Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Charles Booker on Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s Future & The Fight For Affordable Health Care

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Charles Booker on Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s Future & The Fight For Affordable Health Care · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: Every day I wake up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: Wake your ass up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Y'all finished or y'all done? Morning, everybody.
• 0:07
  Speaker 4: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are
• 0:11
  Speaker 4: The Breakfast Club. Lawler Rose is here as well. We
• 0:13
  Speaker 4: got a special guest in the building.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, indeed.
• 0:15
  Speaker 4: He's now running for the open seat that has been
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: vacated by Mitch McConnell. Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Booker from Kentucky.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Welcome, brother.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: Thank you, my brother. How you feeling, man?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Fired up. Feeling good? Ready to make some history.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Do you think you really have a chance in Kentucky, Mitch?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to win this race because of the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: years of organizing we've done. This is my third run
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: for U.S.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Senate, man. This is like Rocky III for me.
• 0:39
  Speaker 5: Rocky III.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: And, you know, we've been telling a story about what
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it looks like for regular people to come together, not
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: about Democrats, Republicans, independents, but all of us as family.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And working across Kentucky, speaking to the issues, I come
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: from the struggle. So I'm telling a story that a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: lot of Kentuckians know well. And at a time when
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the bottom is falling out for so many people, they're
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: looking for real leadership. They see it in me. And
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: people who vote for Trump are organizing with me. People
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: who never voted before organize it with me. And, yeah,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: we're going to win this race.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Now, you just brought it up.
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: You ran for Senate before, and you lost to Rand
• 1:10
  Speaker 6: Paul by more than 20 points, right?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:12
  Speaker 6: What did Kentucky voters tell you in that election that
• 1:16
  Speaker 6: you didn't understand at the time?
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that was really important
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: for me, because, again, I don't come from money. I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: come from the hood, one of the poor zip codes
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky. Right. Both my parents dropped out of high school. So,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you know, stepping into this arena, which I don't trust politicians.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I don't come from this. This is about survival for me.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So I had to learn how to put a campaign together,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: how to build a team.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I had the vision. We had the message. We saw
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: folks fired up.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: And a lot of this was born in the wake
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: of Breonna Taylor's murder, where a lot of people had
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: a wake-up call across Kentucky. Like, wait a minute, that
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: was my door that was knocked down.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Even white people? Yeah, man. And the hollers.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I was marching in the streets. with folks in Appalachia,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: areas that Trump won by 30 points. And so we
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: told that story, but then we had to learn what
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it means to build at this level. And now we
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: battle tested, got an all-star team, and a message that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: has met the moment. You know, I've been steadfast, but
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: now everything around us is so different. And so, yeah,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: my pastor said this is a moment whose time has come,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: and I believe it is.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: What do you think Mitch McConnell's biggest failure.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Was to you?
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell has been screwing us my entire life. So
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I got to start there.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: This man was elected when I was two weeks old.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: So he's literally been screwing us our entire life. But
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: here's the problem. And to be clear, Kentuckians do not
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: like Mitch McConnell. So don't get it confused.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: He's underwater like 80%. People can't stand him in Kentucky.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: When Donald Trump said he was going to drain the swamp,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: people thought of Mitch McConnell. So the biggest thing that
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: he has done to hurt us is that he used
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: his power because he started off. lifting up organized labor,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: lifting up women's rights, civil rights. If you go back
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: in his career, he invested in Kentucky over the years,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: but then he saw he could get rich. He saw
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: he could get power, and he turned his back on us.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: There wouldn't be a Donald Trump if it weren't for
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell. There wouldn't be a gutting of the Voting
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Rights Act if it wasn't for Mitch McConnell. And people
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: see it. And so now, because of everything that's happening
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: with rising gas prices, this trade war with Canada, which
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: is absolutely ridiculous, and then Iran, endless war after endless war,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: And then they see who's doing it and they see
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: why it's happening. It's like people are waking up. Something
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: different is happening in Kentucky. And that's why this campaign
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: is picking up momentum. And that's why we're tied and
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: in a position to win a Senate race that a
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: lot of folks may not have known about.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: One reason I give you a chance is because of
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: what we saw happen with Andy Beshear.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: Because, you know, Kentucky has supported Republicans in federal elections.
