1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:14,720
Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome

2
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,599
Speaker 1: back to work in progress. Friends, we certainly have a

3
00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,160
Speaker 1: smarty joining us today. On days when I just don't

4
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,480
Speaker 1: understand what's happening anymore, when it seems like there's rules

5
00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,640
Speaker 1: for some of us and no rules for the people

6
00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,160
Speaker 1: who need them. I want to be able to phone

7
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,720
Speaker 1: a friend, but phone a friend in government. And today

8
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:40,240
Speaker 1: we are joined by a good friend, to progress, to women,

9
00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,159
Speaker 1: to everyone who's not a cheating elite. I suppose today

10
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 1: we're joined by New Jersey Senator Corey Booker. He is

11
00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,600
Speaker 1: sitting at the center of so many fights. When military

12
00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,360
Speaker 1: action is bypassing Congress, when media power is rapidly consolidating

13
00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 1: and monopolies are being formed.

14
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,320
Speaker 2: When the guardrails of democracy.

15
00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,880
Speaker 1: Feel increasingly fragile, it gets hard to feel like we

16
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 1: know which threats matter most, and yet we know we

17
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 1: need to show up to the fight, and we need

18
00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,440
Speaker 1: leaders to fight for us. And that's what Corey Booker does.

19
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,000
Speaker 1: Through his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee and its

20
00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:25,720
Speaker 1: Antitrust Subcommittee, he is directly involved in questions about all

21
00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,920
Speaker 1: of these things, war powers, corporate consolidation, overseeing unfair immigration enforcement,

22
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,959
Speaker 1: the limits of executive authority, issues that aren't theoretical but

23
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,560
Speaker 1: are unfolding in real time. And while he is pushing

24
00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 1: back on the abuse of power, he is also trying

25
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: to create a better path forward. Perhaps because his career

26
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,440
Speaker 1: itself was shaped by the belief that leadership should be

27
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,800
Speaker 1: grounded in moral conviction. Perhaps because he grew up a

28
00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:00,040
Speaker 1: kid experiencing both the lack of civil rights and the

29
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,560
Speaker 1: way that civil rights can change the course of a

30
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,400
Speaker 1: family's life. Perhaps because he's unafraid to ask questions and,

31
00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,560
Speaker 1: by the way, unafraid to push back against the levers

32
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,160
Speaker 1: of power and propose an all new tax code that's

33
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:18,680
Speaker 1: meant to help working Americans. Cory Booker really shows up

34
00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,160
Speaker 1: and works for what's happening now in front of him

35
00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 1: and in front of all of us, And today, I

36
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,799
Speaker 1: hope that we can ruminate on what leadership actually requires

37
00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,880
Speaker 1: in a moment like this and get some tips in

38
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,160
Speaker 1: terms of how the rest of us, rather than getting

39
00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:41,720
Speaker 1: exhausted and apathetic, can feel reinvigorated and inspired to show up.

40
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:55,120
Speaker 1: So let's dive in with Senator Booker. Thank you so

41
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,640
Speaker 1: much for being here. Senator Booker, obviously, there's just a

42
00:02:57,680 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 1: few things going on in the world and in our

43
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,799
Speaker 1: country Before we dive into pressing issues of the moment,

44
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,520
Speaker 1: I do want to ask you one of my favorite questions.

45
00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,200
Speaker 1: Because everybody knows you, they know your career, they know

46
00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,520
Speaker 1: what you do. But I think people forget that a

47
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,320
Speaker 1: career is not just who you are. And I'd like

48
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 1: to know if we could go back to the New

49
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:24,959
Speaker 1: Jersey playground and run into Correy at ten years old, Well,

50
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,320
Speaker 1: do you think you would recognize that little boy? And

51
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,359
Speaker 1: do you think he would recognize himself in you?

52
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 3: You're bringing me back to fifth grade Harrington Park Elementary,

53
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,760
Speaker 3: in the playground where I had adventures that still stick

54
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,320
Speaker 3: with me today, and a lot of the friends I

55
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 3: had back then are still some of my closest friends today.

56
00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,160
Speaker 3: I grew up in a really small town. I was

57
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,840
Speaker 3: this idealistic kid that used to tick my friends off.

58
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:49,840
Speaker 3: When I would be the guy that always break up

59
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 3: fights on the playground or try to do everything I

60
00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:00,880
Speaker 3: could to make our class it's just more harmonious. I

61
00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,200
Speaker 3: think that idealistic kid would be really proud of who

62
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,800
Speaker 3: I am today. He'd probably be frightened that I have

63
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 3: no hair. But you know, I remember running for president

64
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 3: for the first time ever in seventh grade, and I

65
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,160
Speaker 3: guess that's two years later. And it was my life's

66
00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,520
Speaker 3: most embarrassing moment because I stood up in front of

67
00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:28,640
Speaker 3: this class and all my closest friends and tried to

68
00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,760
Speaker 3: give a speech and I froze. I was completely terrified

69
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 3: of speaking in public, and I had worked so hard

70
00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:38,080
Speaker 3: on my speech. I really felt like I had something

71
00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 3: to say. I wanted to call to the harmony of

72
00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,120
Speaker 3: the class, to the connection in the community, and talk

73
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,360
Speaker 3: about what we could be together. And I froze, and

74
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 3: I shook my hands was so nervous they were shaking,

75
00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,120
Speaker 3: and I remember the paper making this loud sound, and

76
00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 3: the teachers try to help me get things out, and

77
00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,080
Speaker 3: then eventually there's like you can sit down, and we're

78
00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,160
Speaker 3: going home that night to devastated. But something inside of

79
00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:02,920
Speaker 3: me made me swear that I was going to conquer

80
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,960
Speaker 3: that fear, and the strangest things happened, and first I

81
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,599
Speaker 3: won the election without even giving my speech. But more importantly,

82
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:18,200
Speaker 3: I had teachers, public school teachers who saw this fear

83
00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:23,479
Speaker 3: and pushed me to do school plays and theater and

84
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,560
Speaker 3: do a lot to try to get more confidence so

85
00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,280
Speaker 3: that I never had a moment like that. So I

86
00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:34,120
Speaker 3: think that scared boy would look at me now still

87
00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,640
Speaker 3: trying to do the same thing, perhaps remind our country

88
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,800
Speaker 3: that decides despite the many lines that divide us, we

89
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:43,920
Speaker 3: have more ties that bind us trying to trying to

90
00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,599
Speaker 3: bring folk together. I think he'd be pretty proud, And

91
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,920
Speaker 3: I think I would love that kid, because I think

92
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:51,279
Speaker 3: in the fifth grade I was cute and then I

93
00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 3: went through a long, awkward stage that lasted to my fifties.

94
00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,480
Speaker 1: I was going to say seventh grade was particularly bad

95
00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,560
Speaker 1: for me, but I feel your pain there. You know,

96
00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,880
Speaker 1: it strikes me that you had a very early bent

97
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:11,080
Speaker 1: for justice and for advocacy. And you know, if we

98
00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,320
Speaker 1: had all the time in the world, I would be

99
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 1: asking you about the housing discrimination your parents faced and

100
00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,400
Speaker 1: your incredibly impressive resume at Stanford Oxford yl Law and

101
00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 1: then choosing to go and you know, live in a

102
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,560
Speaker 1: low income neighborhood Newark and organize tenants again in a

103
00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,599
Speaker 1: fight with the housing authority like this is the point

104
00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,360
Speaker 1: of leadership is to lead in your community and to

105
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:40,440
Speaker 1: defend your neighbors and to organize for good.

