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Establishment Democrats PANIC as Socialists Keep Winning · The Real News Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Establishment Democrats have racked up a lot of losses over
0:02
Speaker 1: the past decade, So why are they so angry when
0:05
Speaker 1: members of their own party win and how do they
0:07
Speaker 1: need to change if they ever want to win again? Well,
0:10
Speaker 1: Stephen Janis and I will break down the profound need
0:12
Speaker 1: for change for Democrats in this episode of the Capitol
0:15
Speaker 1: Hill Inequality Report. Hello, my name is Teo Graham, and
0:22
Speaker 1: welcome to the Are You Serious edition of our Inequality
0:26
Speaker 1: Watch Capitol Hill Report, As in, are you serious Democrats
0:30
Speaker 1: that you don't want to listen to your own voters?
0:31
Speaker 1: And are you seriously going to brush off the results
0:34
Speaker 1: when Democratic Socialists win as some sort of existential threat
0:37
Speaker 1: to your party? Well, we're going to unpack what's at
0:40
Speaker 1: the root of this state of denial and provide some
0:42
Speaker 1: analysis of why Democrats might not be able to overcome
0:45
Speaker 1: the fact that they are more afraid of socialism than losing.
0:48
Speaker 1: Of course, this establishment panic attack all started with three
0:51
Speaker 1: historic victories in New York after Democratic Socialists beat establishment
0:55
Speaker 1: Democrats in key congressional primaries, and also last night an
1:00
Speaker 1: know they're socialists and not just to win in Colorado
1:02
Speaker 1: when twenty nine year old Malak Kiro's triumphed over Diana
1:06
Speaker 1: de Jett, who has served in Congress for thirty years,
1:09
Speaker 1: and Steven. All the candidates in New York were endorsed
1:11
Speaker 1: by mayor's Zorn Mondami, So he sort of looms over
1:15
Speaker 1: this entire loss for establishment candidates.
1:18
Speaker 2: He sure does. That's when the Democratic establishment started their
1:21
Speaker 2: big losing streak within the party was when Mandami won
1:24
Speaker 2: the mayor's race, and ever since then, and I remember
1:27
Speaker 2: we covered her kind of in the beginning and when
1:28
Speaker 2: they were pushing back and like, oh my god, socialism,
1:30
Speaker 2: and ever since then, they've been using this trope that
1:33
Speaker 2: a socialist win is bad for Democrats instead of listening
1:37
Speaker 2: to the voters. So we're going to unpack that and
1:39
Speaker 2: talk about it because you've seen it like close, how
1:43
Speaker 2: establishment Democrats are, Oh my god, they're winning, when Doami
1:46
Speaker 2: is winning, when Dommy brought out like I think twenty
1:48
Speaker 2: five percent or a huge increase in the youth vote,
1:51
Speaker 2: which the Democrats have been losing, which they lost to
1:53
Speaker 2: the Trump, you know, presidential victory. So it's been really
1:57
Speaker 2: funny to watch how the Democrats are trying to or
2:00
Speaker 2: dablishment Democrats are scrambling to somehow compensate for this win
2:04
Speaker 2: pro win which I won't take.
2:06
Speaker 1: The Democrats find a way to take a loss, even
2:08
Speaker 1: out of a win. Okay, Yeah, but you know it
2:10
Speaker 1: doesn't take long for the establishment Dems to react. And again,
2:13
Speaker 1: as we pointed out last year when we were discussing
2:16
Speaker 1: the rise of now mayor Zama Mandami, the prevailing idea
2:19
Speaker 1: in the mainstream media, which is often unchallenged by the pundits,
2:23
Speaker 1: is that somehow this is bad news for Democrats. Stephen,
2:26
Speaker 1: let me just show you a couple things democrats said
2:29
Speaker 1: before I ask you to react. Okay, Hey, Cam, can
2:31
Speaker 1: you put this quote up on the screen. Okay. So
2:33
Speaker 1: this is from Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who, by the way,
2:37
Speaker 1: has received one point five million dollars from APAK and
2:41
Speaker 1: is consistently ranked among the top recipients of pro Israeli money.
2:45
Speaker 1: Here's what he told CNN shortly after the election. Obviously,
2:50
Speaker 1: the Socialists had a big win last night. The question
2:53
Speaker 1: is are we going to let them take over the
2:54
Speaker 1: party or are we going to stand up and fight back?
2:58
Speaker 1: Says Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a moderate Democrat, to CNN, and
3:03
Speaker 1: then Democratic establishment stalwart James Carville actually called for a
3:07
Speaker 1: breakup of the party on his podcast cam can you
3:10
Speaker 1: please show that text on the screen. I believe he
3:12
Speaker 1: is directly addressing Chevalier when he says this, Okay, lady,
3:17
Speaker 1: I ain't in the same party as you. I'm sorry,
3:20
Speaker 1: I'm just not. And I actually do think it's time
3:22
Speaker 1: for Democrats to talk the S word schism. I really do.
3:27
Speaker 1: And this is according to Democratic strategist James Carville Stephen, Yeah,
3:32
Speaker 1: what's the problem here with winning?
3:33
Speaker 2: Okay? This is a byproduct of what's called the moderate
3:37
Speaker 2: stasis or the moderation stasis in the Democratic Party that
3:41
Speaker 2: if we just moderate enough somehow will attract some maga
3:45
Speaker 2: Republicans who will like the fact that we're moderate. But
3:48
Speaker 2: the problems the party is confronting, which is absolutely being
3:51
Speaker 2: tossed out of power and absolutely watching almost all the
3:54
Speaker 2: legacy of the Body administration being dismantled. Is it about moderation.
