WEBVTT - And, This is How We Prevent Election Rigging with Heather Cox Richardson 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:15.239 This is Gavin Newsom. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.720 Welcome everybody. Sorry we're a little late getting started. It's 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.840 been quite a day for the governor, and thank you 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:23.760 Governor Newsom for joining us today. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:25.040 Great to be with you. 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.520 Thank you, It's been quite a day for you. I 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.520 wanted to talk today about what you just said in 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.320 California and how you said it, and the implications in 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.360 the short term for it, but also the long term 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:42.080 implications for American democracy. It was a big day for you. 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.040 Do you want to start by telling the audience here 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.440 who may not have heard your press conference or may 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:52.200 not have heard your uh or read about it yet, 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.560 what you have said today in California, Well. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.600 If I and I appreciate it. I want to say 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:02.080 where I'm saying it. I'm in little Tokyo. I'm at 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.279 the Democracy Center. I'm at the center of what occurred 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.800 in the nineteen forties where people were quite literally picked 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:14.480 up right behind me a few feet away Japanese and interned. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.760 As we started our press conference with senators United States senators, 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:26.240 but shift members of Congress, community leaders, everybody assembled, border 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:30.559 patrol was set right here to the exact site where 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.759 people were picked up and interned in the nineteen forties. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.880 I just hope people pause and think about that, that 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.640 they were directed clearly by the White House as a 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.039 political operation to make a point, and that means we 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.440 didn't have to make other much of a point ourselves 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.960 about what this election is all about, and what's happening 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:57.160 in this country and this sort of shift towards more authoritarianism, 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.240 and what's at stake with redistricting and what's at stake 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.400 with our democracy, and how the founding fathers would be 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:05.400 rolling over in their grave. 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.080 Well, let's step back a bit, because you said when 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.840 it happened that they were making a specific point and 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.040 it wasn't just about picking people up. It was about 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.880 the upcoming twenty twenty six and then twenty twenty eight election. 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.480 Yeah. Look, there's no doubt in my mind that And 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.880 I said this a few months ago when we saw 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.560 four thousand of our National Guard federalized. We saw seven 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.360 hundred United States Marines sent to an American city, the 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.200 first time Donald Trump ever deployed the US military. Never 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.880 did it overseas, did it in the United States of 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:40.720 America into Los Angeles. I said, this is a preview 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.560 of things to come. I don't know what more evidence 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.160 we need than what happened in Washington, DC. And you're 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.200 going to see this all across the United States. What 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.280 we saw just a moment ago with border patrol is 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.440 a preview things to come at voting booths and polling 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.959 places all across this country. These guys aren't screwing around. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:05.680 Wake up. Donald Trump is not screwing around. He called 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.720 Greg Abbott. He said he was entitled to five seats. 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.120 He's trying to rig the next election in the midterms. 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.640 There's a reason members of the Trump team sent me 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:21.079 a Trump twenty twenty eight hat with a note, is 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.600 there not screwing around and we could no longer screw 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:24.160 around either. 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:29.400 So you spoke today specifically in response to the demand 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:34.000 of President Donald Trump of the Texas legislators to redistrict 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:38.360 the state in the middle of a cycle which we 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.960 is usually every ten years because the US Census demand. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.840 The US Constitution demands that we do a census every 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.320 ten years for redistricting, and Texas has done this before 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.480 in twenty thousand and three. But they are looking to 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.000 read district Texas to get rid of a number of 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.200 Democratic representatives and replace some of the Republicans five. So 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.720 today in California, you pushed back with a very specific plan. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.320 Could you outline that plan for us? Even though the 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:09.920 maps have not come out yet, we understand. 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.000 Well, we're fighting fire with fire. We're responding to what 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.680 appears to be happening in real time in Texas. And 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:22.159 rather than having one hand tied behind our back in California, 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.159 we are asking the people of the state of California 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.760 in a special election on November fourth, through their representatives, 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.440 two thirds of which will on Monday, introduce a constitutional 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:39.119 amendment to allow the independent Redistrict of California to occur 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:43.560 mid decade to fight firefire the equivalent of five seats 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.960 to neoter and neutralize what's happening in Texas on a 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.160 temporary basis. We'll do it in a transparent way by 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.640 putting the maps up and make them available for public review, 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.120 and we'll do it in the most democratic way. The 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:01.000 people will ultimately decide start contrast to what's happening in Texas. 