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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Molly john Fast and this is Fast Politics,

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Speaker 1: where we discussed the top political headlines with some of

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Speaker 1: today's best minds, and Republicans have turned against the dumbest

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Speaker 1: member of the Senate, Tommy Tuberville on his military personnel holes.

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Speaker 1: We have a fascinating show for you today. Axios Is

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Speaker 1: Alex Thompson joins us to talk mega Mike Johnson Speakership's

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Speaker 1: rough launch. Then we'll talk to Skyler van Volkenberg, who

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Speaker 1: is a candidate for the critical Virginia State Senate's sixteenth district.

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Speaker 1: But first we have former Senator and close personal friend

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Speaker 1: of mine, host of the Al Franken podcast, the one

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Speaker 1: the Only Al Franken. Welcome back to Fast Politics, Al Franken. Mollie, Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm so happy to have you today. Let's start by

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Speaker 1: talking about this incredibly strange moment in American politics. It

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Speaker 1: feels like we're about to see Mitch mcconnall v maga

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Speaker 1: Mike Johnson.

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Speaker 2: Right, did you ever think you.

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Speaker 1: Would see a world like this?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 3: Why didn't envision a world with Mike Johnson?

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Speaker 2: And neither did he?

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Speaker 3: No, that's true, but you're talking about on say Ukraine well.

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Speaker 1: I think first on Israel, maybe because this is unprecedented

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Speaker 1: emergency Israel aid. He says, Okay, we'll do it, but

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Speaker 1: we want paid furs. But our paid fors are going

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Speaker 1: to be things that actually grow the deficit.

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Speaker 2: We're going to cut the IRS.

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Speaker 1: We're not going to have a CBO score it.

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Speaker 3: This has been the pet peeve of mine. Biden and

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Speaker 3: the Democrats voted for a lot of funding for the

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Speaker 3: IRS because the IRS has been defunded for years and

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Speaker 3: years by Repubblicans to protect their you know, rich people,

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Speaker 3: because they're not enough auditors right right, and skill orders

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Speaker 3: and high level orderers, and the CBO, the Grecial Budget

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Speaker 3: Office has scored this new funding for auditors as increasing

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Speaker 3: our treasury more than pays for itself, more than pays

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Speaker 3: you know, hundreds of billions of dollars and increased revenue

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Speaker 3: of tax money that is owed by people that don't

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Speaker 3: pay it. And of course it's their people, it's Republicans people, right.

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Speaker 1: Nothing says maga like not paying your taxes.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well maga And also just maybe people aren't even

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Speaker 3: maga in the sense of they don't buy a lot

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Speaker 3: of Trump, but they buy a lot of other stuff

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Speaker 3: with all this money they don't pay to the IRS.

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Speaker 3: And this is something this has been a Republican project

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Speaker 3: for a long long time to defund the IRS, and

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Speaker 3: finally Democratic Congress the president voted to do it. And

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Speaker 3: literally what they want to do is cut this funding,

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Speaker 3: which will increase the depthsit. I don't know how the

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Speaker 3: works out in terms of just to keep the government open,

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Speaker 3: right right. Bush has got to come to shove, and

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure how this will work.

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Speaker 1: So the foreign aid stuff, though, it is interesting. It

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Speaker 1: strikes me that Republicans are very divided on Ukraine aid.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that's true?

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Speaker 1: And do you think that this is sort of a

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Speaker 1: proxy war for Maga versus more traditional Republicans.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly on the Ukraine issue. And I don't understand

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Speaker 3: it either. You can't be pro putin in this, can you.

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Speaker 2: I mean Trump is but.

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Speaker 3: Well, Trump of course has said that when he's elected

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Speaker 3: he'll end this in a day.

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Speaker 1: Why does he give himself so much time?

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Speaker 3: If you're saying I'm going to resolve this in a day,

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Speaker 3: it sounds like you're handing it to putin.

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Speaker 2: It certainly does.

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Speaker 1: And also the fact that he loves Putin and thinks

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Speaker 1: Putin is great.

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Speaker 2: That also makes me think.

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Speaker 3: That he tends to like dictators and just likes anybody

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Speaker 3: who likes him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, nothing wrong with having low self esteem. But over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, Trump has been on the

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Speaker 1: stump and he's shown some real cognitive decline. But he's

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Speaker 1: mused about shooting people who commit robberies, that you should

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Speaker 1: have a right to shoot someone who robs your store

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Speaker 1: on the way out, executing General Milly. Does it seem

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Speaker 1: like he's getting worse to.

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Speaker 3: You or executing General Milly. That's a bad one. Well

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Speaker 3: was that for? What was Millie's crime on that going

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Speaker 3: against him? Yes? It was after the election when Trump lost,

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Speaker 3: Milly called his Chinese counterparge right yeah, and said, look,

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Speaker 3: I'll give you a heads up in the case, my guy.

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Speaker 3: When Trump lost, I put out a tweet saying, now

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Speaker 3: is not the time to take the nuclear code away

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Speaker 3: from Trump. Now is the time to give him the

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Speaker 3: wrong code. And I think Milly was thinking along the

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Speaker 3: same lines. And so, according to a couple of books,

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Speaker 3: BELOWSI was. He called Millie and said, I'm worried that

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Speaker 3: he's going to start a war and so Milly I

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Speaker 3: think called yes and one of those I think the

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Speaker 3: Woodward Book or something he called his Chinese counterpoints. I'm

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Speaker 3: just giving stuff that I'm on this so that we

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Speaker 3: don't have we're not really going to war with you,

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Speaker 3: or in case we are, I'll tell you and do

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Speaker 3: everything I can. I guess, and that's why he said

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Speaker 3: Millie should be executed.

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Speaker 2: Is he getting worse?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean what's interesting is to see

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Speaker 3: this guy just go out there and riff, which is

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Speaker 3: very akin to stand up comedy. I mean, he just

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Speaker 3: goes out there and can talk forever. And that's the talent.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he had a talent. That's part of the

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Speaker 3: talent that got I'm elected in the first place.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, but it's also pretty intense.

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Speaker 3: I haven't tracked the cognitive decline in terms of I

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Speaker 3: know there have been a few things he said that

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Speaker 3: people have remarked on that. Do you recall which ones

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Speaker 3: they are?

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Speaker 1: My favorite was that he conflated w with Jeb and

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Speaker 1: said that he was running against the guy who started

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Speaker 1: the Iraq War.

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Speaker 3: He isn't running against either anybody.

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Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen. He was running against the guy who

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Speaker 1: started the Iraq War, right, Okay, on the stump, which

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Speaker 1: was a sort.

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Speaker 3: Of that sounds more cognitive than a slip, I mean.

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Speaker 1: Right, But I mean Republicans are allowed to have crazy

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Speaker 1: cognitive moments and it's treated like a speed bump. Case

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Speaker 1: in point, Mitch.

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Speaker 3: McConnell, that was a physical freeze, right, I mean.

