WEBVTT - Sen. Al Franken: Inside Washington 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:09.920 M now vastation. He's watched the gap if you actually 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:19.360 the drink, How does it feel to be walking? It's nice, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:25.279 it's nice, it's exciting. I love being here. Well, you 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.160 can just smell the power in the hallways, can't you, 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.200 or the lack thereof. But the question is is Washington 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.040 more like deep or House of cards? It's a little 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:44.360 of each Ryan fishing, manipulation, calculation that's on veep right, 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:50.640 and then a lot of um. What's the word, Brian? 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.800 When you really suck up to someone, you just think 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.600 of the best words, Katie. A lot of sick of 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:05.360 fans or sick of fancy. Have you guys ever been 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.080 to the Capitol? I mean you see all these politicians 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.640 on TV giving speeches, kissing babies, eating a lot of 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.560 unhealthy junk at State Bears. But there's a place where 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:22.840 our representatives are actually doing their work office buildings in Washington, 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.280 d C. That you can walk right into. Well after 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:28.959 the metal detector, that is, you can get a snack 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.640 in the cafeteria, peek backstage and see how our government 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:40.640 really works. You want to just describe where we are. Yeah, 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:42.800 it feels a little like Old Home Week for me. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.120 Because here we are in the heart Senate office building. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.600 When I lived in Washington, I covered a lot of 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.680 stories here and uh, I have to say it's a 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:55.040 beautiful building. It is. It was very famous for cost overruns, 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.520 for a huge delay and its construction. It costs more 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.920 than three million dollars to build. How do you know that? 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.360 A little research beforehand, and this is named after Gary Hart, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:12.079 No Phil Hart, longtime senator from Michigan. I was wondering 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.520 that my friend and co host Frank Goldsmith and I 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.280 recently traveled here to the heart of the Capitol to 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.560 talk with Senator Al Franken. Now, most of the time 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.280 on the show, we talked to our guests in the studio, 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.440 but this time we went on a little field trip. Yeah, 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.400 you did make my mom signed that permission slip. That's right, 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.320 And we should let you know that we were there 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.560 at a pretty important moment, just a couple of weeks 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:40.000 before the Democratic Convention, a few days before the Republican Convention. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.919 That's right. Bernie Sanders had just endorsed Hillary right, and 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.040 it was the week right after the tragic shootings in Baton, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.800 Rouge St. Paul and Dallas that had captured all of 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.560 our attention. People immediately came up to talk to you. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:03:00.959 How are you nice to see you? Yahi Texas. We're 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:10.440 in Texas and four praying a lot awful, awful, I 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.639 mean obviously lived close by, seriously and like we weren't 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.200 going out anywhere, Like I wasn't going to leave the house. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.320 I got two kids and his son, and it's just 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.680 a sense of hate. I mean it's the only words 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.720 like it's awful. It's just you can and feel safe 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.560 to walk out of your house because some dumass is 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.280 gonna shoot somebody, you know, like it's it's awful, just 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.480 going on our knees, praying, praying for old officers that 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.960 we know what senseless, senseless murders. How do you feel 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:45.600 about the African American men who were who were shot 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:50.720 as well earlier in the week. Honestly, I feel like 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.160 I feel like we cannot socuss on a specific race 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.200 because it's happening everywhere. White, black, kissman. I mean, there 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:06.320 are murders everywhere. As a nation, everybody's life matters no 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.720 less than anybody else's, no more than anybody else's. So 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.520 it infuriates me that anybody has died that anybody has 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.159 been singled out, that anybody feels like their life is 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.800 more important than anybody else's, because it's not. We're all equal, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:26.719 And until everybody starts to believe that this hate will continue. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.320 It felt like everybody was a little fragile on the 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.400 day we went to Washington, and people had a lot 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.440 on their minds and some really important things to talk about. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.919 As a mom, my first thing is to protect my child. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.880 So I teach him to be respectful no matter what. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.240 Um that's just not about it that I want to 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:49.760 have to fight. And I don't want him to have 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.599 to fight. So if they say sit down, you sit 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.320 if they say you know. And it's hard as a 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:01.040 woman to teach him that because I don't want him 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.000 to feel like he's being demeaned or he's left in 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:09.000 But I don't want to have to identify my child 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.440 one day, as you know, in the morgue. So I 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.280 teach him you say, yes, sir, you, I don't care 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:17.960 if you didn't do what you just do what they 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:23.440 tell you to do, because it's a matter of that. 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.120 That's not about it that I want to fight. What 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.120 do you think hat needs to happen to to improve 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.039 this situation, because it seems like the country is such 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.839 a tender box right now, and no one wants to 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:40.560 see police officer slain. That was such a tragedy, But 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:46.320 no one wants to see people of color being mistreated 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.520 by the police. And what do you think needs to 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.920 happen to make the situation less combustible? If you will, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.679 I think it goes back to that saying seek first 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:00.160 to understand them, to be understood. It is about all 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:04.040 lives matter. But you have to remember that black people 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.800 as a community have been the less than group for 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.320 two I mean, we've been fighting and so at some 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.320 point you just get tired. Now is it appropriate to 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.960 retaliate and slaughter officers just because you're mad and frustrated. No, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.040 So that sets us back for what we're fighting force, 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.080 none of us against them police brutality is the issue 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.360 is not the police. It's not white Americans, it's not 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.840 black people. It's we want to be treated the same 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.320 way as another person who stopped for our traffic stop. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.880 If my son is out and he gets stopped by 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.200 the police, I shouldn't be in fear and in tears 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.400 about what's going on with my son if he's not 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:50.159 at home. Do you you agree with that? I learned something 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.039 and I hadn't even left the lobby. This is the 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:55.560 kind of energy I think you get in this building 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:02.440 so much Washington, I really appreciate. One of the perks 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.520 of my job as a journalist is that everyday people 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.120 come up to me like this and share their personal thoughts. 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.600 Another perk is that I get to have serious face 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.840 time with the people who said policy and make the 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.520 laws that affect our lives. Are we going up? Sorry? 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.600 Don't kill us? And you hate when people do that. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.720 I always want to close it like clothes, clothes, clothes. 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.000 I know not everyone gets this kind of access. I'm 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:34.000 really lucky. I done, and I want to share it 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:42.160 with you. Nice. Oh yeah, Marge Gunderson, Hey you bet shot. 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:48.240 How you guys doing. Nice to see you. Thank you. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:52.000 No Minnesota treats. What are Minnesota treats? So we used 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:56.800 to have post it? Oh yeah, I know, really delicious, 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:02.160 lots of fiber. I really like the sticky part. Yeah, hey, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:05.400 how are you? Nice to see you? Senator are you? 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:09.920 That's Al Franken. He's a senator from Minnesota. But that 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:14.520 may not be why you know his name Because I'm 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:19.800 good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog on it. People 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:24.240 like me. He went from comedy to political talk radio 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.760 broadcasting live from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Al Franken Show is 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.880 on the air to the Senate everybody. But he nearly 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.000 didn't make it there. He squeaked in in two thousand 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.000 eight by just three hundred and twelve votes. And I 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.560 am so excited to finally be able to get to 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.480 work for the people of Minnesota. But now in his 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.280 second term, Senator Al Franken is one of the people 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.320 shaping the world we live in. So I asked him, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.880 after seven years, are you still jazzed about coming into 0:08:54.920 --> 0:09:00.559 this office we're sitting in. No, not my own office. 