 Hello, everyone. I am back with a congressional candidate who you may know from last year. He's running again in 2022 it's a rematch against Yvette Clark I am of course talking about Isaiah James running in New York's ninth congressional district Isaiah welcome back Thank you so much for having me finally on the air after all the technical difficulties there I feel like every single interview I do there's like at least three technical difficulties and five attempts Um one day we're gonna have a really solid setup where there's no issues. I swear You might actually have an actual studio like a building somewhere Yes, you know whether you have an entire staff and then they can handle those problems with like people who know what they're doing and not me where I'm just like clicking My technical capacity like it's limited to like blowing on the NAS cartridges And putting it back in like that's as much as I know how to fix anything related to technology But either way it's working and I'm so glad to have you back on so I've got to ask you you're running for Congress again You haven't even really had time to recover since your first run I'm assuming because you've just been like constantly like on the run under go. What made you want to run again? What made one run again is because Nothing changed from my last run, you know my last run ended June of 2020 when we didn't win and Honestly, I took a step back from Not why the campaign was over. I took a step back from social media I didn't really post anything. I just watched to see if The member of Congress feedback Clark why ran against was gonna actually do something or say something or change The way she was, you know Thinking that our campaign if we didn't win at least we pushed her further to the left at least we moved the Overton window in conversation and the same corporate interests are running her and Everybody else in the corporate Democratic Party. So I mean, it's like wait a minute Nobody's gonna she didn't change nothing change at all nothing and things have only gotten worse I mean when I ran I was running during the beginning of the pandemic. I Started my run in the pandemic hit last February last March and now we're here We are a year later and things are Demonstrally worse and she hasn't changed So I think that even more so now our message resonates because people are starting to see wait a minute The nation's billionaires added like 1.5 trillion to their wealth and we can't even get a $2,000 check from our own government So that's what made me want to run again Yeah, I feel like this pandemic Not that we needed more proof that the system is broken, but it really like if you had doubts before I mean now it's shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that like if the richest people in this country Get even richer during a pandemic when in theory everyone should be suffering I mean that system is indefensible and to not have people in government actually want to fight or at least they they They say they want to fight, but they don't actually take meaningful action I think it warrants, you know a rematch and I will say that a rematch It I feel like it's always a good idea because you don't always win on the first try This was the case for rokhana for kori bush kori bush had like a 20 point swing. I think the second time she ran I mean kori bush and I were both endorsed by brand new congress me kori bush jamal bowman aoc all of us One the same we were on what they called the new york slate. So not kori bush, obviously, but Most the other ones were we were all in new york slate. So we all met each other, you know I met kori a few times, you know, I talked to kori called jamal and her first election She lost like over 50,000 votes Yeah, but she saw that It wasn't about running to get you know, celebrity or some name recognition It's about running because you actually want to make a difference in the people's lives who you're running to represent And the second time around She got over the hurdle and now the people of her district are Are are more blessed because of it because they actually have a representative who actually cares Who's a nurse who's an organizer who's a blm activist who who cares about the same things that I talk about because She's lived them. That's why when me and her talk, I call her my big sister Because she reminds me so much of my big sister literally they're about the same age and my sister has two kids just like her So, I mean the fact that she went again shows that it's not about It's not about winning on the first try It's about fighting for what you believe in and if you truly believe in these things And if you have the capacity to run then why wouldn't you run again? Yeah, absolutely. And it seems like The number one thing that really is make or break It's money, of course That's a huge factor, but name recognition is so incredibly important. Like I remember I talked to kory bush back in 2017 I think it was when she was running for the very first time And then I talked to her again when she just launched her second run And she was talking about how it was like really difficult. It was a rough start The day that I talked to her she said we brought in $15 the day before But what she did little by little was Reach out to people improve her name recognition And she really got a hold of her community and her district and that made all the difference and sometimes It takes more time to build up your name recognition because I mean you folks are you're you're running for congress And you're reaching out to thousands upon thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people Yeah, that's not an easy task, especially when you don't have the resources of the incumbent So I think that like if folks are really serious about running for congress This is a commitment to not just run once but you're running like two Three times because this is a lot of work to do it the way that you're doing it. Like if you took large Contributions from like corporations. Oh, you can get your name out there like that It'd be it'd be it'd be easy if I did that but this is the thing so Last cycle I am so proud of My team and even during the midst of a pandemic with absolutely no money And just a grassroots scrappy team we spent Get this we spent $13,000 And got over 10,000 votes