 This is the Humanist Report with Mike Vigoreto. The Humanist Report podcast is funded by viewers like you through Patreon and PayPal. To support the show visit patreon.com forward slash humanistreport or become a member at humanistreport.com. Now enjoy the show. Welcome to the Humanist Report podcast. My name is Mike Vigoreto. This is episode 224 of the program. And today is Friday, January 10th. This is our very first episode of 2020. But before we get to any stories, we've got to take some time to thank all of the people who make the show possible. Our newest Patreon, PayPal and YouTube members all of which signed up over the holiday to support the program. And that includes all things Knoxville, Anahara 13, Andrew J. Stoffer, Camilla Carrasco, Cecile Gill, Chewie Treme, Glenn Purdom, Hernan, Ivan Avila, Jim Vakaro, Julie Edwards, Katie J0706, Kenny Bush, Librarian, Linda J. Childers, Lord Boo, Mari McCarthy, Matthew Wisniewski, Michael Duffy, Millie Denny, Morgan, Nadia Zaman, Nightwig, Lewis Godoy, Positive Definite, Rebecca O'Connell, Richard Escarrega, Sarah Spaghet, Thomas I. Osas, William and Yolanda Kuros Soto. So thank you so much to all of these kind souls. If you'd also like to support the show and join the independent, progressive media revolution, you can do so by going to humanistreport.com. Patreon.com. Humanist report or by clicking join underneath any one of our YouTube videos. Once again, we have a jam-packed episode for you this week on the Humanist Report, while Chronicle Trump's escalation with Iran, starting with his killing of Qasem Soleimani, what lawmakers like Bernie Sanders and Rokana are doing to tie his hands. We'll talk about Iran's retaliatory action in Iraq and finally Trump's response and assessment of the situation overall. We'll look at Bernie's current status in the Democratic primary and see how well he's doing when compared to 2016 at this point in time. His argument against Joe Biden's electability, Joe Biden's continued love affair with Republicans, Ocasio-Cortez's thoughts on the misery of having to share a party with someone like Joe Biden. We'll talk about Judge Judy's endorsement of Mike Bloomberg and I'll talk to Professor Harvey J. K., who is the author of Make America Radical Again, where we'll discuss the history of the United States' radicalism and finally we'll close the show by talking to 2020 congressional candidate from Oregon, Amanda Sebe. So that's what we've got on the agenda for today's episode. Let's waste no time and get right to it. Enjoy the show, everyone. Goods Force leader Qasem Salamani and this is an act of war. It would be as if Iran killed one of our joint chiefs, the vice president. It's of immense consequence. I can't stress that enough and there's a lot to go through and I just, I couldn't wait to talk about this. Like my heart was racing last night as I was lying in bed thinking about this because the consequences of this, I mean, we don't really know there's a lot of uncertainty currently, but what we do know is that nothing good will come of this. This is a drastic escalation, to say the least. Now, the first thing that I want to point out is that the only reason why we're contemplating the prospect of war with Iran is specifically because of Donald Trump. Had he not torn up the Iran deal, this would not be what we're facing currently. But because he doesn't really have a strategy when it comes to the Middle East and because Obama did it. Well, that's why he decided to pull out of the Iran deal, which kind of led to this escalation in the first place. So understand first and foremost that we are the aggressors here. We are the ones who are continually poking a beehive, poking the beehive that is Iran. And no matter what we do to escalate, we always paint ourselves as the victims. Now, we'll get to the specific details about Soleimani's murder. He is someone who is incredibly popular in Iran. So this is going to galvanize the people who are against the more moderate leaders in Iran. This will embolden the more extremist individuals who hate the United States. I mean, if you were in Iran, would you take the side of people who want to work with the United States who has continuously spat in your eye? So obviously that will be what logically follows. But, you know, putting aside the situation currently, I want to talk about U.S. domestic politics first because I think it's incredibly important. Over and over again, Donald Trump has stated that he believed Obama would take us to war with Iran in order to secure his electoral chances back in 2012. In fact, he even said this numerous times via Twitter and he said this on video as well. Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He's weak and he's ineffective. So the only way he figures that he's going to get reelected and assures you're sitting there is to start a war with Iran. Now, Donald Trump may be a blithering idiot, but I think that his political instincts are better than a lot of politicians. He knows one that incumbent presidents, they do benefit from incumbency in and of itself and also from a relatively good economy. At least if the media is saying that, but they also benefit from war, right? People tend to rally around the president whenever there are times of war. And even if we've kind of been in this constant state of war now for decades, basically, I mean, he believes that this will help him. So we have to understand that that is part of his motivations, maybe not necessarily all of it, but he kind of revealed that he believes that an incumbent president can in fact benefit from going to war with Iran. So the fact that he's doing this now is incredibly conspicuous and the media should point this out again and again and again. And, you know, kudos to individuals like Ilhan Omar, who are in fact taking the time to point this out. Now, let's talk about the details of this. So we decided to escalate, right? We unilaterally escalated, but yet that's not the story that the Trump's administration is telling us. So media is reporting that Soleimani was planning an attack on U.S. diplomats and service members. Mike Pompeo called this attack imminent. And last night was the time that we needed to strike to make sure that this imminent attack that he was working actively was disrupted. And he said this with a straight face as if we would all believe him after our government told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, Donald Trump implied that the attack was defensive and it actually was done in order to prevent war. Imagine being so naive to believe something like that. Mike Pompeo actually contends that the United States is now committed to de-escalation. So as usual, we are the victims, right? We would never do anything to escalate with Iran. This is basically us taking a defensive action to stop an attack that was imminent. And even if Donald Trump's administration claims that they wanted to de-escalate and that they don't actually want war, after killing one of Iran's main leaders, well, understand that we are prepared if they want war. See, we escalated, but if they respond, it's still us that are the victims that are responding to them. And we're ready, but we don't want that, but we are ready. We have the best intelligence in the world. If Americans anywhere are threatened, we have all of those targets already fully identified, and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary. And that in particular refers to Iran. So when Iran responds, which I think that's inevitable, they will respond, Trump is saying we're ready for a response. And when they do respond, we know the playbook that, you know, Donald Trump's administration will use. They did X, Y, and Z, or Z, and now we're just responding. They're escalating. Don't, you know, take into consideration the fact that we escalated by killing Soleimani. Don't consider the fact that we tore up the nuclear agreement, which was a peace deal. It's always them. We're always the bad guys. And nothing that we do is ever bad and never warrants criticism or skepticism. So war with Iran is now highly likely. And you can actually argue that it has begun because what Donald Trump did is an act of war. And predictably, people who are benefiting from this are already seeing the benefits, right? We see defense stocks on the rise. I mean, it's exactly what you'd expect. And there would be maybe a glimmer of hope if the media was competent, but they are already manufacturing consent for another war. You have CNBC persuading people to believe that someone that they've never heard about. I mean, how many Americans know who Qassam Soleimani was? Well, they're supposed to believe suddenly that this was the world's number one bad guy. You know, if you're the number one bad guy in the world, then most Americans would have probably heard about him. But, you know, this is the narrative that we're supposed to believe. We have Fox News bringing on guests suggesting that Iran, you know, they're going to be on the streets celebrating this. You have The New York Times publishing articles from former Bush administration officials who cheered on the, you know, war in Iraq, who lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, and who are, you know, being published in The New York Times cheering on a war with Iran, as Carlos Mazza pointed out here. So, I mean, the situation is incredibly bleak. Now, I do want to share some tweets with you because, you know, the media, they're not a good opposition force. They're not before the state in actuality. They're not doing their job. But, you know, we do have an opposition party. So, you would hope that Democrats would do a good job, right? Not exactly. So, we have just one statement that I'm going to share from Chris Murphy, which I think represents the totality of responses from the Democratic Party with the exception of individuals like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, predictably. And of course, Bernie Sanders, who's the only presidential candidate, who actually had a competent response. But basically, the response is, you know, Salimani was a bad guy, but, you know, maybe we shouldn't have done this. They always start with that caveat. And that's problematic because they're trying to justify and rationalize this attempt at escalation, which was brazen. But you don't have to add that caveat. Just admit that what Trump did was bad. Stop trying to justify our escalatory actions in the Middle East. That's what they do. And, you know, this response to that response from Chris Murphy by Hayes Davenport is, I think, perfect. Watch, every dem statement will begin with a first sentence like this. And that's how they'll drag what should be a hugely unpopular war into the realm of nuance and viability and take the best political opportunity they could possibly be handed and just biff the fuck out of it. Exactly. Kyle Kalinsky also responded to, you know, Nancy Pelosi, who says that Trump launched airstrikes killing Iranian general without authorization. So they're not necessarily against it, but they just wanted you to ask for permission and they would have ultimately probably said yes. And, you know, Kyle says here, process criticism instead of substantive criticism. Sir, you didn't fill out the proper paperwork. We're so fucked, dude. And I mean, that's it. That's basically where I'm going to leave you with because that's the situation. We are fucked. I will show you Bernie Sanders' response because I do believe that his response is solid. It's basically what you want to look for in a leader who I believe will actually de-escalate, but let me see. He put out a response yesterday that I want to find for you. Sorry, and I'm a little bit discombobulated here. I'm a little bit sick, but here we are. When I voted against the war in Iraq in 2002, I feared it would lead to greater destabilization of the region. That fear unfortunately turned out to be true. The U.S. has lost approximately 4,500 brave troops, tens of thousands have been wounded, and we've spent trillions. Trump's dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars. Trump promised to end the endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one. Now, one issue that I take with this is that Bernie Sanders is not pointing out the number of Iranian lives that would be lost in the event we went to war with Iran because, I mean, is anyone expecting this to be a war that is waged in Oklahoma? Of course not. This would happen in the Middle East. Maybe it's a proxy war. Maybe it's a war directly in the streets of Iran. We don't know what the end result will be ultimately, but this is going to kill a lot of people, Americans, but mostly Iranians, right? So the loss of life should never, ever be something that we overlook. It's something that is so disgusting, so devastating that we should absolutely always put that at the foremost, the front of our concerns, right? It should be our foremost concern because essentially people in, you know, Iran and the United States, they have only indirect control of what their leaders do, right? In the United States, we can take the streets and we can protest, which we should do absolutely. But ultimately, Donald Trump, is he really going to be moved by public opinion? I'm not sure. We can only scream as loud as we possibly can in hopes that we have some influence over the situation, but the influence that we ultimately will have is minimal. And regardless if we protest or take to the streets, Donald Trump will do what Donald Trump does. He has a massive ego and if he truly believes that this will help his reelection chances, he will do what will facilitate his reelection because we know he has no strategy in Iran. He has no Middle East or foreign policy strategy. Like before he was elected, he didn't know the difference between the Kurds and the Kurds. So the man is an idiot. He's going to do what he thinks will benefit him. Now, there's a couple of factors here, right? He's not just going to take us to war with Iran if he thinks that that will help him win reelection because he also is balancing out, you know, this 2016 message of our leaders are stupid and they want to take us to war with Iran. But at the end of the day, you know, we are living in a time where America is comparable to George Orwell's 1984 Totalitarian State, right? Where we are fed lines that are so laughable. They're the polar opposite of what is the truth, right? War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. That's essentially, you know, the situation that we're living in where we escalate with Iran directly and we're told that we're defending ourselves and that an attack was imminent. I mean, who believes that? Who believes that? Give us the evidence. Give us the proof. You don't have any because it's not something that is, that was imminent. Nobody believes it. So I think I'll leave that there. We'll certainly, I'm assuming, revisit this by Tuesday, assuming that nothing else happens. I'm sure that the story will continue to develop as this is developing as I talk about this, but nonetheless, I just want to leave that there and let you all know this situation is incredibly, incredibly important and be prepared to take the streets to protest to prevent a war with Iran. You know, there were protests against the Iraq War and that didn't necessarily have an impact, but nonetheless make sure that you do everything you possibly can as a citizen to, you know, tell our government war with Iran is absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable and out of the question. So on Friday, we talked about Donald Trump's reckless decision to assassinate Quds Force leader in Iran, Qasem Soleimani, and predictably Iran has threatened to retaliate, but it's been days since this took place and I don't think Donald Trump, even now, knowing what we know, grasps what he did, the gravity of the situation. I mean, he galvanized the entire country of Iran because this was someone who was iconic in Iran. And as you can see from this video footage here, courtesy of Amal Sad, thousands, possibly millions, came out to stand in solidarity in Iran with Qasem Soleimani and StayTV estimated that millions of people actually came out. Now, they're not necessarily the most reliable resource, obviously, but nonetheless, you can see for yourself here that there are a lot of people who are showing support for him. And, you know, even though Iranian citizens are not as theocratic as their government, they're more egalitarian and secular than I think most Americans realize. I mean, they still respect people like Soleimani because he was an icon in Iran because he was fighting a threat to Shia Muslims and as Rani Akalic put it on Twitter, ISIS is a fascist death cult that sought to genocide Shias. The group was an existential threat to the region. Soleimani is viewed as a superhero for leading the fight against the Middle East version of Nazis. That's who Trump assassinated. Exactly. Trump doesn't understand the gravity of the situation and the Daily Beast reported that just days before this happened, he was bragging to people at Mar-a-Lago that there was something big that was going to happen in Iran. So he's a child. He doesn't understand. And he assassinated the leader of the Quds Force who was a hero to Iranians and now Iran is pressured to respond because if you do nothing in this instance after the United States just escalated then, you know, you will lose legitimacy, right? So we don't know how they're going to respond. Maybe it's a cyber attack. Maybe it's proxy wars. We have no clue. But what we do know is that they're under pressure to respond and Donald Trump doesn't even fully comprehend the global ramifications that his action that I'm assuming he took willy-nilly caused. And predictably, you know, he threatened them again on Twitter anticipating a response from them but he didn't just do like the usual threat that he usually does to states and state leaders. He literally broadcasted that he is intending to commit war crimes in Iran if they do respond saying, let this serve as a warning that if Iran strikes any Americans or American assets we have targeted 52 Iranian sites representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago some at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture. And those targets and Iran itself will be hit very fast and very hard. The USA wants no more threats. So I need you to really just pause and reflect on that. The president of the United States is telling Iran that he's going to violate international law. He's going to do literal war crimes. War crimes that the international community agrees would be war crimes. Things that Donald Trump and his administration agreed constitute war crimes literally because as CNN's Eric Levinson reports an attack on a cultural site would violate several international treaties and would likely be considered a war crime. In 2017, for example, a United Nations Security Council resolution condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage including the destruction of religious sites and artifacts. That resolution came as a response to the Islamic State's destruction of a number of major historic and cultural sites in Syria and Iraq in 2014 and 2015. The UN was clear then that actions targeting cultural locations constituted a war crime. The deliberate destruction of our common cultural heritage constitutes a war crime and represents an attack on humanity as a whole. So the spokesperson for then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2015, Nicholas Burns, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and Ambassador to NATO noted the Trump administration supported the 2017 UN resolution condemning destruction of cultural sites. So Trump can't fain ignorance here. He knows that this is a war crime. That's why he tweeted it because he's trying to tell people, look, I don't care about international law. I don't care about the global standards that the world has agreed to. I'm going to do what I want to do because I am the leader of the United States and I as well as the country that I run were above the law. So if you want to retaliate, try it because we're going to do war crimes. I mean, that's the message that this sends. It also communicates to the world that we are a lawless nation. We're not willing to follow international laws. So I mean, when we condemn other world leaders for violating human rights and not following international law, I mean, we have a president who's now broadcasting that he doesn't actually really care that much about the law and whatever world leaders agreed to would be a standard. He's not going to do it anyway. He's going to do little war crimes to prove a point. Now, the framing of this is still absurd to me because he attacked Qasem Salamani allegedly because there was an imminent attack which has not been proven and I think nobody believes. So therefore the killing was justified and since we were acting in self-defense well, any response is illegitimate and therefore an attack on us. That's not a retaliation. We're instigating the attack. That's the mindset. It's delusional. I don't care how nationalistic or patriotic you are as an individual. If you don't see through this, you are delusional. We are the most narcissistic country in the world and we think that there are no consequences for our actions and whenever we do something, well, if our action militarily provokes a response we're still the victim even if we initiated that. There's just no standards. We can do whatever the fuck we want and that's that. I mean, is there much talk about this in the media? I mean, a little bit, some murmurings here and there but I mean, the president just admitted he's willing to do a war crime. That should catalyze some type of response. I don't know what would be the appropriate response but something other than fucking crickets but thankfully there are people who are trying to stop further escalation Ro Khanna and Bernie Sanders predictably are being the leaders in this situation and as Tal Axelrod of the Hill explains, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna on Friday introduced legislation that would block funding for any offensive military force in or against Iran without prior congressional authorization. The legislation from the lawmakers, two of the most progressive members of their respective chambers came after the U.S. launched an airstrike in Baghdad that killed Qasem Salamani, Iran's top general. The attack and Tehran's vows of retaliation sparked fears that the already combustible situation in the Middle East could lead to a war between the U.S. and Iran. Today we are seeing a dangerous escalation that brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East, the lawmakers said in a statement. A war with Iran could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars and lead to even more deaths, more conflict, more displacement in that already highly volatile region of the world. At a time when we face the urgent need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure to build the housing we desperately need and to address the existential crisis of climate change, we as a nation must get our priorities right, they added. We must invest in the needs of the American people, not spend trillions more on endless wars. The legislation to restrict funds for military action against Iran was passed last year in the House but was later stripped from the national defense. Basically what we have to do is tie down Trump's hands, right? And this isn't just on Congress. We as individuals, we have to take action as well. We have to have some type of anti-war resistance that is committed to putting pressure on the administration for further escalation because once John Bolton left the administration, it seemed like the prospect of war with Iran diminished exponentially. But now we're seeing individuals like Mike Pompeo in this administration and Mike Pence push Donald Trump to escalate further with Iran. Republicans, you know, with each Republican administration, it seems like they want to start at least one new war. And Donald Trump seems hell-bent on starting a war with Iran even if he claimed that, you know, our leaders are stupid and they oftentimes get us involved in these never-ending wars. He's doing the same thing. And if you're still a Trump supporter, you voted for him because he was a non-interventionist at times on a campaign trail. It's time for you to wake up and smell the fucking coffee. Donald Trump isn't on your side. Donald Trump, like all other Republicans, is a neocon. He is a neoconservative and he wants war with Iran. One, because I think he believes that will help him get reelected. And two, because he's taking money from the defense industry. So even if on one hand he likes to claim to be a non-interventionist, on the other hand, he loves to boast about the strength of our military because he has an ego and that really helps feel his ego, right? So we should be trying to tie Donald Trump's hands and, yes, pressing for more transparency. And also the media should be doing their job here and also asking him where are we going to get the money to pay for another war, right? Because we often ask progressives how they're going to pay for Medicare for all, but we never ask Republicans or Democrats for that matter how we're going to pay for more wars. We just live in a country that all of our priorities are asked backwards and it's getting to the point where it's comical, right? It's why comedy in the Trump era is dead because reality in and of itself is a parody. It's so strange. So I'll leave that there. Kudos to Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna for being the leaders here. As they usually are, we just have to do what we can to sound the alarms and make as much noise as we possibly can, including taking to the streets because a war with Iran is something that we cannot let happen under any circumstances. Well, I've got some breaking news for you guys. This is terrifying. Iran has just claimed credit for an attack on a U.S. base in Iraq. And this is, of course, a further escalation and retaliation to the assassination of Quds Force leader Qasem Salamani. So we don't have a lot of details about this currently. This is a developing story. But for now, what we do know will be given to us by this NBC News article by Courtney Cube and Doha Medini who report an Iraqi military air base housing U.S. troops in Iraq's Anbar province was hit by more than a dozen ballistic missiles from Iran on Wednesday local time, according to the Pentagon. It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran and targeted at least two military bases, hosting U.S. military and coalition personnel at Al-Assad and Erbil, the defense department said in a statement. It is unclear whether there is any damage to the Al-Assad air base, which President Donald Trump visited last month, or whether there were any casualties. Iranian state TV described it as Tehran's revenge operation over the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Salamani according to the Associated Press. NBC News has not confirmed the report. The state TV report said the operation's name was Mardar Salamani. It said Iran's Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Division that controls the country's missile program launched the attack. So that is