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Speaker 1: Well, good morning, happy Monday. At least that I'm hoping

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Speaker 1: that's when you're listening to this. I'm taping on a

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Speaker 1: Sunday evening. Here give you a quick rundown of everything.

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Speaker 1: I've got to have a little open here for you

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Speaker 1: about the end of Elon Musk in Washington, and I'll

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Speaker 1: get to that in a minute. My guest today Amanda Littman.

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Speaker 1: She runs an organization called Run for Something. It's geared

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Speaker 1: more towards Democrats or people on the left side of

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Speaker 1: the aisle, although they will work with people that are

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Speaker 1: thinking about running as independents. It's basically an organization that

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Speaker 1: number one is trying to encourage younger people to run

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Speaker 1: for office, but also trying to be a resource for

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Speaker 1: people that don't, because if you're younger, you usually don't

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Speaker 1: have as much of a network, You may not have

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Speaker 1: as many rich friends. You get the picture here if

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Speaker 1: and you'll hear me make these comparisons during the interview.

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Speaker 1: Back in the eighties and nineties, you had go Pack

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Speaker 1: on the right. That was a similar organization that was

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Speaker 1: trying to get conservatives who were not connected, essentially with

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Speaker 1: the tools to figure out how to run for local office,

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Speaker 1: and this is you know, maybe Emily's list, you'll hear

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Speaker 1: a little bit of that, but it's about trying. And

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Speaker 1: clearly the Republicans have done a much better job over

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Speaker 1: the last twenty or thirty years encouraging folks to run

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Speaker 1: for local office. Democrats have been a bit too focused

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Speaker 1: on the presidential big big offices and don't think about

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Speaker 1: the smaller stuff than they were. You know, arguably it's

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Speaker 1: why they're getting crushed on the issue of schools and

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Speaker 1: funding of schools and the privatization of the public school system.

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Speaker 1: You've had a lot more activist parents on the right

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Speaker 1: get involved in school board politics, and you've had activist

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Speaker 1: parents on the left, pure and simple. And it is

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Speaker 1: those type of outcomes that I think are making some

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Speaker 1: people reassess and decide where to where to participate. If

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Speaker 1: you've ever thought about running for office and didn't, I

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Speaker 1: actually think you'll enjoy this conversation. If you thought about

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Speaker 1: running thinking about running for office now, regardless of your

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Speaker 1: politics left or right, I think you will hear some

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Speaker 1: interesting advice and to do that, so you I hope

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Speaker 1: you'll do that. I've had a tremendous weekend. I had.

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Speaker 1: I had a lot of fun and I want to

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Speaker 1: showcase a neighborhood I used to work in. It's called

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Speaker 1: del Rey. Basically, this a neighborhood in Alexandria, just on

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Speaker 1: the border of Arlington and Alexandria. Back in the in

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Speaker 1: the Hotline days before we were moved to the Watergate

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Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. The Hotline was headquartered out in Orlandria,

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Speaker 1: literally this little pocket of northern Virginia in between Arlington

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Speaker 1: and Alexandria, right on the border there. Well, some good

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Speaker 1: friends of mine are very active in that business and

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Speaker 1: civic association, and so they asked me to be the

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Speaker 1: judge at their annual It's basically a restaurant contest. So

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Speaker 1: both the people come for the for the food festival

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Speaker 1: put on by the Delray Business Association, and I got

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Speaker 1: to play judge. So there was two awards mine whoever,

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Speaker 1: I decided we're the three best bites of food that

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Speaker 1: I had versus the people. If you will, and I

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Speaker 1: just if you are, this is probably our hippiest and

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Speaker 1: coolest food neighborhood that you can have in the Northern

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Speaker 1: Virginia area. There might be others will argue in h

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Speaker 1: Street and some other places in the district. Don't get

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Speaker 1: me wrong, but if you're a Food Network fan, you

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Speaker 1: would have There's a couple of restaurants in that participated

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Speaker 1: in this where that have been featured on Food Network,

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Speaker 1: a couple of chefs that have been featured on Chopped.

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Speaker 1: I do want to shout out my winner, Bella Napoli,

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Speaker 1: who made a chicken brunello that was amazing. You're eating

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Speaker 1: outside in a little cup and you're like, it's fantastic.

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Speaker 1: Lena's was my second place. She made a terrific Cuban

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Speaker 1: beurrea taco, just awesome, and of course, being a Miami guy,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be partial to anything like that. And there

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Speaker 1: was a ton of gaspachos. But the folks at Tako

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Speaker 1: a poblanomado a good spat show that was not red

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Speaker 1: tomato based, so it was a different It had a

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Speaker 1: green color to it if you were a green yellow

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Speaker 1: color to it, and it had shrimp in it, and

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Speaker 1: it was just it was sort of it felt more

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Speaker 1: like a Savie Chase soup, if that's possible. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: I just want to give a shout out to them.

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Speaker 1: My friend Pat Miller he's been the unofficial mayor of

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Speaker 1: del Rey for decades now and an old friend of mine,

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Speaker 1: Maureen Schweer's really appreciate you guys getting me involved. I'm

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Speaker 1: still full from the process and the way I digested

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Speaker 1: that had been obsessed over college baseball. This week, it's

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Speaker 1: been an amazing baseball weekend for my household. The Nats

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Speaker 1: have been on a roll, in fact, over the last

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Speaker 1: fifteen games, best record in baseball, So take that, everybody literally.

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Speaker 1: We were all starting to rail on the Nats front office,

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Speaker 1: and sure enough they go on this role. Who knows

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Speaker 1: if the pitching can hold up, but James Wood is

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Speaker 1: proving that he was every bit the one Soto trade,

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Speaker 1: which is given the Nats these starters James Wood, c

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Speaker 1: j Abrams, Mackenzie Gore, and Robert Hassel the third. I

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Speaker 1: still miss Soto, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't

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Speaker 1: a bad return and James Wood is doing a pretty

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Speaker 1: impressive one Soto impersonation. But I gotta even shout out

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Speaker 1: to my friends at ESPN. I like to give them

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Speaker 1: a lot of grief for how they've ruined college football

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Speaker 1: in their partnership with the SEC. Sometimes, however, ESPN Squeeze Play,

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Speaker 1: which is the college baseball tournament, and there happened in

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Speaker 1: all Granted my house, Miami and Florida State are in

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Speaker 1: my house, so we care about what's going on here

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Speaker 1: in both. Mimi in Florida State been doing well so

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Speaker 1: far in this tournament. He's been Squeeze Play. It's the

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Speaker 1: red zone for college baseball. I just have two requests.

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Speaker 1: Can we please get rid of the metal bats? It's silly.

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Speaker 1: We've got these major programs can afford wood bats. That's

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Speaker 1: number one. Number two, how you determine who's the home

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Speaker 1: team at these sites is ridiculous. Just use records, then

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Speaker 1: highest seat? Is it that difficult? This bizarre rotation that

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Speaker 1: they do. Literally go look it up in the internet.

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Speaker 1: It's a five step process, all right. So I've probably

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Speaker 1: given more about my personal weekend plans than perhaps my

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Speaker 1: family wishes I did. But hey, isn't that what we're

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Speaker 1: all doing now? We're supposed to overshare. And I did

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Speaker 1: want to give a good shout out to my friends

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Speaker 1: in Delray, But look, let me move on to starting

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Speaker 1: my week because we do. We ought to mourn the

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Speaker 1: departure of Elon Musk and out of Washington, and I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying it's going to totally disappear. In fact, as

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Speaker 1: I was coming back from that from that food festival

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Speaker 1: where I got to judge, I drove right by a

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Speaker 1: Tesla dealership where there was a very active protest still

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Speaker 1: against Elon Musk and against Tesla, which is probably the

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Speaker 1: why he has accelerated his exit. And technically he can

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Speaker 1: say he was exiting at the time that he always

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Speaker 1: intended to exit, but let's be honest, he is leaving

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Speaker 1: Washington with his tail between his legs, and you know

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Speaker 1: it's This is one of those where I hope the

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Speaker 1: idea doesn't get thrown out with the bathwater, because the

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Speaker 1: problem with what Musk was doing was how he went

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Speaker 1: about it. It wasn't the idea itself. But if you

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Speaker 1: try to run government like a disruptive tech startup, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna fail. It was a masterclass in misalignment, if you will.

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Speaker 1: The approach was haphazard, it was discombobulated. It treated government

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Speaker 1: like a badly managed Silicon Valley startup. Musk was or

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Speaker 1: is intentionally ignorant of the complexities of public administration, and

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Speaker 1: that impatience coupled with his short attention span, and I'm

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Speaker 1: not even going to comment on what he may or

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Speaker 1: may not have been on if you will when we

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Speaker 1: got all that story about his prolific drug use, both

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Speaker 1: legal and illegal, but all of it seemed to be

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Speaker 1: the ingredients that led to some chaotic attempts at policy

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Speaker 1: make But I don't want to miss the force through

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Speaker 1: the trees to beat up a cliche like that. Musk

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Speaker 1: and Trump ended up these strange bedfellows together because they

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Speaker 1: do share some key traits. They're incredibly impatient, and they

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Speaker 1: prefer quick, sweeping actions over the slow, meticulous work that

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Speaker 1: the federal government often requires. They couldn't be more mismatched

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Speaker 1: for the job. The mentality was great for headline grabbing moves,

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Speaker 1: but it was disastrous for actually sustaining this idea of

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Speaker 1: cutting government. And it's a cautionary tale for the dangers

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Speaker 1: of trying to apply a tech disruptor mindset to the intricate,

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Speaker 1: slow moving machinery of government. There is no less qualified person.

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Speaker 1: The worst phrase I hear is we've got to run

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Speaker 1: government like a business. Bullshit. If you run government like

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Speaker 1: a business, you will not do the stuff that doesn't

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Speaker 1: pay big dividends. That is not how government works. Everybody

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Speaker 1: has to get a service. If you ran the postal

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Speaker 1: service like a business, nobody in Alaska would get mail

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Speaker 1: more than once a week. Okay, that is not When

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Speaker 1: you're providing services, and you're a country that claims to

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Speaker 1: be for equality, then the service you give to a

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Speaker 1: citizen that chooses to live in Alaska, it's got to

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Speaker 1: be the same than the services you give somebody that

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Speaker 1: lives in New York, Virginia or Maryland. And that is

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Speaker 1: the problem, right, it is. Frankly, if you could run

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Speaker 1: government like a business, you could make a lot of

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Speaker 1: changes that would make the government's balance sheet look better

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Speaker 1: and would completely be unpopular and would be a complete

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Speaker 1: disaster that set for all the horrendous ways that Musk

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Speaker 1: went about this, for the stupid, incompetent way that the

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Speaker 1: Trump administration went about this, it doesn't mean the idea

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Speaker 1: was bad, right, And in fact, this should be there's

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Speaker 1: an opportunity here, particularly for somebody on the left, to

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Speaker 1: pick up this, to pick up this chalice and go

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Speaker 1: on with it. Here's the opportunity. Must failure cannot mean

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Speaker 1: that the idea of reforming government is a bad idea.

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Speaker 1: You just have to understand it was poorly executed. He

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Speaker 1: was the worst possible person to put in charge with this,

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Speaker 1: completely temperamentally unqualified to do it. But if there is

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Speaker 1: a leader out there that is willing to put country

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Speaker 1: over party, there's a real chance to pick up where

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Speaker 1: this experiment failed and to do it right, thoughtfully, legally,

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Speaker 1: with a coalition of serious reformers. There's even a chance

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Speaker 1: to build a bipartisan effort around restructuring and modernizing these institutions.

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Speaker 1: That's what's so frustrating here. It was it was Trump's

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Speaker 1: obsessiveness and musk subscessiveness to look like they were being

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Speaker 1: moving quickly and being successful, that they failed to actually

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Speaker 1: do this the right way. And again, what the most

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Speaker 1: likely result of all this is that this experiment will

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Speaker 1: actually cost taxpayers more money than it saves. The amount

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Speaker 1: of government contractors that will successfully sue the government or

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Speaker 1: get their contract monument and probably get restitution is going

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Speaker 1: to only grow. And that's why this to execute it

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Speaker 1: the way they did was complete chaos and a mess.

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Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that there isn't an opportunity here. Look,

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Speaker 1: I've got one of my long held ideas is that

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Speaker 1: every government agency should be vote should be sunseted every

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Speaker 1: twenty five years, forcing Congress to reauthorize and justifies its

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Speaker 1: existence or reform it to meet the current modern needs.

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Speaker 1: This is the kind of reevaluation that could help ensure

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Speaker 1: that government is actually relevant and effective. This is the

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Speaker 1: type of reform that somebody ought to tackle. This isn't

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Speaker 1: something the left has seated. This to the right for

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Speaker 1: some god forsakered reason. The middle of the political middle

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Speaker 1: of this country would like to see some responsible reform.

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Speaker 1: And what it really is, it's modernization in the same

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Speaker 1: way we finally decided, Hey, maybe the bridges we built

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five ought to be the same bridges we

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Speaker 1: drive over with today's vehicles, Right, maybe we ought to

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Speaker 1: build a new bridge or update the new bridge. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's the same thing with government, Okay, what we you know,

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Speaker 1: the Department of Defense that was developed in the fifties

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Speaker 1: is not the same department we should be running today.

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Speaker 1: And instead, what we do with these government agencies, and

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Speaker 1: the reason we ought to sunset them every twenty five

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Speaker 1: years and then reauthorize them, is they end up becoming

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Speaker 1: like the you know, there's always one house in every

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Speaker 1: neighborhood where that people don't have enough money to knock

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Speaker 1: it down and build something new, so instead they do

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Speaker 1: a little bit at a time, and it's a Frankenstein house. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's what every government agency that's more than twenty five

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Speaker 1: years old has become. It becomes like a Frankenstein agency.

