 3: the day, you're an artist. And there are artists out
Speaker 3: there that do not feel.
Speaker 2: It is their duty to reflect the times.
Speaker 3: There are people that have opinions and thoughts, but they
Speaker 3: do not do anything with them. You know, they share
Speaker 3: them amongst their small groups, but they're not going out
Speaker 3: there trying to help people register the vote, trying to help,
Speaker 3: you know, sing where they can fix some of the
Speaker 3: things that are happening in the community, how they can
Speaker 3: stand up and just kind of do what they can
Speaker 3: in their own space and place. But you do do that,
Speaker 3: and I really think it's important that you. I really
Speaker 3: really think it's important that you do that. There are
Speaker 3: lots of other people that do, Like I think of I'm.
Speaker 2: Not even gonna lie. Have you heard this before? But
Speaker 2: one said no.
Speaker 3: One said to me the other day they were like,
Speaker 3: you know what, Sophia Bush is like the white Kerry Washington.
Speaker 3: I said, when it comes to the politics. She's like yes,
Speaker 3: I said, you know what, yees. You know why they say.
Speaker 2: That, because Carrie, she will show up.
Speaker 3: For the voting street honey, see will do an activation,
Speaker 3: he will fly the main.
Speaker 1: I love that woman. That's a big compliment for me.
Speaker 3: Yes, And they were like, yeah, Okia puts just like
Speaker 3: the white Kerry Washington. And I was like, you know,
Speaker 3: next time I see Sofia, I will I will make
Speaker 3: sure I tell her that.
Speaker 2: But that is I think that's so important. So you know,
Speaker 2: you gave me that flowers. But like I appreciate I do.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you because we need people like you. We
Speaker 2: need people to use.
Speaker 3: Their platforms and use their time and their space in
Speaker 3: place to just talk about the issues because it makes
Speaker 3: it so much more accessible.
Speaker 2: I would just quickly.
Speaker 3: Say that how I got the how I got there
Speaker 3: the Bernie Sanders job, It really was nothing, but like
Speaker 3: I think, I mean, I worked hard, but I think
Speaker 3: it was just a lot of like prayer and just
Speaker 3: I'm a spiritual person, and I think I believe that
Speaker 3: it was that what is for you will not miss you.
Speaker 3: And I had gone on like twenty seven interviews before,
Speaker 3: like literally twenty seven interviews. I interviewed everywhere every Democratic
Speaker 3: entity in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: Every every Democratic committee, they all one place.
Speaker 3: I went to like eight rounds of interviews only for
Speaker 3: them not to hire me but tell me that they
Speaker 3: loved they loved my spirit and then I addressed very well.
Speaker 3: So I get a call from like Bernie Sanders in
Speaker 3: campaign manager randomly on my cell phone. Somebody whom I
Speaker 3: had worked for previously, gave him my resume and he
Speaker 3: called and he asked me, did I want to, you know,
Speaker 3: come work for Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 2: I'm like, who is this?
Speaker 3: And I ended up going to meet with Jeff Weaver,
Speaker 3: and then maybe a couple weeks later, I meet with
Speaker 3: the communications director.
Speaker 2: Then I don't hear anything. So now I've been on like,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty nine interviews.
Speaker 3: No job.
Speaker 2: I have a job now, but I don't want that
Speaker 2: job anymore. I had moved to DC to do politics,
Speaker 2: and I wasn't doing politics, so I wanted to do
Speaker 2: political work. And I get another.
Speaker 3: Random call on my phone and it's someone from Bernie Sanders'
Speaker 3: office and they're asking me to meet with him. We
Speaker 3: end up going to meet that day and the Senator
Speaker 3: and I get into an argument when I get in there.
Speaker 2: And you met Senator Standers, I love him. Bernie Sanders
Speaker 2: have to say the same thing in higher career.
Speaker 3: That man is the epitome of like his authentic self
Speaker 3: because he hasn't believed what he's believed since longer.
Speaker 2: Than I've been alive. Okay, Yeah, And so Bernie.
Speaker 3: Sanders let me know that he thought I had a
Speaker 3: fundamental misunderstanding of his economic policy, and I was just like, well, sorry,
Speaker 3: I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And so we we kind of went back and forth.
