WEBVTT - Politics Media Industrial Complex! Lanhee Chen talks to A&G 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:05.040 It's a sad thing to say, but that's classic Andrew Cuomo. Um. 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:06.920 A lot of people in New York state had received 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:12.800 those phone calls. Uh, you know, the bullying is nothing new. UM, 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:15.680 I believe Ron Kim, And it's very very sad. No 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.560 public servant, no person who's telling the truth, should be 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:22.680 treated that way. So this guy Ron Kim in New York, 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:25.960 a Democrat who had come forward and you know, and 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:31.320 and criticized the Andrew Cuomo's office for clearly lying about 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.640 how many people they killed with their bad policy, says 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.760 that Cuomo called him up and threatened to ruin him, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:39.760 and so he went, you know, on the record with 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.199 that to the press. Cuomo came out and said I 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:44.360 never said anything the same. And then a whole bunch 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.800 of politicians came out yesterday, including that guy there. You 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:53.400 just heard the freaking mayor of New York, build A Blasio, saying, oh, yeah, 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.480 we've all been on the end of that kind of 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.080 bullying from Andrew Cuomo. I know I have, So I 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.480 absolutely believe um. Mr Kim to me, I found that 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:07.480 just stunning. So this guy and his family was able 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.280 to run rough shot over New York for all these 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:13.280 years treating people like this and keep it a secret 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.040 moral less? How does it Scott been just a little 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.600 bit of the feel of the mob? How does how 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:20.720 do you? How does that stay secret all these years? 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.399 Let's talk to Lan hit Chen. David and Diane Stephy, 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.319 fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.240 hosted the fabulous podcast Crossing Lines with Lan hit Chen. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.760 He joined us, now here are you, sir? I'm doing well, 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:34.880 Good morning, gentlemen. I just wonder, in general the way 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.480 politics works, what's the leverage the Cuomo family had over 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:42.080 people to where they could treat people that way and 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:47.280 have such enemies but still succeed. How does that even work? Well? 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.960 You know, there's all saying power corrupts, and absolute power 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.920 corrupts absolutely, and I think when you have a regime 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.440 that's been a big part of state politics and a 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.240 big part particularly the Democratic Party machinery. You know that 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.240 the interesting part of this is that Cuomo is not 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.680 beating up on Republicans, right, I mean, he does, he 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.000 doesn't fair share that, but he's beating up on people 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.880 in his own party, and he uses the leverage that 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.760 he and his family have. He uses the fact that 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.960 they have a tremendous amount of influence and state politics. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.160 And this goes to the problem with dynastic politics in 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:28.760 our country, these dynasties that think they're entitled to stay 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.120 in power. And it goes beyond that. It goes from 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.280 dynastic power to the problem with one party rule when 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.600 you have one party that's been in charge of a 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:38.880 state for as long as Democrats have been in charge 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:40.080 of New York. And by the way, it's not just 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.919 a New York thing, it's an Illinois problem. And yeah, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.560 it's a California problem. When you have one party that's 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:47.320 been in charge for as long as it has this 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:49.919 is what you get. You get bullies, you get thugs, 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:53.639 you get people like Andrew Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo's dad, Mario Cuomo, 0:02:53.720 --> 0:03:01.080 was governor, mayor governor back. Yeah, and and of course 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.760 you know Cuomo's brothers on CNN every night. So it's 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:10.480 it's not just politics, it's the politics media industrial complex 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.200 in the state of New York that has perfected that 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.160 has continued to to allow uh Andrew Cuomo to perpetrate 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.880 the things he's been perpetrating. And you know the fact 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.000 that these stories are just coming to light now. Really, 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.800 no one should be surprised at his behavior. Well, I 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.600 appreciate Jack being repulsed by that sort of politics, because 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.560 it is repulsive. But as a guy who grew up 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.400 right next to Mayor Daly's Chicago, the idea of brutal 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.560 bullying and machine politics is pretty familiar. Hey, I understand 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.680 there there are a lot of factions within New York politics. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.360 I'm not really hip to New York state of politics. Long, 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.400 he do you know much about that? Yeah, I don't 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.280 follow it as closely, but I've heard that much from 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.440 from from folks who I know out there to follow it. 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.040 There's a you know, there's a Cuomo line. And and 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:58.480 you'll remember, actually back in when Bill Clinton ran for president, 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.839 a lot of people thought Cuomo was going to be 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.000 the nominee of the Democratic Party that year, and it 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.320 wasn't going to be this you know, Arkansas, no name 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.040 governor who nobody had ever heard of before. And it 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.480 turns out, I mean, some of the stories go that 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.640 Cuomo was brought down by some elements of the Democratic 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.080 machine in his own state because there were elements of 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:24.440 Cuomo who who weren't part of that Cuomo line who 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.520 didn't like him and decided that they wanted to help 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.640 take him out. So yeah, it gets pretty nasty out there. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.200 But you know, that's the thing these one party politics 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.600 in states like New York in California. It can get 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.160 pretty nasty within the Democratic Party in these states. That's interesting. Well, 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.560 it's got to be about faction and personality because it's 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.600 not about policy generally speaking, if you have one party rule. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.720 And obviously, and obviously they think are like de Blasio 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.800 and others think Governor Cuomo has damaged enough that they 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.760 can be honest. All of a sudden, the Blasio saying, oh, yeah, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.160 I've been on the other end of those phone calls 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:00.440 many times. Everybody has well, and bear in mind, the 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.000 Blasio and Cuomo hate each other. They they have had 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:07.599 a difficult relationship for many years, and the Blasio and 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.719 Cuomo have had a number of really awkward news conferences 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.760 where they basically set each other lias sit next to 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.479 each other like, you know, too passive aggressive, uh, you know, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.040 former spouses, and it's it's very, very, very awkward interaction 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.480 between the two of them. A Lani channel, the Hoover 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.119 Institution is on the line. Meanwhile, on the other coast 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.280 you have lunkhead governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who it's 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.919 looking like is going to be recalled. What do you 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:36.720 make of that? Well, people are are upset with him, 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.800 and you know, the funniest thing that I hear is 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.600 when Newsom and his defenders argue that this is some 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.520 Republican plot something. I know a lot of people who 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.560 live in in my part of California is very progressive 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.520 part of California otherwise, are very supportive of Democratic politicians 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.320 and democratic politics who are just fed up with Gavin 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.680 Newsom because of his incompetence. And it has to do 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.800 with not being able to get done the basic blocking 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.400 and tackling, you know, things like can you run a 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.920 system that gets people who need unemployment compensation that compensation 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.360 without giving money to a bunch of crooks? You know, 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.720 can you actually administer a vaccine program that's not worse 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.800 than the vaccine program that exists in you know, at 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.279 least half of the other shape and you get the 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:26.400 schools open, you know, instead of instead of bowing continuously 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.279 to pressure from special interests, can you actually do what 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.640 it takes you know, to grow up, actually lead and 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.120 get the schools open so we can stop denying a 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.080 generation of kids the education that they need and deserve. 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:40.360 That's the kind of stuff that really picks people off. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:42.560 And it's not a Republican thing. It's not a Republican 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.039 thing at all. I think his incompetent stems from the 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.360 fact that he's incompetent. Is that really what happens? Well, well, yeah, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.400 the Eastern media elite just say he was damaged by 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.120 dining at the French laundry during his own show down. Well, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.200 that absolutely was kind of a pivotal moment. But the 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.720 the administration has done enough right for those of you 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.880 who are listening in the rest of the country, the 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.720 the Newsome administration has fumbled everything. Their list of victories 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.560 is empty. They're still waiting for number one. Their dryer 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.920 race board has the number one on it, nothing else. 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.480 I was wondering, since since you've worked with you know, 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:23.280 pretty successful candidates, you know, working on Marco Rubio's campaign 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:26.920 and Ramy's campaign and stuff like that, how we identify 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.000 these these these politicians early on and think that guy 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.320 could be presidents someday and then we're so wrong. Like 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.400 like Rick Perry was so not ready for the national stage, 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.040 and Gavin Newsom was so not ready for the state stage, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.080 let alone the national stage. What goes on there with 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.880 this the not recognizing what's underneath, the veneer of of 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:53.200 looking presidential. Well, I don't think Gavin Newson was ready 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.560 to be on the stage for a fourth grade class play, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.600 being on the stage to be considered a presid central candidate. 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.280 I mean, look, you're right. What happens is media hype develops. 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:08.560 You know, you you've got a guy who's something that Yeah, 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.840 I mean people people think, oh, here's a guy who's 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.960 reasonably good looking, he can string together a sentence and 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.520 a coherent saw it every once in a while. Uh yeah, 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.920 let's make this guy president. And by the way, you know, 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.200 Newsom has a tremendous amount of personal wealth, and I 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.880 think that contributes to the conversation as well. Anytime you've 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.080 got someone who gets into politics, who's reasonably successful at 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.640 some level and also has a lot of cash, they think, oh, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.160 here's someone who could be president. And and really what 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:33.800 it goes to is we need to do a much 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.199 better job of evaluating what our leaders are and are 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.760 not doing if if, if, if Newsom had not been 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.120 confronted with crisis, he could have skated right through and 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.400 who knows, he may have been a leading candidate for 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.240 the president. What what what crisis does is it forces 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.960 us to test our leaders, and it forces us to 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.320 see who can lead and who can't. And Newsom has 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.319 failed miserably at that task. And he's not the only one, 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.800 by the way, Andrew Cuomo, We've talked about a few 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.200 of the other governors who've done a horrible job. Uh. 