WEBVTT - Chuck’s Commentary - American Democracy Is Clogged, But Not Beyond Repair + The Constitution Needs An Update 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:07.360 Hello, They're happy Thursday, and welcome to another episode of 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:11.240 the Chuck Podcast. Here at Chuck podcast World Headquarters. The 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.040 Thursday recording means we are at the end of our 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.639 production week of sorts, and we say of sorts because 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:24.600 they've oh sixty or seventy other commitments that I feel 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:29.040 like I'm constantly juggling here. But these are good problems 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:30.920 to have, right you know, at the beginning of this 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:35.120 calendar year, there were not as many commitments, so that 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.400 is a tribute to the growth of the audience. You 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.280 guys have been out there. You guys have been terrific. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.880 Got my newsphere show coming up later this week, Please 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.080 tune in for that. We'll have another another version of 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:51.800 a preview of campaign twenty twenty five. You know, it's interesting. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.320 I can tell that Campaign twenty twenty five is not 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.080 grabbing folks. You know, is not the you know I 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.320 assume on too day itself, people will be fascinated with it. 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.280 You should tune in. I'm going to be doing an 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.160 election live stream along with pretty much all of my 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:11.440 friends in the political data geek world. We're going to 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.039 be doing it in partnership with my friend Chris Eliza 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.800 Decision Desk HQ, which is quickly turning into the premier 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:24.080 organization for counting and calling elections these days, and so 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.639 I'm looking forward to this live stream. But it was interesting. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.640 I did my preview on substack, and you could just 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.000 sort of feel the And I think part of it 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.720 is there's actually no drama in the top tier part 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.240 of these races. So maybe that's why people aren't just 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.000 gobbling up every piece of information, whether it's Virginia governor, 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.160 feels like you kind of know where that's going, New 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.200 York City Mayor, and the really drama is does he 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.360 get over fifty or not? And Mom, Donnie, I am 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.240 here to tell you folks, New Jersey Governor. I think 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.000 it's got some drama to it. But for whatever reason, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.480 I think the candidates are running. They're pretty normal politicians 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.960 and we're so used to crazy thanks in the Trump 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.280 era that when you have two people running relatively normal 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:08.720 campaigns that would have been normal in the pre Trump era, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:15.400 that maybe it doesn't grab our attention, grab our attention 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.440 the way all things Donald Trump grabs our attention. But 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.040 this week you're reminded when Donald Trump is is in 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.360 essentially halfway around the world and therefore time zone wise 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:31.680 halfway around the world as well. There is a perception 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.320 of a slower news cycle in Washington, which frankly shouldn't 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:38.440 be the case, because we're in the middle of a 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:42.440 government shut down and you're sitting there going where is 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.680 the sense of urgency. We've got deadlines happening all over 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:50.079 and you know, in some states, the expiration of funding 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.840 for snap benefits for people for working poor and others 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:59.880 who need school assistant, school lunch assistants, things like that. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.920 The fact that that's expiring, that that isn't creating urgency 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:10.120 here is frankly a bit frustrating for someone like me 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.560 who's sort of a considers myself a reformist and just 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:16.880 wants to get things working. You know, I count myself 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:21.160 among those who views government like your toilet. When it 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.680 doesn't work, I just want to do whatever it takes 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.000 to get it working again, and then I don't want 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.280 it to bother me that much overall, And I think 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.320 we're the fact that we have a clogged toilet. The 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:38.080 collective American government is clogged, and nobody's even willing to 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.880 pick up the plunger at this point is kind of frustrating, 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:45.160 But I think there is a I think it's obvious 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.040 if you sort of sit back here and understand why 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.480 we're going nowhere in shutdown negotiations at this point. Number one, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.280 I've been telling you there's no Donald Trump in the 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.480 room right his inability to sort of focus on this 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.000 be dragged into the conversation. As he himself said earlier 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.080 earlier in the week, he is both the speaker and 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.120 the president, and Mike Johnson cannot do a thing without 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:11.000 Donald Trump. Mike Johnson is a Spino speaker in name only. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.320 He has to get all of his you know, whatever 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.520 he needs to get done whenever he needs votes, he 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.760 has to get the White House involved, he has to 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.000 get Trump twisting arms. So he can't speak for the 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.760 Republicans only. Donald Trump speaks for the Republicans. So that 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.960 inability right now of him engaging being interested in this 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.600 is one of the problems. But there's a second problem here, 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.200 and that is sort of when you sort of look 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.680 this century in particular, but really going back to the 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.560 two you can go all the way back to the 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:45.599 Reagan era and note this, and that is when you 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.960 when you don't have divided. When you don't have power 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.719 divided among the two parties, the moderates in both parties 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:57.520 become extraordinarily weak. There are a handful of moderates a 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.320 lot still left in both parties. They don't really have 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.799 power within their own conferences unless there is split government. 