3:58
Speaker 2: It's not about getting closer to some non exist in
4:01
Speaker 2: middle that just doesn't exist in America anymore, and it
4:04
Speaker 2: doesn't exist because of our extreme income, inequality and money
4:07
Speaker 2: in elections straight up. So Democrats have been like operating
4:11
Speaker 2: under diceasis if we're just normal and middle enough, and
4:14
Speaker 2: that's not what's happening in their electorate. Electorates are voting
4:18
Speaker 2: for people who are a forceful agent for change and
4:21
Speaker 2: they just don't want to accept it. I mean, James
4:23
Speaker 2: Carvell needs to be in a retirement room right now
4:26
Speaker 2: and locked behind the doors and not giving access to
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Speaker 2: zoom okay, because he says ridiculously stupid stuff and not
4:34
Speaker 2: recognize it. Where is the energy from the party coming
4:37
Speaker 2: from and when is moderate ever worked in the past
4:40
Speaker 2: ten years, in the past two election.
4:42
Speaker 1: That's such a good point. I mean, think about it, Okay,
4:44
Speaker 1: When Kamala Harris was running for president, wasn't she walking
4:48
Speaker 1: around with Liz Cheney as if that was going to
4:50
Speaker 1: gain her some goodwill?
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Speaker 2: And let's remember that James Carvill is the one who
4:53
Speaker 2: predicted over and over again that Kamala Harris is going
4:56
Speaker 2: to win and it didn't happen and she actually got
4:59
Speaker 2: beat pretty bad. So yeah, yeah, And then they tried
5:02
Speaker 2: to like cozy up to the Chiney's of all people,
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Speaker 2: and it didn't.
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Speaker 1: It didn't impress the Republicans, and it didn't sway any moderates.
5:09
Speaker 1: It just didn't work.
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Speaker 2: There's no moderate. I mean moderate is meaningless because it's
5:14
Speaker 2: we're talking about policy, Like what's moderate? Is moderate? Like
5:17
Speaker 2: having sixteen million people kicked off their healthcare is moderate?
5:21
Speaker 2: Like funding a genocide is that moderate? Like what does
5:23
Speaker 2: moderate mean? It means that nothing happens. It means there's
5:26
Speaker 2: no change. And that's why it does. The message doesn't work.
5:29
Speaker 2: And by being moderate, I mean, let the Republicans come
5:33
Speaker 2: and take and say, you know, the Democratic Party socialists,
5:36
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, the Democratic Party in New York that just
5:39
Speaker 2: created the first free preschool for two year olds, The
5:43
Speaker 2: Democratic Party that just had a rent freeze for two
5:45
Speaker 2: million New Yorkers. Yeah, let them come in and say
5:47
Speaker 2: that that sucks. The Democratic Party that just you know,
5:50
Speaker 2: fixed like one hundred and seventy thousand potholes according to
5:53
Speaker 2: Mayor Mom Donnie. So yeah, let them come in and
5:56
Speaker 2: take that. I think I think they should like embrace it.
5:58
Speaker 2: But yeah, we're going to change things. Change is needed.
6:01
Speaker 1: Stephen, That's a really good point because I think over
6:03
Speaker 1: the last two years that we've spent covering Capitol Hill,
6:05
Speaker 1: I've watched Republicans cut one twentllion dollars for Medicaid, failed
6:09
Speaker 1: to renew the ACA subsidies, cut nutritional assistance for children,
6:13
Speaker 1: remote grants for scientific research, and then most recently, we
6:16
Speaker 1: literally witness Republicans giving an additional seventy billion dollars to
6:21
Speaker 1: Ice and Customs and Border Patrol, which are reporting uncovered.
6:24
Speaker 1: Both agencies had about one hundred billion dollars still sitting
6:28
Speaker 1: in the bank from the big beautiful bill. So I
6:29
Speaker 1: don't think moderation is such a workable response to such
6:33
Speaker 1: extreme policies.
6:34
Speaker 2: Well, apparently Republicans aren't that moderate, because this is pretty
6:37
Speaker 2: radical change for a lot of people's lives, right, millions
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Speaker 2: kicked off healthcare, you know, one hundred billion for Ice
6:42
Speaker 2: to terrorize people in cities. So apparently they're not moderate.
6:45
Speaker 2: I don't see how moderation attacks or even solves that problem.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, no more. I think really there's an intellectual
6:53
Speaker 2: bankruptcy with the concept of moderation in light of the
6:56
Speaker 2: changes you talked about.
6:57
Speaker 1: You know, I think the impulse to moderate and to
7:00
Speaker 1: you just basically reject the energy and the message of
7:02
Speaker 1: the voters was definitely a point of contention on Capitol Hill. Now,
7:06
Speaker 1: we were there to cover Trump's refusal to sign an
7:08
Speaker 1: affordable housing bill, which was a bipartisan compromise to reduce
7:12
Speaker 1: housing costs and promote construction nationwide. And just to note,
7:16
Speaker 1: estimates say the US is about short five million homes.
7:21
Speaker 1: We need five million new homes. But even though both
7:24
Speaker 1: parties agreed to support the legislation, Trump said he would
7:27
Speaker 1: not sign unless the Save America Act was passed. First, Steven,
7:31
Speaker 1: can you do me a favor and just give us
7:32
Speaker 1: like a breakdown on the Save America Act, just so
7:34
Speaker 1: we can keep score and keep on it.
7:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, basically, Save America Act would fundamentally federalize American elections.
7:40
Speaker 2: We require that people have like a birth certificate or
7:43
Speaker 2: passport to register to vote rather than a real ID.
7:46
Speaker 2: It would allow the DHS to compare voter rolls to
7:49
Speaker 2: their internals database, which tend to be extremely inaccurate. And
7:53
Speaker 2: then there's kick people off the roles, and it would
7:55
Speaker 2: eliminate mail in ballots. So it's really, again a radical
7:59
Speaker 2: proposal that in the sense it would radically alter elections
8:02
Speaker 2: and put them under federal control, which I don't think
8:04
Speaker 2: anybody wants. But anyway, so it's pretty pretty dangerous piece
8:07
Speaker 2: of legislation. When it comes to voting.
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Speaker 1: You know, Steven, let me just check something with you.
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Speaker 1: So I go to the polls. I have my real ID,
8:15
Speaker 1: but it doesn't say on it that I was born
8:18
Speaker 1: in the US. It's just my driver's license. Does that
8:20
Speaker 1: mean I could be stopped at the polls and have
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Speaker 1: to provide other information to prove that I'm an American citizen?
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Speaker 2: It means when you register, like you can't register online,
8:28
Speaker 2: you'd have to provide some sort of proof of citizenship
8:30
Speaker 2: before you register to vote, ie a passport or a
8:33
Speaker 2: birth certificate. You know, women who have married and changed
8:36
Speaker 2: your names are in a real quandary because their bursts
8:38
Speaker 2: of it does not match your current legal name. So
8:40
Speaker 2: it's really really a voter suppression bill. I don't care
8:43
Speaker 2: why people say that it's all about voter suppression.
8:45
Speaker 1: You know what, while we were covering the meltdown over housing,
8:48
Speaker 1: we also thought it was a good idea to talk
8:50
Speaker 1: to some of the progressive members of Congress that quite frankly,
8:53
Speaker 1: the mainstream media often ignores. So one of them was
8:56
Speaker 1: Iana Presley and that she's a Democratic socialist from Massachusetts.
9:00
Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to what she has to say.
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Speaker 1: About the Party of Moderation and the recent socialist victories.
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Speaker 1: I think it was interesting, but it.
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Speaker 3: Just goes to show that candidates that fight for families,
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Speaker 3: that are against genocide, that speaks out and against anti blackness,
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Speaker 3: and that one who abolish super pacts can run and
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Speaker 3: can win. And finally, I would just say that, you know,
9:23
Speaker 3: something that has bothered me is that I'm being in
9:25
Speaker 3: the analysis of progressive victories. And this is true for
9:27
Speaker 3: myself and many of my sister colleagues. When we were
9:30
Speaker 3: elected in the one hundred and sixte of Congress, it's
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Speaker 3: sort of dismissed as a fluke or an outlier.
9:36
Speaker 1: But whenever more moderate.
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Speaker 3: Democrats win, a lot of people say that that's a
9:39
Speaker 3: blueprint for Democrats to continue winning.
9:43
Speaker 1: So people should take care Stephen. Before you give me
9:48
Speaker 1: your thoughts, let me tell you. I got to give
9:49
Speaker 1: you a compliment on walking backwards with that giant camera
9:53
Speaker 1: and getting that shot. So props to you on that
9:56
Speaker 1: easy that was in shape, though it surely does. So
10:00
Speaker 1: tell me what did you think of Aana Presley there
10:03
Speaker 1: what she had to say.
10:04
Speaker 2: I want to go back to moderation as an ideology
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Speaker 2: and the great moderation fallacy that has been driving democratic
10:10
Speaker 2: politics for the last decade, and she just personified it
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Speaker 2: right there. Because it is an ideological message, right, everyone says, well,
10:16
Speaker 2: it's just being rational. No, because they ignore almost completely
10:21
Speaker 2: the message sent by voters who vote for socialists. But
10:25
Speaker 2: they embrace this idea, well, a moderate one, and that's
10:28
Speaker 2: what's going to get us there, and that makes it
10:29
Speaker 2: an ideology. They're not looking at the rationality of the voters.
10:32
Speaker 2: In fact, they characterize socialist voters as irrational, totally irrational,
10:37
Speaker 2: and that there's some wonderful moderate mill, the moderate mill
10:40
Speaker 2: that delivered all the stuff you just talked about, the
10:42
Speaker 2: carnage basically of American social safety net and the genocide
10:46
Speaker 2: in Palestine. So that's what moderation is delivered. So this
10:50
Speaker 2: is what we call the Great moderation fallacy. It's not
10:53
Speaker 2: like a reasonable position, it's not rational because the policies
10:57
Speaker 2: it's produced as being irrational. It's actually an idelology that's
11:00
Speaker 2: pretty fierce and pretty fiercely neoliberal and pretty furiously anti
11:04
Speaker 2: working people.
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Speaker 1: You know, the moderation fallacy sounds like a sequel to
11:07
Speaker 1: Michael Crichton novel like Jurassic Park the moderation fallacy.
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Speaker 2: No, but seriously, I should write a book like a
11:13
Speaker 2: moderation fallacy. It's a cabal, doesn't it?
11:16
Speaker 1: Doesn't that sound good? Is that a great title?
11:17
Speaker 2: I love it?
11:18
Speaker 1: I love it? Okay, but no. Seriously, though, I thought
11:20
Speaker 1: there was another really important aspect of what she said,
11:23
Speaker 1: which is that the voters have spoken exactly full stop.
