Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Interview Only w/ Andy Beshear - Mitch McConnell’s Disappearing Act & How Democrats Can Win In Trump Country

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Interview Only w/ Andy Beshear - Mitch McConnell’s Disappearing Act & How Democrats Can Win In Trump Country · The Chuck ToddCast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode of The Chuck Podcast is brought to you
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  Speaker 1: three four three nine eight five. Well, joining me now
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  Speaker 1: is the governor of Kentucky, Andy Basher. He's got there's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a variety of reasons why I might want to talk
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: to Governor Basher. These days, he's chairman of the Democratic
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  Speaker 1: Governor Association, which means he's sort of the lead governor
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: helping make, you know, make decisions where the party should
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  Speaker 1: focus its efforts try to win governor's races. I know
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  Speaker 1: he's really focused, probably in particular on the seven swing states,
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  Speaker 1: and there's you know, Democrats had five of those seven governorships.
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  Speaker 1: Are they going to be able to keep five of
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  Speaker 1: those seven? Considering how important those states are in a
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: presidential race. We'll discuss that. He's of course also somebody
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  Speaker 1: many people would like to see run for president and so,
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  Speaker 1: and he hasn't been shy at least about answering those questions.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see how shy he gets here with me. And
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  Speaker 1: then of course in the immediacy he's been in the
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  Speaker 1: news regarding the state's senior senator, Mitch McConnell, governor for share,
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  Speaker 1: it's good to see you. It is great to be
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  Speaker 1: on So look, before I get to sort of a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of these questions, this. One of the coolest political
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  Speaker 1: events that takes place around the country is the Fancy
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  Speaker 1: Farm Picnic. I am speaking to you, I believe, about
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: three or four days before it opens. I'm guessing you've
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  Speaker 1: been going to this since before you remember going to this.
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  Speaker 2: I have been a number of times with my family
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  Speaker 2: growing up, when I was running for attorney general and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: serving many times while i've been governor. While I won't
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: make it this year, we are going to have both
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: candidates for US Senate. We're going to have multiple announced
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  Speaker 2: candidates on the Democratic side for governor, and so it
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: will be an opportunity to start hearing what people's earliest
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: pitch is. And then you always have to throw in,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: you know, one or two one liners. But if you're
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: doing it right, and it's always tough, if you're doing
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: it right, you're funny, you're not mean, and it's an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to actually talk about what you would do.
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  Speaker 1: Look, one of my first great memories was going to locally.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It was the Dante Faceel picnic, and he used to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: be a member of Congress down in Miami for forever.
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  Speaker 1: And I've been to a variety of different of these
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  Speaker 1: political events Virginia's got one. I think everybody wants to
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  Speaker 1: fry a fish of some sort. There's always you know,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes at one of these events we do that. I worry.
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  Speaker 1: I worry that they're going to start fading because we
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: don't like to be in the same room with each
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: other and the polarization. And that's why I really love
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Fancy Farm is that it still seems to be a
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  Speaker 1: magnet that everybody realized that, you know what, we all
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: got to go here. No matter what you think of
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the hard right, hard left, center right, center left.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I agree that we need to be in the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: same room together. We do need to get back to
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  Speaker 2: a level of civility that I hope Fancy Farm will
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  Speaker 2: live up to. This year, sometimes it struggled a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: It's one where again you can be funny. People know
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  Speaker 2: that there is conflict, but you don't have to be
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  Speaker 2: a jerk. And that's a problem in our politics right now.
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  Speaker 2: We can argue, we can push really hard for the
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  Speaker 2: things that we believe in, but the problem with the
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  Speaker 2: Trump administration, one of the many is how far they
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  Speaker 2: go over the line. They try to make someone who
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  Speaker 2: has different political beliefs and enemy actually calling them the
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  Speaker 2: enemy from within you if you are out there running
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  Speaker 2: that is patriotic in and of itself, and trying to
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  Speaker 2: cast each other as anti American, which happens in a
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  Speaker 2: lot of these rooms, is I think one of the
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  Speaker 2: reasons we don't see it as much.