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.120 Unless there is a divided government Republicans controlling either one 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.680 House of Congress, Democrats controlling the other House, or obviously 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.480 split between the White House and Congress. And the fact 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.080 that you know it's this is a you know, full 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:25.240 Republican control of Congress, and you need but you do 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:27.760 need a bipartisan vote in order to open up the 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:33.360 government in the Senate. In the Senate without without this 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.200 sort of split control, there is no incentive for the 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.279 moderates to sort of tiptoe out and work amongst themselves. 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.240 We don't really have the gangs of the past, even 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.120 of the recent past. Right, there's no cinema and mansion there. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.560 But their empowerment either comes with when you're sitting literally 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.880 at a fifty to fifty Senate, which we are not 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.960 in this case, or you have this divided government. The 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.800 point is the lack and I think you can look 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.120 at one of two ways. They're not enough moderates who 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.800 truly see themselves as moderates, or the moderates are too 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:11.200 weak politically to sort of step out in this moment 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.400 because of the polarization issue in the country. But the 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.720 bottom line is that's why we are getting nowhere. The 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.960 moderates have no power in Congress. And whether you want 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.120 to argue, do they have a spine, I think they 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.920 do have a spine, but you know it's within reason, right, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.920 it's a soft spine, if you will, and without without 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:39.200 the ability of sort of obvious compromise that has to 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.960 be made because of split in a situation where there 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.240 would be split party control of some form or another. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.240 The fact that there's not. There's just at this point 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.640 there's I think the moderate Democrats, not enough of them 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.880 see enough to be gained. That said, I do think 0:06:55.880 --> 0:07:00.120 we're tiptoeing to a point where Democrats, frankly, probably a 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.920 week or two too late as far as it because 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:05.599 of some of the damage that's going to be done, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.240 I still think they can declare victory here. They still 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.600 have Donald Trump on the ropes with health care. He's 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.320 sort of rambling about, oh, you know, we've got to 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.720 do something better than Obamacare. Dude, You've had ten years 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.000 to come up with a plan. The Republicans have had 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.600 ten years to come up with a plant better than Obamacare. 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:24.640 They've yet to be able to agree on anything. Donald 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:26.840 Trump had a whole term in Congress and couldn't do it. 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.640 He had a whole exile, you know, he was exiled 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:31.880 for four years, didn't focus on a health care plan, 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.160 and now here he is again sort of begging for 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.160 help to come up with an alternative to Obamacare. It's 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.720 just not going to happen because there is a policy 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.840 laziness on the right to come up with an alternative, 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.400 because the only alternative that's affordable will deny most of 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.760 you insurance. Right. The only way you can create affordable 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.560 insurance is if you create a healthcare situation where they 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.000 can deny insurance coverage for people that actually need it. Right. 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.240 But as long and at this point, there is a 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.640 baseline believe here, pre existing conditions cannot be used to 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.360 decide what your premiums are and whether you get insurance 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.080 coverage or not. And because of that, this is always 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.640 going to get expensive unless there's a a tougher regulation 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.960 on the insurance markets in general. Number one or number 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.840 two is sort of an acceptance that medicaid is America's 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:26.040 catastrophic insurance coverage. Ultimately, I think that is what medicaid 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:31.320 is basically become. But until there's sort of an acknowledgment 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.200 that that's what it is going to be for the 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:39.200 country rather than always just based on income there, I 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.440 don't know how much stability you're ever going to have 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:46.720 in the insurance markets there. But the point is the 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.840 fact that Democrats orchestrated the shutdown and snap benefits are 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:53.240 going to expire. How do you explain that away long term? 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.160 I think that's a tough thing to explain. Democrats have 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.439 the power to open temporarily, open up this government, get 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.120 this money flowing to the people that really need it, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.920 and they still have Republicans on the defensive on healthcare. 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:11.560 What's the why keep this shutdown? This isn't going to 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.360 make this better for better politically. And I know I 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.400 sound like a broken record here, but you're in a 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.720 great place at this point. Mike Johnson has completely abandoned 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.840 work here. You have a restive Republicans, there is a 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.880 divide among obamacares. You're going to win this And the 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.480 question is do you just hope that you can extract 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.040 a little more political pain and hope it doesn't punish 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.440 more Americans while you extract and ounce more of political gain. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:49.079 Here just something to think about as this shutdown drags on, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.160 as we get closer to November one, because oh, by 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.080 the way, the bill that's been on the floor would 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.760 only open up the government till November twenty first. As 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:03.079 it is, so we're really starting to feel the pinch. 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.760 And if this is why, I think this is an 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.959 easy answer. If snap benefits are about to expire, Democrats, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.520 just vote yes on this thing. You're looking at three 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.160 weeks and then you get to force leverage one more 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.439 time and healthcare premiums are out there for all to see. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:23.320 So look, no one said Chuck Schumer was really good 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:28.440 at tactics. He has displayed a lot of mediocrity right now. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.600 I mean, I think the fairest way to describe Chuck 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.800 Schumer's leadership is kind of like Bill Belichick as coach 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:39.960 of North Carolina Great career Hall of Fame coach Chuck 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:44.400 Schumer peak. Chuck Schumer political savviness as good as anybody 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:47.800 for a long time. You know, knew that there was 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.439 always a little bit of baggage trying to be a 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.840 national Democratic leader, but being based in New York City, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.320 always was really good at balancing it really well. You know. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.120 I think now he's in the Bill Belichick coach of 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.360 North Carolina faith. Every once in a while he calls 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.559 a pretty decent play. The game plan may be there, 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:10.360 but I think in this moment where politics are today headed, 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.040 et cetera, et cetera, I think tactically this has passed 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.000 them by. But the fact is both Jeffreys and Schumer 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:21.480 seemed paralyzed in some form here, and I think some 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.000 of it has to do with what's going on in 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:26.160 New York City and this divide inside the party and 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:30.439 this fight inside the party between progressives and pragmatists, which 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:35.200 I think is certainly really what is the overhang of 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.080 this government shutdown strategy that were't in. But it leads 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.640 me to something else about Washington these days that I 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.520 thought I would share for my non Washington listeners. I 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.920 think those that live in and around here, and we'll 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.880 find what I'm saying to be quite familiar. Look, I'm 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.400 participating in quite a few reform projects. Many of these 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.840 meetings or conferences that I go to or all Chatham 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.640 how rules meaning you know, we're we're We're there with 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.679 unique groups of people trying to figure out, you know, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.360 if it's on the journalism side of things, ideas and 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.679 fixing this information ecosystem, how do we reanimate local news? 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.160 If it's on the democracy reform side of things, you know, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.120 it's with you know, do you break up the duopoly? 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:23.360 How do you open things up here? Do we there 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.559 is this the moment to call for a constitutional convention? 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:31.920 Things like that? And what's fascinating about Washington in this 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.760 in twenty twenty five, And I think I've discussed this before, 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.560 the sort of you vacillate between you know when when 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:42.839 you know right now in DC it's just a it's 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.720 a weird feeling, right the way Trump sort of stormed 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.280 the city this time, there's almost right he's there's there's 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.360 self segregation of the sort of political elite in Washington, right, 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:00.000 MAGA only hangs out with MAGA. Then there are Republicans 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.439 who aren't MAGA, who still want to, who still believe 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.640 that there's a Republican party, think like you know that 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.880 will exist after Donald Trump. I think the John Thune 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.120 wing of the party, right, whatever's left of there, which 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.360 is really a lion's share of Republicans in Washington or 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:18.200 not MAGA, right, they are sort of institutionalists Republicans, and 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:21.640 you know they still you know that part of the 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:26.480 political bipartisan world. You still you still see that. But 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.200 MAGA is its own separate thing, right, The MAGA elite, 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:34.040 you know, payoff Donald Trump Junior for his club that 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.920 he created. And then you have some of the you know, 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.320 the tech bros that have moved here, that throw their 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.640 own parties. They all just sort of mingle with each 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.600 other and all that. And there's in some ways that 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.240 that group of people is constantly thinking out, hey, man, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.360 there's no security right now in government contracts, government money, 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.640 there are no rules. What can we do in this 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.640 moment before the gig is up to sort of secure 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.640 government contracts? He said secure. It's a bit of a grift, right. 