WEBVTT - Critical Race Theory 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.640 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woke ef Daily with 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:20.440 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody recording from my Brooklyn Silarium. Folks, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.680 I want to talk today about the fact that Democrats 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.720 don't really know what the fuck they're doing, right. I mean, 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.120 that's evident, And in my conversation today with our in 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:35.880 house doctor, our friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel, we unpack pretty 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.000 much the ways in which Democrats have essentially gone as 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.360 far as to snatch success right and throw it in 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.960 the toilet. Success meaning that a year ago, right, a 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.880 year ago this week, Americans, particularly black Americans, gave President 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:58.360 Biden a huge, historic, fucking win by electing him President 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:03.320 of the United States. Right. We did so because the 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:08.000 four years previous we had been led by a criminal, 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.360 an idiot, a misogynist, a racist, a homophobe, a transphobe, 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.520 and every other phobe that you could think of. And 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:20.520 we said no to fascism in America, no to authoritarianism, 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.160 no to the resurgence of white supremacy. And we thought 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.560 that by electing Joe Biden and by cleaning out our 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.560 government agencies, that we would be able to re establish 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.200 and reimagine how our democracy should work and how it 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.360 can work for all people. Well, over that year, right 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.959 Republicans have decided to do the complete and total opposite. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.120 They have decided to construct an entire ideology that is 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.360 steeped and centered around white supremacy. And guess what they 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.800 are fucking winning. We thought that they were going to 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:01.040 end up doing another autopsy like they did back in 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.000 the early two thousands one Obama one, that they were 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.400 going to have to reassess what they were doing, that 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.400 their allegiance to Trump and America's rejection of him would 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:15.800 somehow force Republicans into recognizing their wrongful ways. But no, 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.680 it did the opposite. They went back into their tool 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.239 shed and they just retooled their messaging. But understand this 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.080 that their messaging has been the fucking same for fifty 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.840 goddamn years. It has been the ability to tap into 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:36.200 white rage and white racism as a way to win elections. 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.560 They don't need to offer these people anything. And that's 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.320 what Jonathan and I will talk about later. That's why 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.120 he wrote his book Dying of Whiteness, because it wasn't 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.400 about what Democrats can offer you. It was about for 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.560 Republicans and for white racists. Who are one and the same. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.840 It is about playing the long game. It's about the 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.720 Supreme Court. For them, it's about ridding this country of 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.639 be weighed. It is about putting black and brown people 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.320 in their place. It is about kicking women out of 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.360 the workforce. And how do you do that. Well, you 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.040 don't do that by saying it's illegal for women to work. No, 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.720 you make it illegal for them to be able to 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.720 have the power to decide when and how and if 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.440 they want to start a family, right. You make it 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.560 damn near impossible, so that there is no planning that 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.240 they can have. There's a reason why planned parenthood is 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:29.359 called planned parenthood, because you have the ability to plan 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.120 whether or not you actually want to become a parent. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.800 But see, what Republicans have always wanted to take away 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.600 is people's power. That is that their m because the 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.360 only people that they believe that should have power in 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:50.880 this country are white, cisgender Christian men. That's it. And 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:55.280 if you object to that right, then you are thrown 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.960 out right of the country of the apple cart of 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.200 their unders standing in their desire right as an American 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:06.560 right like you don't exist, You're just they throw the 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:12.640 baby out with the bathwater. So if you don't understand, then, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.680 as Democrats, how to appeal to and again I don't 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.760 mean to win, but how to create an appealing message 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:26.359 that not only showcases how fucking wrong Republicans are, but 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.119 at the end of the day that you're still trying 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.560 to figure out how to juggle life, You're still trying 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.240 to figure out how to make ends meet, because again, 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.200 they're not creating policies and or programs that are allowing 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.960 for your life to have any ease. No, because also 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.360 tied to the fact that they believe in white supremacy 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.560 is also the fact that they believe in big corporations. 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:55.919 They believe in privatization. They believe that government should not 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.600 do anything for you while they take in your tax dollars. 