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Right now, Soul is offering my audience thirty 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.240 percent off your entire order. So go to gitsold dot 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:13.319 com use the promo code toodcast. Don't forget that code. 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:18.440 That's getsold dot Com promo code toodcast for thirty percent off. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:22.360 So joining me now. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:26.680 Is one of the most decorated Olympians in Iowa history. 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.160 Josh Turik is candidate for the US Senate, but I'm 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.680 born with spina bifida. He ended up making a name 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:41.600 for himself in playing professionally wheelchair basketball, earning a gold 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.080 medal as the leader of a US Olympic team at 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.800 the Paralympics. And he's now a politician, not the blazing 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.880 a trail that, frankly is actually not a first time 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.720 trail when it comes to that people. Certainly we've had 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:01.400 our share of athletes going into politics. Josh is from 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.440 the western part of the state. It's the state I'm 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.840 the least familiar with council bluffs. He will correct me 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:09.760 if I'm wrong, which also means he's sort of in 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.839 that weird No Man's Land, how much Iowan? How much Nebraskan, 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.280 which I'm gonna give my hard time about. But with that, 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:21.000 let's talk a little bit about your campaign and who 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:22.200 you are. Josh Turk, It's nice to. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.359 Meet you, Yeah, Chuck, thanks for having me. First. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.280 I'm gonna have to correct you on I'm not an Olympian. 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.919 I'm a Paralympian. I'm a four time Paralympian, time gold medalist, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.000 the Summer Olympian. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.320 I mean, it's part of the Olympics, isn't it all 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.400 the you know? 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:43.160 I mean, well, the Summer Olympics is the largest sporting 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.519 event on Earth in terms of total athletes and total 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.320 countries in the Summer Paralympics, which immediately follows the Olympics, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.079 is the second largest sporting event on Earth. And I'm 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.600 a very proud Paralympian and two time gold medalist. And 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.120 then the other correction is, you're right, I am. I 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.160 am a politician, but I really would define myself as 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:03.399 a representative. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.680 A politician can be a bit of a pejorative, no, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:07.480 And I get that. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.160 I mean just like journalists can be a bit of 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:11.200 a pejorative these days, right, you know, or a member 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.280 of the media, if you will. But let me start 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.080 with Eric. You know, if let's start with your life 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:23.480 as a professional athlete. You know you're born with spina biffita. 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:25.200 You didn't probably think as a kid you were going 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.160 to be a professional athlete. Walk me through that. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:28.480 Yeah. Sure. 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.840 I was born and raised in Council BLUs, Iowa. Council 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.280 Bluss is a very working class community. Sixty five percent 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.680 of my community lives at or below the poverty line. 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.760 I grew up to a large family, three sisters, one brother, 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.120 and we grew up with a lot of economic struggle. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.200 We went to the Goodwill for our clothes, We shared clothes, 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.040 went to the free summer lunch programs. There were times 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.880 where my mom put our grocery bill on the credit card. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.000 So certainly somebody is familiar with a lot of economic struggle, 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:00.400 of what a lot of people are going going through 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.000 right now, both in Iowa and around the country. And 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.640 then I was was born with my condition. I was 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.920 born with a condition called spina bifida. This was due 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.880 to my father's exposure to agent orange and Vietnam. I 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:12.920 had my first suit do. 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.600 You directly, do you is that's a direct fact that 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.320 this has been directly Yeah, actually responsible. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.839 It's one of yes, it's one of the few times 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.720 where the government has had to admit culpability. When when 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.159 I was younger, we were part of the lawsuit and 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.760 did the DNA testing and yeah, because of that, actually 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.200 receive my health care that is related to my spina 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:37.279 bifida through the VA and so. 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.320 So yes, and that's for Lily, right, that's for life. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.080 You're on Tricare for life because of that. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.240 Is that is correct anything that is directly related to 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.520 my to my spina bifida. So in my spina bifida, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.919 I had my first surgery at one day old. I 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.960 had twenty one surgeries before I was twelve, almost all 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.840 of which took place at Shriner's Hospital, because it was 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.440 the only way that my family could afford to do it. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.480 So I'm certainly somebody in a deeply personal way, I 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:08.200 understand the importance of affordable and accessible health care for individuals. Thankfully, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.320 for me, I found wheelchair basketball at a young age. 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.880 I went to an adaptive sports program in Omaha, Nebraska, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.359 and it exposed me to all kinds of adaptive sports. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.560 And I come from a big sports family. Actually, both 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.159 my mother and sister were basketball players and went on 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.440 to play professional basketball, and really that was what I 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.600 was struggling. Legitimately, I was somebody that was bullied so bad. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.680 It's hard enough to go through life well as a 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.479 kid with economic struggle, but then you had a healthcare 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.960 struggle and it was difficult for me and was bullied 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:38.920 so bad. I actually I left public school for a bit, 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:45.599 but it provided me. It provided me really social setting and. 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.080 Everything that I needed to be able to be successful. 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.120 Because of wheelchair basketball, I was ultimately able to get 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.960 a college scholarship along with the help of vocation or rehabilitation. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:55.680 Had it not been for wheelchair basketball, I don't think 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.320 I would have even gone on to college. And I've 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:02.160 had a very successful collegiate career and wheelchair basketball. Scored 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.920 over four thousand career points and sixty three points in 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.400 a game, which are still records at my school. And 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.000 then I had the opportunity to do something that I 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.040 didn't even know existed, which was professional wheels for basketball, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.680 which doesn't exist in America. It only exist over in Europe, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:17.000 so spent some time over there. 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:18.919 Where did you live in europe court where the various 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:19.880 Where was your franchise? 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.120 Where was I was able to play in Outside of Milan, Italy? 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.120 I played in the south of France, which was an 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.240 amazing opportunity, and then played in Madrid, Spain and in Billbospang. 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:32.960 Those were the places. Let me played. 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.599 Let me ask you, and maybe you've I don't know 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:40.520 if you've thought about this, but why has Europe been 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:46.800 on the forefront of Why don't we have this in America? 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.720 And if you think about it, the first women's professional 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:51.160 basketball leagues were all in Europe. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:53.719 Weren't here? Have you? 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.280 I'm just curious why it's to me too bad that 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.719 you had to leave America to go through the stream. 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.240 Why do you think we don't value it here? 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:10.360 I think that our sports can be very masculinely driven, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.560 and I think the European ideal for sports is more 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:18.680 open to the idea of female sports and to adapt 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.000 to sports in a way that that for whatever reason, 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.239 you know, the American paradigm on sports is just dramatically different. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:26.560 It is. 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.280 It's it's much more inclusive in that sense. In America, 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.440 it was a struggle for us just to be able 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:35.480 to get a handful of individuals just to come in 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.200 and watch us, if you're like family and friends. And 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.440 yet when we're over and we're able to get in 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.000 front of thousands and thousands of folks, So it's. 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.120 A it's just a different culture. Yeah, I mean, it's 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.240 a totally totally different sports culture. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.680 And it was an amazing opportunity to be able to to 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:54.000 live in experience, especially as a poor kid from from 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.240 Iowa that had gotten his bachelor's degree in history. It 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.600 was an amazing opportunity to be able to see these 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.920 places I had only been able to read about in 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.040 history books. And to be able to you learn so 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.360 much about yourself and about others and societies and social 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.560 safety nets when you're when you're living overseas, and yeah, 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:11.280 it was it was an amazing opportunity for me. 