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Speaker 1: Instead of doing maybe rehabbing something within the agency, they

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Speaker 1: literally tack on an annex, or tack on a special committee,

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Speaker 1: or tack on a special sub agency to do some

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Speaker 1: work that they think, oh, maybe this falls under Commerce

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Speaker 1: rather than falling under the Department of Defense or something

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Speaker 1: like that. You know, I mean, in fact, some of

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Speaker 1: our departments couldn't have weirder combinations of things, right, A

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Speaker 1: Department of Commerce also happened. The largest department within agency

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Speaker 1: within Commerce is Noah. Right, Why is basically our weather

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Speaker 1: office in Commerce? Right? The two Yes, weather can impact commerce,

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Speaker 1: but okay, but other than that, what's it doing in there?

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Speaker 1: You could argue that weather belongs in the Department of Defense,

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Speaker 1: or the weather Noah belongs in Homeland Security. If FEMA's

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Speaker 1: in Homeland security, why is it Noah in Homeland security?

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Speaker 1: Point is that there's a lot of actual good work

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Speaker 1: to be done here in this reform. And and you know,

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Speaker 1: the fear that I think some real reformers have is

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Speaker 1: that Musk's failed effort, in Trump's failed effort, because it

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Speaker 1: didn't get done in the haphazard way that they did it,

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Speaker 1: that they're just going to give up on it. And

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Speaker 1: what somebody ought to do is pick up this mantle

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Speaker 1: and carry it and make it their own and do

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Speaker 1: it the right way. Get Congress involved. You can actually

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Speaker 1: do this speaking of of sort of musk and tail

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Speaker 1: between his legs. So it was as if, as if

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Speaker 1: as if his humiliation of Washington couldn't get worse. Right

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Speaker 1: the day he leaves, the Times drops this story about

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Speaker 1: his obsession, his what appears to be excessive drug use,

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Speaker 1: uppers and downers, whatever it is that needs to meet.

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Speaker 1: The moment his handpick guy that he wanted for NASA,

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Speaker 1: Trump decides to boot because somebody drops some appo on

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Speaker 1: this nominee for NASA. Apparently he had given to Democrats

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of cycles. And Donald Trump, he is,

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Speaker 1: even though he himself is given to quite a few

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Speaker 1: Democrats in his political career, doesn't believe that somebody in

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Speaker 1: the last four years giving to Democrats is anything other

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Speaker 1: than an affront to himself. This is again, this is

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Speaker 1: a moment where if this is how he's really making decisions, right,

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Speaker 1: we already see that pardons and this, and my gosh,

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Speaker 1: it is breathtaking. What is happening on this pardon front.

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Speaker 1: It is, I mean, and this is the numbness that

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Speaker 1: we often describe when it comes to Donald Trump. Here

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Speaker 1: is behavior that in any other president would be impeachable.

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Speaker 1: This guy's been impeached twice. What kind of appetite is

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Speaker 1: our political system going to have for a third impeachment?

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Speaker 1: But what he's doing on pardons, that alone, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: The partons are for sale. It's plainly obvious these his

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Speaker 1: pardons are for sale. It's sitting in front of us.

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Speaker 1: It's the quid pro quo. Other than him showing us

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Speaker 1: the ledger sheet itself that keeps track of the quid

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Speaker 1: pro quot. That's about the only piece of evidence that's missing.

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Speaker 1: But you know you had the one whe of the

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Speaker 1: person shows up at a million dollar fundraiser. A couple of

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Speaker 1: days later, her husband and her relative gets out of

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Speaker 1: gets what he wants out of this. So it is

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Speaker 1: alarming how easy it is. Everybody has figured it out.

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Speaker 1: And this gets it to why foreign governments are all

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Speaker 1: willing to do some form of business with him, because

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Speaker 1: they all know how transactional he is, and if he

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Speaker 1: doesn't get what he wants, he may do what he

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Speaker 1: just did to musk Here it looked like he cut

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Speaker 1: a deal with musk heye NASA's yours. You get to

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Speaker 1: decide who runs it. And then he decided, oh no,

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Speaker 1: I've got to make sure that I'm gonna if I

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Speaker 1: allow anybody in that gave to Democrats in the last

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Speaker 1: four years. Then it means there are other nominees that

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Speaker 1: he essentially has already, other people that he has actually

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Speaker 1: fired from the National Security Staff and from the Pentagon

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Speaker 1: who also had made supposedly, I mean apparently, if you've

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Speaker 1: given money to Liz Cheney is the equivalent of giving

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Speaker 1: money to a Democrat as far as Donald Trump's concern

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Speaker 1: So that is among the other things that are out there.

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Speaker 1: So this is how he's running the government, which means

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Speaker 1: it's not being run with the best people. It's simply

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Speaker 1: being run based on who's the most loyal to him

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Speaker 1: and to him personally. I know none of this for

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Speaker 1: many of you that are listening his news, but this

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Speaker 1: is terrible governance. This is bad for the by the way,

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Speaker 1: this is bad if you care about the Republican Party.

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Speaker 1: It's bad. He is so corrupting the Republican Party right

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Speaker 1: now because there is no difference between Trump's party and

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Speaker 1: the rest of it, you know, those there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of good Republicans have walked away. There's some Conservatives who

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Speaker 1: are uncomfortable but have stuck it out, believing they are

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Speaker 1: better operating on the inside on the outside, but the

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Speaker 1: stain that they're receiving, you know, it's really interesting. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of ways to look at Jony Ernst, the

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Speaker 1: Republican senator from Iowa whose comments about well, we're all

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Speaker 1: going to die son, you know, and how they went

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Speaker 1: viral and how frustrated. But that s back to me

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Speaker 1: of somebody who's had to carry a ton of water

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Speaker 1: on ideas that she's not in favor of, but she

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Speaker 1: has no choice but to support because if she doesn't

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Speaker 1: do it, she will lose any political support she has

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Speaker 1: in Iowa. Because the Maga movement is that popular in Iowa.

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Speaker 1: It felt like the type of line somebody says when

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Speaker 1: they realize they're just sort of frustrated with where they are. Look,

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Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not going to be here. I'm not

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Speaker 1: here to tell you that I was going to be

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Speaker 1: that competitive of a state in twenty twenty six. Although

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Speaker 1: I think it will be more competitive than it's been

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Speaker 1: the last cycle. I think it's going to be more

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Speaker 1: like twenty eighteen, and who knows. I certainly think Rob

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Speaker 1: sand has a very good chance of becoming governor. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to sit there and tell you Joni Arn's

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Speaker 1: Senate race should be moved to toss up just yet.

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Speaker 1: But that is a line that will stick with her.

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Speaker 1: She strikes me as somebody I'm not put it this way.

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Speaker 1: I'm actually going in another direction. She doesn't look like

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Speaker 1: somebody who's running for reelection. Yes, she went through the

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Speaker 1: town hall, which wasn't a great exercise for her, but

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Speaker 1: that I'll just say this, I have a I still

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Speaker 1: believe she's the hegg Seth backup. I'm not sure Pete

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Speaker 1: hagg Seth is going to survive. It's clear that the

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Speaker 1: Pentagon and he's not been able to you know, his paranoia.

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Speaker 1: You know he sees a spy around every corner. I mean,

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Speaker 1: my goodness, he's so restricted press access at somebody from

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Speaker 1: Owa n seem to complain about it, right, That tells

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Speaker 1: you something. My guess is the only reason she hasn't

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Speaker 1: snapped at the Republican party itself is that she would

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Speaker 1: like to be Defense secretary. And she's probably the Pete

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Speaker 1: Hake seth backup plan, and at this point, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: she'd prefer to do that then to try to carry

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Speaker 1: Trump's water in a midterm election in Iowa at a

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Speaker 1: time when there's not going to be a lot of

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Speaker 1: this because this big, beautiful bill is turning out to

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Speaker 1: be a big piece of let's just say, of a

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Speaker 1: big piece of rock that they got to carry around

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Speaker 1: because remember, it does not have a tax cut. It

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Speaker 1: just is preventing a tax hike. There is no deliverable

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Speaker 1: that Republicans have for the people. They can't say, here's

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Speaker 1: a check, here's a tax cut, here's something you're going

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Speaker 1: to benefit from this. Instead, this thing is already to

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Speaker 1: have been defined by what it takes away, not what

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Speaker 1: it gives. That is a bad place to start, and

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Speaker 1: I'm sure Trump's going to try to find out how

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Speaker 1: to write checks under his name to people in some

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Speaker 1: form or another. Maybe it's these baby bonuses, whatever he's

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Speaker 1: going to try to do. But right now this bill

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Speaker 1: is I don't see any political upside on this bill

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Speaker 1: as it stands, and if anything, the impact on the

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Speaker 1: bond market because of the debt this thing could be

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Speaker 1: considered in the same way. What I think we all

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Speaker 1: thought was, Look, I will confess I thought the first

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Speaker 1: Biden tranch of money was going to be something that

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Speaker 1: would be positive for him. He got those two thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars checks to them, Well, it turned out to be

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Speaker 1: probably something that shouldn't have been done. It was blamed

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Speaker 1: for helping to accelerate the inflationary problems that we already

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Speaker 1: were having because of the supply chain, and it really

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Speaker 1: sort of tarnished all of his bills, and the public

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Speaker 1: didn't see it as a net positive. I think this

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Speaker 1: is a situation that Trump is going to find himself in.

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Speaker 1: This bill is not a positive at all for him.

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Speaker 1: Not many good deliverables to give to the voters to

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Speaker 1: say hey we've lowered cost or hey we've done this,

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Speaker 1: and oh, by the way, he's still got the terrified

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Speaker 1: that the more the courts say no, the more determined

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Speaker 1: he seems to be to have it, which of course

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Speaker 1: only does more damage to the economy. All right, I

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Speaker 1: will I think I've said enough. The conversation with the

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Speaker 1: man a litment. Again, if you've ever once thought about

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Speaker 1: running for office, or you know somebody, particularly if there's

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Speaker 1: somebody under the age of forty who's been thinking about it,

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Speaker 1: take a listen. It's a fascinating conversation and regardless of

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Speaker 1: whether you're left or right. Well, my guest right now

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Speaker 1: is Amanda Littman. She runs an organization called Run for Something.

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Speaker 1: It is primarily an organization trying to recruit more diverse

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Speaker 1: set of candidates to run, particularly on the left side

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Speaker 1: of the aisle, Progressives, Democrats, and I'm going to ask

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Speaker 1: her about her opinion on things like Dan Osborne and

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Speaker 1: whether that's the profile of finding more Dan Osborne's as well,

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Speaker 1: who didn't run as a member of any major party,

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Speaker 1: but certainly ideologically certainly was on the left side of

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Speaker 1: the asse. So Amanda, thanks for coming on the.

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Speaker 2: Podcast, Thank you for having me. I'm very excited.

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Speaker 1: So all right, let's do some basics here. Run for Something,

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Speaker 1: When did it start? And explain the motivation.

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Speaker 2: So I worked for Hillary for two years. I was

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Speaker 2: her presidential campaign's email director for that and worked for Obama.

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Speaker 2: I worked with Florida Governor's race. I worked for OFA

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Speaker 2: for a bit. But about a week after the election

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Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, I started hearing from friends I'd gone

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Speaker 2: to high school and college with, Hey, Amanda, You're the

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Speaker 2: only person I know that works in politics. I want

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Speaker 2: to run for office because if trumpku president, seems like

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Speaker 2: anybody can do this. What do I do? And at

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Speaker 2: the time, if you were young, I was in my

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Speaker 2: mid twenties, and you were newly excited about politics and

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Speaker 2: you wanted to do more than vote and more than volunteer,

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Speaker 2: there was nowhere you could go that would guarantee to

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Speaker 2: take your call. So I reached out to a whole

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Speaker 2: bunch of people with an idea, what if we started

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Speaker 2: an organization that could be this on ramp for folks

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Speaker 2: who might want to run for office. One of them

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Speaker 2: became a co founder. We wrote a plan, we built

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Speaker 2: a website, and then we launched Run for Something on

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Speaker 2: Trump's first inauguration day, thinking it would be really small,

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Speaker 2: we'd get one hundred people who want to run in

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Speaker 2: the first year, because at the time nobody wants to

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Speaker 2: run for office. We have a thousand people signed up

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Speaker 2: in the first week. As of this moment, we're up

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Speaker 2: to about two hundred and ten thousand young people all

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Speaker 2: across the country who've raised their hands to say they

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Speaker 2: want to run.

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00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,240
Speaker 1: Define young. By the way, when you say young people,

430
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 1: I'm now in my fifties, so everybody's under fifties young

431
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: to me now, no, So what is your definition of.

432
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,359
Speaker 2: We focus our political program on folks forty and under.

433
00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 2: You know, especially in the Democratic Party, is very young,

434
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 2: and we've helped elect more than fifteen hundred people, all

435
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 2: millennials and gen z across nearly every state, all to

436
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,720
Speaker 2: state and local office. So we only do state House,

437
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 2: state senate, city council, school board, library board. That kind

438
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 2: of like building blocks of the of the party.

439
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 1: You know. It's interesting. There are two sort of organizations

440
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: that I guess loosely if I were in your shoes

441
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 1: that you would I might look back on and see

442
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,439
Speaker 1: how they did it. On the right side of the aisle,

443
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,720
Speaker 1: it was a it was an organization called go Pack,

444
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you've heard the history of gopack,

445
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,119
Speaker 1: but it was literally it's what New Gingridge got involved

446
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: with before you ever got into Congress. And I've run

447
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,480
Speaker 1: into Republican candidates to this day. He goes, oh, yeah,

448
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: he sent cassette tapes like how to speak to reporters

449
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 1: and how to talk to you know this, and this

450
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: was back. And what was funny about go pack is

451
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 1: it reminds me, in fact, exactly of what you are.