Which is if you know anything about new york primaries if you get 10,000 votes For a first time candidate with absolutely no name recognition 10,000 of my neighbors said they believe in our message and they want us to carry it forward to washington That was monumental now other people in the race spend 50 and 60 dollars per vote They had literally a million dollars a million and a half. We didn't have anything. We were grassroots We can't our main our main tool was to get out there and talk to people And everybody knows new york got hit the hardest first We were the first ones hit so march april may all the months leading up until the election We literally were sitting in ours. We couldn't knock on the door We couldn't talk to anybody and everybody was scared and rightfully so and we still got over 10,000 votes Now people know how to live within the confines of a pandemic If you drive down the streets of new york, especially my district everybody's masked everybody's social distance But there are people out there now So it will be that much easier coming with the name recognition this time and learning so much from the first campaign It was like drinking through a fire hose upside down. It was learning so so much from the first campaign We have a really really good shot to win this because There are enough young people and leftists in any district to swing that district It's just they need to be motivated to be given not something to vote against but a reason to vote somebody to vote for And that's what this campaign offers. It's not just hey vote for me because I'm the new young guy It's vote for me because I'm in the same boat as you and I want us to all row in the same direction Yeah, and I honestly feel like um a lot of grassroots candidates like yourself have the advantage going into 2022 because this is when a lot of Liberals kind of tend to check out like a lot of folks who aren't necessarily hyper political more, you know privileged Professional managerial class types, you know, they tune into presidential elections and they kind of demobilize During the midterms. This is when the grassroots I think can really remain activated and pounce use this as a unique opportunity and I wanted to get your take on um the stimulus situation anyone who I've talked to Who was relying on the $2,000 checks have asked me? Hey, do you know when the $2,000 checks are coming? And I always have to say Actually now it's supposedly $1,400. I know and in terms of when it's coming I don't know. Um, maybe march if we're lucky What's been the response because I've been I've been so furious seeing folks trying to downplay What was literally a lie like we were told $2,000 and I think that You know, uh, folks who are democratic party loyalists in media They're trying to make it seem as if oh no no the left they're being so unreasonable We knew it Joe Biden man. Of course he meant 600 plus, you know, 1,400 What's been the take from people in your district because anyone who I've talked to who was counting on that check is pissed so Look at it like this if you look Behind me, you see all these sight words for first graders and kindergartners My wife is a public school teacher here in new york city in brooklyn So she teaches first graders and kindergartners. She's been working from home Since the pandemic our living room table, which I'm sitting at right now is also her classroom So we're not people of large means. So we're still relying on those checks To be honest with you. I still have not gotten a single check yet. I have not gotten a $1,400 check Have not gotten a $1,200 have not gotten a 600. I have gotten not a single dime from uncle sam yet So that's number one number two The fact that we're arguing over 1,400 versus 2,000 In the midst of a global pandemic where we just crossed the 500,000 Death threshold that is the problem. That's the root of the problem We should be talking about $2,000 checks for everyone until this thing is over What is a $1,400 check going to do? What is a one-time $2,000 check going to do? It's not going to do anything if joe biden wants to give me a $1,400 check right now That literally literally doesn't even pay my rent One month in new york city living in a basement apartment. That doesn't even pay my rent So what so no every other bill I have that I can't go to work to pay Is that doesn't even affect that just doesn't even pay rent So we need to look at the crux of the problem. It's not the fact that the checks haven't gone out Which is a problem. It's the fact that we have people who are trying to rob peter to pay paul Because they don't want to come up off the money of these corporate dollars. Meanwhile Corporations are making out hand over fist. I just told you the billionaires added a trillion and a half dollars to their wealth There are a couple billionaires in this country that have more wealth than the gdp of some nations Billionaires in this country added 1.5 trillion to their wealth Haiti the poorest country in the western hemisphere does not have a 1.5 trillion dollar gdp Those few people have more money than millions of people in Haiti. The three richest people in this country Have more money than the bottom of 50 percent of people in this country And that's the big problem that we don't even talk about that's why i'm running for congresses because I don't want to stand up at a lectern and talk about 1460 than 12 dollar checks I want to talk about closing all these goddamn corporate loopholes bringing that money from overseas That is hiding in the cayman islands that apple and microsoft noise corporations have over there So we wouldn't have to argue about 1400 dollar checks There's two and a half trillion dollars sitting offshore It needs to be taxed right now from these american corporations If it was brought back here if our corporate tax rate was brought up from 22 where it's at now To the 35 40 50 where it needs to be then there would be no problem talking about our coffers that we can't afford things If we cut our military budget at 780 billion goddamn dollars We would have the billions of dollars needed to give people checks until this pandemic is over So that's when when I don't I don't see things from The the street level I see things from the 10 000 foot level That's why i'm running for congress because I see all these