WEBVTT - Minority Rule 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.600 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.959 me your girl, Danielle Moody recording once again from the 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:23.360 Brooklyn Bunker. You know, folks, as Amicron continues to ravage 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:27.320 the country, as we get new news that Feiser has 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.480 been approved for an at home pill to treat COVID 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.280 so that you no longer have to go into the hospital, 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.960 clogging up our hospitals in a way that they have 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.120 not seen since twenty twenty, but we are hearing about daily. 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.720 Is great news. But what would be even better is 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.640 if we had more than sixty one percent of the 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:51.480 population that was vaccinated. I know that I am beating 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.040 a dead horse every time that I go back down 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.680 this road, but it discuss me to no end that 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.880 no one from the Trump administration is being held accountable, 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:06.119 even as we receive more reports on the fact that 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.560 they had information for the public to share about COVID nineteen. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.040 They had the protocols that they should have been using, 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.200 and they just refused. Instead, they saw it as an 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:23.280 opportunity to weaponize a virus, right, turning people against each 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.520 other and creating absolute chaos so that they could hold 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:31.800 on to power. Right. We lost over eight hundred thousand Americans, 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.320 and that number continues to tick up, and they're twenty 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.840 five percent of the population that will refuse still to 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.039 get vaccinated. They're killing their own constituents, they're killing their 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.360 own followers, and yet still here we are, sixty one 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.760 percent of the population is vaccinated. You know, all I 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.280 can continue to say, following my conversation yesterday with our friend, 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.840 doctor Jonathan Metzel is, friends, do everything within your power 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.280 to stay safe. As Jonathan said yesterday, now is not 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.640 the time for us to want to get COVID right now. 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.320 It's not the time for us to allow ourselves to, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:15.160 you know, fall and lag in our daily habits that 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.960 that we've created, washing our hands six feet of distance, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:23.120 wearing a mask. Make sure that you are vaccinated, make 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.160 sure that you are boosted, and just stay as safe 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.880 as possible this holiday season. I want to switch gears 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.920 now to going back to that son of a bitch 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:37.760 from West Virginia, Joe Mansion coming up later in the show. 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.880 I have the opportunity. I'm so excited to bring you 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.840 this conversation. I've wanted to interview this member of the squad, 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:49.000 Representative Jamal Bowman, from New York for the longest time 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:53.120 since he was elected. He is outspoken, he is passionate, 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.160 he is thoughtful and strategic, you know, everything that we 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.680 actually want out of the Democratic Party, but yet don't 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.000 get in mass. And we have a very candid conversation 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.920 about his thoughts on Joe Mansion, which he has not 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.520 minced any words on any of the shows that he 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.720 has appeared on. But the reality is this that we, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.519 as he will share with us, are moving into a 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.760 really dark season, right. And I'm not just talking about winter. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.960 I'm talking about, you know, the winter of our politics. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.720 I'm talking about the dark corners right that we are 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:31.320 headed into when we know that we have a rabid 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.320 Republican Party that is willing to do anything and everything 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.120 in order to hold power. We have a really apathetic 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.040 Democratic Party that is not messaging in the way that 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.800 they need to message. And one of the things that 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.880 I bring up two Congressmen Bowman, is this, you know, 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.720 it is evident right that the Republicans have embraced the 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.960 likes of Marjorie Taylor Green, have embraced the likes of 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:01.760 Laura Beaubert as the new faces the Republican Party. They're 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:06.040 not moderate, they're not economically fiscal. They are crazy white 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:11.960 nationalists that are armed, that don't just use violence as 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.240 a threat, they use it as a campaigning tool as well. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.040 They use it as a fundraising tool. If you see 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:22.520 the reception that Kyle Rittenhouse a murderer, right, a person 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:27.039 that murdered two people in cold fucking blood, two citizens 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.200 of this country. If you see the type of embrace 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.919 that he is received from the Republican Party, from Lauren Bobert, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:40.400 from others, right, they are making no qualms about who 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.320 they are, who they see their future as. And the 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:47.000 question that I ask Congressman Bowman is why won't Democrats 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.400 embrace who their future is? Why do they continue to 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.680 run from the likes of him, as well as Congresswoman 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:59.600 Omar and Ocasio Cortez and Pressley, And you know, it 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:04.280 just makes no fucking sense. Right. We know the demographics 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.320 of this country are rapidly shifting. We know that white 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.960 supremacy tied into capitalism, which are just one and of 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.599 the same, are going to be what destroys this country. 