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.960 They're just constantly saying, you know, hey, now that we've 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.679 got a president that will blow past any ethical line, 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:13.880 that there is a compliant Congress, a House Republicans set 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.160 in particular, that will do whatever is asked. There won't 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.760 be oversight. It is open season for a certain group 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:25.240 of lobbyists. And so there's basically three groups, three types 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:30.560 of Washington gatherings these days. Right, There's those in that 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.760 sort of mega lobbying world who are like, oh my god, 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:39.680 it's a jewelry store without security, and there's all sorts 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.640 of things we can get and everything is open season, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.360 and you know, how do you make as much money 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.119 off of this period in time where Trump is basically 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.040 created a no rules environment. Right, So that's one group 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.520 of people who sort of are occupying Washington in this moment, 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.560 who go to gatherings, but who are just there trying 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.280 to figure out out, Hey, this is there's never been 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.920 at a time essentially to steal money from the government 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:10.800 with nobody watching anything. What kind of schemes can we 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.480 come up with, Whether it's a crypto scheme, whether it's 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:18.400 a creating a new you know, public private partnership for 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.320 screwing the government taxpayer. I think I made up that 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.320 last part, but the public private partnership I didn't. And 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.880 then there's two other sort of entities out there that meet. Right, 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.800 you have this group of of Democrats and it's two 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.560 different groups of Democrats that are constantly having various meetings. Right, 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.240 I think you have a progressive set is saying, okay, 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.800 this is a moment where progressives can take over the party. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.320 The established innshment has proved that they can't deal in 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.920 the Trump era, they can't win in the Trump era. Clinton, Biden, Harris, 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.520 you know that wing of the party is atrophying, Schumer, Jeffreys. 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.760 They don't know what they're doing. This is the moment 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.320 for progressives to takeover. So there's this, you know, instead 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.960 of you know, sort of a lot of a lot 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:06.560 of gatherings that are about, you know, how can progressives 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.400 take advantage of this moment. Then you have sort of 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.160 what's left of sort of the establishment wing of the party, 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.840 or the pragmatic wing of the party, or the frustrated 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:21.560 Democrats who want to win first, want to want to 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.560 rally the base into something and say, hey, look, the 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.960 goal should be to build a broader coalition that that 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:35.680 has an animated progressive base but also is appealing to 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.280 swing voters. And there's you know, those types of gatherings. 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.080 You know, it's it's the abundance debate that has recline. 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.920 Matthew Iglesias Derek Thompson have been sort of talking about, 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.800 you know, is there better policy solutions that Democrats ought 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:52.760 to be standing for that would be more appealing to 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.760 a broad a broader set of the electorate. So you 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.040 have those conversations, and then there's a third group of 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.800 gathering of gatherings, And this is the group of gatherings 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.320 I'm most involved with. And one last week a trusted 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.159 with a organization that I've talked about before on this 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:15.199 podcast called Trusted Media, where it's a sort of it's 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.520 a coalition of folks who have worked in government, worked 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:23.200 in a national security space, including uh NSSA and CIA 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.600 and State Department, who are concerned that the information ecosystem 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:28.919 is untrustworthy. And it's like, this is bigger than just 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.240 a media problem, right, you know, this is this is 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.359 larger than that. So we did a gathering that gathered 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:41.480 business leaders, gathered scientific scientific experts, journalists, government of former 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:46.200 government officials talking about why you have if you don't 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:50.399 have trust, if our information ecosystem is untrustworthy, how this 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.520 suddenly essentially makes us less safe, you know, less safe 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:59.320 as a country, less safe. Uh individually, you know, when 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.480 you think about health scares and viruses and things like 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:07.440 that and less safe in your community. And so that's 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:12.159 one type of sort of gathering that I am anticipating 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.920 in because we've got to fix this information ecosystem. It's 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.040 not just about journalism. It's not just about you know, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.480 what corporations have done, the legacy media, what big tech 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.520 is doing and what and the AI impact is about 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.280 whether we're going to be able to you know, scientists 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.760 can come up with something and it's trusted, and whether 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:37.640 a doctor prescribing a pill won't get sort of distrusted 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.320 by their patients because of what doctor Internet is telling 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.440 them or is pretending to tell them, or what you know, 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.200 the Kennedy crazies are assuming at any moment in time. 