452
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: And I'll get to the other organization a minute that

453
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of. But at the time, it was Republicans

454
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,159
Speaker 1: who thought, you know, the Democrats are in power on

455
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: the local level. All Republicans were doing was winning presidentials, right,

456
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: they knew how to do that, but they didn't know

457
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 1: they needed a grassroots And what's interesting is is it

458
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 1: was a twenty year plan, but it did pay off

459
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: for them, and it was meticulous and it was sort

460
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:20,199
Speaker 1: of they started very you know, and it's funny to

461
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 1: me how political parties from the national level let this

462
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: stuff atrophy. There was nobody in the national Republicans thinking

463
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 1: about this. And I'll be honest, I think, you know,

464
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,960
Speaker 1: the opportunity that Barack Obama had and the DNC had

465
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: in nine and they just blew it. In hindsight, I

466
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: guess right.

467
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 2: I mean, I have heard stories that after the two

468
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 2: thousand and eight campaign and the DNZ took over the

469
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 2: Obama email list, a volunteed Obama email list, and they

470
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 2: asked in folks out of survey that was like what

471
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 2: do you want to do next to win a volunteer?

472
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 2: Do you want to do X Y Z? And one

473
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 2: of the questions they asked was do you want to

474
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 2: run for office? And I've been told about fifty thousand

475
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:02,239
Speaker 2: people said yes, and the DNZ did nothing with that.

476
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,640
Speaker 1: Improve I'm just shocked, you know. It's like you're shocked

477
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 1: that there's gambling going on. I mean, of course the

478
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: DNC did nothing. This is the It is just anyway,

479
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: well we might I might let you rant more about

480
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: d NC if you'd like.

481
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,159
Speaker 2: Well we can get there if you'd like. But I

482
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 2: would say, it's like, it is so telling to me

483
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 2: that there was no place for people to go. It

484
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 2: was just there wasn't And it's when I was thinking, like,

485
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,239
Speaker 2: when we started this thing, it was not even that

486
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 2: there was like apples to oranges on the Republican side

487
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,920
Speaker 2: versus Democrats side, it was apples on the Republican side,

488
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 2: go back back then. Now Leadership Institute has a i

489
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,639
Speaker 2: think at this point fifty million dollars a year annual budget.

490
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 2: They do candidate training and operative training.

491
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: They've been doing it with Charlie Kirk's building too. I

492
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 1: think that has turned into a candidate factory as well.

493
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: And on the left it's run for something. And our

494
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 2: budget this year is about eight million if I could

495
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 2: raise it like it is just it's not even apples

496
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 2: to oranges, it's apples to.

497
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: Like apple seeds, which is a college Democrats do? What

498
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: do they do?

499
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,959
Speaker 2: I think they do some organizing on college campuses. They

500
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,399
Speaker 2: don't quite do campaign stuff. And I will say, like,

501
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 2: part of the reason nobody had done this before is

502
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,199
Speaker 2: because it's hard, and you also you have to be

503
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,359
Speaker 2: willing to engage in primaries, which is what makes it

504
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:17,479
Speaker 2: a little tricky. Why I do kind of understand why

505
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,919
Speaker 2: the DNC didn't do it at that point, because we

506
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 2: get a lot of people who want to sign up

507
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,439
Speaker 2: with us and say I want to run, and they

508
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 2: want to run against a Democratic incumbent. We're like, great,

509
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 2: let's do it. Let's try. We'll see what happens. But

510
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 2: I can see why some of the more official institutions

511
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 2: are a little more wary about it.

512
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 1: Obviously, the other the other organization that I would assume

513
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: you've built a blueprint on, and you've already name dropped

514
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: a few people, at least in our private conversation. That

515
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,160
Speaker 1: makes me think this is you know, I was there

516
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,640
Speaker 1: at the creation or near the creation of Emily's List,

517
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,000
Speaker 1: that's right, back in the late eighties. And really ninety

518
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: two was to me the year they took off, right, Yeah,

519
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 1: ninety two was the first year of the Woman if

520
00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: you will, the election of Patty Murray and Barbara Boxer

521
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 1: dying find it. That was the heart of that movement,

522
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: and then they became it was candidate training that was something.

523
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 1: And I have to tell you I remember, you know,

524
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 1: I worked at something called the Hotline back in the nineties,

525
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: and I'd have people asking me, well, I want to

526
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 1: run for office, how do I do it? I bought

527
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,440
Speaker 1: a magazine at the Barnes and Noble called Campaigns and Elections.

528
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 1: Well that teld me how to run for office. And

529
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: it's like, will not not really, but I didn't know

530
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: what else to do, and then Emily's List, you know,

531
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: had this candidate training and go pack. That's what I

532
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,360
Speaker 1: would say. I'm like, go to go pack. But Emily's

533
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 1: List was only for one gender, like it was. There

534
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: wasn't any place else on the Democratic side that was

535
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: akin to a go pack.

536
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,239
Speaker 2: For instance, one of the things I did when we

537
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 2: were thinking about starting run for something and actually spurred

538
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 2: the sort of creation of it, was I read Ellen

539
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 2: Malcolm's book about the creation of Emily's List, which was

540
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:55,440
Speaker 2: a really depressing read right after we'd lost the twenty

541
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 2: sixteen election. A little bit of a masochist, but like

542
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 2: thinking about how they created it to be an entry

543
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 2: point for women who were not seeing virable candidates. Young people,

544
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 2: people forty and under have not been seen as people

545
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 2: to ask to run for office because we can't make money,

546
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 2: we're risky.

547
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: Like it. Meanwhile, how old is the Vice President of

548
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: the United States right now?

549
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 2: Oh, forty three?

550
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 1: I think you know he's forty. I think he's forty.

551
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: That's my point. Like they're the like they got younger

552
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: people right, Like. It is weird to me that in

553
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 1: some ways AOC's an outlier.

554
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 2: I know, I mean the Max Frost is an outliner,

555
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 2: Maxell Frost. You got a couple other millennial women. You

556
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 2: got Laura Underwood, Sarah Jacobs. You know, I think John

557
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 2: assaf is the millennial in the Senate. But it is bleak,

558
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 2: bleak when you look at the bench of Town now.

559
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:43,720
Speaker 2: I think it's changed a lot in the last eight years,

560
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 2: and I'm really proud that Run for Something's been a

561
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 2: big part of that. But we are working off against

562
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 2: a very old institution that we're trying to change.

563
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting you say that, I'm curious what you

564
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: make of the David Hogg controversy in that back and forth.

565
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm pretty cynical about the you know, it's

566
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 1: sort of out and I'll just going to lay it

567
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: out there, set it before, so I might as well

568
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: make sure you've heard it so that I don't look

569
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: like I'm contradicting myself, which is Look, do I think

570
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: once you're once you're you've become an elected leader of

571
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,680
Speaker 1: the DNC, that you know you shouldn't be attacking fellow

572
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: members of the club that you've chose to lead hard stop.

573
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: Do I think the way the DNC is handling this

574
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: revote situation in some manufactured way that they claim has

575
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: nothing to do with what he's doing. Is also right.

576
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: Like I'm sitting here going, you know, I'm not sure.

577
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: I don't think there's any good guys here in how

578
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: everybody's behaving. But I understand the motivation that Hog has here,

579
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 1: because in some ways it's very similar. I think what

580
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: you're driving at now.

581
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 2: No, when David wanted to create Leaders We Deserve, I

582
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 2: talked to him for hours about how run for something works.

583
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 2: When he decided to run for share a flag for him, Hey,

584
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,160
Speaker 2: you might not be able to engage in primaries if

585
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 2: you do this, he said, he'd think interesting. I think

586
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 2: what Leaders we Deserve does is good, and I think

587
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 2: engaging in primaries is good. I think doing them on

588
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 2: generational lines is good. And I think it's really really

589
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 2: important that the DNCB scene is a neutral actor, especially

590
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 2: as they go into setting up what is the most

591
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 2: important thing the DNC does setting up the presidential primary

592
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty eight. We know it's going to be

593
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 2: a very rowdy, open race. The DNC is going to

594
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 2: be at the calendar. They might move around states, they

595
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 2: might rethink about criteria like, it's so so important that

596
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 2: DNC and especially DNC leadership be trusted to be good

597
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 2: actors here, and I think it is very frustrating that,

598
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 2: you know, what David is trying to do in good

599
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 2: measure with leaders we deserve, might actually undermine that effort

600
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:44,040
Speaker 2: when we need him most.

601
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,239
Speaker 1: So No, it does seem as if that he if

602
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: he wanted to do this, he shouldn't have run for fister.

603
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 2: Everyone's going to make their own choices, and now this

604
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 2: is the DNC's choice to deal with as they see fit.

605
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 2: I think it seems bad all around.

606
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 1: But let me also posit it wasn't a secret what

607
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: he was going to be at vacating and he won anyway,

608
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 1: So what message should that send to the leadership of

609
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 1: the DNC.

610
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if if everyone quite understood that he

611
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 2: was going to keep his pack going.

612
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: Oh is that right? You think it was a little yeah,

613
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 1: well you assumption.

614
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 2: I mean historically DNC leadership has always stayed neutral in primaries, right,

615
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 2: And I think it is even interesting to me now

616
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 2: that the first candidate that he's chosen to work with

617
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 2: is Robert Peters, who is a run for something alone

618
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 2: running for Congress in Illinois. We worked with him in

619
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 2: his state Senate race a couple of years ago. He's

620
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: not primary and an older leader. It's in an open race.

621
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 1: Interesting, let's talk about generational, because if it's generational, then

622
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 1: a should is he going to recruit a primary challenge

623
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: at to Bernie Sanders?

624
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 2: Oh, I think we should.

625
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: I mean, well, explain that because there's generational and I

626
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 1: think it's code for ideological, tell me why I'm I'm not.

627
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be cynical and assume that when I hear

628
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: the phrase generational change in the Democratic Party that it

629
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,680
Speaker 1: is really not just cover for us ideological.

630
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 2: I don't think it's just ideological. I think it is

631
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 2: about tone and approach to the opposition, more so even

632
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 2: than it is about any singular ideology. Yes, millennials and

633
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 2: gen Z are a little bit further to the left

634
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 2: than Gen X or boomers. Certainly, even with the discourse

635
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 2: now about how younger voters are changing, they are still

636
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 2: more to the left. They're just not as left as.

637
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: They're certainly right. I was just going to say, there's

638
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 1: certainly the gen Z. Even Look, I've got a gen

639
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: z pocus group of two kids Okay, that both went

640
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 1: through COVID, slightly different experiences, two different genders, which means

641
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: they have two different feeds. And yes, I see, I

642
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: see this. And also as much as you know, I

643
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: see the interest in a Dave Portinoy, it doesn't mean

644
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 1: my son doesn't believe government doesn't have a role in

645
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,480
Speaker 1: these things, right, So that's so I absolutely agree. I

646
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: think he's culturally not crazy about some of the don't

647
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 1: tell me how I'm supposed to speak, but there's agreement

648
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 1: on hey, what should the role of government be and

649
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 1: that can you disaggregate those things?

650
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is where it matters that you

651
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,959
Speaker 2: have younger leaders who can speak speak that language, because

652
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 2: I think the way that we have seen generally speaking

653
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 2: millennials and gen Z elected officials. I think AOC and

654
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 2: Maxwell Frost are really good examples of this, but they're

655
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 2: not the only ones. Is that you can straddle the

656
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 2: line between wanting government to work for people and wanting

657
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,400
Speaker 2: to change it a way that it works better for

658
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 2: more people and wanting to fight it from within. They also,

659
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 2: I think, really clearly understand who the Republican Party is

660
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,000
Speaker 2: in a way that I think some of the older

661
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:45,600
Speaker 2: Democrats don't. This is in part I think if you

662
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 2: came of age politically in the last ten years, like

663
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 2: it's the Party of Trump all the way down, if

664
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 2: you didn't, I was just seeing something this earlier today,

665
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 2: Like ten years ago, Mike Johnson was a state legislator

666
00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 2: in Louisiana, like most of the Republican members of Congress

667
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 2: were not yet there. They were just about to enter,

668
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 2: Like the Republican Party has changed very very quickly over

669
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 2: the last decade. And if you've been serving longer than that,

670
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,360
Speaker 2: or been in politics longer than that, you might misremember

671
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 2: or misunderstand who your opponent is. This is not George W.

672
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 2: Bush's part of your John McCain's Romney all the way.

673
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 1: Down, Amanda. I worry about this with my own, my

674
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,920
Speaker 1: own analysis. I try to ground myself in that I

675
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,359
Speaker 1: came of age, Okay. I went to my freshman year

676
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: in college was a year after the Berlin Wall fell. Yeah,

677
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 1: what does that mean? I went in believing we're right,

678
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 1: they're wrong. We won. And by the way, I came

679
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,839
Speaker 1: of age in that time when America was still succeeding

680
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 1: at these things, right, the perception that hey, we're still

681
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: the ones inventing stuff. We're still the right way to govern.

682
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 1: People were winning right. And I always try to remind

683
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 1: myself that if you're thirty five or younger, you have

684
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: seen a lot of failure by the US government. Some

685
00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,720
Speaker 1: of it was not the government's fault. Nine to eleven

686
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: Iraq War was a self inflicted the financial crisis was

687
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: a self inflicted one. We've seen this sort of Now

688
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 1: I'm starting to conclude here's the other sort of I

689
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: think very and at this point would be a controversial

690
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: is a little strong of a word, but sort of

691
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 1: a debatable point here. But I do think that if

692
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: you're fifty or older, you know, you look at politics

693
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,719
Speaker 1: still through the prism of the Cold War, even though

694
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,080
Speaker 1: you don't even though you know it's over. And it's

695
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 1: very possible that the seventy year period between World War

696
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 1: Two essentially and nine to eleven, let's just take that chunk,

697
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: is an outlier period in American history, and that the

698
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 1: country's default political setting is polarization. Because if you extract

699
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: that seventy years out essentially from you know, FDR to

700
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,880
Speaker 1: to to the end of Bill Clinton. If you extract

701
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 1: that out, all of the other elections look a lot

702
00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,239
Speaker 1: more similar to each other. We've had. We've had three

703
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: straight one term presidents. Guess what, we had five straight

704
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:05,760
Speaker 1: one term presidents at the end of the twentieth century.