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.440 They rake in that money. Right, the form at which 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.520 you were then paid back for that money is in 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:13.960 social services, is in public education. But the war that 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.760 they have now, folks, is to not only take your 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:22.920 money and give it to big corporations, right, it's also 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:28.800 to take your money while they dissolve those agencies and 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.080 those safety nets to begin with. Take critical race theory 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:40.839 as an example. Now, critical race theory is a theory 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.159 that looks at the founding of this country right through 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:49.400 a lens that is outside of the scope of whiteness, 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.719 that does not only take history through the lens of 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:59.599 the oppressor, but those that were oppressed. Right. It is 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.800 an idea. It is a theory that is taught in 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.960 higher education and isn't even taught in our fucking public schools, 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.400 let alone in Virginia where Glenn Yuncan made it the 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:17.320 cornerstone of his campaign. Now, just imagine for a moment 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:23.799 that Republicans instead of making the cornerstone of their campaigns, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.159 you know, how to keep Americans healthy, particularly as we 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.760 are continuing our way through a global health pandemic. How 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:36.080 to better educate Americans so that they can get better 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:44.440 paying jobs and compete right globally with their peers. Instead 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:49.080 of creating infrastructure plans that look at how we are 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:54.320 going to fight against and create buildings, bridges, and roads 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.320 that are going to be able to deal with these 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.800 one thousand and one hundred year storms that now are 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.240 just becoming the norm, instead of doing any of that, 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.760 Instead of dealing with the problems that are barreling down 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:15.720 on us as a nation and as a Globe. Their 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:21.600 decide instead to spend hours and hours of time on 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:26.600 Fox News on Newsmax talking about their new boogeyman, which 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.480 is critical race theory, their idea that we are going 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.440 to teach white kids how to feel bad about themselves. 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.520 I can't tell you how many times I have listened 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:41.200 to white parents that the media loves to fucking give 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.920 their fifteen seconds of fame too, to talk to them 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.960 about how they don't want their children to feel bad 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:52.720 and whatever happen to reading, writing, and arithmetic, Because one, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.440 you're not educating a child in the twentieth century anymore, 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.480 and there is more to learning than those three things. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:09.920 And also that in order to create a thoughtful, educated, responsible, 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:15.400 accountable citizenjury, that one would need to expand our idea 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:21.920 of history and understand who has been adversely affected and 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.800 how we've gotten to the place that we are in 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.720 right now, right why we have certain policies that only 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:33.840 benefit certain groups of people. Glen youngcan made that the 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.600 cornerstone of his campaign, and by the time that you 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.880 hear this, he could very well be the new governor 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.800 of Virginia. Not because he has offered the Virginia people 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:48.720 anything other than taking away abortion and criminalizing public education, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:52.160 and you know, taking away your right to vote, and 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.760 not believing in climate change and all of these other 0:08:54.800 --> 0:09:02.120 elements that make up the neo Republican fascist sentiments. But 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:08.840 it's working because in Virginia, the number one thing that 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.320 voters care about is education. And like I said yesterday, 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:18.120 not about making our public schools better, creating better infrastructure 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.559 in our public schools, hiring more qualified teachers, creating robust 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:26.040 curriculum that would have your children be able to compete 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.000 right globally, right to be able to get those good 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.120 paying jobs and health benefits and be able to buy 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.840 a home, all of those points of what it means 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.960 to be successful in America. No, No, it is about 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.160 making sure that we continue to teach white supremacy, that 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.040 we continue to teach denialism, that we continue to teach 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:54.800 about white exceptionalism and white exceptionalism only. And it's working. 0:09:55.720 --> 0:10:00.360 So why don't Democrats, Why don't they ever have a bottle? 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.480 Why don't they ever after fifty years of the same 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:10.959 fucking dog whistles just repackaged, right, Why don't they ever 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:17.439 have anything to counter? And Jonathan will say the minute 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.760 that you are on television debating the merits of critical 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:26.680 race theory. You are losing because we never create messaging 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.560 or ask questions that put Republicans on their heels. We 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.880 never ask Republicans to explain, while in the midst of 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:38.080 a global health pandemic, why they don't want robust healthcare 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.640 for Americans. We don't talk to Republicans and ask them 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.640 why they are creating policies that would force women and 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.080 people with uteruses out of the workforce, right at a 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.400 time when we are losing standing on the world stage, 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:59.120 largely because of their last president, their last deity who 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.800 decided to turn his back on the world America first, 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.640 but didn't offer anything to Americans. We don't ask those people, 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:12.320 what has the Republican Party done for you? How have 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.959 they put more money in your pocket? How have they 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.240 given you better paying jobs? How have they given you 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.120 a voice in your democracy? They want to turn around 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.920 and say parents should have the