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: But then Andy Beshear wins governor. What do you think
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: he understands about Kentucky voters that I guess national Democrats
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: sometimes miss?
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the key.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: And I've worked with him the last three years in
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: his executive team. And we often talk about Team Kentucky.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, and I'm a
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: type one diabetic, and I often say my insulin doesn't
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: care about my party registration. You know, our issues really
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: aren't that partisan. And by delivering and meeting the needs
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of people and continuing to show up and treat people
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: like they matter. That's what we've seen in our governor.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: That's what I've done throughout my career. And so that's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: why we're in this position to win when you treat
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: people like they matter. Because folks who voted for Trump
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky, it was from a place of desperation. He
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: said he was going to bring jobs back. He was
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: going to stop the stupid wars. People really believed him.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: And now the scales are falling off of folks' eyes
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and they're like, now this man was BS-ing the whole time.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: So this for us is a rallying cry that we
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: really do want to.
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  Speaker 1: Drain the swamp. We really do want to end the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: endless war. And we want a government that works for
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: us instead of people like Elon Musk.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. You sleep with the do-rag on?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Man, you know, I'm trying to keep them together. I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: know going into the Senate, you tend to thin out.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: So I'm trying to hold on to it.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, you can go to Turkey.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: You said what? You can go to Turkey. Now, Kentucky
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: is a heavy Republican state, like we said before.
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  Speaker 4: Do you really honestly feel that it will change and
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: that they will start voting for a Democratic person or
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: even a black person?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: You know, I definitely, it's not about voting for party. This,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: for me, is definitely bigger than that. Because, look, where
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I'm from in the hood, we vote Democrat like 80,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: 90 percent of the time.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: You follow your grandmother, your great-grandmother.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we felt screwed, too.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: You know, and so I often say, whether you're Democrat, Republican, Independent,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: we all being screwed. And so it isn't about party.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: It really is about speaking to the people, showing up
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: for them, earning trust. Man, I've stood on the tracks
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: with coal miners. I've sat down in rooms with farmers.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: in rooms of veterans where they are lifelong Republicans, Confederate
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: flags waving out in the yard.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I got pictures of this stuff.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: And then seeing people put Booker signs by Trump signs,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: it wasn't because a party, it was because they saw
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: someone that cares about them, that's not BSing them, and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: that is not for sale. This campaign is for them,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and that's why we're in this position.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: How difficult was it to raise money to make sure
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: that you can keep up with what they're doing? Because
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: they're backed by multi-million dollars and billion dollar companies.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not easy. You know, because a lot of
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: people count Kentucky out. And then, you know, you might
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: see me as a candidate and like, well, Charles, you
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: know what you look like? I'm like, what do you mean, handsome?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: They're like, no, you're a black man in Kentucky. You know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: so it has been a challenge, but that's where the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: power of organizing comes in. You know, we lead with
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: mutual aid. We lead with a distributed model of organizing
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: where we lift up the voices of the people. So
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: we got folks fired up who have never voted before.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: So I was outspent in my primary, four to one,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and won by double digits.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: The people are ready. Something different is happening in Kentucky.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: But we need a little support.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: So everybody listening, go to Charles Booker, KY dot org
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: to help us out.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: But this really is power by the people.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: What's the criticism of Republicans? Oh, yeah.
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: What's the criticism Republicans make of Democrats that you think
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: is actually fair?
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  Speaker 2: The corruptions.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, honestly, when you ask people across the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: board in Kentucky, it's the corruption in our politics. And
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: that is not partisan. Republicans feel that way toward Democrats.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Democrats feel that way toward Republicans.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: That's pot and meat cattle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It really is.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And so I think being able to speak to it
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: and to say, look, I challenge Democrats and Republicans. This
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: really is about fighting for family. That's what I think
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: people are needing in politics, finding our way back to
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: each other. We've been in our corners where it's us
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: versus them, and we all being screwed, as I said.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: By being able to call out the fact that there's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: so much money in politics, regardless of party, that drowns
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: out the voices of regular people, Elon Musk put over
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: $ 10 million into the Kentucky Senate race. Donald Trump is
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: coming to Kentucky this weekend.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Barr's speaking now, right?
