 Hello, everyone. I'm here with the founder of the Young Turks and Wolfpack Co-founder of Justice Democrats and now he is running to represent the 25th Congressional District of California. Jank. Thank you so much for coming on the program Thanks, Mike. I appreciate it. Look, I am really excited about your campaign The first thing that I said on Twitter when I found out that you that you were running was that Jank would be a wrecking ball in Congress But I want to ask you so you have been hosting the Young Turks now forever Why run for Congress now like why change up the pace and will you be the wrecking ball that we all think you will be? Yes, so a normal politician would tell you well. No, of course not I'm going to work with the other side and my colleagues to do absolutely nothing Okay, but not me. Yes I will probably be a wrecking ball and and I hope on behalf of the voters and on behalf of progressives and righteousness and justice so The number one reason I'm running is because I was waiting for someone else to say the word and they just wouldn't say it's bribery Corporate campaign contributions are bribes So isn't it amazing Mike that we all know it every single voter goes. Yeah, that's obviously true I've never asked In any audience the question of do you think Exxon mobile Gives money to politicians for charity and gotten a yes Or for their health or well-being of the voters and gotten a yes. No, everyone knows Exxon mobile Gives you money to buy you it is a bribe So since no one was saying it I thought look we've got to move the national conversation and It turns out Congress people can do that Exhibit A AOC exhibit B ro Khanna exhibit C Rashida Tlaib a lot Omar you get it all just Democrats all strong all progressive and all moving the national conversation We can do this. It just takes a little bit of courage to go out there and call it what it is Yeah, and the thing about you is you've kind of had this outsider strategy And you've been incredibly critical of Democratic Party leadership rightfully so you panned an op-ed I think it was earlier this year where you said that Nancy Pelosi is not a progressive That's obvious. I think but I'm curious How do you keep that level of pressure knowing that if you are in Congress? She could easily hold a committee assignment above your head and try to marginalize you within Congress So how do you call her out without dealing with those institutional disadvantages? Yeah, ain't nobody gonna marginalize me Or any other progressive as long as I'm in Congress So the most powerful thing in Congress is not a committee seat It's the mic that you hold on the floor of the house that's where you can move the country because Imagine if you had a congressman a sitting congressman go out there and say Listen guys, we're about to vote on a drug bill and Here are all of the bribes that the Republican Party is taking on that drug bill But I got bad news for you here are the bribes that the Democratic Party is taking on that drug bill That's why the Democratic Party is only talking about Negotiating prices for 25 drugs rather than all the drugs They're gonna leave a thousands and thousands of drugs unaddressed because they take money from drug companies. I mean that would Immediately be a bombshell a political bombshell That you would drop in the middle of the national conversation So that is way more powerful than any morsel that leadership would give you off the off their table It is a totally Wrong and ineffective strategy to go and beg leadership for a tiny little crumb off their table And wait 20 years to take any action the correct path politically not because it feels good But because it's pragmatic is to force a national conversation that they cannot win and we will definitely win We have the entire country on our side. No one else thinks it's not a bribe It is and it affects every issue health care Climate change guns you name it it all comes back to the same problem. These guys are serving their donors and not their voters So the question that I'm at that I want to ask you and what it sounds like you're saying by the way Is that you can't be reined in which I love and the Democratic establishment is going to hate the question I want to ask is what do you think the response will be to you because we're gonna see probably one of two things either They're going to attack you non-stop You'll be the new like darling of Fox News like AOC is or they're going to just try to ignore you What do you think that your approach will be with you because you will be someone who they can't really? Get to acquiesce. So how do you think they're gonna respond and do you think that will be effective? Yeah Good luck to them trying to ignore me I don't think it's gonna work. So And look they could do that honestly when I was on the young Turks We we've got over 12 billion views and I think we helped to move a generation and so did you Michael and and so did all these other wonderful progressive shows online and Millennials and Gen Z are 80% progressive and we've landed our ships in the next generations and they're already totally screwed but in today's Politics They could just say oh, well, yeah, I mean humanist report. That's online. Please. It's not on MSNBC So we're gonna ignore it. Okay. Well, you can do that until I'm inside your house And if I'm in that and by the way, it's of course not your house It's our house It's the people's house if I'm on the floor of the house and I'm giving speeches like this Ain't nobody ignoring it. It's just not possible. Now. What does that mean? They will fight me with everything they've got they were there already doing this from the kitchen sink at me Oh, did you know he said this 19 years ago? Did you know he said this 17 years ago? And on and on and on and then they turn around they say, did you know he criticizes Obama from the left Hey guys, make up your mind. Am I too far right or too far left? You got to get your tongue point straight when you are our Democratic Party hack So a lot of the groups in California that are part of the