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.320 How's your Italian? A Deaco? 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.280 Probably it's better than mine, So don't worry whatever you say. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.680 My Spanish, My Spanish is good. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.240 Uh. My wife is Dominican by by birth and Spanish 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.080 by passport and met her when I was playing out 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.560 in Madrid, and so certainly that one is is pretty. 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:33.240 Nigh a little bit better than Italian. Right now, what 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.000 you learned one more man's language, though you should be 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.000 able to understand all the other thing. So to turn 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.320 to politics if you weren't a politic. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.120 Just the one thing I want to I want to 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:46.920 cover on this is we we didn't get to it. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:49.400 I did end up the highlight of my basketball career 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:54.320 was being a four time Paralympian and two times yeah yeah, correct, 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.320 and especially we're a basketball nation, but we had gone 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.719 twenty eight years without winning gold and so we went 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.280 from nineteen eighty eight all the way until twenty sixteen 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.000 without winning a gold medal. So some of I'm really 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.680 really proud of. That was the way I ended my 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.600 career was with winning back to back gold medals. So 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.479 that was the end of my basketball career. 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.880 Before we jumped to you, actually your next it is 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:21.680 you had such success in that phase of your life, 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:23.079 how hard was it to walk away? 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:25.400 Not hard at all. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.920 Actually, for me, from the very beginning, the goal was 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.160 just to be able to represent my country and one 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.800 Paralympics and to maybe have the opportunity to win one 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.280 gold medal was always the goal for me. So the 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.160 fact that I was able to represent in four Paralympic 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.040 Games and win two gold medals. Ultimately Father Time is 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.959 undefeated too. By the time I got to my last Paralympics, 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.000 I mean, right that the athlete is Unfortunately we have 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.880 to die to death and we spend tens of thousands 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.480 of hours at trying to become great and become an 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.440 expert in a field and then it gets taken away 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.439 from you. But by the time that I got to 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:05.320 that last Paralympics, which was in Tokyo twenty twenty, which 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.719 ended up being twenty twenty one because of COVID, I 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:09.680 knew that that was going to be the last basketball 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.080 game that I ever was going to play. And I 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:13.880 was really really clear too that I wanted to have 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.120 as successful of a part B of my life as 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.520 my part A was, and my part A was pretty successful. 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.960 So it was beautiful actually because in Tokyo, I knew 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.920 that was going to be the last games I ever 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.000 was going to play, so I was able to smell 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.280 the roses a little bit and appreciate it being. 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.320 The How what was it like to watch to be 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:32.480 a spectator. 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:32.840 In twenty twenty four. 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.880 It's one of the only times actually that I missed it, truthfully, 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.280 But you know, because because there were so many of 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:42.960 those guys that are still on that team that I'm 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.320 very very close with. You develop a genuine brotherhood with 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.920 these guys that you go through so much struggle with. 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:50.800 But it was beautiful to be able to see them 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.880 they actually won. It was the we became the first 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.520 team to ever win three gold medals in a row. 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.480 So I was it was amazing to be able to 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.000 watch them and support them as I was going through 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.440 It was nice. Actually it was kind of cathartic for 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.960 me and watch a little bit of their games as 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.880 I after I was going out knocking doors and crawling 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.440 stairs trying to win my reelection. 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.440 Right, So tell me about the decision to go into politics. 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:19.880 Was there other fields that you were contemplating and you 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.320 know why what drew you to the political space? 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.080 Yeah? Well, two things. 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.840 One is I've been a director of a nonprofit organization 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.520 for ten years and what we do is we provide 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.280 free summer camps to disabled kids and adaptive sports opportunity. 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:36.960 Just to be a role model to that community and 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.000 to be able to give back. When I finished with 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.800 my basketball career as well, I got certified and what's 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:47.199 called an assistive technology professional. So I was federally certified 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.280 to be able to assist, to assess and provide mobility devices, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.400 manual wheelchairs and power wheelchairs for individuals with disabilities. And 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.760 I was working with children, I was working with newly 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.960 injured individuals. But where I was really spending the vast 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.440 enjoity of my time where with individuals with progressive conditions, 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.319 conditions like muscular dystrope and Lugarry's disease. And what we 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.120 were showing was every single day we were dealing with 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:14.880 unnecessary denials and delays. And what we were showing internally 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.160 is since Iowa and Nebraska had privatized their Medicaid system, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:22.280 a one thousand percent increase in denial rate. I thought 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.240 that this was fundamentally wrong and immoral, and that somebody 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.880 should do something. I mean, it's literally maximizing profits off 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:29.760 the backs of the most vulnerable. I mean, in the 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.280 case of als, oftentimes it's eighteen months or even shorter 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.920 from assessment all the way, these people don't have time 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.880 for denials and delays. And then I had found out 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.600 that Iowa had never had a permanently disabled member of 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.720 the legislature, even though we're a state of one hundred 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:47.720 and fifty years and a governing body of a one 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.280 hundred and fifty members. We've got one in five islands 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:53.840 that either blind, death, intellectually disabled, or physically disabled. And 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.600 I thought to myself, this is probably why we're seeing 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.680 these barriers to healthcare and to employment is because of 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.120 the complete and total lack of representation. And although I 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.800 was out in very red western Iowa and they said, Josh, 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.360 you can't win as a Democrat out here, I said, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:10.800 I'm going to do this the same way that I've 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.320 done with my basketball career, try to win gold medals. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.040 I'm going to go out and I'm going to outwork 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.840 my opponent every single day. 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:18.320 And that's what I did. For me. 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.720 That meant going out every day Raynorsheine, hot or cold, 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:26.319 and dragging my wheelchair upstairs to have conversations with Republicans 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.320 and independence because it didn't work any other way. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.400 You know, it's interesting for you to say that about 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.720 Iowa because given that Tom Harkin the former Senator, and 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.959 Bob Dole were basically the godfathers of the ADA Act. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.880 And in fact, I mean, look, when I was growing 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.600 up there, it weren't very many ramps. You know, I 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.160 had an elderly grandmother who we were constantly lifting a 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.200 chair and all this stuff. I mean, I don't think 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.959 people realize as and we are a long way away 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.719 from everything being accessible for somebody and who needs to 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.439 use a wheelchair these days. But to think where we 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.760 were in the seventies and eighties compared to where we 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.000 are today is because of an Iowa senator and a 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:13.360 Kansas Senator from each side of the aisle. And there 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:14.760 was a lot of momentum for that. And it does 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.720 feel as if even the that the eightya feels like 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.640 something that hasn't that sort of hit a wall a 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.880 little bit. I imagine you have a lot of opinions about 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:24.440 the ADAI. 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.720 Yeah, you're certainly correct. I mean a handful of things there. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:33.160 One is he's a good friend of mine now, but 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.360 he really is my political hero is Senator Tom Harkin. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.400 And this, in truth is one of the reasons why 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.840 I'm doing this, is this is his seat that is 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.480 up now after twelve years, you know, thirty years he 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.040 was our Iowa senator and now it's been held by 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.200 a Republican for the last twelve years. And myself, in 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.840 so many disabled Iolands, so many disabled Americans. 