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

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

3
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:12,000
Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Nancy Pelosi resigned from her leadership position.

4
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:17,320
Speaker 1: We have a thrilling show today. Politicos Rachel bad stops

5
00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 1: by to talk about the latest fallout from the mid

6
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,479
Speaker 1: terms and the change in Democratic and Republican leadership. Then

7
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,760
Speaker 1: Mom's Demand Actions Shannon Watts stops by to tell us

8
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:35,839
Speaker 1: about the effect gun activists have had on the elections.

9
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,120
Speaker 1: But first we have the amazing Mary Trump to talk

10
00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 1: about the realities of Donald Trump running for president again.

11
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:48,320
Speaker 1: Welcome to Fast Politics, my friend Mary Trump. While I'm

12
00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,600
Speaker 1: so excited to be here, I love the new show

13
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,239
Speaker 1: and I've been wanting to come on since you started.

14
00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 1: It's so good. Everybody has to just become a regular

15
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,360
Speaker 1: listener to this phenomenal podcast. You know, we're a mutual

16
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 1: admiration society here we are, which is true. And you,

17
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,760
Speaker 1: you know, you write so well, you podcast, you interview,

18
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,760
Speaker 1: you do everything. So let's talk about our collective PTSD.

19
00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:15,040
Speaker 1: And I'm not even making light of this. I actually

20
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,959
Speaker 1: think we knew he was going to announce, and yet

21
00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,840
Speaker 1: I found myself just like, oh God, like I mean,

22
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:25,640
Speaker 1: I can only imagine how it is for you. It's

23
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,319
Speaker 1: interesting that this time around, it's not that he's announcing,

24
00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,199
Speaker 1: because that was inevitable, it's that he's been allowed to that,

25
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,720
Speaker 1: that he continues to be in this position to play

26
00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:41,360
Speaker 1: the system. People said many of his supporters in the

27
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 1: immediate aftermath of the midterm debacle for the Republicans that

28
00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,560
Speaker 1: Donald was the biggest loser. It's like, explained to me,

29
00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:51,320
Speaker 1: in what way he's he personally is losing here? I

30
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,560
Speaker 1: can't think of one, as your former co host will,

31
00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:59,720
Speaker 1: since that everything Donald touches does except him apparently, well,

32
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,440
Speaker 1: use say more about that. It's just a reminder, and again,

33
00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,320
Speaker 1: there are plenty of people in this country who have

34
00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,720
Speaker 1: always known that there's really no justice, and to the

35
00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,240
Speaker 1: extent that there is, the justice system is wildly unfair

36
00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,399
Speaker 1: and biased in terms of white people and especially rich

37
00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 1: people who are also white. But it's it's something else

38
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:25,240
Speaker 1: entirely to see in real time and so publicly, one person,

39
00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,920
Speaker 1: time after time after time be not just allowed but

40
00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,359
Speaker 1: enabled to commit the most egregious crimes and not only

41
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,320
Speaker 1: suffer no consequences, but continue to fail up as Donald

42
00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 1: has been doing since he was a toppler. Yeah, I

43
00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 1: mean that is so striking to me, and I'm so

44
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,480
Speaker 1: glad you're talking about this because it really is just

45
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,520
Speaker 1: kind of unbelievable. It's not just the usual suspects that

46
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,680
Speaker 1: you would expect, you know, it's not just the people

47
00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: who have judges he appointed, for example. It does seem

48
00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:04,919
Speaker 1: to be the entire system is inherently incapable of righting wrongs,

49
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,919
Speaker 1: of getting out of its own way. It was particularly demoralizing.

50
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,840
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole bullshit about you can't charge anybody

51
00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,120
Speaker 1: before an election, even if he's not running in the election,

52
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,760
Speaker 1: as if not charging him weren't taking a political position potentially,

53
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,799
Speaker 1: But then to hear that the Justice Department is weighing

54
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,120
Speaker 1: whether or not anybody else too did the same things

55
00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,720
Speaker 1: would be charged, Like, you guys haven't made these decisions yet.

56
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,920
Speaker 1: It's been forever already. There are so many people who

57
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,120
Speaker 1: have really had their lives ruined by Trump, you know,

58
00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,240
Speaker 1: from the cops who were involved in the January six

59
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:47,040
Speaker 1: insurrection trying to protect the capital two people like Maria Ivanovitch.

60
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: And it really is interesting that the person who has

61
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,960
Speaker 1: said all of this emotion continues to just be im

62
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,600
Speaker 1: palm beach and Molly, you're absolutely right to talk about

63
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,560
Speaker 1: it in terms of pt SDE that that is a

64
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,600
Speaker 1: very real thing that we haven't addressed enough, because part

65
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 1: of that is COVID. How COVID exacerbated everything. And then

66
00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 1: to have the one person who is largely responsible for

67
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,479
Speaker 1: so much death, for the disruption of so many lives

68
00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:26,360
Speaker 1: and careers to skate on by. It's a constant reminder.

69
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:29,120
Speaker 1: You know, you and I have had this conversation many times.

70
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:34,160
Speaker 1: You cannot recover from trauma while you're still actively being traumatized,

71
00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,800
Speaker 1: and that seems to be where we we permanently live

72
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,000
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, you know, it's funny because I talked

73
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,080
Speaker 1: to so many journalists, and you know, so many people

74
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,920
Speaker 1: will say like, oh, you should be so happy, it's

75
00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,359
Speaker 1: going to be great for your numbers or for whatever.

76
00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,960
Speaker 1: And like I'm telling you, everyone I talked to on Wednesday,

77
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,599
Speaker 1: we were all like so depressed because it's depressing and

78
00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:58,880
Speaker 1: it's I think people used to say the same thing

79
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:00,919
Speaker 1: to stand Up Committee, and so this is gonna be

80
00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,080
Speaker 1: so great for you. Well, if by great you mean

81
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,040
Speaker 1: constantly being reminded that the worst people among us are

82
00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:15,359
Speaker 1: consistently allowed to succeed at the expense of everybody else's

83
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,400
Speaker 1: mental and physical health. Sure, that's great for me because

84
00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,120
Speaker 1: I might get a couple of good jokes or I

85
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,479
Speaker 1: got I might get good numbers, and it's debilitated to

86
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,480
Speaker 1: some degree, and okay, great, our numbers might be better,

87
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,600
Speaker 1: we might get more listeners, there might be more interest, whatever,

88
00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,880
Speaker 1: But at what cost? Yeah, I mean, I think that's

89
00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,040
Speaker 1: what it is. So one of the things I want

90
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,520
Speaker 1: to ask you is, like, right now, we're in a

91
00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,480
Speaker 1: place that you know, we're trying to figure out how

92
00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,360
Speaker 1: to cover this guy and how to write about him,

93
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,159
Speaker 1: but not to elevate him and not to help him

94
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,240
Speaker 1: lie to the American people and not to you know,

95
00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,120
Speaker 1: we don't want to publicize him, but we have to

96
00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,440
Speaker 1: cover him, right because you can't ignore him because we

97
00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,280
Speaker 1: live through two thousand fifteen, so you know him and

98
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,200
Speaker 1: you know the world that created him. More importantly, how

99
00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,839
Speaker 1: do we do this? What do we do? But well,

100
00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,960
Speaker 1: that is the distinction to the degree that it's possible

101
00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,520
Speaker 1: not ignore him, but minimize him and keep an eye

102
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 1: on the people who created him and are responsible for him,

103
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:25,400
Speaker 1: the Mitch McConnell's, the Rupert Murdochs, etcetera, etcetera. Because they're

104
00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,560
Speaker 1: the ones who are the problem right first of all,

105
00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,960
Speaker 1: and they're the ones who are going to decide whether

106
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 1: or not they will once again tie their faith to

107
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,800
Speaker 1: Donald Trump by the way, they will because he's not

108
00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,800
Speaker 1: going to give them. And also, how can they not, right,

109
00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,200
Speaker 1: because they're all fighting for the same exactly, They can't

110
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,600
Speaker 1: because he won't let them. They can't because all they

111
00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,680
Speaker 1: care about is their base. They can't and this is

112
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,080
Speaker 1: probably the most important part of it. They want exactly

113
00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,080
Speaker 1: what Donald will give them. And that's being really clear here.