all that we know at this point in time. Donald Trump's administration received intelligence that this attack was coming. So he already was briefed on this. Currently, Mike Pence is briefing United States senators. And since Donald Trump had already threatened them in the event they responded to his initial escalation, we can now anticipate the United States to respond because this will be a situation where both countries likely go tit for tat until we escalate into a full-out war. So it almost seems like the prospect of war with Iran is a foregone conclusion. And now the question is, how big will this be if it does in fact happen, which I hope it doesn't, how big will this be? Will this draw in China and Russia, other powers? I mean, at a time when we have 11 years to act on climate change, we have a focus on these two countries bickering with one another. And this was all instigated by Donald Trump. So I actually literally found out about this on a live stream with Lance from the serfs. You can follow them on Twitch TV and you can see my reaction as it happened. And it's just, it's terrifying. Again, we don't know all of the details. The story is still a developing story, so there will be more information that is released. But this is certainly not good news. We can expect now Donald Trump to craft a response militarily speaking, and we don't necessarily know how far this will go. So, you know, this is certainly unfortunate but expected. I mean, when Donald Trump assassinated Qasem Soleimani, the expectation was that they would retaliate because there's public pressure for them to take action. And now they retaliated and now the United States will respond again. And as I stated, we don't know how far this is going to go, but it's not going to end well. And I hope that there were no casualties and I really hope that Donald Trump just leaves this there, doesn't respond. And now is the time to have the anti-war protests and take to the streets. Call your representative, call your U.S. Senator, let them know that war with Iran is not acceptable and we do not give the U.S. government authority to continue escalations. Donald Trump initiated this exchange, they responded, now let's call it done. That's that. But since Donald Trump is an egomaniac and a man baby, I don't suspect that that is going to be what will happen. Again, he already threatened them on Twitter with war crimes. He said he'd target cultural sites. He kind of walked away from that. We'll see. But if I had to take a guess, Donald Trump will most likely respond in some way and this is just not going to be good. So I'll leave that there when I have more information. I will update you guys with that. Look for the pinned comment to this video as we learn more. I will update that comment with more information but certainly be vigilant and make your voice heard. War with Iran is not acceptable. Last night, we all were waiting for Donald Trump's response because as many of you know, Iran claimed credit for ballistic missiles that were shot at two U.S. bases in Iraq and we were eager to learn how Donald Trump would respond. Would he try to deescalate or would he respond in the unhinged manner that we all kind of expected him to respond? And all that we got was a cryptic tweet from Donald Trump that says, All as well, missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties and damages taking place now. So far so good. So I mean, we don't know what to take away from that, but today it seems like I'm cautiously optimistic that maybe both parties are going to try to deescalate. Although I will say there is a caveat at the time I record this video. We just got word that two rockets reportedly landed in Baghdad's green zone, which is a little too close to comfort to the U.S. embassy. It's not necessarily surprising for this particular area, but nonetheless, we're all kind of on edge and we're hypersensitive to every little thing that happens currently, although it doesn't necessarily seem like this will lead to anything at the time I'm recording this. But about the attacks last night, we did learn that Iran notified Iraq about the missiles ahead of time, which diminished the prospect of death and destruction. And you know, it minimized the potential for U.S. personnel being hit, which is good. So now two questions remain that I think have been answered to a degree. One, is Iran done responding? Does this conclude their retaliation to Donald Trump's assassination of Qasem Salamani? And two, what will Donald Trump's response be? So let's go over the first. Is Iran done? Well, according to their foreign minister Javad Zarif, he confirmed via Twitter that their response is in fact concluded as of now. He writes, Iran took and concluded proportionate measures and self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter, targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched. We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression. So this is good news. The official position from the government of Iran is seemingly, we're done. That's it. We're concluding our response. Now, it's smart that they're stopping because any further escalation would, of course, provoke Donald Trump. We can't really predict his actions. It's very difficult. We know he's a man, maybe with a huge ego who doesn't want to look as if he's weak. He doesn't want to appear weak at all. So I'm glad that they're saying this is done. Although, you know, put a little bit of a pin in that because as Kyle Kalinsky reports via Twitter, there are rumors that the popular mobilization forces, Iraq, largely Shia paramilitary group, are unsatisfied with the Iranian response to the U.S. Their deputy commander Abu-Madi al-Muhandis was killed by the U.S. along with Soleimani. U.S. bases could potentially be targeted again. Now, let me remind you this is not confirmed. Of course, this is just a rumor, but it's important to stay vigilant regardless. However, again, the official position of the Iranian government is seemingly we're done. So that's good. Now, what is Donald Trump's response? Well, he released just under a 10-minute press conference today and it was riddled with factual errors and lies and it was almost unbearable to watch because he was doing more mouth-breathing than he usually does. But regardless, what he essentially signals to Iran and the world is that we are basically done escalating. Take a look. I'm pleased to inform you the American people should be extremely grateful and happy. No Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties. All of our soldiers are safe and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases. Our great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world. As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior. Iran's hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013 and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash. Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted death to America. In fact, they chanted death to America the day the agreement was signed. Then Iran went on a terror spree funded by the money from the deal and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. The very defective JCPOA expires shortly anyway and gives Iran a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout. Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism. The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China to recognize this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA. And we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous, untapped potential. Iran can be a great country. Peace and stability cannot prevail in the Middle East as long as Iran continues to foment violence, unrest, hatred, and war. The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime. Your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. It will not be allowed to go forward. The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration at a cost of $2.5 trillion. U.S. armed forces are stronger than ever before. Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal, and fast. Under construction are many hypersonic missiles. The fact that we have this great military equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it. We do not want to use it. ISIS is a natural enemy of Iran. The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran. And we should work together on this and other shared priorities. Finally, to the people and leaders of Iran. We want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve. One of prosperity at home and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it. We don't want to use that military if we don't have to. He says he wants to work with Iran to defeat ISIS. That's a good indication. And he says, quote, the U.S. is ready to embrace peace. This is a good sign. Again, it's very difficult to assess that tensions will kind of cool down currently, but we are getting some good signs that maybe cooler heads will prevail at least for now. Now, on top of that, he also wants a new Iran deal, which I just find hilarious, because you tore up the original Iran agreement, presumably because you didn't like that Obama was the one that got it achieved. Now, honestly, do you think that Iran is going to want to even come to the table with you? And do you think that you're going to get anything better than what Obama got? Especially now, it's just laughable. But nonetheless, the sentiment is what matters to me at this point. The sentiment is, let's try diplomacy, maybe it's not going to happen. It's not going to work, but let's try it. That's good coming from Donald Trump. And on top of that, I can't not point out some of the outrageous lies that he told. He said that hostilities increased after Obama signed the Iran deal. No, that did not happen. U.S. and Iran relations were better because of that deal. And on top of that, he talked about the money that we gave them. No, we gave them back the money that we withheld from them. So, I mean, there's a lot of lies in there. There's a lot of mouth breathing that I just found insufferable and difficult to get through. It was irritating the shit out of me for whatever reason. But on top of all of that, you know, putting all of that aside, essentially, it seems like both sides are signaling their intent to deescalate for now, assuming nothing else happens. So this is, I guess, a good sign. I'm optimistic, albeit cautiously so. Although don't allow people in the media to give Donald Trump credit for this, which they will, you know, he will receive credit for stopping war with Iran when we have to remind everyone that this individual started this kerfuffle in the first place by initiating the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Now, he tells us that the reason why this had to happen was because he was an imminent threat. Now, I don't find someone who's an imminent threat. You know, I don't find that person that much of a threat if you're bragging to your buddies at Mar-a-Lago that something big is going to happen in Iran. You just chose to do this because you have an ego and maybe you thought that this would benefit you politically. But we now know definitively, as if it wasn't already obvious, that there was no imminent threat. So in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Tulsi Gabbard pretty much confirmed what we already suspected. No, there was no imminent attack. Donald Trump's administration did not sufficiently make the case that we had to take this action. It was a useless escalation that is putting us in a position where we are worse off and peace is less likely. So I'm going to let her explain this is a clip from Tulsi Gabbard on CNN. We've heard Trump supporters and President Trump basically say, look, no American casualties and we took out a bad guy, Soleimani, a terrorist leader. What would your response to that be? Well, first, you know, I just came from the intelligence briefing that the administration came and brought to Congress. Really, they provided vague comments, no justification whatsoever for this illegal and unconstitutional act of war that President Trump took. You don't buy the imminent attack against Americans? No, they failed to provide any compelling information to prove their point of imminence. And really, it brings us to the central question here, which is, is our country's national security better off because of Donald Trump's actions and decisions? And the answer to that is no, in two primary ways. Number one is Iran is now in a position where they're not really abiding by any restrictions from the Iran nuclear agreement. They're continuing to escalate in speed towards developing their own nuclear weapons capabilities, creating a greater threat for us to our allies and partners and to the world. And secondly, because the troops that we have in Iraq now and the additional ones that this administration is sending there are no longer focused on what their mission there really has been, which is to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and al-Qaeda. The announcement from the commander that came from there that said, we're not doing that anymore because now we have to shift all of our efforts in focus in a defensive posture against Iran and Iranian-backed Shia militia. So there you have it. They provided vague comments, no justification whatsoever for killing Qasem Salamani, and, quote, they failed to provide any compelling information to prove their point of imminence. So this entire debacle, in other words, was started for no reason. We assassinated a leader of Iran, head of the Quds Force, for no good reason. So all of this could have been prevented. All of us worrying about war with Iran and the prospect of World War III for nearly a week could have been prevented if Donald Trump didn't choose to make this idiotic decision. So do not allow the media to give him credit for anything if we actually are escaping the prospect of war with Iran. Remind people, remind your peers that this individual is responsible for all of this. This escalation happened because of him. And do not let your foot off the gas. We still have to make sure that we take to the streets and demand peace. Call your senator, call your representative, make sure that they know that you do not consent to war with Iran. We can't just, you know, wash your hands of the situation and move on. I get that there are bigger issues, but the situation is still, I'm not going to say we're out of the woods yet, but I think that we're seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, possibly, but make sure that now you make your voice heard and you say loudly and clearly that war with Iran is not acceptable. And at this point, I will notify you of any further developments. Hopefully the Baghdad Green Zone story doesn't turn into anything. But for now, it seems like we can all maybe breathe a little bit easier. Knock on wood. This desk isn't wood, but nonetheless, you get the sentiment. Yeah, I'll leave that there. So as many of you know, we ended 2019 on a very positive note with Bernie Sanders surging in the polls, having a phenomenal debate performance. And going into 2020, we are already seeing even more encouraging news with regard to Bernie Sanders position in the polls. Now, I want to talk about a new poll from CBS and YouGov. But before we do that, part of the reason why Bernie Sanders currently is doing so well is because he is able to generate headlines based off of his fundraising. Because as many of you know, we haven't talked about this yet. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Bernie Sanders blew everyone else out of the water. He raised a total of $34.5 million, just $11.5 million less than Donald Trump, who is the incumbent president who doesn't have to split donations with other candidates. And this all came from individual small grassroots donors. Of course, as you all know, and Buttigieg, Biden and Warren raised $24.7, 22.7, and $21 million, respectively. And this is all with the help of billionaire donors, or if you're Joe Biden, you know, with the help of the Super PAC. And yes, even Elizabeth Warren has billionaire donors. I believe she has six currently. And on top of that, Bernie Sanders hit another milestone. He got all of his donations from 5 million individual donors. No other candidate is anywhere near reaching 5 million individual donors. That is absolutely astonishing. So before we even look at the polls, I want to tell you why this is so important. Because Bernie Sanders, by raising all of this money, especially through grassroots donors, it gives him staying power that no other candidate has. And even MSNBC of all places acknowledges that this is going to make him a force. Well, Joe, what it means is that Bernie Sanders has absolute staying power in this primary. He will be able to stay in this race as long as he wants to because his campaign is fueled by those small grassroots donations. That is what any candidate strives for is to have a campaign that is not built on large, significant donors who are maxing out. But on those small $15 to $20 contributions, Bernie Sanders has that. He will be able to stay in the race until, you know, until the last primary votes, if he wants to, until the last date votes. 5 million unique donations. That is nothing insignificant, especially when you have such a crowded primary. So, you know, hats off to Bernie Sanders. I think some big pivotal moments, they've really worked in his favor. I want Elizabeth Warren slipping a little bit in the polls around Medicare for all. And then, of course, AOC's endorsement was significant. He solidified his place as the far progressive candidate on the left, who can sort of cultivate that large base. He can also bring in some of those younger millennial voters that other candidates have had a difficult time to attract. And I'll tell you, Joe, I've said this many times on the show. I'll say it again. As somebody who worked on Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016, Never underestimate Bernie Sanders. He has staying power. He has a such a devoted base And again, you're gonna see this guy. I think continue to do very well Yeah, as we go through the early states and through Super Tuesday Now I am genuinely shocked that they're even giving him credit But you know, I predicted that there would be a point where he would rise so much that they wouldn't be able to actually, you know, not Represent the situation correctly. Like you have to acknowledge if somebody is doing well Especially if they're doing that well like at the beginning of this race Bernie Sanders was surging and there were few pundits that actually Acknowledged him as the front-runner prior to when Joe Biden entered the race But now they're starting to realize that this close to Iowa and New Hampshire You have to acknowledge that Bernie Sanders is in fact a force to be reckoned with now The reason why irrespective of polling it matters that the media Tells people that Bernie Sanders is doing good is because oftentimes in politics There's this thing known as the bandwagon effect where if you're a voter who you don't really follow politics very closely And you just kind of make your decision based on whichever way the political winds are blowing I know people like this that oftentimes if you see that someone is likely to win or gaining You might just want to support them Because everyone else is doing it hence why it's called the bandwagon effect So if people actually see that Bernie Sanders has a chance then they may just jump on board with Bernie Sanders because they view him as Someone who was likely to win so that's why even if you don't take into account polls Media coverage matters acknowledging that Bernie Sanders has raised 34 34.5 million that really really does matter now getting to the poll that is phenomenal This poll by CBS News and you gov demonstrates that he is the strongest He's been since Joe Biden entered the race when it comes to early primary states because he is now tied for first place in Iowa with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg all at 23 percent each But we'll get to average polls in a moment because it's even better when you look at his average position and in New Hampshire He is now officially in first place at 27 percent now Joe Biden is in a close second with 25 percent This is within the margin of error Elizabeth Warren trails now with 18 percent Pete Buttigieg slipped to 13 percent overall But I do want to point out something even though Bernie Sanders is in first and this is really good news. We should celebrate this We were wrong political commentators in indie media were absolutely dead wrong about Joe Biden myself included we Underestimated his performance now we were absolutely correct about you know the frequency of gaffes and him making a fool of himself But what we didn't take into account was whether or not the media would actually You know hit him for this and they're kind of giving him a pass So there's this type of Trumpian effect where Joe Biden will say something stupid sometimes offensive He'll call someone fat. He'll say things that are racially insensitive He'll say things that are just flat out incorrect and he kind of gets away with it like Donald Trump So that's one thing that I didn't necessarily predict So Joe Biden like it or not. He is a force to be pulling that high This late in the game. We can't not take him seriously We would be fools, you know to downplay the possibility of Joe Biden winning But with that being said I don't want to rain on this parade because Bernie Sanders is doing phenomenal And one really crucial thing to acknowledge is that at this point in time Bernie Sanders is doing better than he was in 2016. So long story short, you know We were right about the gaffes, but we were wrong about the impact that they'd have on Joe Biden's campaign He is in fact a threat, but there's a bit more information that I want to share with you from this poll So even though Joe Biden is a threat. He has the least Enthusiastic base of support in comparison with other front runners So Bernie Sanders does have the most enthusiastic base of support in Iowa with 67% of voters enthusiastic about their choice and the only candidate that even comes close to Bernie Sanders in terms of enthusiasm is Elizabeth Warren with 61% now This is really bad news for Joe Biden, especially in states with caucuses because enthusiasm is really going to be a key factor In their success here, but he does have electability still going for him So in the state of Iowa 38% of voters think that Joe Biden would win against Donald Trump to Sanders 29% and in the state of New Hampshire 36% of voters think that he'd win against Trump to Sanders 33% So there's good news and bad news the bad news is that voters still I think incorrectly believe that Joe Biden is the most Delectable, but the good news is that Bernie Sanders is starting to gain here. So based on this information that we have from this poll We have to hammer away at this electability argument We have to diminish this I think myth that Joe Biden is the most electable because I think he actually is incredibly vulnerable I think he's more electable than someone like Pete Buttigieg But he still would most likely lose to Donald Trump So progressives and the Bernie Sanders campaign have really got to start to hammer this message home And I think that we're starting to see that strategy play out because you have the Guardian publish a piece by Nathan J. Robinson Which is phenomenal titled stop saying Biden is the most electable Trump will run rings around him Did we learn nothing from 2016 Trump is savagely effective at destroying establishment politicians and Biden would lose and Also in an interview with Los Angeles Times Bernie Sanders even stressed this as well saying quote if you are if you're Donald Trump and you got Biden having voted for the war in Iraq Biden having voted for these terrible in my view trade agreements Biden haven't voted for the bankruptcy bill Trump will eat his lunch. So that is a really important message now to hammer home disputing his electability Should be I think our number one priority because if we can dispute this notion that Joe Biden is the most electable Then when you take into account the bandwagon effect that's currently possible We have the potential to convince Joe Biden supporters who are basically clinging to him Because they believe he's the most electable to jump ship and go to Bernie Sanders. That's assuming that they don't prioritize policy You know over everything else But if they truly believe that Joe Biden is the person they should vote for because he's the most electable We have an opportunity to win them over and we're starting to kind of gain some traction with regard to electability and Bernie Sanders chances. We just have to continue to hammer that point home But at this point in time, you know, we would downplay Joe Biden's chances at our own peril He is a threat at this point in time if you are you know a month away from Iowa and New Hampshire And you're still a front runner We would be idiotic to not take Joe Biden seriously, so we can't downplay him However, with that being said, there's still more good news that I want to share with you. So at this point in time It's January 6th Bernie Sanders is doing better than he was doing in 2016 And Joe Biden isn't as strong as Hillary Clinton was at this point in time He is strong but not as strong as Hillary Clinton and we almost beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 So let's look at aggregate polling data. So currently according to real clear politics polling averages Bernie Sanders is about 10 points behind Joe Biden, but he is currently on the rise now at this point in 2016 Hillary Clinton had a 20-point lead on Bernie Sanders on January 6th 2016 Hillary Clinton had 20 points on him That's not the case with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders this time around now Bernie Sanders has also taken the lead in Iowa according to aggregate polling data Although, you know, he is technically in a statistical tie overall with Pete Buttigieg But at this point in time in 2016 Hillary Clinton had a 12.5 point lead over Bernie Sanders And she ended up winning in Iowa by only 0.2 percent, which is technically a Statistical tie in New Hampshire Bernie Sanders is now officially in the lead and has a four-point advantage over Joe Biden Who was in second place now at this point in time in 2016 Bernie Sanders only had a 2.5 lead over Hillary Clinton But ultimately ended up winning that state with 22 points. So there is real potential here now some bad news Biden is currently in the lead in the state of Nevada And he has a nine-point advantage in South Carolina Biden has an 18.7 percent advantage Although in California Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are currently in a statistical tie But in Texas Joe Biden has a 12 point advantage over Bernie Sanders and in Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren is the one with the advantage. She is currently pulling ahead with about six points So the overall takeaway is that Bernie Sanders is currently surging and he's doing better now At this point in time in the race then he was doing back in 2016 However, I don't want us to get overly cocky and arrogant I don't want us to you know downplay Joe Biden's chances