WEBVTT - The Real Reason Democrats Caved 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.400 Native LAMPID is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:08.080 Reason Choice Media. 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:10.120 Welcome home, y'all. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:12.520 This is episode one hundred and five of Native LAMPI, 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.400 where we give you our breakdown of all things politics 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:15.840 and culture. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:16.440 We are your host. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.160 I'm Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, Andrew Gillim and Bacari Sellers, 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:21.920 the non Beyonce of the group. 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:24.599 Let's start Let's start over. I don't want to do 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.119 this in posts, but I think I should be. I 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.360 don't know why I mentioned last, but keep. 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.800 Going, Sellers and the show continues. 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.320 So anyway, we are here to talk to you all 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.520 about all the things that are happening right now. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:40.520 Shameless plug really quick. 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.680 I did an episode with Kamala Harris on election Night 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.360 live in Seattle, Washington from Benner Royal Hall. That episode 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:48.640 is now up. We hope you all will check it 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:50.800 out and let us know what you think. But y'all, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:51.960 what are we getting into today? 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.400 What aren't we getting into? How about this? How about 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.640 this negotiation in Washington, d C. Around the opening of 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:07.120 the government. Who won, who lost? Who didn't? Where we at? 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:08.200 I'm interested? 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.280 I agree, Andrew, I'm right there with you Bacari tip 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:12.880 what y'all got? 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:14.479 Go ahead? 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.360 No, I've learned I heard in the intro. Is not 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:18.960 gonna last. 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:21.320 Thank you, thank you, thank you for thank you for 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.039 giving me my due respect. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:30.480 Lady, he'll get it tomorrow. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.000 Keep going, go ahead, Tim, No, well. 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:39.319 No, lady, first you talking about you anyway, I'm gonna 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:40.920 have y'all about me. 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:45.640 She was a bad first. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:46.399 Quickly alone. 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.400 I'm sorry, mama, mississ Sella's I'm sorry to have to 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.080 use this using this language. There's a lot going on. 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.000 I mean, first of all, to piggyback on Andrew's point, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.120 we're going to get into all of those things. But 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.520 then the pinky promus with the ACA vote that came 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:04.360 up on Tammy Ballin's piece of legislation, and they've been 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:06.680 giving out Michelin stars. I saw a little report recently 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.359 at a strip club in Charlotte, got a ordered a 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.919 Michelin star. I'm checking the veracity of that, and by 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:13.720 checking it meaning I'm gonna go in and see if 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:18.080 the Michelin start about food is working. Listen, people gotta 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.040 make this topic. People gotta you know, it's hard out here, man. 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:22.519 They might get their money and so I want to 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.160 make sure I'm contributing in the community. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:25.799 I look forward to that report. 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:27.960 Thank you, I got you, gotcha, Thank you. 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:29.600 Please bring evidence, lady. 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.320 You know, I'm really excited to hear from our viewers 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.239 every week. I really appreciate people taking time to get 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:40.360 on camera and sending us videos, comments, questions, all of that. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:42.600 So I'm excited to hear what you all have to 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.359 say about this week, and I'm excited for me and 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.120 the co host to win. And lastly, we have a 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.560 conversation about Donald Trump rigging the twenty twenty six elections 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.760 that has been talked about on this show at nauseum. 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:58.680 We even have questioned whether or not we should be 0:02:58.680 --> 0:02:59.960 telling y'all how many days are. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:01.000 Left until the election. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.320 Joining us for that really important conversation is Ari Berman, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.359 an incredible author and a journalist at Mother Jones who 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.760 wrote a piece on what Donald Trump will do to 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:11.360 rig the twenty twenty six elections. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:12.440 Let's get into it, y'all. 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:20.959 All right, this fight for us is not partisan. It's 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:25.320 not a partisan fight. It's a patriotic fight. We're waging 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.400 this fight on behalf of the American people. The five 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.600 states that are most impacted by a failure to extend 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:38.400 the Affordable Care Act tax credits are West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Mississippi, 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:39.000 and Tennessee. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.480 Forty five percent of the people. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.480 Of the Americans who are going to lose healthcare or 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:53.000 be at risk of losing health care if they don't 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.280 on the other side of the out extend the Affordable 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.320 Care Act tax credits. Forty five percent of them are 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:05.080 registered Republicans, thirty five percent registered Democrats, and twenty percent 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.840 unaffiliated are independent. This is not a partisan fight for us. 