 So, Corey Bush appeared on CNN for an interview and she was asked a really important question. She was asked if a criminal justice bill came up, but it excluded ending qualified immunity. Would she be willing to compromise? And I was delighted to hear her answer. She said quite frankly, no, I'm not. This is what I want to hear. I want to see progressives in Congress make demands. I want to see them draw lines in the sand. I want to see them plant their feet firmly in the ground and say, I can't support this if it doesn't meet my requirements, my criteria. And I think that it's pretty common sense to have a bill related to criminal justice that doesn't include an end to qualified immunity is absurd. I mean, this really is one of those issues that has support across the aisle, right? So there's no reason for any criminal justice bill to not have qualified immunity. So I have no issue with her answer there. However, there was another question that the CNN host asked to Corey Bush and her answer here wasn't necessarily that great to me. She asked, okay, so if you have these demands and whatnot, will the squad actually bind together and make their demands have teeth? Will you stop bills from getting passed in the way that Joe Manchin does if it is the case that it doesn't meet your demands? To put it lightly, Corey Bush's answer here killed my soul. Take a look. Question I think Congress is facing right now is, would you accept a qualified immunity alternative that would hold police departments accountable if it means getting the George Floyd police reform bill through Congress, even if it's not 100% of what you initially wanted? Right now we need to end qualified immunity period. That's my stance. So you are not willing to compromise on that? So we compromise on so much. We compromise, we die. We compromise, we die. We compromise, we die. I didn't come to Congress to compromise on what could keep us alive because it holds police officers specifically accountable because the thing is this, if you don't hurt people, if you don't kill people, if you are just and fair in your work, then does qualified, do you need the qualified immunity anyway? You know, so the thing is, there's all of this safety net. The safety net shouldn't be there. But let me say this, where are all of these special protections for nurses and for other people in other positions that do very dangerous work? That's just trying to help people. So no, I will not compromise on that. We need to end qualified immunity. And the reason why there is this open lane for compromise is because they see that people will do it. I didn't come. St. Louis did not send me here. St. Louis being number one for police murder in the country per capita and has been that way for years. The people did not send me here to save their lives by falling down on the one thing that we need at the most. No. And I, you know, I don't want to belabor this and I hear the passion in your voice on this issue. But if it comes back to the house with a compromise on qualified immunity, would you vote against that? I'm not prepared to support that. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has essentially, you know, used what seems to be a veto power against a lot of progressive priorities, including some of the ones that you've mentioned. But in the in the house, Democrats have this two seat majority. There are six members of the squad, of which you are a part. What's stopping you from flexing that same power for your agenda? You just said you would vote against a compromise on qualified immunity. Are you prepared and the rest of the squad prepared to use that kind of veto power that you have if you vote as a block? You know, it, it, I'm prepared to do whatever is needed to make sure that we, you know, that we, that our agenda moves forward. But I can't speak for the rest of the squad members at the end of the day. My sister Ayanna rep Ayanna personally says that all the time you vote alone and you're voting for your districts. So you're voting for the people who voted you in, you're voting their needs and their If Ayanna Presley actually said that, you should never take her advice again, Cory Bush. That is not a good way to get anything accomplished in Congress. You vote alone. I understand that there is a need to make sure that you are meeting the demands and the needs of your constituents. You would deny that, but there's a lot of overlap when it comes to what your constituents need. Every district in America would benefit with Medicare for all. Every single black and brown person in every single district in America would benefit by seeing qualified immunity come to an end. So sure, you have to make decisions at the behest of your constituents. But if you ever want your demands to have any teeth whatsoever, if you don't bind together, you're going to accomplish absolutely nothing. There's a reason why, whenever something passes the House, every single article that talks about it says, well, it's effectively going to be dead on arrival in the Senate. Because Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema, they always bind together. And they're so willing to torpedo bills that it's just this default assumption of, well, this isn't going to pass because Joe Manchin isn't going to support it. Now, I'm not saying that you should be defeatist and overly obstructionist and end up stopping good things from getting passed because they don't meet 100% of what you want. But there comes a time when you have to fight. And if you're not willing to bind together with other progressive lawmakers, you're never going to get anything that you want. Now I can rationalize the explanation that a lot of them gave for not blocking the COVID Relief Bill because there were a lot of progressives that were upset that they didn't block it in the House when the minimum wage of $15 an hour was excluded, myself included. But I get them saying, look, we just, we need to get it out as soon as possible. We had to pass it. People needed that money and we couldn't wait any longer. Sure, it wasn't what I wanted, but we had to get it out there. First of all, that's not necessarily what progressives are saying. Oftentimes, they praise that bill as being incredibly progressive, one of the most progressive pieces of legislation in decades, even though it did fall short. But if you're going to say that about that bill, the COVID Relief Bill, I can give you a pass if you truly believed that we just had to get that out as soon as possible. But when it comes to binding infrastructure bill, this is going to be a test for them. If they don't actually make their demands crystal clear, then it shows you that they're not going to be very effective. Now, part of wielding your power effectively, there's a learning curve to that, right? You have to build up your confidence. You have to learn what to do, how to make deals, how to bargain. So it's going to take time. I'm not expecting them to be strategic masterminds as soon as they get into Congress. But there are some things that I think are pretty basic, common sense things. Binding together is the one thing. Because if you don't bind together, then the squad, you know, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, it's not really going to be threatening to corporate Democrats. They're going to continue to steamroll you. And we desperately need substantial changes. Now what worries me is that the obvious weakness from progressive lawmakers, it is hurting other progressives who are running for Congress. I've seen so many people post online, oh, well, this is why I don't even care if Nina Turner gets elected, which is going to make my head explode to think that people actually have this conclusion. If anything, you know, you should fight harder