because there is a Possibility that he could still become the nominee which I think would be Devastating because I do believe Joe Biden ultimately would lose to Donald Trump because those same people who will come out to vote for Joe Biden they come out to vote for Bernie Sanders, but the goal and the way that we beat Donald Trump is we get Disaffected voters to turn out people who have never voted before young people We get them to turn out and then we can actually beat Donald Trump I think that the Democrat no matter who it is is probably going to win the popular vote most likely right Based on polling now. However, what we need to do is win the Electoral College That's how we win and we need someone who can win the rust belt Joe Biden Can't do that having supported the trade deals that Trump will inevitably hammer him for so I want us to be Confident but cautiously optimistic and the overall takeaway that I want you to have from this is Okay, we're surging Let's not just you know throw our hands up in the air and take a break No, now is the time to really put your feet on the pedal and go You know a hundred percent all in for Bernie Sanders because we have to defend what we've managed to achieve And on top of that we have to grow our lead still because it's not just good enough To lead and take first place. That's not good enough because understand that pledge delegates are awarded proportionally So even if Bernie Sanders comes in first place with 27% Well, the Joe Biden really does come in second place in New Hampshire with 25% They're not that far off in the grand scheme of things So we have to play a really smart long game and acknowledge that this is a marathon. It's not a sprint So we have to pace ourselves and acknowledge that you know, these polling numbers are incredibly volatile so we have to defend what we've managed to accomplish and Continue to push harder and harder and make sure that our relatives know that Joe Biden is not the safe bet He's the gamble Bernie Sanders is the safe bet polling tells us that people in New Hampshire and Iowa Still incorrectly believe that Joe Biden is the most electable and safest bet We have to dispute that notion and we have to do it in a very fierce and passionate way Otherwise, we may not be able to convince Joe Biden supporters to jump ship And they need to if they actually do want to be Donald Trump. So overall, this is really great news But whenever I share this great news with you, I don't want you to become complacent I want you to be more encouraged to fight even harder because that's the political reality The establishment isn't just going to let Bernie Sanders win easily. They're going to pull out tricks possibly They're going to bring out people in the media to smear him and try to stop him You know, I believe that establishment figures like Obama will try to stop Bernie Sanders He's hinted that this would be the case even though there's been articles saying no, he'd support whoever's the nominee Right, but we have to win first and I don't believe they're just going to let him win easily So this surge even though it's good news It does make Bernie Sanders susceptible to attacks from elites not just from the Democratic Party establishment But pundits as well and we have to defend what we've managed to achieve and push harder to grow that lead And I'll leave that there great news So for those who are longtime viewers of the humanist report I have talked for years now on this program that we need electoral reform It's not necessarily something that I over-emphasize, but I always touch on it Like we need to make sure that we have more than just two parties because the two-party duopoly isn't working It's just a bunch of ghouls who serve the same Financial interests that are ruining the country ruining the planet and we need more options because two options isn't enough Especially considering they're not really, you know that different So AOC a member of the squad is someone who has been doing I think a phenomenal job at representing progressives in Congress She's not perfect, but nobody is but she said something that really speaks to one of my issues with the political system that there aren't enough choices and because of our two-party duopoly we're essentially in the situation where conservatives get their own party and centrists and the left and socialists are forced to share a party which It doesn't make for a great political alliance given that, you know, we don't just have Different goals, but our goals are diametrically opposed to the goals of Centrists we want Medicare for all. They're actively trying to stop Medicare for all We want tuition free public colleges and universities and they don't even want to go that far, you know we'd be lucky to find someone that supports the first two years of Community college being free for example in the Democratic Party who's a centrist so we butt heads a lot and This is causing a lot of friction within the Democratic Party and it's allowing Republicans to dominate and it shouldn't be this way So AOC expressed this and I wanted to share what she had to say because she essentially summarized My take over the last, you know, several years. It's been my take forever But for those of you who have been listening to the podcast, you know that I've been saying something similar to this So as Quint Forgey of Politico writes Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview published Monday that Democrats nationwide can cultivate too big of a tent Asserting that she and her party's 20-20 front-runner former vice president Joe Biden would be in different political parties in any other nation Asked for a profile by New York magazine about what role she might play as a member of Congress Should Biden capture the White House the freshman House Democrat from New York responded with a groan Oh God, she said in any other country Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party But in America we are a spokesperson for the Biden campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Yeah, my thoughts exactly We should not be sharing a party with centrists because Conservatives, you know, they get to share a party with people that they largely agree with. I mean there are certainly differences Within the Republican Party there. I think the biggest difference is likely the neocons and libertarians But also you have, you know, fundamentalist evangelicals in that party along with individuals who are more nationalistic and xenophobic But at the end of the day, they all have intersecting goals, whereas that's not the case in the Democratic Party We are pushing for changes radical reforms that Conflict with what the Democratic Party wants because they have donors that don't want to enact the changes That we want to enact because that threatens them Existentially health care being the number one example, but when she says that, you know, we can cultivate a tent. That's too big Yeah, Democrats boast about, you know, the Democratic Party being a big tent and they don't realize that that's not actually a good thing When you have a tent that's too big that leads to ideological incoherency, right? It becomes difficult to assess what any particular individual believes in the Democratic Party because when you vote for a party People use and political science research indicates this people use party labels as information shortcuts So when you see Democrat, you know, you can assume a number of things about them They are in favor of the women's reproductive rights They're in favor of LGBTQ rights, for example, when you see a Republican that means they're going to be more fiscally and socially conservative But I mean it's getting to the point now where when you look at that Democrat label, you don't know what it means You could be looking at someone who is Centrist maybe even center-right or someone who's a socialist and that just doesn't make for a good political alliance especially considering our ideologies are Butting heads with one another, right? I mean, it's not even like the Democratic Party is comprised of reformers like Elizabeth Warren that in and of itself would be an issue But we need Radical change and we can't get radical change so long as we are being dragged down by Democrats and I've said this before and there's really no way to facilitate this But Democrats need to be the de facto right-wing party and we need a new progressive party either that or we need party Realignment where all of the conservative Democrats flee the party and they go to the Republican Party and then the Centrists and the right-wingers are forced to duke it out. Why should we have to battle with people who are Not going to fight for what we believe in we want Medicare for all they're trying to stop Medicare for all but Republicans and Centrist Democrats they both don't agree with Medicare for all so they should be in the same party They're the ones who should be sharing that ideal ideological space not us, right? So that's why my hopes is that if we don't get electoral reform in the near future One we keep pushing for ranked-choice voting because that's an easy reform to enact at the state level especially, you know via ballot initiative But two I hope that in the event Bernie becomes the nominee this catalyzes party Realignment where centrist Democrats are so you know against the idea of a social Democrat running the party that they leave the party They joined the Republican Party now if this were to happen This is something that rarely happens the media would freak out because they would see this as oh well Bernie is destroying the party But every once in a while that has to happen, right? You have to have party realignment so that way, you know You have overlap with the voters of the party that they're supposed to represent and the app actual You know elected members of that party. It's incredibly important. So that's what I hope but you know long story short AOC is Absolutely explaining very eloquently What I've said for years now there now there's a little bit more that I want to share Ocasio-Cortez also offered criticism in Monday's story for congressional Democrats Accusing her party's lawmakers of too often working to appease the interests of their most conservative members She has frequently broken with House Democratic leadership since assuming office in January 2019 For so long when I first got in people were like oh You are going to basically be a tea party of the left and what people don't realize is that there is a tea party of the left But it's on the right edges the most conservative parts of the Democratic Party Ocasio-Cortez said so the Democratic Party has a role to play in this problem And it's like we're not allowed to talk about it We're not allowed to talk about anything wrong the Democratic Party does she continued I think I have created more room for dissent and we're learning to stretch our wings a little bit on the left Ocasio-Cortez said the Congressional Progressive Caucus of which she is a member should expel lawmakers without adequate liberal Bonafides Charging that they let anybody with the cat dragged in call themselves progressives. There's no standard. That is exactly it So the takeaway is that we don't have to just settle we can keep pushing for change now ideally I would love to see you know a system where we have proportional representation We increase the district magnitude from one to three which just means that instead of us voting for one member of Congress You know, maybe we vote for one member of Congress But the candidates with the top three scores or top top three percentage totals all go to Congress, right? We need change but in the short term rank choice voting is something that actually can work It has made a green party Senate candidate viable in the state of Maine But on top of that in the event Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee that is our path towards party realignment Possibly again, there's no way to really facilitate this, right? But we can just hope it happens if he's the nominee I don't think it would happen right away But if he becomes president you're going to see individuals possibly like Joe Manchin want to flee the party because they feel as if That's what's going to help them become more electorally viable in the future So at the end of the day AOC is absolutely right we should not be forced to share a party with Centrists, why doesn't the far right have to share the same party with individuals like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi? We're forced to share when they should be forced to share So the message is that we're taking over this party and anyone who isn't progressive who isn't a leftist or a Socialist social Democrat or Democratic Socialist? I don't care, but if you're not on the left and you're in the center You leave because we're taking over this party because we need a party that actually Represents the left in this country and not just two right-wing parties one center, right one far, right? So with less than a month away from the Iowa caucus Bernie Sanders is very clearly Changing his electoral strategy and he is implementing a Technique that I've been wanting him to use for months now. He's attacking He's going after Joe Biden and you know, he's not just thoughtlessly attacking him He's being I think really sophisticated in the way he approaches, you know a negative Discussion about Joe Biden and he's being realistic Joe Biden is not someone who's the most electable about Donald Trump and I recently made the case when we talked about Bernie surge that we have to really Hammer away at the fact that Bernie Sanders not Joe Biden is the most electable and that Joe Biden really is Susceptible to all of Donald Trump's attacks that worked on Hillary Clinton. He's vulnerable, right? We risk losing to Donald Trump in the event Joe Biden is the nominee, but yet you have a lot of voters still You know basing their support on Joe Biden Primarily because they believe he's the safest choice going up against Donald Trump But our duty now is to educate them and let them know that Joe Biden actually is a risky bet You're gambling with him. We just ran a moderate four years ago And if we do it again, we're not going to get a different result most likely Joe Biden will lose It's not a foregone conclusion. Nobody is but if we want the best chance To beat Donald Trump, we have to you know Excite the base and the only person who can do that Is Bernie Sanders. So thankfully not only is he going on the offensive, but he is arguing Against Biden's electability and making the case for himself, which is something that now Is a really important thing to do. So I mean, you know, I've been pushing him to you know, attack Biden and hit him hard It seems like Bernie Sanders was waiting for the right time to strike and a month before Iowa Maybe he just feels like this is the time to strike. But regardless I think it's important and what he said here in an interview with Anderson Cooper and CNN Was incredibly important and crucial because people who only watch mainstream media They're now only hearing this for the first time because I mean if you tune into indie media You know that we don't believe Joe Biden is very electable, right? But mainstream news consumers They don't hear that they've never really thought they've just heard that, you know, Joe Biden is the most electable So they haven't really thought about this thoroughly But when Bernie Sanders paints this picture for them about what a trump versus biden, you know, general election would look like I think it really will hopefully wake people up. Take a look You said recently about vice president biden His record you said to the washington post quote is just a lot of baggage that joe takes into a campaign Which isn't going to create energy and excitement Um, is there something specifically you were referring to in terms of baggage? Sure, I mean look, I joe and I are friends and I truly like joe But what is imperative is that we defeat trump the most dangerous president In modern history and that means you're gonna have to have a huge voter turnout You're gonna have to get working people excited. You're gonna have to get young people excited joe biden Voted and helped lead the effort for the war in iraq the most dangerous Foreign policy blunder in the modern history of this country joe biden voted for the disastrous trade agreements like nafta And permanent normal trade relations with china, which cost us millions of jobs You think that's going to play well in michigan or wisconsin or pennsylvania You know joe biden has been on the floor of the senate talking about the need to Cut social security or medicare or medicaid Uh, joe biden pushed a bankruptcy bill which has caused enormous financial problems for working families So if we're gonna beat trump we need turnout and to get turnout you need energy and excitement And I just don't think that that kind of record is going to bring forth the energy that we need to defeat trump So that is incredibly important and my only recommendation to bernie sanders is to create ads And run those types of ads You know explaining all these horrible things that joe biden did and how trump will use them against him In states like, you know, new hampshire south carolina nevada In fact, I would prioritize nevada and south carolina because his ground game in iowa and new hampshire currently I think that will suffice But he has a lot of ground to make up in south carolina and he's still falling behind In um nevada. So if you really show to voters That joe biden is a risk and he probably won't be able to excite the base enough to get out the vote Then I think maybe you can change some minds now I think that there's going to be a number of joe biden supporters that will be loyal to him because they just are more centrist ideologically speaking But a lot of people they're just casual consumers Of you know, uh political news. They don't necessarily follow it too closely I think that we can get some of them Like we're not going to be able to convert a lot of joe biden supporters But for people who are primarily basing their decision to support joe biden on electability I do believe we can get a lot of those people and I think a substantial portion Of biden's base of support is comprised of people Specifically supporting him because they think well, you know what? I just want to get trump out of office and I think biden is our best bad We have to wake those people up and make them see that we're playing a dangerous game You're rolling the dice. You're gambling, you know with your fate And we've got to get trump out now. I was actually surprised that How many things bernie sanders decided to bring up the vote for the iraq war? Uh the trade deals. How do you think that's going to play in wisconsin michigan pennsylvania? Uh the bankruptcy bill he talked about how biden wants to cut social security medicare medicare Brilliant this is incredibly important because that's how you convert people who are older because You know aside from that electability Myth that people are you know basing their support of biden on there's also a generational divide Let's face it older people don't like bernie sanders, but they love biden younger people love bernie sanders But dislike biden so we also need to try to convert over Older voters um and if they know That he most likely will team up with republicans to cut social security That's another way you get them to jump ship and support bernie sanders who has you know vociferously said I will not cut social security. In fact, we've got to expand social security lift the cap on taxable income So this is really important. I'm so thankful that bernie sanders is finally, you know explaining to people educating them That joe biden is not the most electable now on top of that We have this from robert costa in the washington post Who writes sanders also cast biden as part of the political elite cozy with wall street and unable to confront major financial institutions because of his record such as his support for the bank bailout in 2008 People are tired of the traditional types of campaigns in which candidates like joe biden Are running to wealthy people's homes and raising large sums of money sanders said again really important We're still in an anti establishment era in american politics. So doing, you know business as usual all of these Private fundraisers and the hamptons with elites That isn't going to suffice and the media isn't going to talk about this So it's incumbent on candidates like bernie sanders and also commentators like myself To point out that if you truly want representation if you want someone who's going to fight for you You can't vote for someone who's doing fundraisers in the hamptons Probably promising rich people not only positions in his administration But promising them policy concessions or at least to fight for them. You know, this is the way the politics works There's this cozy relationship with elites and then you vote in a politician and they do nothing And then when you look at who gave to their campaign and who they associated with oh, you see it makes sense You know, we didn't vet obama in 2008. I didn't vet obama That was the first time I was old enough to vote And I voted for obama and I thought that he would actually bring about true change But I wasn't paying attention to all of the money that he was raising from wall street Right, so we have to make sure that people know about these kinds of things And candidates have got to educate voters about this and bernie sanders is now Carrying out the right strategy. He's saying pretty bluntly, you know, joe biden is not your best bet If electability is what you care about you are making a mistake to go with joe biden So effectively what bernie sanders is communicating to voters here is that joe biden is going to lose to donald trump That's basically what he's trying to say because all trump has to do is run as a pseudo populist once again and I think that people are going to uh Not necessarily buy it But believe what trump says about joe biden So what we need is an excited base as bernie sanders said who will come out and vote for joe biden If you're someone who's you know on the fence about voting because you live in a state with voter ID laws And you work so you're not gonna have time to stand in line and vote for joe biden You know if you hear donald trump say that he's cozy with elites and he supports all of these trade deals that sends jobs overseas Do you think that as a self-interested voter you're going to take the time to come out and vote for biden? Of course not we saw how this played out In 2016 with hillary clinton, so we don't even need to go through these hypothetical situations with joe biden versus donald trump We've seen what happens when you run a moderate Against donald trump. He wins So bernie here is making a powerful case Against this myth that joe biden is the most electable Nobody is a foregone conclusion But if we truly want a good chance of beating drum bernie is the safest bet not joe biden joe biden would most likely lose to donald trump At a fundraiser on tuesday joe biden doubled down or actually he tripled down technically on the claim That once donald trump is out of office all of a sudden republicans will have this epiphany And they'll start actually being good people Yeah, um, it's such a laughable claim that i literally can't say it with a straight face because we all know that That's bogus now. He said this once we talked about this and i think it was july or august He said something similar to that. He loves praising republican So i've lost count at this point, but in november He also said this with donald trump out of the way you're going to see a number of my republican colleagues Have an epiphany mark my words mark my words Okay Now he has since extended that theory To include another republican a very specific republican who has been the most obstructionist mitch mcconnell so It's not just regular republicans congressional republicans who will have this epiphany once trumps out of office It's also mitch mcconnell. He's also going to change once trump is out of office All right, so let's Let's see what he said. Um, this is kind of long-winded, but i want to give you the full context So this is his remarks think about what you're willing to do personally You're in a group whether it is a tennis group a golf club a sewing circle a reading group Wherever it is and you got nine people in the group and five of them have a view on where in fact We're on on a position and four on the other side And one of the five thinks that well, maybe the four are correct But unless they're pretty damn sure that if they go with that Other group they're gonna win. It's not worth dying on a small cross. So what do you do? You stay away. I predicted once we found that we took back the house You would find members of the house of representatives who thought that some of the policies being proposed by the administration Were wrong start to step up No sense in stepping up when you're going to lose anyway Because then you're in real trouble with your own outfit But it becomes worth it if you step up and it actually changes policy That's what you are beginning to see in the house and that's what you begin to see in the senate I'm not suggesting all of a sudden everyone's going to project a new sense of courage and political courage What i'm suggesting is that the dynamic changes when the right vote as opposed to the vote you don't agree with Becomes a possibility if you vote for it But when this is So long-winded, but when it's not a possibility if you vote for it There's no sense in doing it because all you're doing is going to be ostracized by your outfit and nothing's going to change That's just the way human nature works think about it in your own lives That's how politics works. And so that's why I think you're going to see even mitch mcconnell changing some ideas or being more How can I say mildly cooperative? Now he reportedly paused. I don't have the video this he paused before he said that and then the crowd kind of laughed So he was watching his words But he is literally saying he believes that once trump is out of office even mitch mcconnell will be more cooperative And what he's trying to basically I think say is that the social pressure to conform will be gone once trump is out of office um Except the problem with that is i'm not sure if joe biden missed the obama years But mitch mcconnell is the individual who literally stole a supreme court vacancy from obama Oh, wait joe biden was actually part of obama's administration But yet here he is Saying that mitch mcconnell is going to change Mitch mcconnell Is now bragging about being obstructionist and he has stated in multiple times that in the events a supreme court vacancy becomes available This year during an election year. He's going to fill it So he's just being obstructionist bragging about it and then boasting about what he managed to accomplish He blocked obama from Putting federal judges on courts and now he's allowing donald trump To stack those positions now one in four federal judges Have been appointed by donald trump. So for joe biden to say this there's really no way to you know Describe what he's saying here as other than just insanity like you can't even be kind