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:55.240 I'm only here. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.960 All the opportunities that I've been given for occupation educationally 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.960 is only because of the work that Senator Harken and 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.800 Congressman Tony Coeo and as you said, Bob Dole ended 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.160 up doing on the American with Disabilities Act. They literally 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.120 provided me in so many disabled Americans and on ramp 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:16.280 onto society to be able to be successful. And one 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.320 of the reasons why I'm doing this is because here 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.040 in Iowa, we deserve to once again have a senator 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.680 that is going to fight for the people and fight 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:28.680 for the middle class, and fight for social and economic justice, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.280 and fight for these social safety nets that have allowed 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.320 me to be successful in my life Medicare, Medicaid, social Security, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.200 and not just look out for billionaires in large corporations. 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.080 It really is, I'm only here because of Senator Harkin, 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.920 and I want to be able to continue his legacy 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.600 and champion and carrying that flag and fighting for the 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:46.800 people and fighting for healthcare. 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.000 It's possible that our friend Tony Coelo might even be 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.960 listening right now. He's somebody that I've known a long 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.720 time in politics and very I mean, look this is 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.680 the passion was ultimately one of the most passionate things 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:00.120 he worked on. 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.080 I know that. And and uh, he's very sensitive. 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:05.960 I mean, I would get grief from him if he 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.320 ever thought I wasn't giving somebody, you know, if I 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.000 if I wasn't giving a benefit of doubt due to 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.120 some sort of physical issue, you know, whether it was 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:20.240 somebody with a with a verbal issue or something with 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:21.720 their physical traits. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.720 And uh, he's a I. 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.440 Consider him a longtime friend, and I imagine you he's. 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.880 He's filled with advice. I bet in your campaign he 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:32.920 absolutely is. 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.960 And I've been I've been grateful to to be able 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.160 to have now a friendship with with both Congressmen Coeo 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.800 and and and Senator Harkin. And this is, this is 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:43.440 this is certainly one of the reasons why I'm doing 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.920 this is to continue on that legacy. One of the 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:47.720 things that Senator Harkin talks about is one of the 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.920 beauties of the American with Disabilities Act is that not 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.000 one Nickel actually went to an individual with a disability. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.200 Is all it was doing was just evening the playing field. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:03.040 It was just providing an equality of opportunity to individuals. 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.720 And that's what certainly, that's what we're fighting for. 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.600 It was equal access, not equal outcomes. Equal access, that's right, 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.119 that's correct, you know, which. 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:12.240 Seems to be. 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.600 I mean, this is you know, it's it's one thing 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:21.000 you know in those that that physically have things that 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.840 they have to overcome, but then there are you know, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.359 this is the same conversation we're trying to have about immigration, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.280 you know, the same conversation we're trying to have about 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:35.680 any body that's trying to live a free life, right 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:40.000 and wants to have equal opportunity, equal access, not necessarily 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.600 equal outcome. Can you what do you think is the 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.760 hardest part of convincing, because I do think when you 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.399 explain to anybody left or right that it's about equal access, 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:54.040 not equal outcome. Nobody's against equal access, you know, it's 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.879 the equal outcome conversation that becomes the debate about all 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.400 these Yeah. 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:05.320 Absolutely. The way that I would say that is when 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.159 I'm out there. I represent the redditest district that is 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.840 represented by a Democrat that was won on election day, 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.840 so Trump won my county by twenty points. I represent 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.720 two communities in the Iowa legislature, Carter Lake, which Trump 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.119 won by eighteen points and my hometown of Council Blufs, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.040 which he won by ten points, and I was able 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:28.159 to win by nearly six points, about fifty percent. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:29.720 Better than any other Democratic Do you think is the 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:31.000 Trump voter? 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.520 The Turrek Trump voter is someone that Here's what I 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.280 would say is that the one thing I'll give credit 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.800 to Trump for is that he accurately addressed that the 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.600 status quo was not working for the average American and 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.359 is seeing a hallowing out of the middle class. And 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.159 the Turrek Trump voter is maybe what they would be 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.800 a common sense voter to some degree that felt like 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.960 the Democratic Party had shifted away too much focusing on 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.640 culture war issue or didn't feel like it was looking 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:06.040 out enough for the middle class or the average American. 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.600 And whereas for me, I'm a common sense prairie populace, 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.000 much like Senator Harken. And when I'm out there, what 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.280 I'm talking about are the kitchen table issues. It's the 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.439 way that I was very disciplined about that, both not 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.920 only in my legislative races, but in the Senate race 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.960 of talking about that. This what matters the most is 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.240 the kitchen table issues. It's about affordability. It's about driving 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:33.600 down cost a livable wage. It's about affordable housing, it's 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.600 about affordable healthcare, pharmaceuticals. We have some very specific issues 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.879 to Iowa too that I would talk about. We were 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.760 number one in public education and now we've precipitously dropped 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.479 to the middle of the pack. So I would talk 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.120 about public dollars belonging to public schools, talk about doing 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.760 something about our cancer rates. In Iowa were the only 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:53.119 state with the growing cancer rate, second highest rates to 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.480 only Kentucky. And I would talk about the need for 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.760 clean air and clean water because that's something certainly something 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.560 that touches everyone, regardless of where you sit on the 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.080 political spectrum, doesn't matter Democrat or Republican. And those are 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:07.560 the things that I talked about, and I think that 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.800 there were some voters in there, certainly because of fourteen 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.320 percent over performance that that resonated with. But I think 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.360 that the way that we can once again win elections 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.560 in state like Iowa is through genuine economic population them 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.000 what I call cerry populism. 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.240 This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:30.560 by Wildgrain. 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I'm telling you it's excellent, 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:04.240 excellent bread. So I've had some interesting conversations with a 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.399 couple of with the South Dakota former South Dakota Democrat 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:09.840 who is running for the US Senate. 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:10.440 Now is an independent. 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:14.760 I had Rob sand on this podcast a few months 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:18.439 ago and he said something. I said, why are you running? 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:18.919 You know? 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.840 He talked about the problems of the Democratic brand, and 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:23.560 I'd say, so, why are you running as a Democrat? 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:25.840 And he said, well, if there was another way, maybe 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:27.639 I would run as an independent, but this is the 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.400 most viable way to get on the ballot. The South 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.920 Dakota Independent made the case. He said, the reason he's 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.719 running as an independent set of a Democrat is that 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:38.879 there are some people that won't listen to his pitch 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:40.919 if they find out he is a D next to 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:42.800 his name, and the minute he doesn't have a D 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.399 next to his name, he's suddenly having these conversations with 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.280 a whole bunch of voters going, yeah, I agree with you, Yes, 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.800 I agree with you, Yes, I agree with you. Does 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:53.040 the D next to your name? What happens when somebody says, hey, 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:54.320 I like what you're saying, but why do you have 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:56.240 a D next to your name? What's your answer to that? 0:22:58.359 --> 0:22:58.600 Yeah? 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:00.639 I mean, I'm really really clear of why I have 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.560 a D next to my name. I'm always reminded of 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:06.879 the quote from John F. Kennedy when he said, you know, 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.000 why are you a liberal? Why are you a Democrat? 