right to say what 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.000 it is that their kids are taught and what they 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.160 aren't taught. Really, because you don't have a fucking degree 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:35.559 in education. Really, because the belief should be that your 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.440 children end up better off than you are. But we 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.679 are living in a time when each new generation is 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.560 actually going to be worse off than their parents and 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.200 their grandparents. You know why, because the government isn't coming 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.000 out to help them in the way that they helped 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:57.480 their parents and their grandparents. Right there is no loan 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.880 for homes, There is no loan to help you get 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.120 out of your student debt or student debt forgiveness. There 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:11.520 is nothing. And that's because Republicans have wanted it that way, 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:16.280 because so long as you are left trying barely to survive, 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.840 they are able to run their authoritarian agenda. So long 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:27.440 as you look at both parties as ineffectual, right, then 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:32.439 they are able to then say, well, they've suppressed the 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.680 vote with voter suppression laws, and then they've suppressed the 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.160 desire to vote because people look around and they're just like, well, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.720 what the fuck do democrats do when we give them power? 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.720 They argue amongst themselves, we have no wins right now 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.960 to be able to offer to the American people and 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.400 say this is what we've done with the power that 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.040 you've given us over the last eleven months. What are 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:03.880 we pointing to? So instead, where Republicans always win are 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:08.239 the culture wars, where they always win is through racism. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:12.800 Right There is a war on wokeism right now. There 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:17.200 is a war on even allowing and wanting children in 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.680 this country to be conscious of the truth. But there 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.240 was a war on facts that began folks a decade ago. 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.719 But instead of us dealing with this head on, what 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.920 did Democrats do? They laughed, and they joked, and they 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.559 shrugged them. They said, oh, people that are smart won't 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:40.640 believe them. But you see, when you do not provide 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:47.079 counter messaging that is strong and robust, then you give 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:52.480 people no other choice than to consume the lies. This 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.119 is why I say that Democrats continually believe that Americans 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.240 are better than they are. That does not mean that 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.240 I believe that Americans are bad people know, but I 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.000 believe that they need to be led right, and the 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:10.560 absence of real leadership, they will follow anyone like sheep 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.520 over a cliff. And that is exactly where we are headed. 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.680 When you can turn an election in the midst of 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.800 a global health pandemic that is killed over seven hundred 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.160 thousand people in this country, where people millions of people 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.880 have lost their job or are leaving the workforce, and 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:31.640 you have industry across industry on fucking strike right now 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.760 because they are tired of working for indentured servitude wages. 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.040 When you have that perfect storm and the only thing 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.280 that fucking Republicans are offering is more fuel to the 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:46.600 fire of white rage, and they literally aren't offering any 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:51.400 other policy. What the fuck are Democrats doing? Why can 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.960 they not paint that picture? Why aren't they asking the 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.680 right questions? This is the frustration that I have. And 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.560 these elections right that are happening this week are going 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.840 to dictate what twenty twenty two looks like. And it 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.400 is not going to be the blue tsunami wave. It 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.880 just isn't because from the moment that Biden one, he 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.360 should have had clear messaging on who Democrats are not 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.160 and what they are bringing to the table, and then 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.440 win after win after win of the things that they need, 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.400 so that then you can look to the opposition and say, 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.440 what have they done for you lately and clearly state nothing. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.120 But that is not where we are. We are right 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:42.120 now up Ship's Creek without a fucking paddle and just 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:48.480 doing the dance with fascism and authoritarianism because we have 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:53.960 no counter narrative. So what this week will prove is 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.120 the work ahead, and the work ahead, dear friends, is 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.360 a really fucking deep and I don't know if we 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.360 have the backbone and have the desire to get the 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.560 job done. And that is what keeps me up at night. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.320 This is what makes me worried on a day to 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.920 day basis. Coming up next is my conversation with our 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:22.160 in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, author of Dying of Whiteness. Folks, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.640 you know that I am always so happy each and 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.400 every week when we get to sit down with our 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.960 in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, author of Dying of Whiteness, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.480 which I believe he is a prophet and an oracle, 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.160 because that's exactly how I believe America will go. It 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.960 won't be aliens, dear Jonathan, it won't be an invasion 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.960 by foreign quote unquote terrorists. It will be of whiteness. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:49.200 Right now, we have critical races. By the time that 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.960 this airs, we may or may not know who has 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.360 won the governor's race in Virginia, who has run the 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:58.520 governor's race in New Jersey and in other places. But 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:04.640 what is troubling to me is that Republicans offer nothing right. 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:09.120 What they offer is a rollback of rights, and they 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:14.920 offer a place for the white aggrieved to lay their head. Democrats, however, 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.280 offer policy change that is supposed to make your daily 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:23.199 life better. And yet all we see are polls that 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:28.080 are tied. All we see is the idea that as 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.439 we move into twenty twenty two, into midterms, that we 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.480 will most likely lose. What do you think, like, what 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:39.119 do you see as as the problem right now? Just 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:43.280 with Democrats in general, whether we're talking about this election, 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.840 that election day, or we're talking about the midterms that 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:52.320 we are walking into. It's a supremely frustrating moment. Certainly, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:57.720 the Republicans, there are no surprises, right, Grievance politics, critical 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:02.080 race theory, inventing it as blah blah blah. This is 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.640 the same playbook they've been using for quite a long 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.760 time now. For me, the frustrating part is the Democrats 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.240 don't really have an answer for it yet. And it's 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.600 only been like twenty years of this playbook or fifty 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:18.760 years of this yeah, and so part of the frustrating 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.160 part for me is I just feel like we're doing 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.600 the same thing. So certainly there are of course, I mean, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:31.000 the Republicans recognize that there are that white grievance politics 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.359 is a winning strategy, and we're of course seeing that 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.360 right now, but we know that right and so I'm 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:38.399 going to be a little critical of the Democrats today 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:41.080 at least to begin the conversation, because I also think 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.560 there were a couple of self inflicted wounds that we've 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.679 done over the past year that also led us to 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.359 this moment That don't have to do with something abstract. 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.760 It's actually like the concrete world of politics. And number 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.320 one is I feel like the minute we won the election, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.080 we stopped messaging right in a certain kind of way 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.159 that in a way, the Republicans twenty four to seven, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.560 they're messaging, telling people what to think, getting people on board, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.240 all this kind of stuff. I don't agree with any 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.960 of it, but they're basically the Lincoln Project twenty four 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.200 seven times a million. And for us, it was kind 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.400 of like we won the election with a reasonably good 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.600 sense of messaging, which was taking it to the other side, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.320 put the other side on the defensive for progressive audiences, 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.240 make them feel like they're part of the process, help 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.639 them crop their like it was a really effective messaging strategy, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:31.480 and then we won and we stopped doing all that stuff, right. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.760 I mean, it really feels like the narrative shaping has 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.760 totally gone away. So part of it is I feel 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.280 like our side has lost ability to craft the narrative 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.000 using the methods that got us here in the first place. 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:47.920 And the second don't even get me started, is I'm 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.680 sorry everybody. We should have just passed the infrastructure bill 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.880 when we had the chance. Right. The whole idea here 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:59.720 is the Democrats won the election because it's their argument was, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:01.760 we can make your life better and we can get 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.320 stuff done, unlike the crazy circus of four years of Trump, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:08.719 and they had handed to them on a golden platter 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.720 a bill, right. It was. It was crafted by centrists. 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.119 Not everybody got what they wanted, but it would have 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.840 at least got the ball rolling. And I think it 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:19.640 was a mistake to say, well, we're going to hold 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.240 back on that because it'll give us leverage. That doesn't work, 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.280 you know. Basically, it gave time for the other side 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.560 to undermine everything. And so in a way, I do 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:34.000 think when the autopsy or whatever checkup of this moment 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.600 is told, not passing the infrastructure bill right away, even 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:40.280 though a lot of people. I mean I tweeted that 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.679 at the time and everybody yelled at me, But I 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.360 just think we needed an accomplishment. It would have actually 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.320 increased the leverage of all the parties involved now as 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.320 opposed to opening them up for what's happening now, which 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.800 is that everybody's the whim of everybody else. So not 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.280 passing the Infrastructure Bill is the second, I think massive 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.959 mistake that we're seeing play out in a lot in 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.560 a lot of races now because the Republicans can basically 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:06.200 just say, well, what have those guys done for you? Nothing, 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:07.919 which is their aim is to make it look like 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:09.919 they're not doing anything for you. And you know, the 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:13.440 funny thing is with regard to the Infrastructure Bill is 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.040 that it wasn't even Republicans that were