here like this is Moronic to say something like that. What an imbecilic thing to suggest does he honestly believe this like I genuinely believe that joe biden Actually thinks this like he's that naive and it's not necessarily because You know, he thinks that mitch mcconnell is a good person But because joe biden himself is very conservative. He identifies with republicans. He praises republicans constantly So, I mean, why not just run as a republican joe? I get that you were already part of a democratic administration But your policies are closer to republicans in many ways than they are to the left I mean you side with them when it comes to being against medicare for all you're not in favor of tuition for republic colleges and universities You've been incredibly hawkish throughout your career. You are arguably still a segregationist You're just a bad person who's only looking out for yourself. You have an ego like just join the republicans You keep praising them. You clearly want to be with them Join them We don't want you in the democratic party. You do not represent what the left wants. You will not excite young voters You will not galvanize the electorate Move on. We're tired of you and your kind Fucking up the democratic party like this was a party that used to be actually progressive And now I mean the line that separates democrats and republicans increasingly is becoming more and more blurred And I mean He honestly believes That he's going to be able to get republicans to work with him and part of this I think is naivete But another part of this is more cynical a more cynical thing that you could take away I think that he wants to actually fulfill a lot of their agenda He's indicated before he wants to cut social security He is incredibly hawkish. So when he says that republicans will work with him Really, I don't necessarily believe Believe that he thinks that republicans will come to the democratic party side I think that what he's kind of signaling to us in a roundabout way is he's going to meet them More than halfway That's the only thing that we can take away from this because a rational human being who sees how obstructionist the republican party was During the obama years who sees how you know obstructionist mitch mcconnell is and brags about it wrote a book bragging about this I mean, there's no other thing that you can take away from this if you genuinely believe joe that they're going to work with you It's because you are carrying out their agenda and not a left agenda So I can tell you this People who are young are not going to be excited to vote for joe biden people who are disaffected who haven't voted Are not going to suddenly come out and vote for joe biden Because they believe that he can defeat donald trump or they want to defeat donald trump people don't vote Against people people vote for people and for people politicians with actual platforms and not policy agenda So, I mean joe biden, it's like a train wreck, right? You're seeing an iceberg and we're all on the titanic and we're just sailing right towards it with joe biden If he wins trump wins, right? If he's the nominee I truly believe that trump will mop the fucking floor with him. This individual is naive So I am sick of joe biden the fact that he is still a frontrunner In january of 2020 should scare everyone Thankfully the good news is that we have a reason to be optimistic since bernie sanders is currently surging And there's recognition from the mainstream media. They actually is a threat and he can win So let's all make sure that we go that extra step that extra mile to make sure that bernie does win because if we truly Want to defeat donald trump and avoid war with ron Joe biden's got to be defeated. It's that simple So when it comes to the left's electoral strategy against joe biden I have previously said that we need to emphasize that he is not electable going up against donald trump so we've got to hammer that home and Make sure that people know That if they are voting for joe biden In hopes that he's going to be the best most safest bet to defeat donald trump They're in for a rude awakening come november But another thing that we also have to hammer away at is another one of his vulnerabilities He is painfully corrupt like hillary clinton. He's in the pocket of wall street. He has a super pack He's doing private fundraisers with elites in the hamptons And he's taking money from some of the most egregious people in the country So it took decades for him to finally admit that his crime bill Didn't work out too great to say the least right? And he only did so begrudgingly because he knew he had to because he's running for president So you can't run On the crime bill being good in 2020 when we all see what a demonstrable failure that was but the problem is What he says now is meaningless because what he's doing now indicates to us that he hasn't actually changed He's taking money from individuals who are private prison Profiteers and that's not even considering all of the money He's raked in from private health insurance companies who literally profit By ripping us off So a new report by the intercepts ida chavez actually explains Who is helping to prop up joe biden's campaign quote after decades of championing legislation That escalated mass incarceration Former vice president joe biden released the criminal justice plan Seeking to reverse key provisions of the 1994 crime bill He helped write the wide-ranging proposal which he rolled out roughly a week before the second democratic presidential primary debate in july Would ban private prisons and reduce incarceration? It also takes a clear stance on those who are cashing in on the prison system Stopped corporations from profiteering off of incarceration His website reads but one of biden's top fundraisers michael f. Nidorf is the ceo and chair of Centine a health insurance company That's a major player in the prison health care market Prisons and facilities in 16 states have contracted out their health care services to centurion Which is owned by the 60 billion dollar health insurance company according to its website This year nidorf has also donated to the national republican senatorial committee the democratic congressional campaign committee And the reelection campaigns of republican senators david purdue lindsay graham and susan carlands As well as democratic senator jeans sheheen fec filing show biden's platform vows to end the federal government's use of private prisons By building off an obama era policy that was rescinded by the trump administration Along with ending the use of private facilities for any detention Including the tension of undocumented immigrants neither the biden campaign nor centine responded to a request for comment So, I mean, what do you think this is going to lead to if centine and someone who is the ceo of that company? Profits off of private prisons Do we honestly Trust that joe biden is going to do away with private prisons He has this reform currently, but he'll introduce it theoretically speaking if he's elected And then what's going to be one of the first provisions that he chips away at The ban on private prisons and guess what there's going to be a lot of other stooges and congress that will go along with him Because this individual is a ghoul that's bank rolling individuals in both political parties Including the d triple c So, I mean you can't take anyone seriously Who claims that they are supporting a policy? But they're taking money from these special interests that financially benefit from that like if bernie sanders Was talking about medicare for all but taking money from health industry CEOs and doing fundraisers at their mansions I'm sorry. I wouldn't believe that he was serious about medicare for all because this is a corrosive influence These fundraisers influence elected officials, right? When you hold a fundraiser for someone running for president, oftentimes you want something in return I mean, it's no coincidence that all of these rich people end up getting jobs as ambassadors to somewhere Both in trump and obama's administration This is just the way that politics works and we've become you know accustomed to it Like it's not just a coincidence that that happens, right? This isn't a direct quid pro quo But it is a quid pro quo functionally speaking because they donate and then they get a job That's how betsy devos was able to buy her way into donald trump's administration So of course that's why this individual michael nidorf is giving donations to joe biden You know, he's a top fundraiser to biden because he knows that like a good little stooge Joe biden is going to do exactly What he wants and look joe biden before had previously admitted That it's human nature for you to be influenced by someone who helps you out who donates to your campaign Yeah, no shit Sherlock, but all of a sudden we're supposed to believe the opposite That taking all of this money doesn't corrupt you. This is what peep Buddha judge says This is what biden often refers to and this is what the media, uh, you know implies They will never actually Point out the fact that the reason why things are the way that they are is because of money in politics, right? We have economized the entire electoral process. It's about money So if you want a policy issue To be passed Then it's about lobbying how much money you spend to get a politician elected and to lobby them to do the right thing Or the wrong thing in many instances in most instances So, I mean, this is just this is disgusting, right? Why believe joe biden at this point if you're still a joe biden supporter And you know that he's taking all of this money Why would you believe that he's going to fight for you? The answer is I don't think You assuming you're a biden supporter watching this are dumb enough to believe that I just don't I don't believe anyone Is that naive what I think people are basing their votes and support for joe biden on Is this myth that he's the most electable to take on donald trump? But let me remind you what happened in 2016 Donald trump called out hillary clinton's corruption and he was right about that And he hammered her he hammered her for her horrible record You know the trade deals that she supported such as nafta the tpp And he called her out for being a warmonger now. He can't necessarily You know uh called joe biden a warmonger now and have the credibility to do just that Since he's currently trying to escalate into a war with the ron Nonetheless though people don't like the iraq war so trump can still say that I was right about that and trump was wrong About or biden was wrong about that So I mean What do you say in this situation other than If you think that joe biden is most electable you're fooling yourself and if you think he's going to represent you You're not that naive wake up joe biden is going to lose to donald trump and in the event He's able to beat donald trump nothing will get accomplished that helps normal americans Maybe he does a couple of good things Maybe he reverses some of the things some of the executive orders that donald trump put in place But if you honestly believe that he's going to change your life You are horribly mistaken unless you're already very wealthy and after you know four years or eight years of joe biden Can you imagine after people are even more? You know demoralized and desperate Who are we gonna elect then? Steve king roi morris president. I mean it's only getting worse. We went from george w bush to you know donald trump Presidents who make ronald reagan seem like a libtard cuck So I mean we've got to wake up at some point and realize That we are voting against our own self-interest if we keep electing corporate democrats You have a chance to elect someone who is going to have revolutionary change on his agenda Maybe he's not going to be successful. Maybe he only gets 10 percent of his agenda through congress But regardless 10 percent is much more than we can expect from joe biden even assuming He passes half of his agenda, which he won't so I mean What do you say about this joe biden is a fraud and really he should be running as a republican because that's basically What his actions indicate he is he's more of a republican than Even a liberal. He's not a lefty I'm just sick of him. The fact that he's still leading in the polls is incredibly frustrating at this point But this you know, this isn't over yet. Bernie is surging. Bernie can win We just have to work work that much harder to make sure that bernie wins And biden isn't the one who comes out on top because if he is the nominee We're all fucked and donald trump gets another four years Something is happening currently in america the wins of politics are starting to change and We're starting to see the establishment collectively realize all at once That bernie sanders might actually be able to pull this off We've seen you know inklings an article here and there But just over the course of the last week to get a sense of just how quickly they're all realizing He actually has a chance. I mean look at all of the articles that came out ranging from articles in news week To the wall street journal of all places who don't just think he can be the nominee But think he can be the president they're realizing that They're having to grapple with the prospect of a bernie sanders nomination And a bernie sanders presidency and it's really nice to see And at some point i'm sure that they're going to you know Bring out the big guns like obama and clinton to campaign against bernie sanders so they can somehow stop his momentum But for now it's really nice to see them all collectively recognize for the most part That bernie sanders might be unstoppable at this point now, of course nothing is a foregone conclusion I always add that caveat. You know, he still has to fight really hard for it We all have to work really hard for this goal and the fact that i'm sharing this good news to you With you shouldn't you know encourage you to Let your foot off the gas you should in fact make more calls for bernie sanders knock on more doors That should be our response because the higher he goes the more vulnerable he becomes because the establishment And capital they're not just going to roll over and die. They're not going to let him win the nomination Without a huge fight. So we have to work for this However, still knowing what bernie sanders has behind him 34.5 million In fundraising in that fourth quarter of december 5 million individual donations Almost, uh, what is it now 1.5? It might be higher million individual donors And a gigantic movement all galvanized all extremely enthusiastic. They're kind of realizing that We might not be able to stop him now someone who is no friend to progressives David axl roddy's actually a former obama administration official, you know works for cnn He kind of admitted that look if i had to choose anyone, you know currently I think that bernie sanders is in the best position now. This is the only clip i could find so hopefully it's not too unbearable But what he said here was incredibly interesting. I wanted to Play his remarks so i could talk about it Let's talk a little let's talk more about the positioning that you just mentioned there because this is Let's put up the cbs poll to biden is in a three-way tie with bernie sanders and manopee putages For first in iowa whose position of those three would you rather be in? Uh, you know, that's that's really hard to say. I think sanders probably because I you know, he is almost invulnerable here Uh, he has he raised more money than anyone else. He's got a very committed core of supporters He's gonna do reasonably well in iowa. He could win iowa. Didn't people but right involved? Yeah, they did. I mean, I think the the thing that we should we relearn this lesson every four years Which is don't jump to any conclusions About iowa or a presidential race too early. There are too too many dynamics things change He's come back smartly So he goes on to talk about elizabeth warren and I tried to find the full clip But I can't find it anywhere. See and it hasn't posted it Um, but that really that says so much to me what he said there Tells me that even if you know, we're correct to assume that the establishment will You know pull some type of trick bring out obama to campaign against bernie sanders It might be too late. He says sanders is almost invulnerable here. He raised more money than anyone else He's got a very committed core of supporters And that's exactly it It's still the case that joe biden is the frontrunner when you look at aggregate polling data Nationally speaking he's pulling in first place But bernie sanders is doing really well in early primary states He could very well win iowa. He is positioned currently to win New Hampshire and in the event he wins those first two states. Hopefully that can kind of Improve his odds in nevada and south carolina But going into super tuesday He has a really good shot and there's a lot of delegates to be won on super tuesday Which i believe is march 29th and on that day like we're looking at a situation where we could see you know, if not A standout emerge the top two or three candidates kind of come out on top and the field could really be narrowed People are realizing in the establishment That anything that they did before to try to stop bernie sanders the smears The allegations that he's a hypocrite because he wrote a book and is now a millionaire None of it worked Because the reason why bernie sanders supporters support him is because of policy Now you might not necessarily know that if you tuned into mainstream media because there was literally a guest on there Who claimed that his supporters don't actually care about policy? In fact, we'll play that clip really quickly before i talk about that the idea There was going to be a progressive battle between bernie sanders and elizabeth mourn It was never something to have much resonance with me because that presumes that bernie sanders supporters are supporting him Primarily for policy purposes and that's not really what's going on A lot of his core base support like him because they see him as sort of a political and democratic savior type characters See it's such a ridiculous statement to make because the opposite is actually true The complete opposite is true bernie sanders has such a loyal following Because we are committed to policy the reason why none of the media smears and attempts from political elites To you know bring him down haven't worked is because at the end of the day We are voting based on policy and there is nobody in that race that comes anywhere near The policies that bernie sanders is offering and even if anyone is a relative second in terms of progressivism in that race He's the one with the movement that can actually get these policies codified into law Which is why nothing that they tried to do has been able to stop bernie sanders and that's really encouraging to see Now as usual again, I want to stress that we do not have this wrapped up just yet If he becomes the nominee then we have to battle to get him into the white house But what I want you to take away is that we can do this But it's not over. We have to fight We have to work hard and understand that the establishment's collective realization that bernie sanders can win Is more motivation for us to work even harder because now they're going to try to switch it up possibly to try to Throw something else at us. We don't know what types of curve balls that they have what types of smears they have But we do know that capital and big money They're going to be aligned in their hatred against bernie sanders and they're not going to let us win easily We all know that by now. So we've got to push harder and acknowledge that This is all the more reason to fight even harder because what we're doing Is fighting for something that will actually lead to real change in this country and we have a real shot So in 2016 when we all felt like You know, we did all of this for bernie sanders advocacy Canvassing phone banking text banking We did it for nothing, right? That was the general sentiment But you didn't back then in 2016 all of your work Was just a down payment to what we've built today, which is a bigger broader movement It's more robust and our chances are better than ever We can do this. We just have to keep on fighting and fight even harder now Go to work everyone charles painter of fox business news reacted to bernie sanders q4 fundraising numbers And specifically he reacted to who is donating to bernie sanders the most And his reaction was hilarious, I think so he talked about this on his program on fox business But he also tweeted about this initially saying say what bernie sanders 34.5 million fourth quarter fundraising is impressive But worrisome top occupation teachers american teachers Embracing socialism. So what are they teaching our children? I love this tweet so much. Um, I don't know math reading history He's missing the mark here. He doesn't understand why teachers are Supporting bernie sanders because they are working americans But i'm gonna play the clip and then we'll break it down as to why so many working americans are donating to bernie sanders In large numbers, even if they don't have as much money as elites take a look Wow, bernie sanders raising 34 and a half million dollars in the final quarter of the year The haul from nearly two million donors far exceeds the like of p buda judge But that's he had a great quarter himself very impressive. So where's sanders money? Where's it coming from? Well, the most common employers were folks who worked in amazon starbucks walmart target the us postal service But here's a little nugget that really got me worried the most common occupation teachers I mean teachers are backing the socialist candidate I mean when you think about that you have to ask yourself. What are they teaching our kids? I want to bring in democratic strategist kevin shavos along with uh trump 20 senior legal advisor jenna ellis Jenna, I you know when I saw that i'm like teachers They're backing the socialist. What country is this? I'm confused Yeah, well, you know charles. I don't think anyone regardless of any profession Should be backing socialism whatsoever and so I think that's a problem regardless of what profession we're talking about But uh, I think what's most interesting about this and it probably speaks a lot more to the influence of the Union bosses over teachers more than anything else And so I don't think that when you look at um, you know the average teacher in america and uh, what they are For and what they're promoting. Um, I think it speaks a lot more to the union influence And you know bernie has gotten some of those endorsements But if you look at unions otherwise president trump certainly has um, a lot more of the backing of other types of unions And I think that we're going to see that for the individual Average american regardless of profession you see so much in those small campaign dollars that are going to president Well, let's talk about trump in a moment jenna b and first of all folks. I do have breaking news It's official now biden's fourth quarter numbers around he raised 22.7 million slightly better than he had in the third quarter kevin But here's the thing you consider bernie's numbers. You consider mayor p Almost 25 million you consider over over 12 million for for andrew yang and i'm looking at these numbers And i'm sending myself this the democrat establishment is losing their grip. It feels like grassroots your party They don't want these manufactured, uh, you know candidates that the establishment sort of rubber stamps There's obviously an appetite for change and look bernie sanders has been a fundraising dynamo Even in 2016 he had this sort of reputation and raised more money from small individual donors than anyone had before Now he's broken that record. So it's more the same for him and it is very impressive But I would say about joe biden I mean his numbers are pretty encouraging for him to come in as you sit head at 22 million almost 23 And he's starting to coalesce top democratic fundraisers around his campaign Those who supported biden and hillary. Um, let's not forget that hillary in 2016 Outraised the trump campaign and the r&c right and i think we'll see joe biden begin to get that support So these numbers are good for him and I would say the biggest loser is elizabeth warn who continues to drop about that I I agree, but let me ask you though if you take take mayor p bernie and andrew yang You know over 50 million dollars if there's a message being sent to your party though That's the question i'm saying is anyone paying attention to it or will they continue to borrow your work to coalesce around around biden I'll take this one. They will never coalesce around bernie sanders They may one day be grudgingly acquiesce if he does become the nominee But not all of them and not without a huge fight So getting to the substance of that clip there wasn't much there But um, I found it interesting because they were trying to speculate about why bernie sanders Gets all of this support from working people and namely teachers It's not that complicated. It's really simple, but yet the trump legal advisor, which I wouldn't want to be a legal advisor for Donald trump at this point, but nonetheless she um Suggested that maybe you know teachers only support bernie sanders because unions and they're influencing him to uh Influencing them to support bernie sanders No, you're over analyzing this ockham's razor ladies and gentlemen It's a simple explanation the reason why Teachers support bernie sanders is not because they have some nefarious agenda to implement socialism in classrooms I mean, that's stupid if they wanted to do that they could already technically do that, right? But the reason why teachers love bernie sanders is because he is looking out for them Politics is about self-interest. We vote based on who we believe will improve our lives It's why most rich people are economically conservative and most working class people broadly speaking support social democracy policies like Medicare for all Tuition-free public colleges and universities, right? We all at the end of the day We may care about everyone, but we look out for ourselves teachers are supporting bernie because he understands teachers are underpaid And teachers are being taken advantage of and if we truly want to create a thriving economy Then we should probably pay the people who are training the next generation better, right? Now on top of that it's not just teachers the reason why walmart workers and starbucks employees support bernie sanders is very simple They're struggling bernie is the only individual who understands the economic situation that they are in Because bernie sanders talks to people. He doesn't spend time taking selfies with people. He actually engages with people They share their concerns with him They share the issues that they're dealing with and then he responds accordingly with policy solutions Now you don't have to take my word for it. You can watch all of his town halls They're all broadcasted on his youtube channel and people will come to him with issues that they can't afford insulin They lost their job. They're pregnant and they can't afford, you know, the medical bills This is what bernie