problems And we need to step away from the forest so we can see the trees so we can Get these big bold ideas Into people's into people's mindset It's not about because they make you think the pie is so small that you have to fight for those scraps of 1400 dollars Other countries are paying people every single month until that thing this thing is over And we have the biggest gdp in the world if new zealand and england and france and germany and Japan and south korea and canada they can do it. Why can't america do it? Why do we? We lead the we lead the world in gun homicides we lead the world in Obesity we lead the world and locking people up and military spending We never lead the world in social and in social safety net things We don't lead the world and feeding the homeless and clothing the hunt and clothing the poor and and Picking people out of poverty. How can we never lead the world at those things only the bad categories? That's what I have to think about that. We need to we need to start thinking big grand ideas Because this piecemeal stuff we're doing is not going to work. It's obviously not working We need to go we need to swing for the fences and we can't hope anymore We can't wish anymore can't pray anymore. We have to be audacious We have to demand that our government do these damn things because the government is supposed to be buying for the people And right now I was buying for the powerful Yeah, I'm glad that you said that because it really matters to put things in a perspective Like the mere fact that we're talking about like the price of the check when we're not already when we haven't already been getting monthly checks It really is absurd in the richest country On the planet It's weird like to think about this that we allow this and that we're kind of just accustomed to it And we expect it and we're not surprised by that really speaks to the failure Of our system as a whole and like I'm glad that you're running on this message of Demand better because when you have this much wealth in one country The fact that more or less wealthy countries are putting us to shame like we should all be embarrassed. I know I am You know, so I'm glad that folks like you are running for congress and explaining to people How they're getting a bad deal in comparison in comparison with our neighbors Like even north of the border like canadians are getting monthly income Throughout the duration of the pandemic. They have single payer healthcare Whereas in america people with covet don't even know how they're going to pay their medical bills So it's it's outrageous. It really is and to your point or to what you said about you haven't received Your stimulus or your survival checks at all. I'm going to ask you a question Has your representative reached out to assist people? In getting their checks like have you heard anything because this is what a representative is supposed to do To folks in their districts. So what help has been offered to you by representative of vet clark? Absolutely none, you know during the election. I'm when I ran against her. I'm still her constituent I would get her mailers. I'm running against her. I would get her mailers in my mailbox Every week or two. We got a new mailer from her. I haven't seen a single piece of mail from congress One of the vet clark talking about hey, this is how you get through this pandemic This is the number you can call you have the money to send out the mailers doing campaign time Why aren't you sending out mailers now? I mean, I'm still your constituent even though I ran against you You're still supposed to be working to help me and my family's life and everybody else's life in this district Be better. I haven't heard a single word from her at all. She's talking about This and making smart cities that and listen all that's good But we need to focus on what's happening right now People are dying. We just crossed the 500,000 death threshold. I just had a conversation with my father who's 72 today And he lives down in florida. I was like, when are you gonna get the vaccine? He's like, I don't know There's nobody talking to us. There's nobody telling us and my dad has been in the house for over a year 72 Can't go anywhere because he has he had uh bypass surgery got a bad heart all that stuff He can't even leave his house. I just had a conversation with him this morning He called me at 10 this morning and we were talking about stuff and I was like, when are you going to get the vaccine? He has no idea. I don't have my wife's a teacher in new york city Months have gone by she still hasn't gotten the vaccine and she has a compromised immune system The reason why she's working from home. I have pre-existent conditions from the from my time in iraq Heard nothing about the vaccine This is what we're talking about. We have 500,000 reasons for a single-payer healthcare system in this country right now We just crossed that mark. That's 500,000 reasons We got 40 million reasons for a single-payer healthcare system the people who were without without insurance We have 335 million reasons for a single healthcare system because everybody in this country deserves it That's what i'm saying. We haven't heard an imagine if my representative Congresswoman clark the woman who i'm running against got on the floor of congress and said these things She's a member of congress. She can call a press conference with cnn msnbc fox abc cbs everybody Imagine if she used her voice to elevate the people in her district. She's silent If you go to her government website clark.gov or whatever it is You can see the last time she put out press releases on housing criminal justice healthcare was 2017 That was four years ago. There's never heard website had to not think about it I can't I don't have regular access to you because you work in washington So my way of reaching you would be either to go to your office Or to go to your website to leave you a message If I go to your website and you haven't said anything about the issues that are affecting me In four years during the midst of a housing crisis in the midst of a pandemic I have to assume that you do not care because if these things aren't at the forefront of your mind They're damn sure at the forefront of mind because I'm living them every day One would have to assume you don't care. So she