1
00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with

2
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,840
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,

3
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,560
Speaker 1: you know, there was a video that was circulating over

4
00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 1: the weekend and I posted on social media about it,

5
00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: which was a fundraiser apparently that was held by Kansas

6
00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:41,960
Speaker 1: Republicans where you could pay money and assault a mannequin

7
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:47,800
Speaker 1: of President Biden. And I have to tell you that

8
00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:53,760
Speaker 1: there is nothing funny about it. I think that these

9
00:00:53,840 --> 00:01:00,840
Speaker 1: people are absolutely fucking deranged. And the fact that the

10
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:06,960
Speaker 1: Republican Party, because the Republican Party is filled with white people,

11
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 1: that there are no investigations, there is no surveillance, there

12
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:18,320
Speaker 1: is nothing that is done for this white supremist, politically

13
00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,959
Speaker 1: violent group of domestic terrorists in training. That's what the

14
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,760
Speaker 1: Republican Party is. And they love to tell you that

15
00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,600
Speaker 1: it's lone wolves, and they love to tell you that

16
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: the people that we saw bringing guns and zip ties

17
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,720
Speaker 1: and knives and bombs and cocktails and building up of

18
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,279
Speaker 1: gallows were just fucking tourists. Meanwhile, in nineteen eighty five,

19
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:50,280
Speaker 1: a black neighborhood was bombed in Philadelphia because it was

20
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:57,040
Speaker 1: being led by black liberationists. Any time that there has

21
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:02,720
Speaker 1: ever been a successful movement for black liberation in this

22
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,360
Speaker 1: country where black people are actualizing their power as citizens

23
00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,480
Speaker 1: and coming together as a collective either to exist outside

24
00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:16,680
Speaker 1: of government constraints or use government for their well being,

25
00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:23,160
Speaker 1: they are done away with. Their leaders, are killed, the

26
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:29,680
Speaker 1: members are jailed, right all in the name of, you know,

27
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 1: public safety and a national security threat. White people pose

28
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:41,839
Speaker 1: the biggest national security threat to this country. And I'm

29
00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: talking about those that pledge their allegiance to the Republican

30
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:52,160
Speaker 1: Party to Donald Trump, who are anti democratic, pro violent,

31
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:59,440
Speaker 1: pro authoritarian. And these people are just allowed to continue

32
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,280
Speaker 1: on as if their behavior is totally fucking normal, and

33
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,680
Speaker 1: it is not, and we need to stop treating it

34
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 1: that way. Because if you change the color of their skin,

35
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:17,480
Speaker 1: if you change their religion, you change their orientation, then

36
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,919
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, mainstream media has a different conversation

37
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 1: to have. We should be having a different conversation because

38
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:30,640
Speaker 1: they are a threat. Coming up next my conversation with

39
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:36,040
Speaker 1: the president of the Center for Our American Progress, Patrick Gaspard.

40
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,520
Speaker 1: And in this conversation, Patrick and I talk about what

41
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:44,119
Speaker 1: their Democratic Party needs to do moving forward. We talk

42
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,600
Speaker 1: about the Heritage Foundations twenty twenty five and what is

43
00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:57,520
Speaker 1: at stake in November. That conversation is coming up next, folks.

44
00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:02,200
Speaker 1: I am very excited to welcome back to WOKF Daily

45
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:08,760
Speaker 1: the president of the Center for American Progress, Patrick Gaspard. Patrick,

46
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,960
Speaker 1: you know, I remember and I talk about this with

47
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,640
Speaker 1: you every time that you come on. My time at

48
00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:19,800
Speaker 1: the Center for American Progress, being surrounded by some of

49
00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:25,159
Speaker 1: the most thoughtful, brilliant minds who had a vision for

50
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,159
Speaker 1: how we shape our country, how we expand progress, how

51
00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:36,360
Speaker 1: we expand rights and freedoms, how we engage in information