106
00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 3: The one thing I will say is, like I think

107
00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:47,839
Speaker 3: a lot of people when they talk about my narrative,

108
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,600
Speaker 3: you know, my dad My favorite thing. My dad's to

109
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,080
Speaker 3: me and I was graduating and says, boy, you've got

110
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,159
Speaker 3: more degrees than the month of July. But she ain't hot.

111
00:06:57,800 --> 00:06:59,040
Speaker 2: Dad's just keeping you humble.

112
00:06:59,080 --> 00:06:59,479
Speaker 1: I love it.

113
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,120
Speaker 3: Yes, Yeah, life isn't about the de reies you get.

114
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:03,400
Speaker 3: Its about the service you give. A sort of My

115
00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,000
Speaker 3: parents and they really wanted my brother and I to

116
00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,800
Speaker 3: be service and move into a community like the one

117
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,640
Speaker 3: I still live in in Newark, and you and you think, oh,

118
00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,720
Speaker 3: I'm here to help, you know. And I think the

119
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 3: powerful thing that happened to me on that journey in

120
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:22,240
Speaker 3: my twenties was that I realized in Newark, in a

121
00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,960
Speaker 3: community I arrived to try to be of help, that

122
00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,040
Speaker 3: I needed a lot of help, that I needed a

123
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,520
Speaker 3: lot of growth. And I think when you're in and

124
00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,080
Speaker 3: we all should be about creating and repairing community. I

125
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,560
Speaker 3: think one of the first lessons to understand is that

126
00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,840
Speaker 3: it is not it's not something where you're doing all

127
00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 3: the service. It's actually something that heals you as you

128
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,200
Speaker 3: yourself or a healer. In fact, I don't think be

129
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,800
Speaker 3: a healer unless you recognize that you yourself need need

130
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,320
Speaker 3: to be more whole and more connected. And I think

131
00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,160
Speaker 3: if anything that Newark did and gifted me is that

132
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:06,080
Speaker 3: a lot of humility. It broke me down and helped

133
00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,440
Speaker 3: me realize that perhaps the reason why I still live

134
00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,400
Speaker 3: in that neighborhood today, which at the time was jarring

135
00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,320
Speaker 3: in terms of the challenges that our community was facing,

136
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 3: is because it has gifted me so much of so

137
00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,600
Speaker 3: much growth, so much strength, and sourced to my spirit.

138
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:31,760
Speaker 3: This low income community I eventually moved into, these high

139
00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,760
Speaker 3: rized projects became one of the most special homes I've

140
00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,920
Speaker 3: ever had. I miss living in those high rise projects

141
00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:44,120
Speaker 3: where I lived until weeks before they were condemned. I

142
00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 3: think again, it gets back to that same spirit of

143
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,240
Speaker 3: this kid in a grade school class and a very

144
00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,680
Speaker 3: different part of New Jersey, even though it's only twenty

145
00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:57,360
Speaker 3: plus miles, this was an all white area, affluent, relatively

146
00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,720
Speaker 3: affluent neighborhood, and we were the first black family to

147
00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:01,960
Speaker 3: move in, and now I live in a predominantly black

148
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:07,440
Speaker 3: and brown neighborhood. But for me to see the common

149
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 3: humanity and the common urgencies and this delusion of separateness,

150
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:16,320
Speaker 3: that what happens to others doesn't affect me, that I'm

151
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,440
Speaker 3: not less because we live in a nation still where

152
00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:25,080
Speaker 3: people can't afford healthcare or childcare, or kids are being

153
00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,640
Speaker 3: taught to hide in their schools because of gun violence.

154
00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,840
Speaker 3: All of this is corrupting and cancers to community, and

155
00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,640
Speaker 3: all of us are affected by these things, whether we

156
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,040
Speaker 3: live amidst the immediacy of the urgencies or not.

157
00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:43,400
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think it's it's a beautiful perspective. It's

158
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,240
Speaker 1: something that I as a civilian, you know, not an

159
00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:52,200
Speaker 1: elected official, but I am a ten toes down activist

160
00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:56,360
Speaker 1: for my neighbors, and I think of everyone in this

161
00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,000
Speaker 1: country as my neighbor, and I think of a lot

162
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,679
Speaker 1: of people around the world my neighbors. And the illusion

163
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: of other, I think is not only detrimental to the

164
00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,360
Speaker 1: people we other, but it's detrimental to us. As you said,

165
00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: you know, watching what's happening in our country, you know,

166
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:21,559
Speaker 1: with these ice raids at the moment is devastating because

167
00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:25,360
Speaker 1: to your point, not only our people that are accused

168
00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:28,400
Speaker 1: of being other, who are in fact our neighbors, who

169
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,600
Speaker 1: are in fact so additive to our communities and also

170
00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,480
Speaker 1: additive to our economy. Frankly, they are being brutalized and harmed,

171
00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,199
Speaker 1: but they're doing so with resources that are meant for us.

172
00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:44,720
Speaker 1: Like I think of our tax dollars as an ROI. Okay,

173
00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:46,800
Speaker 1: we invest in the country, and we are supposed to

174
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,480
Speaker 1: get a return on that investment. And when our tax

175
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,080
Speaker 1: dollars to the tunes to the tune of one hundred

176
00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: and seventy five billion extra dollars are being given to

177
00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,679
Speaker 1: ice and border patrol, They're not arresting the worst of

178
00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,280
Speaker 1: the world. They're like dragging somebody's granddad out of his

179
00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,760
Speaker 1: house and his boxer shorts in January winter in Minnesota.

180
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,120
Speaker 1: That's one hundred and seventy five billion dollars that could

181
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,920
Speaker 1: pay for childcare or for kids to get to eat

182
00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,240
Speaker 1: in school so they can pay attention and learn and

183
00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 1: become leaders in their community. That's money that could go

184
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,920
Speaker 1: to cover healthcare costs, which are easily paid by every

185
00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:26,199
Speaker 1: other peer nation in the world. So I really appreciate it.

186
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:27,640
Speaker 1: By the way, I watched the video of you taking

187
00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,720
Speaker 1: Christynome to task on this just this morning, on the

188
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,760
Speaker 1: day we're recording anyway, for our friends at home. How

189
00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,480
Speaker 1: are you keeping this idea that you've talked about for

190
00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:43,000
Speaker 1: so many years, of radical love for our communities central

191
00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,480
Speaker 1: in a moment where the administration that you have to

192
00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:51,560
Speaker 1: work with feels so rooted in hate. How do you

193
00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,280
Speaker 1: do this and how do you want us to do

194
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,160
Speaker 1: this with you? You know, the non elected constituency that

195
00:11:58,720 --> 00:11:59,960
Speaker 1: does care about their neighbors.

196
00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,560
Speaker 3: Well, I think that you're answering that question, and just

197
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:09,640
Speaker 3: your preambleance. I mean, I'm gut. Today's a hard day.