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.160 We know why people voted in mass right for the 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.960 historic twenty twenty election. We know why the squad was 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:28.039 ushered into power in twenty eighteen. And it's because we right, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:32.280 who still believe in progress, who still believe in justice, 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:37.320 believe in these young voices of color, And yet our 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.280 folks that are in leadership, the Peloses and the Schumer's right, 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.960 are still running from these people, are trying to distance 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.120 themselves from them. And I'm thinking to myself, but yet 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.039 you want to continue to run to the fucking mansions 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.000 of the world. You think that it's the independence that 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.720 saved you in twenty twenty. You think that that's what 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.360 got the Biden administer stration in. You think that that's 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.920 what solidified a democratic majority in Congress. You think it 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.440 was the independence or the fucking Republican karens that you 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:13.800 still try in court. It isn't right. It's people of color, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:19.520 it's progressives, and they continue to ignore these people to 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.520 their fault. Right. You know, I just saw right before 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:30.960 it came on air that Biden has decided to extend 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:37.400 the waiver for paybacks of student loans until May because 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:41.760 of the omicron variant rise. And I gotta tell you, 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.440 if Joe Biden wants Democrats to stay in power, you 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.760 know what he could do instead of delaying the inevitable, 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:53.880 maybe cancel fucking student loan debt, right, maybe for those 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.480 people that have student loan debt that is above fucking, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.320 you know, fifteen thousand dollars that you fucking canceled that 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:06.520 shit out. It's just consistently amazing to me, and by amazing, 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:11.680 I mean absurd that we can make the excuses as 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.040 to why you continue to give tax breaks to the rich, 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.040 on why you continue to allow loopholes to exist so 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.120 that they don't have to pay their fair share. Then 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.240 you want to turn around and you want to tell people, oh, 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.560 if you want to be successful, if you want to 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.080 be quote unquote wealthy or middle class, you got to 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.680 go to school. You got to get an education. Then 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.720 those same people listen to you. They go to school, 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.840 they go to get an education, only to be saddled 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:45.480 with six figures worth of debt too, then have to 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.800 work in a low level, low paying job that they 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.000 are tied to not only for their benefits, but so 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:56.120 that they get to pay back the very institutions that 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:01.200 gave them blown you know, blown up fucking student loan debt. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.640 It just doesn't make any sense, you know, everywhere It 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.880 doesn't matter at which at which end of the educational 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.800 spectrum that you're looking at, whether you're looking at preschoolers 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.440 or you're looking at those that are headed into post 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:23.360 secondary learning. We don't care. We don't care about you, 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.360 We don't care about students, we don't care about young students, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.920 we don't care about older students. We don't want to 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.720 invest in workers in this country. And then we want 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.800 to turn around and say that they're lazy, right, We 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:37.960 want to allow the mansions of the world to say, no, 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.280 you don't deserve tax credit, you don't deserve student loan 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.160 debt relief, you don't deserve any of these things because we, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.880 the rich and the mighty, who are wielding our swords 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:54.040 of power, believe that you are lazy and undeserving. You know, 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.480 it's amazing to me, and I will say this in 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:01.880 the interview with the congressman, you know us him. If 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:06.360 I have very little hope right about Congress and the 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.440 direction that Congress is going in. How do you feel? 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:12.319 How does it feel to show up every day into 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:16.680 a chamber with people that you know want to kill you? Right? Like? 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.880 What must that feel like? This isn't just oh, I'm 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.800 going to work and Peggy over there gets on my nerves. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.000 Or every day, No, it's like I'm going to work 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.600 with somebody that put my face on their website and 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:35.360 with a with crosshairs, right, or I get on talk 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.280 radio and I tell them, oh, yeah, she's a terrorist 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.720 and we should kill them, like I You know, folks, 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.240 I swear to you, this year for me cannot end 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.480 soon enough because you know, and I'll just continue to 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.720 say this, I need a break, and I think that 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.520 we all need a break. And I wish, I wish 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.880 that I had the power to be able to say, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.840 you know what, America, you know what, you deserve a sabbatical, 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.560 You deserve a year off, You deserve some time to 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.760 breathe right that we have if you, folks, if you 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.800 really think about it, as we're reflecting on, you know, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.319 this year that has just passed, the fact that we 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:24.000 have been working, continuing to work, pay bills, pay rent, 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.400 pay mortgages, find ways to put food on the table 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:32.360 during this health pandemic where now in New York folks 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.920 