114
00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 1: If the Republicans had won to the that they were

115
00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,240
Speaker 1: supposed to last week in the midterms, we wouldn't be

116
00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,240
Speaker 1: having this conversation because he would be their number one guy.

117
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 1: So and they'll come back into the fold because they

118
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,000
Speaker 1: want have a joyce and again that's that's their guy.

119
00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,120
Speaker 1: I think the worst thing we could do is allow

120
00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,400
Speaker 1: them to get away with pretending that Donald's the problem.

121
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,160
Speaker 1: That's a really interesting point. Can you say a little

122
00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:30,080
Speaker 1: more about that. Let's say Donald does something bizarre and

123
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,720
Speaker 1: out of character and decides not to seek the spotlet Okay,

124
00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,400
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen. Yes, but you know they for

125
00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,520
Speaker 1: the sake of argument that he decides not to run

126
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 1: and decides to support whoever, you know is the nominee.

127
00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 1: That person, whether it's Descentis or Ted Cruz or Josh

128
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,240
Speaker 1: Holly running again for something is going to be exactly

129
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,400
Speaker 1: the same as Donald, just in a more informed way

130
00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,480
Speaker 1: in terms of policy, and we'll just be smarter and

131
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 1: less a egregious about the way they go about this.

132
00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:06,119
Speaker 1: I definitely remember the conversation we had last year about

133
00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,240
Speaker 1: you know, Ken Trump is um so called survive Donald,

134
00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,560
Speaker 1: and the answer is absolutely yes, it has. That's the danger.

135
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,119
Speaker 1: I just want to continue on for a second because

136
00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,480
Speaker 1: like in the mid terms, the trumpy candidate, it's at

137
00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,440
Speaker 1: least in swing state it's right, like Carry, Like the

138
00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,760
Speaker 1: people that kept me up at night lost, right Carrie,

139
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: like Don Bulldock, right Mastriano, those people lost, but Jadie

140
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,800
Speaker 1: Vance won, I mean Blake Masters lost. But those people

141
00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,400
Speaker 1: who ran on Trump is um there were some who won,

142
00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,040
Speaker 1: but they only one in very red states. Well yes,

143
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,640
Speaker 1: but with the exception of Mastriano, it was close. I

144
00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,679
Speaker 1: mean Carry Lake lost by a very small less than

145
00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,320
Speaker 1: one percent of about Yeah. So part of that is

146
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:56,120
Speaker 1: is tribalism, but part of it is that that message

147
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,400
Speaker 1: appeals to enough people. Yes, on the one hand, it's

148
00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,800
Speaker 1: a wonderful development that the American people took the threats

149
00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,280
Speaker 1: to democracy seriously and did not put in place election

150
00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:10,120
Speaker 1: deniers to be secretaries of State for example. On the

151
00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:12,240
Speaker 1: other hand, though, we have the same problem we had

152
00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:17,880
Speaker 1: in we needed a thorough repudiation of this Republican party

153
00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,360
Speaker 1: and we did not get it right well. And it

154
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:24,160
Speaker 1: also feels like Republicans didn't learn any lesson. They didn't

155
00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,800
Speaker 1: say like, Wow, we're really turning off these purple state voters,

156
00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,560
Speaker 1: or like wow, we're really turning off women with our

157
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,920
Speaker 1: crazy anti choice stance. And instead they they are like,

158
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,920
Speaker 1: we gotta make it harder for people to vote, and

159
00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,040
Speaker 1: we have to get women. I mean, I don't know

160
00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,080
Speaker 1: if you saw this Jesse Waters thing where he said

161
00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,120
Speaker 1: we need to get women married. Yes, I didn't realize

162
00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,640
Speaker 1: that that's why I was a Democratic because I'm single.

163
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,800
Speaker 1: But what do I know. I'm just a stupid single woman.

164
00:09:54,679 --> 00:10:00,880
Speaker 1: So yeah, exactly. So, because they don't feel that they

165
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,600
Speaker 1: need to they believe if they stay the course and

166
00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:12,439
Speaker 1: continue to suppress votes and subvert votes, that it won't matter. Uh,

167
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,880
Speaker 1: they can be the permanent minority power. And we've seen this,

168
00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,160
Speaker 1: think about all of the headwinds that we're facing the Democrats,

169
00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,640
Speaker 1: and still they almost pulled it out. But that's only

170
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:30,080
Speaker 1: because the Republicans were so terrible. But they know that

171
00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:36,240
Speaker 1: they can just continue to gerrymander, get judges in place

172
00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:40,400
Speaker 1: to overturn results or what have you. So I think

173
00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:44,760
Speaker 1: they've decided that instead of evolving and instead of playing

174
00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,160
Speaker 1: to uh people's better instincts, that they're just going to

175
00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,679
Speaker 1: keep cheating. And it's almost working because enough people either

176
00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:57,720
Speaker 1: aren't paying enough attention or are perfectly happy going down

177
00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:00,719
Speaker 1: that road with them, which is really kind of what

178
00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:04,960
Speaker 1: I mean, just insane. What do you think now here

179
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,320
Speaker 1: we are in this like post post mid tarm world,

180
00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,200
Speaker 1: we have, you know, all this time while Trump will announce,

181
00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:17,280
Speaker 1: I mean, what is Trump's achilles heel? I'm sorry, I

182
00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,360
Speaker 1: know you get asked this a lot, but no, I

183
00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,160
Speaker 1: actually I don't because there hasn't really been that much

184
00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,440
Speaker 1: reason to talk about him. And now, as you said,

185
00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:27,480
Speaker 1: we kind of have to because he that's that's what

186
00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:33,160
Speaker 1: he does. Um, his achilles heel, Well, it's him. I mean,

187
00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,200
Speaker 1: it's just so terrible. But the fact you know that

188
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,360
Speaker 1: he continues to get away with all sorts of stuff aside,

189
00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,000
Speaker 1: he really is a loser, right, It's just a terrible loser.

190
00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,200
Speaker 1: And uh, it doesn't become an achilles heel though, until

191
00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,320
Speaker 1: people in a position to do so point that out

192
00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,600
Speaker 1: to him, which again is what like all the other

193
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,880
Speaker 1: seven thousand Republicans running in twenties sixt So it will

194
00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,840
Speaker 1: be interesting to see if anything shifts on this side.