198
00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 3: I sat there and questioned Gnome, who swore to uphold

199
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:20,040
Speaker 3: this constitution that she's trashing, violating people's civil rights and

200
00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:25,600
Speaker 3: violating court orders, and overseeing an agency that is literally

201
00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,640
Speaker 3: physically brutalizing people and even as we know, has killed Americans.

202
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,560
Speaker 3: And then I go to this classified briefing about a

203
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,200
Speaker 3: war in the context that people don't understand. We've not

204
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:42,480
Speaker 3: only lost American soldiers already, but we are spending billions

205
00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,440
Speaker 3: of dollars every week, billions of dollars that this goes

206
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,600
Speaker 3: on at the same time we're cutting healthcare for millions

207
00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,480
Speaker 3: of Americans, at the same time we're cutting veterans benefits.

208
00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,160
Speaker 3: At the same time that we're cutting school lunch programs,

209
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,480
Speaker 3: and so it is one of those days tonight that

210
00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,280
Speaker 3: I think I'm probably gonna go home and lift the

211
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,880
Speaker 3: weight to exercise tonight because my wife is away and

212
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:13,280
Speaker 3: I'm just feeling so hurt and angry. But what sources

213
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,080
Speaker 3: me is what you just said, is that in the

214
00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:19,120
Speaker 3: midst of all of this, I am seeing heroism in

215
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:27,000
Speaker 3: my state that is extraordinary. People collecting food and resources

216
00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:30,560
Speaker 3: for people who are afraid to go out and can't

217
00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,280
Speaker 3: go shot things are afraid of ice. I have people

218
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,600
Speaker 3: that are organizing to walk American children's school because an

219
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,400
Speaker 3: immigrant parent is afraid to show up at that school

220
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,880
Speaker 3: and confront ice. I just see so many points of

221
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,640
Speaker 3: light out there that are illuminating even this wretched darkness,

222
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,040
Speaker 3: and it is a testimony to the truth. I think

223
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,319
Speaker 3: mister Rogers once said it, whenever there's a crisis, look

224
00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,920
Speaker 3: for the helpers. There's always helpers. And so if anything,

225
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,120
Speaker 3: as I watch this, Presiden's pull numbers plummet, not just

226
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,520
Speaker 3: his approval rating, but remember he came in with a

227
00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,720
Speaker 3: significant amount of Americans endorsing the things he was saying

228
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:09,480
Speaker 3: about immigration and saying I'm going to go after the

229
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,840
Speaker 3: bad people, and I'm going to secure the borders. And

230
00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,880
Speaker 3: now he's way underwater with today looking at data that

231
00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,640
Speaker 3: about a quarter of the people voted for him regret it,

232
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,680
Speaker 3: and that just shows me the American people are rejecting this,

233
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,840
Speaker 3: and that people are rising up and speaking up. And

234
00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,840
Speaker 3: I let that source me and challenge me that if

235
00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:29,960
Speaker 3: I see people who are willing to stand out in

236
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,280
Speaker 3: the bitter cold and with their whistles and blow as

237
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,440
Speaker 3: hard as they can with all the breath in their

238
00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,960
Speaker 3: body to warn their neighbors, then I could stand on

239
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:45,720
Speaker 3: the Senate floor in a comfortable, heated chamber and fight

240
00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,880
Speaker 3: like hell for the very same people and the very

241
00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:50,280
Speaker 3: same ideals you're talking about.

242
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,880
Speaker 1: I mean, it can't have been comfortable to stand for

243
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:57,520
Speaker 1: twenty five straight hours. But whether it's twenty five hours

244
00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:01,120
Speaker 1: or the afternoon, you're up there trying to remind people

245
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 1: what's at stake. Why do you think the reality of

246
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:13,520
Speaker 1: Trump and his cronies and their cruelty doesn't sink in

247
00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,920
Speaker 1: for people, perhaps until they're confronted with it as we

248
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,000
Speaker 1: are now. All those people that regret their votes, we

249
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,800
Speaker 1: know that the number two searches after the twenty twenty

250
00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,800
Speaker 1: four election night, where what is a tariff? And can

251
00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,120
Speaker 1: I change my vote? And I thought, oh, dear God,

252
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:27,720
Speaker 1: we're failing our people.

253
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 2: Why do you think their.

254
00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:35,280
Speaker 1: Cruelty is so deniable until it's smacking people in the face,

255
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,840
Speaker 1: versus the reality of what our party has said, which

256
00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,680
Speaker 1: is true. Everything Vice President Harris said on the campaign

257
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:50,320
Speaker 1: trail is true has come true. There is an absolutism

258
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,640
Speaker 1: for the left, and there seems to be a complete

259
00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,240
Speaker 1: annihilation of the rules and an accepting of lawlessness on

260
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,320
Speaker 1: the right. And I wonder if you, from within the

261
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,760
Speaker 1: halls of government understand why that double standard seems to

262
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:06,400
Speaker 1: exist out in the voting block.

263
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 3: So I don't know, and I try not to wrap

264
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,760
Speaker 3: myself in around an axle. I know that that there

265
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,080
Speaker 3: is a larger discontent growing in our country that is

266
00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:24,160
Speaker 3: not him, that actually made him possible. He's not necessaricessarily

267
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:29,640
Speaker 3: even the problem. He's the accelerant to I think what's

268
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 3: burning at America right now. And I caution people not

269
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,520
Speaker 3: to make him the main character in this story, not

270
00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,520
Speaker 3: to center him in your narrative, and to try to

271
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:45,640
Speaker 3: pull back and take a more courageous empathy for even

272
00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:50,800
Speaker 3: those people that may have supported him and are regretting it.

273
00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:53,440
Speaker 3: This is not a time to shame people. This is

274
00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,560
Speaker 3: a time to understand, just to see the larger picture.

275
00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,520
Speaker 3: And the larger picture that I see is two forces

276
00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:05,520
Speaker 3: that are really threatening our nation. One is the fact

277
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,359
Speaker 3: that the bargain doesn't work anymore. It did for my

278
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,080
Speaker 3: dad's generation. If you were in fact, we were the

279
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:13,919
Speaker 3: best country when my dad was coming up to be

280
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,600
Speaker 3: born poor because your chances of climbing out out of

281
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,280
Speaker 3: the bottom quintile to like the middle class or even

282
00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,080
Speaker 3: better was extraordinary. Ninety percent of American children and my

283
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,600
Speaker 3: dad's generation did better than their parents. The bargain worked.

284
00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,080
Speaker 3: You had this explosion of the middle class. You had

285
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,480
Speaker 3: a closing the black white racial wealth gap. I mean,

286
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,639
Speaker 3: everybody was getting better and riding this point where we

287
00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,200
Speaker 3: as a nation, we're investing in public schools and public

288
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,879
Speaker 3: higher education, where a Pell grant or the gi BI

289
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,800
Speaker 3: got people college investments, and we were the number one

290
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,560
Speaker 3: investors in science and research on the planet. We had

291
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,560
Speaker 3: this wave of immigration where we were making zier for people.

292
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:58,600
Speaker 3: It was this amazing period. Now for people born in

293
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,200
Speaker 3: the eighties down to fifty percent doing better. It's even

294
00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,480
Speaker 3: worse now for people to go in the ninety two

295
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,359
Speaker 3: thousand and so they're right. The first thing that's bothering

296
00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,240
Speaker 3: people is that there is a generation of Americans who

297
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:13,720
Speaker 3: just don't think that the deal is working for.