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.400 It's a patriotic fight, okay, everyone. 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:15.240 So we are just on the other side of the 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:19.200 longest shut down in government history forty one days, and 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.800 the Democrats on the Senate side are being told that 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.720 they caved, that they folded, and are being called losers 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.279 frankly by a lot of folks throughout this country. But 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.640 there are other folks who have also been talked about 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:36.680 as being losers, Republicans certainly government workers, the folks who 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.560 lost out their snap benefits, so literally losing, and then 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:41.919 all of the folks who would be covered by the 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.440 Affordable Care Act, that is the whole of America also 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.240 losing here, So I wanted to have a conversation with 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.800 my colleagues about who they think the biggest loser is 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:53.240 of the government shut down. So, if we were doing 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.800 a rapid round, really quick, what do y'all think, who 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:56.679 is the biggest loser? 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:02.800 Andrew the American people, American people, Tiff. 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.560 I'll be quick, But to put it in context of 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.359 political terms of Republicans versus Democrats, I think it's so 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.799 disrespectful to the actual losers. And that's to everyday people 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:12.960 who are impacted by this show. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.040 She said, all I have to say just what we said. 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.440 A lot of people saying like what does this mean 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.359 for Democrats? And what does this mean for the path forward? 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.440 And it's like, I'm thinking about people who ain't got 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.040 food to eat and who backed up name mortgage, Like, yeah. 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.240 We were just trying to do a rapp and I 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.200 was gonna be honest with y'all. It is for social 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.120 We'll do what we can with the clue. What I 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:40.000 will say here, too, is I actually think the biggest 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.239 losers here are all of the staffers who worked hard 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.279 on an issue and did not get to see the 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.039 what a win might be looked like. And I think 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.520 that folks deserve that, So let's get into this conversation. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.840 I know that there's a lot behind those short answers. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.400 Bacari already has his hands up because he thinks he's 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.800 at school. That's what happens when you bring toddlers to 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.000 your podcast platform. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:00.880 For and Ma, car, what do he have? 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.000 No, I just watched Andrew struggle long enough to get 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:07.960 a question out, So that that was me. I'm using 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:08.400 the tools. 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.080 I've been watching a different a different different tax. 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:14.320 I think I just have a question for you all, 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.400 which is what did Democrats do it for? 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:22.000 Oh? 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:22.880 You want us to answer? 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.119 No? No, that was that was I mean, if in fact, 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:28.880 you have ten people under the cover of dark or 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.080 eight people under the cover of darkness who vote to 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.680 in the shutdown, what were the last sixty forty days for? 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:37.160 Like? 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:38.919 What what what was it about? I know what we 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.480 said it's about, but what what what do we what's gained? 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:43.200 What was gained? 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.560 Well, well, I think those are two different questions. What 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.480 was gained obviously you know nothing from my perspective. I mean, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.080 they weren't ready for this game and it was such 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.000 a disappointment. But what it was about's healthcare? Which is 0:06:58.279 --> 0:06:59.160 a really big deal. 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:00.760 For years, for. 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.560 Some strange reason, the GOP has had such a heart 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.440 on for repealing the Affordable Care Act a ACA. And 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.800 more than twenty four million people depend on this, and 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.640 so we're going to see it's not just majorities, but 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.600 vast majorities who are facing their healthcare premiums going up 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.160 by more than one hundred and fourteen percent. So people 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:22.720 are going to be questioning, do I go to the 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.240 grocery store, do I go see the doctor. Republicans, you know, 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.880 control both the chambers. They control the House, in the 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.560 upper chamber in the Senate, and so Democrats had for 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.400 the first time some negotiating power. And so you know, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:43.240 the Kansas are the KFF. They have an analysis out 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.680 about the average cost of what people are going to 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.760 be paying for health care. It can go up to 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.240 more than one thousand dollars for some people. So imagine 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.640 for some people this might be an inconvenience, but if 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.200 you have a life threatening illness and you're depending on this. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:57.640 This is why I think we have to draw the 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:02.480 distinction between structural violence, institutional violence, and physical violence. And 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.480 right now all of these things are being rained down 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:07.680 upon us by the federal government. So I don't want 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:10.800 to dismiss the efforts of the Democrats and trying to 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.040 hold the line for healthcare. Sadly though, I think they 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:16.760 brought a knife to a gunfight. You know, they were 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.880 too eager to capitulate, and they weren't really ready for this. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.480 They could have had kids out there, like, get real 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:24.960 live people out there. Get an eight year old standing 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.680 in front of a camera saying, Donald Trump, I don't 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.160 have anything to eat because you know, snap didn't come 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.640 this month. Get somebody sick on camera saying, you know, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.280 I don't know if I'm going to be able to 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.760 live beyond next year, to even vote in twenty twenty 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.760 six because this president Donald Trump is threatening to take 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.120 away my health care. And I just I feel like 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.360 they were not ready for the moment, and it is 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.760 such a colossal disappointment to so many people because they 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.040 ask us to fight every year, They ask us to 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.360 show up and vote every year, and when it's time 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.800 to show up for us, the rising majority, the base 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.040 for Democrat voters, they don't do it. So I definitely 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.160 understand the frustration all around, and appreciate and understand the 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:02.240 frustration in your question. 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.160 So I offer a thought on a few thoughts on 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.679 what I think they did it for, and we can 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.520 each check the box or not as to whether or 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.800 not it was accomplished. One, I think they needed to fight. 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.600 At the point that they declared that they were going 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.320 to deny the Republicans culture the sixty votes that they 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.360 needed in the US Senate, they basically laid down to 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:30.320 the gland said we're prepared to fight. And I got 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.720 to tell you, given the members of the Democratic Caucus 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.000 and the US Senate, they ranged from everything from Republican 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.120 light to the left of the left of the left, 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.280 liberal socialists in the case of Bernie Sanders, who's an 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.640 independent but caucuses with the Democrats. So the fact that 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.319 the leader was able to hold together people who cannot 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.480 stomach a shutdown. I mean, there are members of the 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:59.360 Democratic Caucus who have decried using the shutdown as a 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.760 way to make up political point and would never have 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.840 never before been in favor of it. Who Chuck Schumer 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.840 got to stick with him for forty days. And I 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:11.280 think the American people needed to see Democrats do something 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.400 to show that they had a fight to them. And 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.120 I think in the moment that that happened. You saw 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.640 a lot, You saw a lot of people stand up, 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.680 speak out from everyday people who, quite frankly, I think 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.880 inspired this shutdown. The people who were showing up at 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.319 these protests on the streets, who were chasing down ice, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.400 trying to say, get out of our neighborhood, so on 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.480 and so forth. I think they inspired much of what 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:39.360 the members of the elected US Senate did so, and 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.240 I think that they were successful in bringing a fight 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:48.199 number two. I'm not sure that the previous the elections 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:52.199 of a week ago would have been as successful across 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.320 the board for Democratic candidates as they were at every 0:10:55.559 --> 0:11:00.480 level of government, from dogcatcher to governor of the of 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.000 a state. And not only did Democrats win in many 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.480 of those places, and many of those places they thumped 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.600 the Republicans. I mean rounded lapse races that were supposed 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.839 to be too close to call or down to the 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.840 last minute, got called an hour after the polls closed. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.640 And in the cases of the two governors I'm sorry, 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:25.680 the governor of New Jersey and of Virginia, they got 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.320 double digit leads on their opponents when they were not 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.920 expected to. I think that the shutdown the energy around. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.280 The pushback in the fight helped to inspire people to 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:39.040 go to the wall and go to the mat for 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.160 their elected leadership that they saw was going to the 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:46.720 mat for them. And I think, I think, I think, finally, 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:52.920 I would say the ending of the fight was one 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.840 that could have easily been anticipated by all of us. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.920 You took a caucus who is already reticent to use 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:07.320 the shutdown as a political cudgel to move public policy. 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.200 You had a caucus that did not appear fractured up 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.080 until the point that they started to negotiate to open 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.400 the government again. Aside from that, none of us would 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.920 have been able to name one Senator who was trying 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.920 to shut the open the government up against the caucus's wishes. 