 So, a few weeks ago in the program, we talked about the DCCC Chair, Sean Maloney, choosing to run in Mondair Jones' district, essentially primarying a member of Congress who he, as chair of the DCCC, is supposed to be helping to elect. Now, it's a conflict of interest because as DCCC chair, you control the resources for the whole party. So, how are you supposed to be fair in this instance and distribute money to somebody who you're running against? And also to yourself, it's just, it's mind-boggling to think that this is acceptable, but Nancy Pelosi kind of gave him her blessing and Sean Maloney is now running in Mondair Jones' district. Now, if you read articles with regard to this particular story, the excuse was that, well, you know, Sean Maloney, he lives in this district, even though Mondair Jones represents more people in this district, Sean Maloney now lives in this district after redistricting. And it's just a little bit safer. Right? I mean, it's still a heavily Democratic Party-leading district, but it's a bit safer for Sean Maloney. Now, I speculated that this was nothing more than a ploy to just kick out a progressive member of Congress, but it really was a lot deeper than that. And we're learning now that this was basically a ploy to kick out two progressive members of Congress simultaneously because we're learning, thanks to an article by the New York Intelligencer released on June 3rd, that senior Democrats were trying to goad Mondair Jones into primarying Jamal Bowman. Now, you would think instinctively that, OK, that's going to lead to one of them winning and one of them losing, but no, because Jamal Bowman is already being primaried by a centrist Democrat. So imagine this scenario where Mondair Jones runs against Jamal Bowman, who's also running against the centrist Democrat. What happens? Well, the progressives will split the votes and that could give the corporate Democrat a plurality, meaning you could, in one election cycle, kick off two progressives, two, just completely kick them off the ballot, leave them out of Congress. Now, this article that we're about to read is so important because it explains why Democrats were trying to do this. The Intelligencer explains Jones, a lefty lawmaker who pushed out a long time incumbent from her Westchester seat in 2020, publicly accused Maloney of trying to nudge him into running against Jamal Bowman, another black progressive who defeated a long time incumbent in 2020 in a Bronx district. Jones accused Maloney of not playing fair. Progressives and Acasio Cortes rallied and said that Maloney, as head of the House campaign armed, would have an unfair advantage because of his ties to the donor class and should resign his position. Torres, meanwhile, who has always had an uneasy relationship with Jones and Maloney, piled on with additional criticism of Maloney. Congressional campaign aides say that, in fact, Jones had been considering running against Bowman all along and that he was prodded on by senior House Democrats, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and forces aligned with Elliot Engle, a long time incumbent Bowman defeated in 2020, all of whom wanted to get rid of the ultra progressive Bowman. Jones polled running in the suburban district to his north and the Bronx centered one to his south, finding that he would win the primary and the suburbs, but would be at risk of losing a general election there and that he would lose to Bowman in the Bronx. Jones, though, a squad adjacent member of Congress, who often talks of abolishing the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court, dreaded life as a member of a suburban swing district. Should he be able to eke out a win while much of his staff threatened to quit if he decided to run against Bowman? Jones then astutely raised the ruckus about Maloney's manoeuvres to rally progressives to his side and shocked everyone by announcing that he wasn't going to run against Maloney Torres or Bowman, but in the new district created in Lower Manhattan and Brownstone, Brooklyn, saying that even though he didn't live there, it was his spiritual home since it was also where the Stonewall Inn is. Already running there, however, was de Blasio. The district includes much of de Blasio's former council district, but it also includes many white progressives of the kind who turned on de Blasio during his years when he lived at Gracie Mansion. So first of all, let me just say that I'm very relieved that Mondair Jones is not running against Bowman. I don't care if he runs against Maloney or Torres, but to run against Bowman would be horrible because then you're putting progressives against each other and that could destroy the progressive caucus. And when I say progressive caucus, I don't necessarily mean the whole congressional progressive caucus because it's already useless, but I'm talking about like the handful of progressives, the squad and squad adjacent members who are really all we have. So I'm glad he's not doing that, but the fact that he did some polling there to maybe test the waters and maybe was open to it is horrifying, but it gets credit for not doing it. And knowing that his staff threatened to resign in mass, if he did challenge Bowman, that is really important because it tells me that, you know, these staffers, their heart is in the right place. And as disappointing as progressives can be sometimes, at least there are people in their staff who can kind of guide them in the right direction. Now, I've got to get to this portion from the article here where senior House Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus and forces unnamed conspicuously who were aligned with Elliot Engel wanted him to run against Bowman. So years later, forces who were aligned with Engel, i.e. Democratic Party establishment leaders were plotting and scheming. They fabricated this ploy to try to take out someone who took out one of their members. That is incredibly dirty. I mean, let me remind you that during the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was murdered, Elliot Engel had the audacity to admit on Hot Mic that he was only there speaking at one of these events because he's in a primary and he wouldn't care if he wasn't being primaried. So this is the person who