does not care. I'm left to to conclude. She does not give you that Yeah, you know, it's sad that the folks who are running for congress as insurgent candidates are doing more than Their elected officials like we saw this all throughout the 2020 election You were doing more uh adam christensen in florida. Donna imam in texas like I saw all of these candidates Trying to distribute information to there would be constituents if they want about how to access ppp loans if they're a small business If they haven't gotten their stimulus check where to go how to reach out How to make sure sure you get that It's just honestly, it's really frustrating that the party who in theory is supposed to be the party of the working class Which is the joke But I mean the party who in theory should be the party of the working class They're not looking out for their constituents and they're talking about these weird things like Futurizing like, you know the country and whatnot and you know, I just I don't understand How well I guess I do understand I just am shocked that they don't even try to pretend like they care like they don't care about the optics We know that they're out of touch because they're elites and you know, they're in dc They're in that bubble and the longer you stay in dc the more you probably get out of touch But like you'd think that they at least think about the the optics. They're they just don't care at all I do want to switch gears a little bit and I'm a little bit apprehensive to even ask this question because It's been incredibly divisive But I wanted to get your take on your strategy as a member of congress So there was a lot of controversy recently with members of the squad for refusing to support a floor vote on medicare for all And I just wanted to kind of get a sense of what your strategy would be in terms of democratic party leadership Would you in your opinion be more Outspoken and aggressive towards leadership in comparison with the squad like what's your take on all of this? It's basically relating to force the vote controversy and For me this comes down to a strategic Disagreement like the squad I wanted them to force a floor vote on medicare for all But they didn't that just you know, that that's a disagreement. But a lot of folks are using Um the squad's failure here is evidence that they're just like sellouts And even in my interview with senator nina turner Because she said, you know We have to give the squad a chance and that they're not sellouts like she was then labeled a sellout And so I don't you don't have to comment on like the controversy and whatnot because it's just overly stupid and divisive And I think it's mostly More online people But in terms of like what you do in congress the democratic party establishment is going to try to crush you They're going to try to marginalize you in congress What do you think your relationship will be like do you plan to be more antagonistic? Give us a sense of like how you'll um respond to the democratic party establishment How I respond you said they don't try to crush me. Listen here I'm a 34 year old six foot eight black man. Who's the son of immigrants living in america america has tried to crush me Since I was born I can walk out of the door that they didn't get shot by a trigger happy cop So worrying about somebody trying to crush me doesn't scare me one Single bit. I'm not going to washington to make friends. I'm going to washington to solve problems I don't give a damn if I'm blessed enough to win if I serve one term and help better the people's life in this district Then my mission is accomplished mission accomplished I am not going there to try to rub elbows with the rich or the elite or get name recognition or a book deal Or a goddamn podcast that is not who I am that is not what I am going for I am going there to fight I just told you it's not time to capitulate. It's not time to beg or to to hope or pray We have to be audacious. We have to demand it the times call for it You know what this middle of the road politics the centrist politics gets us it gets us separate but equal Which was never equal middle of the road politics gets us three fist claws That said I was half a person as a black man middle of the road clause gets us that you know loving be the genious You can't marry a black woman if you can you just got to move out of states all of these things are those middle of the road politics I don't play that I'm going there with a clear vision and a clear thought of mine to make people's lives in this district better And in doing so I will make you be making people's lives across this country better Because Brooklyn central Brooklyn where I'm running is a melting pot You can walk down the street and run into 50 different nations walking down Flatbush Avenue That's how diverse this district is. So I know if I'm standing up for a person in Crown Heights or Flatbush or East Flatbush I'm standing up for the person in in Alabama. I'm standing up for the person in Tennessee in georgia and pa I'm standing up for that hard work in person now. It's come time to force to vote you damn right We should have forced to vote if I was there I would have been that guy standing there telling you we need to force to vote What are you going to say to me? What is the downside of fighting for people in my community? I don't get a committee assignment. I'm not going there for that I don't you can get a committee assignment. You got to bring in a certain amount of money and do all this stuff Okay, good. Cool. You get that if I get one Thank you. God bless. But if I don't get one cool I still have to represent the people who sent me here to Washington to fight for them And that's what I plan to do So I've been shocked. I've been blown up all that stuff when I my time in iraq and afghanistan What are they going to do to me? What are they going to do or say to me that I hadn't already been done or said to me in my life? Yeah, I love your answer there because I think that and here's what I took away from the force to vote stuff I don't like I don't agree with the fraud squad stuff But what I do think is logical Is that like it's not enough to just have the right policy positions because we now have members in congress who have the Correct policy positions and that's why I love the squad the problem. However