195
00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,760
Speaker 1: I just don't think it would. I don't. I don't

196
00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,400
Speaker 1: think you know, his achilles heel is going to be

197
00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,840
Speaker 1: relevant because the people in a position to poke it

198
00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,240
Speaker 1: with a sharp stick won't because it won't be to

199
00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,280
Speaker 1: their benefit either. And I think that's the thing. I mean,

200
00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,800
Speaker 1: it's one of these situations where it's like you ignore

201
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:23,760
Speaker 1: him at your peril, and yet you also you don't

202
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,840
Speaker 1: want to elevate him, and so we find ourselves in

203
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,840
Speaker 1: this weird situation. I do think like the one way

204
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,440
Speaker 1: you can cover Trump without elevating him is having you

205
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,960
Speaker 1: because you're so smart and thoughtful, and also you can

206
00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,480
Speaker 1: and you have the psychological background so you can understand

207
00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,960
Speaker 1: what it is we're doing here, right, I mean, yeah,

208
00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,520
Speaker 1: I I appreciate that. Sometimes I wish I didn't have

209
00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,640
Speaker 1: any of particular psychological understanding of these things, because it's

210
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:57,600
Speaker 1: it's really not fun looking inside of this. But you're right,

211
00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,840
Speaker 1: we we ignore him at our apperil no matter what

212
00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,920
Speaker 1: cost to us. I mean, the thing I always think

213
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,320
Speaker 1: about with Trump covering him is that we always, at

214
00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,920
Speaker 1: least I and many of the people I interact with,

215
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,520
Speaker 1: so this is anecdotal, seemed to always like think, well,

216
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,400
Speaker 1: this will be the moment, right, Like I remember, and

217
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 1: when he had gotten elected, someone's like, oh, the White

218
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,000
Speaker 1: House is really small, he's gonna hate it. He's gonna hell,

219
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,439
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll resign. Someone else said, you know, and

220
00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,680
Speaker 1: like even when Avanna died, I heard like Trump has

221
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,199
Speaker 1: a thing where he's afraid of death, and if Avanna dies,

222
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,040
Speaker 1: that will somehow make him not want to run. There's

223
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,280
Speaker 1: no there's never going to be a moment where he

224
00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:42,560
Speaker 1: decides like he would have to like be removed from running.

225
00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:44,000
Speaker 1: Like he's going to be one of those people who

226
00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,200
Speaker 1: like who runs for president forever? Right, because there's no

227
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,920
Speaker 1: incentive not to the only way he would step out

228
00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:55,360
Speaker 1: of this particular fray is if somebody agreed to make

229
00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:00,319
Speaker 1: him ember of the world. So no, he's unfortunately not

230
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:05,079
Speaker 1: going anywhere. A terrible thing to say. So, like, can

231
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,240
Speaker 1: you imagine him as emperor? Why can't we make him

232
00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,440
Speaker 1: like I mean, it's just like that. No, let's not

233
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:15,559
Speaker 1: do that. It's really bad. Please please, no, please, Well,

234
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,480
Speaker 1: we could just pretend and let him think that that's

235
00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,600
Speaker 1: actually what's happening. Get him, you know, confused, and tell

236
00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:27,520
Speaker 1: him that he's really emperor. That hard. Mary Trump so

237
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,200
Speaker 1: interesting and so important and also just I'm such a fan.

238
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,040
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Thanks Molly, it was so

239
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:41,760
Speaker 1: good to be here with you. Rachel Bade is a

240
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:49,520
Speaker 1: reporter at Politico and author of Unchecked Welcome Too Fast Politics. Rachel,

241
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,720
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on, Molly. What a crazy week,

242
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,000
Speaker 1: I mean crazy crazy week. So you are one of

243
00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,800
Speaker 1: the authors of playbook, but you're famous for were covering Congress.

244
00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,320
Speaker 1: I always think of you as like the person who

245
00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: knows exactly what the hell is going down over there?

246
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:09,760
Speaker 1: What the hell is going down over there? Oh my gosh.

247
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,720
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, let me just say, I

248
00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,760
Speaker 1: am just returning from attorney leave this week, and we

249
00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,120
Speaker 1: talk about a hell of a time to come back.

250
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:20,760
Speaker 1: Nothing like jumping into the fire. I mean, where do

251
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,480
Speaker 1: we even start. It's like, let me just give you

252
00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,440
Speaker 1: an example of what happened Thursday morning. In the chaos

253
00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 1: of Thursday morning, So officially, Republicans took the House on

254
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 1: Wednesday night, big moment for Kevin McCarthy, who has had

255
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 1: an otherwise pretty bad weekly, Republicans trying to keep him

256
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,320
Speaker 1: from getting the gabble and then starting to get calls

257
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,160
Speaker 1: from a bunch of Democratic sources and Policy's leadership team

258
00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,200
Speaker 1: saying Okay, she's going to announce her retirement the next morning,

259
00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,760
Speaker 1: and so I'm trying to pin that down. And then

260
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,640
Speaker 1: we have Jim Jordan's giving a press conference about how

261
00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 1: they're going to investigate Joe Biden, potentially try to impeach him, etcetera.

262
00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,680
Speaker 1: Exactly of course, and so it's just it's been quite

263
00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:01,760
Speaker 1: a crazy week. I can't wait to unpack it all

264
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,760
Speaker 1: with you. So I want to first start with Wednesday night.

265
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,520
Speaker 1: The House was called to eighteen to ten, or the

266
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,120
Speaker 1: Democrats are to ten, though there still are like fourteen seats,

267
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,400
Speaker 1: but it looks like Republicans will get to they just

268
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:19,680
Speaker 1: have to get over to nineteen and they will have

269
00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:22,520
Speaker 1: a majority. But we do we know how many seats

270
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,920
Speaker 1: majority it will be. We're not sure yet. But Republicans

271
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,000
Speaker 1: it seems like, you know, their expectation went from winning

272
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,520
Speaker 1: fifteen seats to winning ten seats to winning you know,

273
00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: eight more seats in terms of the majority that they

274
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,880
Speaker 1: will have, and now I think we're going to see

275
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,400
Speaker 1: the expectation from Republicans is that they'll have maybe a

276
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,240
Speaker 1: two or three seat majority, which really doesn't leave McCarthy

277
00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,320
Speaker 1: much room to maneuver next year. Uh, and it's going

278
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 1: to be really ugly for him with a lot of

279
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,600
Speaker 1: conservatives trying to control him and lording their votes over

280
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,040
Speaker 1: his head to try to manipulate him into doing what

281
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,080
Speaker 1: they want. So it's going to be really tight. So

282
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 1: you have the Freedom Caucus, right, and then you have

283
00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,720
Speaker 1: the Maga Caucus. That's right? Or are those two the same?

284
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,200
Speaker 1: They're pretty similar. It's interesting because the Freedom Caucus, you know,

285
00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,119
Speaker 1: when Trump first started running in in a lot of

286
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,480
Speaker 1: them were critics of him. They didn't think he was

287
00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,600
Speaker 1: a real conservative, and they had reason to think that, right,

288
00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,159
Speaker 1: Trump was a former Democrat, but over the years they

289
00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,240
Speaker 1: have definitely become his top fighters on the hill, Jim

290
00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,359
Speaker 1: Jordan's Trump. One time I reported that he was joking

291
00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,159
Speaker 1: to a bunch of Republicans that he was his like

292
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,480
Speaker 1: top warrior. Jordan's my warrior, And that's sort of what

293
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,560
Speaker 1: they've become since then. So yeah, they're pretty much the

294
00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 1: same caucus. They're going to be a problem for McCarthy,

295
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:40,199
Speaker 1: and in that caucus is probably the sort of most

296
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,959
Speaker 1: famous member of the House GOP and one of the

297
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,040
Speaker 1: largest fundraisers, Marjorie Taylor Green. That's right, and Marjorie Taylor Green.

298
00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,439
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting this week we saw something happen.