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Speaker 1: Right, if that had happened to Joe Biden.

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Speaker 3: It'll be all over, haven'taid it's been He's all right

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Speaker 3: now here. That's my McConnell.

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Speaker 2: That's it's a good one.

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Speaker 1: And look, it does seem to me. And we were

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Speaker 1: talking about this a second ago. There's this war between

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Speaker 1: the McConnell Republicans who again steal Supreme Court seats but

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Speaker 1: don't want to completely destroy the federal government, versus the

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Speaker 1: JD Vance Republicans who do.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, McConnell just wanted you know, obviously I was there

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Speaker 3: when he wouldn't take up Garland. He's the reason we

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Speaker 3: have the court that we have. His mission is really

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Speaker 3: for rich Republicans, right, that's what he's for. But he

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Speaker 3: wants to saint I think he wants some sanity in

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Speaker 3: the government.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, do with that what you willed.

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Speaker 3: But it's corrupt. I mean it's a corrupt venture. And

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Speaker 3: also I mean so as a result of Mitch McConnell,

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Speaker 3: where because that court, the EPA won't be able to

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Speaker 3: control CO two and that works for his fossil fuel people,

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Speaker 3: And then that's part of Mitch McConnell's evil side.

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Speaker 1: We're in this Supreme Court fight right now, and part

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Speaker 1: of it is that I think Biden is anxious about

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Speaker 1: the idea of fundamentally the court, but we are seeing

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Speaker 1: the Court fundamentally change the country. There is a lot

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Speaker 1: of support though for term limits. We see Sheldon white

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Speaker 1: House pursuing this. Do you think there's an appetite for

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Speaker 1: this and do you or do you think this just

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Speaker 1: gets kicked down the.

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Speaker 3: Camp Well, it's been talked about doing eighteen year term

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Speaker 3: limits and having each president have two choices. The thing is,

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Speaker 3: I don't know when that happens. Who can make that happen.

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Speaker 3: That happens if I think one party controls both houses

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Speaker 3: and the presidency at the same time, and at that

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Speaker 3: time they're going to be the one who want to

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Speaker 3: be able to appoint a Supreme Court justice for a

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Speaker 3: life term. I don't see that eighteen year thing happening,

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Speaker 3: and when it happens, because whoever does it will be

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Speaker 3: the first to ever do it, right, I mean, right

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Speaker 3: now there are the lifetime appointments, so it would have

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Speaker 3: to be aligned where I've thought this through a little

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Speaker 3: bit about because obviously we have a problem of the

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Speaker 3: Supreme Court and with these lifetime appointments, but I don't

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Speaker 3: see the reality of it happen fortunately.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean it is. That's right.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you have the power to change the court,

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Speaker 1: why wouldn't you just change it for your side versus

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Speaker 1: make it more fair? Though I do feel like democrats

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Speaker 1: I would want them to change it for their side.

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Speaker 3: Let's say mine wins and we have the Senate. Right

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Speaker 3: at that point, we'll say, okay, now, finally the net

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Speaker 3: Supreme Court justice will only have eighteen years. And I

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Speaker 3: get to a point that person just the reality of

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Speaker 3: of of politics makes me think that's highly unlikely.

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Speaker 1: I think that's right. It's a fascinating I don't know

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Speaker 1: if it's a fascinating conundrum, but it's a conundrum.

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Speaker 3: What Sheldon is trying to do is some kind of

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Speaker 3: ethics reform, which I think which I think is and

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Speaker 3: that might actually come to something if Clarence Thomas was

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Speaker 3: actually required to submit where he got his money, and

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Speaker 3: that he withheld information deliberately and was being given things

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Speaker 3: by people who had business for the court, that might

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Speaker 3: hasten a retirement or something like that.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting because they do see these trustices are irritated.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure they want it enough to do it,

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Speaker 1: but even these conservative justices are somewhat irritated that their

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Speaker 1: polling is so bad and that people are so horrified

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Speaker 1: by some of their ethics gaffes.

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Speaker 3: Are they I don't think Alito is that cares about

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Speaker 3: his polling.

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Speaker 2: Right, Alito doesn't care.

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Speaker 1: But the younger justices, I think they don't like not

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Speaker 1: being popular.

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Speaker 3: I guess so, But then they should probably speak up

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Speaker 3: to do something about it, and they don't seem to be.

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Speaker 3: And Robert certainly isn't. And he is the one who

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Speaker 3: is A judicial conference that has something to say about this,

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Speaker 3: which is the digital Conference is made up of I

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Speaker 3: leave the Chief Justice and then the chiefs of all

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Speaker 3: the different circuits and chiefs of the different district courts.

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Speaker 3: They can enforce some rules here that would require some

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Speaker 3: embarrassing things to come out, and I think maybe some enforcement.

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Speaker 3: This is exactly what Roberts refused to testify before the

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Speaker 3: Judiciary Committee.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, looking forward, it seems like a real possibility that

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Speaker 1: Democrats could theoretically at least take back the House.

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Speaker 3: We got a year left, so a lot can happen

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Speaker 3: in a year, including the whole world economy going down

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Speaker 3: if there's another huge war in a regional war in

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Speaker 3: Mid Eastern.

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Speaker 1: But the economic news so far has been actually really

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Speaker 1: positive so far.

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Speaker 3: But I mean, if you have another oil crisis because

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Speaker 3: of a regional conflictation there, you know that is going

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Speaker 3: to change that pretty fast. We're a tense situation right now,

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Speaker 3: or a tragic situation.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to pull back here for a second. For

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Speaker 1: less dependent on oil than we were in the Gulf

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Speaker 1: War period.

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Speaker 3: We've had a crisis because of the war in Ukraine,

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Speaker 3: and I think that if we see something happen in

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Speaker 3: a regional war in the Mid East, I think we're

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Speaker 3: going to see prices go way up.

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Speaker 2: Again, right, and that could hurt.

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Speaker 1: But so far, again, like this GDP number last Friday

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Speaker 1: was incredible, and the Fed has sort of been able

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Speaker 1: to thread the needle on interest rates in a sort

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Speaker 1: of amazing way. Now, that doesn't mean that people are

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Speaker 1: happy with the economy. In fact, the cognitive dissonance there

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Speaker 1: is kind of striking.

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Speaker 3: It takes a long time to forget inflation the rate

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Speaker 3: we had it, and Americans aren't necessarily good at following

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Speaker 3: the good news, certainly late. And there has been a

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Speaker 3: lot of good news in terms of job growth. And

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Speaker 3: look at the successes that the the auto workers are

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Speaker 3: having and the other labor stuff, and Americans are now

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Speaker 3: more pro labor than they've been in a long time,

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Speaker 3: and they're all kind of good economic indicators. Now, I

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Speaker 3: just again am worried about this, this what's going on

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Speaker 3: in the Mideast.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Franken, thank you so much for joining us.