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Speaker 1: And that's the part of this I find most puzzling.
11:29
Speaker 1: I mean, why are they constantly questioning the underlying motives
11:33
Speaker 1: of voters is somehow illogical instead of trying to understand them,
11:36
Speaker 1: like somehow voting for Democratic socialists is simply an act
11:39
Speaker 1: of bad faith? What's going on here? Why won't people
11:42
Speaker 1: just listen to the voters?
11:44
Speaker 2: We know what's really interesting about this, which I want
11:46
Speaker 2: to go back in time with you, because we remember
11:48
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen when Trump won, there was this great
11:52
Speaker 2: passion to talk to Trump voters, like we don't understand them,
11:56
Speaker 2: why do they vote for Trump? You know, the liberal
11:58
Speaker 2: media and the mainstream media and all the neoliberals like,
12:01
Speaker 2: we're like panicking about talking to Trump voters, and we're
12:04
Speaker 2: very insistent that we had to hear them out. Well,
12:07
Speaker 2: there has been no such and the point was really
12:10
Speaker 2: that they arrived at that decision rationally because we're going
12:13
Speaker 2: to listen to them. But there's been no such effort
12:15
Speaker 2: by Democrats or neoliberals or the mainstream media. They always
12:18
Speaker 2: characterize the people almost like, you know, they objectify them
12:22
Speaker 2: into some sort of class of irrational idiots. And it's
12:26
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I remember, and it's so funny
12:28
Speaker 2: because I remember that. I want to I want to
12:30
Speaker 2: go back in time with you. I remember we were
12:31
Speaker 2: covering the twenty eighteen midterms in Pennsylvania and at that
12:36
Speaker 2: time Trump voters were all motivated by the what was
12:40
Speaker 2: it called right They were not about a thousand people
12:45
Speaker 2: coming up through right through Mexico. And you do you
12:47
Speaker 2: remember the question you asked me, I.
12:49
Speaker 1: Very specifically asked. We were in Littitts, Pennsylvania because we
12:52
Speaker 1: wanted to go to polls to make sure we got Republicans, Democrats,
12:55
Speaker 1: Independence and everybody in between. Wanted to talk to everyone.
12:58
Speaker 1: So we're in Litits and this, you know, very nice
13:01
Speaker 1: gentleman who I was having conversation with told me he
13:03
Speaker 1: was Republican, and I said, what was his concerns? You know,
13:05
Speaker 1: why was he, you know, why was he voting the
13:07
Speaker 1: way he was in this election? And he said he
13:09
Speaker 1: was worried about the caravan. And so I asked him, like, well,
13:12
Speaker 1: have you seen a sign of a caravan? Have you?
13:15
Speaker 1: Has there been an influx of Hondurans in you know, Liitts, Pennsylvania?
13:19
Speaker 1: And he said no. And that let me understand how
13:23
Speaker 1: powerful the media was and how powerfully the media was
13:27
Speaker 1: colluding to shape a specific narrative exactly.
13:30
Speaker 2: And the thing was, you know, nobody, there was no
13:32
Speaker 2: alarm bells from that. It was almost considered rational. I mean,
13:36
Speaker 2: that voter was considered, i think by the mainstream media
13:38
Speaker 2: and by the pun it's to be more rational than
13:40
Speaker 2: a socialist voter who's obviously voting for things that are
13:44
Speaker 2: you know, in their interests, like cheaper rent and healthcare
13:47
Speaker 2: and care for their children. So that's like to me,
13:50
Speaker 2: like the example, like and there was this huge it
13:53
Speaker 2: never stopped, like we need to talk to Trump for wars,
13:55
Speaker 2: We need to understand Trump wars. If we don't understand
13:57
Speaker 2: Trump voters, we're not getting the story. But I've never
14:00
Speaker 2: ever experienced and the mainstream reading the same impulse for
14:03
Speaker 2: socialists well.
14:04
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, I completely agree with you. I mean it
14:07
Speaker 1: was almost like they were, you know, fetishizing the voters,
14:09
Speaker 1: or they thought Trump voters from another planet. The thing was,
14:12
Speaker 1: and I think we could safely say this for you know,
14:14
Speaker 1: the first round of voting for Trump, that people desperately
14:17
Speaker 1: wanted a change. They did they wanted disruption, and what
14:20
Speaker 1: could argue that people want change and disruption from the
14:23
Speaker 1: status quo right now? However, instead of finding it with
14:26
Speaker 1: the current Republican Party, they're looking towards democratic socialism. And
14:30
Speaker 1: I do remember every single journalist including us, were told
14:33
Speaker 1: to go to Trump country. And just for the record,
14:35
Speaker 1: I have no problem at all speaking to people about
14:38
Speaker 1: their concerns, regardless of their ideology. In fact, I honestly
14:41
Speaker 1: enjoy talking to people with a variety of viewpoints because
14:44
Speaker 1: I almost always learned something in the process. But I
14:46
Speaker 1: do find it curious that when democratic socialists win, the
14:49
Speaker 1: mainstream media and their pundits seem chronically disinterested in the
14:54
Speaker 1: concerns of these voters and even reject them as they
14:57
Speaker 1: irrational without even taking the time to talk with them.
15:00
Speaker 1: And that is not going to be the case here
15:02
Speaker 1: on the Real News Network and I will show the
15:03
Speaker 1: proof in just a moment, But first, Steven, I want
15:06
Speaker 1: to play you another clip from another progressive member of
15:09
Speaker 1: Congress who discussed a big issue that is driving the
15:13
Speaker 1: socialist movement and it's probably key to the results we're
15:16
Speaker 1: seeing in real time. Cam give us the clip. Let's listen.
