WEBVTT - Age of Anxiety 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.640 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:19.840 Meet your Girl Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.560 you know, there was a video that was circulating over 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.520 the weekend and I posted on social media about it, 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:35.320 which was a fundraiser apparently that was held by Kansas 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:41.960 Republicans where you could pay money and assault a mannequin 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:47.800 of President Biden. And I have to tell you that 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:53.760 there is nothing funny about it. I think that these 0:00:53.840 --> 0:01:00.840 people are absolutely fucking deranged. And the fact that the 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:06.960 Republican Party, because the Republican Party is filled with white people, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:13.280 that there are no investigations, there is no surveillance, there 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:18.320 is nothing that is done for this white supremist, politically 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:23.959 violent group of domestic terrorists in training. That's what the 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.760 Republican Party is. And they love to tell you that 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.600 it's lone wolves, and they love to tell you that 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.480 the people that we saw bringing guns and zip ties 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.720 and knives and bombs and cocktails and building up of 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:44.279 gallows were just fucking tourists. Meanwhile, in nineteen eighty five, 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:50.280 a black neighborhood was bombed in Philadelphia because it was 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:57.040 being led by black liberationists. Any time that there has 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:02.720 ever been a successful movement for black liberation in this 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.360 country where black people are actualizing their power as citizens 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:10.480 and coming together as a collective either to exist outside 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:16.680 of government constraints or use government for their well being, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:23.160 they are done away with. Their leaders, are killed, the 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:29.680 members are jailed, right all in the name of, you know, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:35.520 public safety and a national security threat. White people pose 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:41.839 the biggest national security threat to this country. And I'm 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:46.200 talking about those that pledge their allegiance to the Republican 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:52.160 Party to Donald Trump, who are anti democratic, pro violent, 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:59.440 pro authoritarian. And these people are just allowed to continue 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.280 on as if their behavior is totally fucking normal, and 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.680 it is not, and we need to stop treating it 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:12.200 that way. Because if you change the color of their skin, 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:17.480 if you change their religion, you change their orientation, then 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.919 all of a sudden, mainstream media has a different conversation 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.880 to have. We should be having a different conversation because 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:30.640 they are a threat. Coming up next my conversation with 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:36.040 the president of the Center for Our American Progress, Patrick Gaspard. 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.520 And in this conversation, Patrick and I talk about what 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.119 their Democratic Party needs to do moving forward. We talk 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.600 about the Heritage Foundations twenty twenty five and what is 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:57.520 at stake in November. That conversation is coming up next, folks. 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:02.200 I am very excited to welcome back to WOKF Daily 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:08.760 the president of the Center for American Progress, Patrick Gaspard. Patrick, 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.960 you know, I remember and I talk about this with 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.640 you every time that you come on. My time at 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.800 the Center for American Progress, being surrounded by some of 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:25.159 the most thoughtful, brilliant minds who had a vision for 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.159 how we shape our country, how we expand progress, how 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:36.360 we expand rights and freedoms, how we engage in information 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:40.760 and storytelling and create policy that matches the needs of 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.159 the American people. It was an inspiring time my time 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.320 at the Center for American Progress because it felt like 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.400 we were on an upswing. Right. This is during the 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:56.440 Obama years, and now, you know, I want you to 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.159 be able to offer up to the listeners. What does 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.640 it feel like to be at the center of an 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:09.920 organization and institution that is about creating ideas and opportunities 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:14.320 for progress when we are in a state of regression, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.960 and the regression feels like it is everywhere, coming from 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:20.800 every angle. 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.800 Danielle, you always frame things up perfectly, which is why 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.479 you are dearly missed at the progress and I'm always 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.040 pleased to be able to join you in conversation. You're 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.680 right that we've seen a sea change in this country. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.520 The way I describe it is the period that you 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.640 just defined was the age of aspiration, and now we've 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.719 shifted from that into the age of anxiety. This is 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.840 a moment where the entire public debate is defined by 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.520 this notion of security and insecurity. Right, there's a way 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.480 that Shrump and the MAGA and all of his acolytes 0:05:55.480 --> 0:06:00.120 are trying to exploit a sense of insecurity. There's economic secure, 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:04.960 there's personal security, but there's also cultural security, which they're 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.080 weaponizing and deploying into the election cycle in ways that 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.000 I'm happy to talk about. But we really have shifted 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.600 from the age of aspiration to the age of anxiety, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.040 which is understandable when you consider that you have an 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.679 entire generation that