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  Speaker 1: You're not going, Look, this is the fall. You've got
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  Speaker 1: this national position. I kind of understand, and you're not
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  Speaker 1: going to be on the ballot in Kentucky.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps I'm not going because it is my son's final
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  Speaker 2: Trouble baseball tournament of his high school career. He's going
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  Speaker 2: to play college ball, which is exciting.
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  Speaker 1: That is great. Where's you go?
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  Speaker 2: He's going to swphmore so smart kids, We're really proud
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  Speaker 2: of them. But this is this is my last opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to watch him play like this. And I'm always going
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  Speaker 2: to put my family first. No you will.
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  Speaker 1: I learned this too many ways, the hard way. No
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  Speaker 1: matter what somebody tells you how important some event is,
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  Speaker 1: you don't remember why you missed a family You don't
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  Speaker 1: remember the event you missed on your family side of things.
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  Speaker 1: Ten years later, you always remember the family event you
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  Speaker 1: missed for some political thing you can't.
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  Speaker 2: Remember, right and I've got. I've got an amazing family.
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  Speaker 2: When people say how do you put up with politics?
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  Speaker 2: I say, I've got a wife and kids that love
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  Speaker 2: me and a dog that kind of likes me. But
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  Speaker 2: being able to spend this last amount of time, I've
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  Speaker 2: got a son who's a rising senior, daughter who's a
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  Speaker 2: rising junior. So Brittany and I will be empty nesters
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: in about two years. And well, teenagers can be difficult.
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  Speaker 2: I still want to spend as much time as I
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  Speaker 2: can before they head off.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Governor, I'm this is this is a Missus podcast.
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  Speaker 1: It's a nice first summer of empty nesting. It's strange,
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  Speaker 1: but I will tell you this parenting doesn't end. That's
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  Speaker 1: all I'm going to say. The parenting doesn't end when
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  Speaker 1: they leave. When they leave.
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  Speaker 2: The next time I'm on, I'm sure i'll be asking
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  Speaker 2: for advice.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway. Let me start with news of the moment. You've
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  Speaker 1: been You've been pretty publicly, I guess I would say
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  Speaker 1: concerned about the lack of information you're getting from Senator
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  Speaker 1: mcconnald's office and from Senator McConnell. Have you spoken with
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  Speaker 1: Senator McConnell and who if you haven't. Who have you
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  Speaker 1: spoken with that is as close to McConnell as you've
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  Speaker 1: been able to get.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't spoken to the senator, and he has now
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  Speaker 2: been gone from work in a hospital for about six weeks.
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  Speaker 2: And anybody out there who works a job and has
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  Speaker 2: a boss couldn't take six weeks off without calling that
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  Speaker 2: boss and saying, here's what's going on, and here's when
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  Speaker 2: I can return to work. Well, when you're a senator
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  Speaker 2: or a governor, your boss are the people that elected you.
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  Speaker 2: There is a duty for Senator McConnell to level with
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  Speaker 2: the people of Kentucky and to prove that he still
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  Speaker 2: has the ability to do this job. That's not some
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  Speaker 2: mean thing I'm trying to press on him. It is
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  Speaker 2: the basic honesty and transparency that people deserve, and his
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  Speaker 2: failure to do it has fueled this wild speculation, especially online,
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  Speaker 2: about what's going on, and that's on him. Supposedly he's
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  Speaker 2: had a seventeen minute conversation with one of his protegees,
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  Speaker 2: but he can't call a TV station and have a
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  Speaker 2: three minute conversation, and that just adds more fuel to
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  Speaker 2: the fire. Now, those who are saying, we don't think
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  Speaker 2: he has the ability to continue to serve. Have been
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  Speaker 2: calling on me to do things that a governor can't do. Right,
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  Speaker 2: if a state level officer could declare a vacancy in
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  Speaker 2: a federal office, then you would have seen lots of
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  Speaker 2: things happen in our history.
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  Speaker 1: Might have had more than one civil war if you
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  Speaker 1: do things like that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So there are three ways that a vacancy can
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  Speaker 2: be created based on our research. One is a death,
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  Speaker 2: two is a resignation, or three is an expulsion from
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  Speaker 2: the Senate. And so I've called on John Thune. He's
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  Speaker 2: the majority leader. He's got a duty to ensure that
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  Speaker 2: the members of his caucus have the capacity to serve.