senior Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are trying to carry water for. It's just truly despicable. And in the event, let's say, hypothetically, Monday Jones went for this scheme and he fell for it. Democratic Party leadership doesn't care about him as well. Like the goal is to knock out him and Bowman in order for the corporate centrist Democrat to get a plurality. Now, they probably were whispering sweet nothings into his ear, telling him that he could move up in the party, get leadership. And this is all speculation, but we know the way that these Democrats plot and scheme behind closed doors. But I'm glad that Monday Jones did not fall for it because he would have been fucking over not only Bowman, but himself as well. Now, Monday Jones had the opportunity on national television to condemn Maloney or not even condemn just vocalize mere disappointment in the decision to run in his district, call out Maloney, the triple C chair. But as you're going to see, Monday Jones does not do that. Before I let you go, I want to ask you about the redistricting in your state, which has, as you know, created a bit of an uproar among Democrats. You've essentially been pushed into another district by the head of the National Party Arm on the House side, Sean Patrick Maloney, who is redistricted out of his own seat. A lot of people see this as the new maps putting black incumbents in jeopardy. Are you disappointed with your party's moves in New York? Is it relates to this? Look, redistricting has brought a lot of havoc throughout the state. We see member on member primaries. I didn't want to be in a member on member primary, especially as I'm working hard to save American democracy as a leader in the fight to do precisely that. I'm proud to be running in a district that has given so much to me. Many folks know that I made history back in 2020 as our nation's first openly gay black member of Congress. Well, this district, Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, this gave birth to the queer liberation movement and yet it's never had an openly gay representative in Congress. And I'm proud to say I've been fighting for the communities that comprise this district, whether it was passing the American Rescue Plan, being a lead negotiator in passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the House version of Build Back Better, and more recently fighting to pass the domestic terrorism statute out of the House and of course now fighting to end gun violence. I'll put my record up against anybody's in this beautifully diverse district that I know very well and that I've worked in and that I've spent so much time in. Congressman Mondair Jones, thank you very much. I know you had a duck out of that markup for us. I appreciate it. I appreciate you making the time for us and such an important day. Thanks so much for having me. Look, I appreciate the fact that he wants to pivot to policy substance, but you had an opportunity to just say that you were disappointed in Maloney and you didn't even do that. Now I get that you're horrified because Maloney is the DCCC chair. He controls the cash, so if you piss him off, you kind of fuck yourself over, especially considering you're going to be facing a Democrat with a lot of name recognition, Bill de Blasio. But I mean, if Democrats in Congress who are progressive refuse to call out leadership, even when they explicitly fuck them over and push them out of their districts, I mean, do you understand why you have no power in Congress? Do you understand why people outside view members of the squad as ineffective because you have the right ideas but strategically, I don't know what you're doing and when it comes to just having a spine, it seems like progressives in Congress rarely have a spine. I mean, I don't know what the fuck is going on in Congress. Like it's worrying to know that, you know, they have some sort of control over you. It's just if you continue to be fearful of Democratic Party leadership and not name names and call them out when they fuck you over, especially, then I don't know how you're going to be effective. But I don't want to be too down on Mander Jones because, you know, he isn't responsible for this predicament. It's the corporate Democrat, Sean Maloney, who's responsible for this. But at a minimum, you've got to fight back. They're fucking you over. He pushed you out of your district. So I get that he controls the money, but he pushed you out of your district. How are you not fucking irate right now? Holy shit. Can you imagine if an incumbent progressive, if AOC chose to run against some corporate Democrat, if she chose to run against Sean Maloney, we would never hear the end of it. We'd hear about how, oh my god, these lefties want to sow discord in the Democratic Party caucus. They don't care about unity. But yeah, when it happens to the left, they're supposed to shut up and take it. And unfortunately, they do shut up and take it, which is perhaps why the Democratic Party's leaders do it because they know that you're just going to sit down and shut the fuck up like good little drones. Look, if you're thinking of running for Congress, don't do it unless you're very, very assertive. You can have all the right policies, but as we're learning, it's just not enough. You have to condemn leadership because they are part of the problem. Their corruption, their ideological inconsistency is why we're in this state, why fascism is on the rise. And it's because they're ineffectual. They refuse to address the material conditions in this country. And if we have a progressive wing that's not going to do anything to meaningfully condemn that and call them out and at least educate voters about what they're doing, what leadership is doing to fuck them over, then there's just no hope. So overall, this story is really frustrating. Mondair Jones shouldn't have to run in a different district, but here we are. He at least did the right thing and isn't running against Bowman, but I think that all members of the squad and squad adjacent people in Congress should take this as a warning that they're coming after you and they will find some way to fuck you over. It's just a matter of time. So prepare for that and unite and condemn leadership when they do things like this.