298
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,080
Speaker 1: Them and now for our sponsors.

299
00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,240
Speaker 2: Can I ask a question.

300
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,119
Speaker 1: I'm literally raising my hand, But isn't part of the

301
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:30,359
Speaker 1: reason the deal isn't working? Because you know, I am

302
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,399
Speaker 1: an eighties kid, I'm very aware of what the tax

303
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,679
Speaker 1: rates were yes when I was born for wealthy and

304
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,359
Speaker 1: successful people. Part of the reason the expansion of the

305
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,119
Speaker 1: American middle class is being stifled. Part of the reason

306
00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:47,159
Speaker 1: people can't afford their rent and their groceries, part of

307
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,320
Speaker 1: the reason people can't afford childcare is because the most

308
00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,840
Speaker 1: successful people in this country are no longer paying their

309
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:53,399
Speaker 1: fair share.

310
00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,640
Speaker 3: Okay, so God, why are we doing this virtually because

311
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,400
Speaker 3: I would want to hug you, but that is it.

312
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,200
Speaker 3: The effect rate for the richest one percent of the country,

313
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,840
Speaker 3: in terms of percent of their income, is way lower

314
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,680
Speaker 3: than the effective tax rate of the teacher in high

315
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,520
Speaker 3: school who's married to a nurse. And that is fundamentally

316
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,280
Speaker 3: wrong that everybody at the highest ends has all of

317
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,240
Speaker 3: these things that were put into the tax go to

318
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,119
Speaker 3: help them avoid paying the same percentages as the overwhelming majority.

319
00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 3: And when I'm talking majority, I'm talking about seventy seventy

320
00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,040
Speaker 3: five percent of Americans who are carrying that full freight

321
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,520
Speaker 3: of a tax rate, while the wealthiest, who might get

322
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:39,919
Speaker 3: their money from the capital gains or other kind of sources,

323
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 3: they are not paying the same. So and then the

324
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,240
Speaker 3: corporate tax rate, I was digging into numbers late at

325
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:48,240
Speaker 3: night instead of sleeping. The corporate tax rate used to

326
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,720
Speaker 3: make was about used to be about four percent of GDP.

327
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,959
Speaker 3: It's now down to just two percent. Our corporations are

328
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,960
Speaker 3: paying far less than they did during the golden era

329
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:58,719
Speaker 3: of American growth and expansion.

330
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,200
Speaker 1: And not are they paying less taxes into the nation,

331
00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,960
Speaker 1: which is the reason they are successful in the first place,

332
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:06,879
Speaker 1: but they're not paying.

333
00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 2: Part of my friends, I'm not.

334
00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:11,440
Speaker 1: Elected, so I get to say what I want because

335
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,840
Speaker 1: it's my show. Fuck a living wage. People should be

336
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,560
Speaker 1: paid a thriving wage. And the fact that my tax dollars,

337
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,879
Speaker 1: that I pay more money in taxes than the president

338
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,720
Speaker 1: of the United States, and that my tax dollars are

339
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,359
Speaker 1: subsidizing Walmart employees having to be on food stamps and

340
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:35,640
Speaker 1: health benefits because they can't afford to live well. Working

341
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,960
Speaker 1: for the richest corporation in America is psychotic to me,

342
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,760
Speaker 1: like the fact that billionaire families are writing off not

343
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,000
Speaker 1: even their first yacht. By the way, you invent something,

344
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:48,240
Speaker 1: I want you to have a yacht.

345
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:50,080
Speaker 2: Good for you. I wish I had a yacht.

346
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 1: The fact that you get to have a fleet of

347
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,680
Speaker 1: yachts and not pay taxes on them and your employees

348
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,200
Speaker 1: are on food stamps is ridiculous because you don't make

349
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 1: a billion dollars that way. You're taking a billion dollars.

350
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,200
Speaker 1: You're taking it from the people that work for you.

351
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,960
Speaker 1: You're taking it from the American economy. You are taking

352
00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 1: it from from American school children. You are putting a

353
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,320
Speaker 1: burden on the people who teach your kids and not

354
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 1: on yourself because you want a third boat. Like at

355
00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:20,159
Speaker 1: some point we have to rain the crazy.

356
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,199
Speaker 3: And so this is a couple of things I want

357
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,000
Speaker 3: to say. First of all, writing off private jets and

358
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:27,439
Speaker 3: all these things one hundred percent right.

359
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,880
Speaker 2: And teachers can't write off construction paper.

360
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,120
Speaker 3: Look, damn limited, I have a build of changes. They

361
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:34,720
Speaker 3: when they reach in their own pocket to pay for

362
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 3: food for their kids, or tampons for their kids, or

363
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 3: you name it, they have a huge cap on the

364
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:42,919
Speaker 3: amount of money that they can they can reclaim. So

365
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,639
Speaker 3: it makes me right a. But listen to what we do.

366
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 3: Listen what we're doing right now. We're shifting the narrative

367
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,040
Speaker 3: away from Donald Trump. This is the problem the Democratic Party.

368
00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:53,879
Speaker 3: They want to be about what we're against. Well, you

369
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,800
Speaker 3: and I are now talking that about is what we're for.

370
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:01,399
Speaker 3: And so the solution to this is to have the

371
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,520
Speaker 3: courage to stand up and say enough, I don't care

372
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,160
Speaker 3: who is control of Congress or the House. Even though

373
00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:10,840
Speaker 3: most of these policies was the tax so called welfare,

374
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 3: and then they just created massive corporate welfare because as

375
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,600
Speaker 3: you said, we're paying for the healthcare, we're paying for

376
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 3: the food stamps, we're paying for all of these workers

377
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,440
Speaker 3: because they won't pay their people what my father did.

378
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 3: He worked for a big corporation, IBM. Even IBMS Janitor's

379
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 3: got a pension. Even diamemdamses have their health.

380
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 2: Care and they should. Yes, it's all dignified work.

381
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 3: So let me just tell you it is not that

382
00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:43,080
Speaker 3: hard to fix that. That's the thing that frustrates me

383
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 3: is so we're going to introduce a big piece of

384
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,879
Speaker 3: legislation that's very simple idea that if you are an American,

385
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:56,199
Speaker 3: you should not pay any taxes on your first seventy

386
00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 3: five thousand dollars earning for your household. No tax. That

387
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 3: would take family making one hundred and fifty thousand dollars

388
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 3: a year. If you add that to a with an

389
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 3: expanded child tax credit, earn it, you would actually take

390
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 3: a family making one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a

391
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,880
Speaker 3: year battling to stay in Los Angeles or New Jersey.

392
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,400
Speaker 3: We're getting squeezed, and that would give them more than

393
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,800
Speaker 3: ten thousand dollars more in earnings. It would just suddenly

394
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,440
Speaker 3: take a tax code and say, for working Americans, we're

395
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 3: giving you utter tax relief. If you are working in

396
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:31,040
Speaker 3: this country, we're raising the you will not get under

397
00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 3: this floor again when you're living with constant cortisol pumping

398
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,400
Speaker 3: in your head because you're afraid that your family can't

399
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 3: pay for their prescription drugs and pay for their rent

400
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 3: or their mortgage. And so that thing is like, stop

401
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,879
Speaker 3: this tax code, which gives all of the benefits of

402
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:49,959
Speaker 3: the wealthiest and the wealthy shift it back to making

403
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:54,119
Speaker 3: work pay create a new deal for the American worker.