went through the Great Recession, a very 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:26.839 slow and lagging recovery through that recession, got to even ground, 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.240 and suddenly saw all of our democratic norms upturned with 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:33.400 the election of Donald Trump, and then so the entire 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.800 global economy freeze again, Danielle, with a pandemic that, instead 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.560 of uniting folks actually pull the curtain back on all 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:47.320 these cleavages that exist in somebody. And sometimes it feels, Danielle, 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.800 that I'm working at cap at a moment when half 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.600 of the country has turned into Linus from the Peanuts 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.520 Gallery and Charlie Brown, where he's walking around with that 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.720 blanket and he will not let anyone be that blanket 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.880 away for him from him. So half the electorate is 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.320 feeling that insecurity, more than half feeling that insecurity, and 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:08.320 terrified that both Democrats. 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.760 And Republicans are going to pull that blanket away. 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.080 And at a time when people don't trust institutions that 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.920 the way they used to government, that's church, that's business, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.320 it's across the board and media time. They don't trust institutions, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.080 they're putting all of their trust in individuals. 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.120 So when a download comes forward and. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.800 Says I am your justice, I am your retribution, and 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.840 if not for me, you'll have disaster, they feel as 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.560 if you know what, I'm going to lean on these 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.960 simplistic solutions and I'm going to listen to this individual 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.520 who's telling me what I feel in my gut, which 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.720 is that these institutions are rigged against me, they're corrupt, 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.040 and they're not trying to bring me forward. 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.000 So it's a destabilizing time. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.760 The tectonic plates have shifted under us, and those of 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.080 us who are at CAP and from your platform, we 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.960 still have an obligation to lift up an affirming vision 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.880 that unite, that pulls us forward and defines exactly what 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.040 progress looks like in economic inclusion, what progress looks like, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.400 and putting a scaffolding around rights like abortion, what the 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.480 progress looks like when we are all of us trying 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:21.960 to build a more participatory civic democracy with voting and 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:26.480 with real access. So it's a challenging time, but it's 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.840 also a moment of real opportunity, Danielle, because if you 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.679 and I are completely honest, even in that period of aspiration, 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:34.719 we knew there were a lot of folks who were 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:39.080 being left behind, who were being ill served by institutions, 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.200 and so sometimes you understand you have to do the 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.559 work of reforming institutions in order to be able to 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:45.040 save them. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.840 You know, I think that trust is a really important 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:53.520 word and is kind of a marker of where the 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:59.520 anxiety is being weaponized. And also exasperated. Right that there 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:03.360 was this feeling. I think that during the Obama years 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.400 that we could trust that each generation was going to 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.559 have an opportunity to be better than the last. Right, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:15.840 that the promise of America that made America an aspirational 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:22.319 place was this idea that you were afforded the benefit 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.599 of your parents and your grandparents and your great grandparents' 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:30.520 work to be in a better place than they were. 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.640 And then, all of a sudden, through what I call 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:40.079 on this show, the forces of greed, we have seen 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:46.480 an absolute backsliding and an erosion of that American possibility, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.000 that economic growth that would happen with generation to generation. 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.880 We're talking about young people that have more degrees, more 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.439 knowledge right than their parents and grandparents, but more debt 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.720 and are less likely to buy a home and get married. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.760 And so when we think about trust, right, the trust 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.200 and faith in the promise of this country that has 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:15.080 now faltered for an entire generation, what does it look like, 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:20.560 in your opinion, for us as progressives to be able 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:26.760 to regain that trust or at least say, we may 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:30.080 not ever get back to what your parents and your 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.520 grandparents experienced, but we can get to a better place 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.319 than where you are right now. 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.280 So you're asking the right question. 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.640 I would push back on at the very end, Danielle, 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:45.880 on this notion that we would communicate that we can't 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:46.640 get back there again. 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:47.360 I think we can. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.720 But I think we can only get there if we're 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:55.560 honest and if we're building platforms of accountability. Everything that 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.600 you said that lays out that there was a moment 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.319 when folks believe that the second devices that they made 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.040 would accrue to the benefit of the next generation. That 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.320 all felt real and right, and it felt as if 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.439 there was a linear trajectory. It all got disrupted at 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.880 about the moment of the Great Recession, and folks felt 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.040 already before that moment that there was this asymmetry that 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.480 existed between the kind of profits that massive corporations were 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:28.160 making and the distance between how they rewarded themselves and 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.440 renumeration to folks who were on the front line of 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:36.400 providing services, providing care, keeping the engine of the economy 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.439 going and growing in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, California, elsewhere, 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:43.559 but not really getting the benefit of that. So that 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.640 had already been disrupted, but it got blown wide open 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:51.160 during the recession, and then folks saw big businesses being 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.199 rewarded for the mistakes that they made, for their callousness, 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:59.880 getting bailed out, while homes were going under, were being foreclosed, 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:04.439 And immediately people realized that this new generation that was 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.400 advancing into the economy, the generation of the millennials, were 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.560 really the generation that would take on the affordability crisis 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.520 that would make it impossible for them to get to 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.080 level playing ground and to meet the kind of games 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.000 that their parents and grandparents made that seemed to be 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.320 assured to the next generation. So your your assessment is 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.600 spot on, and we can't underestimate how that was part 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:34.400 of creating this real sense of disparity and location of trust. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:39.080 All of that has been hardened in the algorithmic personalization. 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:39.480 That we all live in. 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:45.920 There that really lifts up skepticism and cynicism about organizations, 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.679 about institutions in a way that makes it impossible for 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:52.520 us to believe any of the facts. The writer Eli Powerser, 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.160 who wrote the great book The Filter Bubble, said recently 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.319 that the data doesn't show and demonstrate that the data 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.760 works explaining to people know how we're going forward, and 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:05.960 facts don't matter and we've lost a sense of a 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:11.200 common narrative in our society. Now, my notion of why 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.319 it's possible to get back to where we were or 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.400 all hangs on a sense of how we have to 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:22.240 organize towards accountability and we have to celebrate and take 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.000 advantage of successes that we've had. 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.840 How do I mean that? Think about this for a second, Danielle. 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:30.679 As a result of actions taken by this current president, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:34.320 by President Biden and Democrats in Congress, they've been able 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:39.040 to roll back, be transparent, and expose excessive banking fees 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.280 in this to the tune of over five billion dollars, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.040 which is about one hundred and seventy dollars per banking family. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:47.559 It's a huge deal. 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.800 But at the same time that they've done that, the 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:54.240 banks are pushing back, they're suing, they're taking the government 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.080 to court around these regulations. And you have a political 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.040 party on the other side of this that are defending 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.000 that greed and that interest and are trying to stop 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.520 the progress that we've made with that regulatory framework. So 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.520 there's a way that the legislation that's passed by Biden 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:17.120 and Democrats should and can we help us regain a 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.320 sense of trust that the government is an institution that 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.560 can create accountability that's going to benefit me directly in 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.400 my bottom line. But that notion has to be held 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.320 up as a sharp contrast to help people understand that 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.280 they have a role and the choice to make because 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.200 these fights are ongoing. You can't talk about protecting democracy 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.320 without talking about the obligations of citizenship and the choices 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:42.080 that citizens have to make. 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.840 So, yeah, they're fighting the big banks. 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.680 They have an obligation to tell us about it and 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.600 to bring us on the journey with them, But we 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.560 have an obligation to take up our choice in a 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:58.960 way that will strengthen the regulatory framework, that strengthens the institutions, 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.000 and that makes it possible for that next generation to 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:06.760 get another rung up the ladder to be solidly middle class. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:11.000 So there's a synergy there, I believe fundamentally in organizing 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.920 towards accountability, whether or not it's against big oil, find it, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:18.840 big pharma on the price of prescription drugs, big banks 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:20.840 as I just described, So. 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.520 That's really key and important to it. 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.880 But it's also important Danielle, and you know we're having 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.880 this conversation during the week of the State of the Union. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.160 It's important that leadership come forward to folks and talk 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.480 in a robust way about that accountability and rally us 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:39.440 to the fight that's going to get us on the 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:40.680 other side of these challenges. 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.920 I believe right that when Biden came into office, I 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.720 believe that he thought that Republicans were better than they were. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.120 I believe that he was hearkening back to a time 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:01.640 when you could, you know, be disagreeable and have dinner 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:03.920 and we were still cronies and friends, and that he 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.320 could get the country back to that place because he 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.480 was a known entity, right, unlike Barack Obama. And so 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.240 what he has realized and very harshly over the last 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.560 couple of years, is that those days are gone. That 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.480 the Republicans that he was able to call on and 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.400 come to the table with no longer want to be 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:26.800 at the table. As a matter of fact, they want 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.800 to blow up the table, right. And so when we 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.520 talk about getting to a place of fighting right, because 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.680 I believe, and as you know, and as everyone who 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.240 listens to this show at the very least understand, is 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.800 that this is the most consequential election of our time. 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.160 I tell people. I don't care if you don't like 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.120 Joe Biden. Right, this election is not between Joe Biden 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.680 and Donald Trump. It is between authoritarianism and freedom. Right, 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.320 That's what the election is really between. And I wondered 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:04.040 if you think that the Biden campaign has the ability 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:11.359 to narrate the dangers that America would face if in fact, 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.760 Donald Trump or any Republican were to become president again. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.960 Given the Heritage Foundation's twenty twenty five project. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.720 Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm so glad that you brought 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.720 up Heritage twenty twenty five. And I'll say something about 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:27.800 that in a moment just for me. That kind of 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:32.240 makes clear, crystal clear, exactly what the states are. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.280 You're right about the enormity. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.639 Of this election, Danielle, But you and I also know 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.560 that folks are tired, right because we you know, we 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:46.520 told them that the twenty sixteen election was the most important, 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.679 the twenty twenty election was the most important, tu mid 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.240 terms were the most important. Now we're knocking on their 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:54.399 door and telling them, you know what, we know that 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:59.440 you have saved our democracy countless women. Yes, come about 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.159 now do it one word time, because the stakes are 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.160 higher than they've been before. So there is a there 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.879 is real fatigue there, and you're right, there's in some camps, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:13.000 in some quarters a lack of enthusiasm, and there are 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.560 many reasons for that. There's the you know, the challenge 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:21.520 of cost inflation and folks feeling that just can't catch 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.760 a break at all. They're not entirely sure what things 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:28.080 like the Infrastructure build and the Investment Reduction Act all 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:30.560 means in their lives, and we have to do a 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.840 better job of landing that squarely in their living rooms 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.440 and at the kitchen. 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.680 Table when they're trying to settle their bills. 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.639 But there's also, as you know, the challenge of the 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:47.000 humanitarian crisis that has control in Gaza, that the US 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:51.360 has responsibility and has to lean in hard and use 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:57.080 its strength to compel long term settlement and peace there. 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:02.960 So there's that, but you're right that Project twenty twenty 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.080 five by the Republicans brings us into hard focus. I 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.640 bring your audience's attention to a meeting that Donald Trump 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.159 is having at the very end of this week with 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.600 the Prime Minister of Hungary, Victor orbon who is one 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:22.360 of the worst extreme authoritarians that we have in this planet. 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:27.320 Somebody who was elected through democratic means and then managed 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:33.040 to suspend the instruments of democracy in his country, in 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:37.800 the courts and the economic ministries and in the media. 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.679 He is a model for Donald Trump. So Victor Orbon 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.679 served a term as Prime Minister. He lost his election 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.680 the very first time he was in office. He had 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.760 extreme ideas but didn't even understand the mechanics of governance 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.600 and didn't know how to execute on them. Came back 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.679 into office and God does he know how to organize 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.399 inside of the administrative state in Hungary and execute on 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.520 his extremism in a way that is marginalizing rights in 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.200 the country. Donald Trump expects that he's going to have 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.879 the same playbook. People need to appreciate that in his 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.320 first term, Donald Trump has some guardrails. There were institutional 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.160 Republicans who were still in Congress, There were Republicans who 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:26.520 were in his cabinet, who puts some guardrails around some 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.080 of the most extreme instincts that he had on democracy, 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.160 on workers, on the rights of women. He's not going 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.640 to make quote that mistake this time around. He's been 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:42.000 very very clear about that. Project twenty twenty five for 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.640 your audience, is an ultra right wing playbook that would 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:50.160 upend the constitution, rule of law and pave the way 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:52.920 for Trump to grab much more power for himself and 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:57.960 his extreme allies while implementing his authoritarian dreams. It would 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:02.520 be a body blow to the fundamental rights of everyday Americans. 