sanders does. He listens to people That's why they know that he's going to represent them because nobody else does this in politics I mean think about walmart workers. These individuals are worked so hard, but yet they're paid so little They have to go on food stamps. I mean, look, uh when I graduated college and I was going through grad school I had to work at walmart temporarily because that was the only way that I can make ends meet And I had food stamps while I was working at walmart And you know, you have this sense that you really are being exploited You can never take a moment to just breathe you finish to finish a project and you're talking with one of your co-workers Then you get yelled at by a manager because you know, how dare you stop for a moment? They just overwork you you just feel underappreciated and bernie sanders unlike all the other elitist politicians running Acknowledges the inherent worth in all of us as human beings We're not just cogs in the machine of capitalism or walmart or starbucks like we are each Individual human beings with immense value and worth Therefore we should be accommodated for the work that we do and treated like human beings We should be given a living wage 15 dollars an hour plus. We should be given health care That's free at the point of service. So we don't have to worry about dying if we can't afford copays We don't have insurance We should be able to go to school and not worry about debt Right. I have anxiety when I think about all of the college debt that I've accumulated I don't know that I will ever be able to pay it off unless it's canceled like bernie sanders Then i'm gonna live with this forever a lot of us kind of feel this way It's really demoralizing and it produces a lot of anxiety. So I mean It's it's just so funny to me and it demonstrates how out of touch They are on fox news that they have to speculate Why teachers and starbucks employees and walmart workers would support bernie sanders It's obvious because he cares about them. How do you not see that? How do you not see why the only candidate in the race who has consistently had a record Of fighting to improve the lives of working americans is popular I mean, it's obvious why his message resonates with the normal americans Because he cares about them and not just in some Politician patronizing way. He's listened to their concerns And he wants to improve their lives. He's just genuinely a good person. He's not perfect on policy I don't agree with him on absolutely everything. He's not a saint But he's trying. He's listening and responding with policy. Nobody else is doing that Nobody else is consistently releasing policies like this. Yoval is with one putting out policies But none of them go as far as bernie sanders So it's not a surprise that teachers and working americans are donating to bernie sanders in large numbers That's obvious. It's because they want someone who's finally going to represent them and bernie sanders obviously is the only person Who is going to do that? That's as simple as it is. I mean, you don't have to over complicate it and try to You know dissect what these people might be thinking look into the psychology of teachers I mean, it's really simple. They support him because he cares about them period end of story And like to think that charles pain is probably making like six or seven figures to do political analysis where he can't even understand why teachers would support bernie sanders embarrassing a republican member of congress named doug collins recently appeared on fox news and You know lew dobbs and him were conversing about the current situation in iran And they were outraged at the fact that democrats dared to try and attempt to rein in Trump's authority to wage war with iran. He already doesn't technically have the authority if you believe in the constitution But nonetheless, you know, they were outraged that democrats would try to rein him in And doug collins said something that is so stupid so profoundly idiotic That I couldn't not talk about this because it really speaks to a broader issue with the republican party They are downright fucking insane. Take a look thinking about Constraining his authorities as the commander and chief vis-a-vis iraq how how venal how vapid can one party become You know lew, it just is amazing. I mean if it wasn't so sad and serious with our country to have nancy Plosie I did not think she could become more hypocritical than she was during impeachment But guess what surprise surprise nancy plosie does it again and her democrats fall right in line One they're in love with terrorists. We see that they they mourn solomony more than they mourn our gold star Families who are the ones who suffered under solomony. That's a problem. But also look at this In 2011 when president obama went into libya and stayed longer than quote They thought, you know, the war power says he should stay they said nothing in fact She actually excused and said this is just what you know presidents do Let me say it's someone who has a very real constitutional issue with the war powers act to start with I mean, this is just another again blatant hypocritical act by nancy plosie and the democrats because they don't like the president Democrats are in love with terrorists Unbelievable this is supposed to be a representative of one of two of the biggest parties in the country And he literally just claimed that the other party loves terrorists Unbelievable But I mean the thing about this is it's only slightly more bombastic than usual republican commentary on political issues Because this is a party that is downright fucking insane I mean if you listen to gnome chomsky, he talks about this This party has marched so far to the right that they've fallen off a cliff They're almost irredeemable the only way that this party is salvageable Is if we see party realignment if bernie sanders becomes the presidential nominee and enough centrist democrats flee And go to the republican party and so much moved there that they like watered down The overall, you know republican Message and platform, but I mean they're just they're too far gone. This is why There's so much deadlock in american politics aside from the money in politics Because we have one of two parties that is completely fucking insane He literally just said democrats are in love with terrorists. I mean, what a stupid thing to say And then he says we see that they mourn salamani more than they mourn Gold star families, first of all It was the president who you shill for who got in a literal spat a public dispute with the gold star family in 2016 So shut the fuck up there and second of all, we're not mourning salamani Nobody in america even knew who the fuck salamani was before donald trump decided to assassinate him We don't like the idea of donald trump an unhinged buffoon Escalating with another country. We don't want another war But we denounce the prospect of war. He interprets that As uh, well democrats, they just uh, they love terrorists now to be fair He's talking specifically about elected democrats and I'm no fan of them. I can't stand them. I hate most democrats But do you honestly believe that Nancy Pelosi is in love with terrorists? Really you honestly believe that dug I mean, what an idiotic thing like we have people Like ilhan omar in congress who will say the most benign thing about israel and all of congress throws a conniption fit But then this moron will claim that democrats love terrorists And will there be any consequences for his actions? Will there be you know, um, a censure will they vote to condemn him? Nothing It is always the left who is held to a really high standard and the right can say downright Batshit fucking insane things and you know, nobody really bats an eyelash because they've gotten us accustomed to their Insanity, this is the norm from them. So if they were to stop saying crazy things, that would actually be More, you know, shocking to a lot of people because they just keep saying stupid things So if you keep saying crazy thing after crazy thing, eventually you get used to it It's the same thing with donald trump like he lies so much that it's no longer shocking that he tells like five lies throughout the course of A ten minute speech he is just he does it so much that you become used to it It's a normal thing, you know, but we shouldn't be accustomed to these types of Phenomena like when a republican party official, especially one who's elected says something like this We should all collectively laugh at them when they do things like jim inhofe and you know Bring a fucking snowball to the floor of the senate to disprove climate change We should all collectively laugh at them It should go viral because it shows how insane this party is now he Talked about obama in libya. I was against obama's action in libya But he says as someone who has a very real constitutional issue with the war powers act to start with now I honestly don't know what he means. I don't know if he takes issue with the provision in the constitution that Says the president should get approval from congress Or must in actuality get approval from congress to start war I don't know what he means But if I interpret what he's saying more charitably and that he actually supports the war powers act Then look You can be against obama, right? I think that that's good And I would agree with you if you said I was against obama's action that he took unilaterally in libya Fine no disagreement there But the problem is that there's no consistency if you're against obama, but also against trump And his unilateral actions Then there's no story here But you're giving trump a pass, but obama doesn't get that same pass. In fact, you and lew dobbs We're talking about how it's crazy that democrats want to reign in donald trump's power to wage war unilaterally So I mean what side are you on but we know what this is. This is team sports to him Republicans can never ever do anything wrong even if I technically don't agree with it Um, but democrats doesn't matter. They are always always wrong. They're never right in any circumstance ever I mean what a hack this is quintessential political hackery right here So, I mean what a stupid segment. It's not surprising again, but nonetheless, we just can't Turn away when we see republicans say things like this because we can't become accustomed to this level of insanity The party is fucking insane. They are the party of death and destruction. That's what their policies indicate and um Yeah, they need to collapse as a party because if we truly want to survive as a species Republicans must be defeated Permanently we have to defeat them. We can't work with them. We can't put them in our presidential administrations They have to be defeated permanently period Over the past decade the world of right wing media has Blessed us with so many gems. I mean over the last few years. We got gods not dead one and two By pure flicks on top of that we recently got trump jr's book literally called triggered And funny story about that the rnc actually purchased thousands of copies so it would appear on the new york times bestseller list Yeah, that's embarrassing. But now we get a new gem we get no safe spaces by adam corolla and uh, denis prager of prager u fame and this is essentially a feature length version Of the anti sjw videos that we see on youtube by timple or dav rubin So they're going to go on tucker carlson promote this new documentary. I think it's a documentary. I believe it is And um, they're not really even going to do a good job at promoting their documentary because as you're going to see They're going to spend a large portion of this video talking about fish literally um, yes fish And on top of that they're going to basically pretend to be in favor of freedom of speech But this is nothing more than pseudo advocacy. They're not really saying anything. This is vacuous. It's frankly cringe worthy. But nonetheless Let's watch and then we'll discuss this train wreck Freedom of speech is america's most distinctive right. It's a free country member They used to say that back when it was But it's also the most embattled of all of our rights in the name of safety and sensitivity a coalition of big tech Monopolists universities and political activists are fighting to limit what you're allowed to say And punish those who stray outside the accepted boundaries Well last year comedian adam corolla who was a genius and radio host denis prager Also kind of a genius teamed up to release no safe spaces A kind of brilliant documentary about the american anti speech movement. Here's part of it Israel sent me into the soviet union when i was 21 years old because i knew russian and hebu And i was sent in to smuggle out the names of jews that i would find in the soviet union and to smuggle in Religious items and so on and i really experienced What most people in the west have never ever experienced life under a totalitarian regime It's a great movie and if you want to see it in theaters You still have a chance to do that the film is having a limited re-release this weekend Thanks to strong support from grateful viewers adam corolla and denis prager Join us tonight gentlemen. Thanks both for coming out. I haven't talked to you since the film came out To start with you adam What was the risk did anyone tell you that you're not allowed to say the things you said in the film was it did the irony loop Come complete It is interesting when people are talking about free speech But it's free speech that they want to vet and make sure it's okay for them to hear before you can say it I did notice the clip was all denis prager by the way So i'm gonna forget my yeah, i'm gonna forget my publicist on this. Yeah This resentment is a very big problem Well, I think the problem is it's a big problem. We we we enjoy each other too much We're we're we're looking for problems Yes, we're still kind of the newly wed phase of our relations here But even even newly weds they may sublimate it, but there's there's usually tension If you could identify one thing that divides you bitterly, what would it be? He likes gefilte fish And I wouldn't feed that stuff to my cat. No, you said you did feed it. I did. I did feed it to my cat Like that. I asked you specifically how it went over in the corolla home. You said the cat loved it Yes, he gave me a jar of gefilte fish. Yes, I did. I by the way fish isn't supposed to be in jars Just just for your information. It's supposed to be on platters. No, or it's supposed to be above a fireplace in a hunting lodge Your aquarium, that's right By the way, this was a danger working with him better. Yeah No, it's as bad as it's ever been No, well, that's right. I don't think that there's any room for improvement there at all But the question of speech, do you think the country's become free or less free in the last? No, it's It's less free. There's no question And you could there's an interesting proof read the reviewers In the mainstream media not to mention left-wing media on how they have contempt for the film When the film features liberal after liberal Including president obama speaking about what's going on on campuses But they they they can't even acknowledge That this is going on when they see the film Which is about the suppression of speech So I have a slightly different feeling on it Yeah, well, here's what I think I feel like the pendulum is starting to swing back the other direction I'm in the comedic community and I feel a lot of my cohorts in the comedy world starting to push back against it because they're at their saturation level And I feel like the group that started this thing is starting to double down on it Starting to really work it harder. It's sort of the same subject as racism as racism fades from our society A certain group is tripling down their efforts to make sure it's alive and well or at least we think it's alive and well Oh, yes, racism has definitely gone away folks Black americans are no longer being killed by the police racially profiled locked up at higher rates than their white peers And they finally have reached parody economically with their white counterparts Amazing. Thank you so much. Adam Corolla. I mean, what an idiotic thing for a rich white dude to say And I'm sorry He's going to say that this is predictable because he probably thinks that the left thinks everything is racist But denying the existence of racism is a form of racism It is because even though we've made improvements in certain areas That doesn't mean that the issue has just gone away Like to say something like that you have to be so ignorant so detached from reality That you're clueless. I mean and adam corolla I've never liked him as a comedian even before I found out that he was a republican Because he is one of those people like we all know one of these people They're in our friend and social circles that loves to tell jokes not necessarily because they're inherently funny But because they like to hear the sound of their own voice and then they just look at you So you laugh and you have to fake laugh No, I'm not going to laugh for you stupid fucking dad joke You dumb motherfucker talking about fish over and over and over Okay, we get it move on like they don't know when to move on from the joke And because they elicited the reaction from you that they wanted the laughter Then they keep going while not realizing based on social cues that your laughter was faked to begin with I mean, this is someone that it's just so irritating to me. I can't stand him. He's just a whiny Um Do I say snowflake now anyways regardless moving on to their documentary So Dennis Prager claims that we have less speech now and you know, I technically agree But not necessarily for the reason that he sides But the reason why we have less free speech in this country the main reason he sides Is because look at the reviews for their movie Critics didn't like it therefore we have uh less free speech because we're saying free speech is under attack And the people who watched this movie said the movie was shitty therefore Point proven is that really the argument that you're going to make? And he says that you know since I cited individuals Like brock obama and you know liberals That should prove to you that i'm being impartial. So how dare you Say that my movie Is stupid dude The sjw narrative has been long long dead and at this point anyone on youtube who still talks about it Is beating a dead fucking horse. I mean who is entertained by dozens of videos Talking about how captain marvel is an sjw movie or pandering to sjw's who cares? I mean this initially Started as a movement of people online Denouncing snowflake re on the left, which sure there's a degree of snowflake re on the left and the right But it has devolved into a movement where they've become the snowflakes that they've once denounced Tommy laren who claims to be you know very anti-pc Famed outrage on fox news because someone in connecticut. I think it was a public official a city council member Dared to kneel during the national anthem I mean you all are fucking hypocrites who have no room to talk now adam corolla chimed in and he let us know That there's a little bit of hope because you know his friends in the comedy world are starting to push back by like talking about sjw's because Ricky Jervis got pushback for doing edgy jokes about trans people that we've seen a hundred times He's an Apache helicopter. That's how he identifies I mean the reason why you're getting pushback is because comedy is something that's subjective right like I I think that a lot of things are funny even offensive jokes can be funny But if it's not funny then people will call you out because it's not funny and I think that a lot of Comedians mistake People not laughing at their jokes as outrage, but it's just not funny. I mean Trying to say that You identify as an attack helicopter to own trans people. That's not funny. We've heard the joke a thousand fucking times So you have to come up with new material and actually do better and you're not doing that, right? So anti-sjw comedy sure. I think it could theoretically be funny I've laughed at certain anti-sjw jokes admittedly before But the reason why we're not laughing at you the reason why we're not laughing at Jerry Seinfeld Is because you guys are boomers who aren't funny generations change what one generation finds funny another generation will not Like this is largely generational I find people In my generation really funny, right because they kind of have this the same world view as me I laugh hysterically whenever I listen to chat about trap house. I love jake flora as a comedian So I mean like you can't say to me that oh well if you don't like my jokes and he's not necessarily arguing this to be clear But oh there if you don't like that comedians are offensive and you know pushing the boundaries then you're just snowflakes and you hate free speech No Offensive jokes can work if they're intelligent and you make a good point It just it has to be funny and you adamkroll of all people You're not funny like who finds you funny other than Dennis Prager and Tucker Carlson who tried to reign you to in on that, you know robust fish conversation I mean, this was such a stupid and cringe worthy segment Um, I'm surprised that fox news put it up on their youtube channel, but fox news is shameless So yeah, now here's the thing about freedom of speech the individuals like Dave Rubin You know Tucker Carlson Dennis Prager Adam Corolla who constantly Freak out about free speech They don't actually care about freedom of speech They don't care about the first amendment because there are actual violations Of the first amendment that is the government's crackdown on freedom of speech That they don't even acknowledge Are happening did Tucker Carlson address trump's recent executive order that would limit free speech by punishing advocates of bds Has adam corolla defended fellow comedian Jake flores when homeland security paid him a visit for making an offensive joke about Ice on twitter has Dennis Prager defended a texas school teacher who was literally fired because she wouldn't sign an israeli loyalty contract I mean did any of these dipshits condemn donald trump for saying that we should literally jail people for burning the flag No, the reason why they're talking about sjw is because this is a narrative that Complements the right wing worldview. They want to make it seem like they're in favor of freedom But you're not you're not addressing the actual Stifling that we're seeing to free speech largely done by trump's administration And if you truly care about freedom of speech and the first amendment and other constitutional issues How are you not talking about the nsa spying on americans collecting our metadata? Like there are so many issues that you can promote that would prove to us in a better way That you care about freedom and liberty, but you don't you're hucksters So what you have to do is you know replicate the strategy that has built up a lot of audiences on youtube You attack people on college campuses for being offended by something I mean give me a break get the fuck out of here. This is so played out at this point And for anyone who hasn't seen it I will link to it in the description box Watch my pregger you parody because I talk specifically about how these grifters profit off of this anti sjw narrative It's incredibly lucrative, which is why it hasn't died down and why we're still talking about uh sjw's on college campuses Even when it's not relevant at all when donald trump is president and when we're on the brink of war with the ron And the world is going to be engulfed by catastrophic climate change if we don't take action in 11 years Like that's not the real issue The only way that the right can appeal to young people is by trying to be edgy and denouncing sjw's and it's no longer working for them It's just sad and pathetic at this point But I will absolutely laugh at their expense because even though I don't find adam crawler funny I do find his grift funny. He didn't make it in comedy or he certainly doesn't have a career in comedy now But seeing him, you know, uh, grift and be a right-wing Dave rubin type of figure it definitely is entertaining And uh, I think that mike huckabee at this point has a more robust comedy career than adam crawler. So There's that Okay, I am fully aware that the establishment is afraid of bernie videos are getting a little bit redundant for me at this Point, but you've got to understand I have been challenging these ghouls now For almost five years and to see them squirm at the prospect of a bernie sanders presidency Like I am I'm truly enjoying it and I find it fascinating like the tactics in particular that they are trying to use To dissuade people, you know away from supporting bernie sanders It's honestly bold that they haven't changed anything Since 2016 like you would have expected them to adapt and their tactics against the bernie sanders to evolve But I think that they're starting to realize that nothing they say will dissuade people, especially young people From, you know, uh, supporting bernie sanders We're going to commit to supporting him because he's the only person who has a really transformative agenda That opts for structural change and he has the movement To facilitate this change in actuality get what he wants codified into law So I want to read you one last, uh, story on this subject for now From the Associated Press. This is by steve peoples and alexandra jaffe who report Increasingly alarmed that bernie sanders could become their party's presidential nominee Establishment minded democrats are warning primary voters that the self-described democratic socialist Would struggle to defeat president donald trump and hurt the party's chances in premiere house senate and governor's races The urgent warnings come as sanders shows new signs of strength on the ground in the first two states on the presidential primary calendar Iowa and new hampshire backed by a dominant fundraising operation The vermont senator has largely escaped close scrutiny over the last year Yeah, right as his rivals doubted the quirky 78 year olds ability to win the nomination But less than a month before iowa's kickoff caucuses The doubters are being forced to take sanders seriously Former chicago mayor rom immanuel Previously a senior aide to president brach obama warned democrats that sanders status as a democratic socialist and his Unwavering support for medicare for all won't play well among swing voters in the states that matter most in 2020 You need a candidate with a message that can help us win Swing voters in battleground states immanuel said in an interview the degree of difficulty dramatically increases under our bernie sanders candidacy It just gets a lot harder, right? So i'm assuming that he believes we need someone more moderate Like hillary clinton or tim kane Like it's honestly amazing to me that they haven't changed their 2016 fearmongering at all They're still using the same electability argument against bernie sanders Even after their argument is a proven failure. We put up a moderate and she lost Why haven't you even tried to change your message even a little bit? Like i honestly believed that they weren't dumb enough to use the same exact argument against bernie sanders And they are