52
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 1: and storytelling and create policy that matches the needs of

53
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,159
Speaker 1: the American people. It was an inspiring time my time

54
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,320
Speaker 1: at the Center for American Progress because it felt like

55
00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 1: we were on an upswing. Right. This is during the

56
00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:56,440
Speaker 1: Obama years, and now, you know, I want you to

57
00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,159
Speaker 1: be able to offer up to the listeners. What does

58
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 1: it feel like to be at the center of an

59
00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:09,920
Speaker 1: organization and institution that is about creating ideas and opportunities

60
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,320
Speaker 1: for progress when we are in a state of regression,

61
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,960
Speaker 1: and the regression feels like it is everywhere, coming from

62
00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 1: every angle.

63
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,800
Speaker 2: Danielle, you always frame things up perfectly, which is why

64
00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,479
Speaker 2: you are dearly missed at the progress and I'm always

65
00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,040
Speaker 2: pleased to be able to join you in conversation. You're

66
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,680
Speaker 2: right that we've seen a sea change in this country.

67
00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,520
Speaker 2: The way I describe it is the period that you

68
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,640
Speaker 2: just defined was the age of aspiration, and now we've

69
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,719
Speaker 2: shifted from that into the age of anxiety. This is

70
00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:48,840
Speaker 2: a moment where the entire public debate is defined by

71
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:52,520
Speaker 2: this notion of security and insecurity. Right, there's a way

72
00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,480
Speaker 2: that Shrump and the MAGA and all of his acolytes

73
00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,120
Speaker 2: are trying to exploit a sense of insecurity. There's economic secure,

74
00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,960
Speaker 2: there's personal security, but there's also cultural security, which they're

75
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,080
Speaker 2: weaponizing and deploying into the election cycle in ways that

76
00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,000
Speaker 2: I'm happy to talk about. But we really have shifted

77
00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,600
Speaker 2: from the age of aspiration to the age of anxiety,

78
00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,040
Speaker 2: which is understandable when you consider that you have an

79
00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,679
Speaker 2: entire generation that went through the Great Recession, a very

80
00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:26,839
Speaker 2: slow and lagging recovery through that recession, got to even ground,

81
00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,240
Speaker 2: and suddenly saw all of our democratic norms upturned with

82
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 2: the election of Donald Trump, and then so the entire

83
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,800
Speaker 2: global economy freeze again, Danielle, with a pandemic that, instead

84
00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:42,560
Speaker 2: of uniting folks actually pull the curtain back on all

85
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 2: these cleavages that exist in somebody. And sometimes it feels, Danielle,

86
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,800
Speaker 2: that I'm working at cap at a moment when half

87
00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,600
Speaker 2: of the country has turned into Linus from the Peanuts

88
00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,520
Speaker 2: Gallery and Charlie Brown, where he's walking around with that

89
00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,720
Speaker 2: blanket and he will not let anyone be that blanket

90
00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,880
Speaker 2: away for him from him. So half the electorate is

91
00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,320
Speaker 2: feeling that insecurity, more than half feeling that insecurity, and

92
00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,320
Speaker 2: terrified that both Democrats.

93
00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,760
Speaker 3: And Republicans are going to pull that blanket away.

94
00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,080
Speaker 2: And at a time when people don't trust institutions that

95
00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,920
Speaker 2: the way they used to government, that's church, that's business,

96
00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,320
Speaker 2: it's across the board and media time. They don't trust institutions,

97
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,080
Speaker 2: they're putting all of their trust in individuals.

98
00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,120
Speaker 3: So when a download comes forward and.

99
00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,800
Speaker 2: Says I am your justice, I am your retribution, and

100
00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,840
Speaker 2: if not for me, you'll have disaster, they feel as

101
00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,560
Speaker 2: if you know what, I'm going to lean on these

102
00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,960
Speaker 2: simplistic solutions and I'm going to listen to this individual

103
00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:41,520
Speaker 2: who's telling me what I feel in my gut, which

104
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,720
Speaker 2: is that these institutions are rigged against me, they're corrupt,

105
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,040
Speaker 2: and they're not trying to bring me forward.