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:12.680 And it's because I believe in looking forward not backwards. 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.240 That I believe in and I care about people's jobs, 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:21.040 about people's health care, about people's schools. This is why, 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:23.480 ultimately I'm a integrammer. I say that I have two 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.800 north stars politically. The first is a quote from Franklin 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.959 delan and Roosevelt, which I think is the greatest president 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.280 of the twentieth century and also the only disabled president 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:34.760 that we've ever had, And he said that the test 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:37.040 of our progress of a society is not whether we 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.119 add more to those with abundance, but whether we have 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.000 enough to those with the least. And then the other 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.720 would be Matthew twenty five forty, which is, you know, 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:46.919 as Jesus said, what you do to the least among you, 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:50.480 that you also do to me, And that, to me 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.320 is the essence of what a democrat is. Is that 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:58.080 we care about people's schools and jobs, in livelihoods, and healthcare. 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.760 And that is really really clear of why I'm a Democrat. 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:07.440 I don't think necessarily that Iowa is like these other 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.159 states and that you get out of the urban communities, 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:13.920 and the term democrat or democratic is a pejorative. I 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:17.080 think we have a very very long history of being 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:20.119 a progressive state. Third state to legalize gay marriage. 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:22.560 I say, I have a friend of mine that refers 0:24:22.560 --> 0:24:26.080 to Iowa as the organ of the Midwest. We used 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:27.680 to do that about ten years ago. A little less 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:31.199 so lately, given that it's been a little less purple, 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:36.639 although I still think Iowa just was uniquely open to 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:40.000 Trump at a period of time when this economy was 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:43.400 just transitioning. I suspect Iowa was going to go back 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:45.440 to its swing swinginess pretty soon. 0:24:46.560 --> 0:24:48.080 I mean, we could certainly get into one of the 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:51.160 reasons why Iowa has shifted more than almost any other 0:24:51.200 --> 0:24:52.520 state over the last ten years. 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:55.480 And there's no state with more Obama to Trump counties, 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:59.199 no state. They're all in eastern Iowa. It's fascinating. 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:04.480 You are absolutely correct. But here here's what I've said. 0:25:04.520 --> 0:25:07.240 I've said that Iowa is a common sense state that 0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:10.760 has masquerrated as a red state. And for you, you 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:13.560 have to remember that for thirty years we had we 0:25:13.680 --> 0:25:16.880 voted for Senator Harken, and that he ended in twenty fourteen. 0:25:16.920 --> 0:25:20.879 That's not that long ago. But even more recently, in 0:25:20.920 --> 0:25:23.879 Trump's first midterm twenty eighteen, we won three of the 0:25:23.880 --> 0:25:26.439 four congressional seats, and we were only three points away 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:29.840 from winning every single one of the congressional races. And 0:25:30.440 --> 0:25:33.240 I actually feel even more energy and excitement right now 0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:35.280 for chance, particularly in the rural communities which they have 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:39.320 just been absolutely decimated and betrayed by the tariffs and 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:41.880 where the commodities prices are. You go to even more 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:45.000 recent history. Twenty twenty two, we were only one point 0:25:45.040 --> 0:25:48.240 five percent away from having three of our six state 0:25:48.280 --> 0:25:51.680 wide officials being Democrats. That means the average Iowa voter 0:25:52.040 --> 0:25:53.960 went in there in twenty twenty two and voted for 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:57.080 three Democrats and three Republicans. We are not a red state. 0:25:57.160 --> 0:26:00.359 We're a common sense state that has masqueraded more than 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:04.800 what we actually are. And because everything has perfectly aligned 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:07.119 and we needed about ten things to happen, but the 0:26:07.119 --> 0:26:09.480 fact that we've got, for the first time since nineteen 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:13.480 sixty eight, an open Senate race, and an open governor's 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:16.560 race and two open congressional races. I really do believe 0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:18.919 that Iowa was the center of the political universe in 0:26:18.960 --> 0:26:21.040 twenty twenty six, and you were going to see the 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:21.800 state shift. 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:26.399 I've had some say to me, let me curious what 0:26:26.440 --> 0:26:29.320 you think of this, And I'm probably playing to the 0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:32.520 crowds on this one, which is the Iowa Democratic Party 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:35.640 got a little too Deminish and not enough everywhere else 0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:39.119 that it was almost too concentrated in Des Moines. Do 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:41.040 you accept that premise? Do you think that was part 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:42.439 of the problem over the last decade. 0:26:43.880 --> 0:26:46.320 Yeah, I think that the not not only in Iowa, 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:49.520 but I think nationally, I think the party has has 0:26:49.600 --> 0:26:53.760 lost touch with the plights of real Americans or the 0:26:53.760 --> 0:26:55.920 middle class or just the average worker. 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:56.879 We're all real America. 0:26:56.920 --> 0:26:59.200 Other way, I always get a little sensitive to that 0:26:59.359 --> 0:27:03.640 in fairness, urban Americans in rural America. But I think 0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:06.280 what you're trying to say, and what I would say 0:27:06.280 --> 0:27:08.520 when I would say this and I got and I'd. 0:27:08.320 --> 0:27:10.000 Fall into the same trap so I didn't mean. 0:27:09.920 --> 0:27:15.000 To which is it's really rural America that Democrats just 0:27:15.119 --> 0:27:18.720 stopped showing up in and it's showing up. This is 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:21.960 why they've been alienated from rural America. It's not that 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:25.560 they've like, if you'd show up, they'd have no problem. 0:27:25.600 --> 0:27:28.480 But this is where I think micro targeting and the 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:31.320 quote efficiency of use of dollars. Well, there's more Democrats 0:27:31.359 --> 0:27:32.760 in the urban area. You got to get out the 0:27:33.040 --> 0:27:35.200 got to get out the base vote. And you're like, yeah, 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:38.440 but if you shave three points in rural America, then 0:27:38.480 --> 0:27:41.200 you have a better shot at urban America, putting you 0:27:41.200 --> 0:27:42.080 over the finish line. 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:46.520 Yeah, I think that that has certainly been a miscalculation. First, 0:27:46.560 --> 0:27:48.439 I would say two things. I would say, you know, 0:27:48.520 --> 0:27:51.600 quote having done this and winning in very very red areas, 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:54.439 I say that the right candidate with the right message 0:27:54.480 --> 0:27:56.120 and the right work ethic, you can win in these 0:27:56.160 --> 0:27:59.359 red environments because I've got the electoral experience that that 0:27:59.359 --> 0:28:04.960 that I've I've done it, and the quality of candidacy 0:28:05.000 --> 0:28:08.080 can't be understated on that. I would also say that 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:11.879 part of the calculus is we do need candidates that 0:28:11.920 --> 0:28:13.840 are going to be willing to go out there and 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:17.640 go into all ninety nine counties and go into all 0:28:17.680 --> 0:28:21.120 these small communities. I think for far too long here 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:23.639 in Iowa, over the last ten years, we've had candidates say, well, 0:28:23.640 --> 0:28:26.680 we're going to maximize turnout in Polk County and Johnson 0:28:26.720 --> 0:28:28.919 County and Lynn County, and that's how we're going to win. 0:28:28.960 --> 0:28:31.199 But ultimately, where a rules state, and it may not 0:28:31.280 --> 0:28:35.520 make a fundamental difference in the outcomes in the statehouse races, 0:28:36.200 --> 0:28:37.920 but we've got to trim the margins and we've got 0:28:37.920 --> 0:28:39.160 to get out there and we've got to talk to 0:28:39.560 --> 0:28:43.480 Republicans in these and independence in these rural communities and 0:28:43.600 --> 0:28:46.960 explain why we're different. But we certainly can do that. 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:50.160 I mean, we have the opportunity. In the messaging I've 0:28:50.160 --> 0:28:51.000 been able to prove it. 0:28:51.560 --> 0:28:56.600 You've already sort of touched on this issue that I 0:28:56.680 --> 0:28:58.680 sort of discovered in twenty. 0:29:00.200 --> 0:29:02.560 Gosh, I think it was. It was I did a whole. 0:29:02.760 --> 0:29:04.600 I think it was in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, 0:29:04.640 --> 0:29:07.600 we went out to eastern Iowa to talk about sort 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:10.360 of what happened to you know, where did all the 0:29:10.360 --> 0:29:13.920 Democrats go in eastern Iowa? And I was in Decora 0:29:14.680 --> 0:29:17.440 and in some of these towns, and most of what 0:29:17.480 --> 0:29:20.400 we heard was simply, you know, the only Democrat that 0:29:20.440 --> 0:29:23.160 showed up in twenty twenty was Pete Bouda Diute. You know, 0:29:23.200 --> 0:29:25.920 nobody else did. And you're like, well, no, wonder he overperformed, right, 0:29:26.040 --> 0:29:28.480 you know. Now there was sort of a comfort level 0:29:28.480 --> 0:29:31.720 for him. He was already a Midwesterner, so there was this, 0:29:32.000 --> 0:29:33.880 you know, and he was sort of a fish out 0:29:33.880 --> 0:29:36.400 of water in South Bend. And when you start out 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:38.640 as thinking of yourself as a fish out of water, 0:29:38.720 --> 0:29:41.600 you sometimes overwork, right, And so he went to all 0:29:41.680 --> 0:29:44.880 these places. But the other thing I discovered was there 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:47.120 was a lot of bullishness that well, Democrats are going 0:29:47.160 --> 0:29:48.760 to be able to make a comeback because of what 0:29:48.800 --> 0:29:52.360 was happening in the schools. And it comes to the 0:29:52.400 --> 0:29:56.959 sort of the choicification. I guess of pub of public 0:29:56.960 --> 0:29:59.520 schools all over the country. I was sort of following 0:29:59.520 --> 0:30:02.080 a blue print that Florida has in some of these 0:30:02.120 --> 0:30:06.080 other states in the South. And the problem that I 0:30:06.120 --> 0:30:09.360 think Texas Republicans are running into Iowa Republicans are running 0:30:09.360 --> 0:30:13.040 into is school choice sounds great, but when you live 0:30:13.160 --> 0:30:15.440 where the closest school is thirty is within, you know, 0:30:15.600 --> 0:30:17.360 the next clos to school is thirty miles away, what 0:30:17.480 --> 0:30:20.120 choice do you have? And so suddenly you're not fixing 0:30:20.120 --> 0:30:22.920 my school, but you've given me choice to go find 0:30:22.920 --> 0:30:26.120 an alternative thirty miles away or I have to homeschool 0:30:26.120 --> 0:30:30.640 my kids. Walk me through the choicification of the Iowa 0:30:30.680 --> 0:30:33.560 public school system right now and how it did work 0:30:33.600 --> 0:30:34.440 and how it's working. 0:30:34.320 --> 0:30:34.840 At the moment. 0:30:36.280 --> 0:30:39.240 Yeah, this is certainly it was a point of personal 0:30:39.440 --> 0:30:43.120 pride for all Iowans. We were number one in education. 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:46.280 Always Massachusetts in the east, Iowa and the Midwest, and 0:30:46.320 --> 0:30:48.120 I think it would be like get out West. 0:30:48.240 --> 0:30:49.880 Those were always the three big, you know. 0:30:50.400 --> 0:30:53.360 Great states for public schools, and this is why people 0:30:53.360 --> 0:30:55.960 were moving here. Our test scores were the highest in 0:30:56.000 --> 0:30:59.440 the nation, and we prioritize that even when we put 0:30:59.480 --> 0:31:00.560 out our state quarter. 0:31:01.080 --> 0:31:03.840 It was it was about the quality of our education. 