404
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,639
Speaker 3: So that's just one simple idea that addresses that first

405
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,919
Speaker 3: issue we're talking about. There's a few other simple things

406
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 3: around childcare and paid family leave and these things that

407
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 3: make it easier to child But I want to shift

408
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 3: to the next pillar because you and I, I'm feeling

409
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 3: you agree on this bullshit. And I'll say the French

410
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 3: of having Americans working harder than their parents did but

411
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 3: actually getting losing ground that the parents had gained. That

412
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 3: is so un American to everything we believe about Americans.

413
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,159
Speaker 3: And that's why a generation of Americans are growing up and

414
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:28,800
Speaker 3: saying the promise is a lie. And so yeah, I'm

415
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 3: going to pick the radical candidate from either wing that's

416
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 3: promised me to blow the whole stuff up or burn

417
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 3: it down. No, what we really need to do is

418
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,640
Speaker 3: undo the overwhelming corrupt influence of big, big corporations, which

419
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,880
Speaker 3: brings me to the second point. If the first one

420
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 3: is making the economic bargain simple and reward work, the

421
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 3: second thing has got to be ending the colossal corruption

422
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 3: that is perverting our political.

423
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 1: System, including citizens united Yes.

424
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 3: God, yes. So let me give you example of all

425
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 3: the money spent to elect Trump, the dark money, the packs, everything.

426
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 3: Because the candidates themselves, in our modern elections, they raised

427
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,719
Speaker 3: money constantly. They are constantly trying to raise money and

428
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 3: taking it from people. They shouldn't both sides of the aisle.

429
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 3: Corporate packs should not exist. The corruption. That's why I

430
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 3: think I was a fourth senator. It might be only

431
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,640
Speaker 3: one of six or seven that doesn't take corporate pack

432
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 3: that is corrupting money. But that's not even the worst

433
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 3: part of this situation. If you take Donald Trump, all

434
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,199
Speaker 3: the money he raised in his hard dollars they call

435
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,240
Speaker 3: it for the people directly his campaign, and then add

436
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 3: that to all the dark money paid ten people, ten

437
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 3: human beings, multi billionaires gave spent forty four percent of

438
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 3: all the money Donald Trump spent, accounted for forty four

439
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 3: percent of that money. For of all the money spent

440
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:52,680
Speaker 3: was by ten individuals.

441
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,720
Speaker 1: And by the way, for the people listening at home,

442
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to contribute. It's either more than like

443
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: twelve hundred or twenty five hundred dollars to a candidate.

444
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 2: I am not allowed. You are not allowed.

445
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: But for some reason these billionaires have they've bought and

446
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: paid for their own political system, and they write their

447
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,959
Speaker 1: own rules, and so they're spending hundreds of millions of

448
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,159
Speaker 1: dollars and it's literally illegal for the rest of us

449
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: to do that.

450
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,120
Speaker 3: And so this is the this is why the game,

451
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 3: because they can spend for what you and I might

452
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 3: be one thousand dollars on a campaign, but for them,

453
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 3: it's one hundred million dollars. Because that's the relative wealth.

454
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 3: Because we are having more billionaires than ever before in

455
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,360
Speaker 3: the planet Earth, we're approaching our first trillionaire, they now

456
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 3: can influence our systems in ways that no one could

457
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 3: have imagined. And they don't have to spend the money.

458
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 3: When you get that rich, that's a great thing. You

459
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 3: don't have to spend the money. You can just call

460
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 3: up Senator X and this has happened and say if

461
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 3: you don't take this stand, I'm going to spend twenty

462
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,439
Speaker 3: million dollars against you in a primary. And Senator X

463
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 3: knows that's true because it's happening to their colleagues and

464
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 3: they're getting primary yep. And so people don't understand that.

465
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 3: In order for us to get the first thing. We've

466
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 3: got to end the corruption because this is how it

467
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 3: affects you, and I know you. All these mergers going on,

468
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 3: all this consolidation going on, including in the entertainment industry,

469
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 3: follow the money. Why do you see all of these

470
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 3: tech billionaires sitting on stage with Donald Trump. It's the

471
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,440
Speaker 3: most corruption we've ever seen. Donald Trump himself has made

472
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 3: billions of dollars since he's been in.

473
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 1: And to be clear, before he ran for president, that

474
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,920
Speaker 1: man was in a lot of debt. Yes, So he

475
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: has used the privilege of the office to enrich himself

476
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: at a rate literally never seen in American history, and to.

477
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 2: Avoid going to jail.

478
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 1: Yes, And in front of our eyes we see him

479
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 1: doing side deals with the Saudis for one hundreds of

480
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: millions of dollars and plenty of other countries as well,

481
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: selling cryptocurrency to who knows who, completely untraceable, bought and

482
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 1: paid for campaigns. We know the man's loyal to Vladimir

483
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 1: Putin and and he's out here essentially playing in our faces.

484
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 1: The DOJ is redacting files that he is in. We

485
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,399
Speaker 1: know he was part of this Epstein ring. When Jamie

486
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: Raskin got out of closed door committee with all of

487
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: you guys and said, oh, in the files, we can

488
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: look at unredacted. Out of the three and a half million,

489
00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is in a million. That's nearly one in

490
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 1: three files. That's not an oopsie. That's a business partnership.

491
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,560
Speaker 1: And when the entire country is enraged that children are

492
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: being bought and sold on a black market and the

493
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: president goes, oh, well, it's like I feel I've never

494
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 1: been a conspiracy theorist who's like, oh, it's a simulation,

495
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: like you know, all the tech guys that are doing

496
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: too much ketamine.

497
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:46,160
Speaker 2: For their own good.

498
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 1: But at this moment, I'm like, it really does feel

499
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 1: like a twelve year old like smash the video game controller.

500
00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 2: What's happening?

501
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 1: And so I wonder. I know, I feel crazy. I

502
00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: know so many people feel crazy. I know it's got

503
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: to be insane. I have to work in the halls

504
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: of government right now, from the Epstein files to illegal

505
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 1: strikes on Iran. And to be clear, I have so

506
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 1: many Iranian friends. I am thrilled for them that the

507
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: tormentor of their home country is gone, and I'm also

508
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: enraged that the president of the United States is taking

509
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,600
Speaker 1: military action illegally, two things can be true at the

510
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: same time. And then, as you said, in my own industry,

511
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: like this merger with Paramount and Warner Brothers. We know

512
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: David Ellison's a Trump guy. We know that they bought TikTok,

513
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: they bought CNN, they bought CBS. They're killing stories on

514
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: the news, like everything seems very bad.

515
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 3: The corruption in Washington is this is what happens. Now.

516
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 3: I'm that rich person that owns, let's say, a major

517
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 3: media company, and I compound my wealth, and so I

518
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 3: go out to buy another major media company. That's illegal

519
00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 3: under any conception of the ability to control so much

520
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 3: news information major news platforms, and I trust law I

521
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:08,880
Speaker 3: would say, no, you can't do that. But you know

522
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 3: what I can do. I can give a billion dollars

523
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 3: to the presidents to build a new new East Wing.