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Speaker 2: I hope you'll come back.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I will be coming back, and I hope I must.

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Speaker 3: When I come back, I have more jovial stuff to

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Speaker 3: talk about.

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Speaker 1: We can just talk about. Alex Thompson is a reporter

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Speaker 1: an apsios. Welcome too fast politics.

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Speaker 4: Alex, thanks so much for having me delighted so you

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Speaker 4: were here with us to talk about and I know

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Speaker 4: you're not partisan, so we won't try to get you

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Speaker 4: to say partisan things because we're classy like that over here.

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Speaker 4: But the House of Representatives is this disarray.

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Speaker 3: Oh, objectively it's worse than disarray.

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Speaker 5: Like I have no qualms saying that it is objectively true.

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Speaker 5: I think even if you put every Republican on truth

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Speaker 5: serum in the House, they would feel a tremendous amount

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Speaker 5: of embarrassment over what just transpired where you had no

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Speaker 5: Speaker of the House. So basically like no you know,

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Speaker 5: speak of the House, third in line for the presidency.

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Speaker 5: There was no Speaker of the House for quite a while,

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Speaker 5: and you had several votes in which they just couldn't

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Speaker 5: decide until they finally found the guy that was, I guess,

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Speaker 5: the least objectionable to everybody, in part because he is

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Speaker 5: the least experienced Speaker of the House in over one

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Speaker 5: hundred years in terms of how long he has been

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Speaker 5: in the House. He's never let a committee, he doesn't

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Speaker 5: do much, you know, outside fundraising. But you know, he's

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Speaker 5: a much nicer, less version of Jim jordan Is, who

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Speaker 5: is the new speaker.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's talk about that for a second. Because

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Speaker 1: the thing I was struck by, and that's full disclosure,

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Speaker 1: I have been writing about this endlessly. So this is

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Speaker 1: one of the things where I really feel read. And

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Speaker 1: the thing I was the most struck by was it

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Speaker 1: was almost like there was a realization somewhere that the

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Speaker 1: reason why Jim Jordan could not make it to speaker

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Speaker 1: was because too many people hated him.

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Speaker 2: And he had made too many people mad.

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Speaker 1: Right, he had refused to vote for bills that people

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Speaker 1: had believed it, you know, he had sort of stepped

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Speaker 1: on people's toes in a way you're not supposed to do,

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Speaker 1: and a way Steve SCUOLIAFS had not. And so then

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Speaker 1: there was like this quick calculus that was like, let's

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Speaker 1: find someone who no one knows.

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Speaker 5: Yes, And to Mike Johnson's credit, you don't become speaker

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Speaker 5: by accent. I think he had played his cards very

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Speaker 5: intelligently in which he had basically you made a lot

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Speaker 5: of the Freedom Caucus feel like he was one of them,

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Speaker 5: you know, agreed with a lot of them, didn't castigate

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Speaker 5: them like love the other colleagues said. But he wasn't

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Speaker 5: part of them either. And I think it's actually more

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Speaker 5: interesting that Jim Jordan got so close to being Speaker

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Speaker 5: than the fact that he didn't get there. Like if

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Speaker 5: you told anyone five years ago that he was going

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Speaker 5: to be very close to being speaker, they would have

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Speaker 5: been astonished, disbelief.

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Speaker 1: But aren't you surprised?

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Speaker 2: There was this moment? Again, I'm like working through my

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Speaker 2: PTSD on this, I think as we all are.

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Speaker 1: Because it happened so quickly, and it happened. And again

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Speaker 1: I'm not making light of PTSD. I'm trying to explain

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Speaker 1: that it was actually quite major. But there was a

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Speaker 1: moment here where we saw Scalice get more votes and

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Speaker 1: then Republicans went after him in this really craven way,

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Speaker 1: and you saw Marjorie Taylor Green and Donald Trump bo

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Speaker 1: say he can't be speaker because he has cancer.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean it's the latest example that, especially on the right,

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Speaker 5: there is nothing that is off limits.

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Speaker 2: Were you surprised by that?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't like Scalice's politics, but the man's

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Speaker 1: been shot, he had blood cancer. I mean, like, if

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Speaker 1: you're going to be sympathetic towards.

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Speaker 6: Anyone, I have to say I wasn't surprised at all.

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Speaker 5: The fact is that in this political environment they're especially

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Speaker 5: on the right, there are no limits.

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Speaker 3: And I wasn't surprised at all.

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Speaker 5: And I think where they came down was Sclee didn't

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Speaker 5: have enough people in the right, Jordan didn't have enough

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Speaker 5: people in the middle, and so you got Mike Johnson,

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Speaker 5: who is not like anyone's first choice, but I guess

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Speaker 5: was enough people's fourth choice.

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Speaker 1: In some ways, they're the warshack quality to him, the

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Speaker 1: way in which because he is unknown he can be anything.

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Speaker 6: Helps him get speaker.

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Speaker 5: But I also think it's been hurting him these first

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Speaker 5: two weeks because you've seen I mean, this is a

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Speaker 5: guy that has been writing right wing columns for decades

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Speaker 5: and has a podcast with his wife about Bible study,

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Speaker 5: and Democrats have been able to seize upon all these things.

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Speaker 5: I mean, he is a blank canvas, but he doesn't

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Speaker 5: have the infrastructure around him, and it's been really interesting.

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Speaker 5: I feel like he the coverage he's been getting because

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Speaker 5: he's a blank canvas is like almost like he's a

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Speaker 5: presidential candidate because he's so unknown on the national stage.

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Speaker 5: I mean, even this, you know, one of the most

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Speaker 5: interesting stories was in The Times the other day by

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Speaker 5: Adam mcgurney, which is about Mike Johnson's adopted black son,

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Speaker 5: who we don't know who he is. He has asked

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Speaker 5: to remain private. His name is Michael, so also Mike,

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Speaker 5: but he lives in California and doesn't want to be

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Speaker 5: part of the public spotlight.

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Speaker 6: So we actually don't even know his name.

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Speaker 5: But the Speaker invokes him a lot when he's talking

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Speaker 5: about racism and he's talking about America.

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Speaker 3: So I don't know.

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Speaker 5: It's just sort of this odd thing where you have

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Speaker 5: this adopted black son who you talk about all the time,

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Speaker 5: but we actually don't have a picture of him or

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Speaker 5: don't know who he is.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like there are so many weird parts

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Speaker 1: this story, and I'm struck by how incredibly strange the

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Speaker 1: speakership battle is. I mean, normal speakership battles are like

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Speaker 1: people in leadership quietly jockeying, and this has just been

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Speaker 1: so out there. So I think of the speakership as

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Speaker 1: a sort of two part job fundraising and whipping votes.

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Speaker 1: I mean, am I missing something? And also doesn't he

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Speaker 1: seem uniquely unqualified for both.