are back to wearing masks just outside right, Like we 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.240 had gotten to a place where it's like, okay, we 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:40.320 all have our masks, and as soon as we're walking 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:45.080 into any store, any restaurant, our masks go on. And 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.640 it wasn't right. It was in twenty twenty when we 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.120 knew very little about COVID. So we're walking around out 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.680 on the streets and you're masked up because we don't know, right, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:11:00.160 we didn't know how the virus worked. Well, now we're 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.960 back at what it feels like in New York right 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.960 now square one. And I know it's not square one 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.400 because we have a vaccine and we have a boost, 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.319 but I mean square one. Is it pertains to fear 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.880 Like I am not walking out of my apartment building 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.800 without a mask on. I am walking down the street 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.840 with a mask on. Right, I am seeing lines wrapped 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.360 around you know, city mds and pop up testing sites 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:33.000 because people are fearful. And you know the fact that 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.080 we are able to make it through this year. If 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.840 you are getting to the end of your workload for 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.640 the year, I know it may not have been perfect, right, 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.000 there may be some things left that will just have 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.440 to wait. But I want you to give yourselves a 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.559 pat on the back. I want you to give yourself 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:59.480 some high praise because you know, I don't know who 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:06.040 is due the studies right now on our emotional state 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.040 as a collective, what it means to go through or 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:16.120 exist in collective trauma and anxiety and depression. And I'm 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.520 going to be you very candid. I've had many moments 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.240 as I'm trying to close out for the end of 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.439 the year this week, where I was in full blown 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:34.319 tears because things just feel so big, right, like the problems, 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:39.640 they just feel so unwieldly, like are we ever going 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.280 to be able to wrap our arms around this? Are 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.959 we ever going to be able to tackle this issue? 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.000 And I'm not just talking about Omicron, because it'll be 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.800 Omicron right now and in a couple of months it'll 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.400 be something else. That's the reality of where we're living 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.960 now that any moment, any reprieve that we have in 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:03.240 between these very enjoy them, right, Enjoy the ability to 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.800 socialize with your friends, Enjoy the ability to you know, 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.640 to connect with family, because we are going to be 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:13.920 living in what I believe are just going to be 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:20.240 consistent waves of this virus that will happen between November 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:25.280 and February of every year. So you know, during the show, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.960 I have been you know, the past couple of weeks, 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.599 I've been talking about fire seasons and these once in 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.600 a century tornadoes and once in a century storms and 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.240 all of these things. Well, the reality is that we're 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.160 living inside of a once in a century pandemic that 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:42.880 I don't think is ever going to end. I think 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.640 that much in the same way that we have these 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:50.640 different seasons right that through climate change have become exasperated 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.880 over time, that we're going to be living in and 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.400 with COVID forever, and that there will be seasons that 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.440 are way worse, that see a lot more death and 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.199 a lot more illness than others. And that is simply 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:11.680 right because of wealthy nations desire not to provide lower 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.319 incominations with the ability to manufacture at a high level 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.000 their own vaccines. It has to do with Donald Trump 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.680 and the Trump administration's initial handling of COVID nineteen that 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.040 after a year of being lied to every single day 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.960 by every single member, by every single fucking outlet that 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.680 a Republican would go on that the damage was already done. 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.120 The genie had already left the bottle, and we were 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.280 never going to be able to put it back. And 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.160 because of that, we'll never have one hundred percent of 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.840 the country vaccinated. We won't even ever get to probably 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:52.240 eighty percent of the country vaccinated, right, and that is 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.520 because of the Trump administration. And I'm just wondering why 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.560 we ever, we will never call a fucking spade a spade. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.760 We'll keep talking about well some people and over there 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:09.800 and conservatives and the saying no, no, it's one person, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:14.800 one party to blame for this. Fucking own it before 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.880 they do, right, But that's not what Democrats do. And 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:23.400 so in my conversation with Congressman Jamal Bowman coming up next, 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.040 we are going to talk about a range of topics. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.320 We're going to talk about COVID, We're going to talk 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.160 about build back better, and we're going to talk about 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:36.840 what he hopes to manifest in twenty twenty two. That 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:44.720 conversation coming up right now, folks. I am so excited 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.200 to welcome to wakayeff Daily for the very first time. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:53.320 Congressman Jamal Bowman, who represents the sixteenth Congressional District of 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.600 New York, which is the North Bronx and Westchester and 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:00.520 has been one of the most outspoken, vocal progressive voices 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.040 in the House of representatives that I've been dying to 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:08.640 talk to you. Congressman, let me just say one, your 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.960 spirit and your passion give me hope at a time 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.040 when I am not the only one in America these 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.560 days that is feeling hopeless. As we're trying to head 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.760 into the holiday season and into the new year. The 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.080 first question that I have for you, I mean, is 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.160 the question that is on everyone's mind. Why is Joe Mansion, 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.640 a man that was elected by two hundred and ninety 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.600 thousand Americans the President of the United States. Why is 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.480 he the one that is leading our democracy when eighty 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.280 one million people voted for Joe Biden, voted for Vice 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:45.120 President Kamala Harris, voted for change, and he's sitting on 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:49.560 a yacht and a maserati doing anything but creating change. 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.440 You are speaking to the reason why we have to 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:58.480 deal with the electoral College and change what's happening there. 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.680 You are speaking to the reason and why we need 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.560 to elevate the issue of the filibuster and ending the 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.439 filibuster right now, because it's that issue I think that 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:13.680 will uncover sort of the historical and systemic discrimination and 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:20.360 how it exists in Congress and throughout much of America's institutions. 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:26.520 We have a system of minority rule, which means it's 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.639 a fifty fifty split. So Democrats have a slim majority 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:34.880 in the Senate, but the fifty Republicans represent way less 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:39.400 people than the fifty Democrats, and those fifty Republicans, their 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:44.119 votes have as much power as the fifty Democrats. And 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:46.959 what makes it worse to your point, is we have 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.840 one Democrat. And I would say too, because I think 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:55.280 Senator Cinema is an alignment with some of what we've 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.159 been fighting against. We have one Democrat that's pretty much 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.399 caucusing as a Republican, pretty much behaving as a Republican. 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.680 And on the one hand, you could say, well, you know, 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.760 his state was won by Donald Trump at thirty nine points, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.919 so he's behaving in alignment with that. That is true. 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.720 On the other hand, he represents a state where that 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.000 has some of the highest poverty rates in the country, 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.119 where has the seventh highest poverty rate when we're talking 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:27.360 about childhood poverty, when you talk about climate injustice, when 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.000 you talk about lack of access to healthcare and the 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.920 history of an opioid epidemic, as well as a literal 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.880 scandal where private industry poisoned the people of West Virginia. 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.639 When you talk about those things and what constituents they 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:46.359 are really dealing with, and who mentions donors are and 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:52.359 how those donors and special interests literally control Congress, that's 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:56.280 when we begin to have the right conversations and bigger 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:00.560 conversations about what's happening there. So that's a very long 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.639 answer to the simple question of why he has so 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.080 much power. The short answer is we have a slim majority. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.040 The longer answer is, wait a minute, this is all 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:14.120 pretty corrupt and how it wor right? Yeah, because I'm 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.240 because I'm saying I sit around on woke a f 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.280 you know, on a regular basis, and I say to myself, 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.520 if this is what winning looks like, then I hate 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.679 to see what losing would look like. Right, Because if 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:31.080 if winning looks like no voting rights legislation, no build 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:35.439 back better, no direction on climate change, if it looks 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.600 like the House of Representatives passing hundreds of pieces of 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:43.720 legislation that without the graveyard of Mitch McConnell still goes 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.040 to die, right, then what is it that we are 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.479 telling the American people to vote for you know, And 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.160 so I ask you, you know, as as a staunch Democrat, 0:19:55.200 --> 0:20:00.720 as a staunch progressive, are we messaging as Democrats in 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.199 the way that we need to? Should we take a 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.600 piece of the Republican playbook? And in my humble opinion, 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.320 I'm not putting words in your mouth, but go after 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:15.199 Mansion in the same way that we see Republicans go 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.440 after people that refuse to tout Donald Trump's big lie. 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.399 It's a time for the niceties to end. So no, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:28.280 we are not messaging correctly. Yes, it's time for the 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.720 niceties to end, but I wouldn't even say it's time 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:33.800 for the niceties to end. It's time for us to 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.840 tell the truth. We just have to tell the truth 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.080 about who we are, where we come from, how we 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.440 got here, and where we want to go. That's it. 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:49.439 Let's just have honest conversations about that. And because you know, 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.399 the Republican Party and the Democratic Party both kind of 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.280 serve the same master when we talk about moderate and 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:01.600 conservative Democrats and Republicans. The master is money, The master 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.360 is green, the large corporations, the master of special interests. 