705
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:09,800
Speaker 1: We've had all this, And so that's where I accept

706
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 1: the premise that generational change is beyond ideological. Meaning Schumer

707
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: knows and even myself right anywhere a Corey Booker to

708
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,440
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer, Right, Corey Booker's a little bit older than

709
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 1: I am, but not much. We grew up in a

710
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 1: certain type of politics, with a certain type of Republican Party,

711
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: and what the Republican Party sort of was morphing into, right,

712
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,200
Speaker 1: there were sort of two there were two parties almost simultaneously.

713
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:37,879
Speaker 1: Pat Buchanan in some ways Gingrich was straddling the fence

714
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,440
Speaker 1: between Buchanan and Bush, and we saw where that was developing,

715
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: and you still sort of had the Eisenhower wing was

716
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 1: what Bush was sort of carrying on. And then Iraq

717
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 1: collapsed it right like that, that was their collapse. So

718
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:56,000
Speaker 1: I know I'm rambling here a little bit on that,

719
00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: but I think it I'm trying to sort of accept

720
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: the premise that this isn't ideological. Is what I'm selling

721
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 1: it and I think like it.

722
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 2: It is an understanding of who the opposition is. And

723
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 2: then the ways in which people get information now that

724
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 2: has also changed so quickly. Like I think a lot

725
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:16,919
Speaker 2: about how many members of Congress like have never run

726
00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,439
Speaker 2: their own Instagram account, which feels really silly to say

727
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 2: out loud, But when you think about how people get

728
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,839
Speaker 2: information and how we use the internet, how we consume things,

729
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:29,920
Speaker 2: that the way in which we we're doing a podcast

730
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:31,799
Speaker 2: that is also a video that people will probably watch

731
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,879
Speaker 2: or listen to on their phones, like while they're doing

732
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,360
Speaker 2: other stuff. You know, there's a very different way in

733
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 2: which you engage with the media and what the media

734
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 2: is has blown up in a way that if the

735
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:45,760
Speaker 2: last time you were like a normal person was early

736
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 2: two thousands, right, maybe, like if you didn't have someone

737
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 2: curating information for you, which most lucted leaders do at

738
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 2: this point. You know, they get their clips, they're told

739
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 2: what's going on, they get briefed. It is so different,

740
00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 2: and that that faculty with the communication tactics of twenty

741
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 2: twenty five, you got to be born of the Internet

742
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 2: to know how to navigate it.

743
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,800
Speaker 1: All. Right, let's take me through the process of being trained.

744
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,480
Speaker 1: If I run for something, I call you up. I

745
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: live in and I'm going to just pick an area

746
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 1: that I know pretty well. I live in Miami Dade County.

747
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,800
Speaker 1: I live in a community that leans the other direction,

748
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 1: and I'm third generation. My grandparents are are are Cuban exiles.

749
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,239
Speaker 1: So walk me through the process of finding me an

750
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:39,080
Speaker 1: office to run four or how you sort of work

751
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,839
Speaker 1: through that candidate. Maybe it's twenty seven to twenty eight,

752
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:44,600
Speaker 1: or she's twenty seven to twenty eight, lives lives in Higalia.

753
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,319
Speaker 1: And I'm going to be very specific for those that

754
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 1: care that much, but Miami Dade County in a largely

755
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:53,320
Speaker 1: Latino district.

756
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 2: So you probably went to run for what dot net

757
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 2: and you looked up what office to run for. Maybe

758
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,879
Speaker 2: you found us via Instagram at Maybe you saw some

759
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,239
Speaker 2: interview I did. Maybe someone from our team happened to

760
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 2: shoot you a text when we're doing broad scale recruitment.

761
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:08,600
Speaker 2: Maybe you went to a local event that we did

762
00:40:08,640 --> 00:40:10,839
Speaker 2: with partners on the ground. Maybe we were at near

763
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,759
Speaker 2: your college campus. And however you found us or we

764
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,799
Speaker 2: found you, you entered the candidate pipeline. You then might

765
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 2: join a conference call which we do every month to

766
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:20,320
Speaker 2: talk about why you might want to run for office

767
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 2: and answer some basic questions every first time candidate has,

768
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,400
Speaker 2: like how do I pick an office? How do I

769
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:26,120
Speaker 2: figure out how to raise it?

770
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: I just do this monthly. You have monthly conference calls

771
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: for anybody or do you have to like sign up?

772
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 1: Is there a little bit of membership of run for something?

773
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,320
Speaker 2: You have to give us your information to get access

774
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:37,880
Speaker 2: to like the zoom link. But we have two thousand

775
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,879
Speaker 2: people regularly RSVP for these calls every month. This year,

776
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,640
Speaker 2: you then will start getting information from our team guides

777
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,160
Speaker 2: that we've put together, stuff the partners have put together,

778
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 2: Invites to trainings either online or in person. You might

779
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 2: get more like videos about candids we've worked in the past.

780
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 2: Let's say that you're like, all right, I know I'm

781
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:00,719
Speaker 2: I'm thinking about running in the next couple years, but

782
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:02,879
Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly what for or when. We would

783
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,880
Speaker 2: start working with you, either over email, we'd connect you

784
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 2: with one of our team members or volunteered to help

785
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 2: you sort of winnow it down. What's the problem you

786
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 2: care about solving, what's the office that will give you

787
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 2: power to solve it? And why would voters want you

788
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 2: to win, which is different than why you want to win.

789
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 2: You want to win because winning is great and losing sucks.

790
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:21,359
Speaker 2: Voters want you to win because you're going to do

791
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 2: something for them. So maybe you say, you know what,

792
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 2: I'm really pissed about the Don't Say Gay bill in Florida.

793
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:28,959
Speaker 2: I'm really pissed about the book bands. I'm thinking about

794
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 2: running for school board in Miami Dade County, which Run

795
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 2: for Something has helped elect a number of members of

796
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 2: Miami Dade school Board. Great, let's get to it, so

797
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:38,239
Speaker 2: we'll help you. We've got guides to help you figure

798
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,600
Speaker 2: out how to file. Once you have gotten on the

799
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,160
Speaker 2: ballot and you've used our materials to set up your campaign,

800
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:44,799
Speaker 2: you thought about how much money you need to raise.

801
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,319
Speaker 2: All of that you can apply for our endorsement. We

802
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 2: do background checks, we screen your your grap suits contact plan.

803
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:52,879
Speaker 2: That's where we do a values alignment to make sure

804
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,480
Speaker 2: that we're fully aligned on our broad progressive values. But

805
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 2: because we work both in Miami Dade and also.

806
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 1: Thousands of right now, I mean, look, Miami Dade's politics

807
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,359
Speaker 1: a little bit different than Burlington Vermont's. Right, we want to.

808
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:09,200
Speaker 2: Make sure that we're being really accommodating, and we want

809
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 2: to know, like, how do these values show up in

810
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 2: the race you're in and in the place you're in,

811
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:14,959
Speaker 2: and what does it mean to reflect your community there.

812
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 2: Once we've endorsed you, which we endorse about half the

813
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 2: people we apply, you're going to work directly with our staff.

814
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,879
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll help you find vendors that you can't get

815
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,400
Speaker 2: access to, Maybe you'll use some of the discounts.

816
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,200
Speaker 1: That we got in that sense, very similar, that's how

817
00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 1: Emily's List worked once they once they identified you as

818
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: an endorsed candidate.

819
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:33,439
Speaker 2: That's exactly right. So we really want to make sure

820
00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:36,720
Speaker 2: that we are leveraging our national relationships on your behalf.

821
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 2: So we endorse. I think this year our goal is

822
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,359
Speaker 2: to endorse about three hundred candidates. Our biggest year has

823
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 2: been about seven hundred and fifty candidates, and that's who

824
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:45,920
Speaker 2: we track through to election day. So when I talk

825
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 2: about the fifteen hundred people we've helped elect, it's from

826
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 2: that broader endorsed pool.

827
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,879
Speaker 1: Is there a litmus test and what would be give

828
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 1: me an example of something that would surprise me that

829
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 1: you would support a candidate that had exposition.

830
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 2: We have a set of values you really want to

831
00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,400
Speaker 2: align with, you know, pro choice, pro quality to a

832
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,279
Speaker 2: pro tolerance pro reducing gun violence. They'll take gun violence

833
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:19,439
Speaker 2: as an example here. The way that a Iowa State

834
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,880
Speaker 2: legislative candidate is going to talk about gun safety is

835
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:25,799
Speaker 2: going to be very different than maybe a Miami Dade

836
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,359
Speaker 2: school board candidate, which will be very different than maybe

837
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 2: like an Alabama state legislative candidate or a New York

838
00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:35,400
Speaker 2: City state council candidate. We know that we can't have

839
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:38,640
Speaker 2: a strict policy position or like a platform because it

840
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 2: doesn't make sense the way that we engage these races.

841
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 2: But as long as all of our candidates have a

842
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 2: vision for how they're going to reduce guns in our

843
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,160
Speaker 2: streets and make it safer, lots of different ways you

844
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 2: can get at the same goal.

845
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:54,760
Speaker 1: So, you know, take let's take transports. With the transports issue,

846
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,359
Speaker 1: I easily can see a candidate saying I really want

847
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:02,240
Speaker 1: to protect yeah, the trans community, and I also believe

848
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 1: trans people shouldn't be competing against women in sports. Is

849
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 1: that a disqualifier or not?

850
00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:12,880
Speaker 2: It would really depend on the race they're running in

851
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 2: and the community they're in. We do expect all of

852
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,600
Speaker 2: our candidates to really stake out a strong pro LGBTQ position,

853
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,160
Speaker 2: a pro equity position, and we know that in a

854
00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,160
Speaker 2: lot of spaces like this is a conversation happening on

855
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 2: the now.

856
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 1: I mean, look at Gavin Newsom, right, who has come

857
00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,319
Speaker 1: out against right. He's pretty This is the guy who

858
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:34,720
Speaker 1: nobody issued marriage licenses before him. Right, So he's got,

859
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 1: on one hand, an incredible history, and he is pretty

860
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 1: loudly now against the idea of trans women competing in

861
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 1: women's sports.

862
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,719
Speaker 2: I think the idea that he wants to be synctown

863
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 2: to the role of being a high school sports referee

864
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:51,720
Speaker 2: is sort of beyond me. I don't know why anyone

865
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:53,040
Speaker 2: would want to take on that position.

866
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 1: That's a good point there. But you see where I'm going.

867
00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:59,200
Speaker 1: You see where I'm going here, just because this is

868
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,560
Speaker 1: I think a challenge right now for progressives.

869
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,400
Speaker 2: No, it is, and I say, I say like it is. Actually,

870
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 2: we've worked with hundreds of school board candidates over the years.

871
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:10,680
Speaker 2: The issues that they are talking about in these races

872
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 2: are teacher pay and book bands and facilities funding. They

873
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 2: are so eager to get back to the kind of

874
00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:19,120
Speaker 2: stuff that people really do care about, which is can

875
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,440
Speaker 2: my kids read? Can my kids go to a safe school?

876
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:24,640
Speaker 2: They want to talk about bullying and mental health, Like

877
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 2: for all of the discourse around even like trans kids

878
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 2: in sports, that's not what these races are about.

879
00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,480
Speaker 1: No, I take let me well, And that was another thing.

880
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:36,759
Speaker 1: How often do you have a candidate says, look, my

881
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 1: passion is this, but I don't you know, and you

882
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:42,960
Speaker 1: have to tell them, you know what, Look, it's a

883
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 1: great passion. You're not going to win an election on

884
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 1: that issue. You really need to be talking about this one,

885
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:51,640
Speaker 1: this one, and this one. And at the same time,

886
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,440
Speaker 1: I know that I would be torn because I'm you know,

887
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: as somebody given advice too, it's like, look, you got

888
00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: to be who you are, don't try to be something

889
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:02,799
Speaker 1: you're not. So how do you navigate that where you're like, well,

890
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 1: you know that that issue is just not a voting issue.

891
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:07,480
Speaker 1: I wish it were, you know, you know, for the

892
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: left that's campaign finance reform and for the right it's

893
00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:11,760
Speaker 1: the debt. I always say, those are these two issues

894
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: that I know there are people that care about them,

895
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yeah, you know who doesn't the voters?

896
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:17,520
Speaker 1: Because if they did, we'd have done something about it

897
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:17,879
Speaker 1: by now.

898
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:20,920
Speaker 2: I think this is where it's fun working on local races,

899
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 2: because the issues that you run for in a local

900
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,600
Speaker 2: race are so personal to people, and you tend to

901
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:28,839
Speaker 2: be able to find things that get voters really fired up,

902
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 2: whether it's you know, schools, roads, water, cleanliness, even We've

903
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,400
Speaker 2: had candidates who ran on like city budgeting process, but

904
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:40,560
Speaker 2: because they were able to explain to people why they

905
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:43,719
Speaker 2: should care about that, Like you really need to care

906
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:45,800
Speaker 2: about the city budgeting process because right now you're getting

907
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:49,160
Speaker 2: screwed out of services. You deserve that. I think that

908
00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:50,879
Speaker 2: ability to connect it.

909
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,359
Speaker 1: Just connected to people's lives. Yeah, you can figure out

910
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:54,280
Speaker 1: how to connect it.

911
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,319
Speaker 2: It's I mean, it gets back to that third question

912
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 2: I made earlier. It's like, why should voters want you

913
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:00,319
Speaker 2: to win? What are you going to do for them?

914
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:03,759
Speaker 2: Make it about them, not about you. That's the key.

915
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: Bertie Sanders is not advocating people necessarily to run as Democrats, right,

916
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: He's like, hey, you know, and he's proudly an independent progressive.