is that we do need people who are More blunt who are willing to actually like agitate in congress and stand up to the democratic party leadership Who are obstacles to progress and you saying that is exactly what I want to hear and It's what I think a lot of people want to hear like we we already know like every single policy You agree with us, but in terms of like how you fight that really is important So like for you to say I'm going to go there not to make friends and if I have to make enemies, that's fine I think that's really reassuring because now we're kind of trying to suss out like Which people are running for congress because they have the right ideas and have the right Methods to fight to get them accomplished and I love your answer there. I wanted to also talk to you about issues that Don't get taken very seriously So we just had the hearing on hr 40, which is the reparations bill And I think Cory Bush is maybe the only member of congress who's really talking directly about reparations This is something that I feel like there's a couple of issues In the leftist circles even not just liberals, but that leftists are bad with that I'd say it's trans issues and it's reparations These are the two issues that I feel like People are are too afraid to be bold when it comes to this issue So as a member of congress, how would you advance these issues in particular reparations which is now finally getting hearings hearings which in and of itself That's really like that's that's amazing But I think that tim black put it best in a video like he said he felt like these hearings like it was a joke Like it was just lip service. It was a pat on the head I'm paraphrasing him of course and that it wasn't taken seriously So how do we actually get members of congress to take these issues seriously and not just say You know or signal support to play cake, you know members of the trans community and the black community because I feel like these issues Even though we're starting to talk about it, which is an improvement. Like I want to actually see Real action. So what do you think we can do to advance these issues and also convince leftists who in theory Should be the most vocal about reparations and trans rights, but don't seem to be like what is your take on all of this It's kind of a loaded question, but No, not really. I mean, listen, I Listen, and this is crazy that we're having this conversation I talked to my dad this morning. I told you and he was talking about his grandmother my great-grandmother And he told me when she was born in jamaica and I was like, wait a minute She was a slave. He's like, yes. She was my grandma. My great-grandmother died when she was like 97 So she was born in the 1800s because my dad is was born in the 40s And my great-grandmother was a slave my mother Left pasagulla mississippi. Her and my grandmother On my mother's side were sharecroppers in rural mississippi She left with my grandmother in 1968 when martin luther king was assassinated So the gem crow south that we see about in documentaries and hear about in movies My mother was 10 years old when she left that she was spit on as a little girl She couldn't go to certain places in town. She couldn't go out after dark She would to segregated schools So I don't need another hearing or another study I can walk out of my front door and see the effects of whatever study You're going to talk about in congress. I don't need another hearing to know that black people in this country are suffering because for 400 years We have been oppressed by our own government The way we get more eyes to this is to have more people talking about it and credit to kori bush That she is a member of congress talking about it because hr 40 is just some obscure bill that people Like you and me have the luxury of knowing because we're in the realm of politics But if you're if you're not in the realm of politics, what the hell does hr 40 mean to you? When your member of congress comes back and holds town halls on reparations That's how we move the needle forward when your member of congress goes on tv and vociferously demands Reparations for black people in this country. That's how we move the ball forward when your member of congress is putting forth Bill after bill after bill after bill with reparations in it. That's how we move the needle forward We elect more black people to congress who aren't millionaires who don't come from the corporate class Who don't come from the elite class? That's how we move reparations for my father I just told you is jamaican My last name is james james is a british last name that is not an african last name So my father's people were slaves my mother and grandmother were sharecroppers their last name My mother's maiden name is brown that is not an african name That was her slave master's name and james was my father's slave master's name. I am a product of that wickedness I am the seventh generation of crimes committed and if we truly want to ever have equality in this country We need more people who look like me who come from the lineage of those descended slaves to stand up and demand that america Make right the wrongs of the last 400 years We have a member of congress who is a black woman in a district that's 50 african american Mostly caribbean and isn't saying a damn Thing about reparations, which is almost criminal in my opinion. That's how we move the ball forward on those things Yeah, I don't understand how there's not greater urgency because it's not just like black americans don't have A lot of wealth in this country. What little wealth they have is diminishing So I just I don't understand how we can ever have an equitable society without being serious and having a conversation about this And also, you know getting left-wing allies to acknowledge the importance of this issue that it's not just the social justice issue It's an economic issue. It's a legal issue. It's an issue that I feel like everyone Who's on the left who's progressive who's radical should be on board with no questions asked In black history month, right? Every black representative in congress should have been beating the drums about reparations this month Do you want to talk about black history and our contribution to this country to american history? Well, let's talk about making right the