15:19
Speaker 4: But these are folks that are not afraid to say
15:22
Speaker 4: we need medicare for all, or that we need to
15:24
Speaker 4: take corporate money out of our democracy, out of politics.
15:29
Speaker 4: And they did it so unapologetically, and they did it
15:31
Speaker 4: without taking a dime from the same people that are
15:33
Speaker 4: hurting our families across the country, and so I'm proud
15:35
Speaker 4: of them. I love that they connect the movement around
15:39
Speaker 4: the fact that our country continues to fund genocide, bombs,
15:41
Speaker 4: and death and destruction, but not clean water and childcare
15:45
Speaker 4: and paid leave and medicare for all. So they're all
15:47
Speaker 4: coming here with the same ideals that I had and
15:50
Speaker 4: wanting to change the world for the better for our residents.
15:52
Speaker 1: And I'm excited now. I think congress Woman Tally really
15:56
Speaker 1: hit the nail on the head here as to what's
15:58
Speaker 1: motivating voters that again, the mainstream media has ignored and
16:01
Speaker 1: for her it comes down to priorities, funding for genocide
16:05
Speaker 1: or funding for healthcare, funding for bombs to kill children
16:08
Speaker 1: rather than money to feed children. Stephen, what do you
16:11
Speaker 1: see here?
16:11
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, here's the insanity of moderation here, because
16:15
Speaker 2: the moderate position is what you know, basically conjured this
16:20
Speaker 2: like dystopian take on American politics. I mean, anyway, could
16:25
Speaker 2: you even how do you even rationalize the idea that
16:28
Speaker 2: the moderate position is to bomb children and create a
16:32
Speaker 2: genocide and starve people to death and you know, kill
16:36
Speaker 2: innocent people. I mean, so, you know, I think what
16:40
Speaker 2: she said, in a very illustrative way, was like, hey,
16:44
Speaker 2: think about this. Your moderate positions are funding this country
16:49
Speaker 2: that is bombing the hell out of innocent people. That's
16:52
Speaker 2: like the reasonable, that's the rational idea. And that's why
16:56
Speaker 2: it's like beyond me why people even keep talking about
16:59
Speaker 2: the idea of moderation and you know this in between
17:03
Speaker 2: supposedly that's created a pathway to hell that we're all
17:05
Speaker 2: living in right now. And yeah, so I thought she
17:08
Speaker 2: put the nail on the head there, you know what.
17:10
Speaker 1: And of course, what the establishment fails to understand is
17:14
Speaker 1: that essentially these are the policies that moderate candidates may happen,
17:18
Speaker 1: and voters see that that it's the establishment, it's not
17:22
Speaker 1: just the left or the right that is responsible for
17:24
Speaker 1: the horrific brutality that we've witnessed in Gaza. And it's
17:27
Speaker 1: just hard to believe that the Democrats can't understand why
17:30
Speaker 1: people are voting for candidates who take the issue seriously. Stephen,
17:34
Speaker 1: Why can't they or why won't they hear the voters
17:37
Speaker 1: on this issue?
17:38
Speaker 2: I think because the neoliberal status quo has created this
17:41
Speaker 2: paradise for like the one to ten percent, you know,
17:44
Speaker 2: they've created a literal paradise for them, like the richest
17:47
Speaker 2: nation on earth, with the richest people in the history
17:49
Speaker 2: of this country, and that has insulated them from any
17:52
Speaker 2: of any accountability for any of this. I mean, just
17:55
Speaker 2: take a look at the Bombacare tax credits. Republic has
17:57
Speaker 2: just said, whatever, Well, four million people have already dropped
18:00
Speaker 2: their healthcare. But I don't think people who get paid
18:02
Speaker 2: to appear on CNN or CNN anchors are worried about
18:05
Speaker 2: their health care, you know. And I don't think people
18:08
Speaker 2: who are that rich are worried about childcare. And I
18:10
Speaker 2: don't think they're worried about anything so they've really created
18:13
Speaker 2: this like neoliberal consultant class, and the people, the people
18:16
Speaker 2: who advise these so called moderate politicians are what we
18:21
Speaker 2: call consultant class consult big time political consultants who basically
18:24
Speaker 2: earned a couple of billion dollars off Kamala Harris's campaign,
18:27
Speaker 2: and they're so insulated. They live these unbelievable lives Elysiums
18:33
Speaker 2: type lives, right, referring to the movie where the rich
18:36
Speaker 2: like lived in outer space and had free healthcare and
18:38
Speaker 2: everyone else like suffered. Well, it's very close to that.
18:41
Speaker 2: So that's why they don't want to look at it,
18:43
Speaker 2: because that would take you know, I would think of
18:46
Speaker 2: rearranging the social debck chair, so to speak, the economic
18:49
Speaker 2: debt chairs would actually in some way affect them, I guess.
18:53
Speaker 2: Or to them, they're just living so good. What's wrong
18:55
Speaker 2: with the system. There's nothing wrong with this system, right,
18:57
Speaker 2: And they don't even care that it doesn't work for
19:00
Speaker 2: vast majority of the people. It's not even their problem. So,
19:03
Speaker 2: you know, I think it's really just a disconnect between
19:05
Speaker 2: the bubble in Washington and the rest of the country.