917
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 1: You've had Dan Osborne and there's a there's a gentleman

918
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,319
Speaker 1: I know that that helped recruit Dan Osborne. That's we're

919
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 1: trying to recruit more Dan Osborne's to you know, possibly

920
00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:29,200
Speaker 1: run as independence maybe where the Democratic Party brand is weak.

921
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:32,920
Speaker 1: Where do you guys sit on that as run for Something?

922
00:47:33,880 --> 00:47:40,759
Speaker 1: And is is how much responsibility do you think you

923
00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 1: have an improving the Democratic brand versus getting just getting

924
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:45,880
Speaker 1: people elected.

925
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:49,160
Speaker 2: I'm glad you asked this. So we just launched a

926
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 2: partnership with Senator Sanders where when he was asking all

927
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:53,799
Speaker 2: of his you know, community members and followers to run

928
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 2: for office, everyone was eligible for Run for Something's program

929
00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:59,239
Speaker 2: got transferred over it to us, and we're working really

930
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 2: closely with him. It's thousands of people who signed up

931
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:05,399
Speaker 2: because Bernie asked them to working with them great. We

932
00:48:05,480 --> 00:48:09,279
Speaker 2: specifically endorse people who are running as Democrats or who

933
00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 2: if they're in nonpartisan elections, which a lot of these

934
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:15,480
Speaker 2: rates are. What alignment at a local level? Right, we're

935
00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:18,959
Speaker 2: exploring whether it makes sense to engage with independence too,

936
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 2: Like you know, I've asked the team make a recommendation.

937
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,439
Speaker 2: Let's think about it. How does that look practically? There's

938
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:27,000
Speaker 2: a lot of about access reasons why it's really hard.

939
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,719
Speaker 2: You know, I think there's people who imagine it.

940
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:35,200
Speaker 1: Look, it's my frustration with the duopoly. I do think,

941
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 1: and I'm curious if you run across is I think

942
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:40,319
Speaker 1: one of the barriers that people have to running for

943
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,120
Speaker 1: office is that they think, well, I have to pick

944
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:45,680
Speaker 1: small or large, right, I wear a medium, or I

945
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:49,319
Speaker 1: wear extra large or I wear small. You know, I've

946
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:51,600
Speaker 1: always joked that we would hate it if they're only

947
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 1: offered two sizes of T shirts, you know, right, And

948
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,920
Speaker 1: I assume you run into that, like people, Hey, I

949
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 1: want to run for some I'm mostly agreeing on this,

950
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 1: but I don't know if I want to pick a party.

951
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, we really try to work with folks through the

952
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:10,520
Speaker 2: practicalities of that. Like, Okay, if you want to run

953
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:12,240
Speaker 2: as an independent, how do you get on the ballot,

954
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:14,279
Speaker 2: how do you get access to the voter file? How

955
00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 2: are you going to tell people? Like break through with

956
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:18,880
Speaker 2: folks about what you believe, because in a lot of

957
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:20,760
Speaker 2: places it might make sense, and a lot of places

958
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 2: they'll see independent and assume crazy. So like, how do

959
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:24,320
Speaker 2: you navigate that?

960
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 1: True?

961
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:27,760
Speaker 2: And we want to be really like on the level

962
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:30,680
Speaker 2: with folks about why you might pick a partisan identity

963
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:32,880
Speaker 2: because for a lot of voters, like the d or

964
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:35,000
Speaker 2: R is sort of how they know who to vote for.

965
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:37,520
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that if that's a choice

966
00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:40,799
Speaker 2: you're going to make, you know how to how to

967
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 2: like literally do it. And I think we might change

968
00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 2: our minds on this going into twenty twenty six. It's

969
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:48,160
Speaker 2: something we're exploring. I actually don't know where we'll land

970
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:51,640
Speaker 2: because I think the details really matter here.

971
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:56,239
Speaker 1: Let me ask a very sort of parochial questions. Doesn't

972
00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:58,319
Speaker 1: mean I want to run for office, but if somebody is,

973
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:04,800
Speaker 1: you know, in a I'll give you an example. They're

974
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:08,440
Speaker 1: in their mid fifties, they had a really successful twenty

975
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:13,160
Speaker 1: five year career working at the FDA, at NIH You

976
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 1: see where I'm going. Yeah, and they say, you know,

977
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:18,920
Speaker 1: I don't really like what's happening. I want to do

978
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:22,360
Speaker 1: something about it. Now. You just said you're primarily focused

979
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,160
Speaker 1: on the forty and under. But I imagine there's a lot

980
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,799
Speaker 1: of former government workers that are suddenly interested who never

981
00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: thought they were going to be a political servants. They

982
00:50:32,719 --> 00:50:34,880
Speaker 1: always saw themselves truly as public servants.

983
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:35,680
Speaker 2: I'm not.

984
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:41,600
Speaker 1: Where are you channeling these folks energy? When I'm guessing

985
00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:44,880
Speaker 1: they You are getting inquiries from people that are older

986
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:48,280
Speaker 1: than forty that maybe have the background I just suggested.

987
00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:51,640
Speaker 2: We have gotten thousands of them who love them. All

988
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 2: of our pipeline material is like basically everything up until

989
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:57,279
Speaker 2: we endorse is public or like public. People in the

990
00:50:57,280 --> 00:50:59,719
Speaker 2: pipeline like you will get access to it. It's not

991
00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:04,400
Speaker 2: our endorsement program is that's we really want to focus

992
00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:07,040
Speaker 2: on people who've been traditionally left out of power, which

993
00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:09,200
Speaker 2: you only need to look around at the Democratic Party

994
00:51:09,239 --> 00:51:12,279
Speaker 2: and see young people have left out of power. But

995
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 2: everything else is welcome to anyone, and we work with

996
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:18,400
Speaker 2: so many partners who tackle different pieces of a community.

997
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,600
Speaker 2: So if you're an older woman, great, We've got lots

998
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:22,799
Speaker 2: of partners who work with older women. If you're an

999
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,000
Speaker 2: older man, great, we have partners who do that. You're

1000
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:29,480
Speaker 2: in Latino or African American or LGBTQI, like, lots of

1001
00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,400
Speaker 2: different groups engage with different sort of sub segments of

1002
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:35,640
Speaker 2: people for us young folks. But that's why we've got

1003
00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 2: a big ecosystem.

1004
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:39,400
Speaker 1: But what you're saying is if if somebody were in

1005
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: their mid fifties and is trying to just understand the

1006
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,400
Speaker 1: process of running for office, you're more than willing to

1007
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:47,320
Speaker 1: be the essentially to be the classroom.

1008
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,240
Speaker 2: They can come to the classroom happily, happily apply.

1009
00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:55,799
Speaker 1: All right, are you one of the things that I

1010
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,040
Speaker 1: believe we need? You know, I joke that we've we've

1011
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:02,120
Speaker 1: we just passed the big physical infrastructure build over the

1012
00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:04,640
Speaker 1: last couple of years to fix roads and bridges and

1013
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:08,760
Speaker 1: someday bring broadband to rural America, which we've been promising

1014
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:12,520
Speaker 1: for twenty five years, which one day, yeah, someday we'll

1015
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:16,000
Speaker 1: get it. Is that we also need to update the

1016
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: infrastructure of the democracy, right. I think it's you know,

1017
00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:21,440
Speaker 1: I'm an advocate of doubling the size of Congress. I

1018
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:23,759
Speaker 1: think that Congress has become out of reach and out

1019
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:26,920
Speaker 1: of touch. So I think if we uncap the House,

1020
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:30,239
Speaker 1: that would help. I know other people that are advocating

1021
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 1: for all party primaries, right, no more partisan primaries. Does

1022
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: run for something? Get involved with the infrastructure debates these

1023
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,240
Speaker 1: days of you know, how should elections be run? Who

1024
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 1: you know those sort of things and if you don't,

1025
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 1: what do you what does a mandilipment think of these ideas?

1026
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:52,440
Speaker 2: The organization as a institution does not a lot of

1027
00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:54,640
Speaker 2: our candidates are pushing for all kinds of different things,

1028
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:59,120
Speaker 2: from termplements to different ways of funding campaigns campaign finance.

1029
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:02,359
Speaker 1: Are you surprised that term limits is popping up as

1030
00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 1: as such a progressive idea? Now? I mean, it's funny.

1031
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 1: I'm not an advocate of it at all. I tell people,

1032
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,480
Speaker 1: i'd say every state legislature that's had term limits, all

1033
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:14,680
Speaker 1: it does is in power lobbyists, because I always say,

1034
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:17,840
Speaker 1: guess who isn't Guess who doesn't have term limits? The lobbyists.

1035
00:53:18,320 --> 00:53:22,279
Speaker 1: But it's fascinating to me that what was a conservative

1036
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 1: talking point for two decades is suddenly becoming a progressive

1037
00:53:26,200 --> 00:53:26,719
Speaker 1: talking point.

1038
00:53:26,760 --> 00:53:28,520
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's because it feels like the only

1039
00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:30,960
Speaker 2: way to get changeover in leadership when I don't think

1040
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,319
Speaker 2: that's true, but I think that's feels free.

1041
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:35,319
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be, But I get that, like, well, Chuck

1042
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:38,040
Speaker 1: Schumer's never going to leave, so you better have term limits,

1043
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 1: right yeah.

1044
00:53:39,440 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 2: Yeah. The thing that I, on my personal capacity, really

1045
00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:45,200
Speaker 2: am pushing for is increasing the pay the legislators. I

1046
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 2: think we've got to make these higher paid positions and

1047
00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:51,000
Speaker 2: like Congress, yes, but also most of these state legislators

1048
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:54,319
Speaker 2: pay basically peanuts. The New Hampshire state legislature I think

1049
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,680
Speaker 2: pays maybe four hundred dollars a year. That's not like

1050
00:53:58,080 --> 00:53:58,680
Speaker 2: four hundred.

1051
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:02,239
Speaker 1: It's a part time legislature and most of.

1052
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:05,000
Speaker 2: Them are, but they're not actually working part time. There's

1053
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:08,040
Speaker 2: serve a lot, and they're respect to do constituent services.

1054
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:10,959
Speaker 2: And I think the pay is one of many things

1055
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,920
Speaker 2: that makes these really hard for if you're not wealthy

1056
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:17,440
Speaker 2: or retired or married to someone wealthy, you can't do it.

1057
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:19,600
Speaker 2: Use you can't do it, and I want to. I

1058
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:21,200
Speaker 2: think that's one of those things where if you want

1059
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:23,520
Speaker 2: to change that kind of people who run, you've got

1060
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:25,879
Speaker 2: to change the structure that they're running to join.

1061
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:29,640
Speaker 1: You know, I thought about the pay issue as being

1062
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:31,840
Speaker 1: one of the impediments to getting people under forty to

1063
00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:34,399
Speaker 1: run for office. And I was wondering, you know, one

1064
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: of the one of the I think positive changes that

1065
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:40,319
Speaker 1: took place with the FEC over the last decade was

1066
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:43,560
Speaker 1: this idea that candidates could pay themselves a salary. Yeah,

1067
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:46,920
Speaker 1: and you know, I think some people were worried about abuse.

1068
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 1: There's always going to be any system, there's abuse, but

1069
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:52,000
Speaker 1: for the most part, and I think it's I think

1070
00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:54,399
Speaker 1: it's worked out pretty well, because by the way, it's

1071
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:56,400
Speaker 1: all public, so if you're abusing it, it becomes a

1072
00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:58,520
Speaker 1: problem for your own campaign. So I think it is

1073
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:03,359
Speaker 1: kind of self correct. Are there things if you thought

1074
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:06,440
Speaker 1: about that run for something could sort of you know,

1075
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 1: supplement income or incubate or provide you know, are you

1076
00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:14,560
Speaker 1: trying to figure out a way to provide outside source resources.

1077
00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:18,160
Speaker 1: Maybe it's childcare. I'm just spitballing here, but these are

1078
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:21,439
Speaker 1: the various real life impediments to somebody under forty running

1079
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:21,799
Speaker 1: for office.

1080
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:23,919
Speaker 2: I've got a Google doc running back the last eight

1081
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:27,520
Speaker 2: years of like all kinds of crazy ideas, from ways

1082
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,359
Speaker 2: we could fund people to support them while they run,

1083
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:33,600
Speaker 2: to cover childcare, cover security costs, which has become a

1084
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:37,000
Speaker 2: more now a bigger thing, ways in which you can

1085
00:55:37,040 --> 00:55:40,440
Speaker 2: support candidates families like. A lot of this are some

1086
00:55:40,520 --> 00:55:42,719
Speaker 2: campaign finance law that makes it really hard, but in

1087
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:45,680
Speaker 2: some states and in some places it might be doable.

1088
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:48,440
Speaker 2: And if I ever got the money for it, I

1089
00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 2: think it'd be really fun and more importantly, I think

1090
00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:51,520
Speaker 2: it'd be really impactful.

1091
00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 1: And I am curious what has been what do you

1092
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 1: what are the top three or four reasons why you

1093
00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:02,200
Speaker 1: can't convince somebody under forty that has I would like

1094
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:04,920
Speaker 1: to do it, but they can't. How often is it financial?

1095
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:07,600
Speaker 2: It's financial both in terms of they don't necessarily have

1096
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:10,880
Speaker 2: the money, like to their job is in necessarily stable,

1097
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:13,759
Speaker 2: but also they probably can't quit their job or they'd

1098
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:17,280
Speaker 2: have a job that has like conflict of interest problems.

1099
00:56:18,239 --> 00:56:22,520
Speaker 2: Second big thing is especially for millennials and true for

1100
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:25,680
Speaker 2: gen Z too. Kids. If you have young kids hard,

1101
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 2: really hard, and I like I have, I have two

1102
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:31,400
Speaker 2: kids under two and a half. I cannot imagine running

1103
00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:32,279
Speaker 2: for office right now.