Speaker 3: I told a story or two, and by the end
Speaker 3: of the conversation we were on the same page, right,
Speaker 3: and he told me he liked me.
Speaker 2: I was like, I like you.
Speaker 3: And then he was like, oh, I think I want
Speaker 3: you to work here. I was like, I think I
Speaker 3: could work here. And then BERNIEY Sanders asking something nobody
Speaker 3: had ever asked you before. He said, well, do you
Speaker 3: have an idea what you want to do? And I
Speaker 3: knew exactly what I had wanted to do because I
Speaker 3: knew what I wanted my next role to be. I
Speaker 3: knew what I wanted my title to be. I knew
Speaker 3: the experience I wanted to be able to get, so
Speaker 3: that is what I asked for. I told Bernie Sanders
Speaker 3: straight up, I want to be your national pre secretary.
Speaker 3: I want to be your on the record spokesperson. I
Speaker 3: want to have a hand of the messaging strategy, just
Speaker 3: like we discussed here. And I want to, you know,
Speaker 3: do cable television. And Bertie Scatters is just kind of like,
Speaker 3: have you ever done cable television before? And I was like, no, sir,
Speaker 3: but I do think I'd be very good at it,
Speaker 3: and he laughed. And then days later I get a
Speaker 3: call back on my phone again.
Speaker 2: It's Jeff Weaver. He starts talking about the phone and
Speaker 2: the laptop, and I'm like, well, what's my job title, Jeff,
Speaker 2: and he says national Press secretary. Now, Sophia, I did
Speaker 2: not think there was gonna make me the national press secretary. Honey.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask what I want and then I'm gonna
Speaker 2: let you. If you want to hale me down, you
Speaker 2: can hale me down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But that is I think the best piece of
Speaker 3: advice that I could give, and I remember and I
Speaker 3: take that experience with me and everything that I have
Speaker 3: done since then. I think that we should be about
Speaker 3: the business of asking for what we want and what
Speaker 3: we know we have worked for, and then when we
Speaker 3: get it, we need to be able to execute. And
Speaker 3: how many times do we ask for the thing right
Speaker 3: up under the thing we want because we feel like
Speaker 3: somebody's not gonna give it to us.
Speaker 2: All they could tell.
Speaker 1: Me is no, right, I love it, aim high, expect
Speaker 1: a counteroffer, and some times you'll get asking.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you'll get it. I'm I love it. I love it,
Speaker 2: and it's worked for me, and I just I am.
Speaker 3: I'm very comfortable with who I am. I mean, I
Speaker 3: think I had to be comfortable. I didn't think I
Speaker 3: was getting that job. When Bernie Sanders and I started arguing,
Speaker 3: I was just like, but since I'm here, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: say my piece, because when am I gonna be sitting
Speaker 3: in the office of the United.
Speaker 2: States Senator again?
Speaker 3: And I've been in many more offices of the United
Speaker 3: States Senators. I just I think it's important that folks.
Speaker 3: I think young women, especially young people of color across
Speaker 3: the board, should know that their.
Speaker 2: Authentic selves are are are just enough.
Speaker 3: And I think that while there has been there has
Speaker 3: been a lot of progress across all these various industries.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're talking about the fact that the Democrats.
Speaker 3: Have just nominated a black woman, a woman of color,
Speaker 3: a woman of South Asian descent, as the nominator, the
Speaker 3: first of any major party.
Speaker 2: This is the ground to Shirley chishol laid. Shirlie Chisen
Speaker 2: was the first woman to run for president on any
Speaker 2: major party ticket.
Speaker 1: Nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 3: In nineteen right, but Shirley chishom laid the groundwork for
Speaker 3: Geraldine Ferraro, which was forty years ago. She was the
Speaker 3: first woman to be on the major party ticket as
Speaker 3: the vice presidential running mate that laid the groundwork for
Speaker 3: Secretary Clinton in twenty sixteen to be the first woman
Speaker 3: of any any major party to be nominated as the nominee,
Speaker 3: Which brings us to this moment that we are currently
Speaker 3: in with Vice presid Kamala Harrison. So much progress has
Speaker 3: been made, but there's still such a long way to go.