to get someone like Nina Turner in there who could be a possible leader. But you know, a lot of people think, look, here's the thing. If you're going to run as a Democrat, this is going to happen every single time you're going to be overly deferential to Democratic Party leadership. And, you know, the only way to actually get progressive lawmakers in Congress that are going to fight and not be subordinate to the Democratic Party's demands and what the leadership of the party wants is you have to get someone in there who is either an independent or part of a third party. And to that my answer is my criticism of Corey Bush and members of the squad like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that they don't fight as much as they should. I think that also is applicable to Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders, I think he is more effective legislatively speaking. I think that Bernie Sanders, you know, now being in a position of power where he is the Budget Committee chairman, sure, he can force votes on things like a 15 dollar an hour minimum wage. But by and large, he still has been pretty deferential to Democratic Party leadership. And sure, it would be great to see a Green Party in Congress or some Socialist Party member in Congress. But the reality is that once you get to Congress, you're still going to have to caucus with the Democratic Party. You're not going to be able to caucus with the Republican Party if you're a socialist, right? You're not going to find any common ground with them. So you're still going to get assigned to committees by the Democratic Party. You're going to caucus with them. You're going to try to build support for your legislation, finding co-sponsors within the Democratic Party. So the same issues that make members of the Democratic Party seemingly weak in the face of Democratic Party leadership and the establishment within the Democratic Party, that's going to be applicable to members of a third party or an independent. I mean, we see it with Bernie Sanders. So, I mean, you know, we see this and it's easy to get disappointed. But I don't want you to take away that the situation is hopeless. I want you to take away that this is more evidence that we need an inside outside strategy. There needs to be more organizations on the ground pushing for change. And we shouldn't look to elected progressives as the leaders who are going to spearhead these movements inside outside. That's the key strategy. This is what everyone will say. Professor Richard Wolff, Cornell West, you can't just, you know, vote people in Congress and expect everything to be copacetic. Expect them to fight for you because that's not the way that this works. We've seen with Obama that when we just like vote someone in power and expect them to do the right thing, it's not going to work out that way. Now, I'm not in any way comparing, you know, members of the squad to Obama because that's that's different. Obama actually was a corrupt sellout who took money from Wall Street and large multinational corporations. Whereas members of the squad, I think that the reason why they're ineffectual is because they don't know how to wield their power. They're relatively new when it comes to Congress and that's not to make excuses for them. They should be fighting harder. But I think that what this gives us the motivation to do or should motivate us to do is build up that pressure on the outside. Sure, continue to elect more progressives on the inside and make sure that we do everything in our power to expand the number of elected progressives in Congress. But on top of that, we can't expect them to just be the leaders. We have to be the leaders, organized labor and organized socialist organizations actually have to be the leaders. It should be the grass roots that dictates the terms, not actual members of Congress. This has to be bottom up. And I think that when we acknowledge that and we actually learn how things are changed, you know, fundamentally and comprehensively in this country, then, you know, what's happening will make sense. But of course, you know, I do expect better from members of the squad. And I've been incredibly disappointed, particularly in this congressional session, because now is the time when the squad for the very first time actually can kind of like show everyone who they are. And they've obviously not stepped up to the challenge, which is really disappointing. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that I think that their sellouts that doesn't mean that I think we should waste our time dedicating energy into primarying them. I mean, everyone should just be automatically primary to begin with. So that is a moot point. But we shouldn't get disappointed. Rather, we have to apply pressure from the outside. And if you are in Cory Bush's district and you want her to fight for you and do certain things, then, you know, you have to call up her office and work with them and not just, you know, retreat and think, OK, well, I voted in Cory Bush or AOC and they didn't do what I want. So I'm going to I'm going to give up. No, if anything, if you're disappointed, you should be even more engaged and actually motivate people in your area to apply pressure. Again, outside inside strategy, this is what we have to do. So I mean, look, I'm not going to go out of my way to beat up on Cory Bush, AOC and members of the squad. To me, if I see that I'm disappointed in them, which I am, I'm not going to go out of my way to tear them down. I'm going to try to build them up. I think that people like Cory Bush and AOC, Jamal Bowman, members of the squad, their intentions are absolutely pure, but it's easy to get misguided and, you know, to be afraid of what can happen if you actually are out of line. The Democratic Party can very easily crush you. And so speaking up is something that's difficult. It requires a lot of courage, but honestly, all it takes is one. All it takes is one person to be a leader and to be a wrecking ball and to rally the troops and the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus leadership, Mark Poe, Ken and Primula Jayapal. They very clearly don't want to rock the boat. These are good people who are pushing for good things, but they obviously don't want to rock the boat. And we need someone who's going to rock the boat. So my hopes is that when Nina Turner gets in there, she actually will continue to be a firebrand and apply pressure to the Democratic Party establishment, because, you know, it's not the case that going along to get along is going to benefit you. You might have a longer career in politics, but whether or not you actually accomplish what you set out to accomplish, you know, doing what you've been doing, just going along to get along isn't the way to do the things you wanted to do. So I'll leave that there. You know, this ain't it. If you vote alone, then you are going to be absolutely ineffective in Congress. And if you truly want to accomplish things and get what you want, you can't listen to what Ayanna Presley said here. You've got to bind together and block votes, block legislation. If it doesn't include what you want, do exactly what the corporate Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema are doing. Otherwise, you're not really going to be taken seriously. You'll be irrelevant as it relates to legislation. And we don't want that to be the case. It's early in this congressional session. So what I would say that progressive lawmakers should do is turn it around and flex that muscle that they have because they do have it. They just haven't shown it yet. And that's frustrating, but that's what they need to do. If they want to get what they set out to accomplish, actually codified into law, I don't leave that there.