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: That's right. They know Kentucky's in play.
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: And they're trying to do everything they can. And so
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: saying that, look, we're not standing here to sell out
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: to the folks who want to put data centers in
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: everyone's backyards.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: That's what my opponent's doing.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: He's getting the money from the telecom companies that are
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: putting data centers across Kentucky, ignoring the people. Everybody's tired
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: of that. So to me, this race is not only
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: for Kentucky. It's for the country. I think the world
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: needs to see us win a race like this. We're
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: showing what democracy really does look like.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: What's one thing that you heard about yourself or a
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: policy that you're trying to push that you know absolutely
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: positively is not true?
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Oh, man, they say a lot about me. I get
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: called a socialist at least three, four times a day.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: They've been calling me the Mamdani of Kentucky. Yeah, you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: talking about that I don't want communities to be safe.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: It's like, man, I got three girls. You know, my
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: three bosses. I want every person in Kentucky to be safe.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: And they believe that you said you want to defund
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: the police.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: And I've been on the record for years talking about
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: how we fully fund community safety.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I've worked with law enforcement.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I've worked with community leaders because we need everybody at
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the table to address violence, to address crimes in our communities.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And so the idea that I don't want our communities
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to be safe It's ridiculous. And the good thing is
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: people are laughing it off because they know who I
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: really am. They're not buying the BS that Andy Barr
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: is peddling.
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: Going back to Trump coming to Kentucky this weekend, obviously
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: there is a threat. Like, you know what I mean? Like,
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: obviously he feels like, oh, no, I got to, you know,
• 9:20
  Speaker 7: kiss babies and shake hands to come down there, you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: because he sees that the people of Kentucky, they want
• 9:26
  Speaker 7: what they need, you know, to take care of them
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: and represent the people.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: What does that look like this weekend, him coming?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: You know, first of all, I'm like, come on. You
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: can have a front row seat to see this movement
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: that's about to drain the swamp, you know, because we're
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: going to replace Mitch McConnell, retire his spine in Andy Barr,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and he gets to see it up close. And, you know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: it is a testament to what we've been building. They
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: see the writing on the wall. And it's too late
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: because people are tired of seeing folks protect child predators
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: and then take food away from children. They're tired of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: seeing blank checks for endless war, but then saying we
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: can't afford to take care of our veterans. Got folks
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: sleeping on the streets in the wealthiest country in the world.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: They not buying it no more. And that's what I'm
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: lifting up in this race. This is a testament that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: people are ready for real change.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Why do you think Daniel Cameron lost?
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Man, I got a lot of reasons why. But ultimately,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you know, I think he tried to play a game
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: that wasn't for him. he tried to move in and
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: hold a position where he's cosplaying, uh, as if he
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: can be an arbiter of white supremacy.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: I remember them photos on viral too.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: That didn't help much.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: No. And, and you know, the thing is, I went
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to undergrad law school with him. He's a year behind me.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And I've seen that progression. And ultimately people don't like
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: folks who sell out. And then at the same time,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: cause I thought he was going to win the primary, uh,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: The system does what it does. Donald Trump endorsed in
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the ninth inning. They sort of bossed him out. And
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: he was in a bit of a box because he's
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: trying to lift up policies as if he's helping working people.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: But then he's supporting an administration that is ballooning our deficit,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: that is sending us to war after war. And people
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: are like, you're not making sense, Daniel Cameron.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: I feel like the issue should be class, right? If
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: you're a common sense, logical person in America... The issue
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: should be class, but I often feel like these working
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: class white people still look at race as the bigger
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: issue because they feel like their biggest threat is another
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: struggling American who's usually a person of color, right, instead
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: of the wealthy people and institutions making decisions that are screwing.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: All of us.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think you're right. And that's real. It's
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: still there.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: You know, the racism is absolutely still real, but I
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: think the opportunity here is because the bottom is falling
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: out in a way that people can't unsee. So, for instance,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky, these cuts to Medicaid, my opponent Andy Barr
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: voted for nearly a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: This will potentially close over 30 rural hospitals in Kentucky.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: These are in areas where they voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And so they see what's happening to them, and they
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: know it's not Barack Obama doing it.