Speaker 3: And I just, you know, my authentic self is just enough.
Speaker 3: I can't so like, I don't put on anything else,
Speaker 3: and I go to work every day. I literally have
Speaker 3: the privilege of going to work just as simone because
Speaker 3: simone is just enough.
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors who make this
Speaker 1: show possible.
Speaker 2: So what made you know?
Speaker 1: Because you said you spoke what you wanted into existence
Speaker 1: with Senator Sanders, then you were in the Biden campaign.
Speaker 1: How did you know that it was time to leave
Speaker 1: for the cable TV part?
Speaker 2: You know? I So I did the Biden campaign. I
Speaker 2: worked through the transition.
Speaker 3: I served the president and Vice president in the administration,
Speaker 3: and it was just grueling. That was from the campaign
Speaker 3: to the administration. It was about three years because I'd
Speaker 3: do in the campaign in twenty nineteen and then twenty
Speaker 3: twenty and then twenty twenty one. So by the end
Speaker 3: of that year, almost the end of the year twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one, I just felt like that I was burnt out.
Speaker 3: I felt tired. I felt like I was coming home
Speaker 3: and I was just I was an unhappy person.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm tired. You know when you getting tired
Speaker 2: of ghost. I was exhausted.
Speaker 3: I was hopping on and I've been hopping on off
Speaker 3: planes for about three years, and I want to be
Speaker 3: able to go to brunch.
Speaker 2: I was also about to get married, like I got
Speaker 2: engaged earlier that year, and my wedding was going to.
Speaker 3: Be in twenty twenty two, and I just had to
Speaker 3: make a decision, like do I I enjoy and loved
Speaker 3: my job. I have a deep respect and love for
Speaker 3: the president and the Vice President, and it was tough
Speaker 3: for me. I didn't even want to tell the Vice
Speaker 3: president that I was leaving. You know what I did,
Speaker 3: I told the chief of staffs first that I had made.
Speaker 2: The decision to go. My chief is after this time.
Speaker 3: Her name was Tina, the Vice President's first chief of staff,
Speaker 3: and Tina was like, well, we all want you here,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, yes, I know, Tina, but I just
Speaker 3: like it's my time, and you know I'm tired.
Speaker 2: I gave it. I told Tina all the things I'm
Speaker 2: telling you. You know, I'm getting married and I want
Speaker 2: to be able to enjoy and plan my wedding. And
Speaker 2: Tina's like, well, you must tell her, And I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: can't you tell her? And I didn't want to tell
Speaker 2: her because I.
Speaker 3: Loved my job and I had deep respective love for
Speaker 3: the vice President, and she gave me an opportunity to
Speaker 3: know that no one else had afforded to me.
Speaker 2: She never hesitated to make me her spokesperson. She called
Speaker 2: me and she told me, I would like you to
Speaker 2: be my senior advisor and my chief spokesperson.
Speaker 3: She never she never questioned if I could do the job.
Speaker 3: She never suggested that I didn't have enough experience.
Speaker 1: She never.
Speaker 2: All she ever did was so confidence in me that
Speaker 2: I could do it, and then we would go and
Speaker 2: get it done. And I didn't. You know, when you
Speaker 2: decide you want to leave something that you've been in
Speaker 2: with people for.
Speaker 3: A while, it's like you kind of feel like you're
Speaker 3: letting people down because it's like, oh, you think of
Speaker 3: all the things that you're responsible for and so I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I think in the moment, I didn't want to be
Speaker 3: the one to tell it to her first, because maybe
Speaker 3: maybe I didn't want anybody to say, hey, maybe maybe
Speaker 3: you should stay.
Speaker 2: I don't want her to I don't want her to
Speaker 2: counter me. And what if I'm in a week moment
Speaker 2: and like she's I'm like, okay, final stay. So I
Speaker 2: asked Tina to tell her first. Tina Tina. Tina took
Speaker 2: her time telling her for the same reason I think
Speaker 2: I took her. I didn't want to tell her, And
Speaker 2: she finally told her the day she told her we
Speaker 2: were going to do.
Speaker 3: I think we're going to do a campaign event in
Speaker 3: Virginia because it was an advance of the midterm elections.