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:03.920 But but if I when I look at the Capitol, 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.679 I do when I get over there the Capitol, I 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.200 get I go on, holy mackerel, I do that a lot. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.560 We saw go my own office. You know it's my office. 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.760 I mean, quite lovely, I should say. One of the 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:21.520 things we noticed is to photos of Senator Paul Wellstone 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.319 of Minnesota, who died in two thousand two in a 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.880 plane crash eleven days before the election, and ironically he 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.400 went to my high school, Senator Wellstone in Arlington, Virginia, 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.400 and I know he is and continues to be one 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.080 of your role models. Sure why, Well, he was a 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:46.040 special guy. He was a passionate guy. He um cared 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.719 about the little guy that was. And he said some 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:55.920 things that are mantras or uh. He said, uh, we 0:09:56.000 --> 0:10:00.360 all do better when we all do better, and uh 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.199 Minnesotan's Minnesota dfl ER's that's the Democratic Farmer Labor Party. 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.640 We say that all the time. But it's interesting when 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.840 I say that around the country, especially to Democrats, they 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.960 think about how simple and profound that is, because we 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.000 do we do all do better when we all do better. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.240 Where I grew up middle class. You know, I was 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:31.360 born in UH. I grew up in in Singalis Park, 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.720 Minnesota entering suburb. We had two bedroom, one bath house. 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.200 My dad didn't graduate high school, mom didn't graduate college. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:41.400 I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.720 because I was because I was growing up middle class 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.679 in St. Louis Park in Minnesota, in America, and I 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.160 felt like I could do anything I wanted and I 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.920 and it's because the middle class everything was expanding them. 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:58.760 The middle class was expanding, and I do believe that 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:04.640 we grow the economy from the middle. And what we've seen, uh, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:09.719 in the last thirty forty years has been this tendency 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.880 to grow things at the top and hollow out the 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.120 middle class. And I think that's why people are so 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:20.200 so angry the middle class. The bottom seems to have 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.839 fallen out. Robert Reich did a whole documentary just Bryan 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.319 and I were talking about it called Inequality for All 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.480 and basically saying liddle class is what fuels the entire 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.079 economy because that those are where the consumers are, right, 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.720 of course. I mean, if if the middle class is 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:41.040 buying stuff, the economy works, and if the middle class 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.040 is hollowed out, if you're really, really, really really rich, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:51.000 you can buy only so much stuff, you know, I 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.360 mean that there is a limit to how much you 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:58.280 can buy, I guess. I mean, but the real economy 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.680 is fueled by those in the middle. Do you think 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.760 the fact that the middle class is struggling so much 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.720 and the bottom has fallen out is one of the 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:13.080 reasons we're seeing this upswing populism during this Yeah, well, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:19.160 I think there's been a lot of anger, especially uh, 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.960 you know, There was an interesting statistic that came out 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:27.839 or finding by some Princeton economists or something a few 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:34.199 months ago that we're seeing life expectancy drop for white 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:41.599 people and a lot of it was suicide and opioids 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.600 and that kind of thing, and it hadn't dropped for 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:52.080 Latinos or blacks, and I think it was it's partly 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:59.040 in that white working class middle class who have expected 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.600 things to get better and not seen it happen. I 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.520 think that that maybe in a sad way, that black 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.560 and Latinos or don't expect things necessarily. Isn't part of 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.480 your inheritance that things automatically get better and then you'll 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.679 be better off than your than your parents, or more importantly, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.120 that your kids will be better off than you. And 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:25.520 I think there's real a feeling of betrayal there. You know, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.000 you saw Bernie and you saw Trump, and I think 