19:09
Speaker 1: You know, I think you make such a good point here,
19:10
Speaker 1: because it's working for some people in this economy. It's
19:14
Speaker 1: working wonderfully for somebody.
19:16
Speaker 2: Better than it has in the history of human civilization.
19:18
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean we've talked about the idea of the
19:20
Speaker 1: Gilded Age before. This is actually the extremes between the
19:25
Speaker 1: very wealthy and the rest of us is greater than
19:28
Speaker 1: it was even back in the Gilded Age during the
19:30
Speaker 1: time of robber barons. Okay. And also, I just want
19:34
Speaker 1: to say, I'm so glad you brought up the idea
19:35
Speaker 1: of the moderation fallacy because I think it really applies
19:38
Speaker 1: here to what some voters are saying by voting against
19:41
Speaker 1: APEX support of candidates people who want the genocide stop now. Now,
19:45
Speaker 1: the moderation fallacy is like a real fallacy. It's not
19:48
Speaker 1: merely saying that compromise between opposing viewpoints it's good. It's
19:52
Speaker 1: actually saying that extreme solutions are never reasonable or never correct,
19:56
Speaker 1: and that the correct solution can always be found in
19:58
Speaker 1: the middle. Well, voters are saying there's no middle ground
20:01
Speaker 1: on genocide, that there's no possibility for compromise.
20:04
Speaker 2: Here, or on climate change, for example, like there's no
20:07
Speaker 2: middle ground. It's actually happening. We have to address it.
20:09
Speaker 2: It's a crisis. It's not somewhere you go, you know what,
20:11
Speaker 2: I'll just do a halfway thing. We're seeing the results
20:14
Speaker 2: of that right now. Record heat wave in Europe, record
20:17
Speaker 2: heat wave in America. Again, another issue that takes real
20:20
Speaker 2: solutions that have nothing to do with ideology right right,
20:24
Speaker 2: and they just won't address it. They just won't address
20:26
Speaker 2: it because you know, they're like, well, we got to
20:27
Speaker 2: find a middle ground here. Now, middle ground isn't going
20:29
Speaker 2: to work. And I think people are conscious of that.
20:31
Speaker 2: And I think also people you know, want to say, oh,
20:33
Speaker 2: there's a middle ground where what we support Israel with
20:36
Speaker 2: American money while we don't fund the health care of
20:38
Speaker 2: our own people. I mean, Israel has a universal health
20:41
Speaker 2: care America does not. Why the hell is that even possible?
20:45
Speaker 2: And so it's amazing to me that people sit there
20:47
Speaker 2: and think, well, they're going to talk, they're going to
20:48
Speaker 2: vote for us because we support giving health care to
20:51
Speaker 2: Israel and no health care to Americans. We're good with that.
20:55
Speaker 2: That's a good policy. You guys should really vote for
20:57
Speaker 2: us because we're going to keep that going. So you
20:59
Speaker 2: don't have health care, and we're funding this country so
21:01
Speaker 2: that they can have healthcare unbelievable.
21:04
Speaker 1: You know, Stephen, something that I mentioned at the beginning
21:06
Speaker 1: of the show is that understanding Trump voters has been
21:09
Speaker 1: this mainstream media fixation. And what's ignored in all this
21:13
Speaker 1: and often really written off, are the people who propelled
21:17
Speaker 1: Zarmon Mondami into power and is the socialist tide that
21:20
Speaker 1: we're seeing right now. But of course that raises the
21:23
Speaker 1: question what have we done, Like, what have we as
21:25
Speaker 1: the alternative independent media? What have we done to correct
21:29
Speaker 1: the overreach of our legacy media brethren? Well, I actually
21:33
Speaker 1: have an answer for that. Just last fall, just before
21:36
Speaker 1: Montdammie's election, we spent several days talking to New Yorkers
21:38
Speaker 1: about their concerns. Yep, that's right. We talked to Montdammie
21:42
Speaker 1: voters as if they were Trump voters, People worth understanding,
21:46
Speaker 1: people whose needs and concerns are just as important as
21:49
Speaker 1: those of Trump voters, the ones that legacy media seems
21:52
Speaker 1: to cherish. Let's just take a listen.
21:54
Speaker 5: I'm feeling excited about New York City having some new
21:58
Speaker 5: ideas ending up to Donald Trump.
22:01
Speaker 1: Now, is there a particular candidate you feel represents ideas?
22:04
Speaker 5: Very excited about Mom, Donnie, we need change, lots of
22:07
Speaker 5: change in New York City, and I was really anxious
22:13
Speaker 5: to get new Blood to vote for new Blood, and
22:16
Speaker 5: that's what I did.
22:17
Speaker 6: He's not afraid to use the S word. He's new
22:21
Speaker 6: and free, and we don't actually have any other choices.
22:24
Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting that you said the S
22:26
Speaker 1: word because I've watched a lot of mainstream media and
22:28
Speaker 1: it seems like there's a lot of hype about the
22:30
Speaker 1: S word, the socialism word, but the people I've spoken
22:33
Speaker 1: to New York don't seem to be afraid of it.
22:35
Speaker 1: What do you think of how mainstream media has been
22:37
Speaker 1: covering Zoran.
22:40
Speaker 6: I think it's sad that that word has been misused
22:47
Speaker 6: and misunderstood. The country can use a little bit of
22:51
Speaker 6: socialism mixed with capitalism.
22:54
Speaker 5: I'm waiting for him to make a better city and
22:57
Speaker 5: you know, make them more comfortable and for every So
23:01
Speaker 5: the New York City is expensive from like top to.