524
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 3: I could give stuff to his inauguration. I could go

525
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 3: into business with his children. That very corruption then corrupts

526
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 3: the people who've already shown us that they'll weaponize the

527
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 3: Justice Department to perpect them to suppress the Epstein files.

528
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 3: That this is actually my lawyer, So I'm not going

529
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 3: to use the Justice Department and the approval that I

530
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 3: have in controlling these so called independent agencies that now

531
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 3: I'm going to give you even more perks. I'm going

532
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 3: to let you concentrate wealth. I'm going to let your

533
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 3: companies merge. I'm going to let you control a dominant

534
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,120
Speaker 3: share in the media. And then what does that do

535
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 3: to this first pillar of just people fighting to try

536
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 3: to pay the rent? Well, it makes their costs go up. Yep,

537
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 3: it actually. And then for you who you and I

538
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 3: both are patrons of the arts, Art in a democracy

539
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 3: is not I used to have. It's vital, vital year

540
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 3: because of the artists during the civil rights movements and

541
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 3: the cinema of poetry. It was the power that sustained

542
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 3: and fuel the movement. And so what's happened, Well, I'm sorry.

543
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 3: When Disney and twentieth Century Fox merged. Twentieth Century Fox

544
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 3: was producing a lot of movies from their studios eleven

545
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 3: to fourteen. Last year they produced six Lessons Being Made.

546
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, but also what are they going to be about?

547
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 3: Right? And who's going to control the content? Yeah?

548
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 2: What stories are going to wind up on the cutting

549
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 2: room floor?

550
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:37,400
Speaker 1: You know?

551
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 3: Yes? And the jobs when Power Mountain, Skydance merged again.

552
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 3: They got rid of jobs. Over a thousand jobs were

553
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 3: lost in America because there's not healthy competition. So it's

554
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 3: an issue of jobs, it's an issue of what art

555
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,479
Speaker 3: is being created. It's the issue of how much costs

556
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 3: I'm paying for my streaming services. We have had more

557
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:04,280
Speaker 3: corporate consolidate since Reagan. It is this acceleration in every industry.

558
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 3: Why are our meat prices so high? Well, less meat

559
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 3: packers today than there were the time when Upton Sinclair

560
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 3: wrote The Jungle and they were trust busting. We're being

561
00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 3: in a perversion of the free market that's being controlled

562
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,880
Speaker 3: by the wealthiest too. When they get wealthy, they change

563
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 3: the rules so they can compound more wealth, and they're

564
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 3: making more people pay higher taxes and get less in benefits.

565
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, they're quite literally stepping on everybody's necks. We'll

566
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 1: be back in just a minute after a few words

567
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 1: from our favorite sponsors. It was surprising to me looking

568
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: at the judgment that came down about tariffs and the

569
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: Supreme Court saying you know this is illegal, you can't

570
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: do this, and the fact that Justice Kavanaugh's dissent mentioned, well,

571
00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 1: this is it would be such a me to have

572
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: to refund all these people. So you know, you've stolen

573
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 1: money from the American people, on average one thousand dollars

574
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: per person in this country, and you think it would

575
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: be too hard to pay them back the money that

576
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 1: you stole from them illegal taxation. So you just don't

577
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: think we should do it.

578
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:18,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, because that happens to guys in South Central or

579
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 3: Newark all the time when they steal, you know. Yeah,

580
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:28,960
Speaker 3: So it's different rules. And Donald Trump with a Supreme Court,

581
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 3: frankly that the spirit of the Constitution was violated to

582
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,719
Speaker 3: stack the court. The way is right now. And if

583
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 3: you see the kind of gifts that many that some

584
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,880
Speaker 3: Supreme Court members are getting, and the kind of influence

585
00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,400
Speaker 3: that was being played to get them on the court,

586
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 3: everything smacks of corruption. So now you've got that cynical kid.

587
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 3: If I work hard, the economic system is rigged against me.

588
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,719
Speaker 3: If I try to fight the political system, my voice

589
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 3: is being drowned out by billion and big international multinational

590
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,040
Speaker 3: corporations that are spending ungodly amount of money on our

591
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 3: American politics. And then those platforms like x or Twitter

592
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,560
Speaker 3: are now being controlled by people who are silence voices

593
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 3: of people that might not agree with the owner of

594
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 3: the platforms, and they're slating more of that media power,

595
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,799
Speaker 3: controlling more of what I see. You begin to check

596
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 3: out of the system, You begin to get radicalized or worse,

597
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,320
Speaker 3: because the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant

598
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 3: is for good people to do nothing. You think, hey,

599
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 3: I have no agency, I have no power to affect this.

600
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 3: That's what I'm fighting against again. I'm a child of

601
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 3: civil rights parents. So the same forces were the same

602
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,360
Speaker 3: kind of backlash, the same kind of violence, corruption, criminal

603
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 3: they were dealing with. Outrageous government allied against them. If

604
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 3: you saw how the form of agriculture, what they did

605
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 3: to black farmers, I can go down all of these

606
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 3: things that were paralleled in the past. Nothing we're seeing

607
00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 3: right now is unprecedented. It's all very precedented. So what

608
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,800
Speaker 3: did they do? King said it clearly, you still have power.

609
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 3: Remember what we will have to repent for in this

610
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,120
Speaker 3: day and age. It's King's quote, to paraphrase, same is

611
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 3: not the vitrioch words and violent actions to the bad people.

612
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,760
Speaker 3: It's the appalling silence and inaction of the good people

613
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 3: are still powerful. And the two election cycles that are

614
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:25,840
Speaker 3: coming up to be defined by people reclaiming their power

615
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 3: and insisting that both parties stop this. In most cases,

616
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 3: left right fight, it's not left fight. You talk to

617
00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:40,799
Speaker 3: a conservative family in rural Iowa like I have I have,

618
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 3: they have the same concerns about a family in Los

619
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 3: Angeles or Newark, New Jersey. We have so much more

620
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 3: in common, and people are trying to convince us that

621
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 3: we should hate each other and not get together to

622
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 3: change the tax system, to end this time of corporate

623
00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:01,080
Speaker 3: ill gotten dominance, to make our politics be rid of corruption.

624
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:04,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, But the thing is it's they're essentially trying to

625
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 1: create a dog fight that the economic elite want us

626
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,799
Speaker 1: fighting over scraps against each other. So we're not paying

627
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: attention to the feasts they're having in the Ivory Tower.

628
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:24,040
Speaker 1: And I think it's incredibly detrimental when you know you've

629
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:28,320
Speaker 1: got blue collar workers that are citizens fighting against blue

630
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,479
Speaker 1: collar workers that are immigrants. It's like, no, we should

631
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,600
Speaker 1: be fighting the people who aren't paying anybody fairly. But

632
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: we have a lot of information, Senator. We know what works,

633
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: we know what doesn't. We have all the historical backing

634
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 1: on our side. We know that Democrats get us out

635
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 1: of the recessions that Republicans cause, and that this has been.

636
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,640
Speaker 2: A definable pattern for almost.

