WEBVTT - The Tudor Dixon Podcast: Superpower in Peril with Dave McCormick 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.000 You're listening to the Tutor Dixon Podcast in the Clay 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:10.800 and Book Podcast Network. Welcome to the Tutor Dixon Podcast. 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:13.640 I'm Tutor Dixon, and I'm so glad you're here with 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.319 me today. We've got a lot to talk about. You 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.239 know that I've talked quite a bit about the dangers 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.639 of China, and my guest today has gone even so 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.119 far as to include this in his latest book. So 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.800 I'm really excited to dig deep into this one. Today. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.640 I'm joined by David McCormick, former GOP candidate for US 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.520 Senate in Pennsylvania and the author of the book Superpower 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.760 in Peril, A Battle Plan to Renew America. I love 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.000 this because we absolutely have to have a battle plan 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:45.640 to renew America, don't we. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.760 Thanks so much for having me, and we do need 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.680 a battle plan. You know. The premise of the book 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.640 is that we're under threat. We're under threat from within 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.360 from some of the decisions we've made that have led 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.000 America to be in decline, and we're threatened from abroad 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:06.520 with the techno authoritarian model that's China, and we don't 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.360 have a plan. China has a plan, we don't have 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.360 a plan. So there's a lot to talk about. 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.319 So let me I think this is going to shock you, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.880 but I'm not sure I think it will. Though we 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.280 both just ran for office, we both know how challenging 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.640 it is, and then we both know what Democrats are 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.440 doing in office. So in Michigan this week, Democrats there 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.959 was a bill brought forward to say we will not 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.640 welcome companies into the state of Michigan that are connected 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.400 or loyal to, or in their by laws say they 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.560 are loyal to the Chinese Communist Party. And every single 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.679 Democrat voted no that they would not stop companies that 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.360 are loyal to the Chinese Communist Party from coming into Michigan. 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.840 They're clearly stating that they're loyal. I mean, isn't that insane. 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.640 Yeah, there's a lot of insanity. Honestly, there's a lot 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.960 of insanity. And that's just one good example of it, 0:01:58.120 --> 0:01:59.960 just to put it in perspective. And you know that 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:05.120 as well. But we learned during COVID how unbelievably dependent 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.400 we are on China semi conductors. Ninety percent of the 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.280 semiconductors we need to make our economy run. Everything from 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.040 pickup trucks to defense weapons are manufactured ninety miles from 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.800 mainland China. Our pharmaceuticals I didn't know this. During COVID 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.360 we saw our entire pharmaceutical supply chain is dependent on China. 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.040 So one of the things I outline in Superpower Apparel 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:32.400 is that is the need to strategically decouple those industries 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.040 that are so critical to our economy and our national security. 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.920 We need to bring those home or have those in 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.519 the hands of our closest allies, certainly not the communist Chinese. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.359 Well, I think what you're saying is something that people 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.880 need to understand because we've heard a lot of America First, 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.440 We've heard some candidates come out and say day one, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.240 no one's working with China anymore. This isn't possible to 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.720 immediately decouple. It has to happen over time, and it 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.320 doesn't have to America first, doesn't necessary. Everything's going to 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.679 be manufactured in the United States, but Allied countries going 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.040 to friendly countries is so important. If you look at 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.320 China and you look at take iPhone City for example, 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.519 in China, this is an entire city that is surrounded 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.480 that is just high rise buildings. These people are living 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.840 in what we would consider a dormitory. They're only allowed 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.920 to go home to their families maybe once a year, 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.639 and they're working sometimes ten hour shifts with just one 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.120 meal in between. I mean, this is essentially slave labor. 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.000 It's not. The sad thing is it's not easy to 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.080 move out of that because there's no place in the 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.320 United States or friendly countries that will say, yes, yes, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.600 we'll have high rises of three hundred thousand people. And 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.080 that's the other thing. It's hundreds of thousands of people 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:46.240 that are trapped working. 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.680 Yeah, you're so right, and I'm glad you said that, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.880 because it's easy to sort of throw away these lines 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.920 on television, but to actually understand what is required to 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.960 really change the game with China is what I try 0:03:59.960 --> 0:04:01.839 to do in the book, and I essentially say there's 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:03.840 four things we need to do. The first thing we 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.040 need to do is that's strategic decoupling, not everything, those 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.720 industries that are most critical to our national security economics. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.920 Second thing we need to do along the lines of 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.640 what you said, we need to hold China accountable for 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.120 its bad behavior. The wigers and the human rights abuses there, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.640 but the Wuhan virus COVID, so you know, it's like 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.080 it was not. We were not able to talk about 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.320 the fact that a virus that originated in Wuhan, where 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.880 this research lab exists, probably was somehow connected to that 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.840 research lab. And yet three years later we see our 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.919 intelligence services acknowledging that that's a real possibility, but that 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:41.360 the media was pushing that. 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.640 What does holding them accountable for that mean to you? 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.040 Because that's another thing where I think people go, well, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.200 I mean, what's Joe Biden really going to do? But 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:53.200 there is stuff that he can do, so explain the. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.880 Most important thing to start with is to call it out. 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.039 I mean, believe it or not that that's not what's happened. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.240 Joe Biden hasn't all that out and made that clear. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.080 But the way that we begin to hold them accountable 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:09.080 is to stop allowing our dependency on those key industries 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:14.240 and also stop American companies from investing in China in 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.800 ways that goes directly against our interests. So today, as 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.680 we speak, there are venture capital firms in the Silicon 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:27.240 Valley that are investing in artificial intelligence companies in China 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:31.080 that do business with the PLA and the Communist Party. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.320 It absolutely makes no sense. So this is something that 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.120 you may disagree with. I'm not sure. So I'm not 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.440 saying we should stop all trade as a practical matter. 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.680 We're the two biggest economies in the world. There's millions 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.600 of jobs that are dependent on it. And I saw 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:48.280 this in Pennsylvania. I bet you saw it in Michigan. 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.480 So I go into York, Pennsylvania, and I go into 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:56.040 a manufacturing facility and the fact that China is dumping 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:01.200 steel and globalization has hurt those workers, hurt the business, 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.479 and they want fair trade. I'm with them. I agree 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.200 on that. I go down the street and I'm in 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.320 a machine shop and this is where Harley Davids's are manufactured. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.919 And that machine shop makes racks that go on the 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.520 back of Harley Davidson's in the biggest market in the 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.719 world they have is China. And so what I say 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.720 in the book is listen, we can talk about what 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:25.160 the economic makeup should be five years from now, but today, 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:27.440 the things we need to focus on are the things 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.960 that are strategic and decouple them from China because China 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:32.400 is a legitimate threat. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.360 I agree. So I'm a steel girl. I come from 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.520 a steel foundry. My family owned a steel foundry. We actually, 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.720 I would say most of the steel foundries that went 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.800 out of business in the two thousand and eight two 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.800 thousand and nine timeframe. We're going out of business not 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:49.279 only because of the recession, but also so much was 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.360 being moved to China at that time. And I think 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.760 that you're going you're not going to there's no way 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:56.840 to get completely out of that. But I think there 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.600 are strategies you can take. For example, we used to 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.320 make the m WRAP vehicles of parts for the m 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.480 RAP vehicles for the military. That was like an eighty 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.640 percent by America clause why isn't our military equipment one 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.920 hundred percent by America or allies? So I mean, really, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.760 can we go to that extreme and say military needs 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:16.720 to be someplace safe? 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.720 I couldn't agree more. And you know what's happened along 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:25.040 that point under Joe Biden, in particular our defense industrial base, 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.080 and we saw this with what's what's happening with Ukraine. 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.640 Our defense industrial base is really really sad and lacking. 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.160 So our defense industry, the defense industry used to support 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.000 with your family steel mail, is in trouble because first 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.440 of all, the actual spending on defense is going down 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.280 because the Biden budget doesn't even keep up with inflation, 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.240 and then our defense industrial base, our manufacturing basis supports 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.200 our defense industry has become overly dependent on foreign countries 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.920 or just inadequate to deal with the next generations of weapons. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.320 And that's a real problem. Particularly you see China on 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:03.320 the march around the world as we do. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.160 Yeah, so we see China here on land in Michigan. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.560 We've been having this fight over the past couple months 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:16.160 now where a Chinese Communist Party aligned company has come 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:18.800 in and decided to build a battery factory in Michigan. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.600 Once we found out, the community has kind of rallied 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.160 against it. So what do you say to governors like 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.720 Gretchen Whitmer who has said, I will align with these 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.360 companies that are coming from China, and she's going overseas 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.040 to try to bring more overseas companies into the state 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.200 of Michigan, which I say again, if these are allied 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.640 countries or friendly countries, it's different. But what do you 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.560 say to governors who are bringing in companies and not 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.440 only just bringing them in, seven hundred and fifteen million 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.640 of our taxpayer dollars are going to bring this in like, 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.600 we're paying these companies that are aligned with the CCP 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.400 to come in and then they own land in the 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.959 middle of our state. And you know, our greatest resource 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.280 here is water, which is something everybody in the world wants. 