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:08.800 And now, unfortunately, we have seen a precipitous drop and 0:31:08.920 --> 0:31:10.920 now we're down to the middle of the pack on 0:31:11.000 --> 0:31:13.520 this issue. Depending on the metric you're using, twenty six 0:31:13.640 --> 0:31:16.400 or even thirty two, what's the drops. 0:31:16.040 --> 0:31:18.560 We spend it on testing, it's un testing and all 0:31:18.680 --> 0:31:19.440 across the board. 0:31:19.960 --> 0:31:22.960 Yeah, yeah, tes testing scores predominantly is where you're seeing it. 0:31:23.000 --> 0:31:25.040 But one of the reasons is because we're no longer 0:31:25.080 --> 0:31:27.800 prioritizing this or funding this. We now spend twelve hundred 0:31:27.840 --> 0:31:32.040 dollars less than the national average per pupil here in 0:31:32.080 --> 0:31:35.600 Iowa and in the Iowa legislature. Unfortunately, now with what 0:31:35.640 --> 0:31:38.000 we've seen with vouchers, last year, we gave our public 0:31:38.000 --> 0:31:41.080 schools a two percent increase and we gave our private 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:45.560 schools a forty four percent increase in funding. And in 0:31:46.280 --> 0:31:48.560 what you're seeing is you're seeing rural schools that are 0:31:48.640 --> 0:31:53.920 legitimately struggling and closing and it I mean, it's it's 0:31:54.520 --> 0:31:57.680 it's very very serious. When these rural communities, you only 0:31:57.680 --> 0:32:01.240 have really four pillars of these rural community and that 0:32:01.280 --> 0:32:04.560 would be your rural pharmacies, which are closing, and then 0:32:04.560 --> 0:32:07.160 you're seeing rural schools closing due to the lack of funding, 0:32:07.200 --> 0:32:08.920 and we're giving private schools and there are no private 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:10.840 schools in these rural communities. 0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:14.120 No, And what you potentially do is you you almost 0:32:14.160 --> 0:32:18.680 incentivize some bad actors who try to open up sort 0:32:18.720 --> 0:32:23.239 of you know, essentially government funded private schooling where they 0:32:23.240 --> 0:32:24.080 get tax. 0:32:23.840 --> 0:32:24.720 Breaks and all this stuff. 0:32:24.720 --> 0:32:26.880 They grab the money and they don't give your kid 0:32:26.880 --> 0:32:29.240 a good education and there's nobody there to make sure 0:32:29.240 --> 0:32:32.680 they're following the rules. Or you get parents start homeschooling, 0:32:33.720 --> 0:32:36.200 and that's hard. 0:32:35.880 --> 0:32:36.080 You know. 0:32:36.200 --> 0:32:38.880 I think many a parent wants to do that well 0:32:38.920 --> 0:32:41.440 and in a dream world in some ways somebody you know, 0:32:42.000 --> 0:32:45.160 But it's not as easy as you make it out 0:32:45.160 --> 0:32:47.680 to me. And I admire those that do it, but 0:32:47.720 --> 0:32:48.200 it's hard. 0:32:48.800 --> 0:32:53.040 It ain't easy, absolutely, and there are so many rural 0:32:53.520 --> 0:32:57.720 communities now that are struggling with this. And even more 0:32:57.720 --> 0:33:02.360 egregiously is that we can't audit the schools and so 0:33:02.760 --> 0:33:05.920 there's no regulation on what they teach. There's no regulation 0:33:06.000 --> 0:33:08.280 in terms of it. It's your tax dollars being used there. 0:33:08.320 --> 0:33:12.200 You go your tax dollars and yet then there's no 0:33:12.360 --> 0:33:15.880 standard on testing. They can spend the money how they want. 0:33:15.920 --> 0:33:18.120 They can spend it on pupils, they can spend it 0:33:18.200 --> 0:33:22.160 on football equipment if they want. And then most most 0:33:22.160 --> 0:33:25.400 egregiously for me, is there's no discrimination policies in place, 0:33:25.680 --> 0:33:27.640 and so if a kid needs an IEP or he 0:33:27.720 --> 0:33:30.840 has a visible disability or whatever his situation is, the 0:33:30.880 --> 0:33:33.320 private schools can say no, sorry, we can't take you, 0:33:33.560 --> 0:33:36.320 which just puts that onus more on the public schools 0:33:36.360 --> 0:33:40.640 which are having less and less funding, right and department. 0:33:40.800 --> 0:33:42.520 This is one thing people always ask, what does the 0:33:42.600 --> 0:33:48.120 National Department of Education do help public schools with the 0:33:48.200 --> 0:33:51.640 funding so that they can provide services to students who 0:33:51.680 --> 0:33:53.520 may need some extra help in order. 0:33:53.400 --> 0:33:56.240 To get particularly with those with disabilities and special education. 0:33:56.840 --> 0:33:59.880 It's always been a foundational support. So you get rid 0:33:59.920 --> 0:34:02.080 of this, and where's this going to go? I mean, 0:34:02.360 --> 0:34:05.480 I hate to be politically cynical about this, but I 0:34:05.520 --> 0:34:08.120 think this has opened the door to having a different 0:34:08.160 --> 0:34:11.440 conversation in rural America than Democrats have been having over 0:34:11.480 --> 0:34:12.160 the last decade. 0:34:13.480 --> 0:34:16.759 Yeah, And I mean this is just kind of, unfortunately 0:34:17.080 --> 0:34:20.520 a perfect storm in these rural communities where you're just 0:34:20.880 --> 0:34:23.440 you're you're seeing young people not stick around. As I 0:34:23.480 --> 0:34:26.960 was saying before, you've got four pillars in these rural communities. 0:34:27.000 --> 0:34:30.120 You've got the rural pharmacy. That's an interesting issue, you're right, 0:34:30.200 --> 0:34:33.799 I mean rural pharmacies. They're being hurt by the PBMs. 0:34:33.920 --> 0:34:37.160 And then you've got your public your schools which are 0:34:37.160 --> 0:34:39.240 closing because of the lack of funding, and we're putting 0:34:39.239 --> 0:34:41.759 the funding towards the private schools where you're only in 0:34:41.800 --> 0:34:45.320 the urban areas. And then you've got rural hospitals. And 0:34:45.360 --> 0:34:47.879 in a place like Iowa, you've got two and five 0:34:48.000 --> 0:34:50.720 is ones in the rural communities that are on Medicaid. 0:34:50.960 --> 0:34:53.960 In the last five years, we have closed thirty one 0:34:54.040 --> 0:34:57.560 nursing home skilled nursing facilities in rural hospitals due to 0:34:57.640 --> 0:35:01.080 lack of reimbursement and lack of FUNDA. It is really 0:35:01.160 --> 0:35:05.160 hurting these these communities. Then you exasperate that with what 0:35:05.160 --> 0:35:07.600 we're seeing on the tariffs and the commodities prices, where 0:35:07.600 --> 0:35:09.960 these you know, we're losing our family farms and you're 0:35:09.960 --> 0:35:13.239 seeing farm suicides and foreclosure rates that are going up. 0:35:13.280 --> 0:35:16.440 I mean, we really is moving us into almost a 0:35:16.440 --> 0:35:18.840 a second farm crisis of what we saw in the 0:35:18.880 --> 0:35:19.840 in the nineteen eighties. 0:35:19.880 --> 0:35:22.600 Unfortunately, where are you on tariffs? 0:35:22.640 --> 0:35:26.319 Because I think that you know, in Iowa famously, you know, 0:35:27.360 --> 0:35:30.640 you know, ag tariffs were you'd be in one some 0:35:30.640 --> 0:35:32.560 some politicians would be on one side of the aisle 0:35:32.640 --> 0:35:35.719 for against all tariffs on ag because that was such 0:35:35.719 --> 0:35:39.120 a huge export. But then on manufacturing you'd have you know, 0:35:39.160 --> 0:35:42.240 particularly a Tom Harkett might be for some of these tariffs. 0:35:42.280 --> 0:35:46.279 Maybe it's on washing machines or dishwashers because those things 0:35:46.360 --> 0:35:48.919 used to be made. You know, there was a time 0:35:48.920 --> 0:35:52.160 that certain towns were known not by their name but 0:35:52.200 --> 0:35:55.480 by the plant. Right, Oh, it's a maytag town, right, 0:35:55.560 --> 0:35:57.160 you know you'd have that, or oh it's a it's 0:35:57.200 --> 0:36:00.040 a popcorn town, or it's a popcorn popping plant. And 0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:05.800 where are you? You know, do you think all tariffs 0:36:05.800 --> 0:36:08.839 are bad? When are there tariffs that are out there 0:36:08.840 --> 0:36:13.680 that you support? Where do you put yourself on the issue. 0:36:13.719 --> 0:36:15.440 No, I would tend to agree with you. I mean, 0:36:15.600 --> 0:36:17.319 certainly not all tariffs are bad. I think you can 0:36:17.320 --> 0:36:20.080 make the argument that at least in the manufacturing sector, 0:36:20.719 --> 0:36:23.920 to have some level of parody or competition they can 0:36:23.960 --> 0:36:26.319 be valuable, but certainly what we're seeing right now with 0:36:26.400 --> 0:36:30.120 this chaotic terriffs where you know you're seeing shifts from 0:36:30.400 --> 0:36:32.399 from day to day, and you know one day it's 0:36:32.440 --> 0:36:36.520 one hundred percent tariffs, and they have really really hurt 0:36:36.560 --> 0:36:40.600 the gag communities, and that's being doubled down where Trump's 0:36:40.600 --> 0:36:44.080 giving forty billion dollars to Argentina to bail them out 0:36:44.120 --> 0:36:47.279 so that the Chinese can buy their soybeans. Meanwhile, our 0:36:47.320 --> 0:36:49.840 farmers are left there to hold the bag and they're 0:36:49.920 --> 0:36:53.560 upside down on their soybeans. It really really is hurting 0:36:53.880 --> 0:36:56.319 our bag communities. And I think that when I'm out 0:36:56.320 --> 0:36:58.120 there and I've been out to a lot of farms, 0:36:58.360 --> 0:37:02.279 we're hearing farmers that are really really concerned that we've 0:37:02.320 --> 0:37:04.319 already lost a majority of our family farms and what 0:37:04.360 --> 0:37:08.440 few remain out there. Yeah, suicide rates are three times 0:37:08.480 --> 0:37:10.720 higher than what they were over the last two years. 0:37:10.800 --> 0:37:14.239 Foreclosure rates are double what they were last year. It's 0:37:14.320 --> 0:37:16.640 it's moving us towards the farm crisis, and this has 0:37:16.680 --> 0:37:19.920 been a self inflicted womb due to this chaotic nature 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:22.359 of the tariffs. I believe that tariffs should be as 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:25.360 the as the founders of the Constitution intended with the 0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:28.280 power of the legislature much like the power of the purse. 0:37:29.480 --> 0:37:32.680 So one of the things that frustrates longtime Iowan's is 0:37:32.719 --> 0:37:35.600 the idea it's a shrinking population state, right that the 0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:38.759 I remember when when you know that there have been 0:37:38.840 --> 0:37:40.880 multiple governors who said, you know, my goal is to 0:37:41.360 --> 0:37:45.399 you know, I'm during the heyday of the public school system. Hey, 0:37:45.400 --> 0:37:48.319 we're educating all these kids and they're leaving. You know, 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:52.680 they're they're leaving the state. They're not staying. What's the 0:37:53.040 --> 0:37:55.600 what's your plan to get more folks to want to 0:37:55.640 --> 0:37:58.920 stay in Iowa? What's the job what's the job market 0:37:58.920 --> 0:38:01.600 looked like the next thirty years in Iowa? And what 0:38:01.719 --> 0:38:04.520 is what should Iowa be an investing in to make 0:38:04.560 --> 0:38:07.279 it to make it such a because it's always been 0:38:07.280 --> 0:38:10.319 seen as a pretty livable, right, it's a it's a 0:38:10.480 --> 0:38:13.400 very livable place to moin in particular, so you know, 0:38:13.400 --> 0:38:16.400 if you're looking for a small city but want city life, 0:38:16.920 --> 0:38:19.160 the Moin's about as affordable a place as you can 0:38:19.200 --> 0:38:23.600 live in the Midwest. But what's the next what are 0:38:23.640 --> 0:38:25.440 the next thirty years of jobs look like in Iowa? 0:38:25.480 --> 0:38:27.800 Because I do think Iowans are nervous about the future. 0:38:29.120 --> 0:38:30.920 Yeah, they certainly are. 0:38:31.000 --> 0:38:32.959 Unfortunately, we're the only state in the last one hundred 0:38:33.040 --> 0:38:36.319 years that hasn't doubled in population size. And even for 0:38:36.400 --> 0:38:39.000 the for the young people that we have, oftentimes we're 0:38:39.080 --> 0:38:41.799 educating them and then they go on. The first thing 0:38:41.880 --> 0:38:44.320 is we've we've we've got to start going the right direction, 0:38:44.680 --> 0:38:47.319 particularly in rural communities. As I said, you know, we've 0:38:47.400 --> 0:38:49.680 we've got to have a healthcare system in place. We're 0:38:49.719 --> 0:38:53.240 basically dead last right now in Iowa for every single 0:38:53.280 --> 0:38:56.200 economic metric, I mean, for all intents and purposes, we're 0:38:56.239 --> 0:38:59.320 already in a recession. We've seen a six percent reduction 0:38:59.840 --> 0:39:04.360 in GDP, We're forty ninth in terms of economic growth, 0:39:04.400 --> 0:39:09.440 forty eight out of fifty in terms of individual purchasing 0:39:10.239 --> 0:39:14.480 in economic growth. By every single healthcare metric, we're basically 0:39:14.520 --> 0:39:20.359 dead last. Rural hospitals, obgyns, mental health providers, mental health reimbursements. 0:39:20.640 --> 0:39:24.120 You have to have these systems in place to want 0:39:24.440 --> 0:39:27.480 for this to be a livable situation as well if 0:39:27.520 --> 0:39:29.359 you want people to move here to Iowa. So I agree, 0:39:29.400 --> 0:39:31.440 it's a beautiful state when all around the world. I 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:36.480 love Iowa. It's great, Iowa nice, it's affordable even, you know, 0:39:37.280 --> 0:39:41.400 it's amazing place. But you've got to have these systems 0:39:41.400 --> 0:39:44.359 in place, from education and healthcare, and also what we're 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:47.319 seeing with some of these social issues where we've moved 0:39:47.320 --> 0:39:50.400 to a six week abortion ban and in some of 0:39:50.400 --> 0:39:54.120 these culture war issues where we've just not made this 0:39:54.239 --> 0:39:58.719 state very welcoming to a lot of individuals. And you know, 0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:01.880 it's interesting doing on immigration as wells it made it 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:04.320 less welcoming to immigrant communities. 0:40:06.280 --> 0:40:09.360 There's a reason results matter more than promises, just like 0:40:09.440 --> 0:40:12.520 there's a reason Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury 0:40:12.600 --> 0:40:15.360 law firm. 