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Speaker 5: He is certainly has little experience in either of those things,

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Speaker 5: and it is striking. I was actually said this breakfast

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Speaker 5: with Nancy Pelosi, and her comment was the Republicans in

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Speaker 5: the House wanted Donald Trump as speaker and they got him.

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Speaker 5: And it was a good line too, because I think

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Speaker 5: he really is just a proxy for the ideological battle

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Speaker 5: and the party. He was not elected speaker to whip votes.

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Speaker 5: I don't think anyone expects him to really be that.

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Speaker 5: He is there as sort of a compromise speaker between

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Speaker 5: these ideological factions.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think some of the interesting things.

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Speaker 5: You know, Cenn has done a lot of reporting about

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Speaker 5: his early columns and his anti gay therapy and anti

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Speaker 5: LGBTQ politics going back decades, and the thing that was

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Speaker 5: interesting about it to me was, you know a lot

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Speaker 5: of those things were pretty mainstream Republican and in the

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Speaker 5: early two thousands or early w Bush, like the born

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Speaker 5: again right really rising and very anti gay marriage, anti

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Speaker 5: LGBTQ rights, and I thought it was interesting that, you know,

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Speaker 5: he is sort of the combining of those two wings

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Speaker 5: of the Trump wing and that wing, which is what

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Speaker 5: I think. Some people have even brought up the Christian

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Speaker 5: nationalism part of him, and that's who he is. And

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Speaker 5: he's going to get help on whipping and fundraising from

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Speaker 5: other parts.

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Speaker 6: I mean, he has to.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he certainly does.

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Speaker 1: When you think about Nancy Pelosi, who was probably like

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Speaker 1: a kind of genius vote whipper. One of the things

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Speaker 1: she did, which I think, you know, she sort of

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Speaker 1: knew everybody in their district. And one of the things

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Speaker 1: that like seems very absent in this House is that

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Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi would never make and she would always sort

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Speaker 1: of brag about this, and you know, she made sure

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Speaker 1: that no one in a swing district had to vote

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Speaker 1: for something crazy. She was always sort of talking about

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Speaker 1: how she'd let people take you know, she knew where

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Speaker 1: the votes were and where they weren't, and she would

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Speaker 1: let people who where the vote might hurt them not

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Speaker 1: vote for it, right.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that was sort of what she was known for.

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Speaker 2: And so I wonder with.

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Speaker 1: This speakership vote, I mean, just voting for Johnson, doesn't

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Speaker 1: that hurt these swing state Republicans. He's eighteen and Biden Republicans.

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Speaker 3: I'm forgetting which one. But when he voted for Mike.

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Speaker 5: Johnson, some of the Democrats literally laughed at him and

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Speaker 5: basically were saying, you're going to lose your district now

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Speaker 5: because given all the positions that this guy has on

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Speaker 5: abortion rights, on everything else, just by voting for him,

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Speaker 5: for Speaker was a unpopular vote in his district, almost

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Speaker 5: certainly in a lot of these Biden districts, and we

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Speaker 5: don't even know some of the other votes to your point,

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Speaker 5: because he does not And this is not to actually

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Speaker 5: like say that he couldn't get there, but the fact

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Speaker 5: is that Nancy Pelosi, through just like sheer grit termination

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Speaker 5: and like lots of hard work over decades, knew all

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Speaker 5: of those details about all those districts and the members,

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Speaker 5: and Mike Johnson just has not been in Congress long

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Speaker 5: enough to have done any of that sort of work.

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Speaker 5: So I think your point is really smart, which is

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Speaker 5: there's going to be some pretty significant growing pains I

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Speaker 5: imagine about what he allows his votes, and you know,

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Speaker 5: you're going to have freedom of Coccus pulling him one

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Speaker 5: way and Trump pulling him one way too. You're going

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Speaker 5: to see Trump continue to push them to vote on this, vote,

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Speaker 5: on this, impeach Biden, all these things. That one of

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Speaker 5: the reasons Kevi McCarthy is no longer Speakers because he

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Speaker 5: compromised with Democrats sometimes and decided it was not worth

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Speaker 5: the blowback of shutting down the government, and so he

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Speaker 5: got Democratic votes and essentially this is a coup from

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Speaker 5: the right wing of the party, which overthrew one speaker

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Speaker 5: and installed a more conservative one that's more Trump blned.

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Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy was like trying to cause play Trump is right.

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Speaker 1: Maybe he wasn't completely a Trumpist, but he was trying

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Speaker 1: to sort of like make the best kind of facsimile

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Speaker 1: of the case because he knew that's where his party

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Speaker 1: is now. The cr to cut thirty percent, that's a

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Speaker 1: big cut and it couldn't ever have passed the Senate,

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Speaker 1: and then also the impeachment hearing. I mean, do you

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Speaker 1: wonder if Kevin McCarthy, cause playing Matt is actually more

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Speaker 1: conservative than a Maga Cause playing Kevin McCarthy.

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Speaker 5: I sort of wonder if Mike Johnson is going to

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Speaker 5: be costplaying Kevin McCarthy. Mike Johnson, from all the reporting

442
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,040
Speaker 5: of done like, he's a true believer, and I think

443
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,080
Speaker 5: he knows that he was not elected a speaker to

444
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:22,200
Speaker 5: cosplay Kevin McCarthy. He's there because of the dissass section

445
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,440
Speaker 5: with Kevi McCarthy. So I mean, I guess, like I agree,

446
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 5: it'll be interesting to see what he does if he

447
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,680
Speaker 5: sort of pivots the center because he has more goodwill

448
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 5: with the right and feels more free to move to

449
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 5: the center, which I think is sort of what you're

450
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 5: saying is that you know, he has that credit built

451
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 5: in credibility and so maybe.

452
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 3: He actually won't be as conservative.

453
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,120
Speaker 5: But the first interview you do is speaker is Sean Hannity,

454
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 5: and you say, you say that Biden is obviously mentally

455
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,359
Speaker 5: declining and there's obvious cause for impeachment, at least to

456
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 5: me at first. You know, maybe he's moving to the

457
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:59,200
Speaker 5: center on Israel, Ukraine. Yeah, I don't see a pivot

458
00:23:59,200 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 5: to the middle so far.

459
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,159
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's certainly true.

460
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 2: Though if they were strategically smarter, they would do that.

461
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 5: You can make a very good argument Kevin McCarthy did

462
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 5: the politically smart thing and avoiding a shutdown at the

463
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,199
Speaker 5: last second because the party was going to get blamed

464
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 5: for it. And the thing is, can Mike Johnson do

465
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 5: the same thing and avoid being overthrown for doing it?

466
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,880
Speaker 5: And I think to your point, he might be able

467
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 5: to because he has that built some credibility with the

468
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 5: right right, and he.

469
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 1: Might not be and that I think we're going to

470
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 1: have to stay tuned. I'm going to read you a

471
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 1: tweethot off the press here. You vote to kick me

472
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,920
Speaker 1: out of the Freedom Caucus, but keep CNN want to

473
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 1: be ken buck and vaping, groping Lord Bobert. You voted

474
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,359
Speaker 1: with the Democrats to protect terrorist to leave you hate.