23:04
Speaker 7: Bother, Mandami because I feel like we just need someone
23:07
Speaker 7: new and fresh for the city. You know, he's kind
23:11
Speaker 7: of like the everyday average person of people who get
23:14
Speaker 7: up and go to work. You know, he lives in
23:16
Speaker 7: low income He's like, you know, he just I feel
23:19
Speaker 7: to me like he wants certain things to like help
23:21
Speaker 7: the people better, and we just need a fresh face.
23:24
Speaker 7: You know, Holmo's been here, done that, really didn't do
23:28
Speaker 7: much he would bring.
23:29
Speaker 8: I think he will connect more with the young people
23:33
Speaker 8: or the younger voter, if you will, simply by how
23:38
Speaker 8: he uses social media to engage. He's like out in
23:41
Speaker 8: the streets with people. I think that type of energy
23:45
Speaker 8: being brought to the city, whether good or bad, I
23:49
Speaker 8: think it's good. I think it's a good thing.
23:51
Speaker 9: You know, what you give, you get back, and I
23:55
Speaker 9: think that's an important It's also one of the things
23:57
Speaker 9: that makes New Yorker's wonderful. They really do care about
24:02
Speaker 9: one another. And I'm hoping that the new mayor will,
24:08
Speaker 9: as you said, he would take that as a given
24:14
Speaker 9: and make sure that everybody has all the advantages that
24:19
Speaker 9: they should have.
24:20
Speaker 1: May I ask what candidate you think best represents that,
24:24
Speaker 1: Mom Downey, So, Steven, I just wanted to run those
24:27
Speaker 1: clips for you, just give you a refresher of some
24:30
Speaker 1: of the people we spoke with. What did we learn
24:32
Speaker 1: on the ground, Other than the fact that New Yorkers
24:35
Speaker 1: are a lot nicer than people make them out to
24:37
Speaker 1: be okay, they really are.
24:39
Speaker 2: Listen to what they're saying. They're not talking about ideology,
24:41
Speaker 2: they're not talking about moderation, they're not talking about socialism.
24:44
Speaker 2: What they're talking about is that they needed change. That's
24:47
Speaker 2: all it was. They wanted real change, and as socialists
24:50
Speaker 2: actually provided real change, provided a different systemic approach to
24:54
Speaker 2: governance and a different systemic approach to meeting people's needs
24:58
Speaker 2: because they weren't being met. All they're saying is we
25:01
Speaker 2: need something new, we need something fresh. And yet they've
25:04
Speaker 2: been characterized as like a radical bunch of people who
25:07
Speaker 2: just want to vote for something because of socialism, which
25:10
Speaker 2: could be one factor. But what they're seeing is something new.
25:13
Speaker 2: They wanted. They desired real change because their needs were
25:17
Speaker 2: not being like I already said, met, and what they
25:20
Speaker 2: needed to survive was being ignored by the moderate Democrats
25:25
Speaker 2: who were in power. So they just said we want
25:27
Speaker 2: something new.
25:28
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, And one thing I noticed, and Stephen, you know,
25:31
Speaker 1: I watch a ton of media, and a ton just
25:33
Speaker 1: as much as I can to absorb as much as
25:34
Speaker 1: I can to see what the legacy media it's doing,
25:36
Speaker 1: and it's just so funny to hear their pundits dismiss
25:39
Speaker 1: people as either radical or irrational, and they don't even
25:42
Speaker 1: bother to listen to them. I can't tell you how
25:44
Speaker 1: few interviews I've seen on mainstream media with people who
25:48
Speaker 1: either are willing to say they're democratic socialists or willing
25:51
Speaker 1: to embrace socialist policies. I mean, am I wrong on
25:54
Speaker 1: this that these folks shouldn't report on something that they
25:56
Speaker 1: haven't learned about directly from the subjects, like in this
25:59
Speaker 1: case the Mandami voters.
26:01
Speaker 2: One of the most fundamental like rules of journalism is
26:03
Speaker 2: you reach out to people that you're reporting about and
26:05
Speaker 2: get comment. It's pretty common. And if you're not reaching
26:09
Speaker 2: out to them, you know, then you how can you
26:12
Speaker 2: talk about them? But they talk about them all the time,
26:13
Speaker 2: and you know the pundits that are like, oh, this
26:15
Speaker 2: is going to be bad for Democrats, Well, who exactly
26:17
Speaker 2: are you talking about? Do those voters seem like people
26:19
Speaker 2: who would be bad for Democrats to have in their coalition?
26:22
Speaker 2: I don't think so. But they don't know because they
26:24
Speaker 2: don't talk about They don't take the journey, the sojourn
26:27
Speaker 2: out to like Trump Country that they'll do that they
26:30
Speaker 2: should do in New York and understanding the people of
26:33
Speaker 2: New York and now even Colorado. Right, maybe they should
26:35
Speaker 2: do some travel. Well, I'd like to do some traveling
26:37
Speaker 2: to do that. But you know, we certainly took the
26:39
Speaker 2: time to talk to people, and they've been completely mischaracterized
26:43
Speaker 2: and misrepresented by the mainstream media, by the mainstream Democrats,
26:47
Speaker 2: and you know, even the Republican pundits totally misrepresented.