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You know, it's 0:41:08.960 --> 0:41:11.960 interesting with with Iowa and how it's gotten sideways and 0:41:12.000 --> 0:41:16.080 cultural issues is that, you know, my father grew up 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:19.160 the you know, the Midwest Methodist, which means, you know, 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:24.359 I always joke Methodists are you know, people who are 0:41:24.480 --> 0:41:27.080 Christians but don't want to talk about it. You know, 0:41:27.200 --> 0:41:29.719 but but you know, meaning like you know, your your 0:41:29.719 --> 0:41:30.640 faith is your faith. 0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:31.800 You don't wear it on your sleeve. 0:41:32.880 --> 0:41:34.960 What you wear in your sleeve is your values, right, 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:37.640 it's it's you know, your values is being good to 0:41:37.680 --> 0:41:41.960 your neighbor, empathy, things like that. And yet there's this 0:41:42.040 --> 0:41:45.239 perception that i was a very religious state. And yet 0:41:45.280 --> 0:41:47.919 I did see something recently that compared to the rest 0:41:47.920 --> 0:41:51.359 of the Midwest, it is actually has the least. It's 0:41:51.520 --> 0:41:55.879 it's on a downward trajectory of people that go every 0:41:55.880 --> 0:41:59.279 week to some sort of religious service. What is What 0:41:59.360 --> 0:42:01.560 have you discussed out there campaigning statewide? 0:42:04.400 --> 0:42:07.520 I mean, most states are on a downward trajectory in 0:42:07.880 --> 0:42:09.960 terms of that, but I still think that I was 0:42:10.680 --> 0:42:13.640 is a religious state. I think the most recent numbers 0:42:13.719 --> 0:42:16.759 I had seen was sixty five percent of Violins still 0:42:17.000 --> 0:42:19.600 a ten church on a regular basis or would define 0:42:19.640 --> 0:42:26.240 themselves as Christian or members of religious organization. And certainly 0:42:26.239 --> 0:42:29.680 that's something that I'm going to incorporate in this campaign. 0:42:29.760 --> 0:42:33.600 I'm somebody that has born and raised and proudly spiritual 0:42:33.600 --> 0:42:36.440 and would define myself as is a Christian in the 0:42:36.480 --> 0:42:37.640 true sense of the word. 0:42:38.160 --> 0:42:40.160 And I'm going to go out there. 0:42:39.760 --> 0:42:43.280 There's three things that Republicans that have, as I feel 0:42:43.320 --> 0:42:45.560 like they've had a stranglehold on, that they're not going 0:42:45.600 --> 0:42:47.640 to be able to use against me. The first is 0:42:47.680 --> 0:42:51.480 hard work, because every single part of my story from 0:42:51.520 --> 0:42:55.880 overcoming economic situations, the healthcare situations that I've gone through, 0:42:56.560 --> 0:42:59.120 also to win Gold Medals, but then even to win 0:42:59.200 --> 0:43:01.880 my election, a very very deeply read district. 0:43:02.080 --> 0:43:02.840 Going out there. 0:43:02.719 --> 0:43:05.920 Every single day and dragging my wheelchair upstairs has been 0:43:05.960 --> 0:43:11.520 about hard work. The second is I think that Republicans 0:43:11.560 --> 0:43:13.480 have felt like they've been able to have a stranglehold 0:43:13.600 --> 0:43:17.799 on patriotism. And I'm someone that is deeply patriotic. I 0:43:17.840 --> 0:43:20.920 love Iowa, I love my country. I have proudly represented 0:43:20.920 --> 0:43:24.000 the United States in four Paralympic Games and one gold medals, 0:43:24.040 --> 0:43:25.839 and so I don't think they'll be able to use that. 0:43:25.880 --> 0:43:28.279 And the third is, as we were talking about with this, 0:43:28.840 --> 0:43:31.520 is on spirituality or on religion. I feel like there 0:43:31.560 --> 0:43:34.360 has been this push that if you're a Democrat you 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:38.160 cannot be religious or spiritual, if you're a Christian, you 0:43:38.280 --> 0:43:41.279 must have to be Republican. And I'm going to go 0:43:41.320 --> 0:43:44.359 out there and actively talk about, you know, Matthew twenty 0:43:44.440 --> 0:43:47.719 five forty, and that the true message of Jesus is 0:43:47.840 --> 0:43:50.840 taking care of the most vulnerable in society and the 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:53.279 poor and the elderly and the disabled. It's one of 0:43:53.280 --> 0:43:54.719 the main reasons why I am a Democrat. 0:43:55.600 --> 0:43:58.600 Let me go through a few questions that you're look, 0:43:58.800 --> 0:44:02.760 you know that could get WEAPONI against you, fair, unfair. 0:44:02.840 --> 0:44:10.239 The issue of trans sports and access? What what what 0:44:10.320 --> 0:44:13.400 should that? What's fair to the trans community when it 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:17.719 comes to access to organized sports, school, college, et cetera. 0:44:17.800 --> 0:44:20.160 I mean I say this and I feel like you 0:44:20.280 --> 0:44:22.960 actually have a in some ways of a better you know, 0:44:23.360 --> 0:44:25.560 you benefited from having access. 0:44:25.960 --> 0:44:27.920 For for adaptive sports. 0:44:27.960 --> 0:44:30.000 So what's the right I don't know if there's a 0:44:30.040 --> 0:44:31.920 right answer. What do you think is the right way 0:44:31.920 --> 0:44:32.879 to think about this issue? 0:44:32.920 --> 0:44:34.920 I mean the first is I think we need to 0:44:34.920 --> 0:44:37.799 be empathetic on this issue. I mean, the children that 0:44:37.840 --> 0:44:40.200 are involved in this, they're they're really in a no 0:44:40.320 --> 0:44:42.719 win situation. Is somebody that you know has gone through 0:44:42.760 --> 0:44:44.960 a lot of bullying and adversity in my life, you know, 0:44:45.000 --> 0:44:46.480 being different with the disability. 0:44:46.880 --> 0:44:48.640 We need to recognize. 0:44:48.040 --> 0:44:52.000 That, you know, sports is a unique area of dedicated 0:44:52.239 --> 0:44:54.160 a lot of my life to this, and we certainly 0:44:54.200 --> 0:44:58.319 need fairness and involved in this. However, I would say that, 0:44:58.960 --> 0:45:01.080 you know, I have personal experience with this. I actually 0:45:01.160 --> 0:45:04.000 I wanted to try out for my team in high 0:45:04.000 --> 0:45:07.360 school and play basketball, and yet there was an equipment 0:45:07.440 --> 0:45:11.120 rule that prevented me from being able to play. And 0:45:11.239 --> 0:45:15.000 yet it was not my congressman, or my mayor or 0:45:15.040 --> 0:45:18.160 my senator that was making the decision on this issue. 0:45:18.600 --> 0:45:23.320 It was the sports governing bodies. And so my position 0:45:23.400 --> 0:45:25.120 on this is that this should be decided by the 0:45:25.560 --> 0:45:27.200 sports governing bodies. 0:45:28.280 --> 0:45:30.839 And politicians shouldn't be involved in this conversation. I don't. 0:45:30.840 --> 0:45:31.120 I don't. 0:45:31.160 --> 0:45:32.879 I don't think my position is a United States senator 0:45:32.920 --> 0:45:35.520 I should be involved in this, that it should be 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:41.000 Should a high school principal have to make sports governing bodies? 0:45:41.000 --> 0:45:42.840 I don't think it should be left up to local control. 0:45:42.880 --> 0:45:44.800 I think you leave it up to sports governing bodies. 0:45:46.040 --> 0:45:51.640 Socialism versus capitalism. You know the excitement that the progressives 0:45:51.640 --> 0:45:54.480 have about the victory of Zoon Mamdani, he's a self 0:45:54.480 --> 0:46:00.799 described democratic socialist. There's the every political party claims they're 0:46:00.800 --> 0:46:02.839 a big tent when they have people in there that 0:46:02.840 --> 0:46:05.560 that they that not everybody agrees, and I get that, 0:46:06.800 --> 0:46:09.200 But where are you on socialism versus capitalism? And I 0:46:09.239 --> 0:46:12.719 ask a plurality the most recent NBC News poll, it's 0:46:12.719 --> 0:46:14.799 a poll that I'm very familiar with, and I know 0:46:14.840 --> 0:46:19.600 it's really well done. Democrats were the only group that 0:46:19.680 --> 0:46:22.239 had a net positive rating on socialism and a net 0:46:22.280 --> 0:46:27.440 negative rating on capitalism. A Why do you think that 0:46:27.560 --> 0:46:29.759 is and where do you put yourself on that spectrum? 0:46:30.360 --> 0:46:32.960 Well, I would define myself as a capitalist. I think 0:46:33.000 --> 0:46:35.840 capitalism is the greatest vehicle ever devised by man to 0:46:35.840 --> 0:46:38.680 be able to generate capital. However, it's very inefficient at 0:46:38.719 --> 0:46:43.160 being able to divide that that capitalis. So I'm certainly 0:46:43.160 --> 0:46:48.040 not a las Fair capitalist. I think that you know, 0:46:48.080 --> 0:46:52.560 you need a regulated capitalism and a progressive taxation rate. 0:46:52.840 --> 0:46:56.279 I mean, honestly, when something's been fascinating to me, again 0:46:56.360 --> 0:46:58.600 representing very red district, and you talk, I'm not talking 0:46:58.760 --> 0:47:03.360 most exclusive Republicans, this whole entire MAGA movement make America 0:47:03.400 --> 0:47:05.840 Great Again. Well, what they're talking about with that is 0:47:05.880 --> 0:47:10.080 they're talking about America post World two, arguably at our zenith. 0:47:10.120 --> 0:47:13.799 And I'm sure and preaching the choir to you on this, 0:47:14.000 --> 0:47:17.320 but when you're talking about America post World two nineteen fifties, 0:47:17.640 --> 0:47:22.760 you're talking about the where we had the most amount 0:47:22.840 --> 0:47:26.319 of union membership and the strengths of our unions, and 0:47:26.320 --> 0:47:28.200 the unions built the middle class. But we also had 0:47:28.239 --> 0:47:31.440 the most progressive taxation rate. That was when the highest 0:47:31.480 --> 0:47:34.000 earners were paying a marginalized tax rate of ninety one 0:47:34.040 --> 0:47:38.799 percent and during the Eisenhearer administration and the largest corporations 0:47:38.840 --> 0:47:41.040 where we're paying fifty one percent, and we've eroded that 0:47:41.080 --> 0:47:44.600 we are literally living through a second Gilded Age right 0:47:44.600 --> 0:47:46.839 now in this country. And it has I mean all 0:47:46.880 --> 0:47:48.600 the way back to John Edwards when he talked about 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.520 we're living in two Americas, the haves and the have nots, 0:47:51.520 --> 0:47:52.359 and it was a. 0:47:52.280 --> 0:47:55.200 Bit of had that speech is funny when you think 0:47:55.239 --> 0:47:57.160 about that speech. He gave an four and oh eight 0:47:57.239 --> 0:47:59.680 constantly and being in Iowa and right, you heard it 0:47:59.719 --> 0:48:01.640 a millillion times. We all heard it. You know, we 0:48:01.680 --> 0:48:02.640 live into Americas. 0:48:03.560 --> 0:48:05.520 We are now, we are living in it's more. 0:48:05.760 --> 0:48:07.279 I was just going to say the speech, weirdly is 0:48:07.320 --> 0:48:08.480 more resident now than it was then. 0:48:09.040 --> 0:48:11.200 If you make over one hundred thousand dollars right now, 0:48:11.280 --> 0:48:12.680 I think you're feeling pretty good. 0:48:12.760 --> 0:48:15.319 And especially a little money in the stock market, you're like, hey, 0:48:15.360 --> 0:48:17.319 this is great, my savings is working for me. 0:48:17.360 --> 0:48:18.480 But what if you don't have savings? 0:48:18.520 --> 0:48:22.719 That's right, but you can't have a more disconnected The 0:48:22.800 --> 0:48:25.840 disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street can't be more clear, 0:48:26.080 --> 0:48:28.280 And it really is the haves and the have nots 0:48:28.320 --> 0:48:30.480 and and there's too many people right now in Iowa 0:48:30.560 --> 0:48:32.640 right now that are in the have not section that 0:48:32.760 --> 0:48:35.840 are struggling just to keep food on the table and 0:48:36.480 --> 0:48:41.040 pay their bills, and struggling with affordability of healthcare and 0:48:41.080 --> 0:48:43.919 pharmaceuticals and all of it. And this is what we need. 0:48:44.120 --> 0:48:46.560 We need a genuine prairie populist. And you know, we 0:48:46.680 --> 0:48:48.880 used to have prairie populous We no longer in the 0:48:48.920 --> 0:48:51.920 US have those because we don't have senators from Iowa 0:48:52.040 --> 0:48:54.960 and the Dakotas in Nebraska. And we need somebody that's 0:48:54.960 --> 0:48:56.720 going to go out there and fight for the people. 0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:01.160 The issue of climate change is thing that's really important 0:49:01.160 --> 0:49:04.680 to a certain subset. Look do I think it should 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:06.719 be important to a large subset of hepe, but but 0:49:06.960 --> 0:49:11.719 politically it's important to a smaller subset these days. And 0:49:11.719 --> 0:49:13.480 I'm sure you're getting plenty of advice that says, hey, 0:49:13.520 --> 0:49:16.640 don't you know these issues, these are not these are 0:49:16.680 --> 0:49:20.440 not front and center. And yet I think rising electric bills, 0:49:20.800 --> 0:49:22.799 the data centers that are that are going to be 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:25.719 going online, that are going to impact our ability to 0:49:26.360 --> 0:49:29.560 that are basically going to a competition for electricity, which 0:49:29.600 --> 0:49:34.840 is inevitably is going to raise rates. Is there is 0:49:34.880 --> 0:49:38.000 there a way to be sort of to to mitigate 0:49:38.080 --> 0:49:40.640 the damage coming from extreme weather and at the same 0:49:40.680 --> 0:49:44.279 time not look like you're coming out against the economy. 0:49:44.440 --> 0:49:47.479 If you get my drift, I think, like with most things, 0:49:47.480 --> 0:49:50.120 how I define myself as a common sense I mean, one, yeah, 0:49:50.120 --> 0:49:52.840 certainly climate change exists, and it's and it's happening in 0:49:53.200 --> 0:49:58.719 where you may see those effects most most directly is 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:01.360 actually in the Eag commune and where we're seeing. 0:50:01.160 --> 0:50:03.719 Okay, southwest Iowa, the flooding, you know, one hundred year 0:50:03.719 --> 0:50:05.120 floods that come every couple of years. 0:50:05.480 --> 0:50:09.080 It's it's it's it's the flooding, it's the extreme heat. 0:50:09.280 --> 0:50:12.600 And then when you're seeing these rain showers which which 0:50:12.600 --> 0:50:15.279 are just coming down in torrents and knocking down the 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:21.439 road crops. It is affecting us in a very very 0:50:21.480 --> 0:50:24.840 serious way. And also Iowa we have always been a 0:50:24.920 --> 0:50:28.960 leaders in renewable fuels, renewable energy. We have the second 0:50:28.960 --> 0:50:33.200 most amount of our energy grid that is from renewable energy, 0:50:33.239 --> 0:50:35.840 the most of the vast majority of that is through wind. 0:50:36.200 --> 0:50:38.160 And I think that there's a way where we can 0:50:38.320 --> 0:50:43.239 address this without uh without stifling growth or innovation or 0:50:43.400 --> 0:50:46.360 or the economy. And certainly one of the best ways 0:50:46.400 --> 0:50:49.120 is certainly through that through through wind energy, and continuing 0:50:49.160 --> 0:50:52.880 those incentives and subsidies through the through the federal government, 0:50:52.920 --> 0:50:53.879 certainly at the state level. 