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  Speaker 2: And he's right there in DC. He can go see
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  Speaker 2: Mitch McConnell. He can report on how he's doing, and
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  Speaker 2: we can put all that speculation to rest.
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  Speaker 1: He has supposedly talked with Scott Jennings, John Thune, and
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  Speaker 1: John Bressa. Do you believe they've that he has actually
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  Speaker 1: talked with those three people.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you'd have to ask those three people. But when
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  Speaker 2: John Thune got a letter from me saying, it's your
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  Speaker 2: job to make sure that Mitch McConnell's okay, and can
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  Speaker 2: continue to serve. He said, that's between Mitch and the
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  Speaker 2: people of Kentucky. That is a concerning answer from the
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  Speaker 2: majority leader. And Scott Jennings works for CNN and refuses
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  Speaker 2: to call him on air. I didn't know you could
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  Speaker 2: do that when you actually work for a network, you
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  Speaker 2: have a source, and the story is that big. I
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  Speaker 2: guess the rules are different from for him than for others.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the uh that that's that is up to CNN
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  Speaker 1: to how they plan to enforce, how how people prove
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  Speaker 1: their reporting. I will tell you why I've been less
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: bothered by this than others, and it's that it does
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: feel as this his terms coming to an end. There
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: really is. There's like, you know, I know the conspiracy
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: theories is that they're afraid that somehow you'll be able
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to call a special It's like the window is too small,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and I'm guessing the last thing you want to do
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: is deal with a special election to fill out a
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: month and a half of a term. So what do
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  Speaker 1: you believe is the harm here?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I believe that the harm is a senator refuses
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  Speaker 2: to level with the people that he serves about how
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  Speaker 2: he is doing and that is the most basic duty
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  Speaker 2: in any of these offices. I will say this. Some
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  Speaker 2: people say, well, if this was in the reverse, Mitch
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  Speaker 2: McConnell would be ruthless, Well, you know what he would be,
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  Speaker 2: knowing him my entire life, he would be ruthlessly tactical.
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  Speaker 2: And what we're seeing right now. What we're seeing right
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  Speaker 2: now is a special election would probably go Republican. We
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: haven't had a Democratic US Senator in Kentucky since nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety two. So to those online that are thinking this through,
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  Speaker 2: what I'd say is, right now, with him not showing
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: up to work, there's one less vote for the Save Act,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: one less vote to support the president's war of choice
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: on Iran. There is one less vote for a potential
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: replacement of a conservative Supreme Court justice. If if there
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: was a replacement via special election, they would probably be
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: more beholden to Trump than even Mitch McConnell's.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you point this out, because if you want
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to just totally look at this through a partisan lent,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the people who should be angriest about this are not
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: the folks on the left that should be the votes
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: in Trump's corner. Because here's what we also know Mitch
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: McConnell's no automatic vote on most of Trump's stuff these days.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Whatever you think of McConnell politically on the left, he's
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: no Trump fan either.
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  Speaker 2: You would think that the other Republican US senators would
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: be pushing, would be pushing for transparency because they are
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: one vote down.
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  Speaker 1: But my goal is, though, don't you think this is
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: where the conspiracy theories are actually percolating? The hottest are
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: actually on the right hand side of the information ecosystem.
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  Speaker 2: I think they're percolating everywhere at this point because sadly,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: next week's two photos and two official statements. Just in
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: this world where you you do this, and and I've
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: got a podcast and we we have social media is
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: just so little that it creates this this vacuum.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Look, I'm a I don't know if you've seen the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Odyssey yet. Have you seen the Odyssey? I have not
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: seen it yet. Okay, so I won't quote the Odyssey.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: At three plus hours as Governor, I hear.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: You, but go find it. All I will say is
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: go find it. It's it's three hours. It's three hours
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: that you won't feel like you wasted. But he said, Sally,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: there's a there's a running theme about the Golden rule.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: It's called the Zeus's law, but it's the Golden rule.