26:50
Speaker 1: You know, I completely agree. All they did was fearmonger,
26:52
Speaker 1: and they turned socialism into a scary word without taking
26:55
Speaker 1: the time to understand what it means to the people
26:58
Speaker 1: who voted for it. In fact, the more people I
27:01
Speaker 1: spoke to New York, the more I think that capital
27:03
Speaker 1: whole bubble that we get to wander into occasionally, Yeah,
27:06
Speaker 1: it's so insular. It simply makes them compulsively insensitive to
27:11
Speaker 1: the needs of average Americans. I mean, the people we
27:13
Speaker 1: spoke to weren't like touting slogans or critical theories. They
27:17
Speaker 1: simply wanted a government that worked for them, plain and simple.
27:20
Speaker 1: They wanted affordable housing, affordable childcare, public transportation, all things
27:24
Speaker 1: that just make life easier for the people who make
27:27
Speaker 1: the city that happens to have the sixth largest economy
27:30
Speaker 1: in the world. Make that city run. I mean that's it.
27:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, because it's like that statu you
27:37
Speaker 2: just cited. You know, this is one of the biggest
27:39
Speaker 2: economies in the world, and a person can't take care
27:42
Speaker 2: of their child like without going bankrupt. Why do these things?
27:46
Speaker 2: Why are these contrasts. Why does a country with eight
27:49
Speaker 2: million people have healthcare for all and people in the
27:53
Speaker 2: richest country can go bankrupt when they get sick?
27:55
Speaker 4: Like?
27:56
Speaker 2: Why does that happen?
27:56
Speaker 1: Exactly?
27:57
Speaker 2: And they do not talk about that on capitol They
27:59
Speaker 2: couldn't give a shit about that kind of stuff that
28:01
Speaker 2: people go through, you know, And so I think that
28:04
Speaker 2: these people were speaking through their votes and saying, you
28:07
Speaker 2: are not paying attention. This country makes no sense.
28:10
Speaker 1: You know what. It's even more interesting than that. As
28:13
Speaker 1: they've continued to demonize Montami, he just keeps on making
28:17
Speaker 1: these things happen, right.
28:18
Speaker 2: No, I mean he's he does. There is a rent
28:21
Speaker 2: freeze for two million people. I mean, there is going
28:23
Speaker 2: to be free childcare for people for two year olds.
28:26
Speaker 2: It's it's utterly amazing.
28:27
Speaker 1: You don't get the poles.
28:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, as the pooles I talked about, he is
28:31
Speaker 2: actually making these things happen, and he's communicating well with
28:34
Speaker 2: people and letting them know that he's doing it, and
28:36
Speaker 2: you know, it's just it's just wild because here it's working,
28:40
Speaker 2: you can see it's working. And still the fear. I
28:43
Speaker 2: think the fear is people who know they're getting away
28:45
Speaker 2: with it. That these people who in the one percent
28:47
Speaker 2: and the top ten percent, the consultant class, you know,
28:50
Speaker 2: the poles, they know they're getting away with something, and
28:53
Speaker 2: they they fear that the public is going to say
28:56
Speaker 2: no longer. And I think we're getting to that point.
28:58
Speaker 2: I think there's going to be, you know, kind of
29:00
Speaker 2: a revolution of sorts in the next couple of years
29:03
Speaker 2: in the electoral politics. That is, if we're able to
29:05
Speaker 2: have an election at all, given that Trump is obsessed
29:08
Speaker 2: with the Save America Act and seems like he's kind
29:10
Speaker 2: of dead set on somehow interfering with the midterms, though
29:13
Speaker 2: it's hard to know how he will do it exactly.
29:15
Speaker 2: But I mean, you know, if we have an election,
29:17
Speaker 2: there's going to be a revolution, you know.
29:19
Speaker 1: I think we are coming close to a tipping point.
29:21
Speaker 1: And I want to pledge to everyone here to let
29:24
Speaker 1: you know that we will always go out and speak
29:27
Speaker 1: to the voters, whether they're in Trump Country, whether they're
29:29
Speaker 1: in Harlem, whether they're a socialist, Democrat, independent, libertarian, Republican,
29:33
Speaker 1: whoever you are. We're willing to go out and talk
29:36
Speaker 1: to people, and then we're going to do our best
29:38
Speaker 1: to give an accurate and robust rendering of democratic socialism.
29:41
Speaker 1: If it works, how it works, where it works, we
29:43
Speaker 1: will do the work to make that happen. That's why
29:46
Speaker 1: we're on Capitol Hill and New York and lit It's Pennsylvania,
29:49
Speaker 1: I mean, all the places where independent media has to be.
29:52
Speaker 2: I just want to point out, you went to Trump
29:54
Speaker 2: rally that's right there, and someone tried to pick you up.
29:56
Speaker 2: They try to get your digits, so you will do
29:59
Speaker 2: the work.
30:00
Speaker 1: That's true. He offered me a tall boy and his digits.
30:03
Speaker 1: I mean it was. It wasn't a bad you know
30:05
Speaker 1: it was. It was very friendly. It was very friendly.
30:08
Speaker 2: But you will go, you will go anywhere and talk
30:11
Speaker 2: that's true about what they care about. So you know,
30:14
Speaker 2: that's what makes independent media good.
30:16
Speaker 1: That's so true, you know what. And we promise we're
30:18
Speaker 1: gonna make these stories told with the voices that matter
30:22
Speaker 1: and not just highlight a few pundits that the mainstream
30:25
Speaker 1: media just loves to amplify. My name is Tea Graham,
30:29
Speaker 1: along with my reporting partner Stephen Janis. And thank you Cameron,
30:33
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us for this episode of
30:36
Speaker 1: our Inequality Watch Capitol Hill Report. And as always, we
30:40
Speaker 1: are reporting for you.