106
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,000
Speaker 3: So it's a destabilizing time.

107
00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 2: The tectonic plates have shifted under us, and those of

108
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,080
Speaker 2: us who are at CAP and from your platform, we

109
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,960
Speaker 2: still have an obligation to lift up an affirming vision

110
00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,880
Speaker 2: that unite, that pulls us forward and defines exactly what

111
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:08,040
Speaker 2: progress looks like in economic inclusion, what progress looks like,

112
00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 2: and putting a scaffolding around rights like abortion, what the

113
00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 2: progress looks like when we are all of us trying

114
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,960
Speaker 2: to build a more participatory civic democracy with voting and

115
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,480
Speaker 2: with real access. So it's a challenging time, but it's

116
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,840
Speaker 2: also a moment of real opportunity, Danielle, because if you

117
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,679
Speaker 2: and I are completely honest, even in that period of aspiration,

118
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:34,719
Speaker 2: we knew there were a lot of folks who were

119
00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:39,080
Speaker 2: being left behind, who were being ill served by institutions,

120
00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:41,200
Speaker 2: and so sometimes you understand you have to do the

121
00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,559
Speaker 2: work of reforming institutions in order to be able to

122
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:45,040
Speaker 2: save them.

123
00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,840
Speaker 1: You know, I think that trust is a really important

124
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,520
Speaker 1: word and is kind of a marker of where the

125
00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:59,520
Speaker 1: anxiety is being weaponized. And also exasperated. Right that there

126
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,360
Speaker 1: was this feeling. I think that during the Obama years

127
00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,400
Speaker 1: that we could trust that each generation was going to

128
00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,559
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to be better than the last. Right,

129
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:15,840
Speaker 1: that the promise of America that made America an aspirational

130
00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:22,319
Speaker 1: place was this idea that you were afforded the benefit

131
00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,599
Speaker 1: of your parents and your grandparents and your great grandparents'

132
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,520
Speaker 1: work to be in a better place than they were.

133
00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,640
Speaker 1: And then, all of a sudden, through what I call

134
00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:40,079
Speaker 1: on this show, the forces of greed, we have seen

135
00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:46,480
Speaker 1: an absolute backsliding and an erosion of that American possibility,

136
00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:51,000
Speaker 1: that economic growth that would happen with generation to generation.

137
00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,880
Speaker 1: We're talking about young people that have more degrees, more

138
00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:59,439
Speaker 1: knowledge right than their parents and grandparents, but more debt

139
00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,720
Speaker 1: and are less likely to buy a home and get married.

140
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,760
Speaker 1: And so when we think about trust, right, the trust

141
00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,200
Speaker 1: and faith in the promise of this country that has

142
00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:15,080
Speaker 1: now faltered for an entire generation, what does it look like,

143
00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:20,560
Speaker 1: in your opinion, for us as progressives to be able

144
00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:26,760
Speaker 1: to regain that trust or at least say, we may

145
00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,080
Speaker 1: not ever get back to what your parents and your

146
00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,520
Speaker 1: grandparents experienced, but we can get to a better place

147
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,319
Speaker 1: than where you are right now.

148
00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,280
Speaker 3: So you're asking the right question.

149
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,640
Speaker 2: I would push back on at the very end, Danielle,

150
00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,880
Speaker 2: on this notion that we would communicate that we can't

151
00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:46,640
Speaker 2: get back there again.

152
00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:47,360
Speaker 3: I think we can.