Speaker 3: And we get out of the motorcade and we're walking
Speaker 3: down the hallway in like this school in Virginia where
Speaker 3: the rally is happening.
Speaker 2: And as I'm walking, I'm trying to brief her about
Speaker 2: this stuff and she's like, I talked to Tina. She
Speaker 2: told me. I'm like, ma'am. She was like, you and
Speaker 2: I need to talk. I said, yes, ma'am. And the
Speaker 2: next day she asked me.
Speaker 3: Coming to her office, and I send to our office
Speaker 3: for about forty five minutes. The vice because of the
Speaker 3: United States of America, does not have forty five minutes
Speaker 3: for her staff person be sitting on the couch talk
Speaker 3: about something that is not connected to work she does,
Speaker 3: but she took the time to sit there with me
Speaker 3: and the conversation that we had. She never once countered
Speaker 3: me and told me tried to talk me out of
Speaker 3: the decision I made. She wanted to understand why I was.
Speaker 2: Leaving, which I told her what exactly what I told
Speaker 2: you here, and she gave me good advice. And then
Speaker 2: she asked me, I thought, I she well, I want
Speaker 2: just paraphraid. And note that she told me. She told
Speaker 2: me that whatever I do next, I should understand that
Speaker 2: I am in the driver's seat. She underscored that like
Speaker 2: the work we had done here was.
Speaker 3: Was truly transform transformational, amazing work. The work here is
Speaker 3: not yet done. And but like she unders she she
Speaker 3: reinforced that she understood.
Speaker 2: Where I was.
Speaker 3: And then she just kind of talked to me about
Speaker 3: how the decisions that I'm making, how they affect my life.
Speaker 3: Like she talked to me about she she had known
Speaker 3: she had gotten to know my now husband very well.
Speaker 3: You know, she would give him herbs from her garden.
Speaker 3: She got a garden in LA but also at the
Speaker 3: vice presidents at the Naple Observatory, she'd always you know,
Speaker 3: be bringing stuff, say in a little baggies that this
Speaker 3: is for it's for your husband, because ain't for me,
Speaker 3: because I'm not cooking Sophia and she she so she
Speaker 3: talked me about that and just and it was so
Speaker 3: interesting because when I originally met her, way back when
Speaker 3: I met her when uh he shortly after he and
Speaker 3: I started dating, and so she kind of been on
Speaker 3: the journey with us the whole time, even before that,
Speaker 3: so I had all I would always kind of talk
Speaker 3: to her about the things.
Speaker 2: You know, she's some days it's like a auntie.
Speaker 3: But it was a great conversation, and she did pour
Speaker 3: into me there and then she was like, now we
Speaker 3: got to go to work, and I all, I remember
Speaker 3: every single thing that she said to me in that conversation.
Speaker 2: So when I was having my meetings when I left
Speaker 2: the White House, I was very clear, just like I
Speaker 2: was when I was with Senator Sanders and all the
Speaker 2: other jobs I've had previously, what I wanted.
Speaker 3: I wanted a show, and I wanted my own show
Speaker 3: on TV, and every single network had told me that
Speaker 3: is not what you really want. They all said the
Speaker 3: same They all had the same script, Oh you don't
Speaker 3: really want to do that. Oh I don't think that's
Speaker 3: what you want. Don't you want the flexibility? But I'm
Speaker 3: telling you what I want. I want a television show
Speaker 3: on TV. I want to do I want my own
Speaker 3: show on cable news. And it wasn't until I met
Speaker 3: with Rashida Joe's from MSBC and she asked.
Speaker 2: Me, well, what kind of show would you like to have?
Speaker 3: And that is where we got to to where we
Speaker 3: are now, where I'm one of the co hosts of
Speaker 3: the Weekend but one I've never I always think about.
Speaker 2: Not allowing anyone to put me in a box that
Speaker 2: like where I become a characterture of myself. You know,
Speaker 2: I have a lot of personality.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't necessarily talk how people are used
Speaker 3: to how other news anchors people are used to hearing.
Speaker 3: And that's this is how I was when I worked
Speaker 3: for you know, when I worked in the federal government,
Speaker 3: when I worked for the vice president of the president.