299
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,239
Speaker 1: This could be a benefit from McCarthy going forward, but

300
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,960
Speaker 1: a lot of us were watching her to see what

301
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,480
Speaker 1: she would say about McCarthy trying to get the Gattle

302
00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:01,720
Speaker 1: trying to be speaker. Would she ever back him for

303
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,560
Speaker 1: speaker because she and him have had a contentious relationship

304
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:07,640
Speaker 1: in the past, and he's going to need every vote

305
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,679
Speaker 1: possible to to get the gabble. But this week it

306
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,560
Speaker 1: was the most crazy thing. She was out there stumping

307
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,359
Speaker 1: for McCarthy and trying to tell the rest of the

308
00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,200
Speaker 1: Freedom Caucus, these Conservatives that this strategy that they're trying

309
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:24,240
Speaker 1: to employ to try to win concessions from McCarthy, it

310
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,000
Speaker 1: could backfire and that you know, Democrats might be able

311
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,800
Speaker 1: to elect their own speaker if Republicans are fracturing. Uh So,

312
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:32,840
Speaker 1: it was sort of an interesting thing there, But she

313
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,040
Speaker 1: would be a player to watch definitely in the next Congress.

314
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:36,720
Speaker 1: I don't want you to have to try to get

315
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,480
Speaker 1: too much in their head, But why do you think

316
00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,960
Speaker 1: Marjorie Teller Green was doing that? Oh, that's actually quite

317
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,320
Speaker 1: an easy question. Um. You know, we have heard from

318
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:49,200
Speaker 1: McCarthy's camp that they have really worked over time over

319
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:51,680
Speaker 1: the past year or so to try to make friends

320
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,440
Speaker 1: with her. Obviously, Democrats kicked her off her committees when

321
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,040
Speaker 1: she said a bunch of controversial comments um in the past,

322
00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,280
Speaker 1: and he promised her he put her back on a

323
00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,320
Speaker 1: panel that she wanted. She wants to be on House Oversight,

324
00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 1: where there's going to be a lot of investigations of

325
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,840
Speaker 1: the Biden administration and the President. He has basically told

326
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:11,120
Speaker 1: her she's going to get that. He has brought her

327
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,479
Speaker 1: into his private leadership meetings that he has on a

328
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: pretty much a weekly basis. Usually that is only reserved

329
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:20,840
Speaker 1: for very senior Republicans, but she's part of that now.

330
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:23,640
Speaker 1: So he's really brought her into the fold and that

331
00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,320
Speaker 1: has really won her over. That's at least what the

332
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,920
Speaker 1: McCarthy allies have told me this week. And so by

333
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,639
Speaker 1: sort of bringing her in, you know, he's hoping to

334
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,239
Speaker 1: sort of minimize potential damage that she could do to

335
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,320
Speaker 1: him next year. I mean, when you think about all

336
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,400
Speaker 1: of the things she said, that's pretty wild. What does

337
00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,840
Speaker 1: the rest of the GOP leadership look like? You think, Well,

338
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,200
Speaker 1: I think the first question is still going to be speaker.

339
00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:49,840
Speaker 1: I mean, we don't know if McCarthy is going to

340
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,680
Speaker 1: be able to do it. There are members like Matt Gates,

341
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:57,359
Speaker 1: who I'm sure you're very familiar with, drump loving bomb thrower.

342
00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,679
Speaker 1: There he's saying, point blank, I will never vote for

343
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 1: McCarthy for speaker. There is nothing McCarthy can give me

344
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,359
Speaker 1: to make him vote for him for speaker. And Gates

345
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:09,359
Speaker 1: told me in the hallway the other day on the

346
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,680
Speaker 1: Hill that he thinks there are other members who are

347
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:13,800
Speaker 1: with him, and you have to realize that if there's

348
00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,680
Speaker 1: a two to three seat margin in the House, McCarthy

349
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:18,399
Speaker 1: needs that to eight teen. He's not going to be

350
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,160
Speaker 1: able to lose many. So if he if he loses Gates,

351
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 1: if there are other members like that who he cannot

352
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,480
Speaker 1: negotiate with, we could conceivably see the same situation happen

353
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,719
Speaker 1: as what happened in when McCarthy tried to become speaker

354
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 1: and he couldn't get the votes and had to step aside,

355
00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,280
Speaker 1: and Paul Ryan became speaker after that. So I think

356
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,119
Speaker 1: the top question is still the speakership, and if not

357
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,080
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy, who is it going to be. Otherwise, you know,

358
00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 1: we're going to see people like Steve Scalise, who obviously

359
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 1: has been in the leadership for a really long time

360
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,439
Speaker 1: at least defonic. She's sort of this moderate Republican who

361
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 1: is also a Trump ally, kind of a weird mixed there.

362
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 1: We'll see her, and then people like Tom em Or

363
00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,320
Speaker 1: who are running the NRCC. He's going to be the

364
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,199
Speaker 1: number three person in the House, the GOP whip. I

365
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 1: want to just get back to this for a second, because,

366
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,800
Speaker 1: like a lot of the reporting I've read has said

367
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,399
Speaker 1: to the effect of like you, there's no one else

368
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 1: but McCarthy. This is this thing they keep saying, this

369
00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,159
Speaker 1: wrestling thing to beat the man, you've got to be

370
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 1: the man or what. I don't even want to know.

371
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,600
Speaker 1: It's so stupid, but but you've heard them say it,

372
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: like about McCarthy, and you've heard them say about McConnell.

373
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,480
Speaker 1: Is there another man that could be the man? I mean,

374
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,639
Speaker 1: whoever tries to step into this position is going to

375
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,159
Speaker 1: have the same problems that McCarthy has. We sort of

376
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,720
Speaker 1: explored this in the playbook this week, because you're right,

377
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,120
Speaker 1: McCarthy's best defense for himself is this argument that there's

378
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:41,920
Speaker 1: no one else who can do it. I'm the best

379
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: person who can do it, and if you push me aside,

380
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,359
Speaker 1: you're going to be in chaos. But we sort of

381
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: explored and talked to a bunch of Republicans on the

382
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 1: Hill about who else could it be. Steve Scali says

383
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 1: I just mentioned has been whipped for a really long time.

384
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,119
Speaker 1: He's got good relationships across the conference. He's got this

385
00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 1: sort of inspirational story surviving a gun shot wound a

386
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 1: few years ago, so people really like him. Stephonic given

387
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:08,159
Speaker 1: that she's a moderate and from Maga Maga Ally or

388
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: a Maga Darling has this sort of interesting bridge that

389
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 1: would allow her to, in theory, bring be the sort

390
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 1: of key negotiator between these two warring factions and the GOOP.

391
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: So you know, you could see someone like her try

392
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,800
Speaker 1: to rise. There's a Republican named Jim Banks who is

393
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,679
Speaker 1: from Indiana. You'll hear his name a lot in the

394
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,879
Speaker 1: coming years. This guy is ambitious and he has been

395
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,919
Speaker 1: working hard to sort of raise his profile. He just

396
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,720
Speaker 1: lost his bid to become majority Whip. But I don't

397
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,640
Speaker 1: think we've seen the last of him. So I could

398
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: see him trying to try to become Speaker someday if

399
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: McCarthy couldn't do it. Point being, it's gonna be hard

400
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 1: for anybody. But you know this whole thing about oh

401
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 1: there's no one else. Sure, there's no Paul Ryan, but

402
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,399
Speaker 1: there's I mean, there's more than two hundred Republicans in

403
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,679
Speaker 1: the House, and so to say that there is no

404
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,440
Speaker 1: one else, I mean, it benefits McCarthy, But maybe there

405
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: is In that piece you actually you have had one

406
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,840
Speaker 1: last member of Congress that could get it, which is

407
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 1: Democratic nightmare fuel for sure. Jacket last Jim Jordan's. Yes,

408
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,960
Speaker 1: of course Jim Jordan's. He's going to be Biden's worst nightmare.

