Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Maxwell Crush, congratulations on being
Speaker 1: elected to Congress the same year you were old enough
Speaker 1: to rent a car. Who have you bonded with in Congress?
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm guessing the squad as, but any oldies? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I want to say their names now,
Speaker 1: because now I'm calling them oldies. I mean, yeah, Look,
Speaker 1: there's so many people that I've gotten to connect with,
Speaker 1: you know, folks who are have been just doing great work.
Speaker 1: Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters from Legiah Paul, Uh, yeah, Jamie Raskin. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so many amazing people out there. I wouldn't call them oldies,
Speaker 1: but you know, uh, you know senior members of Congress
Speaker 1: who are doing amazing work. Yeah, they're not old these
Speaker 1: they're goodies. Yeah, they're goodies. There we go, There we go.
Speaker 1: You have been, and I find this so impressive and inspiring,
Speaker 1: especially to people out here. You've been a gun reform
Speaker 1: advocates since you were fifteen years old, spurred on by
Speaker 1: Sandy Hook, which was in Connecticut year from Florida, and
Speaker 1: you you organize the March for Our Lives all these
Speaker 1: things that you know too. It's the the five year
Speaker 1: anniversary of the Parkland shooting. There is a school shooting
Speaker 1: just last night at Michigan State. Now that you are
Speaker 1: in Congress, what do you think can be done? How
Speaker 1: can we break this cycle? Yeah, well, we saw Congress
Speaker 1: pass a bipartisan bill to help end gun violence last year.
Speaker 1: It's not everything that we need, but it's a good
Speaker 1: step forward. Um. The fact of the matter is we
Speaker 1: need a governing majority that's actually going to care about
Speaker 1: this issue. And you know, this word bipartisanship is supposed
Speaker 1: to mean what everyone can agree on. Most n r
Speaker 1: A members and Republicans are four universal background checks, But
Speaker 1: the definition of bipartisanship in Congress means what the n
Speaker 1: r A will allow. And because they are front for
Speaker 1: the gun lobby, they have these politicians bought off and
Speaker 1: they're unwilling to stand up for what the people want.
Speaker 1: So we can't get things like background checks passed. And
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of work that needs to be done.
Speaker 1: A lot of it involves kicking people out and replacing
Speaker 1: them with morley just leaders who actually give a damn
Speaker 1: about children's lives than people. Um. But Indian and rom
Speaker 1: I think we have an opportunity I mean returning citizens
Speaker 1: united would certainly help. That's one of the issues that
Speaker 1: in all issues, you know, Yeah, that's the that's the
Speaker 1: big one, and that's the root of so much of this. So,
Speaker 1: now that you've seen how Congress operates kind of from
Speaker 1: the inside, are you hopeful? Do you see that there's
Speaker 1: change possible? Are you excited about America's future? Isn't depressing both?
Speaker 1: I'll say I'm very hopeful. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: times on the outside you might look in and say
Speaker 1: there's only a small group of good people and everyone
Speaker 1: else is a corporate hack and they don't care about anyone.
Speaker 1: But having conversations with my colleagues, I've been so surprised
Speaker 1: by so many people who I get in the conversation
Speaker 1: with them and I find out what they're about and
Speaker 1: their values, and I'm like, okay, you know, like you're
Speaker 1: you're actually a lot more progressive and forward thinking that
Speaker 1: other folks might think. And I think the problems people
Speaker 1: have smaller goals because they understand the landscape and the
Speaker 1: battlefield that we have in Congress right now. And I
Speaker 1: think when we show those politicians and everyone that good
Speaker 1: policy equals good politics, then I think people will get
Speaker 1: the courage that they need to stand up for what
Speaker 1: we need in this country more. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of gen Zers tend to not trust the government. Um,
Speaker 1: how do you think you can change their minds? Well,
Speaker 1: I understand, first off, Like you know, and this is
Speaker 1: something I like. Running for Congress, I had to think
Speaker 1: about the fact that during the Black Lives Matter protests,
Speaker 1: I was tear gas mace, arrested, and jailed for non
Speaker 1: violent protests. Now I represent those same streets in Congress,
Speaker 1: but I still have to square the fact that I'm
Speaker 1: a part of the system that causes a lot of harm.