wrongs of the last 400 years Let's talk about that the white house that joe biden is now in when it was burnt down by the british It was rebuilt by black slaves in this country They rebuilt the seat of power in this damn country and nobody wants to talk about that No one wants to talk about making right the wrongs making generations whole Generational wealth wasn't just kept from us. It was stolen from us our language our heritage our culture our religion Our even our identity was taken from us And then you leave us to fend for ourselves You make everything we do a crime with with the black codes first of all with jim crow slavery With with the war on drugs with the crime bill and you don't see the harm that you have caused We talk every year about 9 11 how we should never forget it We talk about the holocaust and how we should never forget it black people have had a 400 year holocaust in this country And it seems like everybody has forgotten it except those are people like me or you have time to think about it And we have never been made whole from this Communities were destroyed by joseph r biden. That's why i wrote in bernie sanders He gave us the crime bill Which which was ronald rake was was reagan's war on drugs and nixon's war on drugs cranked up to 11 That's what made the mandatory minimums. That's what made the harsher sentences for crack That's what literally took fathers out of homes and destroyed families destroyed the nuclear family That republicans love to talk about the black people don't have a nuclear family Well, why is that because a generation of men an entire generation were put in jail and left to rot like grapes on divine and america needs to atone for her sins and We can do that with government if we have people in government who actually want to do that Yeah, and i feel like there's a real opportunity here to get movement because quarry bush. She's she's one of A few actual supporters of reparations like you have folks like kamala harris who are you know during the primary She would say i support reparations, but when you ask her about it It's not reparations and elizabeth warn was doing the same thing as well But quarry bush is actually saying I want real reparations I mean a check and so if you actually get members of congress such as yourself and nina turner form this block Then that really can make a difference and it's not a lot of members of congress But just having that smart that spark that could ignite the flame is really important Uh, so yeah, i'm so glad that you said this because everything that you're saying here is important Like you can't pretend as if like the individuals who built the system are Their hands are clean like and that's part of the issue with i think like mainstream media in this country is that like You know we can criticize the system in so far as we don't touch democrats You know, uh, we can't talk about joe biden and the hand that he played in building the system of mass incarceration Uh, we can't talk about that and i like that folks like you folks like, uh, nina turner anyone who ran for congress in 2020 Basically that i've brought on this show or most of them anyways, uh, they're willing to call that out directly Because if you can't address the elephant in the room, then you're not going to address the root cause of the issue And so i'm running against the democrat who's a black woman But listen like my grandmother who's really departed always said all skin folks ain't kin folks And just because you look like me doesn't mean you have my best interest at heart We have to if we're going to criticize the right which they duly deserve We damn sure have to get our house in order on the left Because we're never that's why i say i call democrats You know low calorie republicans because they do the same thing Look at joe manchin joe manchin is not a democrat no manchin is literally a republican Who's running under the d name because it's easier for him to win than where he lives because it was a democratic district He's not a democrat everybody knows that and there's dozens of them in our party who take this money Nancy Nancy Pelosi is literally a bush republican If you put her back in time right now She is a bush republican. That is exactly what she is. She would be considered a moderate republican That's what she is. I'm willing to say that because look what she focuses her attention on think about this Nancy Pelosi or the house voted to decriminalize marijuana Months before joe biden got sworn in right That bill should have been on joe biden's desk day one Kamala Harris said she want to make right the wrongs Of sending people to jail for marijuana. We have the house We have the senate imagine how many people would not be in jail right now Had joe biden signed that bill There have been people who've been arrested since he was taken office for marijuana Who are sitting in jail who are going to sit there for two years waiting for a damn court date Who would not be in the system right now? If he had signed that bill The legalized marijuana that bill should have been on his desk day one. Why wasn't it? Why wasn't a bill you knew he was coming into office? Why wasn't the coronavirus relief package bill on his desk day one? Why wasn't all these things that we talking about on his desk day one? It's because I looked at a tweet today joe biden said those checks to go out immediately If democrats took the senate he said immediately. I don't know his definition of immediate But mine is you know Post haste to with right away and it's been months Since democrats taking the house January and february and the senate. I mean, so why haven't those checks gone out people are hurting So the things we talk about on the right how Ask backwards they are and they need to be criticized for allowing white supremacists to store in the capital We damn sure have to get our house in order on the left Because we're doing a disservice to the people we say we care about If we're we're taking the same money from the same corporate interests Yeah, you know to me it's it's puzzling like the the level of incompetence that we've seen from the democratic party It's it's not like surprising But it even like is against their own self-interest like as Rational actors who presumably want to win re-election you think that they do the bare