0:50:53.920 --> 0:50:56.840 Two, being a US senator means you're going to be 0:50:56.880 --> 0:50:59.680 dabbling more informed policy than the campaign itself will be about. 0:50:59.800 --> 0:51:02.239 And I imagine if a foreign policy issue comes up, 0:51:02.280 --> 0:51:04.759 it's going to be the issue of Israel. Where are 0:51:04.760 --> 0:51:06.680 you on US support for Israel? 0:51:08.320 --> 0:51:12.319 Yeah, I mean, certainly, I'm hopeful that we're going to 0:51:12.360 --> 0:51:16.520 see a peaceful end too that I think we're all 0:51:16.560 --> 0:51:20.120 hopeful for that. What has happened there in Gaza has 0:51:20.160 --> 0:51:24.080 been horrific. The amount of loss of life into civilians 0:51:24.080 --> 0:51:28.799 and two children, it really has been horrific. I think 0:51:28.800 --> 0:51:33.560 that Israel certainly had the right to defend itself, but 0:51:33.680 --> 0:51:37.400 I think that now the response is certainly, by any metric, 0:51:37.480 --> 0:51:41.440 been disproportionate. And I think that we need to make 0:51:41.480 --> 0:51:46.040 sure that any sort of support or arm cells comes 0:51:46.080 --> 0:51:49.759 with the insurance that we're adhering to international law. 0:51:50.840 --> 0:51:53.160 You put a little more a few more guardrails on arm. 0:51:53.120 --> 0:51:58.320 Sales, Yeah, particularly put particularly on offensive weapons. 0:51:59.480 --> 0:52:02.000 And as you crane our fight, what would you say 0:52:02.000 --> 0:52:03.840 to somebody, is that our fight? And if it is, 0:52:03.880 --> 0:52:07.759 why is it our fight? In your in your words, I. 0:52:07.719 --> 0:52:09.799 Think it's I think there's certainly a distinction there. 0:52:09.880 --> 0:52:13.040 I think that what's happened is they they have been 0:52:13.040 --> 0:52:18.320 invaded by but an authoritarian regime with with Putin, and 0:52:18.440 --> 0:52:21.000 I think that that is one of the examples where 0:52:21.040 --> 0:52:25.319 we should probably stand in in in and fight with 0:52:25.400 --> 0:52:27.640 them and uh, because. 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:29.239 That that is, that is a distinction they have. 0:52:29.440 --> 0:52:32.040 That is a sovereign country that has been invaded by 0:52:32.080 --> 0:52:35.480 a foreign power, and and that is that is an 0:52:35.480 --> 0:52:36.440 area where we should. 0:52:36.200 --> 0:52:39.839 Support one that might be a little closer to home. 0:52:40.920 --> 0:52:46.040 College sports, it is gone through dramatic changes. 0:52:46.360 --> 0:52:47.520 Iowa was on the halves. 0:52:47.960 --> 0:52:51.160 I worry that Iowa state, where my grandparents both got degrees. 0:52:51.239 --> 0:52:55.920 By the way, are their cyclone alums there They might 0:52:55.960 --> 0:52:58.839 be have nots because they're in one conference and I 0:52:59.040 --> 0:53:03.439 was in a super conference. There's always been this talk 0:53:03.480 --> 0:53:05.520 that Congress is going to have to get involved. 0:53:05.920 --> 0:53:07.200 Do you think they need to? 0:53:07.280 --> 0:53:11.560 And as somebody who's you know, look, you know, one 0:53:11.600 --> 0:53:13.000 side of the state loves their Hawkeyes. 0:53:13.000 --> 0:53:14.759 The other side of state loves their cyclones. But the 0:53:14.760 --> 0:53:19.200 fact is Iowa State is is is. 0:53:18.800 --> 0:53:24.040 Essentially getting punished because Texas left the Big twelve. Is 0:53:24.080 --> 0:53:25.840 there a role here for the Senate? And do you 0:53:25.880 --> 0:53:26.640 think there should be? 0:53:27.600 --> 0:53:29.160 Maybe I'm i'm I'm I'm torn. 0:53:29.200 --> 0:53:33.200 I maybe sports should be separate, But I do know 0:53:33.200 --> 0:53:35.400 the history of the n c a A. You know, 0:53:35.440 --> 0:53:37.359 one of the reasons why that was created was just 0:53:37.400 --> 0:53:41.400 because of with football, we are seeing all all the 0:53:41.480 --> 0:53:44.480 violence in the you know, unfortunate even loss of life 0:53:44.520 --> 0:53:45.120 early on. 0:53:45.040 --> 0:53:47.400 Sure they were trying to wring Teddy Roosevelt. It basically 0:53:47.400 --> 0:53:49.880 was created you know, by ted in order to. 0:53:49.880 --> 0:53:52.040 Say that that is exactly correct. I mean what we're 0:53:52.040 --> 0:53:53.759 seeing with the the n I L. I mean we 0:53:54.120 --> 0:53:56.080 this this is just turned into the las A fair 0:53:56.640 --> 0:53:59.880 there and there's no regulation, and I think honestly that 0:54:00.360 --> 0:54:02.959 they missed an opportunity. You know, my brother and sister 0:54:03.040 --> 0:54:05.719 both played professional able body basketball. My sister had a 0:54:05.719 --> 0:54:08.600 brief cup of coffee with the WNBA, and so they 0:54:08.680 --> 0:54:11.000 both were four year starters. My brother at Nebraska, my 0:54:11.080 --> 0:54:15.320 sister at L. Robert University, and they honestly, they struggled 0:54:15.320 --> 0:54:18.560 just to have money just to do their laundry. 0:54:19.000 --> 0:54:20.399 And we missed an. 0:54:20.320 --> 0:54:24.439 Opportunity there to find some happy medium where we could 0:54:24.440 --> 0:54:26.279 at least take care of our athletes or at least 0:54:26.320 --> 0:54:28.799 that they had some level of control over their name, 0:54:29.200 --> 0:54:31.840 image and likeness. But what we're seeing now, which is 0:54:32.000 --> 0:54:34.840 millions and millions of dollars dumping into this and no 0:54:34.920 --> 0:54:38.080 guardrails and no regulation, it may be a need for 0:54:38.760 --> 0:54:41.160 the Senate or for the government to get involved. 0:54:42.080 --> 0:54:45.759 Do you get a sense that Iowa State, basically partisans 0:54:45.760 --> 0:54:49.560 are nervous that you know that suddenly you know, if 0:54:49.600 --> 0:54:51.920 Io and Iowa State can't play every year because of 0:54:51.960 --> 0:54:54.200 the financial demands of the Big ten that want them 0:54:54.600 --> 0:54:57.799 playing in other games like that, that is something that's 0:54:57.880 --> 0:55:00.200 really good at tick Off Islands. 0:55:00.640 --> 0:55:03.279 Yeah, I just it's it's it's interesting. It's almost I 0:55:03.320 --> 0:55:06.960 feel like our college sports has almost moved into what 0:55:07.000 --> 0:55:10.359 we're seeing with UH, with our country and our economics, 0:55:10.680 --> 0:55:13.399 where we've got a handful we've got a handful of these, 0:55:13.440 --> 0:55:17.080 and with football in particular, it's the SEC and it's 0:55:17.080 --> 0:55:19.080 the Big ten that are the haves and they've got 0:55:19.120 --> 0:55:21.880 all the TV money and those are just going to 0:55:21.920 --> 0:55:24.200 continue to generate more and more fun. 0:55:24.360 --> 0:55:26.800 It's kind of a monopoly. It's not even a meritocracy. 0:55:26.880 --> 0:55:30.400 It feels like a monopoly. And that's of course what 0:55:30.400 --> 0:55:32.560 what what we're seeing here with AI and and and 0:55:32.560 --> 0:55:35.000 what we're seeing with the big tech in the moment. 0:55:35.280 --> 0:55:37.360 Correct And I mean look again to get back to 0:55:37.920 --> 0:55:41.080 us talking about the second as being in Gilded Age 0:55:41.120 --> 0:55:44.000 at least one hundred years ago. In the first guilded Age, Uh, 0:55:44.080 --> 0:55:46.520 we had legislators that stood, that stood up to this 0:55:46.680 --> 0:55:49.840 and to the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts and and the 0:55:49.920 --> 0:55:53.120 JP Morgans, and we we broke up standard oil, and 0:55:53.160 --> 0:55:56.439 we know, we recognize that these monopolies were no good 0:55:56.480 --> 0:55:59.520 for society to have one percent controlling all the economic wealth. 0:55:59.640 --> 0:56:02.040 And of that Gilded Age, we ended up coming up 0:56:02.040 --> 0:56:04.759 with Franklin Delan and Roosevelt and the New Deal and 0:56:04.840 --> 0:56:07.320 you know, the advent of social security and social safety 0:56:07.360 --> 0:56:10.600 nets for individuals. I'm hopeful that this is an opportunity 0:56:10.680 --> 0:56:13.759 here for us in this country, and particularly in this 0:56:13.960 --> 0:56:17.840 upcoming election, for us to make that shift and to 0:56:17.400 --> 0:56:20.560 to to actually have more people that are going to 0:56:20.600 --> 0:56:22.840 be genuine populous. They're going to fight for the middle 0:56:22.840 --> 0:56:26.359 class and fight for economic populism and we can change 0:56:26.360 --> 0:56:26.920 our country. 0:56:28.640 --> 0:56:30.840 All right, totally. 0:56:32.000 --> 0:56:34.760 Easy questions for you know, he's got the best. Who's 0:56:34.800 --> 0:56:36.920 who's going to be the best college basketball team from 0:56:36.920 --> 0:56:38.640 Iowa this year? Who's going to go the furthest in 0:56:38.680 --> 0:56:39.160 the tournament? 0:56:41.840 --> 0:56:45.040 I would probably guess the Hawk guys is that. 0:56:45.040 --> 0:56:48.600 That's yeah, i Awowa State doesn't have as good of 0:56:48.600 --> 0:56:49.120 a ball. 0:56:48.920 --> 0:56:49.520 Club this year. 0:56:49.880 --> 0:56:52.760 They may they they may it's. 0:56:52.800 --> 0:56:55.040 But I'll say who I think is going to go 0:56:55.120 --> 0:56:57.839 furthest in the in the tournament? I think the Hawk guys. 0:56:57.880 --> 0:57:00.879 However, I'll say this Drake Man, oh Man, They've they've 0:57:00.920 --> 0:57:03.600 had they've had good results with at least making the tournament, 0:57:03.600 --> 0:57:04.840 which is drink. 0:57:04.680 --> 0:57:05.200 And you and I. 0:57:05.400 --> 0:57:08.799 There's some pretty good supposed mid major teams right now, 0:57:08.800 --> 0:57:09.480 that is right. 0:57:09.520 --> 0:57:11.360 I mean half the battles just get into the tournament. 0:57:11.400 --> 0:57:14.279 I mean that that has been also interesting too with 0:57:14.400 --> 0:57:18.160 this shift in sports on the on the football you've 0:57:18.200 --> 0:57:20.200 seen more of but have and have not actually on 0:57:20.240 --> 0:57:22.040 the basketball side of things. I think you can make 0:57:22.080 --> 0:57:24.959 the argument where some of these teams, because you're seeing 0:57:25.080 --> 0:57:27.160 guys that are going in there and they're just staying 0:57:27.200 --> 0:57:29.160 for one year and then they're entering the transfer pooral 0:57:29.560 --> 0:57:31.880 or the better athletes are going off to the NBA. 0:57:32.040 --> 0:57:33.480 I think you can make the argument that some of 0:57:33.520 --> 0:57:35.840 these mid majors that are able to keep their guys 0:57:35.840 --> 0:57:38.240 for three or four or five years, they're able to 0:57:38.280 --> 0:57:41.480 compete in an interesting way against these you know, the 0:57:41.560 --> 0:57:42.240 Havels so. 0:57:42.520 --> 0:57:45.600 Seniors four years guys that grow up together for four 0:57:45.640 --> 0:57:47.480 years in the same program. One hundred percent. I'm a 0:57:47.760 --> 0:57:51.160 which at GW matters. That's that's our plan, that's the 0:57:51.240 --> 0:57:53.800 GW blueprint. That's how they think we can we can 0:57:53.880 --> 0:57:56.680 be the next you know, the next Gonzaga, the next 0:57:56.680 --> 0:58:00.160 Wichita State, right r that can pop in there. Let 0:58:00.200 --> 0:58:02.640 me get you out of here on this. What's uh 0:58:02.680 --> 0:58:05.000 on the NBA level? Who's your favorite basketball player to watch? 0:58:05.680 --> 0:58:09.400 Oh, I'm I'm a big fan of Jo Kich what 0:58:09.560 --> 0:58:10.400 he's been able to do. 0:58:10.400 --> 0:58:14.440 You like that, you like the the the high IQ player, right. 0:58:16.040 --> 0:58:19.520 I just kind of like unicorns. I just like watching 0:58:19.600 --> 0:58:22.920 anything at the very highest level. I'm a shooter, you know. 0:58:22.920 --> 0:58:24.640 I mean, I think I had said to you, I 0:58:24.640 --> 0:58:27.400 in my collegiate career four thousand career points sixty three 0:58:27.480 --> 0:58:28.320 points in the game. 0:58:28.800 --> 0:58:30.880 Uh so that was always my skill set. 0:58:30.920 --> 0:58:33.600 So watching somebody like Steph Curry that has been able 0:58:33.640 --> 0:58:37.040 to master that that unique skills the. 0:58:37.120 --> 0:58:39.800 Mayor Fred Hoiberg, right, he was a big shooter back 0:58:39.800 --> 0:58:40.280 in his day. 0:58:40.520 --> 0:58:42.280 Yeah, that's right, Yeah, of course. 0:58:42.320 --> 0:58:44.720 But I mean it's like these the viduals that are 0:58:44.720 --> 0:58:46.840 able to do it in a in a very unique 0:58:46.840 --> 0:58:49.320 way at a high level. In Yo Kich, particularly with 0:58:49.520 --> 0:58:53.440 his physical appearance and you know, as he's just kind 0:58:53.480 --> 0:58:56.800 of lumbering down the court, but that level of coordination 0:58:56.880 --> 0:58:59.880 that he that he has, it really is it's it's sensation. 0:59:00.080 --> 0:59:01.200 I really love watching him. 0:59:01.480 --> 0:59:03.600 It's such a high flying sport. To see him not 0:59:03.640 --> 0:59:06.400 get an inch off the ground is fantastic. It's my 0:59:06.520 --> 0:59:07.960 favorite gree I love that. 0:59:08.160 --> 0:59:12.760 Who's your goat for the NBA? Yeah? 0:59:12.840 --> 0:59:14.040 Who do you put in the goat? Do you have 0:59:14.040 --> 0:59:16.640 a goat? Do you have a hot take? Goat between 0:59:16.720 --> 0:59:20.520 Jordan Lebron, I got a hot take that involves Magic Johnson. 0:59:20.600 --> 0:59:23.480 But that's my hot take or you know. 0:59:23.480 --> 0:59:25.760 Well, here I will tell you my goat, but I'll 0:59:25.760 --> 0:59:28.000 tell you my Mount Rushmore, my goat without a doubt 0:59:28.040 --> 0:59:30.600 is Jordan. I mean as a kid watching growing up 0:59:30.680 --> 0:59:34.720 watching him play six championships, six and zero. But I 0:59:34.720 --> 0:59:36.720 also think you can make the argument for someone like 0:59:36.760 --> 0:59:40.400 Bill Russell eleven championships in thirteen years. I don't know 0:59:40.440 --> 0:59:44.240 if we'll ever see anything like that. Wilt Chamberlain. I mean, 0:59:44.360 --> 0:59:46.760 if you just look at the individual stat lines, he 0:59:46.920 --> 0:59:51.160 averaged fifty points in a season, scoring over one hundred. 0:59:50.920 --> 0:59:52.800 And was one of the greatest volleyball players of all 0:59:52.840 --> 0:59:54.160 time as well, by the way, without a doubt. 0:59:54.200 --> 0:59:56.120 I mean, this was a guy that for a season 0:59:56.320 --> 0:59:59.959 actually averaged more minutes than even an NBA game has average, 1:00:00.120 --> 1:00:04.760 like forty eight point three minutes in the game. Those 1:00:04.800 --> 1:00:06.960 would be those would be the ones that would be 1:00:07.120 --> 1:00:07.760 up there for me. 1:00:08.440 --> 1:00:11.840 Yeah, well, Josh, this was great. Good luck out there. 