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: Can we build a movement around economic equality without first
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: addressing racial inequalities?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: So you got to do both. But for me, and
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: that's why I founded an organization called Hood to the Holler.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And it's the spirit of the Rainbow Coalition.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Hood to the Holler. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: So the hollers, if you've never been in them, they
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: in the mountains. You know, this is in Appalachian, these
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: rural communities. And I coined the phrase because I saw
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: this through line of people in the hood and people
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: in the holler who may seem disconnected but have so
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: much in common. And I think that's where we are
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in our politics, where we have to find our way
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: back to each other.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: And we're speaking to that at a time when everybody
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: is calling for it. They call it affordability. You know,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: we've been struggling for a long time. Call it whatever
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: you want. We just need things to change. And my
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: hope is with this campaign, we can see that democracy
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: is still worth fighting for, that we can't ignore places
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: like Kentucky. You ignore a place like Kentucky to our
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: own collective detriment. This is how you get a Donald Trump.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: So I'm here today with y'all, one, to tell a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: story that doesn't get told often. But to say that
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: we're still in this fight and we flip Kentucky, we're
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: going to flip the U.S.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Senate.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just want.
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: To believe the Democratic Party genuinely wants to change the
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: economic system. But sometimes I feel like they just want
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: to manage it more compassionately than Republicans do. I want
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: to make sure we actually get money in our pocket.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think the X factor is the people.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: We got to bring the accountability.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: You know, if we have elected officials that are saying
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: that they want to help the communities.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: We got to make sure it happens.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: But ultimately, the change won't happen unless we do it,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: which is why I decided to run. And, you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: we've inspired a lot of people who had really given
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: up on politics because they're like, what's the point?
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Exhausted.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody's tired. And so I've seen that hope, that
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: spark grow in Kentucky.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: I was going to ask, how do you change that? Because,
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, people are exhausted politically, right? Even in Kentucky.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, Mitch McConnell, people don't know if he was
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: dead if he was alive if he's in a wheelchair
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: if he can speak if he can't speak if he
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: can wave like they don't know so what do the
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: people of kentucky feel about that because i mean it
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: just feels like it's like weekend with bernie like you
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: just hold his hand up and put his hand back.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Down you think he was dead man i'll tell you
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: this i knew something was up well first of all
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: this has been like a movie for us in kentucky
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and everybody's been pissed and frustrated about how this played
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: out because it's like look man you disappeared For over
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: 90 days.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: What do you want me to do? I died. What
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: is your problem?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Well, tell us that. Tell us I died.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Come back, let us know. But look, they wheeled him
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: into the chambers and he put up the peace sign.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: When has Mitch McConnell ever cared about peace?
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I'm like, nah.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Nah, something's going on here. Who's in control here? And
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that's the status quo that people are tired of. Where
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: they feel like their politicians are bought and sold. That
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: they don't care about us. The fact that there wasn't
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: even any concern enough to say, look, I don't have
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the capacity to return to office. I don't think he
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: knows where he is right now. I call it elder abuse.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: And people are just tired of that. The government should
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: work for the people. We pay for it.
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: So in an instance like that, when the governor puts
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: out that demand for Mitch McConnell to show proof of life,
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: if we all know what's going on, why not just
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: be like, hey, we need to figure something else out
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: right now for this bit of term and move away? Like,
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: is it that they want to just keep this institution
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: in Kentucky of, like, white older men?