like i like i'm not under this delusion that democratic party strategists Are competent. I think they're some of the dumbest people in america to be honest But i at least thought they had the self-awareness to not try out the same Fearmongering that we need a centrist to win, but they're doing that again after it was a proven Catastrophe and Donald Trump is president. I mean you really have to be Confident in yourself to use the same argument twice But i mean it's just astounding that someone like ron immanuel of all people won Thinks that anyone takes him seriously and cares what he has to say but two Believes that all of a sudden this time in 2020 we're going to accept His electability argument that we need a moderate to take on donald trump sure jam I mean what do you say about this these people are clueless No wonder why democrats under obama lost more than a thousand seats They have no strategy and what i like is he suggests that Bernie sanders being at the top of the ticket is actually going to hurt down ballot Democrats know what we need is high turnout And part of that like a really huge portion of the electorate that we need to increase voter turnout so we win our young people Riddle me this genius. Who is the candidate that is running away with the youth vote? It's bernie sanders. I believe uh bernie sanders got more Votes from young people than hillary clinton and donald from combined in 2016 So do you honestly believe that down ticket democrats will be worse off? With bernie sanders at the top of the ticket because if he is at the head of the ticket More people will be inclined to come out and vote and since they're already voting for bernie sanders and excited Odds are they're going to vote for you know democrats in the senate and the house as well Like i just i'm genuinely shocked that they still think this will persuade people it's not You guys lost we tried it your way in 2016 and that was a proven failure donald trump is president So you're not going to persuade A single person by making the same fucking argument and just changing nothing I mean What do you say? What do you say? So i apologize for constantly making videos about how the establishment is afraid of bernie sanders But i truly am enjoying this it's not a foregone conclusion that he will win the nomination And yes, we have to work very hard for it, but i am enjoying watching these people You know shake at the prospect of a sanders nomination after all of the things that they put us through after their incompetence and hubris led to Donald trump winning i'm excited to see them fear because you know it's not going to work It's not going to work. You're not going to dissuade us from supporting bernie sanders again He's the one who has the best shot nobody's a foregone conclusion against donald trump But if you honestly believe that a moderate increases our odds You really are out of touch and more clueless than even i initially thought So i am admittedly enjoying the mainstream media and democratic party elites come to terms with the prospect that bernie sanders may very well Become the democratic party's nominee, but someone else who a lot of us hadn't thought about and what he's going through You know in this uh coming to terms process is uh, donald trump because like it or not He may have to face bernie sanders and we all know Trump is the most afraid of bernie sanders. Um, this became clear back in 2016 When after he basically had the republican party nomination on lock He floated the idea i think on a late night show of debating bernie sanders a trump versus bernie debate It was trending on twitter There was a lot of hype for it and then bernie sanders agreed sure i'm down. We'll debate But then all of a sudden trump backed away from it He is afraid of bernie sanders and unlike all the other democratic party presidential contenders He attacks bernie sanders the least and it almost seems like he goes out of his way to avoid attacking bernie sanders at times Like when bernie sanders first announced that he was running again in 2020 Donald trump said nothing negative about bernie sanders So i mean it's evident to me that trump doesn't know how to respond to bernie sanders because any appeal that trump has It's undercut by bernie sanders bernie sanders is the true anti establishment real populist candidate. So What is trump going to say about bernie sanders? I mean calling him crazy bernie That's not gonna land like crooked hillary landed because there was truth to that right now It was hypocritical because donald trump is also very crooked But nonetheless crazy bernie doesn't really mean anything when Donald trump is the one making that argument when he struggles to string together a coherent sentence So it's not going to land and i don't think he knows how to deal with bernie sanders Nonetheless like it or not he may have to so he's afraid and as a result He has sent out emails about bernie sanders two days in a row Attacking him and i love this because it offers us a glimpse Into the types of attacks that we might see During the general if we actually do get a trump versus bernie situation and uh, i'll just say this I feel a lot more confident about bernie's chances after seeing what trump is using to attack him on Um, it's just it's really really bad Um, so in the first email he sent out it reads dangerous bernie sanders can't be trusted to defend american lives sanders opposed taking top terrorist salamani off the battlefield while repeating iranian and russian propaganda So this is a horrible strategy for a number of reasons. First of all, he's literally invoking anti russian hysteria to attack bernie sanders Now on top of that, um, he's citing something that he did which only has a plurality of support from americans 43 to 47 I believe a proof of the killing of salamani, which is way too high mind you But bernie sanders can easily take him on here because he can show videos of donald trump saying he was anti interventionist in 2016 And contrast that with what he's doing now Like if you truly want to go About this by being the stronger candidate the defense candidate When you won because you got a lot of people to believe that you were less hawkish than hillary clinton Like bernie's gonna mop the floor with you, but that's not the only attack So for the second email he says fact bernie sanders is a wealthy fossil fuel guzzling millionaire Just like the wealthy hollywood elite bernie sanders lectures americans how to live their lives while doing the exact opposite So let me put this into perspective for you donald trump A billionaire is attacking bernie sanders for being a millionaire and is claiming that he's elitist Like i don't think This is going to play as well as trump believes it will in a general election if you put You know donald trump and bernie sanders Up side by side. I mean that jacks the position and you had to ask people. Who do you believe is truly? You know anti elitist nine times out of ten. They're going to say it's bernie sanders Um, so this is not going to land But i want to go a little bit further into this email and just read like a paragraph To see the route that he's taking when it comes to his bernie is an elitist argument Quote bernie sanders is lecturing the american people that they need to pay more in taxes Surrender their private health insurance plans and accept job losses in order to implement his extreme left-wing agenda But he's just another hollywood style hypocrite who demands working class americans make sacrifices and we'll stop there because i mean this is just it's It's laughable Swami when it comes to bernie sanders facilitating job losses. He's supporting a policy that is literally titled federal jobs guarantee Federal jobs guarantee you're not going to be able to easily argue against that and Donald trump is effectively taking a pro private insurance stance here Like trump doesn't realize that if he wants to win Then he has to come up with an argument that appeals to independence And young republican voters young voters who aren't voting Because there's going to be a lot of young people that come out to vote for bernie sanders And if that truly is the case if he can galvanize the youth It's over for donald trump. So donald trump He needs to work on some type of argument that actually appeals to young voters and arguing in defense of the status quo Is not going to do the trick. These are policies like a federal jobs guarantee Medicare for all that appeal to young people so trump doesn't know what to do against bernie sanders And we can see that what he's trying to do is still appeal to populist individuals claim that he is anti establishment But he doesn't realize that he's making a critical mistake And he reveals how out of touch. He is when you look at his new catchphrase keep america Great now if he kept the make america great again Slogan i think that that would have been fine. You could have argued look america is getting Greater but we're not fully there yet. We have more work to do. I need I need another four years But he's saying keep america great This is painfully out of touch and this is literally the democrat slogan back in 2016 Does anyone remember debbie wasserman schultz wearing hats that said america is already great I mean, do you understand what you're communicating to voters here? It assumes that all their problems have been solved and you know make america great again It simply meant that americans needed to elect you and you are the greatness But the reason why that slogan worked so well for trump in 2016 was because it was a blank slate Like people could attribute meaning to it and think through what they believed would make america great again But with keep america great, you're just telling them that it's already great And in a sense you're erasing all of the issues that normal working americans face And the reason why donald trump won over voters in the rust belt was because he was speaking to the issues that impact them But if you're telling americans that america is already great when most of the country is living paycheck to paycheck I mean, you're literally making the same mistake that democrats made back in 2016. So this is great i'm not complaining keep it up use this strategy trump because um I want you to make this case In a general against bernie because it's not going to work very well for you now bernie responded saying donald trump is attacking us because he knows we will beat him in the general election Absolutely um This attack is really really bad like i honestly expected donald trump To come up with something better like i wasn't expecting him To you know have some type of compelling case against bernie sanders But i actually had higher expectations than this at least so i mean at this rate if he releases another email by tomorrow He will call bernie sanders a communist and really he's just flailing at this point Nothing he can say about bernie will convince americans that he's the true anti establishment candidate Everyone knows it's bernie sanders So um, this is great like in the events bernie sanders is the nominee and he's going up against donald trump My confidence after seeing a preview of the attacks that trump would use against him It just increased like it's not a foregone conclusion We still have to work towards that goal of winning the presidency, but seeing what trump comes up with here I feel a lot more confident now. Uh, this is not a good attack. It's not gonna land trump is uh, yeah He's not gonna do too well against bernie sanders This tells you everything you need to know if you want to win both for bernie because trump does not know how to attack him But the democrats are taking their cues from socialist bernie sanders in that group omar aoc To leave isn't she a nice woman to leave to leave why Lotta group, but they're the leaders of the party. They're really in my opinion the least that's what happened That's how they got into this impeachment hoax the leaders of the party are this aoc uh to leave and omar And below she meets him and she shakes and quivers and she's very This big bernie sanders received two huge endorsements from really important grassroots organizations that are comprised Largely of young people young activists specifically the sunrise movement and dream defenders now first We'll talk about the sunrise movement. So they held a democratic vote they allowed their members to decide who to endorse and bernie sanders won By a landslide wasn't even close So as the new york times reports in a landslide vote more than 75 of respondents Mr. Sanders earned the backing of members of the group which has quickly become politically influential since its founding In 2017 once a fledgling collection of college students frustrated that democrats and republicans were not acting More quickly to curb climate change sunrise has grown to 318 chapters nationwide with more than 10 000 members Sunrise will host an event on january 12th with mr. Sanders in iowa city to formally announce the endorsement We believe a bernie sanders presidency would provide the best political terrain in which to engage in and ultimately win that struggle for the world We deserve for our shini prakash a founder and the executive director of the movement said in a statement Senator sanders has made it clear throughout his political career and in his campaign that he grasps the scale of the climate crisis The urgency with which we must act to address it and the opportunity we have in coming together to do so Now this is a huge deal because the sunrise movement has members who are politically engaged and most importantly politically active So they can Get out the vote for bernie sanders campaign for him and canvass for him in states like iowa and new hampshire This is incredibly important. This is huge. It adds to his already huge and monumental movement So this is a really really big deal like i don't want people To take this for granted This is huge now some people are complaining that the sunrise movement endorsed him You know later than they should have but this is an early organization like this is It's baby years right so they're still ironing out some of the details of how they're going to function as an organization And you know either way i'm really happy that they chose to endorse him now without further ado This is their endorsement. I absolutely love this Hi, my name is martini prakash. I am one of the co-founders of and currently serving as the executive director for sunrise movement we're endorsing bernie sanders for president because He has proven again and again and again that he understands this issue. He understands its scope He understands the severity He understands that it is a social justice issue that it's about racial and economic justice That it's about the fight of our lives And he understands that this isn't just about a conversation happening in washington This is about changing the lives of millions of working people across this country for the better Whether it's farmers in iowa Whether it's people living in cancer alley in louisiana Whether it is people fleeing from sea level rise in miami Bernie sanders understands that this is a crisis and it's time to act now sunrise is a movement that is made up of teenagers and 20-somethings who have watched our entire lives as the political establishment Kicks the can down the road and fails to deliver on this issue And we are saying enough is enough Bernie sanders has been saying the exact same things for his entire political career He has made it clear that in washington He will hold on to his convictions to his political courage To his morals to his values in a place where people are far more likely to bend to the will of money interests So we really trust bernie sanders in a way that we haven't been able to trust many other politicians And we believe that if bernie sanders becomes president of the united states of america His first and foremost priority will be to the people of the united states of america Over the last year when young people with sunrise movement and millions of other young people pushed on our politicians to act Bernie sanders responded to the call immediately by fully embracing the greenew deal Embracing a 16 trillion dollar plan to get america's economy back on its feet to employ people All across the country in jobs that will save our future and our planet And i think that one of the biggest reasons why young people are so excited to endorse bernie sanders right now Is because he supports a green new deal Bernie sanders is one critical part of the equation But he won't be everything when bernie sanders says he'll be the organizer in chief What i hear is that he's saying that it isn't just about him That we can't enact a political revolution in this country just because of one man or one moment This has to be the sustained effort of millions of people of many movements coming together And changing the political tide in this country. I believe that bernie sanders as president of the united states Will work hand in hand with movements across this country and people everywhere To manifest the america of our dreams That was excellent now remember this is an organization That is made up mostly of young people who are going to be Key to the democratic party's success in 2020 so this endorsement along with the endorsement of the dream defenders Is another wake-up call to the establishment if you want to win You've got to galvanize and excite young voters You need them to get out and vote and this is another indication that it's bernie sanders Who will be the candidate to do that now moving on from sun rise The dream defenders is another organization that endorsed bernie sanders now This is a group based out of miami florida They predominantly focus on criminal justice, but they also focus on issues like freedom and liberation more broadly So they advocate on behalf of palestinian human rights and they put out a really strong endorsement of bernie sanders also emphasizing the movement aspect of his campaign take a look We're not special or extraordinary We're everyday kids who got tired of doing nothing and witnessing our people murdered A young boy was killed in a gated community in sanford florida and it made us stand up Even if we never stood up before We rose in the tender rage of a grieving mother and father We demanded justice loudly We are an uprising of young people from all across the state of florida In struggle together and we are fighting for a world where every person and child is treated with dignity and respect A world where people are valued more than profit We are the dream defenders We are descendants of the hard working hands that built this country We created better lives out of nothing for us and by us We have inherited the freedom to be and to exist In 2020 we are not electing a candidate. We are choosing a movement We endorse affordable housing livable wages free education a comprehensive universal healthcare system We endorse justice that heals not a system that locks our people up and throws away the key We endorse clean drinking water and breathable air We endorse a country without walls where children are free from cages We endorse a free flourishing democracy and the right to vote We endorse us and the movement to elect bernie sanders for president of the united states of america Join us as we continue to mobilize and organize our communities across race gender age and class For the world. We know is possible and for the power. We know is with the people If our liberation began with the vision of a world without the colony slum favela and ghetto Then this is the year So that was also great I like that they're kind of communicating to everyone that bernie sanders isn't a candidate. He is a movement We're a movement and all of these mini movements are coalescing around bernie sanders into one gigantic national movement I mean bernie sanders himself starting with his 2016 campaign built up a movement That turned into this gigantic You know, um national awakening if you want to say where we have justice democrats now brand new congress our revolution the sunrise movement Dream defenders and even if they didn't necessarily start out with bernie sanders campaign Or you know emerge because of his campaign all of these movements are coming together with the realization that It's grassroots organizing and mobilization which is going to be the key to our success And if we all kind of come together and bind together we can actually win this thing So young people young people, you know, who comprise a lot of organizations such as sunrise the dsa They are coming out and they're saying bernie is the candidate that we want If the democratic party doesn't pay attention to what's happening and pay attention to how many young people Are coalescing around bernie's movement and that tells me that they're not serious about winning and defeating donald trump because again The way that you win your ticket to victory is to have a high turnout and if they turn out or not Millennials young people will determine the outcome of this election So we win if young people turn out we need a candidate who will excite them It's bernie sanders and this is just another sign aside from all of the polls that shows He is the candidate of young people because he is representing us. He's listening to us and he's responding to what we need with policy solutions Hello, everyone. I am here with dr. Harvey j k He is a professor of democracy and justice at the university of wisconsin green bay And he is also the author of a fantastic book called take hold of our history Make america radical again and he's here to talk about it. I just finished the book on monday and it's phenomenal So professor, thank you so much for coming on the program No, thank you for having me on this. This is great. It's a great opportunity and also I've been really eager to meet you because I've watched some of your stuff and I like your spirit Oh, thank you so much. That means so much. You know, I I found out about you From the michael brook show shout out to michael brooks. He always brings on these fantastic guests and that's where I saw your book and I bought the book and It was so great because it kind of reaffirms Everything that I've been thinking because there's this conversation in mainstream media currently about whether or not people in the democratic party Namely aoc rishita tolebe are going too far left and basically what you Demonstrated in this book is that people who say that social democrats are too far left They're kind of a historical because we have a history of being radical ftr called on a generation to be radical Or on people to be radical for a generation So can you talk about our history as basically radicals because I think that people here in mainstream media that You can't be too far left in america because we are a conservative country and sure people identify as conservative But political labels don't necessarily mean that much Because when you look at the policies, we are very progressive and now when you look at our history There's no question. We're a radical nation. So can you talk through our history and how We are actually radical and I know that that's a really huge, you know topic, but can you give us the rundown? Well, okay, so the high points. How's that? So high points begin with my childhood hero thomas pain And in his pamphlet common sense, which was a pamphlet in which he put into words What americans were already thinking in the course of their rebellion of 19 of sorry of 1774 and 1775 But they hadn't themselves gotten to the point of seeing the possibility of not only declaring their independence in creating this new radical nation But also of creating a democratic republic and it was pain who basically brought Brought forth their sentiments and their ideas that they had yet to articulate And pain says something in that in that pamphlet common sense of january 76, which I think It's in one sense. It seems so utopian and another sense. It's so absolutely true He says we have it in our power to begin the world over again Now it's utopian because of course we can't just you know Stop history and start all over again, but it's but it's true in the sense of what he's saying is history is made by human action And therefore we have a possibility of truly radically transforming Our relationship to the world and he was trying to get americans to realize that they were in fact Americans not britons They should and thus they should not think of themselves as british subjects And what might they accomplish in those terms, but think of themselves as american citizens And he also asked them to consider It's like the what they used to say during the late sixties the whole world is watching The humanity was waiting for that kind of Revolutionary moment that americans themselves were able to to to create and provide for all of for all of the americans' Faults and failings at the time and all of that comes to be in some ways expressed in the declaration of independence All men are created equal and endowed by they're created with certain inalienable, you know, unalienable rights life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness now those words now to move ahead in radical terms and social democratic terms Those words actually did provide the basis For in every generation both pain's words and you know, jefferson's own you might say Provided so that in every generation of of american history The most progressive elements whether they were liberals or progressives or radicals or indeed eventually socialist When they reached back to late claim to the american revolution They laid hold of common sense And the declaration to say look we Are what america is about america is a grand experiment in democracy and basically look let's face it Any experiment requires constant testing and pushing at the limits So, you know, whether they were free thinkers or abolitionists or women's rights activists also known as suffragists eventually Or whether they were labor unionists Uh populists of the late 19th century progresses with a capital p Socialists anarchists in every one of those generations They reached all the way through to the civil rights movement and even to today This kind of they this reaching back took place and this reminding of themselves Of what america is meant to be again We have a history of exploitation and oppression and enough tragedy and irony that we could go on forever on that subject But it's also the case that through the course of those confrontations and those struggles and those Aspirations that created movements. We actually did create a far freer more equal and more democratic america And then if I could take it in another direction, which people often find surprising is that if we actually think about Social democracy itself It's rooted in the same pen and I say pen that actually sparks that or turns the american rebellion into a revolution Because in 20 years later in the 17 90s thomas pain writes writes of man in the midst of the french revolution And then he writes a pamphlet called agrarian justice Which is which is the pamphlet that first envisioned social democracy in this pamphlet He called for taxing the land at rich in order to provide Stakes st a k e s to young people so that you could combat poverty Okay at the that when they reach