637
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,839
Speaker 1: One hundred years, since nineteen forty one. We know that

638
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: the tax code isn't working and it's being cheated. We

639
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 1: know that people are buying elections. We know the mergers

640
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: are bad for the First Amendment, and we know people

641
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 1: are waking up to the fact that we do have

642
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,360
Speaker 1: power and we do have the ability to do something.

643
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: We saw ten point two million people protesting just through

644
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 1: last year in the streets, and they say it takes

645
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: three and a half percent of a country to overturn authoritarianism,

646
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,759
Speaker 1: which in our country is between eleven and a half

647
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: and twelve million people. So we're close, but we know

648
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 1: the authoritarians know we're close. They know people are really

649
00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:27,320
Speaker 1: running out of patients, so the ice raids are increasing

650
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:31,279
Speaker 1: in blue cities and states like ours. Here we're not

651
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 1: so far apart, and where I am in New Jersey

652
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,480
Speaker 1: and where you are at New Work. We know that

653
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,359
Speaker 1: they're already threatening to intimidate people at the polls. We

654
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,760
Speaker 1: know they're trying to change voting laws to stop people

655
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:49,480
Speaker 1: from voting against them. So it's currently March midterms are

656
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:55,439
Speaker 1: in November. What do you see from inside government as

657
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: the ways you all will be able to protect us

658
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 1: getting out the vote hopefully writing the ship. What do

659
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,920
Speaker 1: we as citizens need to know that you know about

660
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,719
Speaker 1: what's going to happen during the elections and about how

661
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:14,840
Speaker 1: to keep each other safe. It is so important for

662
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:16,840
Speaker 1: us to be educated and know how bad the problem is.

663
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 1: And it's also important for us to remember that we

664
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: don't give up hope, and we keep hitting the streets

665
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: and we keep showing up to vote. So how do

666
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 1: we keep people hopeful? How do we encourage people to

667
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,240
Speaker 1: continue to participate in the political process.

668
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,920
Speaker 3: So I think that elected leaders need to fight harder

669
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:40,120
Speaker 3: and fight better. One of the reasons why I did

670
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 3: the twenty five hour stand or sit in I did

671
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 3: all day on the Capitol steps is I'm constantly pushing

672
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,959
Speaker 3: my team to find things that are just getting into

673
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,240
Speaker 3: the system. And I gave a speech in my caucus

674
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:55,200
Speaker 3: today imploying my colleagues on an issue we need to

675
00:38:55,320 --> 00:39:00,160
Speaker 3: fight harder and fight better. Second, we have all all

676
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 3: of us have an obligation to understand that the power

677
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,840
Speaker 3: of the people is greater than the people in power.

678
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 3: But that most common way people give up their powers

679
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,919
Speaker 3: not realizing they have it. So so many of us

680
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 3: have to be and you are incredible at this. Remind

681
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 3: people that they want you to be cynical, they want

682
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,960
Speaker 3: you to disengage, they want you to shut down. That

683
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 3: the best thing you can do, even if it's just

684
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:27,840
Speaker 3: one day going out to a protest, or taking content

685
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 3: every day that educates people on the issues and sharing

686
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 3: it to your community. Take action. That is your power.

687
00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,839
Speaker 3: And don't underestimate the small things. I tell people all

688
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 3: the time. I am literally here because a guy on

689
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 3: a couch, a white guy on a couch in New Jersey,

690
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,680
Speaker 3: after watching the Edmund Pettis Bridge March and being so

691
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,400
Speaker 3: shaken by that and realizing he couldn't go to Alabama,

692
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 3: he couldn't go join the civil rights marchers because he

693
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 3: had a business and a new family and didn't have

694
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:58,400
Speaker 3: money for a plane ticket, and did the meager calculation.

695
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 3: All I can do is give one more hour a

696
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 3: week and got involved with the Fair Housing Council in

697
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 3: New Jersey. And years passed and he got really good

698
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,800
Speaker 3: at exposing housing discrimination, got the case file of my parents,

699
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 3: and my parents were denied housing, and then up so

700
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 3: that they had a white couple that followed them. The

701
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 3: white couple was able to make a bid on the

702
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:19,840
Speaker 3: house and it was accepted that my parents wanted and

703
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:21,480
Speaker 3: they did it for them. And on the day of

704
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 3: the closing, lawyer fought my dad shows up, They're attacked

705
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:26,839
Speaker 3: by the real estate agent. They had to fight their

706
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:29,200
Speaker 3: way out, literally because my dad had a Doberman pincher

707
00:40:29,239 --> 00:40:32,080
Speaker 3: sigga on him. This guy then wrote more letters and

708
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,040
Speaker 3: next thing you know, the owners of the home found

709
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 3: out about it sold the house to my family. We

710
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,840
Speaker 3: moved in in nineteen sixty nine, and forty four years later,

711
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 3: I'm a United States Senator. I'm here because of this

712
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,439
Speaker 3: set of dominoes that got me to be that fifth

713
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 3: grade kid that those teachers all surrounded and said, one day,

714
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:52,320
Speaker 3: you're gonna be a great public speaker. I'm here because

715
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,280
Speaker 3: a high school where we won the national championship launched

716
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 3: beyond a football scholarship to Stanford. You just don't know.

717
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 3: Every act of decency, kindness, of love, of right, indignation,

718
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 3: and resistance echoes into the universe in ways that you

719
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,960
Speaker 3: don't imagine. I know so many children of immigrants who

720
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 3: have halacious stories of how they got here, who would

721
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:19,440
Speaker 3: be deported by this president. We're now inventing things, starting companies,

722
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 3: curing diseases in the emergency room. What you do today

723
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 3: in this fight matters. But I'm going to make a

724
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 3: prediction to you that I hope gives you a hope,

725
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 3: because to me is not an external thing, it's an

726
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 3: internal decision. Hope is the act of conviction that despair

727
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,600
Speaker 3: won't have the last word. And so here's a reason

728
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 3: to choose hope today is because we're just a handful

729
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 3: of months from November where we could regain the House,

730
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 3: and now the Senate is here, and to have the power,

731
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 3: actually the gears of government to stop this president from

732
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,239
Speaker 3: doing the bad stuff he's doing. But it doesn't stop there,

733
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,839
Speaker 3: because then you have another election in twenty twenty eight,

734
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,160
Speaker 3: where all of us should say to any can at

735
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 3: eight running for president, Senate, House, or anywhere, I don't care.

736
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 3: If you're a Democratic Republican, what are you going to

737
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 3: do to deal with the bargain not working? And once

738
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,360
Speaker 3: for all, will you pledge as you said, end citizens United,

739
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,800
Speaker 3: stop corporate packs from getting stop senators in Congress, people

740
00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:18,680
Speaker 3: from dealing stocks those two pillars. What are you going

741
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,240
Speaker 3: to do to make the bargain work today? What literally,

742
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:24,920
Speaker 3: we could on the first day in office put in

743
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 3: a reconciliation bill that could change the tax code of

744
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 3: we had the White House, the House, and the Senate.