475
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,760
Speaker 1: Trump certified Biden's election and could care less about January

476
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,880
Speaker 1: sixth defendants being persecuted.

477
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 2: She's talking about Chip Roy. What is happening?

478
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 5: Mike Colleigue was joking that it's like increasingly WWE.

479
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,440
Speaker 3: It's a fight for entertainment.

480
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,880
Speaker 5: It's like a fight for clout, and it just gets

481
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 5: bigger and bigger, and it's like this whole the performance

482
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 5: aspect of these jobs becomes so important and like I'm

483
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 5: a fighter. I'm like fighting all the rhinos is just

484
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,639
Speaker 5: an increasingly public I mean, I guess it's better than

485
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 5: you know, in like pre Civil War when people were

486
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 5: like fighting it out, you know, and caning people and stuff.

487
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:21,679
Speaker 1: By the way, you're the second person to say this

488
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: to me. Yesterday, someone said to me, do you know

489
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 1: they used to kill each other in the Senate?

490
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 5: And I was like, Okay, I mean I guess I'm

491
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 5: setting the bar pretty low. I mean, you have to

492
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 5: go pretty far back to see some of this stuff.

493
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: But I do think that's a really good point as

494
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 1: we are tell me, like in your slack channel and

495
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 1: your work slack, do people think that the government is

496
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:42,440
Speaker 1: going to be shut in?

497
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 6: No?

498
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 5: And this sort of gets to your point too of

499
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,440
Speaker 5: is he going to be a little bit able to costplay?

500
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 6: Kem McCarthy.

501
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 5: It seems that the Freedom Caucus, realizing that they have

502
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,399
Speaker 5: given Mike Johnson the worst job in the world with

503
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 5: the government shutting down two weeks, that they're gonna swallow

504
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 5: a CR and continuing resolution and fund the government for

505
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 5: a few months. But you're going to be right back

506
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 5: in the same situation in it's January February.

507
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 3: And that's so I.

508
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 5: Think we're going to avoid to shut down this time.

509
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 5: I don't know if we're going to be able to

510
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 5: avoid a shutdown next time.

511
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: And the thing that Mike Johnson put on the floor,

512
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: which is connecting Israel Aid to cutting the IRS.

513
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 2: I talked to.

514
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,040
Speaker 1: Somebody, a staffer in the Senate who told me that

515
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,719
Speaker 1: it goes nowhere in the Senate, redoes it, and then

516
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: it comes back to the House and they get a

517
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: bipartisan support. You think that's right or no.

518
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 5: I think eventually they will get there because the vast

519
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 5: majority on both sides of the Aisle want to send

520
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 5: the funding to Israel and realize that they're going to

521
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,720
Speaker 5: have to concede, and it's going to end up being

522
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 5: like one of those sort of bipartisan Frankenstein monsters of

523
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 5: a bill.

524
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 3: They'll get it through because.

525
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:59,680
Speaker 5: There is urgency and support for Israel in a bipartisan basis.

526
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 1: Do you think that Republicans will not be able to

527
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 1: cut the IRS?

528
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 3: I don't know.

529
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 6: I think it will be interesting to see how that

530
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 6: one plays out.

531
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 5: I know that obviously the Democrats have a compelling argument

532
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 5: from the Congressional Budget Office, which is that if you

533
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,640
Speaker 5: cut the IRS, it actually increases the deficit because you're

534
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 5: not enforcing collection. So I do think it's unlikely. But

535
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 5: things are so fluid, and again the urgency to send

536
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 5: money to Israel and the Ukraine for that matter, given

537
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 5: how the war is going, I think, who knows what's

538
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 5: going to slip in here, but I don't think it's

539
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 5: going to be anywhere near the cuts that Mike Johnson

540
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 5: is calling for.

541
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, this is really great.

542
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:47,639
Speaker 1: Appreciate you are the best, Skyler van Vaulkenberg. He's a

543
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,560
Speaker 1: member of the Virginia House of Delegates and he's running

544
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,480
Speaker 1: for the Virginia State Senate's crucial sixteenth district.

545
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 2: Welcome too fast politics.

546
00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 6: Skyler, Thank you, thank you for having me.

547
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:03,320
Speaker 1: We are deep in to this Virginia election. Voting has

548
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: already started. Next Tuesday is election day. Tell us what

549
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,879
Speaker 1: you're running for and also the story of your life.

550
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:14,479
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, thanks for having me.

551
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 6: My name is Scalarman Wolgenberg, and I have been in

552
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,119
Speaker 6: the Virginia House of Delegates for the last sex years,

553
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 6: representing part of a suburb outside of Richmond City. I'm

554
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 6: a teacher public school teacher. I teach government in Henrico County,

555
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:28,879
Speaker 6: which is the area I represent. This year, I am

556
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 6: running for one of the two or three Senate seats

557
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 6: that's going to determine if Democrats can keep our majority

558
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,159
Speaker 6: in the state Senate. I didn't plan on getting involved

559
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 6: in politics, but in twenty seventeen, after the Trump election,

560
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 6: I started to kind of think about what I could

561
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,480
Speaker 6: do to be more involved. And at the state level,

562
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 6: we had had a legislature that was refusing to expand medicaid.

563
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 6: We had a state legislature that had a neglective public

564
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 6: education for over a decade, and we had a state

565
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 6: legislature that I think, which is kind of mean, that

566
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 6: was voted down a judge because he was gay, and

567
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 6: so they said he couldn't be objective, and they to

568
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 6: transmis ultrasound bill that made us a national laughing stock.

569
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 6: And so I got into the race in twenty seventeen

570
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 6: because I thought we should expand medicaid.

571
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 3: I thought we.

572
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 6: Should focus on public education, and I thought we should

573
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 6: be a welcoming state to everybody. And you know, six

574
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 6: years later, we've been able to do a lot of

575
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 6: work kind of on all those issues and more. But

576
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 6: this year, this Senate seat was vital to making sure

577
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 6: that we can continue forward and not kind of go backwards,

578
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,880
Speaker 6: not go backwards to that state legislature that was mean,

579
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 6: or that state legislature that just said no, or that

580
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 6: state legislature that focused on taking away women's rights. And

581
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 6: so we entered the race last November and feeling really

582
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 6: good about it, and I think people are responding to

583
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,360
Speaker 6: the fact that we need to keep moving forward, we

584
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 6: need to focus on things that impact people in their

585
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 6: day to day life, and we need to not focus

586
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 6: on taking away women's rights, which is what Republicans have

587
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 6: been running on here all year. My opponent launched your

588
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 6: campaign with an ad pledging to ban abortion at fifteen weeks.