minimum at least To make sure that they assure they will be victorious in 2022 2024 But like to promise checks and use the word very very clearly immediately and then Not get them out the door backtrack on it. Um, and also he just joe biden abandoned his pledge to halt deportations for 100 days He initially signed the executive order to do just that and then a judge blocked it And now all of a sudden it's been a complete change of policy He could have stopped the deportations that were already scheduled to go through and just postponed them until after the situation Was dealt with in the courts And now it's like all of these things. I just I don't get it like There's corruption, right? But corruption isn't the only thing like there has to be some level of common sense to where if you do these things If you literally spit in the well not literally if you figure it's at least spit in the eyes of your constituents And people who you just told you were going to give them something very specific $2,000 That's bad. Like you're gonna lose the next election. So I just I don't even get like Figuring out what goes through the heads of like the the normal average corporate democrats I can't like it's perplexing on so many levels I don't live in that space. I live in a space of reality And I'm telling you bro if I could take this laptop and walk around the corner from my apartment There is literally three or four Food distribution centers right around the corner. I can walk 100 yards 300 feet and go to a food distribution center. There's cars lined up every Single day people are hurting and it's still hurting. Listen, the moratorium on rent ends May 1st Those bills are due and this isn't a cancellation of rent. This is a moratorium on rent So those landlords are going to want all those back months of rent Yeah The bills are coming due and people are hurt people are already hurting We stand to have another 2 million homeless people evicted from their houses on may 1st If we don't do something about what's going on right now And the quick excuse me the quickest way for republicans to retake the house the senate and the white house It's for democrats to go back on everything they said Donald trump was such a bad person That democrats won but people still want more from their government And we don't even it's not even one place we deserve more You know, I looked at my wife's tax return My wife got her w2 in the mail the other day And I looked at how much they take out for state tax federal tax and in new york city pay local tax thousands of dollars every year And here we are arguing about a $2,000 check or one time $2,000. I don't already gave uncle sam thousands of dollars Thousands of dollars has come from my family to uncle sam and here we are arguing about you Giving me a little bit of that money back You have no problem taking my money when you wanted uncle sam, but when we need it That's when we him and when we hard and when we all wait a minute We got to find it in the budget You don't ask me what my budget is every month when Or every paycheck when that social security that fiker that medicare all of it comes out You never say hey, what's your budget? Can you afford it this month? Are you going to be strapped for cash? You never ask that but when Hard work and people and poor people and people who are in dire situations need it now It's oh, we got to wait and see and we got to run the numbers. That's the wrong answer That is the wrong answer in my in my opinion anybody's estimation That is the wrong answer and we deserve a government that thinks like everyday people See because when you have people in there who've been career politicians their whole lives who have come from the corporate sector Where it's about you know chopping up numbers and him and and hard and not caring about the actual lives of people And this is what you get But when you have people who are organized as an activist who live these things every day Whose wife is a public school teacher? How could I not care about public education? How could I not care about criminal justice as a large black man? How could I not care about veterans issues as a disabled veteran? How could I not care about immigration? My father still is not a citizen to this day How could I not care about women's issues when I have sisters and a beautiful wife and a mother? How could I not care about these things? And that's what it means to elect everyday people to office because all of us are everyday people unless you're part of the elite So if you put me in office, I'm working for you. I'm not working for the rich people because I don't know any Yeah, yeah, and that's beautifully put. I want people to get into that to that mindset of thinking Um, okay. I gave the government money That's going to be taken out of every single paycheck before I even see it There's nothing I can do about that But what I can do is demand that they use my money To actually benefit me my community My country, uh, maybe spending more on bombs, uh, tax breaks for the rich, you know socialism for elites Maybe we shouldn't be using my money for that and if people really took this stance Then I think they get a better perspective on How they're getting such a bad deal This is the framework that I'm working from the people members of congress the corporate wing is not even thinking This is why I say you have to think as an organizer to think like an activist because I think about things Completely different than my member of congress does. I guarantee you. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Like I would like to like Pick their brains or like be a fly on the wall in like A psychiatrist session with members of congress like I feel like rich people are sociopaths And I don't I don't want to get into the psychoanalyzing them But the way that they like behave is so like bizarre to be like I want to study them Like uh, we're filming this interview on a day when uh, mit romney proposed a 10 dollar an hour minimum wage This is a man who literally had an elevator in his mansion for his cars For his cars. Yeah, I saw that. I just read that story before him and tom cotton I was like this additionist and band capital millionaire mit romney who's worth a quarter billion dollars is like Hey, you guys deserve 10 dollars by 2025. I was like, bro You talking about not figuratively spitting or figuratively. That's literally spitting in my face, bro Spitting in my face would do less harm than that would right. It's like it's something I can wipe that off If you don't give me a you telling me I'm only worth 10 dollars and 20 by 2025 Spitting in my face would do less harm to me This is coming from the man who's worth a quarter billion dollars. This is what I'm talking about Yeah, yeah, I just got a wonder like okay after you've made that 100 million dollar threshold Like you've bought your mansion. You've got a nice like sweet car elevator in your mansion. You've got a yacht You have I'm sure, you know multiple sports cars. What do you do then with all of that? Like what do you do? Like it's You've accomplished everything you you've won at life. Like you don't need that much money It's just these people are so out of touch. It it drives me nuts But I don't want to take up too much of your time. So I do want to ask you For my viewers, what do you need from them? What do you need from us? How do we make you successful because obviously having you in congress would be a game changer So what do we do to make this happen? Well, first of all before we end this I want to say thank you for having me on you and want you and literally The first person in my last cycle to give me an interview The first person. Yeah first person to reach out and say hey Uh, I'll just do an interview and I was like I was ecstatic because I was like wow somebody wants to interview Me and hear me talk about my race. So thank you for that and thank you for always continuing To reach out to have me on what folks can do. Thank you for running They can do A multitude of things. I know everybody's hurting right now during the pandemic We need donations if you can't donate by all means trust me that is not a problem I understand because I'm broke just like you But we need if you can spare $5 or $10 or $27 you can go to isiah for congress.com And donate on the act loop if you can't afford 27 if you can make it a $3 reoccurring donation You know, that's three six nine 12 15 18. That's months of three dollars You know the equals 27 that would help because every dollar is a door hanger. We can put on somebody's door. They can Follow me on social media on twitter on instagram because I share stuff every single day and Getting the message out six degrees of separation. You never know Who will see the message and who will get behind us to support us That's how we built our following from no people to 20 000 people That's how we built our following from no volunteers to 200 volunteers from no votes to 10 000 votes Is by everybody being that megaphone So you can like follow share retweet all that stuff to help get the message out there If you live in new york city if you live in brooklyn, you can sign up for the email list So you can come knock a door with me so you can hand out some flyers with me So you can talk to people and see that just because i'm wearing a sport coat. Don't mean i'm elite I'm just wearing this for today's interview I'm just a regular everyday guy like you and you can help me move that message forward Because this is a grassroots campaign and it takes everybody to put that back to the wheel to get over the hump because My opponent last cycle raised a million and a half dollars If we raised that much we would have won but we didn't raise that much So i'm asking for volunteers. I'm asking for people to help spread the message I'm asking for donation those three things right there and we're starting early You see our election is not till june of 2022, but we're starting early right now So come june of or come january of next year We're sitting on a hundred thousand dollars in our campaign account instead of 10 000 dollars in our campaign account and then We didn't we we have to gear up for the fight Yeah, absolutely. So um, you can get involved. There'll be links down in the description box If you're listening via audio, of course, uh, tell us what the website is It's isaia for congress i s i a h f or congress.com same twitter handle Same instagram handle same facebook handle. Okay, perfect. We'll also have everything up on the screen for folks I'm sure i'll have you on again. It's more than a year until the election So we'll touch bases again. Um, i'm so glad that you're running again Once you told me that you were running i was ecstatic because this is one of those races where it's like, okay You're gonna win So you just got to you got to do it again one more time and you're gonna you're gonna win this time because you have a right strategy I hope i am that blessed to win because Like i said a lot of folks and this is the thing I let people in on the inside of politics after i finished my race last time I guess i impressed a lot of people people reached out to me with podcast offers and tv show offers and All that stuff and i kind of took it. I don't want it. I never ran to do that. I don't want a podcast That's not what I ran for. I didn't run for cause celeb I ran to actually make a difference in people's lives You know, I mean, so that's why i'm running again now because I mean what we talked about here is just a small Microcosm of all the issues that we we didn't get the climate change Everybody you know justice reform housing health care education. We didn't get any of that stuff We we spent an hour talking about two or three issues. So just imagine how much stuff needs to get done that people aren't talking about Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that's such a great point Uh, well, thank you so much isiah. Of course, we'll be in touch We'll be following your campaign very closely when you launch merch. Let me know so I can rock and isiah james shirt on the show We got some merch. We got some stuff coming this all man Just wait wait to see the posters and the t-shirts and stuff. It's gonna be Everybody just saw that that movie Judas and the black messiah I am bobby seal. I'm I'm uep newton. I'm I'm those guys. I'm more than Malcolm x vane So I'm not that that aggressive progressive. I have no reason to be scared. So that's who I am and that's why I'm running I love it. I love it. All right. Well you take care. Have a great day Oh, we will continue to follow your campaign. All right. Thank you so much