153
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,720
Speaker 2: But I think we can only get there if we're

154
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:55,560
Speaker 2: honest and if we're building platforms of accountability. Everything that

155
00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,600
Speaker 2: you said that lays out that there was a moment

156
00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,319
Speaker 2: when folks believe that the second devices that they made

157
00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,040
Speaker 2: would accrue to the benefit of the next generation. That

158
00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,320
Speaker 2: all felt real and right, and it felt as if

159
00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,439
Speaker 2: there was a linear trajectory. It all got disrupted at

160
00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 2: about the moment of the Great Recession, and folks felt

161
00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,040
Speaker 2: already before that moment that there was this asymmetry that

162
00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 2: existed between the kind of profits that massive corporations were

163
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:28,160
Speaker 2: making and the distance between how they rewarded themselves and

164
00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,440
Speaker 2: renumeration to folks who were on the front line of

165
00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:36,400
Speaker 2: providing services, providing care, keeping the engine of the economy

166
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,439
Speaker 2: going and growing in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, California, elsewhere,

167
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,559
Speaker 2: but not really getting the benefit of that. So that

168
00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:46,640
Speaker 2: had already been disrupted, but it got blown wide open

169
00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:51,160
Speaker 2: during the recession, and then folks saw big businesses being

170
00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,199
Speaker 2: rewarded for the mistakes that they made, for their callousness,

171
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,880
Speaker 2: getting bailed out, while homes were going under, were being foreclosed,

172
00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,439
Speaker 2: And immediately people realized that this new generation that was

173
00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,400
Speaker 2: advancing into the economy, the generation of the millennials, were

174
00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,560
Speaker 2: really the generation that would take on the affordability crisis

175
00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,520
Speaker 2: that would make it impossible for them to get to

176
00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,080
Speaker 2: level playing ground and to meet the kind of games

177
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,000
Speaker 2: that their parents and grandparents made that seemed to be

178
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,320
Speaker 2: assured to the next generation. So your your assessment is

179
00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,600
Speaker 2: spot on, and we can't underestimate how that was part

180
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:34,400
Speaker 2: of creating this real sense of disparity and location of trust.

181
00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:39,080
Speaker 2: All of that has been hardened in the algorithmic personalization.

182
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:39,480
Speaker 3: That we all live in.

183
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:45,920
Speaker 2: There that really lifts up skepticism and cynicism about organizations,

184
00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,679
Speaker 2: about institutions in a way that makes it impossible for

185
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,520
Speaker 2: us to believe any of the facts. The writer Eli Powerser,

186
00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:56,160
Speaker 2: who wrote the great book The Filter Bubble, said recently

187
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,319
Speaker 2: that the data doesn't show and demonstrate that the data

188
00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,760
Speaker 2: works explaining to people know how we're going forward, and

189
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:05,960
Speaker 2: facts don't matter and we've lost a sense of a

190
00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:11,200
Speaker 2: common narrative in our society. Now, my notion of why

191
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,319
Speaker 2: it's possible to get back to where we were or

192
00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,400
Speaker 2: all hangs on a sense of how we have to

193
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,240
Speaker 2: organize towards accountability and we have to celebrate and take

194
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,000
Speaker 2: advantage of successes that we've had.

195
00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,840
Speaker 3: How do I mean that? Think about this for a second, Danielle.

196
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,679
Speaker 2: As a result of actions taken by this current president,

197
00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,320
Speaker 2: by President Biden and Democrats in Congress, they've been able

198
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,040
Speaker 2: to roll back, be transparent, and expose excessive banking fees

199
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,280
Speaker 2: in this to the tune of over five billion dollars,

200
00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,040
Speaker 2: which is about one hundred and seventy dollars per banking family.

201
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:47,559
Speaker 3: It's a huge deal.