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.840 Bernie's analysis is well, first of all, it's an analysis, 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:40.079 and Trump's is whatever it is, So I think Bernie 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.199 was closer to the truth. But the fact is, this 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:52.400 is globalization, automation, unions under assault. Rice talks about that 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.120 definitely in that in his book and and in his 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:01.760 documentary all these things are contributing too. You know, there 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.920 aren't a lot of jobs where you get a really 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.640 good living and work for forty years at the same 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.440 job anymore. And the traditional political answer, at least for 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.080 the last couple of decades, has been, oh, well, we 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.600 can't reverse globalization, so we need to train workers for 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:22.640 the jobs of the future. Is that enough? Is that sufficient? 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:26.240 And if it isn't, what else should be done? Well, 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.960 first of all, it's that's a really good idea. We 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:34.040 we do need to train people for those jobs. And 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.240 this is something I believe in workforce training. I believe 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.080 that you don't have to go to a four year college, 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.880 that you can go to community and technical college and 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:49.520 get credentials and start working in some advanced manufacturing UM 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:54.680 facility and with a company and continue to get your 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.920 education get paid for by your employer. I've seen this 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.680 a lot, and I've seen at Minnesota a lot. And 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.680 I remember, right I took office a little late, because 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.840 you might remember his close election, And right after I 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.960 got into office the first recess, I went back to 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.040 Minnesota and I was in Alexandria, Minnesota, which is an 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:23.000 UH served central western north central western Minnesota and in 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.400 Douglas County, the county seat of Douglas County, unemployment was 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.200 about two and a half points lower than in the 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.960 rest of the state. And part of the reason was 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:32.960 they had a great community and technical college, one of 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:37.040 the highest ranked in the country. And they have a 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:42.160 food packaging industry there. There's the Silicon Valley of food packaging. 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.360 Someone had to figure out how to get potato chips 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.680 into a bag without breaking them, and they figured that out, 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:53.240 and they have a number of companies, manufacturers, advanced manufacturers 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:57.200 to do that, and they had the high school. During 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.600 the summer, kids would take industrial arts, had an industrial 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:06.000 arts camp. So and I said, this is working here. 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.720 These kids have these there are these adults now have 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.560 these advanced skills, and there's a ladder where you can 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.000 move up. So that isn't the whole answer, but it's 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.720 part of the answer. Is like anything, it's silver buckshot, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.520 not a silver bullet. It's one thing to train young people, right, 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:28.800 but what about these middle aged workers who are suddenly 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:35.320 finding themselves without a job. And that's a real issue. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.400 You're right, the fifty year old guy who got you 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:43.240 hit uh. We had a summit at the White House 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.640 sort of on rehiring people have been unemployed for a while, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.760 and I went back to Minnesota do roundtables on it. 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.120 So many of these people were in their fifties because 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.600 people don't want to hire necessarily people in their fifties, 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.680 and much harder job market for them. So you're absolutely right. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:08.640 There are people that got hit by the Great Recession 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.480 right at the wrong moment in their careers, and a 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.080 lot of these people that were still unemployee. We're doing 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:16.960 certain kinds of training, but a lot of them were 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.400 really employable, I mean, really had a great experience, and 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.040 you'd go, oh, my goodness, you should, you should, I'd 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.439 hire you. I wasn't hiring at the time. Some of 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:34.520 their manufacturing firms were moved to China, moved to other 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:39.000 countries and in Mexico and Mexico. Yeah, well, this is 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:43.040 the trade issue, and this is why Trump tapped into 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:50.320 something that was very against sort of conservative Republican um 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.720 uh philosophy. If I were a fifty year old guy 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.360 and my company moved overseas and I was left high 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.600 and dry, I'd be pretty piste off too. Well, there 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.440 there are I know a lot of those people, and uh, 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:09.040 you know in Minnesota we're we're recovering. But I gotta 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:13.600 tell you that, you know, I'm against TPB, and I'm 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.400 against it for a reason. I don't think they um 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.600 the labor provisions in it or right, I don't think um. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:27.280 The currency manipulation has been taken care of. But people 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.480 are very emotional about this subject. It's really a conundrum, 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.160 isn't it. How do you become part of the global 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.840 economy and yet protect your own There in lies the 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.400 rub right, Well, yeah, and it's about enforcing. It's about 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.919 writing good agreements and enforcing them. It strikes me that 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.080 you have to know so much center, Frank and about 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.880 so many issues in your job. Do you ever get overwhelmed? 0:18:53.920 --> 0:19:01.399 And did you? Never? Never? Now that never happened because 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.720 I stay on top of everything. You always wanted to 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.159 be a politician. You ran for president of your seventh 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.480 grade class with a very unique campaign slogan. Do you 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:16.840 remember what it was? Don't spit in a man's faceless 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:20.960 his mustaches on fire, that's right, dinging? And I lost, no, 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:27.320 no waittment, no no, no, I won. I won that. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.280 Then I lost eighth grade, and then I ran for 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.280 vice president a ninth and I got that. My sister 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:38.120 ran for president of our elementary school and my mom 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:42.000 put up a campaign poster above the water fountain and 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:47.520 it said free water courtesy Emily Current. All nice, clever 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:51.040 she did. Well there you go. YEA good slogan really helps. 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.520 I remember I felt very bitter because I lost. I 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:58.600 got us a mixer. That was my big achievement. I 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.920 got a mixer muzzle. Yeah, thank you, And it was 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.880 the Beatles were very big. This was when the Beatles 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.160 were big. And the theme of the mixer was peace 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.520 peas me and it was the value of the Jolly 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.760 Green Giant, which is in Minnesota. It was. It was 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:22.000 a very successful mixer, and yet I was not re elected. 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.600 You are fairly new to the Senate, and I'm wondering 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:35.040 if if you know, well relatively I mean some and 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.520 I'm just curious, what did you think you're getting yourself into? 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:45.560 And are you disillusioned? Um? Well, uh, you know, I 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:47.520 wish I could remember what I thought it was going 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.199 to be, because then I could tell you whether I'm disappointed. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:56.840 But I really enjoy this. I get things done. Paul 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:01.400 Wellston said politics is not about winning. It's about improving 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:07.479 people's lives, and that's what I tried to do in 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.640 so many different ways, and I've been successful in many 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.520 of them, and then others. It's incredibly frustrating. Of course, 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:18.480 it's very frustrating. What's the most frustrating thing right now? 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:21.080 I don't know what we're doing to address that. I 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:26.760 just haven't heard name any real attempt to address just 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.760 what's happened this last week in terms of I mean, 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:40.200 we know that people of color get profiled, and we 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:46.480 know there's something we need to do about this, and 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:52.880 I don't feel like we're I've heard us addressing it here. 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:58.520 Let's talk about the police shootings that we've seen witnessed 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:02.359 in this I guess you could describe fourth of July 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.240 week in America is a very different kind of hell week. 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.720 Two shootings FIR Saint Baton Rouge and then in St. Paul, 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:14.440 and then the shootings of those police officers in Dallas. 