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.040 They pretty much stuck together until after the elections, when 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.480 when when they when they couldn't stomach it anymore. But 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:28.840 the reason why I say all of us could have 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.280 predicted the end of this and quite the way that 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.680 it ended, is one no one has ever extracted major 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.200 public policy concessions from a shutdown, not Republicans and not 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:42.440 Democrats over our history. Two of the two party system. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.840 Democrats were always going to be the ones who could 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:51.560 never stomach, a president using children, using the employment of 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:58.120 federal workers, using withholding food to families as a weapon 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.040 against their opponent. We never anticipated a president would be 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:04.000 willing to go so far against the American people to 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.840 prove his political point. But this president was, and we 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:12.839 know him to be almost diabolical and in formation. So 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.240 when you compare the two Democrats were always gonna be 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:16.760 the ones who had a heart for people. They were 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:18.960 always going to be the ones who buckled under the 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.880 pressure to not see people suffer. And if you're at 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.960 a negotiating table, you'll choose to diabolical one as the 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.360 one who will be the last to fold every single time. 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.000 Could we have gotten more with longer? I do think 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.920 that there could have been more extracted here, But but 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.840 I always felt it would end. I don't think they 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.960 begin with an end in mind. I think they began 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.440 with a fight in mind, and the end would reveal 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.480 itself over time. And what they decided was after we 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:52.160 thumped folks on election day, that presented the opportunity to 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.320 make this a keystone issue going into the next year's elections, 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.400 and it was there. It was their opportunity for an out. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:00.000 That's my guess I think. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:02.839 There are a few things. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.080 One is I'm also frustrated with what appears to be 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.600 the lack of strategy around this particular fight. Andrew, I 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.959 completely agree with you that we never anticipated, and I'm 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:14.960 saying we, I'm talking about the whole of the American 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.679 people never anticipated having someone like this in the White House. 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.320 But we knew with Project twenty twenty five. We knew 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:27.320 with Doge, we knew with the last shutdown from his 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.480 last administration. We knew from the last administration we were dealing with. 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:32.880 The last shutdown that was thirty five days long, I 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:35.760 believe was over whether or not we were going to 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.239 pay for a border wall. 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:37.520 Right. 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.280 So I want to be very clear about the fact 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.640 that we knew who the opponent was. The Senate Democrats 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.840 knew who the opponent was and still did not go 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.880 to the battle with the right tools. I think the 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.480 biggest issue here to your point about what they could stomach, 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:55.000 is you have people who are watching folks lose their 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.680 snap benefits, who are watching folks suffer with healthcare premium 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.440 coming out saying that they're gonna soar. They want to 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.960 make sure if people can survive, you know, a serious 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.480 health crisis and just you know, engage in practices to 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:14.520 prevent a crisis. But the reality of it is is 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.280 they went and said we're going to hold the line. 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.440 But they were also errant and I think lacking in 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.000 compassion when they didn't consider who was on the front line. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.680 The people on the front line were those children. The 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.760 people on the front line were the TSA workers. And 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.680 I'm not talking about the folks who make six figures 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.240 or above in the federal government who said we want 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.040 you to hold the line. I'm talking about the folks 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:40.040 that are members of AFG right, the Medican American Federation 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.880 of Government Employees, those who said we want you to 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.800 reopen the government because we need our paychecks. And I'm 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.320 just saying, when you don't consider the front line in 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.920 holding the line, you are always going to lose because 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.320 who's fighting for you at that point? That is where 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.120 I think the biggest failure was. And it tells us 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:01.840 that many, not just not just the folks who are 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:03.680 inn elected office, but we should expect this of our 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.040 elected officials are still not clear about what it is 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:10.480 going to take to adequately combat the enemy. 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.960 What do I mean by that? I mean, they are fighting. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:18.280 Yester year's fight with yesteryear's tools. That is not going 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:20.560 to work. They are showing you that they are ready 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.240 and primed and poised and it conditioned even right to 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.320 be a resistance party. They are not poised, ready, or 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.920 prepared to be an opposition. An opposition party would have 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.440 shut the government down or worked, you know, to oppose 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:39.240 the government reopening. Really with fourteen votes in in County 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.040 and said, we need to make sure that we have 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.360 a snap mutual aid fund. We need to ensure that 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.240 we have a fund for people to pull from if 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.760 they're not getting their paychecks, for housing, for all of 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.200 these other things. None of that was set up. They 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.320 have campaign coffers, some of them where they could have 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.400 afforded to make donations to nonprofits to keep these people going. 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:00.680 That was not done. 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.200 It wasn't even considered based on the people I talked to, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.359 So I just I don't know what they would have expected, right, Like, 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.000 you're not going to win a long term fight and 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.919 these people don't give a damn. 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.480 You're hoping to pierce the consciences of folks who don't 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:17.400 no longer have them. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:19.400 Yeah, but kay, what's your thought? 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.199 No, I think that from everything that I've seen, I 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.880 think that Andrew you did hit something, and I think 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:32.040 that the largest success was elevating the issue of healthcare 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.879 to the forefront of individual's minds. Again, we saw on 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.680 Tuesday that the number one issue that people faced was 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.879 the economy, in number two was healthcare, and it seems 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.919 as if in number three was a distant immigration. It 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.719 seems as if Democrats are finally able to hone in 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.760 on the message surrounding healthcare. Republicans own all those healthcare 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.679 premiums rising, There's not a fix for it. Those costs 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.440 are going to go up, and Democrats own the issue 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.479 of affordability. Because I see this White House acting a 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.160 lot like the Joe Biden White House when it came 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.840 to issues such as immigration and crime, where Joe Biden 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.040 and I was guilty of this as well, simply wanted 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.720 it was. We would cite statistics when people were saying 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:22.000 that they felt something, that they saw something safe, and 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:23.680 we would be like, yeah, nah, but the crime rate, 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.960 filing crime rate gone down x y z, and people 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.840 were like, nah, that shit, I still don't feel safe. 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.320 And so you see that, you see the Trump White 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.359 House doing something similar with affordability. So Democrats are winning 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:40.440 those two issues. The problem that Angela eloquently and passionately 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.480 hit on is that when we got out of the game, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.680 uh you know this week, when we shut the we 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.679 we shut at the doors, we did so without a 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.560 messaging apparatus. And so now you depressed your base, which 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.440 was so excited, and now your base is like, what 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.840 what what? What happened? Why nobody told us we were 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.560 going to do this. I mean, if you go out 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.399 in front of a camera, or you go to a 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.400 city and you're talking to people about there's too much 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.720 pain in the streets, Democrats are going to be the 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:10.800 adults in the room, and we're going to keep up 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.440 this fight for health care, but we're going to reopen 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.760 the government because this pain has gotten unbearable for our constituents. 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.560 We're going to continue to fight. Then, maybe you don't 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.199 have people out here who are struggling to comprehend the 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.600 reason why. I mean, I think the four of us 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.440 get the reason why. We understand the intricacies. We understand 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.280 the ups and downs and all arounds, and we can 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.199 talk to folks, including United States senators and people like 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.560 that to tell us what is going on. But for 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.800 people who are working every day, who don't have time 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.479 to scrow x all day long or on Instagram all 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.119 day long, they just see that the government opened and 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:49.760 Democrats didn't say anything. And I think that that is 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.600 indicative of a problem we've had since Barack Obama, which 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.399 is even the good things that we do, we don't 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.040 know how to message them. It's what I tell. What 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:00.800 I tell Black folk call it time. If we don't 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:04.119 tell our story, somebody else will, and we have to 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.399 do a better job, particularly around this issue of sharing 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:08.959 our story. 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.639 I agree with everything that you guys said, particularly Angelou's 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.280 point around creating an infrastructure when we're in the fight 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:26.760 and asking people to hold the line like they're not. 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.280 The people elected office are not the only people holding 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.239 the line. The real people holding the line are going 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.040 to get hurt worse and feel that the fastest, which 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:36.720 cast a dark shadow across a lot of other people's lives. 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.320