maturity They should be given a certain amount of money in order to go out and make something of themselves in the world and Prevent poverty from becoming the norm of their lives But it also included this very radical idea Which later cut we come to call social security He actually said there should be universal old age pensions for for men and women when they reach a certain age of You know, we'll call the l a seniority age So so here is thomas pain the american revolutionary and and radical founder Who's also 20 years later seeing the consequences in europe especially of what we would call capitalism He would call civilization and he said it's imperative that we recognize that the earth was created for all of us And property has been monopolized by a lot of people He didn't call for dispossessing the property But he said they owe all of us a tax to provide for the makings of what we think of as social democracy And then if you if you move through history and I could go on and on But let's go right to one of the greatest names in american history. Abraham Lincoln Even as Lincoln led the union in the civil war To sustain the union and in and truly when he signed the emancipation proclamation in response to all of those southern slaves seeking Freedom in the north and seeking a role in the in the civil war against slavery Lincoln also signed two other very significant bills one of which is the homestead act Which was the transformation of the midwest in the plain states into family farming Okay, affording federal federal lands to family farms That's social democracy that it's best in many ways enabling people to make to make their way with Secure aware with all for themselves But then he also signed another social democratic bill the morrill act Which was the land grant act which provided federal lands to states to create state colleges and universities So that now in every state of the union there are state universities and state university systems Which are rooted in the 1862 morrill act that Lincoln signed so here we have The the the greatest president of the 19th century Some people the greatest president ever who is known of course as the great emancipator though He himself fully appreciated that there was no way that he could sign it the emancipation proclamation Had it not been for slaves rising up in the south and northern farmers and workers in the union army realizing the imperative of ending slavery Here he is advancing the idea of equality to include social democracy and then of course the great social democratic president Though he never used the term is franklin roosevelt and you know, it's the new deal It's it's the creation of social security. It's the enactment of the national labor relations act I mean over and over again our greatest moments in american history are moments of radicalism and social democratic advance And i love the way that you talk about that in the book because the way that you frame it is There's there's no end point to democracy. This is an ongoing project where we're constantly trying to push the envelope and radicalism Is in our dna as americans So to suggest, you know, as we often see in the mainstream media that actually, you know, we're more conservative Ideologically, we're not radical. We can't be too far left That is ahistorical and I I love the way that you lay this out now One narrative that I think is really interesting just in general with regard to american politics is There's always like A conservative will say something right and then all of a sudden you see a hundred conservatives parading that same thing in mainstream media and that narrative catches on and it has led to The left essentially losing any type of battle political battle ideological battle in a way because they're so good At you know Retaking back whatever narrative or reframing a narrative and I think it's because you kind of diagnosed this problem And I want to see if I could find that line So this is what you say democratic presidents jimmy carter bill clinton and barack obama offer no real challenge to the right wing storytelling They are so good at storytelling. They are able to take whatever we're talking about and flip it and have that catch on I mean one example that stands out to me Is when we were discussing the affordable care act which was right wing healthcare reform It was milk toast. It was cooked up by the heritage foundation We were talking about death panels all of a sudden and the mainstream media Had to you know assume that that was an idea that was credible or at least you know respond to it So can you talk a little bit about storytelling and why that's so important because I kind of see you Doing storytelling in the sense that you're telling us about our actual history and not allowing them to capture that narrative And not let go of it Yeah, well, there's a moment. I can there's a moment. I think it's really very telling in those terms And it's in the late 1970s when ronald reagan well in 76 he lost the republican nomination to jerald ford And I think a lot of people figured reagan was out of the picture But he makes a comeback a comeback and he was far smarter than most people on the left appreciated and Literally the connections he was making in the course of the 60s and 70s as the leader of the of what we come to know as the new Right enabled him To win the nomination from the republicans in 1980 But here's the key thing so Winning the republican nomination was by no means a guarantee he would have won the presidency Though the chances were good given the fact that jimmy carter was such an abysmal president And most americans were utterly working people utterly fed up with his presidency But here's the thing he knew from his own early days as a liberal democrat an f dr and a truman democrat That most working people were not going to respond To the kinds of things that he was known for having promoted back in the 60s into the 70s like an attack on social security You know or for that matter ending farm subsidies I mean the panoply the whole thing that f dr had put into place in the new deal So he completely shifts his ground in many ways and drops those sort of attacks on On um on the new deal legacy. He continues to sort of campaign against liberalism undeniably But in his acceptance speech, which is of course going to be watched by the vast majority of americans back in those days Conventions mattered even more than they do today and people watch them to see what the political Atmosphere of the day would become And he stands before the republican convention and shocks the hell Out of conservatives even as he's literally becoming they're not just champion, but they're they're standard holder They're you know, they're flag bearer. He quotes in the course of his acceptance speech three figures Left should have not thomas pain abraham lincoln and franklin roosevelt He's so shocked conservatives that george will I believe wrote a column almost immediately after the convention Lamenting the fact that that reagan had quoted thomas pain the the revolutionary as opposed to berk edmund berk the conservative Yeah, so they're really good conservatives in terms of first of all asking questions about american history and then suppressing The story that that most americans carry with them But appropriating ripping off hijacking figures and events in the past and inserting them into an utterly alien narrative That they would I mean who could have imagined thomas pain ever being quoted by a conservative for 200 years Conservatives did everything to suppress thomas pain's memory Who could have imagined the republicans anytime after say 1932 really wanting to embrace lincoln? Because here's lincoln, you know the man who brings an end to slavery who who becomes the social democrat Well, here's the thing what has happened What happens is that in the course of the 70s the democrats retreated they retreated from the roosevelt story and legacy figures like gary hart, I don't know if everyone will remember gary hart, but gary hart The senator from oregon where it becomes senator from oregon and jimmy carter these kind of figures They turn their backs on not just the fdr legacy and the fdr tradition. They turn their backs on american working people Seriously turn their backs on american working people Moreover There was this they sought out the money power as the populace might have called them the money power That is they were they wanted to fill their coffers with the money of the rich and the corporate Entities instead of thinking about mobilizing americans and it held no To speak of the american story the american story that would have been thomas pain lincoln Franklin roosevelt But rather they sort of retreated and what happens is Whether it was liberals inside the democratic party or leftists outside of it if you look over and over again The story that they're responding to of the conservatives leads them In a knee-jerk way to reject the american story in other words the left literally turned its back On its own story and its own powerful claim To america to the united states now We should never turn our back and forever forget the stories of exploitation and oppression I mean i mean the struggles emerge out of those experiences But it's also the case if we're not going to remember The if the the american promise of life liberty in the pursuit of happiness which lincoln readily used to advance His cause which fdr readily used if we're going to forget those things then we're basically handing over american history full time to the conservatives now It's all the more imperative that we not continue to do that because americans themselves Yern for that story they they they feel it in them. You called it the american dna We feel it in a deep cultural memory like way and the fact is the democrats and the left Failed to articulate the story that americans were yearning to hear and that conservatives appropriated or hijacked and ultimately corrupted in terrible ways And in fact one of the beauties to go, you know, you mentioned I can remember was during our conversation at beforehand, you know the the squad, you know aoc and and her comrades One of the things that really struck me is very early on after she won election to uh to congress aoc was interviewed I think it was the on tv by one of the you know the sort of mainstream media types And she actually laid claim To the american story, you know of abraham lincoln and franklin roosevelt And but the surprising thing was that there were people on the left who said, what is she doing? You know, why is she doing that and I thought are they kidding? I mean She's out ahead of a whole couple of generations of left intellectuals by laying claim to that and bernie sanders even more than he had Done in 2015 which he did smartly on one occasion But then failed to continue this time around he is laying claim to that roosevelt legacy So I mean, I think there's reason to be hopeful But here's the thing it isn't only that we do that in order to win an election I mean, there's no guarantees of winning elections But we need to cultivate the narrative that conservatives for 45 years have over and over again Tried to you know pervert and corrupt and tell it as a sort of god God-given divine story america as opposed to a story of struggles from the bottom up And so so in essence what we need to do is we have to break through the kind of nostalgia renditions of american history And remind americans of who they are and they want to be reminded. That's the thing I mean like there are surveys and polls that show that two good examples The whole phenomena that was called founders Sheik or founders fever back in the 70s when all of a sudden everybody was talking about the founding fathers Okay, similarly The greatest generation phenomena everybody was celebrating the world war two generation The conservatives immediately glonde on to those two things as if those are conservative stories And everyone thought because the vast majority of americans seemed interested in hearing those stories that they were doing so because they were somehow Fooled by the conservatives or that they themselves were conservative What the left and by the way the left scorned a lot of that talk and what they utterly failed to do is to lay claim to thomas pain Or reclaim thomas pain or for that matter to realize The greatest generation is the generation that actually made the new deal happen The generation that pushed f dr to go even further towards social democracy then he himself might have gone so It it was astounding to me and frustrating as hell that when I would speak sometimes of these things people on the left Would get angry with me, you know, like I was like I was some kind of nationalist a patriot. Yes A nationalist that's another story. Okay, and I think we we need to reclaim the american story Not simply for the sake of remembering them, but for the sake of remembering who we are Yeah, and that that reminds me of what you talked about basically us taking back that narrative of american exceptionalism Because now it has very negative connotations if you're a lefty, you know, we think about Um, I think about us imperialism us supremacy But really that wasn't necessarily always the case It was another narrative and story if you will that conservatives had reclaimed So you you talked about, you know, 45 years of the republican party doing deregulation austerity Um, you know Shifting the tax burden from the working class Or away from elites to the working class And now I think that there is reason to be optimistic when we know about the history And basically know what to look for like you mentioned occupy popping up, you know The success of bernie in 2015 and now you know 2019 and even though necessarily electoral politics in and of itself Might not be what catalyzes the shift, you know to greater democratization Um, you know, it always comes from the bottom up And I think that that this book is a reminder that real change does come from the bottom up when we are reminded That we have always pushed further, you know, we've always pushed the envelope And real change never comes from the top down. It's always the bottom up Now one portion of this book and we talked about this before going on Um that really stood out to me that I loved because it irritated me was uh back in 2015 We were talking about social democracy finally and claire mcaskill was interviewed on msnbc And she kind of scoffed at this idea of bernie sanders being the nominee and she said, oh, he's too liberal Now I love a line like you're response in this basically was and I'm paraphrasing Um, well, we know that republicans lost their minds So now we have to worry about democrats losing their mind too and you made a point that social democracy is American this is not a foreign concept. We're not talking about european democracy We're talking about american uh an american concept social democracy is american Can you kind of speak a little bit to that because I think it's something that's really fascinating and I think that even myself like I I think I do a disservice because when I talk about social democracy I use scandinavia as an example. I always point there. I point elsewhere as basically, you know Legitimizing my argument using empirical data, but we don't even have to do that because social democracy is american. Can you speak to that? Well, I said before so thomas pain is the godfather Of social security and social democracy. Okay, this american revolutionary. That's first of all abraham lincoln is in many ways the first of the sort of Proto call it social democratic or proto social democratic presidents franklin roosevelt the new deal The or the the empowerment of labor, but here's the other thing Let's go to something very very basically american which has been under siege these last 45 years Especially under siege from the right public education The first nation to truly create public education as a right for young people Okay, it's not in the constitution or the bill of rights But it is in state constitutions and we accept it as a fundamental right the right to be educated Well, public education is the great social democratic beginning Where you're saying we're all in this together We need an educated citizenry a concept that goes back to even the elite of the founding fathers Who believe that in order to sustain a republic you needed an educated informed citizenry So we pioneer public education, right? Even the and then if you think about it think about it this way Wait, the whole idea of a national park system Not a royal park system as in european Nations, but national parks national parks where this late 19th century american development They have it actually originate as a concept in the link the link Expand in the progressive era Teddy Roosevelt of course, but even beyond that franklin roosevelt's attention to all of that The national park system is this great social democratic idea that we can all have access For recreation and refreshment of ourselves and that we don't have to pay for it Okay, I mean that's social democracy similarly, you know social security and so on two two things I want to point out in those terms one i'll jump ahead Michael more did a film a few years ago. Uh, where to invade next something like that Does that you remember that film? Yeah, it it wasn't what I thought it was gonna be No, it's like, you know it's it is he goes to europe and he checks out all of their social democratic innovations But the point of the film wasn't Scandinavia or the continent of europe the point was that these were all american innovations that the europeans adopted And that somehow we've forgotten Or we fail to advance because we've been under siege in this class war from above that republicans have championed these last 40 45 years so, okay, so Here's the here's another here's the other thought so bernie sanders as I said before in 2015 He he actually gave a speech at georgetown university to explain democratic socialism Which is just another term for social democracy basically And and and in that speech he what he does is he recalls franklin roosevelt's idea of the economic bill of rights uh roosevelt himself in 32 proposed an economic declaration of rights in 1941 he actually called for americans to envision and pursue Four freedoms. I did a book on the fight for the four freedoms Freedom of speech freedom of worship freedom from want and freedom from fear and then in 1944 in a state of the union message fdr calls for the creation and enactment of an economic bill of rights, which is believe me The radical presentation of social democracy so It never comes to fruition as he envisioned but it is It is developed in terms of what was called the gi bill of rights that in and in which a whole generation of veterans 12 million of them literally Make something of themselves with the educational and other kinds of opportunities that the gi bill of rights afforded and they remake the nation They rebuild the nation and everybody today with any kind of historical sensibility knows of the gi bill of rights Boy, what we failed to do and what the democrats have failed to do is to say We have this story of this great these great social democratic innovations So what I would imagine is as bernie has begun to do more effectively is that the democrats If you're not a social democrat, you can't be a democrat Claire mccaskell had the audacity to say that well in 2015 we have these extremists donald trump and bernie sanders And I thought to myself how dare she How dare she she was she it's like she was a republican not a democrat, right? How dare she utterly reject the greatest moments of the democrats capital d and small d democratic story The struggles of the new deal years, which were both top down and bottom up The the advancements that even took place during world war two and then think about the 1960s I mean for all, you know, he was a southern democrat lbj, but he was an old fdr democrat and medicare Medicaid The civil rights and voting rights acts of course the environmental protection Agency the occupational safety and health administration consumer rights all of these developments of the 60s Which were if you like the the advancement of the social democratic ideal that fdr had truly put on the agenda and this pseudo democrat claire mccaskell says Bernie's an extremist and that's what I said. Yeah, the democrats must be losing their minds. They clearly lost their memories. They're amnesiacs but our task must be To make sure not just that we you know talk about social democracy But that we remind americans that social democracy as you said Or I said I as bill moyers who really was the source of the idea for my writing that said social democracy is 100 American bill and I were supposed to co-author that piece But something came up and I ended up doing it and he wouldn't put his name on it because he said you wrote it You take the credit and I can tell you that piece is probably the most Liked piece i've ever written in the sense on twitter and on facebook. It's the response was tremendous So I was convinced americans wanted to hear the truth Of history not the kind of crap that the republicans were spewing and surely not the kind of crap that claire mccasco was spewing Yeah, I love that you brought that up in the book because that clip there was something about it like the way That she said it too. It just it irked me and it really stuck. You know, it's stuck by me Um, and it's been on my mind and when I read that in the book. I just thought oh This is this is so good So the book itself to me like this is a reminder that we are on the right path And I don't know that we're gonna get there in this generation But we certainly are doing the right thing and I think that there's this you can correct me if um If i'm wrong, I think that there's this instinct on the left for us to kind of self censor because republicans are so good At storytelling and capturing that narrative, you know, we don't want to go too far left because that could turn off voters But in actuality, we're just basically returning to our roots and I think that that is incredibly important So my pitch for the book is everyone who is A believer and you know, uh, bernie's presidency And campaign and social democracy has got to read this because it basically it tells you that you're on the right track But before we go, I want to allow you to make your pitch for the book It's fun. It's phenomenal We'll have links on screen and down below for people to order it But tell us what you think that we haven't discussed people need to know about the book Well, okay I want to give credit to the people who've inspired me to think in those terms. Okay, so We need to remember that we're the like the children of thomas pain the revolutionary Okay, we carried with us. He made us radicals then and we're we're radicals to this day I wrote an earlier book thomas pain and the promise of america But this book, okay, so that was one then I wrote this book titled the fight for the four freedoms about fdr The greatest generation man those books are highly political as much as they're historical But this book if I can then hold it up again myself this take hold of our history make america radical again This this book is says that this It's not just a matter of making sense of why we feel the way we do Why we why it is that we saw these movements emerge like the fight for 15 black lives matter the the Eventually the march the the women's march the moral monday movement the teacher strikes I mean those are a mark all of these things indicate that we are we yearn In langston hughes great poetic terms. We want to make america america the america that has never been But that's the story of progressivism and radicalism and democratic socialism that we are seeking to make america The america that is that is part of our promise, but as yet has never been now I just I'd like to there's a quote that I love Using I probably use it in all my writing I was henry demris Lloyd a journalist of around 1900. It was a Depending on who claims them either a populist or progressive or a socialist doesn't matter He said basically and he drew on wendell philips the 19th century radical when he said this he said, you know Liberty requires more than perpetual vigilance If we're going to sustain liberty or democracy and freedom and equality We not only have to defend and protect the rights that our Parents gave us We need to create new rights for our children and that's the point with there's a radical imperative in american life We feel it We don't always act upon it But what that imperative is trying to tell us is if you believe in democracy, then you don't Simply defend democracy to sustain democracy. You have to extend And deepen it. I can't make that point strongly enough And the best evidence of that is that when americans have been in the face of mortal crises the 1770s the 1860s the 1930s the 1940s maybe even the 1960s in the cold war what we've found Is that the only way Whether we liked it or not in fact the only way to confront and transcend the crisis and our enemies Whether they were far or domestic was to make america rather democratic public and slavery Empower working people and you know civil rights and voting rights and and enabling people to transcend the poverty of their lives That's what america is meant to be and that's that's the struggle ahead of us So i'll go back to something you said it's not a matter of going too far left. It's how american do we want to be? I love that and um, we can't possibly end stronger than that. It's a great note to end on Thank you so much professor k once again. The book is take hold of our history Make america radical again. There will be links in the description box if you'd like to read it yourself Thank you so much for coming on Thank you mic. It's been a pleasure talking with you Hello everyone. I'm here with amanda cb running to represent organ's first congressional district And she is here to talk about her campaign. Amanda. Thank you so much for coming on the program Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. This is amazing. I really appreciate it I'm so excited to have you because unlike all the other candidates You're unique in the sense that I can vote for you. You're in my district Um, and i'm incredibly enthusiastic about your campaign Um, and of course unequivocally I endorse you. Um, where basically this is the only I think race where it makes sense for me to endorse I already tacitly endorse pretty much everyone who I talk to But I feel like in this district it matters because I can vote for you and anyone who I know Will know who amanda cb is. Um, so tell us why you decided to run for congress Of course, you're running against susanne banamichi. She's not the worst democrat I would say but I feel like she hasn't been adequately representing us But I kind of want to know what made you decide to run Well, she's definitely not the worst democrat, but she's definitely not the best either And that's part of the problem is that we settle for mediocre candidates so often because we don't have any other option Um, what really got me to run. I really I grew up wanting to run for office But I never saw it as a possibility. You know, I was raised in a family where Women weren't supposed to run for office. We were