Democratic Party machine They all came out on the same day with the same exact talking points. Gee. I wonder how that happened Okay, that happened because they've got marching orders. This guy's not playing ball Take him down with deliberate speed. Well, okay what's happening though and what they didn't expect is now our army is fighting back and so I Told people online every time you see one of their bots or trolls Attack me online with old comments. Give me a dollar at jank2020.com until they cry mercy Okay, and believe me all they care about is money if they see us raising money every time they use their trolls and bots They're like, ah, okay. He's raising too much money for me. Okay backpedal backpedal backpedal. So They just disrespect us completely both in the online community and Progressives they think all they have is people. They don't have any money. Well, sad day for you guys. I've now had raised Significant amount of money. I appear to be in the lead in terms of money And I did it through 14,000 individual donations averaging 28 bucks my Democratic opponent her average is $2,700 That's insanity that's almost a max it's because she's got had like 150 Organizations give to her. It looks like there's only 22 actual human beings who gave to her 22 versus 14,000 they don't know what they're messing with so What if I go to Congress? It's not gonna be just me. I'm gonna bring all of you guys with me and Hearing that Nancy Pelosi steady Hoyer steady Hoyer might have to take out his kerchief from his pocket and sweat is You know take the sweat off his brow Yeah, it's our house. It's the people's house. I want to invite people in I know the Democratic Party machine hates that sad day for them We're gonna reclaim the Democratic Party for populism and for progressives It's exactly where the Democratic Party belongs and I love everything I'm hearing it seems like there's no way that they would be able to hold you down Even if they tried and they will try but my question is Will you be able to still co-host the young Turks or will you have to divest because can we use that as like a way of bolstering Your agenda in Congress or will you basically separate from the young Turks? How is that gonna work out? Yeah, so you if you win you can't have two jobs. So that means that I will not be a full-time host on the young Turks But that doesn't mean that I have to divest from the young Turks so almost all of the Folks in Congress have some sort of investments and in a sense young Turks would then become an investment for me After having put in 18 years on it, but most importantly just like other progressives come on the show now Whether they're candidates or Congress people I can come on anytime and be a guest host I could be a guest I could be a guest host So for example today Ro Khanna is on the show and he's a sitting member of Congress He's coming out as a guest so I can do that anytime I want and look In terms of online media, I was born in it Okay, so This is this is my home turf I'm not going anywhere. So I'll give interviews to Progressive online media outlets before I'll give it to TV I believe it in my bones and and I think that this is where the real revolution is So yeah, they won't be able to get rid of me online That's great. It's nice to have that platform because in the event they do go for the ignore strategy There's no way that that can work because you do have you know online progressive media behind you And you have this platform that you founded that is dedicated to the cause that you are promoting So I think that there's really like you are the worst case scenario for the establishment and I saw an article I think this was from the Daily Beast They called you the Trump of the left and the worry from Democrats The worry was that you would lose that seat or lose that district for them because it's a purple district Talk through the dynamics of that particular race because it's wide open currently There's a lot of people running for it, but explain why I already know the answer I'm sure most of my viewers know the answer, but for those of you who are unfamiliar about why you know Um, Jenk is being a firebrand in a purple district explain why this strategy is the winning strategy So a couple of parts parts to that. So first of all, I love that they So Daily Beast says, oh, it might endanger the district because he's Trump of the left I don't know if they know this Trump won so The Democratic Party did the same exact mistake In the national election as they're doing the 25th district. They said no, it's okay We've been knowing to the leader we handpicked her and she's best equipped to deal with a populist on the right Turns out they were 100 wrong She was almost the only person who could have lost to Donald Trump and she did Because they didn't believe in the voters. They didn't trust the voters They didn't want there to be a real primary They rigged everything on behalf of Hillary Clinton and it turned out that that is not the right way to run a party And then if you do it that way, you could even lose to a monster like Donald Trump Uh and also by the way an imbecile like Donald Trump. It's amazing that they lost to him We were right. They were wrong and here they are. They're trying to do it again They're like, no, we've been knowing to the leader in the 25th district and she's going to be a corporate democrat a centrist democrat that tries to appease republicans How could you possibly say that's more electable? It's never been more electable Ask Hillary Clinton if that was more electable ask Claire mcaskill if that was more electable as Joe donnelly If that was more electable all corporate centrist democrats who got their ass handed to them in races They should not have lost that they had advantages in so in terms of this particular district The thesis of the corporate democrats, which is almost the entire democratic party machine in california with the brilliant exception of rocan Their thesis is no in purple districts people love big business And so and they love appeasing republicans