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Or, like, what is the issue?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, this was really uncharted territory. And I
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: could see it playing out. I was the first in
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: our state to call for transparency. Like, look, I know
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: it's a health emergency. That's serious. That ain't partisan for me.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: But if you can't do the job, you're representing people.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I was a state representative. If you can't do the job,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you need to own that. But there was recent law
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: changes that essentially made it difficult for the governor to respond.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: It's like they were bills crafted specifically for Mitch McConnell
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: that would limit the governor's ability to appoint someone. So
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: they knew this was coming. And that's another part of
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: the corruption that people are tired of.
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: It's the protection of that party, though, right?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I think in some ways, yes, but in
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: some ways it's trying to protect a status quo that's
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: slipping away.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Because that's not partisan either.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: We got your work set out for you down there.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Our hands are full, but we ready for it. Yeah,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: this is yours in the making. Fired up about it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: I've read stories about you having a rationed insulin.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: How did those experiences change the way you see politicians
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: who debate health care? Like, it's just another budget issue
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: as opposed to a real-life experience people are going through.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I share my testimony, you know, because
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I know A lot of regular people who understand that
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: story feel like their voices don't matter. And we talk
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: about these issues like they're academic.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: How do you pay for it?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Where I'm from, when there's a need, you figure out
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: a way to meet that need. If there's somebody you
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: care for and they in trouble, you find a way
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: to help them. And I ration my insulin. I'm a
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: type 1 diabetic. I got, as I mentioned, my three bosses,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: my three girls. I give my breath for them right now.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: And I had enough to either get a refill or
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: get groceries for the week. And I did what a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: lot of Kentuckians do. I made sure my girls had
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: food to eat. And being in a hospital bed, I
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: had diabetic ketoacidosis.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And I'm laying there. I can't move. I can't hug
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: my girls.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: And I made peace because I did what I felt
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: I needed to do as a man and as a father.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: And so when I talk about health care as a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: right for everybody, it's from a real place and people
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: know it. Everybody deserves the same high quality health care
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: that Mitch McConnell's been getting. And when I say that,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: everybody's like, yeah, you know what?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: You right.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I think that's what we need in our politics. Some
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: people who see it, who understand it, and have the
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: courage to speak to it.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: And I know, you know, you talk about fighting for
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: working class people.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: So does Republicans.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: What specific policy separates you from Andy Barr?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, we ain't got enough time.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: You know, so a lot of what Andy Barr has
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: done is essentially sell out to Wall Street. He has
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: used his role on financial services to pocket money. He's
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: become a multimillionaire while in Congress. And at the same time,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: any policy that would help us, health care, infrastructure, he's
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: voting against it. And so people see that clearly. So
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: for me, an agenda that puts Kentucky first, it puts
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the people first, that is really taking on the corruption.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: You shouldn't be buying and trading stocks. As a member
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: of Congress, you shouldn't be there to get rich. You
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: should be there to work for the people. I've taken
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a pledge for term limits. You shouldn't be there so
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: long you're getting wheeled into the chambers. And then just
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: common sense legislation around health care for everyone, making sure
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: that we shore up these cuts to Medicaid, giving people
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the options to get the care that they need. And
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: then we're in the wave of AI. And in Kentucky,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: we're seeing massive hyperscale data centers And look, this ain't
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: even really a conversation about AI. We need to have
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: that conversation right now. But for us, it's about being bullied.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: These are big developments, regardless of what they're for, that
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: are coming into communities, ignoring them, jacking up utilities, impacting
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the environment, pushing people out of their homes, impacting their
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: small businesses, and nobody cares. And then they're looking at
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Andy Barton. It's like, well, you don't care because they're
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: paying you. And so by me running a campaign that's funded.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: By the people, this is grassroots.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: This is really an average contribution under $ 30. And telling
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the story that we can't have people that fight for
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: us without a hidden agenda, like I said.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: I think we need it in our politics now more
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: than ever.
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: I feel like the data centers are inevitable, right? But
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: how do you ensure some type of community kickback from
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: the data centers?