589
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 6: They've been running on that throughout the campaign. Just yesterday,

590
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 6: Glenn Youngkin, Governor was in Henryko County pledging to pass

591
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 6: that fifteen week abortion ban on Fox News on Laura Ingram.

592
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 6: And so we think Virginia would rather focus on schools

593
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 6: and lower on healthcare costs. And that's why we got

594
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 6: in the race, and we need to win this seat

595
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:15,480
Speaker 6: to ensure we can.

596
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 3: Keep moving forward.

597
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: Yeah. Right now, Democrats hold the House of Delegates, but

598
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:22,479
Speaker 1: not the Senate.

599
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 6: Right the other way around, we controlled but not the House.

600
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: And if Democrats lose the Senate, which is what you're

601
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: running for, then Glenn Youngkin can really make Virginia Florida.

602
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 3: Yeah.

603
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 6: You know, Democrats had a trifecta. We controlled the legislature

604
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 6: and the governorship for two years and twenty twenty and

605
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 6: twenty twenty one, and.

606
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 3: We were really able to do a lot of great things.

607
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 6: You know, we were the first southern state to pass

608
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 6: comprehensive anti discrimination laws for the LGBTQ community. With the

609
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,440
Speaker 6: first southern state to try to get to one hundred

610
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 6: percent clean energy, we went from being the second hardest

611
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 6: state to vote in to the eleventh easiest state to

612
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 6: vote in. We invested in public schools, We expanded medicaid,

613
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 6: We did a ton of great stuff. Unfortunately, in the

614
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 6: twenty twenty one election, we lost the House of Delegates,

615
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 6: and you know, Glen you Elkin won the governorship, and

616
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 6: they instantly tried to repeal all that work. And so

617
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 6: we know that if we don't keep control of the Senate,

618
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 6: all that great work we've done on voting, all that

619
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 6: great work we've done on the environment, all that great

620
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 6: work we've done in healthcare is really on the line,

621
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 6: and it's not abstract. They have put the bills in

622
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,480
Speaker 6: in the last two years to do all these things.

623
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 6: And so being in the minority in the House of Delegates,

624
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 6: I've had to vote on bill after bill that tries

625
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 6: to repeal the good work that we've done. And so, yeah,

626
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 6: this election very much is about ken Virginia continue to

627
00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:41,479
Speaker 6: be that leader. You know, I think for the country.

628
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 6: I mean, I think a lot of our for example,

629
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 6: our election law. A lot of the laws we passed

630
00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 6: are what other states are looking to, you know, a

631
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 6: lot of our environmental law and what other states are

632
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 6: looking to. And so I want to keep moving forward

633
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 6: on that path. But yeah, if it goes the wrong way,

634
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 6: we really could become like a Florida or Texas where

635
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 6: we see Republicans past cultural war issue after cultural war issue,

636
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 6: and where they really continue to pass more and more

637
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 6: restrictive and more and more cruel abortion band loss.

638
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny because it's like we are in a

639
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: moment in the Republican party where they have decided that

640
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:21,719
Speaker 1: if you can pass these laws that appeal to their base,

641
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: I mean it's funny. Like think about a world where

642
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 1: Democrats decide they're going to like do stuff that appeals

643
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: their base, right, like free.

644
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 2: Lunches, you know.

645
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 1: I mean a great example is Minnesota, right where they've

646
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: done all this really progressive legislation.

647
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 2: But Republicans have decided.

648
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: They are going to act for their base, and they're

649
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: going to do things that are like quite crazy. I mean,

650
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 1: stuff like just you know, anti tran stuff, being anti

651
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 1: free lunch is just insane to me. And you know,

652
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: book banning and that kind of thing. So what does

653
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: the election look like so far with the early voting

654
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: and what are you seeing.

655
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're feeling really good. I mean the in Henrico County.

656
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 6: You know, there's the Senate seat that I'm running for,

657
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 6: and then there's a couple of House of Delegate seats

658
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,640
Speaker 6: that are also very competitive. And early vote is very robust.

659
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 6: People are showing up, people are mailing in their ballots.

660
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 6: You know, here in Virginia, you can vote early in person,

661
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 6: you can be a permanent mail voter, you can vote

662
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 6: on an election day, so there's really a lot of choices.

663
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 6: We're seeing very robust returns of vote by mail. We're

664
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 6: seeing a lot of people voting every day. This is

665
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 6: actually the first election cycle where Republicans have decided to

666
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 6: also early vote, so you know, their numbers are ticking

667
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 6: up too. But when we talk to folks on the

668
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 6: doors or when we see folks in the community, you know,

669
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 6: they're responding to our message, they're responding to our positive vision,

670
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,760
Speaker 6: and they're responding against a lot of the craziness that

671
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 6: they're seeing both from Republicans in Virginia, but also of course,

672
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 6: you know we're right close to DC the craziness that

673
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 6: we're seeing in DC as well, and so we're feeling

674
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 6: really good about it. Obviously, Tuesday's can to be very

675
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 6: important that turnout gets as high as it can get.

676
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 6: You know, this is an off off yr election that

677
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 6: most states don't have on the top of the ticket

678
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 6: as a state senator. You know, we don't have congressional races,

679
00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 6: we don't have a governor on the ballot. Obviously there's

680
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 6: not a president on the ballot, and so it really

681
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 6: is a turnout game. But we're feeling really good. I mean,

682
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 6: we've got a lot of volunteers on the ground and

683
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 6: when you talk to folks on the door, if they

684
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 6: haven't voted yet, they know there's an election, they're going

685
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,360
Speaker 6: to vote, they're excited to vote, and so you know

686
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:14,479
Speaker 6: it's going to be a close day across the state.

687
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 6: I think these districts are on a knife's edge. They're

688
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 6: going to be close. We really need to ensure that

689
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 6: everybody possible knows why it's important to vote, which is

690
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:25,640
Speaker 6: why doing interviews like this is important as well. But

691
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 6: if people show up to vote confident that it's going

692
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 6: to be a good day, for Democrats, which means it's

693
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 6: going to be a good day for the average working family,

694
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:33,520
Speaker 6: it's going to be a good day for women when

695
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 6: their rights are protected, and it's going to be a

696
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 6: good day for sanity.

697
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, we heard Young Can say on television that he's

698
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 1: going to do an abortion ban. I think it's important

699
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,840
Speaker 1: when we talk about abortion bands to realize that part

700
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: of why these abortion bands don't work is because first

701
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: of all, the whole lie that this was about states rights,

702
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 1: we're seeing they didn't.

703
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 2: Even really mean that.

704
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,240
Speaker 1: But then the other thing, which I think is really striking,

705
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 1: is that abortion bands make it very hard for doctors

706
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: to treat, even if they're not even doing abortions.

707
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 2: They're just trying to treat. I mean, can you.

708
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about the strain on maternal fetal

709
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: health that abortion bands put on doctors.