and if you kiss their ass enough, uh, they'll vote for you It's never been backed up by evidence It's a preposterous theory that as soon as you say it out loud people go Well, that is pretty stupid, isn't it? Uh, they've got no love for big business in palm dale or Lancaster Or simi valley or santa clarita none of these cities. No, but they want somebody who's going to fight for them So take a progressive fighter who's going to say i'm going to get your family health care no matter what There is not going to be any co-pays premiums or deductibles You're not going to go bankrupt if your kid gets sick and we're not going to let your kid die if you if you don't have insurance No way not on our watch. We're going to get you higher wages by focusing on renewable energy, which is perfect for the animal valley So solar energy wind energy higher paying jobs So you don't have to commute these are real issues And those real issues are the ones we win on if we have the courage to fight for our principles Instead of laying down to republicans. So if they want to go with that strategy God bless have added hoss, uh, then i will almost certainly win this election jen 2020.com i'm curious about the um, the situation in your district with regard to income I don't know if you know the numbers off the top of your head, but you're running a very populist, uh, you know working class Centric message, but it's around the los angeles area. Is that correct? So is it a higher income area in general? And if so, how do you kind of offset that? Do you know anything with regard to that because kyle kalinsky brought up a really good point the other day on his show About how in higher income areas, it's more difficult for progressives to win like they still can win But it's just a little bit more difficult. Like have you have you thought this through at all? Yeah, so, um Look, I love this district. It's perfect for us It's middle class through and through So the animal valley is a little bit poorer than the suburban part would just have to clear it out and see me valley And by the way because they're poorer they get ignored by the democratic machine And I ask that doesn't make sense. That's the more democratic area of the district Why is it ignored because they can't fundraise there because people are too poor Oh god, that's sickening So I don't need to go and fundraise from fancy people I love that it's a working class district. I love that it's middle class So those are exactly the kind of people that we could raise wages for not just minimum wage Of course, it should be $15 minimum wage nationally. It's already in california They pass the law But we need it to be national so that they're not trying to take jobs away from us by saying Oh, you can go pay people less in kentucky But it's not just for the minimum wage. It's for middle class Corporate power is also squeezing you guys And so and you know it in all of your lives because every dollar they give to their employees is a dollar less they make in profits Now if all of your politicians take money from those corporations, they're going to help them suppress your wages When you got to progress a fighter on your side, my whole job is to get you higher wages I guarantee you that that works better in a middle class district like the 25th and in a purple district like the 25th That's great to hear. I I do want to talk a little bit more about strategy So i'm not sure if you saw there was a poll from kaiser family foundation that found out that support for medicare for all Throughout the year had actually gone down slightly and support for a public option increase And I think that this is largely attributed to corporate democrats like joe biden and p butta judge just hammering away You know initially p butta judge for those of you who don't know supported medicare for all But he started taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the health insurance industry and all of a sudden You know those legal bribes amounted to him Driving down support for medicare for all. So if you actually have a message with with regard to an issue like medicare for all Let's say hypothetically speaking best case scenario, bernie sanders is elected. You're in congress So there's going to be a lot of democrats who we're going to have to win over to get it passed Do you think that Shaming them essentially for taking these legalized bribes, which I think is the only way we should be characterizing it Do you think that will actually be effective at flipping people? Or are we going to have to actually crush them and get them out of congress using, you know, justice democrats? Yeah, so it's a three-part process First of all, you have to get people to real facts The reason the poll numbers i'm going to give for all are going on and some of the polls that they are is because the entire media And and all the corporate democrats and the entire republican party have all joined forces against essentially two people Bernie sanders and Elizabeth for and so now bernie's got the better medicare for all plan. That's why i endorse bernie but The amount of free media that they have put into bashing medicare for all is millions upon millions of dollars Now it might even be up to a billion dollars in essentially advertising against medicare for all But still in one recent poll it pulled at 55 percent It has withstood all of the assault so step one is tell people what it actually is So i was on cnn the other night And grisco almost said well, it doesn't get rid of private insurance I was on nbc today. They asked me the same thing doesn't get rid of private insurance Well, you've got to finish the sentence brother, okay? It gets rid of private insurance and gives you better insurance It gives you expanded coverage It covers more than all the private insurance out there now without any co-pays premiums and deductibles And it costs less because it gets rid of the middlemen the corporate executives the advertising the bureaucracy It costs less in every single country that has ever tried it So when you get people to