the obstructionists here, right, 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.960 you have two Republicans that are in the Senate who decide, 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.800 I mean two Democrats I always say Republicans because in 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:28.960 my mind that's what they are, Mansion and Cinema, who 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:33.000 decided that progress was not what they wanted, right, that 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.600 decided that, you know, fighting climate change and providing families 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.159 with much needed paid to family leave where one of 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.480 the only industrialized countries in the world that don't have that, 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:48.600 that don't offer not narrative fucking day and deciding that 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.280 those are things that they don't want. And so, you know, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.199 when I look around, and I've been saying this, this 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.320 is you know when you say, you know, Republicans don't 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.440 offer anything new. They just find different ways to talk 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:07.120 about their same white grievances. Right so this election cycle, 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.080 it is critical race theory, and it is vaccines. Right 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.000 before that it was something else. They're not ever offering 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:19.040 to give the American people anything. Everything about the Republican 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.920 ideology is about what you can take back and about 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:24.760 what you can roll back. And the fact that Democrats 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.200 never never get their messaging together in a way over 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.400 the last five decades to be able to combat this 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:35.320 makes me believe that they don't actually want to win, 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:38.760 because nothing that they're doing shows us that they want 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.600 to win. We needed an infrastructure bill, we needed a 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.439 voting rights bill, We needed something to offer up to 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:49.399 the American people that said, after eleven months, right a 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.000 year after you would have voted, that this is what 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.320 you voted for. And right now we're turning around and 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.960 in these particular races that we're talking about, and again 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:02.680 time this airs, we may or may not know who 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.520 won these very critical races. But what everything should point 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:11.320 to right now is that democratic messaging is failing. It 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.399 does not work, and frankly, I'm not sure what we 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:20.000 are messaging. So, Jonathan, if you had an opportunity for 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:23.160 us to chop in a time machine right and go 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:27.160 back to you a year ago, what do you think 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:31.479 that Democrats should have been doing from November third of 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:37.040 twenty twenty until this moment we're in right now. Democrats 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:40.080 won the election on the promise of governance, right, and 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.400 so I think that what Democrats always do is they 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:47.800 fail to take the low hanging fruit of things. You 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:50.840 can do that you because you know when the cameras 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:53.679 are off. I bet you ninety percent of politicians agree 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:57.760 about many things. And we had an easy win on infrastructure, 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.560 and so we should have absolutely the minute. And I 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:06.800 understand the infrastructure bill was negotiated by centrists, but just 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.679 think about think about human nature. Forget about I mean, 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.159 I agree with you about all the critiques absolutely, but 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:14.800 think about human nature. If you if you have something 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:16.520 in front of you and somebody says, well, even if 0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:18.399 you want this thing, I'm not going to give it 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:21.200 to you until you do something else that I want 0:24:21.200 --> 0:24:24.159 you to do. People feel like they're held hostage in 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:26.440 a way. So I just think the resentment now is 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:30.119 it just was so predictable, right in a way. I 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:32.760 think in a way, the Democrats would have been so 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:36.320 much better off with just taking the easy win, and 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:40.960 actually the progressive negotiating position would have been much stronger 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:42.680 than it is now where they're having to make all 0:24:42.720 --> 0:24:46.960 of these bend or backwards things. And so I just think, 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:49.080 and I'll tell you why I'm so sensitive about this 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:52.080 particular issue is because it reminds me of what happened 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:56.000 when Obama won his first term, right, which is Obama 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:58.359 had a massive mandate, Like two thousand and eight was 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:04.480 an incredible year, and there was completely low hanging fruit 0:25:04.520 --> 0:25:06.960 at that moment, which was a jobs bill. Right at 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:10.760 that moment, Unions were behind him, workers were behind him, 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:14.680 everybody was behind him, and everybody would he would have shown, hey, 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:18.040 look I can get some stuff done here. But instead, 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:20.439 for different reasons, they said, oh, look we have this 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:23.280 one mandate, we might not always have it forever. Let's 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:26.560 start with the Affordable Charact. Let's start with healthcare, because 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:28.399 that's something that we are never going to get this 0:25:28.440 --> 0:25:30.679 opportunity for again. But what they did is they jumped 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:36.560 into this hugely contentious arena. It opened the door, the 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.560 space for delay. The delay actually worked against them because 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.000 then the other side got to shape the narrative and 0:25:42.040 --> 0:25:45.200 in the end, the affordable character. Even though, of course 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:46.680 you know, I'm the biggest fan of the world of 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:50.720 the ACA, but just that two year debate helped crystallize 0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:53.639 opinions against it when they could have passed a jobs 0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:56.639