409
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of conservatives who would think

410
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,439
Speaker 1: that the House needs a leader who is sort of

411
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,119
Speaker 1: in this fighting mode, and that is Jordan's. I mean,

412
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: the guy walks around the Capitol without a jacket and

413
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 1: with his shirt sleeves rolled up like he's about to

414
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,000
Speaker 1: throw a punch. I mean, this is just Jordan's right,

415
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: and so a lot of conservatives want someone like that

416
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,439
Speaker 1: who's gonna be very antagonistic to the administration. The problem

417
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,440
Speaker 1: there is that Jordan's is extremely divisive in the House.

418
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 1: I mean, he ousd it not just one speaker, but

419
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 1: two speakers. He's the reason John Bayner is gone. He's

420
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: the reason why Paul Ryan is gone. And so there's

421
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: a lot of Republicans who respected those men who don't

422
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: like Jordan's because they think, you know, number one, he's

423
00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,080
Speaker 1: way too conservative. Number two, his tactics are unfair and dirty,

424
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: and so he would have a really hard time getting

425
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: the votes to be speaker. But of course you're going

426
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:02,719
Speaker 1: to see him. He's going to be a main character

427
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: in the next Congress. You will be on TV often

428
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 1: and he will be a big pain inside for Biden.

429
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 1: Oh I'm sure. Okay, So talk to me about the

430
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,440
Speaker 1: Democratic side because it's so interesting. What's happening now? Oh yeah, Well,

431
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 1: we're recording this right before a twelve ish Nancy Pelosi

432
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 1: is going to make an announcement. Yes, so she's going

433
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: to be going onto the House floor any minute. The

434
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 1: expectation from most Democrats I talked to is that she

435
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,640
Speaker 1: is probably going to announce that she is stepping aside

436
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,840
Speaker 1: and will probably remain in the House because of the

437
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 1: margin being so tight they really need her vote. So

438
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: a lot of Democrats think she will stick around and

439
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 1: say I'm going to help guide the next generation. But look,

440
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: this is the perfect exit for Pelosi. I mean, if

441
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,679
Speaker 1: there was this Republican wave that would have materialized, like

442
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,280
Speaker 1: a lot of people were expecting, she would have been

443
00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 1: left leaving on this sort of negative note. Instead, Democrats

444
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: did a on election day. They've passed a lot of

445
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 1: bills in the past two years, and she can leave

446
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,320
Speaker 1: sort of fund this really proud note saying I really

447
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,479
Speaker 1: defended the House, and I defended a lot of these members,

448
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: and so a lot of people think that this is

449
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 1: going to be the day. I also think it's very

450
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: quintessential Pelosi, and we put in playbook she's a meticulous

451
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: planner and she likes to troll people and Republicans. Lift

452
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 1: the House in the past twenty four hours or put

453
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,360
Speaker 1: the house Wednesday night and Jordan is doing his big

454
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: press conference about investigating Biden Hunter Biden. But yes, continue, yes,

455
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 1: but Pelosi is about to swoop in and make the

456
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 1: entire day about herself and her historic legacy, and potentially

457
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: the whole weekend too. So it just kind of another

458
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: job at Kevin McCarthy on her way out. Oh that

459
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: is so interesting. So I want to ask you another

460
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: question about this. Pelosi leaves, what does you know? Does

461
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 1: Clive Burn leave? Where does everybody else go? The expectation

462
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 1: is that Hakim Jeffries, who is a Democrat from New York,

463
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 1: that he's going to rise and likely be the next

464
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 1: leader of the Democrats, so he would become the minority leader.

465
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,399
Speaker 1: There is a lot of demands in the caucus to

466
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 1: have new blood at the top. Obviously, Polo Sist, Anny

467
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 1: Hoyer and Jim Clyburn have been the top three leaders

468
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,360
Speaker 1: for about fifteen years, and there's a there's a thirst

469
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 1: for new faces, new voices, et cetera. Clyburn has said

470
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 1: that he wants to continue to be in leadership, but

471
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,920
Speaker 1: it sounds like he'd be okay with this sort of

472
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 1: more of a bigger head role, like perhaps they make

473
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 1: a new leadership position for him as assistant Minority leaders

474
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: so he's more cert of advising Jeffries as opposed to

475
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,960
Speaker 1: being the one making the decisions. Katherine Clark, who is

476
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 1: this Democrat from Massachusetts. She's really big on women's issues

477
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: and on safety measures. She sort of became famous for that.

478
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: She is going to probably run. Who else do you

479
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:03,359
Speaker 1: think besides Katherine and Kim for leadership? Some other people

480
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 1: you should you should get to know Pete Aguilar. He

481
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: is a Democrat from Texas, right no, no, no no, from California,

482
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: actually California, that's right, yes, And he is currently serving

483
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: on the January six Committee, so you'll recognize his face.

484
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 1: He has been sort of in this mix with Hakim, Jefferies,

485
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 1: and Catherine Clark. The three of them have become very

486
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:27,120
Speaker 1: close friends over the years, and my understanding is that

487
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: all year they've sort of been laying the groundwork for

488
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: all three of them to sort of as they slate

489
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 1: together sent into leadership. So basically they're going to be

490
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: working very closely together. They've done a lot of member

491
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,879
Speaker 1: dinners together and so they're sort of seen as this

492
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,359
Speaker 1: package together. So Aguilar is another one you should know,

493
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 1: Joanna Goose, who is a Democrat from Colorado. He's a

494
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 1: great on TV. He was an impeachment manager in the

495
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,959
Speaker 1: second trial, close ally of Jamie Raskin, who is obviously

496
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 1: a progressive superstar, and he's also been in Pelosi's leadership

497
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 1: team for a long time. He is probably going to

498
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: be what he is going to be running for caucus chairs,

499
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 1: So he will be another person you'll start to see

500
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: if he gets this job. The big question again going

501
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 1: back to Hoyer, will be as if Hoyer tries to

502
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 1: stay in the mix, do people like Joan and Goose

503
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,400
Speaker 1: gets sort of kicked out, Like there's been some talk

504
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: about that, like if these these older members try to

505
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 1: stick around, you could have, you know a problem with

506
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 1: like Catherine Clark or Aguilar or Joan and Goose. Like

507
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: there's only so many leadership positions available right now, and

508
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: everybody wants to be in leadership so we'll see who

509
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 1: ends up staying. We'll probably know more. The leadership elections

510
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 1: are at the end of November, right after Thanksgiving, but

511
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: we should get a clear picture in the coming days

512
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: about Hoyer and what he's going to do, and that

513
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: will really solidify the leadership slate that we're likely to

514
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: see next year. Can we go to the Senate for

515
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: a minute now, sure? Absolutely so. There's a lot of

516
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 1: drama in the GOP part of the Senate, more I

517
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 1: think than the than the Democratic side. The Democrats added

518
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 1: a seat so far right, I mean, they picked up

519
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: one and now there's a runoff in December for Georgia.

520
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: Talk to me about what's happening, because it feels like

521
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 1: there have been Rick Scott, fresh off his uh, his

522
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: disappointing run leading the Senate candidates, now wants Mitch McConnell's job. Yeah,

523
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: the Senate. This this has been really interesting this week.