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:56.879 On that front, there's a reason results matter more than promises, 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.600 just like there's a reason Morgan and Morgan is America's 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.000 large just injury law firm. For the last thirty five years, 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:06.040 they've recovered twenty five billion dollars for more than half 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.159 a million clients. It includes cases where insurance companies offered 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.040 next to nothing, just hoping to get away with paying 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.960 as little as possible. Morgan and Morgan fought back ended 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.800 up winning millions. In fact, in Pennsylvania, one client was 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.640 awarded twenty six million dollars, which was a staggering forty 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.840 times the amount that the insurance company originally offered. That 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.359 original offer six hundred and fifty thousand dollars twenty six million, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.560 six hundred fifty thousand dollars. So with more than one 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.080 thousand lawyers across the country, they know how to deliver 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.720 for everyday people. If you're injured, you need a lawyer, 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.440 You need somebody to get your back. Check out for 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.280 the People dot com, Slash podcast, or dial pound law, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:48.000 pound five to nine law on your cell phone. And 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.320 remember all law firms are not the same, So check 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.120 out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.760 And then there's also those that are in the They're 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:02.520 they're there that are in the how do you stop 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.840 prevent Another Trump? And that group of folks are sort 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.680 of the true what I call the true reformists because 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.000 they're not partisans. That doesn't mean they don't have partisan 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:17.680 points of view that they do, but these are gatherings 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.760 that include liberals and conservatives who have one thing in common. 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:28.000 They're constitutionalists and they are alarmed by the fact that 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:32.560 there are so many entities essentially not using the Constitution right. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.639 You have Corporate America choosing not to use it to 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:38.919 defend their First Amendment rights. You've had other companies choosing 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:43.600 not to use it to to defend their their various 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:48.720 constitutional rights when it comes to mostly frankly due to 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.520 First Amendment issues in different free speech free speech issues. 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.800 So it's in this space that I'm also like to 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:00.240 get involved. And again, all of these are under Chathamhouse Rule, 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.679 so I'm you know, I don't want to I'm not 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:06.800 going to out any individuals, but I wanted to share 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.960 an experience I had recently because it was a new 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.840 take on how to find hope. Right, there's there's always 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:17.359 you know, I had somebody ask this question in the 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.800 last podcast. You keep using the expression your short term 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.679 pessimistic but long term optimistic, and you know, explain that 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:29.840 more if you will, And you know, I always sit 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.520 there and say, well, I'm my long term optimism is 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.000 mostly due to our history, our nation's history, and that 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.439 we've had moments like this before where we're at a 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:40.359 fork in the road and you know, we can end 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.720 up in one direction or the other, and we sort 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:45.920 of always end up in the right space. We meander, 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.000 you know, you know, I will reiterate what I love 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.639 to reiterate the Martin Luther King quote about the arc 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.440 of history. Well, an arc sometimes goes backwards before it 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:59.199 loops its way around to go forwards. And sometimes you 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.959 have to go backwards if you're going to if you 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.280 are going to be able to do something that actually 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.080 takes this country forward. And it's pretty obvious that we 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:11.480 have to update this constitution, we have to update the democracy. 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.600 I mean, what's happening now with the redistricting wars is 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.879 just a symptom of this larger problem. I mean, we 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.359 now have Virginia is going to try to do this, 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:23.119 and you have Indiana is going to try to do this, 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:24.760 and you're in North Carolina is going to try to 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.000 I mean, we're just it's it's getting absurd, and it's 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:32.240 clear that we need to do a constitutional reform, specifically 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.040 on this issue in particular, to sort of stop this madness, 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:41.320 because what it is doing is disenfranchising voters, pure and simple. Right. 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:46.320 It's state after state after state, partisan disenfranchising of voters. 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.960 Part stop. That's what Texas Republicans want to do to Democrats. 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:54.360 That's what California Republicans are doing to Republicans in California. Response, 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.479 it's what Indiana Republicans are doing to Indiana Democrats. It's 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.840 what Virginia Democrats are going to be doing Virginia. You 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.320 see run point here, right, It is depending on the 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:03.920 state that you live in. If you're in a one 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:10.400 party control state, there's now an incentive politically to disenfranchise 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:15.240 voters of the other side. This is you know, I 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.439 could argue that all of this is it should be 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:22.119 covered by the equal Protection Clause in the Constitution, but 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:24.800 I think we have to spell it out and spell 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:30.399 out exactly what is fair and what isn't on that front. 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:36.359 But the reason, you know, sometimes there's something that's staring 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:41.159 you right in the face and you're like, well, duh, 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:45.159 I should have of course, that's the best argument you 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:48.760 could make for why we shouldn't be afraid to ask 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:52.960 the voters for big change. And this person was making 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:57.960 the case that the second election of Donald Trump is 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:01.040 actually the best case you could come up with to 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:05.800 prove that Americans are looking for something different. They're not 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:09.640