745
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 3: Show me, tell me what are you going to do

746
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:32,840
Speaker 3: to make raise the floor? And then tell me what

747
00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 3: you're going to do at the first month or two

748
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 3: in office to end once and for all the corruption

749
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 3: that allows corporations to game the system, that allows so

750
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:42,799
Speaker 3: many people that you and I celebrate and want them

751
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 3: to be wealthy, but to change the tax rules so

752
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 3: they could avoid paying the same taxes as a teacher

753
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,560
Speaker 3: or a firefighter. In the read for the this is

754
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:52,680
Speaker 3: the most excited I've been because I think it's the

755
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,320
Speaker 3: first time that your generation Millennials and my generation x

756
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,000
Speaker 3: is or could do something that could prove worthy like

757
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 3: the generations before us. This is our chance to redeem

758
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,360
Speaker 3: the dream of America, to renew the hope of America,

759
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,160
Speaker 3: to make the deal real Americans.

760
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,640
Speaker 1: I love that redeem the dream is that our slogan,

761
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:12,880
Speaker 1: what are we doing?

762
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 3: My wife got a hat with it on it.

763
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:16,719
Speaker 2: Oh.

764
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,320
Speaker 1: I love that it's you know what, thank you. I needed.

765
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:21,880
Speaker 1: I needed that. People will ask me sometimes they'll be like,

766
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 1: you're so passionate about this stuff, and you love politics,

767
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,080
Speaker 1: and why don't you run, And I'm because I just be.

768
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:30,800
Speaker 1: I feel like I'd be dolling out slaps like I can't.

769
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,359
Speaker 1: I'm too like I come from a long line of

770
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,200
Speaker 1: like very feisty Italians in New Jersey, cenator like, I

771
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 1: don't know that I could keep my cool in the

772
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: way that might be necessary. But you, you know, you

773
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:49,760
Speaker 1: remind me that that we can channel that frustration into

774
00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:51,800
Speaker 1: hope and hopeful action.

775
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 2: Also, we do have to you do have to give

776
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 2: me a.

777
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 1: Quick bite about your book, because I'm incredibly excited that

778
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: stand is coming out later this month, and I know

779
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:04,560
Speaker 1: it's available March twenty fourth, and clearly for folks who

780
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 1: need a joyful moment of political hope, that you've got

781
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:09,759
Speaker 1: it for us.

782
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:13,360
Speaker 3: That's the thing. It's actually the people that agreed to

783
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,400
Speaker 3: write for the back of the book, or Doris Curtn's, Goodwin,

784
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 3: John Meacham, these eminent historians, Henry Lewis Gates, because I said,

785
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,279
Speaker 3: let me write a book that is instructive about our

786
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 3: past and inspirational for what we can do now. And

787
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 3: so it's really a whole bunch of stories to show

788
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,480
Speaker 3: you that in the worst, most awful times, there are

789
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 3: ten virtues that this country clung to or supported or

790
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,919
Speaker 3: elevated that helped them fight. And this is a book

791
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,160
Speaker 3: that if you are feeling down or discouraged or need

792
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,799
Speaker 3: inspiration or instruction, stand as this book that you can

793
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:47,040
Speaker 3: order it. You can pre order it now that I

794
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 3: wanted to write as an ode to this dark, difficult

795
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 3: moment about how you're going to overcome and redeem the dream.

796
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:59,400
Speaker 1: And I think the real crux of that that feels important,

797
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,319
Speaker 1: especially for our friends at home, is to remember that

798
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,759
Speaker 1: none of this is happening for the first time. Yes,

799
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,680
Speaker 1: it's happening in this way for the first time. It's

800
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: technically technologically enabled in this way for the first time.

801
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:18,920
Speaker 1: But people like our ancestors have beaten back these most

802
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:23,640
Speaker 1: horrid human instincts before. They've given us the blueprints for this.

803
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:27,880
Speaker 1: And it makes me excited for your book because essentially

804
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 1: you're giving us, like I don't want to say a.

805
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 2: Cliff notes version.

806
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:33,840
Speaker 1: It's a full book, to be clear, but it's like

807
00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:38,880
Speaker 1: You're summarizing historical winds and movements for us in a

808
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:43,279
Speaker 1: time when people need to be reminded that the blueprints

809
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 1: do exist, so preemptively. Thank you for writing it for.

810
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:52,839
Speaker 3: Me and today like Kanji Brown Jacksonville, Yeah, who who

811
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:55,720
Speaker 3: in this moment are showing a profiles and courage.

812
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 1: So absolutely, But I think to relate the two is

813
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 1: something we do need to be reminded now.

814
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:06,160
Speaker 3: To connect that line. We are descendants of people that

815
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,680
Speaker 3: made a way out of no way. American history is

816
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:13,280
Speaker 3: the screaming celebration of people who achieved impossible things against

817
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 3: impossible odds, and we can't forget that.

818
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:18,440
Speaker 1: That's right, Well, Senator, I have a million more questions

819
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 1: for you. I know you have to go. The last

820
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 1: one I will ask you is my favorite question to

821
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: ask everyone on the podcast. Might be hard to answer

822
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six, but what feels like you're work

823
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 1: in progress right now?

824
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 3: What feels like my work in progress? I guess it

825
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 3: sounds boring as heck, but I actually see that we

826
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:48,399
Speaker 3: can create a tax code that to overnight, whether you're

827
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:52,160
Speaker 3: the waiter or waitress at a diner, whether you're a

828
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:58,920
Speaker 3: thirty year at a law firm, whether you're a teacher. Overnight,

829
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,120
Speaker 3: I see I see people lining up suddenly having this

830
00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 3: aha moment. Wait a minute, we do not have to

831
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 3: create a tax system that lets the wealthiest pay lower

832
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,839
Speaker 3: tax rates than working people. If we just shift that,

833
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:11,560
Speaker 3: all we got to do is reverse it. It can be

834
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:16,000
Speaker 3: done in one bill. Suddenly Americans are seeing ten twenty

835
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 3: percent more in their income and have the money now

836
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,200
Speaker 3: to do the things that feel out of reach, or

837
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:25,919
Speaker 3: to save, or to go on a vacation. So that's

838
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 3: my work in progress. We're unveiling it, and I think

839
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,879
Speaker 3: what we need is simple ideas that people can get

840
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:35,360
Speaker 3: in their heart and their head. Like nobody pays taxes,

841
00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 3: no households paying taxes on the first seventy five thousand.

842
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:40,879
Speaker 1: I love that. That's a big deal. That's a very

843
00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:44,800
Speaker 1: big deal. Well, thank you for joining us today. Hopefully

844
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,520
Speaker 1: we can do this again soon. I have, like I said,

845
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:48,839
Speaker 1: many more questions for you.

846
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:49,560
Speaker 3: I would love that.

847
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:50,440
Speaker 2: I would too.

848
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 3: Grew up with a lot of Italian Jersey girls.

849
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 2: Yeah right, very happy.

850
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:59,279
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's like I get my belief in universal health

851
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:02,200
Speaker 1: care and my past shism from my Canadian dad, and

852
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:04,319
Speaker 1: I get my mouth off to my friends and I'll

853
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,279
Speaker 1: pop you in the face from my Italian mother and

854
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:07,520
Speaker 1: it's a nice balance for me.

855
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:12,920
Speaker 3: I'm going to share you some stories. Work together, just

856
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:13,480
Speaker 3: such spirit.

857
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:15,560
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining and thank you team. I know

858
00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: he has to go.

859
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:16,680
Speaker 1: You're great.

860
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:18,160
Speaker 3: Thank you.

861
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:28,400
Speaker 2: They're like, shut up, Sophia. Okay, bye,