Speaker 3: But the vice president she always would say. I mean,
Speaker 3: she's like, you are funny, but you are also very
Speaker 3: serious and you are substantive. And if people are if
Speaker 3: someone is not getting both of those from you, they are.
Speaker 2: Not getting you. And I think about that as I
Speaker 2: do this job. Now.
Speaker 1: For sure, I love that and I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: That's something that my friendships with women like you have
Speaker 1: taught me is, you know, my intellect and my deep
Speaker 1: twenty years of showing up for policy work matters. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm also like a wildly unseerious person who you know,
Speaker 1: wants to run around to late night diners and go
Speaker 1: to dance parties. And there has to be space for
Speaker 1: all of it. And I think particular cularly women who
Speaker 1: are intellectual or powerful or political get the funds discouraged.
Speaker 2: Out of them.
Speaker 1: And I'm I'm excited to be in an era where
Speaker 1: it feels like we can be more full.
Speaker 3: Yes, whole people who does the kid who have thought
Speaker 3: thought I've given dynamic?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, when you think about this larger dynamic of
Speaker 1: your life, this thing that you know, spoke claimed owned,
Speaker 1: when you sit at the helm of your show, is
Speaker 1: it everything that you dreamed of?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Is the little kid Simone who pretended to host her
Speaker 1: own show Happy Do you love it?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Honestly, like people are, especially nowadays, their body's like, oh, well, well,
Speaker 3: do you miss the campaign trail?
Speaker 2: Do you miss this?
Speaker 3: And I'm as a campaign person, you definitely missed the
Speaker 3: campaign trail because I came up and doing campaigns like
Speaker 3: I'm a campaign baby for sure.
Speaker 2: But I love what I'm doing now. And frankly, I
Speaker 2: know what.
Speaker 3: The you know. I read. I read the trade newspapers
Speaker 3: and the trade. I know what people say about cable news,
Speaker 3: but the reality is sofia. When something happens in the world,
Speaker 3: people turn on their television. And when they turn on
Speaker 3: their TV, I mean when when the interrection happened. When
Speaker 3: when folks took up arms against the against the UN,
Speaker 3: against officers who were defending the United States capital, people
Speaker 3: who attempted to subvert the peaceful transition of power, People
Speaker 3: turned on the TV to see what was happening. I mean,
Speaker 3: when Joe Biden said he wasn't right for president anymore,
Speaker 3: he dropped.
Speaker 2: It on social media, so people said social media.
Speaker 3: Then they turned on the TV, but they wanted some
Speaker 3: context put into what they were seeing.
Speaker 2: And they wanted to know if it was true, because nowadays,
Speaker 2: sometimes yout on the Internet isn't true. So when all
Speaker 2: of these things are happening in the world, people still
Speaker 2: turn on the television, and when they do, they are
Speaker 2: expecting to find someone there who's going to tell them
Speaker 2: the truth, who's going to be actual and factual and substantive,
Speaker 2: who is just going to going to you know, give
Speaker 2: them the information and help give them a roadmap. And
Speaker 2: I great honor and a great privilege.
Speaker 3: I feel so blessed to be able to, you know,
Speaker 3: do that with Michael Steele and Elysia Menindez on the
Speaker 3: weekends every Saturday and Sunday, and the opportunities that I
Speaker 3: have throughout the week. So this is if I am
Speaker 3: not you know, in the if I'm not in the
Speaker 3: fight at the at the White House or you know,
Speaker 3: out on the campaign trial, I think the next best
Speaker 3: place to be is on TV giving context to the
Speaker 3: moments that we are collectively experiencing as American people.
Speaker 2: And you know that is my you know, radical revolutionary
Speaker 2: contribution to this moment. I love it.
Speaker 1: And when I think about the stages and phases of life,
Speaker 1: you did that work so that you can have this
Speaker 1: kind of innate expertise in this phase I made.
Speaker 2: What could I argue? Who could have orchestrated it better?
Speaker 2: Sophia's like I knew, I love it. You are.