real facts, they go, whoa, well, then what's the downside to which I say exactly Okay, so point one is getting the information point two is yes Shame people that are taking insurance company money drug company money and put it out there Say, hey, look if you want to defend taking three hundred and sixty thousand dollars from drug companies and you say that doesn't affect you Have added horse. Good luck to you But i'm going to tell people you're taking that money and then you deal with it any way you like and so this is called hardball and No one on the left has tried hardball for decades so Arguably, obviously aoc roe bernie have begun to do that and they've done a wonderful job at it But hardball is my expertise and then finally the third step is Yeah, i'm gonna put your name on a list and so those corporate democrats If they didn't already despise me, uh, they will have Significant issues with me But listen guys, if you're not voting with us on medicare for all green new deal getting money out of politics higher wages You're not voting with us Well, then we gotta get somebody who will and that's how politics works So if i'm in congress At your bottom dollar i'm making a list and then we're gonna we're gonna make sure that there are progressives that are coming for those books And i love that This is why i called you a wrecking ball because we need someone in congress who will make them afraid Like we have people who are speaking truth to power like aoc and roe conna but there's nobody who Is aggressive and i think that aggression in and of itself Is something that we can utilize to our advantage like we're no longer going to lie down And just take what you know the establishment says we should accept no those days are done and Getting you in congress would actually have someone that i think would almost for lack of a better word Intimidate corporate democrats into doing the bidding of the people which you shouldn't have to resort to that right like we shouldn't have to Intimidate them to do the bidding of the people But that's where we're at in american politics where everything is stupid and we're living in hell And we need someone like you to get in congress and basically um Make their lives miserable if they're going to continue to be corrupt So um, I know you've got to get going to host the main show before we leave give us your main pitch And i'll i'll kind of set you up with a softball so you can use your main catchphrase. Are you going to win this thing? Of course Okay, so Look in all seriousness, like um, nobody's ever seen a race like this Uh, so even bernie. I love the pieces, but he's too polite. Yeah And so no one has ever taken on the establishment with this kind of force so Can I accurately predict how the voters are going to react? to this kind of aggressive Attitude where I say i'm going to fight for you no matter what and that includes Fighting democratic party leadership if I have to I hope I don't have to wouldn't be great if they also represented the voters Wouldn't that be lovely? That's the whole point But that's that's who I am and I'm going to give them Who I am I'm not going to be a slick politician and change any stances to try to win votes No, I'm going to be honest with people tell them where I stand Tell them that they're getting their instinct that they're getting screwed over by the politicians is correct They are serving their donors and I'm not going to do that. I don't take corporate fact money I don't take lobbyist money. I'm going to serve the actual voters And uh, and they're going to run a classic Corporate democrat strategy almost all their Energy will be focused on trying to attack me personally and trying to do character assassinations They will avoid the issues at all costs because they're not right on a single issue They don't have the voters on their side on a single issue So they will run from the issues and run towards smears. Will it work? I don't know They'll have a ton of money That's why I asked people to give small donations if you can bigger ones great. I would love it Volunteer we're going to do rally in the valley every weekend. We're doing rallies come out and join us We're going to show them people power and so it's going to be the people versus the establishment The fights in the 25th come join us jank 2020.com if we win this It'll be a cannon shot over the heads of washington and we'll finally Be able to fight corruption together And i'll leave that there jank 2020.com. Let's change national discourse and not just shift the overton window to the left Let's yank it to the left aggressively and make sure that You know They Can't you know take us for granted. They can't ignore us any longer. So thank you so much for coming on the program jank It's been an absolute pleasure. We're rooting for you Thank you, mike. I really really appreciate it and look I actually end on this guys Me winning isn't the answer uh What we're going for at the end of the day is passing the bills If you don't pass the bills, then we didn't get anything accomplished We didn't get anything accomplished by getting progressives into office. We didn't get anything accomplished by being progressive media No, the whole objective is pass the damn bills You've got to get medicare for all you got to get an amendment to end private financing and elections You've got to pass the green new deal So when I play hardball, whether it's in the middle of a campaign like this or in congress The whole point is not for ego. It's not for pride It's it's not to get on tv No, it's to move the national conversation so you could pass the bills because that's what changes your lives If you didn't pass the bills, we didn't get anything accomplished So please whether it's during the campaign or if i'm lucky enough to make it into congress with your help In congress come join me So that we could put all the pressure on the world to actually get the legislation done So we change people's lives for the better Yeah, that's exactly what I want to hear. Thank you so much jank All right. Thank you, mike