Speaker 1: And I get it. And I think part of what
Speaker 1: we need to do is make government more accessible, bridging
Speaker 1: the gap between cool and consciousness. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a really good way that we can bring younger people
Speaker 1: to the fold. And March Allies did a great job
Speaker 1: of that. And with the movement, it was like the
Speaker 1: cool thing to be at the marches is the cool
Speaker 1: thing the registered to vote. And I think the more
Speaker 1: we can get our culture intertwined with the politics, I
Speaker 1: think it's going to lead to more young people getting involved.
Speaker 1: I mean, if the marches could could Uh, could translate
Speaker 1: to votes more directly, it would be ideal, definitely. Um,
Speaker 1: but you know, maybe election day off would be a
Speaker 1: nice start. Yeah, I agree. And vote to turnout is
Speaker 1: up for young people. You know, we have record highs
Speaker 1: of you through to turn out. It's never been the
Speaker 1: largest piece of the pie. But young people right now
Speaker 1: are voting at higher numbers than any other generation when
Speaker 1: they were our age. And half of gen Z can't
Speaker 1: even vote yet. So we're not where we want to be,
Speaker 1: but we're going in the right direction. Um. You brought
Speaker 1: pussy ass bitch. It's now in congressional record because of you.
Speaker 1: So I just start how I thank you for that.
Speaker 1: And that was about a certain person too, it was
Speaker 1: about well, it was about a pussy ass bitch. So
Speaker 1: what's in so inspiring about you is that you got
Speaker 1: involved as a teenager and how that can manifest into
Speaker 1: real change. And so I think it's exciting. Gen Z
Speaker 1: is so exciting to me because they're so motivated. There's
Speaker 1: they realize their power and that can really change things.
Speaker 1: I mean, trying to get gen Z to trust the
Speaker 1: government how much just trying to get gen Z to
Speaker 1: be the government. And I think you've done that. No,
Speaker 1: it is exciting, and I think we see a lot
Speaker 1: of young candidates running across the country. And look, it's
Speaker 1: not like gen Z was waiting in Congress. I'm the
Speaker 1: oldest agen Zer can be. We just got old enough
Speaker 1: to run. But I think the significance here is that
Speaker 1: the first chance we got, we jumped at the opportunity
Speaker 1: because we want to be a part of the solution.
Speaker 1: We want to be at the table. We don't want
Speaker 1: to be the only people at the table. But Congress
Speaker 1: does not look like our country right now. Right like
Speaker 1: gen Z, millennials make up a third of the country,
Speaker 1: we're nowhere near a third of government, both local and federal,
Speaker 1: and so we need more people to run for office. Yes, Congress,
Speaker 1: but also city council, county commission, these seats that really
Speaker 1: are they're not lower, They're closer to the people and
Speaker 1: closer to the decisions that matter on a daily basis. Yeah,
Speaker 1: being involved in those the midterm elections and all the
Speaker 1: everywhere down the ballot is essential. And I feel like
Speaker 1: the right realize is that, Yeah, they do, and they're
Speaker 1: they're more organized around that than we are. That's why
Speaker 1: they've played this long game of taking over the state legislatures.
Speaker 1: It's why we woke up last year and Roe versus
Speaker 1: Wade was gone. It's that that's a plan that has
Speaker 1: been a long time in the making. So Democrats, I
Speaker 1: feel like sometimes we're too obsessed with these short term goals.
Speaker 1: We need to be about be about power building in
Speaker 1: these communities. Long term. It's not gonna happen overnight, but
Speaker 1: that's how we're gonna wake up on morning and have
Speaker 1: our freaking rights back right. Explore more shows from the
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