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Because they're coming.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, in calling for a moratorium, It's understanding
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: the point that AI is here. But at the same time,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: it shouldn't be left unchecked to be a weapon to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: hurt people. It should be a tool to help the people.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: And with any development, I did a lot of work
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: with developers across Kentucky, you can develop responsibly.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: You can be a good neighbor.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And make sure that the community has sustained benefits, that
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: they're at the table. Don't come into someone's backyard without
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: talking to them.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: That's really what we're saying.
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: Y'all are going to face off in a debate.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: This week.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope so.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: Oh, you don't think it's going to happen?
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Because he agreed, right?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: He been ducking me.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: So he reached out to me first. Don't laugh.
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: You be a person in the little country.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: I am country. I'm from South Carolina. I got an honest.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Look, he reached out to me first asking for a debate.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, absolutely.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: We agreed to six. Then he started backing out one
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: by one. And now we have one day before my birthday.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I hope he shows up because I got some things
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to say to his face. But the point of the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: matter is, for us, we're used to politicians avoiding us.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: He's never had a town hall. They don't want to
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: be held accountable. They want to get rich and then
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: hide their hands. And that's what Republicans are tired of.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: That's what Democrats are tired of. Independents are tired of that.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So hopefully he does show up.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: What's the question or what's the backup if you think
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: he doesn't want to have with you right there?
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Because he did 60 Minutes, right? Did he do 60?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I hope he did. I love for him to keep
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: talking so people can hear him.
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: Oh, no, I'm sorry he didn't.
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: I thought he did.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I want people to hear this, man, because he put
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: out an ad on TV. If y'all haven't seen it,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: you should watch this. Mocking people. They put money behind
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: an ad saying it's not a sin to be white.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: It's not a sin to be a Christian.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, I've heard it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: That's the man I'm running against. That's his whole campaign.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: He called DEI dumb, evil indoctrination. And shout out to
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Mayor Brandon Scott, who said, nah, it's definitely earned it.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Definitely earned it. We work hard as Kentuckians. But his
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: whole campaign is hate, bigotry, division. And he's mocking us
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: because he used to be seen as a moderate Republican.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: He's cosplaying.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: And people are like, nah, we're really hurting. We can't
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: afford to listen to you just throw out red meat
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and just call people socialists.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: We need you to work.
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: I think it's a slap in the face for Republicans
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: to have Donald Trump. come do campaign rallies for them
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: right now. Because so many people across America can blatantly
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: see we are in this condition because of you. I
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: feel like the Republican Party should be looking to speak
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: some type of message of change as opposed to bringing
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: this guy who's got you in the situation that you're
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: currently in right now.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: It's literally like a slap in the face to their constituents.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they stuck. The issue is, like with Andy Barr,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: he took Trump off his website. But they've hitched themselves soon.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: But he's speaking at the campaign rally on Saturday.
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: He's going to come down there and buy all these
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: buckets of chicken and start throwing chicken out there.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: He probably will.
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: They try to win over in a couple biscuits too.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: You know, to try to get a vote.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Sorry, what?
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: It's too late.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, they've tied themselves to Trump and they
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: can't get away from it.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: But they should.