202
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,800
Speaker 2: But at the same time that they've done that, the

203
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,240
Speaker 2: banks are pushing back, they're suing, they're taking the government

204
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,080
Speaker 2: to court around these regulations. And you have a political

205
00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,040
Speaker 2: party on the other side of this that are defending

206
00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,000
Speaker 2: that greed and that interest and are trying to stop

207
00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,520
Speaker 2: the progress that we've made with that regulatory framework. So

208
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,520
Speaker 2: there's a way that the legislation that's passed by Biden

209
00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:17,120
Speaker 2: and Democrats should and can we help us regain a

210
00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,320
Speaker 2: sense of trust that the government is an institution that

211
00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,560
Speaker 2: can create accountability that's going to benefit me directly in

212
00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:29,400
Speaker 2: my bottom line. But that notion has to be held

213
00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,320
Speaker 2: up as a sharp contrast to help people understand that

214
00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,280
Speaker 2: they have a role and the choice to make because

215
00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,200
Speaker 2: these fights are ongoing. You can't talk about protecting democracy

216
00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,320
Speaker 2: without talking about the obligations of citizenship and the choices

217
00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:42,080
Speaker 2: that citizens have to make.

218
00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,840
Speaker 3: So, yeah, they're fighting the big banks.

219
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,680
Speaker 2: They have an obligation to tell us about it and

220
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,600
Speaker 2: to bring us on the journey with them, But we

221
00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,560
Speaker 2: have an obligation to take up our choice in a

222
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:58,960
Speaker 2: way that will strengthen the regulatory framework, that strengthens the institutions,

223
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,000
Speaker 2: and that makes it possible for that next generation to

224
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,760
Speaker 2: get another rung up the ladder to be solidly middle class.

225
00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,000
Speaker 2: So there's a synergy there, I believe fundamentally in organizing

226
00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,920
Speaker 2: towards accountability, whether or not it's against big oil, find it,

227
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:18,840
Speaker 2: big pharma on the price of prescription drugs, big banks

228
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:20,840
Speaker 2: as I just described, So.

229
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:22,520
Speaker 3: That's really key and important to it.

230
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,880
Speaker 2: But it's also important Danielle, and you know we're having

231
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,880
Speaker 2: this conversation during the week of the State of the Union.

232
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,160
Speaker 2: It's important that leadership come forward to folks and talk

233
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,480
Speaker 2: in a robust way about that accountability and rally us

234
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,440
Speaker 2: to the fight that's going to get us on the

235
00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:40,680
Speaker 2: other side of these challenges.

236
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,920
Speaker 1: I believe right that when Biden came into office, I

237
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,720
Speaker 1: believe that he thought that Republicans were better than they were.

238
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,120
Speaker 1: I believe that he was hearkening back to a time

239
00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:01,640
Speaker 1: when you could, you know, be disagreeable and have dinner

240
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,920
Speaker 1: and we were still cronies and friends, and that he

241
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,320
Speaker 1: could get the country back to that place because he

242
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,480
Speaker 1: was a known entity, right, unlike Barack Obama. And so

243
00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,240
Speaker 1: what he has realized and very harshly over the last

244
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 1: couple of years, is that those days are gone. That

245
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,480
Speaker 1: the Republicans that he was able to call on and

246
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,400
Speaker 1: come to the table with no longer want to be

247
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:26,800
Speaker 1: at the table. As a matter of fact, they want

248
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,800
Speaker 1: to blow up the table, right. And so when we

249
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,520
Speaker 1: talk about getting to a place of fighting right, because

250
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,680
Speaker 1: I believe, and as you know, and as everyone who

251
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,240
Speaker 1: listens to this show at the very least understand, is

252
00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,800
Speaker 1: that this is the most consequential election of our time.

253
00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,160
Speaker 1: I tell people. I don't care if you don't like

254
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,120
Speaker 1: Joe Biden. Right, this election is not between Joe Biden

255
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:55,680
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump. It is between authoritarianism and freedom. Right,

256
00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,320
Speaker 1: That's what the election is really between. And I wondered

257
00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:04,040
Speaker 1: if you think that the Biden campaign has the ability

258
00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:11,359
Speaker 1: to narrate the dangers that America would face if in fact,

259
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,760
Speaker 1: Donald Trump or any Republican were to become president again.