1104
00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:38,120
Speaker 1: It feels look one of the There's a young Republican

1105
00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 1: member of Congress who just retired out of Kansas. He's

1106
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:43,399
Speaker 1: in his mid thirties, Stake Litturner, and this is why

1107
00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:45,840
Speaker 1: he did it. It's like I got small kids, I'm

1108
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:48,279
Speaker 1: I'm tired of being the parent that's not at the game.

1109
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:52,919
Speaker 2: I think that's totally understandable. We've definitely had a bunch

1110
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:54,920
Speaker 2: of our folks work with Vote Mama, which is a

1111
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:58,640
Speaker 2: great organization that helps people navigate using campaign funds for childcare.

1112
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:02,799
Speaker 2: But we need that. There are some folks who are

1113
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:05,960
Speaker 2: fearful about security, which I think especially if you are

1114
00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:10,439
Speaker 2: a woman in person of color like LGBTQ, there's even

1115
00:57:10,480 --> 00:57:14,400
Speaker 2: more hate threats coming your way. I think the final

1116
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:17,800
Speaker 2: big thing is this sense, in particular, if you are

1117
00:57:17,880 --> 00:57:20,760
Speaker 2: not a homeowner, that you don't deserve a say in

1118
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:22,880
Speaker 2: the future of the community. So this is one of

1119
00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:25,120
Speaker 2: my projects that we're launching later this year. You are

1120
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:27,680
Speaker 2: c three run person thing civic. So does you want

1121
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:30,680
Speaker 2: to get more renters to run for office one? Because

1122
00:57:30,720 --> 00:57:32,920
Speaker 2: the housing market is a nightmare, and if you are

1123
00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:35,360
Speaker 2: in your twenties or thirties, you think about it very

1124
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:37,400
Speaker 2: differently than if you're someone who bought your house in

1125
00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:40,600
Speaker 2: the eighties and are now sitting on well but two.

1126
00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:45,560
Speaker 2: Renters make up about thirty five percent of the American

1127
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:49,440
Speaker 2: people and about seven percent of all elected officials nationwide.

1128
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,240
Speaker 2: In the New York State legislature, there are more.

1129
00:57:52,640 --> 00:57:54,520
Speaker 1: That's the type of diversity we don't tell. I mean,

1130
00:57:54,560 --> 00:57:58,520
Speaker 1: it's an e socio economic diversity. This is my beef

1131
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:02,080
Speaker 1: with newsrooms. People talk to me about diversity and newsrooms

1132
00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:06,040
Speaker 1: and it's like, I want geographic and socioeconomic. Give me

1133
00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:10,040
Speaker 1: somebody whose parents never went to college, who lived you know,

1134
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:13,560
Speaker 1: understand that life versus a lot. You know, it's just

1135
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:17,080
Speaker 1: the socioeconomic diversity, and you're right, Congress does not have it.

1136
00:58:17,120 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 2: Congress doesn't have it. The New York State legislature. New York,

1137
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:21,240
Speaker 2: a state where I think at least in New York

1138
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:23,560
Speaker 2: City something like sixty five percent of people are renters,

1139
00:58:23,600 --> 00:58:28,200
Speaker 2: maybe more, has more landlords than it does. Tens currently

1140
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:31,240
Speaker 2: serving California has I think five renters and at one

1141
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:33,800
Speaker 2: point had zero, Connecticut zero. A number of these state

1142
00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 2: legislators zero. It is no wonder that we have basically

1143
00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:42,480
Speaker 2: no federal law that helps renders outside of some of

1144
00:58:42,520 --> 00:58:45,360
Speaker 2: the stuff around like you know, public housing Section eight.

1145
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:48,280
Speaker 1: But where's my man? The rent is too damn high.

1146
00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:50,760
Speaker 1: Party were rich tax.

1147
00:58:50,560 --> 00:58:53,080
Speaker 2: Deductions, first time home buyer credits, all of that for

1148
00:58:53,200 --> 00:58:56,720
Speaker 2: homeowners that I'm thirty five years old, I am paying

1149
00:58:57,000 --> 00:58:59,720
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars a month in child care expenses. I

1150
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:01,520
Speaker 2: am never going to be able to own a home,

1151
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:05,520
Speaker 2: at least not in the next ten years. It feels un.

1152
00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:07,720
Speaker 1: Well, I hope that's wrong, right, And I get the.

1153
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 2: Feels unimaginable though, And I think when you were in

1154
00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:13,880
Speaker 2: your twenties or thirties, that is a very common sense.

1155
00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:15,760
Speaker 2: It feels like the American when we talk about the

1156
00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:18,720
Speaker 2: American dream, feels out of reach. How ma, I were

1157
00:59:18,720 --> 00:59:19,480
Speaker 2: supposed to buy home?

1158
00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:24,040
Speaker 1: You know how? No, it's funny and I had not

1159
00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:26,680
Speaker 1: heard it more directly. What you just the point you

1160
00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 1: just made, And I really want to make sure this

1161
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 1: is a clip that gets highlighted. I'm like saying it

1162
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:35,640
Speaker 1: out loud, because you know, we talk about the number

1163
00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:39,400
Speaker 1: one issue that voters ask about. I've had this, have

1164
00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:43,120
Speaker 1: done this survey of unofficially of members of Congress. I'm like, hey,

1165
00:59:43,160 --> 00:59:44,960
Speaker 1: when you go home, what's an issue that you get

1166
00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:49,680
Speaker 1: asked about that that that we don't cover? And it

1167
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:51,880
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it's a Republican or Democrat. They all

1168
00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:56,280
Speaker 1: say housing. It's always housing. And it's like it was

1169
00:59:56,320 --> 00:59:57,760
Speaker 1: sort of like you just did the It was one

1170
00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:00,960
Speaker 1: of those well duh, when you have no no wonder,

1171
01:00:01,040 --> 01:00:03,840
Speaker 1: nobody has it as a priority in front of their face.

1172
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:08,720
Speaker 1: And that's a that's as good of an explanation as

1173
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:11,080
Speaker 1: I've heard of why we have terrible housing policy in

1174
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:11,400
Speaker 1: this time.

1175
01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:14,240
Speaker 2: And I think there's a bunch of other factors here,

1176
01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:17,360
Speaker 2: including like much housing policy is made on the local level,

1177
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:20,560
Speaker 2: which again there's no renters there either. But and a

1178
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:24,480
Speaker 2: lot of the places where we really need to affect affordability,

1179
01:00:24,600 --> 01:00:26,439
Speaker 2: Like you know, I think about one of the many

1180
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:28,760
Speaker 2: reasons why a lot of stuff swung right, like New York,

1181
01:00:28,800 --> 01:00:32,040
Speaker 2: New Jersey, everywhere sung right in the last election, in

1182
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:36,360
Speaker 2: part because of the affordability crisis, in part because how

1183
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:41,120
Speaker 2: many Democrats in these blue states sent money to Wisconsin

1184
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:43,280
Speaker 2: and Michigan and Pennsylvania and have never engaged in a

1185
01:00:43,320 --> 01:00:49,480
Speaker 2: local election where they live and therefore have not actually participated.

1186
01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:52,880
Speaker 1: This gets back to where we began. It gets back

1187
01:00:52,880 --> 01:00:56,800
Speaker 1: to where we began. Go Packs got started because they

1188
01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:59,720
Speaker 1: concluded the Republicans were too worried about the national politics

1189
01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:03,680
Speaker 1: and looking in their backyard. And you're basically this is

1190
01:01:03,760 --> 01:01:08,600
Speaker 1: now two generations flip where the Democrats have become it's

1191
01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:09,640
Speaker 1: the presidency your bust.

1192
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:12,480
Speaker 2: Mm And like we can't. You can't just win at

1193
01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:15,600
Speaker 2: the top and expect everything else to follow. Trickle down politics,

1194
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:19,120
Speaker 2: much like a trickle down economics, does not work, and

1195
01:01:19,160 --> 01:01:22,200
Speaker 2: we can't count on that. One of the things that

1196
01:01:22,240 --> 01:01:23,840
Speaker 2: I love about what we do is we work in

1197
01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:27,080
Speaker 2: all fifty states. We've elected candidates in forty nine. I'm

1198
01:01:27,160 --> 01:01:29,560
Speaker 2: just missing Idaho and I'm gonna win a waste there. Eventually,

1199
01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:32,800
Speaker 2: I get pushed back on this all the time of like,

1200
01:01:32,840 --> 01:01:35,600
Speaker 2: why are you wasting resources in a red state?

1201
01:01:36,040 --> 01:01:38,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, wasting resources. I hear that a lot.

1202
01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:41,440
Speaker 2: It's not a limited resource, but money and politics, for

1203
01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:43,160
Speaker 2: better or for worse, keeps going up and up and up,

1204
01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:46,480
Speaker 2: where there will always be unfortunately more money to spend

1205
01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 2: in this work. It is not a waste of a

1206
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:51,800
Speaker 2: resource to try and keep white nationalists from running Idaho

1207
01:01:52,120 --> 01:01:55,240
Speaker 2: as an example. I think that's a good thing, both

1208
01:01:55,280 --> 01:01:57,560
Speaker 2: because it is good for Idaho, but also because we

1209
01:01:57,640 --> 01:01:59,720
Speaker 2: have seen over and over and over again what happens

1210
01:01:59,760 --> 01:02:02,240
Speaker 2: in these red states does not stay in these red states.

1211
01:02:02,760 --> 01:02:06,280
Speaker 2: And Republicans, sure shit, are spending a ton of money

1212
01:02:06,320 --> 01:02:08,880
Speaker 2: to try and flip over blue states.

1213
01:02:08,920 --> 01:02:12,440
Speaker 1: Right, No, it is, it's the it look at just

1214
01:02:12,920 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 1: you know, I always look at national politics. As you know,

1215
01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 1: Donald Trump goes out of his way to campaign in

1216
01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:21,200
Speaker 1: the bronx versus. I didn't see Kamala Harris going out

1217
01:02:21,200 --> 01:02:23,960
Speaker 1: of her way to campaign in Idaho, right, But I

1218
01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:27,280
Speaker 1: did see Barack Obama do that. I think, and you

1219
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:30,720
Speaker 1: know it I know people sit there and laugh at it,

1220
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:32,960
Speaker 1: and it's like, here's the thing. You may not even

1221
01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:35,920
Speaker 1: win to vote another extra voter in Idaho, but somebody

1222
01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:39,360
Speaker 1: in rural Virginia might say, oh, I see, he might

1223
01:02:39,680 --> 01:02:42,880
Speaker 1: he might not ignore my my issues if he cares

1224
01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:43,880
Speaker 1: about their That's right.

1225
01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:46,320
Speaker 2: And like, I think about how many candidates we've worked

1226
01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:49,120
Speaker 2: with over the years who have never who are the

1227
01:02:49,240 --> 01:02:52,560
Speaker 2: first or only Democrat to run in their district, sometimes

1228
01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:56,200
Speaker 2: ever or for decades. Like, think about all the voters

1229
01:02:56,200 --> 01:02:58,280
Speaker 2: in that place who have never met a Democrat running

1230
01:02:58,280 --> 01:03:01,280
Speaker 2: for office before, who've never had the opportunity to vote

1231
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:02,360
Speaker 2: for a Democratic candidate.

1232
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:04,520
Speaker 1: Well, this to me is the brand issue. I mean

1233
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:07,520
Speaker 1: it is. And let me ask you, and let's close

1234
01:03:07,520 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: off on this topic, which is you obviously believe that

1235
01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:17,480
Speaker 1: Democrats have to improve their brand. You can't you're not

1236
01:03:17,520 --> 01:03:19,040
Speaker 1: ready to say I'm going to go with the Forward

1237
01:03:19,080 --> 01:03:21,400
Speaker 1: Party and dump the Democrats right like, and I think

1238
01:03:21,440 --> 01:03:23,600
Speaker 1: some people are thinking about it. Do you have to replace?

1239
01:03:23,760 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 1: Is the brand so broken that you it's too toxic?

1240
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:30,760
Speaker 1: Like what could be like what happened to the Israel

1241
01:03:30,800 --> 01:03:35,439
Speaker 1: Labor Party? What would you be doing if you could

1242
01:03:35,440 --> 01:03:38,160
Speaker 1: wave a magic wand at the DNC right now to

1243
01:03:38,280 --> 01:03:39,600
Speaker 1: do some brand improvement.

1244
01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:44,080
Speaker 2: I wouldn't do it from the DNC, I think. But

1245
01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:46,760
Speaker 2: I think what we are doing now, which is getting

1246
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:50,360
Speaker 2: tens of thousands of people to run for office, Like,

1247
01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:52,800
Speaker 2: if you want to change the Democratic Party, change the

1248
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:57,200
Speaker 2: people who are out in front as Democrats. Yeah, Like

1249
01:03:57,560 --> 01:04:01,320
Speaker 2: for the last four years, the number one Democratic communicator

1250
01:04:01,360 --> 01:04:06,680
Speaker 2: was President Joe Biden, who was not the most effective communicator.

1251
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:08,840
Speaker 1: Not a communicator, not a cadicator, right, I mean that

1252
01:04:08,960 --> 01:04:09,120
Speaker 1: was that.

1253
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:11,880
Speaker 2: Was the issue. So yeah, I don't blame people when

1254
01:04:11,880 --> 01:04:13,560
Speaker 2: they think this party is old and out of touch

1255
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:15,280
Speaker 2: and doesn't care about me because they didn't hear from

1256
01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:17,320
Speaker 2: someone for most of the last four years.

1257
01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:19,880
Speaker 1: By the way, the other two spokespeople were Nancy Pelosi

1258
01:04:19,880 --> 01:04:22,400
Speaker 1: and Chuck Schumer, who were basically not great.