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.320 We really are able to see those who succeed and 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.920 those who fail in a very real way. And it's 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.760 an awful thing because people have suffered through this crisis. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.760 But it does allow us to see who who can 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:16.800 lead and who can't. And I think that's a very 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.120 very important part of this whole episode. We need to 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.439 take from it. Well, now I'm gonna have to fist 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.880 fight Jack during the commercials for bringing this up, but 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.120 I'm ready to do it. I've been reading about Rhonda 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.680 Santis in Florida. He's done a really good job speaking 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:33.520 of governors, and people are starting to buzz about him. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.559 In any early take. You know him, deal know his 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:38.800 act is is he one of those golden boys who 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.640 is about to turn rusty or what? Do you think? 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.120 I don't know him. Well, I've followed what he's done 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.839 in Florida and and the answer is he's he's tried 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.320 to follow what the scientists told him, but also his 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.720 his instincts about what the state needs, what the state's 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.400 kids needs, and what the state's businesses need. And they've 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.640 tried to balance between, you know, trying being safe, keeping 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.880 people safe, but also trying to get Florida reopened. And 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.120 I think by and large he's done a pretty good job. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.520 You know, there's been some hiccups, but you know, that's 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.959 one of those things where I'm sure Governor Desantus would say, 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.160 look look at my record. Look at my record to 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.560 determine if I'm ready to lead or not. And that's 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.800 something I wish more politicians would say, is take a 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.640 look at my record, not just the good parts, but 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.080 but all of it, and make a decision based on 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.040 everything I've done, do you think I'm worthy of leading 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:25.880 or not? And you know what, not everything is gonna 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.960 be good. But I'll bet you if you look at 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.040 Ron de santiss record and you compare it to what 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.800 Gavin Newsom r Andrew Cuomo have done. Rohn de Santus 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:36.480 comes out pretty favorably, you know, so I'll take I'll 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.400 take that bet any day of the week. It's faint praise, 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.640 but that might be the appropriate phrases we look for 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.599 future leaders. Lani Chen David and Diane Stephie fellow in 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.360 American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, host of 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.520 the podcast Crossing Lines with Lanchlan. He thanks a Milian, 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.080 Always great to talk, great to do with you guys. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.080 Thank ye. I'm glad I brought any of that stuff 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.199 up that there's some really interesting takes on that. Oh yeah, Lon, 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:03.320 He's always just a terrific Are we maturing as a 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.840 society to a point where maybe we can look past 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:09.880 the well they look good on TV and have a 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:13.520 clever line, So maybe they should be the most powerful 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:19.160 person in the world based on that. Avery voters, Uh 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.120 maybe a two thirds WI not a half whis He's 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.920 absolutely right if there hadn't been a crisis, everything cruises 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.559 along economies decent blah blah blah. Normal stories are in 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:35.000 the news. Gavin easily cruises to top tier discussion among 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:39.040 Democratic candidates, right, just based on BET's hole like adoration 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.320 from the media. Didn't have to do anything, just just 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.240 stood there and looked pretty or creepy, depending on who 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.720 he has. And now he's going to get recalled as 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:54.360 governor and his political career is over. Yeah, yeah, you 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.920 know what it would be interesting, Well, it will be 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.160 interesting to follow is California is so utterly corrupt and 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.920 ungovernable and mobbed up in one party and the rest 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.560 of it. I don't know if if God Almighty himself 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.600 could be the successful governor of California, it may just 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.640 be too big and messy and corrupt. I'm I'm still amazed. 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.600 I know you grew up with corrupt politics, so you're 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.040 you're not surprised by it. But that Andrew Cuomo could, 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.520 in the modern era where people leak phone calls and 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.760 texts and all kinds of stuff like that, still call 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.760 up people and threaten them, just flat out threatened them 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.760 and get away with it. I will lend your career. 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:38.040 That's wild. Yeah, it's time's up to good. Thank God. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.280 In the whole Cuomo family, it would sound like, yeah, 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:41.880 they don't teach you this as a kid, but the 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.040 government is every bit as much forget about it. It 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:49.080 is as it is, and I'm only Bill. You know, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.640 it's both forget about it.