260
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,960
Speaker 1: Given the Heritage Foundation's twenty twenty five project.

261
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:22,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm so glad that you brought

262
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,720
Speaker 2: up Heritage twenty twenty five. And I'll say something about

263
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:27,800
Speaker 2: that in a moment just for me. That kind of

264
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:32,240
Speaker 2: makes clear, crystal clear, exactly what the states are.

265
00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 3: You're right about the enormity.

266
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,639
Speaker 2: Of this election, Danielle, But you and I also know

267
00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,560
Speaker 2: that folks are tired, right because we you know, we

268
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:46,520
Speaker 2: told them that the twenty sixteen election was the most important,

269
00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,679
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty election was the most important, tu mid

270
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,240
Speaker 2: terms were the most important. Now we're knocking on their

271
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,399
Speaker 2: door and telling them, you know what, we know that

272
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:59,440
Speaker 2: you have saved our democracy countless women. Yes, come about

273
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,159
Speaker 2: now do it one word time, because the stakes are

274
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,160
Speaker 2: higher than they've been before. So there is a there

275
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,879
Speaker 2: is real fatigue there, and you're right, there's in some camps,

276
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:13,000
Speaker 2: in some quarters a lack of enthusiasm, and there are

277
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,560
Speaker 2: many reasons for that. There's the you know, the challenge

278
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:21,520
Speaker 2: of cost inflation and folks feeling that just can't catch

279
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 2: a break at all. They're not entirely sure what things

280
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:28,080
Speaker 2: like the Infrastructure build and the Investment Reduction Act all

281
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,560
Speaker 2: means in their lives, and we have to do a

282
00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:33,840
Speaker 2: better job of landing that squarely in their living rooms

283
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:35,440
Speaker 2: and at the kitchen.

284
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,680
Speaker 3: Table when they're trying to settle their bills.

285
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:41,639
Speaker 2: But there's also, as you know, the challenge of the

286
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:47,000
Speaker 2: humanitarian crisis that has control in Gaza, that the US

287
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,360
Speaker 2: has responsibility and has to lean in hard and use

288
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:57,080
Speaker 2: its strength to compel long term settlement and peace there.

289
00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:02,960
Speaker 2: So there's that, but you're right that Project twenty twenty

290
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,080
Speaker 2: five by the Republicans brings us into hard focus. I

291
00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:10,640
Speaker 2: bring your audience's attention to a meeting that Donald Trump

292
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,159
Speaker 2: is having at the very end of this week with

293
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,600
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor orbon who is one

294
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:22,360
Speaker 2: of the worst extreme authoritarians that we have in this planet.

295
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:27,320
Speaker 2: Somebody who was elected through democratic means and then managed

296
00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:33,040
Speaker 2: to suspend the instruments of democracy in his country, in

297
00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:37,800
Speaker 2: the courts and the economic ministries and in the media.

298
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,679
Speaker 2: He is a model for Donald Trump. So Victor Orbon

299
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,679
Speaker 2: served a term as Prime Minister. He lost his election

300
00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:48,680
Speaker 2: the very first time he was in office. He had

301
00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,760
Speaker 2: extreme ideas but didn't even understand the mechanics of governance

302
00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,600
Speaker 2: and didn't know how to execute on them. Came back

303
00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,679
Speaker 2: into office and God does he know how to organize

304
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,399
Speaker 2: inside of the administrative state in Hungary and execute on

305
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,520
Speaker 2: his extremism in a way that is marginalizing rights in

306
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,200
Speaker 2: the country. Donald Trump expects that he's going to have

307
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,879
Speaker 2: the same playbook. People need to appreciate that in his

308
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 2: first term, Donald Trump has some guardrails. There were institutional

309
00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:21,160
Speaker 2: Republicans who were still in Congress, There were Republicans who