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:09.040 The Heritage Foundation, extreme right wing activists, and anti democracy 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.720 Koch Brothers and dozens more have spent millions of dollars 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.720 on this project. Their aim is to literally dismantle governance 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.119 as we know it. One of the core elements of 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:25.680 their agenda, Danielle, is to fire as many as fifty 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:30.960 thousand non partisan career public servants who are dedicated, who 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.479 are serving all of us across this country, and they 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:40.360 want to replace them with a binder full of vetted extremists. 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.800 They've already identified twenty thousand of such people that they 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.480 have been a database that they intend to populate the 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.879 federal government with, many of whom have already been on 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.680 record willing to flout the law and norms and put 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:59.000 personal and partisan loyalty ahead of the nation's best interests. 0:21:59.240 --> 0:21:59.760 It is a. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:07.560 Bone chilling document that cuts across women's bodily autonomy, looks 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.360 it goes right at really exploding their notion of how 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:16.240 to deploy censorship in our public schools with book bannings. 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:20.000 It's going to double down on the Trump tax cuts 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:24.000 that we all know benefited the extremely wealthy in this 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.359 country while stripping us of the ability to have essential services. 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.080 They're going to go hard at entitlement, social security and 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.359 medicare programs. 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:34.800 And on foreign. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:39.040 Policy, they intend to blow up the allianceship that we 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.720 have in NATO with the European Union and they will 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:48.399 literally turn Ukraine and other nations over to Vladimir Putin. 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.879 I could go on about this agenda. It is extraordinarily dangerous. 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.040 And here's the thing. It is not a fantasy for 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.000 these people. It is literally a blueprint of how they 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.800 will govern. So you're right, you know, folks, I understand 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:04.600 why folks are frustrated with the pace of change. I 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.520 understand that people are bewildered about some of the investments 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:10.440 that have been being in government. They're not really sure 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:14.120 how it lands, and they're upset about cost spiraling out 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.840 of control, and some are upset about foreign policy. But 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:20.959 folks need to be able to hold up the mirror 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:24.320 to project twenty twenty five, which tells us very very 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:28.800 clearly how these folks with Donald Trump at the helm 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:31.400 will up end society as. 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:31.880 We know it. 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:36.000 Thank you so much for laying that out so extraordinarily clearly, 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:41.600 because when we talk abstractly about democracy and about what 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:44.719 is at stake, you know, I think that there is 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.800 an ego that is attached to a lot of Americans 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:50.960 that it can't happen here, It won't happen here, And 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.240 what they don't recognize is that it is happening if 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:58.840 you go into states like Alabama, like Texas, like Florida, 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:02.280 like Tennessee. They are using the Red States as their 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:06.159 petri dishes and their workshops for what they want to nationalize. 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:09.639 And Project twenty twenty five just lays it out and 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.000 it's not a secret, and that's what I also want 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:16.399 to be. Anybody can go to Heritage Foundation and download 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.439 this nine hundred page document and see from start to 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:28.879 finish what their vision is. My last question for you, Patrick, 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:32.359 is you know, in knowing that and in knowing that 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:37.680 this type of blueprint is backed by billionaires and hundreds 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:42.119 of millions of dollars, what is our mechanism, right is 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:45.920 what is our vision and who is funding it right? 0:24:46.080 --> 0:24:48.520 Because when we look at the Heritage Foundation and we 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:53.560 look at a LinkedIn for right wing extremists of twenty thousand, 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.960 I'm saying, where is the progressives? Where is the left's 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:02.160 version for what they see for America for generations to come. 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:04.720 I can give you two responses to that, Danielle. 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:10.919 One, progressives are not as good at building for power 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:13.240 as the right way in this country. 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:15.040 That's a real critique that we have to take up. 0:25:15.040 --> 0:25:15.760 That's one. 0:25:16.119 --> 0:25:18.679 The second is, of course, I'm going to tell the 0:25:18.720 --> 0:25:22.160 Center for American Progress and brag about the fact that, 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:25.919 working without broad coalition, the ecosystem that we sit in, 0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:30.639 we are pulling up together what it means to be 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:33.959 able to invest in the care economy and the family 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:37.159 economy as we go forward. We're being clear and what 0:25:37.240 --> 0:25:41.840 it means to codify the decision Will v. Wade and 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:46.840 to extend protections down to the state level. There's a 0:25:47.040 --> 0:25:50.600 clear and convincing case that we're able to make about 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:53.679 what the green transition looks like in America and how 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:56.800 it's going to accrue to the benefit of average citizens 0:25:56.840 --> 0:25:58.239 if we double down on it. 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:01.560 In a second, bite Harris's term. 0:26:02.160 --> 0:26:05.040 We're also trying to make sure that we do this 0:26:05.200 --> 0:26:09.960