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:17.800 Is Capitol Hill really the right place to come up 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:22.320 with a solution for this or should police departments across 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:28.520 the country start really acknowledging there's an issue here? I think, 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.120 you know, ironically, I think Dallas is a police department 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.280 that did do that. It's true, but we need to 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.360 address this. And it's a national problem that doesn't get 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.000 fixed by something some one piece of legislation or a 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.959 number of piece of legislation gets fixed one community at 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:49.639 a time. And Falando Castile was your constituent. There was 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:51.359 an a p story that came out a couple of 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.280 days ago that he was stopped at least fifty two 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:58.000 times by police before he was shot. What can be 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:03.479 done about that sort of thing? Well, uh, we we 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.359 we one. We have to. I think we have to 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:11.359 have police the composition of police forces reflect the composition 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:13.760 of the communities that they serve. I think that would 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.399 be very helpful. You know, it's interesting to me that 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:22.920 the Black Lives Matter movement makes some people so angry. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.479 And I was interviewing somebody when I walked into the 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.240 building before we sat down from Fort Worth, and she 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:35.000 was saying, you know, all lives matter, it shouldn't just 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.680 be one group. I don't think that person is quite 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:42.960 understanding the context. I mean, And and but you hear 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:45.000 that time and time again, you know, but what it 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:49.240 means is is that black what black lives matters is 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:55.800 saying like this is happening, It's happened, It's historically happened. 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:59.800 We now have videotape, but this is historically happened, and 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:05.240 it matters. It's as if black lives don't matter. That's 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:08.439 what they were. I know I'm not explained, yes, but 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:11.760 I'm trying to explain to the listener here, But how 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:17.480 do how do we keep and white Americans from being alienated? 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:21.080 But former Mayor Juliani said the other day on whatever 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:26.800 show he was on, fascination about you know, black Lives 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:31.120 Matter is a racist? Is inherently racist? He's not. He's 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.360 either deliberately not getting it or isn't paying much attention. 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:38.880 We'll be right back to our conversation with Al Franken 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:54.760 after a quick break. Let's get back into our conversation 0:24:54.800 --> 0:25:01.400 without Franken. So we're sitting here in your center office. UM, 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:03.960 why don't we kind of go back to before you 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.960 enter this profession, and UM cover some of the years 0:25:08.000 --> 0:25:12.879 between that failed eighth grade class president campaign and the 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:19.119 successful Senate one. Hum I stopped running after that for 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.040 about forty years, But you got bit by the political 0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:26.679 bug very early. You were I think always engaged in 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:31.040 these issues. How did that start? Start with my parents? 0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:36.240 As I think it probably usually does. Uh, we ate 0:25:36.280 --> 0:25:42.640 dinner on trade tables watching the news. So we watched 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:46.080 either Cronkite or Huntley Brinkley, and my mom was been 0:25:46.160 --> 0:25:49.080 good night Chet for that. I used to say that 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:51.560 to my mom and dad before I went to bed 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:55.280 at night. Ideal goodnight David, and ideal goodnight Chet. Well, 0:25:55.320 --> 0:26:00.000 maybe that's why you went into what you went into. Um. 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:02.280 By the way, these were not TV dinners. My mom 0:26:02.320 --> 0:26:03.840 was a really good cook. So I just want to 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:05.639 make sure because people have gotten the idea that we 0:26:05.800 --> 0:26:08.000 ate TV dinners on these trade tables. No, no, this 0:26:08.080 --> 0:26:14.760 is we always had a fresh vegetable and a protein anyway, 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:18.840 So we would watch. When I was eleven ten eleven, 0:26:18.840 --> 0:26:22.119 twelve years old, watched civil rights demonstrations in the South, 0:26:22.920 --> 0:26:28.120 and when the sheriffs would put fire hoses or dogs 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:30.880 or billy clubs on the demonstrators, my dad would point 0:26:30.920 --> 0:26:33.000 to the TV and say, no jew can be for that, 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:37.399 No jew can be for that. My dad grew up 0:26:37.400 --> 0:26:39.800 in New York and he also inhaled a pipe for 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:43.480 fifty years. He sounded like that, no Jew can be 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:47.600 for that, and um, I knew, we knew exactly what 0:26:47.640 --> 0:26:51.040 he meant because we as I said, I think I 0:26:51.080 --> 0:26:56.000 said in fifty one, the Holocaust was pounded into our heads. 0:26:56.119 --> 0:26:59.520 And this is my dad had been a Republican, he 0:26:59.600 --> 0:27:04.960 was like Jacob Javitt's Republican. And um he became a 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:09.520 Democrat that year because Barry Goldwater in six four anyway, 0:27:09.720 --> 0:27:13.960 and I didn't never look back. So so that was it. 0:27:13.960 --> 0:27:17.879 It was basic, the basic It's the same damn issue. 0:27:17.960 --> 0:27:20.040 If you think about it, do you think that something's 0:27:20.080 --> 0:27:22.800 been lost in our country? You know, you describe this 0:27:23.359 --> 0:27:26.480 almost idyllic scene where you're watching the evening news with 0:27:26.560 --> 0:27:31.160 your family, talking about things, learning about the world. That's 0:27:31.200 --> 0:27:34.920