310
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:26,520
Speaker 2: were in his cabinet, who puts some guardrails around some

311
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 2: of the most extreme instincts that he had on democracy,

312
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,160
Speaker 2: on workers, on the rights of women. He's not going

313
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,640
Speaker 2: to make quote that mistake this time around. He's been

314
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 2: very very clear about that. Project twenty twenty five for

315
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,640
Speaker 2: your audience, is an ultra right wing playbook that would

316
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,160
Speaker 2: upend the constitution, rule of law and pave the way

317
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 2: for Trump to grab much more power for himself and

318
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,960
Speaker 2: his extreme allies while implementing his authoritarian dreams. It would

319
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:02,520
Speaker 2: be a body blow to the fundamental rights of everyday Americans.

320
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 2: The Heritage Foundation, extreme right wing activists, and anti democracy

321
00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 2: Koch Brothers and dozens more have spent millions of dollars

322
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 2: on this project. Their aim is to literally dismantle governance

323
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,119
Speaker 2: as we know it. One of the core elements of

324
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,680
Speaker 2: their agenda, Danielle, is to fire as many as fifty

325
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 2: thousand non partisan career public servants who are dedicated, who

326
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,479
Speaker 2: are serving all of us across this country, and they

327
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:40,360
Speaker 2: want to replace them with a binder full of vetted extremists.

328
00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:44,800
Speaker 2: They've already identified twenty thousand of such people that they

329
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,480
Speaker 2: have been a database that they intend to populate the

330
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,879
Speaker 2: federal government with, many of whom have already been on

331
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,680
Speaker 2: record willing to flout the law and norms and put

332
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 2: personal and partisan loyalty ahead of the nation's best interests.

333
00:21:59,240 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 3: It is a.

334
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 2: Bone chilling document that cuts across women's bodily autonomy, looks

335
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,360
Speaker 2: it goes right at really exploding their notion of how

336
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 2: to deploy censorship in our public schools with book bannings.

337
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 2: It's going to double down on the Trump tax cuts

338
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,000
Speaker 2: that we all know benefited the extremely wealthy in this

339
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,359
Speaker 2: country while stripping us of the ability to have essential services.

340
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,080
Speaker 2: They're going to go hard at entitlement, social security and

341
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,359
Speaker 2: medicare programs.

342
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 3: And on foreign.

343
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:39,040
Speaker 2: Policy, they intend to blow up the allianceship that we

344
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 2: have in NATO with the European Union and they will

345
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 2: literally turn Ukraine and other nations over to Vladimir Putin.

346
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 2: I could go on about this agenda. It is extraordinarily dangerous.

347
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,040
Speaker 2: And here's the thing. It is not a fantasy for

348
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 2: these people. It is literally a blueprint of how they

349
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 2: will govern. So you're right, you know, folks, I understand

350
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 2: why folks are frustrated with the pace of change. I

351
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:08,520
Speaker 2: understand that people are bewildered about some of the investments

352
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 2: that have been being in government. They're not really sure

353
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,120
Speaker 2: how it lands, and they're upset about cost spiraling out

354
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 2: of control, and some are upset about foreign policy. But

355
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,959
Speaker 2: folks need to be able to hold up the mirror

356
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 2: to project twenty twenty five, which tells us very very

357
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 2: clearly how these folks with Donald Trump at the helm

358
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,400
Speaker 2: will up end society as.

359
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:31,880
Speaker 3: We know it.

360
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for laying that out so extraordinarily clearly,

361
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: because when we talk abstractly about democracy and about what

362
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,719
Speaker 1: is at stake, you know, I think that there is

363
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: an ego that is attached to a lot of Americans

364
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: that it can't happen here, It won't happen here, And

365
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 1: what they don't recognize is that it is happening if

366
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: you go into states like Alabama, like Texas, like Florida,

367
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 1: like Tennessee. They are using the Red States as their

368
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:06,159
Speaker 1: petri dishes and their workshops for what they want to nationalize.