524
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: I mean we basically called it like Festivus, just this

525
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 1: sort of finger pointing and blood letting. So McConnell has

526
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: not been challenged since he became leader more than a

527
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: decade ago, so it was really rare to see someone

528
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: like Rick Scott come in and challenge him, and nobody

529
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: was under the sort of impression that Rick Scott, who

530
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 1: is becoming a top enemy of Mitch McConnell, to actually win.

531
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,720
Speaker 1: But they just wanted to sort of, you know, make

532
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: a point. And what you're seeing is Republicans very much

533
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 1: trying to blame each other for their abysmal performance on

534
00:29:57,560 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: election night. I mean, Rick Scott was out there saying

535
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: that they were going to pick up you know, as

536
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,479
Speaker 1: many as like three, potentially four seats we could see,

537
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 1: you know, fifty three fifty four margin for Senate Republicans

538
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: that obviously didn't pan out. You can also sort of

539
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: look back over the past few months, Rick Scott and McConnell.

540
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: Mr McConnell had very different ideas for the best strategy

541
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 1: for this election. Rick Scott was totally fine with Trump

542
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: endorsed candidates taking the nominations in a lot of these states.

543
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: He backed people like herschel Walker very early, where Mr

544
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 1: McConnell he was trying to get Scott to wade into

545
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: the primaries to keep MAGA candidates who he didn't believe

546
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:43,760
Speaker 1: could be elected out and try to get primary nominations

547
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: for people he thought could actually be elected, but Rick

548
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 1: Scott would listen to McConnell. And because of that, there

549
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: were a lot of candidates who were very controversial and

550
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 1: who ended up losing their elections. And so McConnell blames

551
00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 1: Rick Scott. Rick Scott blames McConnell because Rick Scott wanted

552
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: McConnell to put out an agenda that Republicans could run

553
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: on instead of just being anti Biden. But McConnell didn't

554
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: want to do that. So there's a lot of finger

555
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 1: pointing right now. And you know, I think this is

556
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 1: going to continue for a while. Obviously McConnell became leader,

557
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: he was elected pretty easily, but there were eleven Republicans

558
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: who voted against him. So I mean, he's got some

559
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 1: some work to do with his members, I suppose you

560
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 1: could say going forward, I mean, will there be changeovers

561
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: in other parts of leadership too? It's mostly going to

562
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: be the same slate. But I think what you're going

563
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 1: to see next year is these sort of Trump allies

564
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: in the Senate, people not just like Rick Scott, but

565
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: also Josh Holly, Ted Cruz, a lot of these members

566
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,280
Speaker 1: who are looking at and thinking they could potentially run

567
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: for president. They're going to just be really emboldened now

568
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,719
Speaker 1: to come out against McConnell and try to make his

569
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: his life a living hell. Another thing that sort of

570
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: shocked me this week as we saw Lindsay Graham, who

571
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 1: used to be a top ally of McConnell's, vote against

572
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: him for leader. There's a lot of thankst happening in

573
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 1: the Republican Party right now, a lot of relationships being

574
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 1: broken because Republicans don't seem to want to blame Trump,

575
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 1: and then some of them do, and they're just really

576
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: at a crossroads and not sure which way to turn

577
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 1: because they disagree on what the cause was for why

578
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 1: they did so poorly on election Day. Thanks Rachel, Thank you, Molly.

579
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: Happy to do it. Shannon Watts is the founder of

580
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: Mom's Demand Action. Welcome to Fast Politics, Shannon Watts, thanks

581
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: for having me on. What are you working on talk

582
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: to us? I mean, we are working on celebrating our

583
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: winds across the board. On election day, we just sort

584
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: of put our heads down, rolled up our our red

585
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: sleeves at Moms Tuman Action and did the work. You know,

586
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:02,760
Speaker 1: we made over six million outreaches two voters across the country.

587
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: We signed up and showed up to get out the vote.

588
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 1: We ran for office ourselves, over a hundred and twenty

589
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 1: five of our own volunteers, one elected office, and we

590
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: just really saw gun Since champions win the day. First,

591
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 1: let's talk about some of those candidates, and then I

592
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 1: want to talk about some of the elections who are

593
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 1: involved in. Yeah, so you know, we had guns Since

594
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: champions all across the country. From Lucy macbeth, who was

595
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: our own Mom's Demand Action volunteer, she just won her

596
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 1: third term in Congress. It was a seat held by

597
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: Republicans for thirty years. Newt Ginridgulc. Oh, wow, that's pretty great.

598
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: She's I think it's important for those who may have forgotten.

599
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: She's an incredible candidate. And she lost a child to

600
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 1: gun violence. Yes, Lucy's son Jordan Davis, a black seventeen

601
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 1: year old shot and killed by a white, middle aged

602
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: man at a gas station in Florida who said his

603
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 1: music was too loud. Jesus. Yeah. So Lucy macbeth is

604
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: a pretty fantastic candidate. And that is amazing that that's

605
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 1: our third term because that has been a very Republican district.

606
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: It was not anymore so tell us about some of

607
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: the other candidates you have. Well, you know, I was

608
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:20,400
Speaker 1: in fifteen states in the last two weeks, including Oregon

609
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 1: and Georgia twice, thrilled to see governor elected Tina co

610
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 1: Tech win her election. She was the only gun since

611
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,399
Speaker 1: candidate in that race. Um, she was up against two

612
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 1: n r A allies and was not necessarily predicted to win,

613
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 1: and she did. And we saw that play out over

614
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 1: and over again all across the country. We flipped legislatures

615
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, in Michigan, we've flipped the House in Pennsylvania.

616
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,600
Speaker 1: Even Republican senators who voted for the bipartisan Saber Communities

617
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,399
Speaker 1: Act this summer, the two senators were re elected. So look,

618
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: gun safety used to be considered a third rail of

619
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 1: American politics. Now not only are can that's running on it,

620
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 1: they're winning. They used to run away from it, and

621
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 1: it's a completely different story now. When I started doing

622
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 1: this work ten years ago, a quarter of all Democrats

623
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: and Congress had an A rating from the n r A.

624
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 1: Today none do. And it's just a complete and utter

625
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: seismic shift in American politics. That is very cool. So

626
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:21,320
Speaker 1: tell me where you're sort of what states you see

627
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: the most change and you're the most optimistic about Well, look,

628
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,080
Speaker 1: since doing this work, I you know, there's obviously so

629
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 1: many political waves in a decade, but I think they're

630
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: really interesting places to look at. Virginia, when I started

631
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,799
Speaker 1: this work, it was a solidly read state. Our volunteers

632
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,400
Speaker 1: there worked so hard and flip both chambers of the

633
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,720
Speaker 1: General Assembly in twenty nineteen. Obviously, they've elected a Republican governor,

634
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,799
Speaker 1: but that governor is a lifetime n R A member

635
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: who refuses to say where he stands on guns. He

636
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 1: hasn't rolled back the progress we've made. I'm competent we

637
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 1: will elect a Democratic governor in the next term. Colorado

638
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: you to be considered purple. I would say it is

639
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 1: now solidly blue. And a volunteer for Mom's main action.

640
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 1: His name is Tom Sullivan. His son was shot and

641
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 1: killed in the Aurora movie theater shooting in two thousand twelve.

642
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,479
Speaker 1: He was a state rep. He was just elected state

643
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,919
Speaker 1: senator and we have a very solid majority in that state. Now.