710
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 6: And that's all very true, And there's a lot of

711
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,399
Speaker 6: doctors and nurses, certainly in our community, and I would

712
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 6: imagine across Virginia that are very very worried about it

713
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,399
Speaker 6: because they do understand how complicated this is and how

714
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 6: much a ban would really negatively impact their ability to

715
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,319
Speaker 6: care for patients. I think it's also really important too

716
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 6: to note that it's not just about the ban in itself.

717
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 6: It's also about all the restrictions that come with it.

718
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 6: And so when you look at a state like North

719
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 6: Carolina where they just passed a more restrictive ban, they

720
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 6: also put in place, you know, a series of policies

721
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 6: that even if you were underneath that ban limit, you

722
00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 6: still had to jump through so many hoops that it

723
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,160
Speaker 6: made it impossible to get access to healthcare. I think

724
00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,200
Speaker 6: the North Carolina bill, for example, said you had to

725
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 6: go to like three doctors over the course of seventy

726
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 6: two hours or something like that. The youngin administration and

727
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:06,840
Speaker 6: Republicans have really been silent on that part of it,

728
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 6: and we just know because we see it happening across

729
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 6: states and we've seen it happen in Virginia in the past,

730
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:17,200
Speaker 6: that they're going to increasingly turn up the pressure on

731
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 6: those types of restrictions as well. So it's not just

732
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 6: going to be about the ban by week. It's also

733
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 6: going to be about the restrictions that get in the

734
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 6: way of access that prevent doctors from caring for patients.

735
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 6: And it's also going to be on the penalty side,

736
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 6: where we just saw the first state try to prosecute

737
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 6: somebody for helping a woman cross state lines. And so

738
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 6: we know that those components are also going to be

739
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 6: a part of a ban. They're also going to intimidate

740
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,560
Speaker 6: doctors and nurses, going to make it impossible for them

741
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 6: to provide the adequate care that they are had their

742
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,839
Speaker 6: mission supposed to provide. And so, you know, I think

743
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:49,879
Speaker 6: a lot of people know that, right, And I think

744
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:51,560
Speaker 6: that's why a lot of people are going to go

745
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 6: to the ballot box on Tuesday, because I think a

746
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 6: lot of people either know it because it's part of

747
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:56,799
Speaker 6: their profession, whether they're a doctor or nurse, or they

748
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 6: know it because they've seen somebody go through it. These

749
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,360
Speaker 6: bands are awful onto themselves, right, but they also have

750
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 6: this kind of inherent logic where we know Republicans want

751
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 6: to go further. We've seen it in other states and

752
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 6: we've seen it just when Republicans talk privately here. You know,

753
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 6: the last thing I'll say is, you know, we just

754
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 6: saw a Senate Canada up in Fredericksburg talk about how

755
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 6: she wants to go further in fifteen weeks when she

756
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,319
Speaker 6: thought she was at a private party and it got publicized,

757
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 6: and so I think the ban onto itself is bad

758
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 6: for the reasons you stated. It's even worse when you

759
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 6: consider what else will be a part of that band.

760
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, that is for sure.

761
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:33,560
Speaker 1: What we're seeing is this kind of one opmanship in

762
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,040
Speaker 1: the Republican sort of primary world. One of the things

763
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you was you're seeing now in Florida,

764
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,320
Speaker 1: because I think of Florida is sort of the worst

765
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 1: case scenario for Virginia, right, a out of control governor

766
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: trying to win national appeal by punishing the people of

767
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:57,279
Speaker 1: his state with far right kind of legislation. One of

768
00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,840
Speaker 1: the things that's happened in Florida, happened in Texas, have

769
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,399
Speaker 1: and other red states is book banning. Now, I am

770
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 1: the daughter of a feminist author and who wrote a

771
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 1: book that was banned everywhere, including in Italy, and also

772
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 1: the granddaughter of book communist author who went to jail

773
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: for the blacklist. So I think a lot about book

774
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 1: banning because it was such like a fundamental trope in

775
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 1: my childhood. I mean, are you seeing efforts there on

776
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 1: the Republican side. It is one of the scary things

777
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: that happens on the road to fascism too.

778
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 3: We've already seen it.

779
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,719
Speaker 6: My opponent passed a bill two years ago that is

780
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,600
Speaker 6: now being used by localities across Virginia to band books

781
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 6: and schools. We already had a process where parents could

782
00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 6: challenge books, you know, every locality has that, probably in

783
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 6: the country, but definitely in Virginia. She passed a bill

784
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 6: that was sloppily written that allowed kind of mega extremists

785
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:51,360
Speaker 6: to weaponize the bill in the name of banning books.

786
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 6: And so in places like Spotsobania County and Hanover County,

787
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:57,720
Speaker 6: we're seeing them explicitly use her bill to pull dozens

788
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,480
Speaker 6: upon dozens of books out of school life buries and

789
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,719
Speaker 6: out of schools. And so it's already kind of started here,

790
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:04,880
Speaker 6: and it was because of my opponent. Now there have

791
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 6: been even more explicit book banning bills that have been

792
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,360
Speaker 6: put in the legislature that we've been able to stop

793
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 6: because of the Senate. But outside of this attempt at

794
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 6: a worship band, I think where the Youngkin administration has

795
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 6: been the most dangerous has been in public schools. Their

796
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:20,240
Speaker 6: first executive order, you know, was about banning quote unquote CRT.

797
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,360
Speaker 6: It was about intimidating teachers. They put out a tip

798
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 6: line for people to call and try to rat out

799
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:28,440
Speaker 6: their teachers that they got a lot of criticism for.

800
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 6: They've attacked LGBTQ kids, they tried to rewrite the history

801
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 6: standards to make them very right wing. All of this time,

802
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,840
Speaker 6: you know, we could have been focused on test scores.

803
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,320
Speaker 6: We could have been focused on investing in our public schools.

804
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,279
Speaker 6: We could have been focused on getting rid of our

805
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 6: teacher shortage. We could have been focused on creating world

806
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,760
Speaker 6: class education for kids. And instead we've spent two years

807
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 6: in the gutter of cultural war politics because the governor

808
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,280
Speaker 6: in Republicans Virginia think that that's what won them election

809
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 6: the election in twenty twenty one. And I really think

810
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 6: it's been to the detriment of our students that we've

811
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,839
Speaker 6: had to constantly try to fight these fires. And you know,

812
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 6: mostly we've been able to defeat these attempts because of

813
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 6: Democrats in the Senate. But you know, this bill that

814
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 6: allowed for book banning as an example of one that

815
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,759
Speaker 6: got through and we're seeing the impact of it because

816
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,720
Speaker 6: we're seeing local school boards use it to ban books.

817
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,439
Speaker 6: And yeah, I think banning books is about the most

818
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 6: anti American thing you can think of. When you talk

819
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 6: about the freedom of speech constitutional values, you're talking about

820
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 6: the ability of an individual to be who they are,

821
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 6: to think how they want to think, to get ideas

822
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:30,600
Speaker 6: that they want to read about. And I agree that

823
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,040
Speaker 6: book banning is one of the most dangerous things we

824
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,640
Speaker 6: can engage at. Unfortunately, that, along with a bunch of

825
00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:38,000
Speaker 6: other right wing culture war issues, have kind of been

826
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:39,759
Speaker 6: at the forefront of the UK and administration.