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.880 This is why we're trying to get big money out 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.359 of politics and afore, the People Act that we passed 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.040 out of the House back in March would have done 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.199 just that, but as you mentioned, it hasn't moved in 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:23.320 the Senate at all, and partly because Mansion didn't support it, 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.440 rewrote the bill, and now we're going to deal with 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.760 his rewrite of the bill. Right, So it's all of that. 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.800 It's also about getting organized, right, So we need to 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.520 get organized on the outside of Congress. And I'm talking 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:43.119 living room to living room conversation after conversation, what do 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:45.520 we want the country in the world to look like 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.480 twenty years from them? And then what are we doing 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.800 individually and collectively every day in our lives to get 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.880 to that world Because you're not going to defeat settler 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:59.040 colonialism in just a couple of years, because it's taken 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.440 hundreds of years to build. But we also need to 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.960 be organized on the inside, meaning is the Democratic Party 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:08.520 really going to embrace its big tent and it's and 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:15.240 it's brilliant communicators and orators and fundraisers like Ayana Presley, 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:17.720 Corey Bush and AOC. Are we really going to embrace 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.520 people like that to make the party what we should be, 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:26.440 which is the leader of the next iteration of American democracy, 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:28.960 and we need to get organized in doing that. What's 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.959 happening in the Senate. How could we win a supermajority 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.720 in the Senate next year? How is the Senate working 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:36.680 with the House? How are we working with the White House? 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:39.800 What's our twenty year plan? None of that is happening 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:42.399 at the level as should. And that's why we need to, 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:44.439 you know, we need to do more to make the 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:48.120 change that's necessary to get that done. You know, I'm 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:50.879 really thankful that you mentioned your other colleagues, you know 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:53.960 who collectively the mainstream or the right wing. I don't 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:56.919 even know who has named this squad. And one of 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.639 the things that I find really frustrating is that it 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:03.520 is evident that the Republican Party has decided to embrace 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.720 what we had hoped was just the fringe, the Marjorie 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.960 Taylor Greens, the Lauren Bouberts, the Matt Gates. We thought 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:14.280 that that was the fringe of the Republican Party, but 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:16.840 we now know that it is the face. Why do 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:20.119 you think or do you believe that the Democrats that 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:25.000 are in leadership run from the progressives and don't have 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.120 their back in the same way that we are seeing 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:35.040 the Republicans consistently have the back of their most rapid members. 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.840 You're talking about members that have threatened violence and death 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:42.199 against their sitting colleagues. And I sit around and I 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:47.120 read strongly worded statements rather than you know, seeing the 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:51.280 full breadth of the Democratic leadership embrace and have the 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.919 back of their warriors. You know, I agree. When I 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:59.280 was on the outside looking in, still a middle school principle, 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.120 just paying attention to what was going on, I said 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:05.720 to myself, Wow, we have Nancy Pelosi, who's the Speaker 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:07.399 of the House, who as a woman who's been in 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:10.520 leadership in that space for a very long time. And 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:15.359 you got these four new, dynamic, incredible women in Congress 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:18.720 coming into you know, shake things up and move things 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:22.359 forward in a good way. And imagine if Speaker Pelosi 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:26.040 would embrace them in a way that truly empowered them 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:29.320 and centered them. We had an opportunity to do that 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.520 with the Democratic National Convention that we just had, and 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.480 I saw all these other faces and all these other people. 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:38.919 I mean, we had a case at who's a Republican 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.159 gets some airtime at the DNC and others not saying 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:44.640 they shouldn't, but that would have been the perfect time 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:50.240 to elevate people like Rett Presley and Kazio potez Omar 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:53.560 and to leave and others. So that so that because 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:57.959 they represent the full breath of America and what America is, 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:00.480 so we can't run away from it. We have to 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:02.480 be who we are, and we have to be honest 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:05.199 about who we are. But I'll tell you, you know, 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:09.080 we have people in Congress who are quote unquote frontliners, 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:12.600 which means they are you know, they're in swing districts 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:17.200 who the party caters to and dictate sort of how 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:19.800 we should go about doing business as a party to 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:22.840 support them, and of course we want to maintain the majority. 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:25.760 But when we do that, we only target independence, and 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:28.840 we only target moderates, and we don't target the eighty 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:32.280 million people who consistently do not vote in presidential elections 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:35.480