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:06.160 It's triggered only if Texas moves forward, if Missouri moves forward, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.960 if Florida moves forward, if Indiana or Ohio or any 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.320 of these other states move forward in response to what 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:18.080 appears pretty clearly to be the rigging of the midterm election, 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:23.200 analogous to what happened after January sixth, when Donald Trump 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.960 started dialing for votes and the very infamous phone calls 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.440 he made to the Secretary of State in Georgia. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:31.800 So I want to get back in a bit to 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.680 the idea that this is a long term plan of 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.320 the mega Republicans to take over the American system entirely 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:40.599 so that the Democrats can never win, so we essentially 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.359 get a one party state. But let's go back, first 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:47.240 of all to this specific plan, because there's some pieces 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.760 of it that I think are important for people to understand. 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.760 The first, as you say, is that it is reactionary. 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.240 It would only go into effect if the Texas Republicans 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.840 go forward with their own redistricting plan and in the 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:02.120 mid in the mid cycle. 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.720 Is that correct. That's it. There's an exit ramp. They 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.160 don't move forward, we don't move forward. This is not 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.279 the fight we want. But we're not going to sit 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.080 back again and roll over. We're not going to sit 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.520 back with one hand tie behind our back, have a 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.320 candlelighted visual hold hands. Talk about the way the world 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:25.040 should be not when we're seeing this level of recklessness, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:31.720 this level of insidiousness as it relates to democratic institutions, 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.120 democratic norms, and the rigging of the twenty twenty six 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:37.120 congressional maps. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.080 All right, So if that's the immediate piece of it, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:45.800 there is within it, as I understand it, and I 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.120 have not yet read the measure, there is within it 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:54.120 a demand for a national nonpartisan Can you talk about that? 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.000 Yeah, Look, just so people understand, and I want a 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.480 level set with folks. Good people can disagree on this. 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:04.520 I support and have supported independent redistricting. I believe it's 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.960 the right approach. I'm really proud of my party, the 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.520 Democratic Party, for doing the same. Zoe Logrant Lawford, who's 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:14.600 the head of the California Congressional delegation, sponsored legislation was 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:18.960 supported by all the Democrats to create a national independent redistricting. 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.800 No Republicans supported. Democrats supported that. That's what we believe, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:24.640 it's the right thing to do. We need to move 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.920 beyond these partisan GERI matter districts where we pick voters 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.280 as opposed to voters picking us. But in the absence 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.800 of that happening nationwide, in the absence of these of 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.600 fairness being advanced in other states. We have to act 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.960 anew in the sort of language of Lincoln himself in 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.480 his second State of the Union, we have to disenthrall ourselves. 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.560 Facts are new, we have to think a new and 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:51.960 we have to act anew And I think the key 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.080 here is act. It's not good enough to talk about. 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.000 We have to actually move forward. We have to meet 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.400 this head on. And that's why we say fire with fire. 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.600 It is about power, it's not about party. That's all 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:08.960 this is about. But again it came about in response. 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.320 If they don't move, we don't move. The legislature on 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.480 Monday will introduce a number of bills, a constitutional amendment, 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.920 They will introduce the maps. The fact that maps will 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.520 come out I think as early as tomorrow, so people 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.200 have a chance to see them again. They'll be on 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.720 people's ballot, and so ultimately people decide on November fourth. 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.920 It's an election that coincides with a lot of municipal elections, 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.280 and we will fund those elections, the special election at 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.679 the local level, so that there's access and opportunity. We're 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.520 going to do it in the most transparent way that's 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.640 ever been done here. In the state of California. But 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.720 we fundamentally believe and the voters will have a chance 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:52.520 to concur that we should have independent, nationalized redistricting. That 0:08:52.720 --> 0:09:00.000 is going to be on our ballot as well. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:04.440 All right, So what would you say to institutionalists like 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.400 me who say that, in fact, we need to support 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:12.720 American institutions even when other people are not supporting them, 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.000 because by walking away from them we destroy the project. 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.240 Well, I think this project is being destroyed. I mean 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.480 the best of the Roman Republic and Greek democracy and 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.439 coequal branches of government, a system of checks and balances, 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.679 popular sovereignty. It's all on the line. There's no independent redistricting. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.439 If Trump is successful in wiring the five votes that 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:35.920 he claims he's entitled to, or the five seats in 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.160 Texas and all of these other states, He's not going 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.800 to stop in Texas. You see what he just tried 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.240 to do to one of the great research institutions in 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.040 the world that helped create the Internet, UCLA and the 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.280 one bigion dollar extortion backage. They're selling their souls. God 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.520 help us, God help us. They'll do this at Harvard institutions. 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.520 My gosh, institutions how about free enterprise, How about what 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:04.200 Nvidia just did. Institutions they're frame, they're cracking, So we 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.959 have got to this is about power, yes, but it's 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.880 also about power pushing back against Trump, and it's also 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.280 about power to call out this rigged election that he's 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.880 tried to advance and to try to provide a level 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.720 playing field. That's all we're trying to do. Neutralize what 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:21.760 they're doing in texts. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.520 Well, you certainly could make the argument that what you 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:31.040 are doing is quite intelligently looking at the nation as 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.559 a whole, in California as a piece of that. So 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:38.080 by protecting the larger institutional system of the checks and 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.440 balances in the country and stopping this extraordinary power grab, 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.800 that in fact you are supporting those institutions, not undercutting them. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:46.600 Do you think that's fair. 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.040 I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, this is 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.599 you know, this is about all of us. This is 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.840 about the United States of America. The implications everyone listening, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.800 The implications are well beyond California. And this is about representation. 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.400 It's about this fundamental and foundational as it gets. And again, 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:10.000 this is the core, enduring experiment that we've enjoyed but 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.079 can no longer take for granted for two hundred and 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.880 forty nine years. I mean the idea that that Donald 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.600 Trump he's going to represent this nation on the two 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.320 hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and he's up to this. 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:26.559 I mean, we're going to represent the American people, are 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.959 going to resent represent the country at the two hundred 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.000 and fiftieth. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:35.680 God bless you. And that reminds me of Justicegen's dissent 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:42.000 and not dissimilar redistricting issues where the power of the 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.080 government is endowed by the people. I'm here at the 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.319 Democracy Center and other in that spirit, I remember Justice 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:52.680 BRANDI said, in a democracy, the most important office is 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.679 not office of presidents or they not governor, city council, mayor. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.319 The most important office is office of citizen. And it's 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.800 about active, non inert citizenship. And so this notion of 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.920 we the people is foundational and I appreciate that spirit, 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.520 and I appreciate your reflection of that. Well. 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.720 You mentioned that in your speech today. You talked about 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.520 agency and about how part of what you're doing is 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.960 trying to remind Americans that they do have agency over 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.120 their government. Was that a deliberate call for this speech? 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.480 Yeah, I don't know what's happened. I feel like some 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.120 of us have we become victims in so many respects. 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.480 We forget we're not bystanders in the world, that the 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.280 future is not just something experience, it's something to manifest. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.920 It's right here, it's right inside of us. It is 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.520 it's decisions, not conditions. I don't, you know, And maybe 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.880 I'm maybe After the pandemic, I started reading a little 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.680 more Epoptetis and Marcus Aurelius and Seneca and spend a 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.199 little time with the Stoics a little bit. But it's 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.640 a reminder it's not what happens to us. It's how 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.719 we respond to what happens to us that matters. And 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.320 we have agency, that's what citizens. He can't take that 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.920 away from us. He can't. He's trying. He can only 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.040 take it away if we allow him to take it 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.760 away from us. And I'm very mindful that that's happened 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.000 in other countries around the world and other points of 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.640 our history. With the consent, there's a complicity we are 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.240 not bystanderds Well. 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.079 One of the things that jumped out to me about 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.360 this declaration of the Governor of California that he would 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.880 use the power, the extraordinary power of the state of California, which, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.240 as you say, has the population of twenty one of 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.040 the smaller states and the fourth largest economy in the world. 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.320 Congratulations on that, by the way, that came earlier this year, 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.600 you moved from fifth to fourth. But what really interested 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.400 me about that in terms of the way we think 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:54.400 about American democracy in the larger picture, is I believe 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:59.000 this is the first time in American history where a 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:03.800 state has called for other states to pressure the national 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:09.559 government to change the system for larger inclusion in democracy. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.360 And what I mean by that is that generally after 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.520 World War II, that liberals who wanted the government to 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.480 regulate business and provide a basic social safety net and 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:24.240 protect civil rights and invest in infrastructure look to the 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:29.200 federal government to move states along those lines, especially states 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.280 that had tended to discriminate against their populations. And so 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.040 there's been a tendency for people who cared about those issues. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.600 And that's not just by the way, in the nineteen 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.720 fifties and sixties and seventies, a democratic proposition, but an 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.760 American proposition to look to the federal government. But I 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.240 believe this is the first time that a state has 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.200 said we will leverage our very strong power to force 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:56.840 the federal government to stop destroying our democracy. I think 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.920 it's a really big moment what you have just declared. 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:01.760 Did you see it that way? 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.440 Yeah, No, it's interesting as you're framing it, I'm starting 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:09.320 to see it that way. Look, I've seen and Ron 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.160 Brown seeing and others have been writing a lot about this, 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.960 this great divergence that's occurred in this country in the 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.160 last I don't know decade or so red versus blue. 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.600 We've seen, as you describe it, you know, from sort 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.520 of post World War two frame this right's expansion, this 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.320 increasing and growing nationalization of rights, and now we're seeing 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.080 that regression state by state. I started to see it 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.080 a number of years ago in a deeper way, when 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.800 I started to reconcile the fact that I'm on the 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.680 receiving end of CRTDI E. S G. Anything with three letters. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:42.920 They've seen it started a shape shift, and we start 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.520 to see that with Ron DeSantis in particular, Abbott in 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.320 many respects without as much fanfare, starting to sort of 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.720 rewrite history, sensor historic facts, more evidence we need. With 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.760 Smithsonian and what's going on there. And I started to 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.840 see it as it relates to curriculum being changed. I 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.280 saw it with books that are being bannedly or books 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.320 even worse that are being changed, like social studies books 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.920 where they're taking the race of Rosa Parks out of 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.800 the book because it's a quote unquote two woke as 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.560 it relates to the history of the civil rights movement. 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:16.680 And so this this this this nationalization of rights that 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.320 now seems to be moving backwards to pre nineteen sixties 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:24.640 construct It just occurs to me now to the extent possible, 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.960 states can assert themselves, like California, states that might just 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.720 be able to punch a little bit above their weight 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.160 that that we can lay a little bit more claim 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:40.000 to recognizing this moment in history and pushed back and 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.400 move back, I think to our better angels where we 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:49.400 truly are, as Adam Schiff said today, you know sort 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.240 of marking that that that that that sort of infamous 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.400 MLK frame that you know that that arc of history 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.360 ultimately been towards just and I just feel like it's 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.800 getting increasingly out of our grasp and we've got to 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:04.920 pull that arc back down. 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.880 Well, you did something else very interesting though in your 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.040 speech that speaks to that, and that is that really 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.800 since well, at least for the last twenty years, and 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.960 I would push it back for twenty before that. There's 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.440 been a tendency among the rhetoric of the radical right 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.679 to demonize democratic states, especially California and New York, but 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:30.040 especially California. And you actually took on Texas today, and 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.919 you also spoke up very powerfully about having pride in 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.360 the things that make texts that make California great. That too, 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.320 I thought was an important rhetorical shift. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.240 I appreciate that. I looked around the room as people 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.440 are cheering. It's the most diverse crowd and the most 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.840 diverse city, the world's most diverse democracy. It's the point 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.480 of pride. It's all at stake. We don't say it enough. 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.879 You know. Why is California the fourth largest economa. I 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.399 appreciate you recognizing that it's not despite that diversity, it's 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.560 because of it. We get first round draft choices. Around 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:03.600 the rest of the world. The best, in the brightest 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:07.520 come to California. States like California, other large states across 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.320 this country because they see, they feel seen and heard, 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.560 they feel sense of belonging. That's what makes this country great. 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:19.480 That's what's made America great. Lady torch, you know, the 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.760 Lady Liberty's torch, you know, the life force as Reagan said, yes, 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:28.080 Ronald Reagan himself, of New Americans. That's our greatness. And 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.080 all of that is at risk. That's what the Border 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.600 Patrol was sitting there trying to disabuse us of. I'm 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.199 not gonna We're not gonna let Donald Trump wreck that, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.520 and I'm not you know, there's I'll acknowledge each other. 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:44.760 There is. There's definitely I submit Trump to arrangement syndrome, 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.040 but they're sure as hell is California derangement syndrome. We 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.160 have more scientists, engineers, more researchers won't know about laureates 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.520 than any other state in America. Just think about the 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.160 UC system that he's attacking. Thirteen thou eight hundred active patents. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.919 There's no other universites on planet Earth with more patents. 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:07.040 You care about national security, you care about economic progress, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.960 You care about innovation and entrepreneurialism. You care about dominating 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.879 the next century and globally and otherwise, you sure as 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.920 hell better care about those institutions. All of those are 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.680 at risk with the rule of don Well, I hope 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:22.480 it's dawning on people what's at stake. 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.800 Well, the contrast of ice being there, as you said that, 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.480 because of course economists one thousand percent bear out exactly 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.399 what you just said here was a striking moment. It 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.080 was also, I thought, a very striking moment that Trump 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.879 and the MAGA Republicans especially I'm thinking of somebody like 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.640 Stephen Miller right now, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.080 have made it a point really to talk about how 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.159 terrible America is, that it's American carnage, that there's you 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:56.280 know who is it. The Senator from Oklahoma today, Mark 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:59.879 Wayne Mullins said he drives around Washington without a seat 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.879 out because he's afraid he's going to get carjact. I'm like, dude, 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.960 come on, like really, you know, it's been. 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:07.639 A lot of time in the carj act in his 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.040 state than he is in these blue states. I remind 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.600 everyone watching eight of the top ten murder states in 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.679 America are red states. You've got you talk about speaker. 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.720 We didn't talk about the speaker of the Als Johnson. 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.840 His district has six or eight times more murder rate 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.120 per cabit in than Nancy Pelosi's why the hell isn't 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.480 Trump sending the National Guard in to deal with the 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:33.640 carnage in Speaker Johnson's backyard. It's all bs, it's all performative, 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.640 but it's all very real. And that's why we need 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.160 to sober up. We need to act differently. It's time 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.600 we have to get back on the offense. It's time 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.399 we shape shift the conversation, time we dominate and flood 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:48.520 the zone on the narrative. And it's time we call 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.119 out the bullshit. She's my language. I know there's a 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:53.359 lot of it. A lot of us are swearing a 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.040 lot more that we used to, and I forgive me, 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:01.200 but the reality is we're in a new reality and 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.040 our Democrats, and I think the biggest problem with our 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.200 party right now is the sense that we're weak. That 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:11.280 were we and it's time to disabuse people of that. 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.199 We have power. We need to start exercising it. 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:16.399 Okay, you said a bunch of things there that I 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:21.480 think are really important agency offense and defense of the 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.240 qualities that have always made America great. And you referenced 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.840 Ronald Reagan there the last public speech he Gave talked 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.840 about how important immigration was to making America stay on 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:37.479 the top of its game, constantly innovating, constantly being the 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.560 best in the world because we welcome new people, and 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:42.760 that he said, if we stopped that, we would cease 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.280 to be America, we would cease to be the country 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.600 we were. And I think we're seeing that. 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:52.200 I mean, look, it's we've had a formula for success 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.760 in this country and and and I mean for everybody 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.080 we've been there, we've got for all the challenges and 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.359 we have we have we have. It goes without saying 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:04.480 we have all these pre existing conditions. But we have 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:07.360 been the envy of the world. And these guys are 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.800 trying to wreck it. They're trying to wreck it, and 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.240 they don't know what the hell they're doing. Trump doesn't 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.880 know what the hell he's doing. And you have all 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.399 of these people that are complicit and they're shaking their head. Yes, sir. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.240 In the worst part, Heather, it's some of the wealthiest 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:28.360 and most connected people that are selling out. That's why 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.479 if Harvard does this, they will sell out higher education 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.199 in this country. It is a shame, it would be 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.119 a disgrace. You have some of the wealthiest business leaders 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:40.920 selling out allowing their companies to be nationalized socialized there, 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:45.480 I say, we cannot allow that to happen. People are scared. 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:47.320 I'll tell you what. We have some people that want 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.480 to contribute this campaign. They're scared of the retribution from 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:52.879 the son of a bitch. I mean, now, this is 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:53.639 how bad it is. 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:56.840 Let me just explain for people and may not have 0:22:56.880 --> 0:22:59.760 been following it, that, in fact, the Trump administration has 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:04.920 been exercising really quite unusual control over government mergers. For example, 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:08.159 they've been requiring fifteen percent kickbacks on the sale of 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:10.920 certain kinds of chips to China and so on, and 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:14.280 there is a real concern that this is a form 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:17.960