Speaker 1: You are a literal walking example of the power of
Speaker 1: manifestation and hard work. It's my favorite combo in a
Speaker 1: human As you sit here, you know, in this moment
Speaker 1: where it's all come true when you look out at
Speaker 1: the year ahead, and not just necessarily with the election,
Speaker 1: I guess I just mean more for you, like for Simon,
Speaker 1: what feels like you're working progress?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: You know, I just.
Speaker 2: Ooh, this is a deep question. What is my work
Speaker 2: in progress?
Speaker 3: Now? Look, I just think that this there are well,
Speaker 3: the election is what is in front of us, as
Speaker 3: like the American people, right and the people that are
Speaker 3: keyed into the political every single day. There are many
Speaker 3: other things happening across our country and across the world
Speaker 3: that don't make it to the front pages of the
Speaker 3: newspapers or on the cable news every day.
Speaker 2: And there are real.
Speaker 3: Issues that people are dealing with across this country, whether
Speaker 3: it comes, whether they're dealing with them economically, whether we're
Speaker 3: talking about you know, the reproductive fight, whether they talk
Speaker 3: about criminal justice, I think about I recently saw the
Speaker 3: video of Sonia Massey.
Speaker 2: I waited to watch it.
Speaker 3: I read all the descriptions, but I was like, I
Speaker 3: need to watch the video, and like, these things are
Speaker 3: still happening. So I just would say that there are
Speaker 3: many things that need the layers peeled back, that need
Speaker 3: the context, that need to be spoken about. There are
Speaker 3: many conversations that need to be had that are separate
Speaker 3: from maybe I think everything, at the end of the
Speaker 3: day is political. Everything is not partisan, but everything is political.
Speaker 3: You know, the ability Sonia, the difference between Sonia Massey
Speaker 3: being alive today and losing her life in her kitchen
Speaker 3: because a police officer shot.
Speaker 2: Her in the head, that is in fact political.
Speaker 3: Yes, is political to be able to go to the
Speaker 3: grocery store in your neighborhood to get vegetables.
Speaker 2: And green lettuce.
Speaker 3: It's political to be able to go to the doctor
Speaker 3: and get the health care that you need and the
Speaker 3: timely manner that is high quality when you need it.
Speaker 3: And so everything, in my opinion is political, everything though
Speaker 3: it is not partisan.
Speaker 2: And so I think that many of the things that
Speaker 2: I just mentioned.
Speaker 3: Simply they are political, and so they are connected to
Speaker 3: this current moment, but it is not they don't they
Speaker 3: this current moment, this election is not the only thing,
Speaker 3: and so I'm excited about the ability. Like what conversations
Speaker 3: we're having post November fifth, twenty twenty four, post January
Speaker 3: twenty twenty and twenty twenty five. I hope we're not
Speaker 3: talking about another potential insurrection. I hope we are not
Speaker 3: having conversations about how elected officials across the country who
Speaker 3: have whether they've been elected to serve or volunteer, election officials,
Speaker 3: have developed a very sinister plot to subvert the will
Speaker 3: of the people that the person that they wanted is
Speaker 3: in fact not elected.
Speaker 2: I hope that's not what we're talking about, but we are.
Speaker 2: I'll be ready to have the conversation.
Speaker 1: Well, my hope is that fifty two years after Shirley
Speaker 1: Chisholm ran indeed in nineteen seventy two, that we get
Speaker 1: to see that dream manifested into existence, and that we,
Speaker 1: to your point, have a peaceful transition of power, and
Speaker 1: then we get to continue working toward progress for the
Speaker 1: American people and economy that works for everybody in a
Speaker 1: world where women like us get to actually, you know,
Speaker 1: maintain our sovereign rights. That would be lovely.
Speaker 2: That would be lovely. I don't want the handmade sale, honey,
Speaker 2: y'all mean neither. I'm good.
Speaker 1: I would love to just put a real stop, just
Speaker 1: break pedal on that. Please and thank you, and so
Speaker 1: may it be. You are a powerful manifestor. I feel
Speaker 1: like me getting to have this conversation with you put
Speaker 1: some things in motion in the universe. So thank you
Speaker 1: for coming today, thank you for taking the time. I
Speaker 1: absolutely adore you.
Speaker 2: I adore you. Be well, okay, and I'll see fi okay, I'll.
Speaker 1: Be watching you. Bye bo bye, honey.