644
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 1: I would never would have thought that we would flip

645
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: Minnesota this year, let alone Michigan, and we can now

646
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 1: go into these states and past good gun laws Arizona,

647
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 1: possibly Pennsylvania. So it is really a different playing field

648
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,200
Speaker 1: than it was a decade ago. Yeah, that is amazing.

649
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 1: Can you explain what using has changed to make it

650
00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 1: a third rail? Oh? I know what's changed in it,

651
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,439
Speaker 1: and that is a grassroots army that can go toe

652
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 1: to toe with a gun mobby, a bunch of angry

653
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,960
Speaker 1: moms and red shirts who have a presence in every

654
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 1: single state in this country. We show up and sit,

655
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,080
Speaker 1: you know, ten hours at a time and hearings to

656
00:36:57,239 --> 00:37:00,439
Speaker 1: show our lawmakers were watching. We've passed hundred of good

657
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 1: gun laws. We've stopped ninety of the n Ray's agenda

658
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,720
Speaker 1: every year for the last seven years, and state houses

659
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 1: across the country. We have passed policies through city councils

660
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,279
Speaker 1: and through school boards. In fact, eight million families have

661
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:17,200
Speaker 1: now received our secure storage notifications through their students, telling

662
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 1: them to keep their guns locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition.

663
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,320
Speaker 1: And then we're electing our own volunteers and gun violence

664
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,360
Speaker 1: survivors to office. Right, that is a significant way to

665
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,399
Speaker 1: move the needle on this issue. And when you look

666
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,560
Speaker 1: at polling, this was a top three issue for voters

667
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 1: this election. Cycle, we were able to explain that voters

668
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,720
Speaker 1: who are concerned about crime should understand that you can't

669
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: be tough on crime if you're soft on guns. And

670
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 1: that resonated. You know, at the end of the day,

671
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: this is what the American people want, and Republicans are

672
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 1: are learning that less in the hard way, and it's

673
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: going to take several election cycles. Talk to me about

674
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: like your legislative dreams. Now, now you've gotten some of

675
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 1: these people in office. Democrats don't control the House, but

676
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 1: it's going to be very tight. I mean, what is

677
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 1: on your agenda. So at a federal level, we are

678
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: still trying to pass things that are foundational to a

679
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,239
Speaker 1: gun safety system in this country. So, for example, a

680
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 1: background check on every gun sale. Right now, federal law

681
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 1: only requires them on licensed sales, not unlicensed, and so

682
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 1: that is a gaping loophole that needs to be closed.

683
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 1: At a federal level. Um, we do, as I mentioned now,

684
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,439
Speaker 1: have the bipartisans SA for Communities Act that passed over

685
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 1: the summer. It will save thousands and thousands of lives

686
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 1: and it addresses gun violence holistically, and that had fifteen

687
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: Republicans sign on. I think that's a really good sign

688
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:41,800
Speaker 1: that we're slowly but surely getting all politicians, regardless of

689
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: political party, on the right side of the issue. So

690
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 1: we're gonna keep pushing there. There are other things that

691
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: can happen, like an assault weapons ban or red flag law.

692
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 1: There's lots that can be done at a federal level.

693
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 1: At the state level, you know, we've gone state by

694
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,320
Speaker 1: state to pass background checks, to pass red flag laws,

695
00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,480
Speaker 1: to close loopholes in the background check system, um to

696
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,480
Speaker 1: disarm domestic abusers, to require secure storage. Those are things

697
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: that we can do in these states now that have

698
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,760
Speaker 1: a gun sense majority that we were just talking about.

699
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,880
Speaker 1: We also still have to show up and stop the

700
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 1: n Ray's agenda in those states where we're playing defense,

701
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,439
Speaker 1: and that really comes with strength and numbers. But there's

702
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 1: so much innovation going on. You know, in Rhode Island,

703
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 1: we just rolled back open carry for recreational purposes. You

704
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 1: can't just carry your air fifteen around in the city

705
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:32,920
Speaker 1: for fun. In Colorado, we rolled back preemption, which is

706
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 1: a law that prevents cities and municipalities from passing policies

707
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,120
Speaker 1: that are different from state law. So that is a

708
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: huge shift. We can do that in in some of

709
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,200
Speaker 1: the forty other states that have a preemption law, and

710
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 1: in California we just passed a state law requiring secure

711
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,879
Speaker 1: storage notifications to be sent home to with every school kid.

712
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:51,759
Speaker 1: So there's so much that we can be doing in

713
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 1: those states where we have a gun since majority that

714
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,239
Speaker 1: that we can extrapolate those best practices to the rest

715
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: of the country. Many Democrats can be sort of squishy

716
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,720
Speaker 1: on things like choice. Like if you think about Henry Collier,

717
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: it seems to me like on gun safety, that is

718
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: not true that Democrats have really you know, supporting that.

719
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 1: What is the sort of right thing on that? Yeah,

720
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:15,480
Speaker 1: I mean, as I mentioned, a quarter of all Democrats

721
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:17,279
Speaker 1: in Congress had an A rating from the n R

722
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 1: a decade ago. Today none do. We're having more and

723
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:23,520
Speaker 1: more Republicans sign on to federal legislation, more than we've

724
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 1: ever had before. These horrific shooting tragedies are certainly keeping

725
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,799
Speaker 1: a spotlight on the issue. We have activists of all

726
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:35,040
Speaker 1: ages making sure that their lawmakers pay attention to this issue.

727
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: There's really no other issue that has an army of

728
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,919
Speaker 1: angry women that wake up every day right and hold

729
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: the more shakers accountable. Yeah, but but but even abortion

730
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 1: I think could benefit from a Mom's Demand action type organization.

731
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: They don't have people showing up in city councils and

732
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,720
Speaker 1: state houses all the time who identify themselves as single

733
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: issue voters. Now, we certainly saw that wave of voters

734
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: this election cycle, and you know, I'm really frustrated by

735
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: people who keep pointing to the youth vote, because really

736
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:06,879
Speaker 1: it's the female vote. It was young women who got

737
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: Democrats over the line, and I hope they organize less

738
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 1: organically and it looks more like a Mom's to me

739
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 1: an action on the issue of abortion. But I do

740
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:21,080
Speaker 1: think having organized this indomitable group of millions, you know,

741
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 1: we have ten million supporters, or twice as large as

742
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:25,880
Speaker 1: the n r A, it's a good model for taking

743
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,560
Speaker 1: on any special interest. And certainly there will be people

744
00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:33,880
Speaker 1: holding not just Democrats accountable, but Republicans accountable if they

745
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,160
Speaker 1: don't do the right thing on the issue of gun safety. Yeah,

746
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:39,400
Speaker 1: that's a really interesting point for Democrats. I mean, we

747
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 1: talk a lot about Democrats organizing and being able to

748
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:48,400
Speaker 1: push things that are very popular like this. You know,

749
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 1: most people don't want their kids to have the chance

750
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,600
Speaker 1: of I mean, school shootings are not popular and choice

751
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 1: is very popular. You know, we had so many even

752
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 1: this weekend we had to school shootings. I mean, do

753
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 1: you think there's a place where there you could maybe

754
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: get some sort of broader legislation past now that there's

755
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,799
Speaker 1: been so many, or it just is not relevant. I

756
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 1: do believe every time there's a horrific shooting tragedy that

757
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:20,040
Speaker 1: makes the news, it galvanizes people, it gets them off

758
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:24,480
Speaker 1: the sidelines. Our organization exploded in growth after the Parkland

759
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,080
Speaker 1: shooting tragedy, and again this summer after Buffalo and Uvalde

760
00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 1: and Highland Park. But sadly, you know, mass shootings and