1259
01:04:23,560 --> 01:04:25,480
Speaker 2: I think what we are doing now and this is

1260
01:04:25,720 --> 01:04:28,440
Speaker 2: you know, a tipping point in the Democratic Party. But

1261
01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:30,160
Speaker 2: I think it's not just in Democrats. I mean this,

1262
01:04:30,400 --> 01:04:31,920
Speaker 2: you know, I have a new book out what we're

1263
01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:34,360
Speaker 2: in charge. It's also all about like generational changing in

1264
01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:37,080
Speaker 2: leadership across all kinds of sectors. But we're going to

1265
01:04:37,120 --> 01:04:41,640
Speaker 2: see it everywhere the people in charge are gonna look

1266
01:04:41,680 --> 01:04:46,160
Speaker 2: and sound different. It's going to be so consequential for

1267
01:04:46,240 --> 01:04:49,439
Speaker 2: both for the Democratic Party or how these community spaces feel,

1268
01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:50,760
Speaker 2: for how these governments run.

1269
01:04:51,360 --> 01:04:51,760
Speaker 1: It is.

1270
01:04:53,240 --> 01:04:55,840
Speaker 2: The most important thing I think we need. Even this

1271
01:04:55,920 --> 01:04:58,040
Speaker 2: conversation about like, oh we need like a Joe Rogan

1272
01:04:58,080 --> 01:05:00,520
Speaker 2: of the left, we need more media, It's like, yeah, yeah, maybe,

1273
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:03,840
Speaker 2: but who's going to go on those shows? Name me

1274
01:05:04,040 --> 01:05:07,439
Speaker 2: the half dozen current elected Democrats who could go into

1275
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:09,480
Speaker 2: a non political space and have a normal conversation.

1276
01:05:11,080 --> 01:05:13,320
Speaker 1: You want to see You want to Chuck Schumer and

1277
01:05:13,360 --> 01:05:14,800
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan up. How do you think?

1278
01:05:14,920 --> 01:05:15,640
Speaker 2: As on my.

1279
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:22,040
Speaker 1: Front November twenty twenty sixth, what does success look like

1280
01:05:22,360 --> 01:05:23,240
Speaker 1: for Run for Something?

1281
01:05:23,840 --> 01:05:26,560
Speaker 2: My expectation is next year we will probably work with

1282
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:29,360
Speaker 2: five or six hundred candidates. I would hope that most

1283
01:05:29,360 --> 01:05:31,960
Speaker 2: of them will win. I expect we will see run

1284
01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:34,560
Speaker 2: for Something alone who win seats in Congress and the

1285
01:05:34,640 --> 01:05:37,520
Speaker 2: United States Senate and governorships. We already have a bunch

1286
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:40,960
Speaker 2: of them running. Mallory McMorrow, Eli Sappat is running for

1287
01:05:41,000 --> 01:05:43,040
Speaker 2: AG and Michigan. A bunch of folks running for state

1288
01:05:43,040 --> 01:05:47,080
Speaker 2: wide office in Colorado and Congress in Texas and Georgia

1289
01:05:47,080 --> 01:05:51,800
Speaker 2: and elsewhere. I think it is going to be a

1290
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:55,360
Speaker 2: transformative election for the Democratic Party because no.

1291
01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:58,680
Speaker 1: Matter what heppened, you think it'll be some massive generation shift,

1292
01:05:58,720 --> 01:06:00,000
Speaker 1: a generational leadership.

1293
01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:02,800
Speaker 2: Yes, I think that can be either a handing of

1294
01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:05,560
Speaker 2: the baton or a taking of the baton.

1295
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:08,360
Speaker 1: Y yanking. Yeah, like either way, handing of the baton

1296
01:06:08,480 --> 01:06:09,480
Speaker 1: or yank taking the.

1297
01:06:09,480 --> 01:06:10,960
Speaker 2: By the way, someone else is going to be holding

1298
01:06:11,000 --> 01:06:11,400
Speaker 2: it when all of a.

1299
01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:17,240
Speaker 1: Sudden done, amand alipman, Uh, this is a great conversation.

1300
01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:20,600
Speaker 1: And uh what I hope I know you know if

1301
01:06:20,600 --> 01:06:23,000
Speaker 1: you're people trying to figure out how do you run

1302
01:06:23,040 --> 01:06:24,880
Speaker 1: for office? That's why I wanted you to go through

1303
01:06:24,920 --> 01:06:27,880
Speaker 1: that process. And who knows, maybe maybe a handful of

1304
01:06:27,920 --> 01:06:30,080
Speaker 1: people will come come check out one for something. I

1305
01:06:30,160 --> 01:06:36,640
Speaker 1: appreciate you going, you got. I hope you enjoyed that

1306
01:06:36,680 --> 01:06:39,680
Speaker 1: conversation with a man elipment. By the way, if if

1307
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:41,920
Speaker 1: the left side of the aisle is not where you

1308
01:06:41,960 --> 01:06:45,120
Speaker 1: want to be running for office, do know. I did

1309
01:06:45,120 --> 01:06:48,040
Speaker 1: an interview that'll be dropping this week with Lindsay Draft.

1310
01:06:48,440 --> 01:06:51,960
Speaker 1: She is the CEO of the Forward Party. That's a

1311
01:06:52,000 --> 01:06:54,320
Speaker 1: party that is now the combination of the efforts of

1312
01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:58,200
Speaker 1: former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who left the Democratic

1313
01:06:58,240 --> 01:07:01,120
Speaker 1: Party to start this party, and or Republican Governor of

1314
01:07:01,120 --> 01:07:04,320
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Christy Whitman. They've put their efforts together. It's

1315
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:08,280
Speaker 1: still it's all under the umbrella of forward, but it

1316
01:07:08,320 --> 01:07:14,480
Speaker 1: will be another avenue in another way that people who

1317
01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:18,480
Speaker 1: are frustrated, particularly by the two parties in ability to

1318
01:07:18,520 --> 01:07:23,640
Speaker 1: work with each other, might find this appealing later this week,

1319
01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:27,440
Speaker 1: So be on the lookout for that drop. So with that,

1320
01:07:27,560 --> 01:07:31,640
Speaker 1: let me do a couple of ass chucks before I

1321
01:07:31,760 --> 01:07:36,680
Speaker 1: send you on your way to to go about your day.

1322
01:07:38,040 --> 01:07:41,080
Speaker 1: First question, been struggling on how to word this for

1323
01:07:41,080 --> 01:07:44,920
Speaker 1: a few First of all, this comes from Bill s Newberg, Oregon,

1324
01:07:46,200 --> 01:07:48,600
Speaker 1: and as he puts in parentheses, it's a liberal state

1325
01:07:48,600 --> 01:07:52,560
Speaker 1: that all that's also football crazy, yes, and it's also

1326
01:07:53,160 --> 01:07:56,080
Speaker 1: at least in Corvallis, they love their college baseball as well.

1327
01:07:56,320 --> 01:08:00,480
Speaker 1: By the way, shout out to my friend Nathan Zalez,

1328
01:08:00,520 --> 01:08:03,720
Speaker 1: who is an Oregon State rabid Oregon state guy. But

1329
01:08:03,760 --> 01:08:07,760
Speaker 1: here's the question from Bill in Oregon. Been struggling on

1330
01:08:07,800 --> 01:08:10,600
Speaker 1: how to word this for a few weeks now. But

1331
01:08:10,640 --> 01:08:13,120
Speaker 1: the ultimate question is, quote, are the two major parties

1332
01:08:13,120 --> 01:08:16,040
Speaker 1: in this country essentially equivalent in your eyes? I asked,

1333
01:08:16,040 --> 01:08:18,720
Speaker 1: because you've said you're a character voter. You've also said

1334
01:08:18,720 --> 01:08:21,479
Speaker 1: that both parties had become cults of personalities, meaning Trump

1335
01:08:22,200 --> 01:08:24,040
Speaker 1: on one hand, Obama and the other. But if I

1336
01:08:24,040 --> 01:08:26,320
Speaker 1: put those two politicians next to one another, the difference

1337
01:08:26,320 --> 01:08:29,680
Speaker 1: in character is just inescapable. I wonder if this dovestails

1338
01:08:29,720 --> 01:08:32,840
Speaker 1: at all with the toxic branding of the Democratic Party.

1339
01:08:32,880 --> 01:08:35,360
Speaker 1: According to Pew and others, being a party that promotes

1340
01:08:35,400 --> 01:08:38,040
Speaker 1: good character often means putting the right thing above the

1341
01:08:38,120 --> 01:08:42,120
Speaker 1: expedient thing, and sometimes even above winning. The Republicans being

1342
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:45,120
Speaker 1: the party of selfishness. I either current tax bill seem

1343
01:08:45,200 --> 01:08:47,920
Speaker 1: to be let off with a boys will be boys

1344
01:08:47,960 --> 01:08:50,760
Speaker 1: type of excuse. You've often said that you essentially hold

1345
01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:53,280
Speaker 1: the Democrats to a higher standard because they ask you to.

1346
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:56,240
Speaker 1: Isn't having a higher standard to sign a better character

1347
01:08:56,240 --> 01:08:58,280
Speaker 1: in the first place? Our folks in the media sometimes

1348
01:08:58,520 --> 01:09:01,760
Speaker 1: buying into a false equivalency because essentially being of good

1349
01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:05,200
Speaker 1: character is often also boring, I e. Know, drama Obama,

1350
01:09:05,560 --> 01:09:08,000
Speaker 1: How does one teach their children how to be of

1351
01:09:08,080 --> 01:09:11,200
Speaker 1: good character when the bad characters keep being chosen and

1352
01:09:11,240 --> 01:09:16,000
Speaker 1: allowed to act with impunity. That is the most important question.

1353
01:09:16,120 --> 01:09:18,360
Speaker 1: How does one teat how do let me repeat this,

1354
01:09:18,479 --> 01:09:20,760
Speaker 1: how does one teach their children how to be of

1355
01:09:20,800 --> 01:09:24,000
Speaker 1: good character when the bad characters keep being chosen and

1356
01:09:24,040 --> 01:09:29,320
Speaker 1: allowed to act with impunity. Look, I don't know other

1357
01:09:29,400 --> 01:09:32,080
Speaker 1: how to react to your question other than you're right?

1358
01:09:33,520 --> 01:09:35,800
Speaker 1: Do I do not currently see the two parties as

1359
01:09:35,840 --> 01:09:41,679
Speaker 1: their run as equivalent parties? I do, and and oddly enough,

1360
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:47,080
Speaker 1: I'm somebody who holds the Democrats more accountable because they,

1361
01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:49,960
Speaker 1: you know, I do. I look at this, particularly Joe Biden,

1362
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:53,840
Speaker 1: that his poor leadership is why Donald Trump is back right,

1363
01:09:53,880 --> 01:09:56,400
Speaker 1: why voters didn't want to kick Trump to the curb.

1364
01:09:57,560 --> 01:10:00,000
Speaker 1: If Biden had been a better leader, they wouldn't looked

1365
01:10:00,120 --> 01:10:03,160
Speaker 1: backwards for Trump. The Republican Party would have looked for

1366
01:10:03,200 --> 01:10:05,160
Speaker 1: a new candidate. This is the first time in over

1367
01:10:05,160 --> 01:10:08,000
Speaker 1: one hundred years that a party decided to go to

1368
01:10:08,040 --> 01:10:11,320
Speaker 1: go backwards rather than forwards with who their nominee was.

1369
01:10:12,280 --> 01:10:15,880
Speaker 1: And the question is is that on the Republicans? Is

1370
01:10:15,880 --> 01:10:18,479
Speaker 1: that on the Democrats? And the answer is yes to both. Right,

1371
01:10:18,960 --> 01:10:24,320
Speaker 1: why has the Republican even been an answer well, because

1372
01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:28,800
Speaker 1: there's a desperation of one part of the electorate to

1373
01:10:29,000 --> 01:10:32,960
Speaker 1: really shake up government and to have government sort of

1374
01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:40,280
Speaker 1: understand that we've been living in this I guess I

1375
01:10:40,320 --> 01:10:43,120
Speaker 1: think that the anger is over. It feels like we

1376
01:10:43,160 --> 01:10:45,519
Speaker 1: live in a two tiered system where it's impossible for

1377
01:10:45,600 --> 01:10:48,440
Speaker 1: somebody stuck in one tier to jump to the other tier.

1378
01:10:49,320 --> 01:10:52,519
Speaker 1: And I think that that's the feeling that's out there now.

1379
01:10:52,600 --> 01:10:55,439
Speaker 1: I can point to individual examples and say this isn't true,

1380
01:10:55,560 --> 01:10:57,360
Speaker 1: and then I wish people didn't see it that way.

1381
01:10:57,400 --> 01:11:01,080
Speaker 1: But there is this sense of the rungs to the

1382
01:11:01,160 --> 01:11:03,599
Speaker 1: ladder are missing, right. They're like, yeah, you can get

1383
01:11:03,640 --> 01:11:05,920
Speaker 1: up five or six rungs, but if you're trying to

1384
01:11:05,920 --> 01:11:10,120
Speaker 1: get up to run fifteen, ten through fourteen are gone, right,

1385
01:11:10,200 --> 01:11:12,679
Speaker 1: and you've got to somehow get lucky to go somehow

1386
01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:14,479
Speaker 1: and grab it, or you've got to risk your life

1387
01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:18,680
Speaker 1: in order to jump up the economic ladder. So I

1388
01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:22,680
Speaker 1: get that frustration. I think it's a lot having to do.

1389
01:11:22,760 --> 01:11:25,680
Speaker 1: People don't know what they want, but they do know

1390
01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:29,160
Speaker 1: what they don't like, right, And on the issue of character,

1391
01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:33,799
Speaker 1: you know, this is something that I vote on character,

1392
01:11:33,800 --> 01:11:36,439
Speaker 1: but I'm in the minority. And I've said I spent.