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:04.240 Why would we do that? 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.880 Well, I'd like to make a distinction between foreign investment 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.160 and foreign investment from China, because I think what you 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:14.040 describe is Chinese company investing in ev which is which 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:19.600 is becoming incredibly strategic in Michigan, and having that dominance 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.160 in the US market and also having that dependency we 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.240 have on China is absolutely what's to be avoided. And 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:28.440 so I agree with you one hundred percent, and we 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.200 have to have restrictions. We should have an inbound investment 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.080 SIPIUS kind of restriction. SIPHIUS is the foreign Investment review 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.400 process that happens at the federal level to make sure 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.640 that that doesn't happen, because it's bad for America. It's 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.240 bad ultimately to be dependent on anybody, but really bad 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.880 to be dependent from the Chinese communis. I would make 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.280 a distinction between that and other foreign investment. For example, 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.800 I was in Korea, I was in South Carolina earlier 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.160 this week and I know they've had great success of 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.720 bringing in the South Koreans, a critical ally and having 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.679 manufacturing facilities that have brought new jobs to South Carolina. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.720 Great business opportunity to help make South Carolina's economy really strong. 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.160 It's a critical ally in South Korea. It's technology that 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.760 we want to build here at home. I think that 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.120 kind of inbound investment's good, Chinese based inbound investment. 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.199 Back, let's take a quick commercial break. We'll continue next 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:25.360 on a Tutor Dixon podcast. Okay, you just brought up jobs, 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.800 so I want to ask you about that because in 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.720 the state of Michigan, we have really nobody out there 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.560 to work. We have businesses leaving the state because they're 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.400 so desperate for workers. I don't know if Pennsylvania is 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.559 in that situation, but I want to ask you when 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.720 you see states that are desperate for people to do jobs, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.720 like we need people on our farms, we need people 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.400 in our hospitality industry, we need people in our manufacturing plants. 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.600 We need all of these people. We don't have enough. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.120 We're in the midst of a total crisis at the border. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:59.360 Why can we not have immigration reform that would vet 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.240 these people and get people that we really need in 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:03.800 here and keep the bad guys out. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:08.360 Yeah, it's a huge, huge issue, and I agree with 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.719 what you're saying your sentiment one hundred percent, and say 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.480 make two points one. In the book, I make the 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:17.439 point that Listen, I grew up thinking a four year 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.480 degree was the path to a great middle class life 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.920 and opportunity, and that's not the case. It doesn't just 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.000 have to be a four year degree. Not every person 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:27.960 has that be four year degree to have the American 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:32.280 dream and skilled training. I go across manufacturing facilities, tech 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.800 facilities in Pennsylvania. The biggest issue CEOs have in fracking, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.679 which is a big industry natural gas in Pennslvania. The 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.160 biggest issue they have is skilled workers. It's not that 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.960 there aren't people to take jobs, there aren't people with 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:49.079 the adequate skills. So I think gi benefits like I 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:54.080 had when I left the Army, pell grants, partnerships between 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.240 industry and the community colleges to get these skilled workers 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.800 is huge. So let's help Americans get the kind of 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.760 that you had in your family, Maill, that I learned 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.160 about in Pittsburgh, where you can have a great middle 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.520 class existence, great middle class life by having adequate skills. 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.720 That's one thing. Second thing on skilled immigration, I agree 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.600 one hundred percent. But the first step is to stop 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.079 that pouring across the border. I saw it when I ran, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:22.880 I went down and visit the border. I know you're 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.839 seeing it in Michigan. That is an absolute travesty that 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.280 we don't have control of our border, that the fentanyl 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.760 that's killing kids in Pennsylvania and Michigan is coming across 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.720 through those cartels. We've got to stop the border crisis. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.800 But we also, in my opinion, have to reform our 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.160 skilled immigration process to make sure that we get the 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.560 people coming into our country that have the skills we need. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.000 But see, the way that works right now is exactly 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.480 what you just said, the skilled immigration, Because we tried 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.160 to bring in factory workers from Ukraine. This was years 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:00.960 before the war, but we knew we had factory workers 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.640 there that could teach our factory workers here. And the 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.760 only way you can bring someone in through the federal 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.960 program who is skilled is someone who is skilled because 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:16.280 they have a degree. But we I mean, the learning 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.240 on the job is I mean that's priceless, but that's 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:21.520 not considered skilled. 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:28.400 Why well, it's a great question. And what President Trump 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.520 did at the end of his term, there was a 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.479 proposal he put on the table for skilled immigration reform 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.880 that addressed some of these issues. It was more in 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.880 line with Canada system, which has a whole range of skills, 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:45.760 both educated and non formally trained skills that we can 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.760 bring workers in. And the key point you have to make, 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.800 I think both subsident politically. These don't take away American jobs. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.760 These are skilled immigrants that come in and help fill 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.520 jobs that are going to help American companies grow and 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.840 be more prospress for our community. So skilled immigration reforms key. 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:04.920 I think Trump had the right idea, he just didn't 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.280 get it done in the latter half of his administration. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.240 And that's the kind of approach we need to take 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.079 hand in hand with fixing the border. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.520 All Right, Elections, we've got to get through elections. Obviously, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.520 you just went through a rough primary and then your 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.480 primary opponent who won ended up losing the Senate seat 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.120 to someone who is not even able to be in 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.080 the Senate most of the time. So I think all 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.240 of us are shocked by the John Fetterman situation across 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.680 the country. I mean He's an example that people use 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.040 as why people who are impaired in some way shouldn't 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.160 be in office, no matter what age they are. It 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.880 was really shocking. But one thing that I've come out 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.440 of my campaign and done a lot of research on, 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.440 and I've learned from folks who are in other states 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.520 doing lots of research and doing a strong performing, a 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.480 strong ground game on the Republican side, They've told me 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.800 that there is a difference between these states. You have 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.680 messaging states, which would be like a Florida or a 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:04.280 tech You have ballot states, which is a Pennsylvania, and 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.840 then Michigan would be a combination of a message and 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.240 a ballot state. And really what we're not doing is 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.640 that work on the ground to get to be I mean, 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.680 you don't have to have a message in Pennsylvania. If 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.720 you're John Fetterman, you have no message. You're literally just 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:23.360 going and doing the business of elections to capture those ballots. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.040 So if you run again, how do you change the 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:28.760 way you do things on the ground there? 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.040 Well, you know, there's the electro reform issue and then 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.560 there's how I would campaign. They're related but different. I mean, 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:39.040 the thing that was so frustrating, and I dealt with 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.000 this in a primary, as you might imagine. But when 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:47.200 the race. The day of the race, it looked like 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:48.840 I was going to win the race. I was told 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:50.640 I was going to win the race, and even for 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.120 the seventeen days that followed, I thought for most of 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.200 that time that I was going to win the race 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.240 based on the numbers that I was being told. But 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.480 you had sixty seven counties that had totally different pricesses 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.680 for counting votes. You had all sorts of screwed up 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:09.640 things where ballots were lost. In Philadelphia, the count from 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.880 the Secretary of Stage, who's a Democrat, was of absentee 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:17.240 ballances were inconsistent. And so I could see the frustration 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.360 that people have on how screwed up our systems are. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:24.280 And one of the basic things that's missing is basic 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.120 voter ID. Hard to imagine that you can show up 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:29.920 at the polls and you don't have to show ID, 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.160 but yet you can't get on an airplane with that idea. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.320 It seems so obvious, and yet we haven't been able 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.760 to get voter ID passed in Pennsylvania. That's one thing 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.800 that I would stand from the top of the Mountain 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.240 and scream that we need that in Pennsylvania and we 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.080 need that everywhere. It seems so obvious. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.000 It's but they're winning. So you make a good point. 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.000 It seems so obvious, and yet they are winning on 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.760 these issues with young people. Somehow they are able to 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.680 twist the message in a way that young people go, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.000 my gosh, how terrible of you two quire of Voto, 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.560 I d How do Republicans bring that take that message back? 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:07.560 Now? I think it's it's got to start from the 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.000 first day of the campaign is thinking about election day 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.239 and all the work that needs to go into that 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:18.080 and making the case that we want everybody to vote. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.480 We want every legal person to commit and vote. And 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:22.760 in Pennsylvania. I don't know about the story in Michigan, 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:27.040 but the fact that we didn't embrace absentee ballots killed us. 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.240 It killed us in Pennsylvania. And you know that narrative 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.439 that Republicans are going to vote on election day, and 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.880 you know that that was devastating. And so we've got 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.400 to do a better job. And there's initiatives underway here 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:46.320 to really look at low propensity voters and figure out 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.720 how to reach them, how to encourage them to vote, 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.399 how to encourage them to vote by mail and play 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:56.480 that game. The Democrats executed much better than we did 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:01.760 on that plan. And there's obviously all the election irregularities, 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.280 but just on the basic mail in ballot, they outperformed. 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.919 So the person that beat me in the primary was 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.000 memodas he started on election day six hundred and fifty 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.240 seven hundred thousand votes down in the absentee ballot. You 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.960 can't win elections unless you execute on that, and we didn't, 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.640 and we need to do a better job in twenty. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.680 Four So what is the message going forward for Republicans? 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:28.840 I've been watching everybody kind of pontificate on what Republicans 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.720 did wrong. I mean, I have my own opinions, certainly 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:35.720 having gone through a race and lost as well. But 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.000 what do you think the message is on a federal 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:40.600 level for people? 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:42.800 Well, I think it's three. I think it's three things. 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:47.000 I think first and foremost, we need to be unified. 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.680 I think the Democrats, at least in Pennsylvania were very unified, 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.320 and we weren't unified, And we spend eighty percent of 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.480 our time talking about the twenty percent of the things 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.800 we disagree with among each other. I mean, I don't 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:01.440 agree with my wife on eighty percent of things. So 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.040 we need to unify as a party around candidates that 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:09.080 can win general elections. Winning is important, right, Winning the 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.800 general election is support particular of purple state like Pennsylvania 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.160 and at critical state like Michigan, We're gonna have candidates 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.280 that can win the general election. That's the first thing. 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.280 The second thing, and again this is my opinion, we 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.520 need to look forward. We need to look forward, not backward. 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.520 So we can spend all the time in the world 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.879 talking about twenty twenty, but the people I met on 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:28.440 the campaign troo, I want to talk about how we're 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:30.880 going to fix the inflation which is killing working families, 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.880 killing people on fixed income, how we're going to stop 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.600 the fentanyl scourge. Crime in Philadelphia, the murder rates in 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.840 an all time high. Those are the things we should 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.159 be talking about. What we're going to do is Republicans 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.480 and Conservatives to fix those problems. And three, we need 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:49.240 to execute I think on the absentee ballots in Pennsylvania 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.200 at least Acts seventy seven was passed with Republican support. 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.240 Those are the rules now of how voting takes place, 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.000 and we need to within those rules win the game 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.840 from an execution state point, from a ground game standpoint. 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:04.200 If we do that, we're going to win elections. Right now, 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.679 we're not winning elections, and it's putting our commonwealth and 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.240 the country. And because critical states like Pennsylvania Michigan are 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:14.040 critical to the majority in the Senate and the House 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:16.960 also critical to the future of the country. So those 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:18.760 three things make it will make a big difference. 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.560 How close is America to falling off the edge when 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:24.800 it comes to being a superpower? I mean, it sounds 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.159 like you think we are in great danger. I also 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.760 believe that China has been working on one hundred year 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.800 plan and they're like eighty five years in and we 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.240 are just asleep at the wheel. We're looking at eight 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:40.400 years ahead and we're missing the boat here. So how 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:42.359 scary is it when you look at them having the 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:44.400 biggest navy in the world, when you look at them 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.480 having this outrageous amount of exports and bringing in all 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.800 of this money, and suddenly people are looking away from 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.760 the US dollar. How close are we? 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.600 Well? I think we're in crisis. I think in economic terms, 0:20:56.640 --> 0:21:00.399 thirty one trillion dollars debt Sky high inflation, national curity, 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.240 the challenge from China. China has a plan technologically superior 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.440 in many areas, and I think spiritually, the basic premise 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:13.760 of our exceptional country, the idea of merit capitalism, the 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.800 fact that America is the most uniquely successful country in 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:18.520 the world in terms of bringing people out of poverty. 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:21.359 All those things are being challenged. And that's why eighty 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.560 percent of Americans think we're headed in the wrong direction. 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.159