supposed to be the politician's wife Um, so when hillary clinton ran for the senate in new york, it was like a big time for me And I was so excited, but it turned into well She can run because she has the name and she has the money But when elizandria casio-cortez ran and won it Opened up that entire possibility. I chose to run against banamichi because she has been Systematically bad when it comes to disability rights Disability rights are something that's very very big for me. I am an injured worker I became disabled after a on-the-job fall My employers didn't give me the sufficient time off to recover and my modified duty turned into Okay, abandon your crutches and do your regular work and it led to A full body nerve disorder and I lost everything and so When we don't have anybody in congress that really understands that and is willing to To represent that and fight back Then it's time for new people to run and who will fight for those things and who will represent those stories because There's so many more Out there than we we see and we understand Every story in this country matters and everyone is important and we forget that You know, I mean one in five voters is disabled across the country one in four here in oregon And yet the only time we talk about disability rights It's in regards to disabled vets and the elderly and all those are both very very important Incredibly valuable members of our community It's so much bigger and more diverse than that And so it's time that those people have representation too Absolutely, and I'm so glad that you are elevating this issue What I've tended to realize is that like each candidate they kind of bring something unique to the table Like we all kind of check the boxes so to speak when it comes to progressive policy issues Medicare for all free college and whatnot, but each person kind of has that unique insight That I think is so crucial and important You know some will focus on housing for albert lee who's running in our neighboring district Focuses a lot on housing, which is great and you're focusing on disability rights Incredibly crucial like my dad is in a wheelchair full time. He's unable to walk and this is an issue I can tell you that does not get enough attention and it's so important and even though we've made a lot of progress You know the american with disabilities act was passed It doesn't go far enough and there needs to be more resources and wheelchair accessibility That's one of many issues that needs to be talked about because we've again We've made progress but not nearly enough. So we need someone with that perspective who knows firsthand What needs to be done now? I looked over your platform and your platform is incredibly robust and just by looking at that really quickly I can already tell you're someone who is eager to get in and represent the people and I want to talk a little bit about Suzanne Bonamici because She is someone who I kind of always just felt Ambivalent towards she never really elicited a strong reaction to me because like we both, you know concede She's not the worst, but you know, she doesn't do I think a good enough job at representing the people She rarely does town halls. I showed up to the town hall that she did um a year ago and you know I thanked her for cosponsoring Medicare for all but at the back of my mind I don't believe that she would actually fight for it in the event. It came up for a vote on top of that I asked her about a piece of legislation that was 3057. It's called the Fair Representation Act And this is something that would end gerrymandering it would move us to a proportional representation system And on top of that, I think most importantly it would institute nationwide ranked choice voting and I asked her about this and gave her the number You know the bill and whatnot and I asked if she would cosponsor and she said she'd look into it It's been you know more than a year. I haven't heard anything back So I just feel like she's not responsive to her constituents and it's just kind of you know I'll put in the bare minimum effort to make sure I pass and they're sufficiently satisfied But I want someone who's going to go further than that, right? So let me ask you because you're going to be my representative. Will you cosponsor that piece of legislation now? It's hr 4 000. Oh, see and you don't have to look into it. You just know exactly I know what that legislation is. I know about right choice voting. I know that we need to get rid of gerrymandering I know that the people need to be Picking their representatives not the representatives picking the people and we need to go back To the roots of what our government was founded on and the ideals You know, we need to make sure that the people's voices is heard and gerrymandering does not do that Yeah, absolutely. And see this is what really by you just answering so quickly And candidates like you like it shows you guys are coming to congress with ideas that other people don't have Like you shouldn't have to look into whether or not you support rank choice voting or ending gerrymandering It should just be like of course it's not even a question And I think that's why it's so important that we have younger a new generation Just get out and run for congress because you all have ideas that would benefit working class people Certainly in organ's first congressional district So you have a huge platform and there's no way we can touch on everything But can you go over a little bit about what you represent because I was so excited to see You know single payer medicare for all student loan debt cancellation Um Imagine like the the thought of you being my representative would be so exciting because I know That we would be adequately represented in this district for the first time in our lifetimes So talk a little bit about your platform I mean for me, I my time my effort where my mouth is everything I do and everything I say I back up. I make sure that with the even though I live on $735 a month I have made that a priority to pay that extra little bit so that I can do that and have that, you know, I make sure that Putting my name out there and fighting for immigration rights, you know, these things are really important to me the woman I call a mom is a She was an undocumented immigrant. She now has her green card These people are parts of our community and so it's really important to me But for me a social justice platform And government reform are the two biggest areas We need to make sure that everybody is taken care of that. Nobody is being left behind That includes our incarcerated population You know, we need to make sure that the we end the mass incarceration that has so many people systematically oppressed across this country that we aren't breaking up families by sticking somebody In jail that shouldn't be there, you know, we have So many issues Let's see we have You know, we mentioned the Green New Deal. We mentioned Medicare for All. We mentioned, uh, education education is a big one We need to change the way our schools. I mean I do a lot of tutoring and mentoring of our local kids here in my neighborhood and I have a 16 year old that can't read And he's still getting a's and b's and passing classes because they hired an aide to read everything for him rather than teaching him how to read and we need to Really put the focus back on what we're teaching our kids and how we're teaching them And I mean there are so many Issues that we can solve if we just if we stop making excuses if we stop putting the priorities of Companies and everything first we need to stop Putting the product the priority on profits We need to take profits out of a lot of things because that's what's ruining things I mean if you look at the workers compensation system, which is completely Unbelievably broken, but nobody's ever talking about it. I mean the same private insurance companies that messed up our healthcare insurance They also messed up our workers compensation system. So we have Injured workers that should be getting Full care treatment, you know back to work and if they can't get back to work They should be able to survive, but these workers are living on starvation Wages, I mean our elderly are living on starvation wages. We need to make social security supplemental social income and social security disability into a living wage because that alone would cut our homelessness rate by over half of our 554,000 homeless across this country 40 percent of them are disabled and 30 percent of them are over 55. So just by making those three programs a living wage We'd be able to cut those that number in over half I mean we need to start really implementing real change that will affect real lives We can't make excuses and we can't brush off legislation that people bring up to us by saying Oh, I need to look into that and I need to get more informed. We should already be informed We know the issues that people are facing and if they don't understand those issues and they shouldn't be in congress Yeah, yeah, and this district what's interesting is that I mean this is a heavy democratic district So there's no reason why You know, we don't have a representative who isn't one of the loudest members of congress Pushing the envelope on all of these ideas. There's no reason why we don't have our own member of the squad in this district Because we're going to have a democrat every single time So there's nothing there's no fear of losing to a republican if you run too far to the left That's nonsensical So it's really frustrating to know that we're getting someone who's just putting in the bare minimum effort Who doesn't really seem to be focused on a lot of these issues? But I am curious though because susan bonamici She's an incumbent who has been in there for quite some time and she is heavily bankrolled by the industry and You are someone who you're not going to have the backing of the state democratic party or the establishment And this is a grassroots campaign. So my question to you is how do you Win successfully against someone who is a political behemoth like susan bonamici Who is going to be protected by those institutional and you know, incumbency advantages What do you think needs to be done? Because I know that knocking on doors and raising money is crucial But do you think that in this district in particular that's enough to win? And what is your kind of strategy individually to basically um, make sure we take this district for progressives? I mean you forget that knocking on doors is incredibly hard for me because right 90% of houses have stairs leading up to them. So that's not something I can do I mean, so that's another challenge that we don't even Really realize so for me it's going out where the people are I ride public transportation I don't have a car for a reason so I depend on public transportation And I make sure that we turn like every max ride and every bus ride into mini town halls to get the word out You know I mean the more time that I spend talking to people the more we can get the platform out and the more that we can get Name recognition and get the word out The more people start to talk and the more people start to To listen, I mean the biggest obstacle I'm going to have is name recognition And once people learn who I am like you said a majority of our Our district is very progressive and they want progressive representation But it's just that name recognition and that's where I come into so many problems It's because to get that stuff you need money And I refuse to take the money from the big businesses. I refuse to take the lobbyist money I refuse to take super PAC money from corporations I'm not going to do it. I refuse to sell my soul to a company to earn this pot I know I can do it other ways So I mean I'm going to do everything I can I'm used to I mean I live on 735 dollars a month I know how to stretch a dime Trust me I mean I'm going to do everything I can to get that name recognition out because that's the only way we're going to win And that's why I need the help because it's so much more challenging when you're in a wheelchair trying to get around And people are less likely to talk to you when you're out without a wheelchair or with a wheelchair Yeah, that's just the sad reality. Yeah, that's that's really sad. Um, and you know When I think about a robust democracy, I think that anyone ideally should be able to run for congress But the fact that you have that limitation It really kind of puts it in the perspective that we're not as equal as we thought we were I mean, certainly we all have different privileges and whatnot, you know We have subjective experiences, but it really crystallizes it and you know, it's frustrating because If somebody has the right ideas, then they shouldn't be limited for reasons that they're not able to control Immutable characteristics. So the fact that you have a wheelchair shouldn't be A barrier, you know and theoretically you could overcome that challenge But you'd have to sell out and take a lot of money, you know what I mean to get the name out there And that's why publicly funded elections are so important You know, because the only thing that should really separate our candidates Is their policies, you know, I mean, it shouldn't be who raises the most money I mean Bon Amici right now has a million dollars in our campaign fund And you definitely don't have that Definitely don't. I mean the disabled community is one of the poorest communities in the country And it is not an option. And so we need as much help as we can get. I mean We need representatives who are willing to step up and and represent every Bon Amici's worth six million dollars I don't know the last time she's been able to make an end meet on 736 Which is the minimum social security disability payment That's really astounding. I don't think I've ever met anyone who's worth six million dollars except for her actually when she came to the town hall Yeah, it's easy to see why she's become so Out of touch and complacent because when you have that much money and you're comfortable and you're not really engaging with Your constituents as frequently as you should be of course, you're gonna grow out of touch You're in that dc bubble now, you know, you're part of the establishment Who you're you're occupying the seat, but are you fighting? No, and I think you made such a phenomenal point about name recognition because the way that I feel Is in all of these elections like all of these candidates who I talked to Yourself included without question. If enough people knew who you were You'd win nine times out of ten But the real struggle here is making sure that people in that district know who you are and I know In the first district of oregon if people knew about you they would absolutely vote for you because this is a very progressive district Like I am so surprised people who stereotypically don't seem democrats Or a liberal or left leaning in this district They are actually, you know, they're concerned with the rights that you you've raised and that's really encouraging And what it tells to me is that look we can do so much better. Like I appreciate Suzanne Bonamici's service She played her part for you know a number of years But it's time we get someone in there who genuinely cares about all of these issues And it's clear to me that she she doesn't care about these issues Now I want to talk about your endorsement. You've been endorsed by The organ chapter of justice democrats, which I think is incredibly exciting Has there been any interest for your campaign? And can you also talk a little bit about the dynamics of this primary race? Because I believe there's only one other primary challenger besides you in this race But it seems like you're the go-to Progressive was actually running on a bold platform So talk through the dynamics of this race and if there's any local organizations dsa chapters who have taken interest in your campaign Yeah, I mean we're in progressive party Uh endorsement. I've been working On um getting a couple other local endorsements. The dsa is one that I'm I'm hoping on I am a card-caring member of the dsa and have been since 2016 So I'm hoping to get their endorsements hoping to earn their endorsement I'm hoping to earn the afl cio and the seiu because Unions are so important. I mean, I know if I would have had the backing of a union when I was injured that There's no way I would be in this wheelchair right now, you know And we need to realize that we need to recognize that So the union support is incredibly important to me, which is why I've been out And I was out on the front lines marching with the burger billy burkirk union when they were out striking for a fair wage fair rights, um So yeah, I mean I'm trying to get out to as many As many groups as I can to get my name out because I really believe that there is more that unites us Then divides us. I mean we let little things like policy one little policy to divide us when There are so many bigger issues like everybody needs health insurance, you know the things that we cannot avoid in life are death taxes and disability it Doesn't care and these are things that every social economic standing and every class every race every religion and we need to realize that If we just come together and find the solutions that our country and our world can be so much better We need to stop coming up with all the reasons we can start looking for the ways to unite us and the reasons why we can 100% agree with that Yeah, I think that these endorsements that you're seeking are so crucial and in terms of like getting your name out there Um because that really is the struggle that I see with all candidates, you know They talk about a lack of news coverage because of course, you know, it's difficult enough To see mainstream media cover top tier candidates like Bernie Sanders, you know They don't want to cover the people who pose an interest to them financially Um and your story is so like if people knew about your story I think it would resonate because the really the sad aspect and why I think your story in particular is so important Is because your injury was totally preventable had we had Laws in place to protect workers like you it would have been preventable So can you tell us a little bit more about that because I find it's so Just angering that you're in this situation because workers are not respected in this country and we don't have rights I mean I It should have been six weeks of recovery six weeks of just, you know modified duty, but Because they were like, oh no, we really need you to do this and oh no If you if you take that time off you'll get fat and then you'll be useless to us Things like that. I mean the pressures that workers face I mean, I lost my housing and had to move my husband and I in out of california up into my parents house Because we lost our housing because I was a sole provider for our family You know, I mean we have to realize that what workers face Only become disabled is Unbelievably undignified and humiliating Nobody wants to live off of food boxes Nobody wants to live off of meals on meals and have other people decide what's your What foods you're going to eat when having to go in for Energy assistance it is the most humiliating thing to pick up skills I never thought I would I make a majority of my own bread now because I can't afford so things like that I mean, those are the struggles that Every family faces at some point in time or other I mean, we're all a lost job an injury A sickness away from debt bankruptcy homelessness and those are the real issues that need to be covered I mean while panamichi says that she supports things like medicare for all like you said She has three hundred thousand dollars invested in our current healthcare system I mean when it comes down to it Is she gonna be willing to take that big personal hit to make sure that the rest of us have care when she's not already You know really fighting for it You know, I mean we need representatives that are willing To stand up and lead by example really address these issues And that's why I support people like bernie sanders, you know, and that's why I'm running Yeah, your experience I think is so important and these types of experiences of candidates like yourself who are running It sets you apart so much from people in dc because people in dc oftentimes, you know, they come from ivy league schools They're very wealthy and they they've never had to struggle like the situation Like the story that you share resonates with me so much because my dad He had his own business and was basically like starting the american dream And then he got injured and then lost everything and then we were living off of food banks, you know, um, and You know in portland when we were living in portland at the time Thankfully there was a lot of options for like, you know food banks and clothing banks Which I had to go to you know for clothes for myself and one not growing up But um, it shouldn't be a situation where You know something happens to you that's completely out of your control and you lose everything you worked so hard to build like Why why are we paying taxes if we're getting nothing in return if we can lose everything, you know I was working as a restaurant manager when I was injured I was saving up to do my paramedic program so I could go back to being um I was a volunteer firefighter in an emt And that's what I really wanted to do and so while saving up for that program I got injured and lost my entire Future in a lot of ways. I lost my family. I lost, you know Uh divorce is incredibly common when you're disabled um, there's so many other issues that never get addressed or talked about and I mean these are issues that so many people face and We've completely ignored them as a society. I mean if you look at Movies and television all the disabled roles and everything are played by able-bodied actors We don't ever see disability And part of the reason we don't see disability is because nothing around town is accessible I took candidates down there this last week and put them all in wheelchairs. We took Let's see. Albert Lee Jason call Um and a couple other Portland candidates around Halfway before they had to give up and come back They just they had no idea and a lot of people just don't until They have to face it and the fact that we don't have anybody in congress right now that really has to face it the fact that most people that Care in our health insurance system are patients and yet there's no real patients In congress to represent that voice As we go through this national health care debate is insane to me You know, we can do so much better imagine how much better health care system would be if patients actually had a voice Yeah, everything you're saying it's just I totally agree the the worst part is that all of these horrible things are happening When they don't have to be like we are the richest country on the planet and these things don't have to happen And I like I'm tired of like if you if you shared your story with Suzanne Bonham meet you I'm sure that she would you know say oh, thank you so much You're so brave and pat you on the shoulder But would she actually fight and the answer is no we need people who are actually going to fight So, I mean you've already convinced me you've won my endorsement, of course So tell people what they can do to support you and even if they don't live in this district What they can do to basically spread the word about your campaign and help you because I am All on board and we want you to win Thank you so much for that. That means a ton to me. Um Any help we get is appreciated if you live in district we need help getting the word out We need help getting to doors and door knocking because I can't That can go out and knock on doors that are willing to help step up in that way Um finances like I said, I live on nothing. We have a very poor community So anybody that is willing to donate even Five dollars goes a long way if we can get 10,000 people to donate five dollars and we have 50,000 dollars. I can make magic out of them, you know, and The big thing is recurring donations people that can give five dollars a month That makes a huge difference for candidates like me Being able to count on that monthly donation is amazingly huge We can do a lot with that so Anyway, you want to get involved. There's ways for you to help a lot of online warriors are always welcome Anything we can do to get the name out. So there's a place for everybody and everybody's help is appreciated Yeah, and really getting the name out is super important because I didn't learn about you until I you know I looked for you. I believe I found you on balladpedia because I was curious like is there anyone in my district Who's challenging susanne bonamici? Who is awesome who's like progressive and I found you and I think that if people knew about you That would really like we talked about the name recognition. It would go A long way because people just they want to be represented. They just need to know that they have other options So really sharing those recurring donations and really volunteering since amanda can't knock on doors again That would be incredibly important because getting the name out getting her name out and having conversations with people It's less scary than you think it is and I know a lot of people who talk to me and they say, you know phone banking And doing canvassing it was really intimidating at first But once they started to do it it became second nature because what you end up finding out is that you have a lot More in common with people than you initially think and even though politics is incredibly polarizing and divisive It's not as bad especially in these types of districts where we are incredibly incredibly left leaning in blue Of course, that's not to say that we don't have our own republicans here But you're going to find people who agree with you more often than not And if they know that amanda cb is challenging susanne bonamici and you tell her about these tell people about these policies We win. It's as simple as that So before we go tell us the website It's www.cb2020.com s i e Well, man, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. I am incredibly excited to vote for you I will be setting up recurring donations since you are in my district. Um just for full disclosure But I mean, I think it's obvious that I support the people who I bring on so Either way, thank you so much amanda Thank you. I appreciate it. Well, that is all that I've got for you all today Thank you so much for watching if you've made it this far on the show as usual We're not going to end the show without thanking all of the people who make this podcast possible all of our patreon Paypal and youtube members you guys are truly the lifeblood of this show Um, you helped the show not just to survive but thrive as well And I truly am so grateful to you all this is going to be a truly uh big possibly transformative year And uh, I'm just glad that we all have this community here to talk through it and deal with it all together So it's been a really rough week with the nonsense, you know regarding iran But nonetheless We keep moving on and pressing forward. So that's all that I've got. I'll see you all next week. I'm mike figurado This has been the humanist report. Take care everyone