369
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: And Project twenty twenty five just lays it out and

370
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 1: it's not a secret, and that's what I also want

371
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: to be. Anybody can go to Heritage Foundation and download

372
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,439
Speaker 1: this nine hundred page document and see from start to

373
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:28,879
Speaker 1: finish what their vision is. My last question for you, Patrick,

374
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 1: is you know, in knowing that and in knowing that

375
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:37,680
Speaker 1: this type of blueprint is backed by billionaires and hundreds

376
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars, what is our mechanism, right is

377
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: what is our vision and who is funding it right?

378
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 1: Because when we look at the Heritage Foundation and we

379
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: look at a LinkedIn for right wing extremists of twenty thousand,

380
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 1: I'm saying, where is the progressives? Where is the left's

381
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 1: version for what they see for America for generations to come.

382
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,720
Speaker 3: I can give you two responses to that, Danielle.

383
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:10,919
Speaker 2: One, progressives are not as good at building for power

384
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 2: as the right way in this country.

385
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 3: That's a real critique that we have to take up.

386
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 3: That's one.

387
00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,679
Speaker 2: The second is, of course, I'm going to tell the

388
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,160
Speaker 2: Center for American Progress and brag about the fact that,

389
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,919
Speaker 2: working without broad coalition, the ecosystem that we sit in,

390
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 2: we are pulling up together what it means to be

391
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,959
Speaker 2: able to invest in the care economy and the family

392
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 2: economy as we go forward. We're being clear and what

393
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 2: it means to codify the decision Will v. Wade and

394
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: to extend protections down to the state level. There's a

395
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,600
Speaker 2: clear and convincing case that we're able to make about

396
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,679
Speaker 2: what the green transition looks like in America and how

397
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 2: it's going to accrue to the benefit of average citizens

398
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,239
Speaker 2: if we double down on it.

399
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 3: In a second, bite Harris's term.

400
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 2: We're also trying to make sure that we do this

401
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 2: within the arc of storytelling and social identity that builds

402
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 2: broad consensus Danielle. And of course, we're going to remind

403
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 2: everybody of the gains that have been made in this administration,

404
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 2: from forty million new jobs to inflation being down nearly

405
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 2: sixty percent from its high in twenty twenty two, etc.

406
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 2: But we're also going to tell really simple stories about

407
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 2: what it means to further invest in the expansion of

408
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,199
Speaker 2: healthcare in this country and the fact that you have

409
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 2: folks like you. I'll give you an example of a

410
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 2: woe named Robyn Craicroft from Missouri who was able to

411
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,160
Speaker 2: retire because she's now paying thirty five dollars a month

412
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 2: for her insulin as opposed to the thousands of dollars

413
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 2: that she was paying under Donald Trump and previous administrations

414
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 2: in this country.

415
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 3: Being able to take the wholesale successes and make them

416
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 3: retail and intimates that people get, Oh, what the difference

417
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 3: is here? And this is why I want to continue

418
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 3: to double down and bet on this team. And this

419
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 3: direction is the responsibility that we're giving ourselves in this

420
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 3: extraordinarily fraught and yet opportunistic moment.

421
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,399
Speaker 1: Well Patrick, as always appreciate you making the time for

422
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: woka app in any way that we can continue to

423
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,719
Speaker 1: help amplify the work of Center for American Progress and

424
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,720
Speaker 1: your partners consider us a place to have your voices

425
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: and your policies and your idea is heard. We really

426
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:36,199
Speaker 1: appreciate you.

427
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 3: Thank you, Danielle. We appreciate you. I'll see you on

428
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 3: the socials.

429
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:49,120
Speaker 1: On this That is it for me today. Dear friends

430
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: on woka app as always, Power to the people and

431
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 1: to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke

432
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 1: as fuck.