761
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: school shootings are about one percent of the gun violence

762
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,120
Speaker 1: in this country. It's really the daily gun violence, mostly

763
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 1: with handguns, that kills a hundred and ten people in

764
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 1: wounds hundreds more. So we have to look at this

765
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 1: issue holistically. Like I understand that people want to immediately

766
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 1: ban assault weapons after a mass shooting, but you also

767
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:54,480
Speaker 1: have to unlock community violence intervention program funding. You also

768
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:57,600
Speaker 1: have to have background checks on all gun sales. We

769
00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 1: also have to make sure domestic abusers so have easy

770
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 1: access to guns. Many mass shootings in this country are

771
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: started by incidences of domestic violence. The bottom line here

772
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 1: is that gun safety isn't just good policy anymore. It's

773
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 1: now good politics. And I think politicians who stand with

774
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 1: us realize they'll be rewarded. Those who stand in the

775
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:19,400
Speaker 1: way realize they'll be held accountable. Suburban women and mothers,

776
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,799
Speaker 1: you know, and and too often that is a dog

777
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,920
Speaker 1: whistle for white women. That's not the case. The suburbs

778
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 1: are incredibly diverse. They're about as diverse as the rest

779
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,359
Speaker 1: of America. You know, those women and moms are sick

780
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,919
Speaker 1: and tired of their children not being safe and their

781
00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 1: communities being torn apart by gun violence. If you spend

782
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:38,480
Speaker 1: any time in state houses, what you realize very quickly

783
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:41,360
Speaker 1: is that about eight of our lawmakers are men, and

784
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:46,240
Speaker 1: they are not rocket scientists. And so when you've learned

785
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:48,920
Speaker 1: how to be an advocate and shape policy, it's just

786
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 1: intuitive that you then want to take the next step

787
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: into making policy and seeing these volunteers turn into lawmakers.

788
00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:59,839
Speaker 1: I mean, we elected sixteen of our volunteers in Illinois,

789
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,360
Speaker 1: seven in Rhode Island. It's been amazing to watch the

790
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: progress that our program has made. One of our volunteers, Nobili,

791
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:12,320
Speaker 1: said a Muslim Indian American woman in Illinois. She flipped

792
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: a GOP held district and is now the youngest member

793
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:19,919
Speaker 1: of the Illinois General Assembly. So those stories are are

794
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:24,120
Speaker 1: what keep me motivated and I think have helped with

795
00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 1: this ground swell of support for the the issue of

796
00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:29,440
Speaker 1: gun safety. What do you want from this White House?

797
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,799
Speaker 1: First of all, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been

798
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:36,160
Speaker 1: incredible champions for gun safety. I would argue they've done

799
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: more than any administration in history on this issue. That

800
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,400
Speaker 1: by Parsons Safe for Communities Act that Joe Biden and

801
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:45,080
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris championed and got signed into law will save

802
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of lives, but frankly, it's a first

803
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,080
Speaker 1: step on a much longer journey. Joe Biden has also

804
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 1: done a lot of good work on this issue through

805
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:57,280
Speaker 1: executive action. He could certainly do more, but look, based

806
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,279
Speaker 1: on these election results, I am optimistic that there will

807
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,840
Speaker 1: be more legislation on this issue that that will be

808
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: life saving and serve as a template for the rest

809
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 1: of the country. But also continue to make this issue,

810
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,439
Speaker 1: you know, not left or right issue, but a life

811
00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 1: or death issue, which it is, and that we will

812
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,879
Speaker 1: see more and more Republicans acknowledging the fact that this

813
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: is what their constituents want. Just one last question. I mean,

814
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 1: do you think there's some progress with raising the purchase

815
00:45:25,239 --> 00:45:28,479
Speaker 1: age on some of these guns or on all of them,

816
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 1: or you think that's gone. Look, we first of all,

817
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 1: we support an assault weapons span, but regardless, you should

818
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 1: be twenty one in those states where it's legal before

819
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,239
Speaker 1: you can buy one. Several states have passed those policies.

820
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: Because of the Trump appointed judges, they're being challenged and

821
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:50,800
Speaker 1: because of Bruin, but we know that they're constitutionally sound.

822
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:52,920
Speaker 1: These laws that raise the age. And the other thing

823
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 1: that the Bipartisan Saver Communities Act does is it puts

824
00:45:55,560 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: in place more gating factors for someone under twenty one

825
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 1: to buy a semi automatic rifle. And hopefully that will

826
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:07,200
Speaker 1: also demonstrate that this is something that states should do.

827
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 1: And look, if you look at the data people who

828
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,200
Speaker 1: are between the ages of eighteen and twenty one, it's

829
00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 1: about quadruple the number of homicides committed by the age group.

830
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,200
Speaker 1: We know that people with undeveloped brains should not have

831
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,640
Speaker 1: easy access to guns. That's pretty intuitive. But the data

832
00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:25,799
Speaker 1: shows it too. You can't rent a car until you're

833
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,560
Speaker 1: twenty five. There's a reason for that. The actuaries have

834
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:32,359
Speaker 1: demonstrated that needs to be the case. And the same

835
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:35,319
Speaker 1: can be said for for gun purchases. So we will

836
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 1: continue to work on raising the age to have access

837
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:41,760
Speaker 1: to soult weapons. God, that's such that's such a good point.

838
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:47,399
Speaker 1: So you know there's no car rental lobby, right exactly,

839
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,239
Speaker 1: you know, that's just that's what it is. Thank you

840
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,120
Speaker 1: so much, as so great. I really appreciate having having you.

841
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 1: Thank you, of course, thank you for having me on.

842
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 1: Molly John Fast Jesse Cannon. I gotta tell you that

843
00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:10,840
Speaker 1: this this issue, this one makes me very mad because

844
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,360
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a lot the administration could do

845
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:17,600
Speaker 1: that they're not doing. So sometimes in our moment of fuckory,

846
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 1: we talk about stuff that's stupid, but this is not stupid.

847
00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:24,640
Speaker 1: This is actually deadly serious. It's just very fucked up.

848
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 1: Brittney Griner w n B A star and you know

849
00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:31,879
Speaker 1: she's really a she was really a celebrity in the

850
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,200
Speaker 1: w n B A. She has found with two cannabis

851
00:47:35,280 --> 00:47:39,680
Speaker 1: vape canisters in her luggage to okay, he has been

852
00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:43,800
Speaker 1: sent to a Russian penal colony, which was, of course

853
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: you may know it as the Gulag, so pretty famous,

854
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 1: uses sleep deprivation and hourly checks in the denial of

855
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:57,080
Speaker 1: medical treatment to torture prisoners. There seven hundreds such prisons

856
00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 1: in Russia and they are a placed where prisoners are

857
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:04,040
Speaker 1: forced to work. So this is a real fucked up

858
00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:10,879
Speaker 1: situation and it's really so deeply unfair. And I am

859
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:14,319
Speaker 1: just you know, I understand that this that we are

860
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:16,880
Speaker 1: a country that's a war, but I think that the

861
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 1: Biden administration should do everything they can to bring Brittany

862
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:23,400
Speaker 1: Grinder home, and I hope they will. That's it for

863
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:27,320
Speaker 1: this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday

864
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:30,279
Speaker 1: and Friday to her the best minds in politics makes

865
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 1: sense of all this chaos. If you enjoyed what you've heard,

866
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:36,880
Speaker 1: please send it to a friend and keep the conversation going.

867
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:38,960
Speaker 1: And again, thanks for listening.