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: I feel like the only way the Republican Party is
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: going to have a future moving forward They got to
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: disconnect from Trump. And same thing with Democrats. They have
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: to talk about how they're going to move.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: The country forward. What is the vision for America moving forward?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's going to require new leadership on
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: all ends of the political spectrum. So for me, I
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: hope this campaign is giving Republicans more courage to step up,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to speak up, because the swamp is hurting all of us.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: The corruption in Washington is hurting all of us. And
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the folks who are part of the status quo are
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: benefiting from it. So why would they change it? And
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the thing is, if you haven't lived the struggle, if
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: you haven't been on the ground, if you haven't been
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: in community, there's just certain things you won't see. And
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: we've been in their blind spot. And I'm being nice
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: at that because I think they do see us and
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: they just don't care, too.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: You know, you've talked about the problems poor white people
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: in Appalachia face, poor black people in Louisville.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: You say those are the same issues.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: Why have politicians been so successful at convincing those communities
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: that each other's problems, you know, aren't the same.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Like they don't share the same economic struggle.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's that whole playbook of
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: sewing wedges, you know, stoking fear. And, of course, racism
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: is still there. You know, it's a foundation to a
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: lot of the problems that we have. And so what
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I've done over the years, because I was a director
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: of Fish and Wildlife, you know, I've been all across
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Kentucky and showing up in communities where they didn't expect
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: someone like me to be there and say, no, y'all
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: my family.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I'm here for y'all.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: And I just got this honest. This is how I
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: was raised. Like, I'm one of over 70 grandkids. And,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: you know, I come from a big family where if
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: you fighting one of us, you fighting all of us.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And that just informs.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Over.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I stopped counting. It's too many of us. That's a lot.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: My grandparents' house was like the community center.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: You know, if anybody off the street, they needed something
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: to eat, they come to grandma's house. And just informing
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: my politics with that lens that we really are all
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: in this together. That's the biggest difference. And I think
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: it's been refreshing for people who have like we don't
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: want to just vote against, you know, these ridiculous politicians.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: We want to vote for something for a change. And
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: that's what we're doing here.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, you know, the polls say
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: that you guys are tied. Independent polls are saying that
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: you're behind. What is the plan to make sure that
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: those people that might not be out there that don't
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: want to vote because they're exhausted or still on the
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: fence or. I feel like, F it, I'm going to
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: stay on the couch because these politicians don't give an F.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: About me anyway.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: What is your plan to make sure that those people
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: come out and support you?
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well. Because it is so close.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: We right there. You know, we coming around the stretch,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: you know, Kentucky Derby terms. And, you know, that's why
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: I'm honored to be here. That's why while I'm, we
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: launched a statewide tour of Kentucky over politics, but I'm
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: still traveling nationally, too, to spread the word that we
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: really do have a path here. We have the message.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: We have the momentum. We got thousands of volunteers that
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: are on the ground working. They're making their own yard
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: signs because they so fired up for us. The one
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: thing that we need is resources. We need support to
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: get that message out there. So in these last couple
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of weeks, getting our ads out, telling our story and
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: then lifting up their voices because people really are frustrated
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and they tired. So I'm telling them, look, I'm tired, too.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: That's that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this tired.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: And if we can find the strength to do that,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and that's what we do as Kentuckians, we can win
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: a Senate seat.
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: Is it possible for a politician to take money from
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: wealthy donors, to take money from corporate PACs, and not
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: be beholden to them?
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: You know, I think if you remember where you came
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: from and you remember.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Your why, it's possible to build a coalition that includes,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: you know, corporations at the table. Because, you know, there
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: are corporate partnerships that are invested in building up the community.
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: Everyone is not out there to hurt us.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And we've, so we have to find ways to bring
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a broad coalition together, but you got to remember why
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: you're doing it. You know, so me building a kitchen cabinet, uh,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: advisory committees of folks on the ground, grassroots organizers, faith leaders,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: student leaders, teachers, veterans. I want to make sure that
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: when we go to Washington, we go together so that
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: no matter what money is around, we not being swayed
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: by it. And then ultimately we've got to end citizens United.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Like the, There shouldn't be all of this dark money
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: buying seats, buying the votes of people. To me, that
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: is counter to democracy.
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you a question, but I'm not
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: going to ask you. I'm going to ask you off air.
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: What's that?
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask him off air.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: You just said you're.
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Going to ask him off air. No, I'm going to
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: ask him off air.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: He on the fence right now.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I am, but I'm going to ask him off air.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Because he got to do a Kentucky Fried Chicken, but
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask him off air. Oh, my goodness.
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: That's why I'm going to ask him off air.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I'm going to ask.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Him off air. All right. Tell him where to donate. CharlesBookerKY.org. CharlesBookerKY.org.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: And we appreciate you for joining us. Again, he's running
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: for the open seat. That's been vacated by Mitch McConnell,
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: who we don't know where he's at, how he's doing, anything.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: But you go out there and vote, and thank you
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: for joining us. Charles Booker, ladies and gentlemen.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: It's The Breakfast Club.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Good morning.