1393
01:11:36,880 --> 01:11:40,040
Speaker 1: I wrote a big, long column about the transactional versus

1394
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:43,479
Speaker 1: the aspirational voter in twenty twenty four. You can go

1395
01:11:43,520 --> 01:11:47,960
Speaker 1: find it in the NBC website. Because the aspirational voter

1396
01:11:48,080 --> 01:11:51,479
Speaker 1: versus the transactional voter. A transactional voter looks and says, Okay, well,

1397
01:11:51,720 --> 01:11:56,680
Speaker 1: who's going to benefit me. The aspirational voter says, what's

1398
01:11:56,760 --> 01:12:00,120
Speaker 1: in the You know, who's going to benefit the country?

1399
01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:02,719
Speaker 1: You know, when we hear all this put in country first,

1400
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:06,640
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. The fact is most people do

1401
01:12:06,760 --> 01:12:09,200
Speaker 1: vote for what's in their own best interests, right, And

1402
01:12:09,240 --> 01:12:13,000
Speaker 1: there's a form of it you get. If you're voting

1403
01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:15,280
Speaker 1: in the country's best interests, it usually means you have

1404
01:12:15,320 --> 01:12:17,679
Speaker 1: the luxury to do that. Right usually means you're personally

1405
01:12:17,920 --> 01:12:20,760
Speaker 1: well off or you feel pretty stable, so you can

1406
01:12:20,840 --> 01:12:23,680
Speaker 1: look at the bigger picture. Right, if things are unstable

1407
01:12:23,680 --> 01:12:27,000
Speaker 1: in your life, you look at things very binary. Who's

1408
01:12:27,040 --> 01:12:30,040
Speaker 1: good for me, who's bad for me? And I think

1409
01:12:30,120 --> 01:12:32,519
Speaker 1: what we have with the working class is as a

1410
01:12:32,560 --> 01:12:36,599
Speaker 1: large group of voters who are not seeing what's good

1411
01:12:36,680 --> 01:12:39,679
Speaker 1: for me. In the moment, Donald Trump is really good

1412
01:12:39,760 --> 01:12:43,760
Speaker 1: at sounding responsive in the moment, and you had, you know,

1413
01:12:43,840 --> 01:12:46,920
Speaker 1: in Barack Obama the ultimate, hey, let's play the long

1414
01:12:46,960 --> 01:12:51,240
Speaker 1: game type of politician. And you know, I think it's

1415
01:12:51,280 --> 01:12:54,800
Speaker 1: exactly what people wanted in O eight after the experience

1416
01:12:54,840 --> 01:13:01,240
Speaker 1: with Bush. But between the financial crisis, how long it

1417
01:13:01,320 --> 01:13:04,200
Speaker 1: took Obamacare to get up and running right, how many

1418
01:13:04,320 --> 01:13:07,479
Speaker 1: fits and starts it had, the broken website, it was

1419
01:13:07,520 --> 01:13:09,800
Speaker 1: a sense of, Okay, maybe Democrats have good ideas, but

1420
01:13:09,840 --> 01:13:11,920
Speaker 1: they don't know how to execute them. They're bad on

1421
01:13:12,000 --> 01:13:16,559
Speaker 1: the leadership front, if you will. So whether that was

1422
01:13:16,640 --> 01:13:18,880
Speaker 1: the reason for the turn to Trump.

1423
01:13:20,200 --> 01:13:20,240
Speaker 2: Is.

1424
01:13:21,080 --> 01:13:23,280
Speaker 1: I think we're going to be studying this for fifty

1425
01:13:23,360 --> 01:13:25,360
Speaker 1: years and then I think I've joked about this before.

1426
01:13:25,560 --> 01:13:28,439
Speaker 1: I hope I live long enough to find out how

1427
01:13:28,560 --> 01:13:31,680
Speaker 1: historians fifty years from now assess the Trump era. I

1428
01:13:31,680 --> 01:13:34,360
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a much smaller part in

1429
01:13:34,479 --> 01:13:37,800
Speaker 1: our history than it feels in the moment. You know,

1430
01:13:37,840 --> 01:13:40,559
Speaker 1: we always have recency bias as a society, and thinking

1431
01:13:40,600 --> 01:13:43,320
Speaker 1: this is going to be momentous in the history books,

1432
01:13:43,320 --> 01:13:45,920
Speaker 1: and then you realize that's a page, that's a half

1433
01:13:45,960 --> 01:13:49,000
Speaker 1: a page that might not even be more than one

1434
01:13:49,080 --> 01:13:52,680
Speaker 1: sentence right. I mean, just look at the look I

1435
01:13:52,760 --> 01:13:56,160
Speaker 1: bet you when Grover Cleveland run his second non consecutive

1436
01:13:56,160 --> 01:13:58,799
Speaker 1: presidential term, there was a thought, Wow, this is historic.

1437
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:01,400
Speaker 1: This is something that's going to be taught in schools

1438
01:14:01,400 --> 01:14:04,040
Speaker 1: all the time. How much were you taught about Grover

1439
01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:07,960
Speaker 1: Cleveland in school? So it's very likely that this is

1440
01:14:08,280 --> 01:14:10,679
Speaker 1: sort of thought of that. What Trump is a part

1441
01:14:10,680 --> 01:14:13,719
Speaker 1: of that. This is part of this larger I think

1442
01:14:14,360 --> 01:14:17,240
Speaker 1: impact that we're having. Right we're in the middle of globalization,

1443
01:14:18,000 --> 01:14:23,479
Speaker 1: a transition from industrial attack, a rising global economy. We've

1444
01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:26,799
Speaker 1: never had this many people engaged in the free market

1445
01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:29,679
Speaker 1: than we have today, So there's a lot more potential

1446
01:14:29,680 --> 01:14:32,120
Speaker 1: winners and losers across the globe. Right in the twentieth

1447
01:14:32,120 --> 01:14:34,920
Speaker 1: century of the United States had more say over who

1448
01:14:34,960 --> 01:14:37,320
Speaker 1: won and lost on the economy. And guess what, we're

1449
01:14:37,320 --> 01:14:40,200
Speaker 1: having to share that share that now with more and

1450
01:14:40,240 --> 01:14:42,680
Speaker 1: more countries, and this is the growing pains of it.

1451
01:14:43,360 --> 01:14:46,360
Speaker 1: I'm one of those long term optimists short term pessimists

1452
01:14:47,000 --> 01:14:50,120
Speaker 1: in this. But to get at the nut of your questions,

1453
01:14:50,120 --> 01:14:53,320
Speaker 1: are the two parties the same? In my eyes, they're not.

1454
01:14:54,200 --> 01:14:56,679
Speaker 1: Right now, the Republican Party has been I think hijacked

1455
01:14:56,720 --> 01:15:00,720
Speaker 1: by Trump and trump Ism. This is not a conservative

1456
01:15:00,760 --> 01:15:05,320
Speaker 1: party by the definition of conservatism that we've we've I

1457
01:15:05,320 --> 01:15:11,160
Speaker 1: think on culture, this is in some ways a recognizable uh,

1458
01:15:11,320 --> 01:15:14,559
Speaker 1: part of the Republican Party compared to before, But on

1459
01:15:15,080 --> 01:15:17,880
Speaker 1: when it comes to economic policy, it's unrecognizable and it's

1460
01:15:17,880 --> 01:15:21,880
Speaker 1: not conservative. It's a reactionary party in many ways. So

1461
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:25,439
Speaker 1: I think that you know, when I when I look

1462
01:15:25,479 --> 01:15:28,120
Speaker 1: at a guy like George Will, right, that's you know,

1463
01:15:28,200 --> 01:15:31,479
Speaker 1: for me, that was the face of conservatism as a kid. Okay,

1464
01:15:31,560 --> 01:15:35,080
Speaker 1: George Will and Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump doesn't fit.

1465
01:15:35,120 --> 01:15:38,120
Speaker 1: He feels like, like I said, a bizarro superman, you know,

1466
01:15:38,200 --> 01:15:41,560
Speaker 1: compared to Reagan. If you will, You're like, huh, you

1467
01:15:41,800 --> 01:15:45,519
Speaker 1: kind of look like a Republican, but you behave almost

1468
01:15:45,600 --> 01:15:48,400
Speaker 1: the exact opposite of the type of Republicans I grew

1469
01:15:48,479 --> 01:15:52,320
Speaker 1: up with. And that's, you know, especially on the character front.

1470
01:15:52,479 --> 01:15:55,000
Speaker 1: I think the Republican Party always prided itself on being

1471
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:59,439
Speaker 1: the party of of of proper character, whatever that meant

1472
01:15:59,479 --> 01:16:03,160
Speaker 1: in society in any given moment. But certainly you wouldn't

1473
01:16:03,200 --> 01:16:06,719
Speaker 1: expect it to be, you know, the party of serial

1474
01:16:06,760 --> 01:16:11,040
Speaker 1: marriages out of wedlock. Children all over the place, like

1475
01:16:11,080 --> 01:16:14,479
Speaker 1: an Elon Musk, who may or may not you know again,

1476
01:16:14,680 --> 01:16:17,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I just think about ten years ago. Imagine

1477
01:16:17,200 --> 01:16:20,559
Speaker 1: if one of the closest listen on Matt Eric Schmidt

1478
01:16:20,640 --> 01:16:23,040
Speaker 1: was was in some ways the type of advisor to

1479
01:16:23,120 --> 01:16:27,519
Speaker 1: Obama that Elon Musk became to Donald Trump. Somebody who's

1480
01:16:27,520 --> 01:16:31,040
Speaker 1: successful in Silicon Valley, trying to trying to help the

1481
01:16:31,080 --> 01:16:34,600
Speaker 1: government understand the Silicon Valley mindset. You know what, I

1482
01:16:34,600 --> 01:16:37,040
Speaker 1: don't think Eric Schmidt did bring around a drug kit

1483
01:16:37,920 --> 01:16:40,840
Speaker 1: for everybody to have it. And if he did, it

1484
01:16:40,880 --> 01:16:45,320
Speaker 1: would be either probably would be oversight, you know, hearings.

1485
01:16:45,360 --> 01:16:49,920
Speaker 1: There would probably be Congress would want to find out

1486
01:16:50,360 --> 01:16:53,680
Speaker 1: where did these drugs come from? Right? Are we going

1487
01:16:53,760 --> 01:16:56,880
Speaker 1: to have anything like that with Elon Musk? I think

1488
01:16:56,920 --> 01:16:59,800
Speaker 1: you know the answer to that. So I would say

1489
01:16:59,800 --> 01:17:04,920
Speaker 1: that this is the part where I'm just a believer

1490
01:17:05,000 --> 01:17:10,160
Speaker 1: that eventually bad character does get punished by society. The

1491
01:17:10,240 --> 01:17:14,280
Speaker 1: voters eventually sniff that out because we eventually realize people

1492
01:17:14,320 --> 01:17:18,120
Speaker 1: with bad characters do bad things, and while they may

1493
01:17:18,400 --> 01:17:21,280
Speaker 1: accidentally do some good things that maybe make sense. I mean,

1494
01:17:21,400 --> 01:17:23,479
Speaker 1: you know, take what he's you know what Trump's trying

1495
01:17:23,479 --> 01:17:28,679
Speaker 1: to do in the Middle East is in some ways

1496
01:17:28,800 --> 01:17:31,559
Speaker 1: very good. What he's trying to do with Iran Syria.

1497
01:17:32,320 --> 01:17:35,479
Speaker 1: You know, he's trying to sort of put BB a

1498
01:17:35,520 --> 01:17:38,639
Speaker 1: little bit back in his place. But how he's going

1499
01:17:38,680 --> 01:17:40,960
Speaker 1: about it and his motivation to do it is all

1500
01:17:40,960 --> 01:17:44,679
Speaker 1: about the self enrichment business deals, as he's been doing

1501
01:17:44,680 --> 01:17:47,839
Speaker 1: with the Gulf State guys. So there's such a corrupt

1502
01:17:48,040 --> 01:17:50,760
Speaker 1: you know here he's doing something that trades actually and

1503
01:17:50,920 --> 01:17:54,519
Speaker 1: is pragmatic, but he only got it got there in

1504
01:17:54,600 --> 01:17:59,120
Speaker 1: a corrupt be a corrupt means. And the question is,

1505
01:17:59,200 --> 01:18:03,360
Speaker 1: you know that never holds. And so I guess I

1506
01:18:03,360 --> 01:18:05,479
Speaker 1: would say to you long windy answer there for you,

1507
01:18:05,560 --> 01:18:12,439
Speaker 1: Bill is from Oregon, is simply, Look, character counts. Just

1508
01:18:12,880 --> 01:18:15,360
Speaker 1: doesn't always count when you want it to count, but

1509
01:18:15,680 --> 01:18:20,439
Speaker 1: eventually character will count. Look, I would argue that in

1510
01:18:20,439 --> 01:18:25,679
Speaker 1: some ways Bill Clinton's character flaws eventually costs the hurt

1511
01:18:25,720 --> 01:18:28,880
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party in two thousand and cost Hillary Clinton

1512
01:18:28,880 --> 01:18:31,960
Speaker 1: the presidency in twenty sixteen. So the point is is

1513
01:18:32,000 --> 01:18:33,679
Speaker 1: that you know a lot of people thought, oh, Bill

1514
01:18:33,720 --> 01:18:37,840
Speaker 1: Clinton got away with something. Eventually he didn't. I know

1515
01:18:37,880 --> 01:18:39,920
Speaker 1: a lot of people think Donald Trump's getting away with something.

1516
01:18:41,479 --> 01:18:44,640
Speaker 1: Eventually he won't all right with that. I was going

1517
01:18:44,680 --> 01:18:47,320
Speaker 1: to do a second question. I'll save it. Got a

1518
01:18:47,320 --> 01:18:49,160
Speaker 1: great week of shows coming up for you, I promise.

1519
01:18:49,200 --> 01:18:52,040
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Can't wait to talk

1520
01:18:52,080 --> 01:18:53,800
Speaker 1: to you again until I upload again.