827
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, the education stuff is kind of crazy to me

828
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 1: because we're seeing a lot of regressive policies when it

829
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:48,360
Speaker 1: comes to education.

830
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 2: You were a teacher, Can you talk a little bit

831
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 2: about that.

832
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 6: Yeah, we know, I still am a teacher of the

833
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 6: legislature park time, and so, you know, that's what got

834
00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,439
Speaker 6: me into the race in twenty seventeen, because the state

835
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 6: is the main player when it comes to education across

836
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,800
Speaker 6: the country. States matter. Over the four years of the

837
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,399
Speaker 6: Northam administration, we did a lot of work to try

838
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:10,880
Speaker 6: to get our education system back on the right track.

839
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,880
Speaker 6: We expanded pre K, you know, we started investing in

840
00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 6: schools again and in teachers again. We did a lot

841
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 6: of things to get the ball rolling. Was it perfect.

842
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 3: No, was it enough?

843
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 6: No, But we were attempting to make up for ten

844
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 6: to fifteen years of neglect, and you know, the last

845
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 6: two years we've gone backwards in that respect, and I

846
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 6: think for teachers and educators there's a lot of frustration,

847
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,160
Speaker 6: not just in Virginia but across the country because you know,

848
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 6: I don't think anybody thinks the system is perfect. But

849
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 6: you're not going to make it better by politicizing everything

850
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,080
Speaker 6: about it, right, You're going to make it better really

851
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 6: focusing in on these challenging and complex policies that bring

852
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 6: up achievement. You know, you're going to really make it

853
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,720
Speaker 6: better by doing the hard work of investing in schools

854
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,360
Speaker 6: and making sure that schools have the resources and the

855
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 6: staff and teachers they need. That's one of the things

856
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,239
Speaker 6: that still has me most engaged about politics is that

857
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 6: I see a lot of structural work we still need

858
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 6: to do. You know, Virginia is fortunate. We have one

859
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:05,000
Speaker 6: of the best public education systems in the country, but

860
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 6: that doesn't mean we don't have things we need to

861
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,680
Speaker 6: fix we do. How we fund schools is broken, how

862
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 6: we test students is broken. We need to fix those things,

863
00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:15,439
Speaker 6: and I wish we were prioritizing those. One place where

864
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 6: I'll give the Young administration some credit is they have

865
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 6: worked with me on trying to reform testing. And I'm

866
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 6: hopeful that if I went on Tuesday, we might be

867
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:24,640
Speaker 6: able to get some bipartisan legislation through that will fix

868
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 6: how we test students. But those are the things that

869
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 6: we need to be working on, and you know, those

870
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 6: are the perspectives I've had as a teacher and things

871
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 6: that have kind of motivated me in politics because you know,

872
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 6: I mean, look in, a good education system brings so

873
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,200
Speaker 6: many benefits. It makes your community safer, it makes your

874
00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 6: economy more dynamic. You know, it strengthens your democracy. So

875
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 6: it really should be one of the things that we

876
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:47,600
Speaker 6: focus on as a state.

877
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, really good point.

878
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,880
Speaker 1: Just tell us if you're in Virginia, give us this sort.

879
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:53,400
Speaker 2: Of tld R.

880
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 6: Yeah, So final crutch Thursday through Saturday, we have early

881
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 6: vote here in Virginia and then election is Tuesday. And

882
00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:02,600
Speaker 6: as election really does come down to, do you want

883
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,880
Speaker 6: to protect women's rights and the Roe Vwight framework or

884
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,799
Speaker 6: will Virginia go backwards like every other Southern state and

885
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,600
Speaker 6: start banning abortion. Do you want to invest in public

886
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:14,840
Speaker 6: education and make sure all kids have a world class education.

887
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:17,600
Speaker 6: Or do you want to see attempts to privatize education?

888
00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 6: You know, do you want to continue to have an

889
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,359
Speaker 6: economy that works for everybody. We've been the number one

890
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,240
Speaker 6: state for business many times over the last ten years,

891
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,160
Speaker 6: but until Democrats got control, we were one of the

892
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 6: worst states for workers, where now one of the better

893
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 6: states for workers. You can do both, or do you

894
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:35,839
Speaker 6: want to go backwards and see a legislature right that

895
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,480
Speaker 6: doesn't stand up for working families. I think these are

896
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 6: all the types of issues that are on the line

897
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 6: this Tuesday. The stakes really couldn't be higher, and I'm

898
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 6: hopeful and I think we're going to have a good

899
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,719
Speaker 6: day because I think people in Virginia want to have

900
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 6: a legislature that is working for the issues that they

901
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,240
Speaker 6: actually face day to day. They don't want a legislature

902
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 6: and that's going to take away their rights.

903
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:55,920
Speaker 2: Such a good point.

904
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 1: They don't want a legislature that's going to take away

905
00:43:59,239 --> 00:44:02,800
Speaker 1: their rights. Thank you so much, Skyler, Thank.

906
00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:08,320
Speaker 3: You for having me. I really enjoyed it, no moment pfectly.

907
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 6: Jesse Cannon oh Man, you know, one of the funnest

908
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 6: parts of the GOP these days is they are fighting.

909
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 3: What are you seeing here, Molly.

910
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,839
Speaker 2: An incredible bit of lunacy.

911
00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:31,359
Speaker 1: We have Marjorie Taylor Green fighting with Lauren Baubert. This

912
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:35,400
Speaker 1: is a tweet that she threaded from Chip Roy, Texas,

913
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 1: Chip Roy, who used to work for the least likable

914
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 1: person in the Senate, Ted Cruz. This is what she

915
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:46,279
Speaker 1: says to Chip Roy. This is from Representative Marjorie Taylor Green.

916
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 1: You voted to kick me out of the Freedom Caucus,

917
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: but you kept CNN wannabe Ken Buck and vaping groping

918
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 1: Lauren Baubert. You voted with the Democrats to protect terrorists

919
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,360
Speaker 1: to leave. I just want to se say, vaping groping

920
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 1: Lauren Beaupert. That's probably not the Moniker she was hoping for.

921
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,759
Speaker 1: This is some real disarray and I don't hate to

922
00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:12,839
Speaker 1: see it. In fact, I like to see it. And

923
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,600
Speaker 1: that is where we are. That's it for this episode

924
00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:20,280
Speaker 1: of Fast Politics. Tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

925
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 1: to hear the best minds in politics makes sense of

926
00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:26,760
Speaker 1: all this chaos. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please

927
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,320
Speaker 1: send it to a friend and keep the conversation going,

928
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 1: and again thanks for listening.