1:00:12.040 --> 1:00:15.520 I mean, are you any questions quickly hit me up. 1:00:16.600 --> 1:00:18.919 What do you think about Iowa? I mean, like you, 1:00:18.960 --> 1:00:20.600 I mean, you're you're You're as close to this as 1:00:21.160 --> 1:00:24.479 is almost anybody. You're seeing this unique opportunity that we've got, 1:00:24.720 --> 1:00:28.160 you know, first time since nineteen sixty eight, open governor's race, 1:00:28.240 --> 1:00:31.760 open race, two open congressional races. In Trump's first midterm, 1:00:32.040 --> 1:00:34.200 we won three of the four and we've got a 1:00:34.200 --> 1:00:36.840 great candidate with somebody like Rob sand that is similar 1:00:36.840 --> 1:00:39.520 to me in terms of leaning into the middle. What 1:00:39.800 --> 1:00:41.480 do you think about Iowa and us being the center 1:00:41.520 --> 1:00:44.120 of the political universe or this being a fundamental change 1:00:44.120 --> 1:00:44.880 in our electorate. 1:00:45.360 --> 1:00:47.760 Well, I think it is one of those where if 1:00:48.720 --> 1:00:50.960 if the Democrats want to be a national party, and 1:00:51.000 --> 1:00:53.200 I would argue that they've not been a national party 1:00:53.440 --> 1:00:57.640 since Obama and the and this sort of the got 1:00:57.640 --> 1:01:02.400 taken over by a consultant class that got I've always said, 1:01:02.400 --> 1:01:07.320 you know, analytics was a you know, the analytics revolution 1:01:07.520 --> 1:01:10.479 that hit politics and sports and all this stuff where 1:01:10.880 --> 1:01:14.880 people let data drive decisions. Sometimes data can be exclusive, 1:01:15.040 --> 1:01:20.080 meaning it excludes people because it's efficiencies that analytics is 1:01:20.120 --> 1:01:24.080 looking for. Well, we found out the efficiencies of baseball 1:01:24.080 --> 1:01:26.640 made the game suck and so we had to like 1:01:26.760 --> 1:01:31.000 get a and the efficiencies of politics actually made got 1:01:31.080 --> 1:01:35.400 rid of persuasion. We start the art of persuasion. Iowa 1:01:35.520 --> 1:01:39.240 only works with persuasion, right. It's why the caucuses, I 1:01:39.280 --> 1:01:42.800 think are such a unique thing and why Iowans took it. Seriously, 1:01:43.240 --> 1:01:46.600 I'm sorry, the Democratic Party only views Iowa through an 1:01:46.640 --> 1:01:51.560 identity issue, and I think that is what offended some islands. 1:01:51.640 --> 1:01:55.520 I really believe that that when the Democratic Party nationally said, 1:01:56.120 --> 1:01:58.800 you know, I was too white, Well what do you 1:01:58.840 --> 1:02:01.240 think that said to the resident? 1:02:01.400 --> 1:02:03.320 You don't want us in your club? Okay? 1:02:03.960 --> 1:02:06.480 And then you wonder, oh, well, now I was out 1:02:06.480 --> 1:02:10.000 of range. Well you just told eighty percent of the 1:02:10.040 --> 1:02:12.880 population you didn't want them involved because they were too white. 1:02:13.520 --> 1:02:16.280 It was a strange, and I know that isn't I 1:02:16.360 --> 1:02:20.880 understood what the DNC was trying to say. But anyway, look, 1:02:20.920 --> 1:02:24.800 I'm I think that if not now, when, right, if 1:02:24.840 --> 1:02:28.080 the Iowa Democrats can't make a comeback in this environment, 1:02:28.400 --> 1:02:34.080 under these circumstances, with everything that's there, right, if it 1:02:34.120 --> 1:02:37.440 doesn't happen, the party's brand is even in worse shape 1:02:37.440 --> 1:02:40.360 than I thought. I look at Iowa as this test 1:02:41.040 --> 1:02:44.160 if the Democrats are and I most look, I'm a believer. 1:02:44.960 --> 1:02:48.280 I live in history, So everything is cyclical, right, It 1:02:48.520 --> 1:02:51.080 just is. You know, Harkin first got elected in the 1:02:51.080 --> 1:02:54.160 seventy four Watergate class, right, and it was Iowa had 1:02:54.200 --> 1:02:57.440 a very Republican reputation before then. And that's sort of 1:02:57.480 --> 1:03:01.080 when sort of the Iowa Democrats started to to get 1:03:01.120 --> 1:03:01.880 more competitive. 1:03:02.400 --> 1:03:05.120 But it is a if. 1:03:05.440 --> 1:03:09.200 If there isn't success this time, then it is not 1:03:09.520 --> 1:03:12.240 your fault or Rob's fault, or or the fault of 1:03:12.280 --> 1:03:15.280 the folks on the ground. It really is the national brand, 1:03:15.480 --> 1:03:19.920 right if you can, if you can rebrand an Iowa 1:03:20.000 --> 1:03:23.000 Democrat is something that isn't associated with the national party. 1:03:23.480 --> 1:03:28.400 I think you have a boxer's chance because if you 1:03:28.600 --> 1:03:30.360 but you have to show up everywhere in the beauty 1:03:30.360 --> 1:03:33.960 of Iowa. Is it's kind of expected, right, the ninety 1:03:34.040 --> 1:03:37.720 nine counties, the fact that everybody that covers not Iowa politics, 1:03:37.760 --> 1:03:38.840 even if you're not from Iowa. 1:03:39.040 --> 1:03:40.440 You know there are ninety nine counties. 1:03:40.520 --> 1:03:42.800 Do you know how many other states people know that 1:03:42.800 --> 1:03:45.640 they're the number of counties are in that state outside 1:03:45.640 --> 1:03:46.520 of people that live. 1:03:46.400 --> 1:03:48.880 In that state. Nowhere right, Iowa has it. 1:03:48.960 --> 1:03:52.440 And so I do think, you know, for whatever reason, 1:03:52.480 --> 1:03:54.320 you just had a and I think if you look 1:03:54.360 --> 1:03:56.720 at the leadership of the Democratic Party, it's too coastal. 1:03:57.560 --> 1:03:57.760 Right. 1:03:58.200 --> 1:04:00.680 It wasn't that long ago that the Democratic Party was 1:04:01.480 --> 1:04:04.200 first that had a Senate Democratic leader from South Dakota, 1:04:04.800 --> 1:04:06.919 and then it was replaced by a Senate Democratic leader 1:04:06.920 --> 1:04:10.640 who was born and raised in rural Nevada. Like, literally 1:04:10.680 --> 1:04:13.320 the towns are outside of Vegas. There are five of 1:04:13.360 --> 1:04:15.720 them that exist, right, I'm being a little facetious, So 1:04:17.080 --> 1:04:19.960 you know, this is one of those things where literally 1:04:19.960 --> 1:04:23.320 the Democratic Party left Iowa. Iowa didn't leave the Democratic Party. 1:04:24.040 --> 1:04:28.120 And we'll find out if Iowans are open to this 1:04:28.280 --> 1:04:31.160 version of the party. But I look at it, I 1:04:31.200 --> 1:04:34.680 think what's happened with the schools and the funding cuts. 1:04:34.960 --> 1:04:36.919 I hear it from a lot of. 1:04:36.840 --> 1:04:39.800 My friends in rural Iowa about how you know, even 1:04:39.840 --> 1:04:43.520 if culturally they were supportive of the idea of private 1:04:43.560 --> 1:04:45.880 schools and there was the skepticism of the public schools, 1:04:46.000 --> 1:04:49.560 the way this is work doesn't work for people, right. Ultimately, 1:04:49.560 --> 1:04:52.080 people want their local school to work and they want 1:04:52.120 --> 1:04:54.320 to have a say over their local school, right, they 1:04:54.320 --> 1:04:59.920 want both things. So look, I mean, I'm I'm biased. 1:05:00.000 --> 1:05:02.120 I've spent a lot of time in Iowa. My my 1:05:02.360 --> 1:05:06.000 wife worked in Iowa. We've you know, we both care 1:05:06.040 --> 1:05:08.040 about the state a lot. Like I said, I've got 1:05:08.080 --> 1:05:09.880 more family buried in Iowa than any of the state 1:05:09.880 --> 1:05:13.480 in the Union. So I've always taken pride on what 1:05:13.640 --> 1:05:16.280 sort of a bipartisan state. It's always has been, and 1:05:16.320 --> 1:05:18.200 it was always a point of pride. My father's was 1:05:18.240 --> 1:05:20.480 a big conservative, grew up in Waterloo. It was a 1:05:20.520 --> 1:05:24.960 point of pride that Iowa was this swing state. That's right, 1:05:24.960 --> 1:05:29.640 because Iowan's worry about the person at the party, and 1:05:29.800 --> 1:05:31.280 there was always that there was a bit of a 1:05:31.480 --> 1:05:34.840 there was always pride in that the independent streak of Iowa. 1:05:34.920 --> 1:05:39.520 So look, I'm a I'm bullish in theory, but you 1:05:39.560 --> 1:05:41.040 got to have good candidates. 1:05:41.960 --> 1:05:42.480 Without a doubt. 1:05:42.600 --> 1:05:44.280 This is one of the things that I've learned representing, 1:05:44.320 --> 1:05:47.560 you know, such a red district, is this comes down 1:05:47.560 --> 1:05:50.960 to right candidate, right message, and that message is genuine 1:05:51.040 --> 1:05:55.160 economic ti mat Yeah, and in the right work ethic, 1:05:55.200 --> 1:05:56.000 I think you can win. 1:05:56.200 --> 1:05:56.800 And we do. 1:05:57.040 --> 1:05:59.400 I mean, we're basically dead last by every single economic 1:05:59.440 --> 1:06:02.120 and health care and as you said, this is a 1:06:02.200 --> 1:06:04.360 huge opportunity. But it's a lot of responsibility we get 1:06:04.360 --> 1:06:07.320 this right because if we cannot win in this environment, 1:06:07.680 --> 1:06:09.720 then this state may be gone for a generation. 1:06:10.560 --> 1:06:12.320 And yeah, because. 1:06:12.080 --> 1:06:15.040 If Republicans can win in this environment, then then they're 1:06:15.080 --> 1:06:17.400 going to govern for quite some time. I Mean, I 1:06:17.400 --> 1:06:19.320 don't know if you've spent much time with Mike Frankin 1:06:20.400 --> 1:06:23.280 in the race he ran. You know, he was just 1:06:24.200 --> 1:06:29.120 totally I mean, you want to talk about identity politics, 1:06:29.160 --> 1:06:32.760 just eliminating him from consideration by the national Party. And 1:06:32.800 --> 1:06:34.840 it turned out he was the stronger candidate because he 1:06:34.880 --> 1:06:37.880 won the primary despite the National Party supporting somebody else. 1:06:37.920 --> 1:06:40.480 So what I would say is be careful when that 1:06:40.640 --> 1:06:43.080 when you think the national parties on your side, they 1:06:43.120 --> 1:06:44.960 don't always make the smartest decisions. 1:06:45.080 --> 1:06:45.760 That's fair. 1:06:45.760 --> 1:06:47.360 In the other thing that you said that one hundred 1:06:47.360 --> 1:06:50.320 percent agree with is that we've got to make our 1:06:50.360 --> 1:06:53.160 own identity of what is an Iowa Democrat. I think 1:06:53.200 --> 1:06:55.040 that one of the one of the advantages that like 1:06:55.040 --> 1:06:57.760 a state above us in Minnesota has had is they've 1:06:57.760 --> 1:06:59.800 been able to make the distinction with we are the 1:07:00.120 --> 1:07:02.240 arm and Labor party. And I think that if we 1:07:02.320 --> 1:07:04.760 had that ability to say we are the party of 1:07:04.800 --> 1:07:05.880 the American class, that. 1:07:05.880 --> 1:07:09.200 John who says you have to keep the name Iowa Democrats, 1:07:09.200 --> 1:07:12.280 who says you can't become the Iowa Democratic Farm Labor 1:07:12.440 --> 1:07:15.240 I mean, I you know, I've had a few people 1:07:15.320 --> 1:07:17.920 ask me this and I'm like, yeah, I you know, 1:07:18.040 --> 1:07:19.960 rebrand if the part if the Democrats are going to 1:07:20.000 --> 1:07:23.800 be a coalition party and most look, we're we're a 1:07:23.920 --> 1:07:27.760 country two parties. Nobody goes to the store and only 1:07:27.840 --> 1:07:30.440 takes and there's only two choices of t shirt sizes, 1:07:30.920 --> 1:07:34.320 extra small and extra large. Right, Like the idea that 1:07:34.360 --> 1:07:36.680 we try to squeeze everybody into two parties is absurd. 1:07:36.760 --> 1:07:40.120 We probably should be a four or a four party system. 1:07:40.160 --> 1:07:43.959 I think it would frankly sort of ease the ease 1:07:44.000 --> 1:07:47.880 some of the tension inside both parties. You know where 1:07:47.880 --> 1:07:50.120 you have these giant where the tent is so big 1:07:50.120 --> 1:07:52.280 it rips a hole in the middle, right, And that's 1:07:52.360 --> 1:07:54.120 kind of what I think has happened to the Democrats. 1:07:54.120 --> 1:07:55.640 You've got these. 1:07:55.320 --> 1:07:58.480 Pro democracy Extrapublicans on one side, and you've got the 1:07:58.480 --> 1:08:01.560 Bernie Sanders Democratic social on the other. And they only 1:08:01.600 --> 1:08:03.920 agree on one thing, Trump is bad for democracy. 1:08:04.080 --> 1:08:07.760 Other than that, they've got nothing else in common. That's 1:08:07.800 --> 1:08:08.680 a tough. 1:08:08.520 --> 1:08:10.880 Coalition to win with on bread and butter issues. And 1:08:11.360 --> 1:08:14.000 I don't know why other state parties haven't actually followed 1:08:14.040 --> 1:08:17.080 the lead of Minnesota. Now, Minnesota, there used to be 1:08:17.120 --> 1:08:18.960 separate parties. There was a Democratic Party, and there was 1:08:19.000 --> 1:08:22.000 a farm Labor Party and then they merged. That's sort 1:08:22.000 --> 1:08:24.360 of the history of that. But I've been surprised, Like, 1:08:24.400 --> 1:08:27.040 if I were an Idaho Democrat, I just rebranded the 1:08:27.080 --> 1:08:30.120 party the Idaho Freedom Party or something, you know, where 1:08:30.560 --> 1:08:34.400 you know, sometimes words you know are words you don't 1:08:34.439 --> 1:08:38.000 use anymore in certain locations. Okay, move on, your ideas 1:08:38.000 --> 1:08:38.920 can still work. 1:08:39.800 --> 1:08:41.479 It is interesting though, because we were I think we're 1:08:41.479 --> 1:08:44.240 seeing a schism actually on both parties. I mean, the Democrats, 1:08:44.240 --> 1:08:47.120 as you indicated, are but you also see this amongst 1:08:47.280 --> 1:08:52.200 classical conservatives and also what is a maga Republican and. 1:08:52.200 --> 1:08:58.080 So divide, you know, Josh, that divide existed before. It 1:08:58.280 --> 1:09:01.760 just was so dormant during the Cold War. The isolationist wing, 1:09:02.160 --> 1:09:05.320 you know, which was borderline xenophobic back in the nineteen thirties, 1:09:06.360 --> 1:09:07.840 and they were like, hey, we're not going to get 1:09:07.840 --> 1:09:10.240 involved in other people's wars. And they were the ones 1:09:10.280 --> 1:09:13.559 that held the Americans back from participating in World War 1:09:13.560 --> 1:09:16.920 Two until it came to our shores. Right, we wouldn't 1:09:16.960 --> 1:09:20.680 have gotten involved until it hit us because that Republican 1:09:20.720 --> 1:09:25.360 Party was more trumpy in the FDR era than Eisenhower. 1:09:25.560 --> 1:09:25.720 Right. 1:09:25.760 --> 1:09:29.920 And then the Eisenhower to Romney, run of Republicans. They 1:09:29.920 --> 1:09:34.240 were all sort of internationalists, and yet they're the Yeah, 1:09:34.640 --> 1:09:35.800 I don't think they're dead. 1:09:36.080 --> 1:09:38.800 They're just in hibernation at that wing of the party. 1:09:39.160 --> 1:09:39.800 I enjoyed this. 1:09:40.040 --> 1:09:44.560 Thank you so much for good to get to know you.