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  Speaker 1: And I've been thinking about this a lot when it
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: comes to politics, and on this McConnell thing, I'm a
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: mixed mess because you're absolutely right, McConnell would never be
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: giving grace to the other side in a moment like this.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: He is. You know, you never let a moment to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: be wasted to advance your agenda, advance your party. That
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: is what has made him effective and arguably unpopular, right,
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  Speaker 1: And you're that ruthless about it, So I understand. So
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: there's a part of my brain it has very little
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: empathy for the situation he finds himself in because of
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the ruthless ways he practiced. You know, you do unto
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: others as you want done unto you, and so you
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: could respond. But let me flip it here. Are you
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: comfortable that this has gotten this way? And if you
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: were a member of your party, would you be as
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: aggressive if you weren't getting answers?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you make a good point in that
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: I don't believe the way that Democrats win elections and
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: ultimately govern is to be a democratic version of McConnell
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: or a Democratic version of Trump. Now we are set
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: to do well in the congressional races. We have a
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: chance to make a run at the US Senate. We're
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: going to win governors races in places people aren't expecting.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: And none of that is us acting like the opposite
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: or acting like Trump and McConnell. It's offering people a
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: better alternative and an actual focus, not on politics, on
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: prices in people's daily lives. You know, I live my
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: life by that Golden Rule. My faith is my why
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: the Golden Rule says me to treat It says to
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: treat everyone, uh, like my neighbor, and the parable the
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: good Samaritan says everyone is my neighbor. But yes, I'm
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: comfortable with what I'm asking for here, because I would
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: fully expect if I was gone for six weeks as
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: governor for someone to say, hey, you need to talk
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: to the people of Kentucky. If I'm out a week,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: I'm expected to do that.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: You can't even go on the Appalachian Trail anymore as governor.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Considering what happened, Yeah, what happened to a governor that
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: once claimed he did that?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I thought you'll want to touch on that one.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: But if you go back to COVID, which I had
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: to govern through, you know, if you were exposed as governor,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: you needed to come forward, even though you could still work,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: even though maybe you had to isolate for a period
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: of time. So I'm more than comfortable and how I'm
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: calling for it. The challenge here is it continues to
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: add fuel to the fire when he simply refuses to
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: do a short video and it creates the impression that
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: maybe he can't. Now, I certainly hope that he can.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I've known as members of his family for a good
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: part of my life, and we want him to be okay.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: But the people of Kentucky deserve a basic level of transparency.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: What is the relationship between McConnell and your dad and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: you and McConnell. I say this because you know, there's
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: a part of me that knows that there's that in
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a lot of these political you know, the states where
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you've had very successful politicians from opposite parties, there's this
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: over time grudging respect and friendship and all this. I
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: don't sense that here.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think that we are all civil to each other. Now,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: my dad ran against Mitch McConnell, and I remember the
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: race and that didn't turn out well for the Beshear's.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: But Mitch McConnell has now tried to beat me three
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: straight times and a Trump state, and we have beaten
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: him every single time. Right.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Well, it's a it's an unfortunate way that this is
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: ending in his career.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: That's a really good point. And I was thinking about.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: He talks about his legacy a lot, and he talks
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: about being the longest serving leader in the Senate. But
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: what he's doing right now by failing to come forward
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: and being transparent, maybe more of the Wikipedia page that's
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: written about him is going to be about this than
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: anything else. But that's all, you know.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Who I was just going to say, I want to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: go back and check. But I wonder what his thoughts
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: were on Robert Bird at the very end, when frankly
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: he had no business being in the United States Senate.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Well here he was. You know. I think in some
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: ways McConnell sees himself as the Bird error in some
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: ways right as the institutionalist and cares so much about it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: But you hang on too long, and all the work
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you think you've accomplished yeah, you may have set some
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: new precedents, but I'm not sure it's going to play
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: the way you think it's going to play.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: You look at today while we're recording this, Ran Paul
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: has dragged in an eighty five year old Anthony Fauci
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: because he says he has to answer to the American people,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: but he won't ask an eighty four year old Mitch
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: McConnell to do the same. And Fauci is retired, and
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: McConnell is a serving US Senator, and all of these
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: folks talked about Biden and how he was doing. Well,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: guess what Biden was showing up. Biden was speaking yes
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: into a microphone. It is night and day from what
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: they criticized to their refusal to ask for just a
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: little bit of honesty and directness.
• 18:35
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  Speaker 1: seven seven seven seven zero seven eight six seven if
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  Speaker 1: you're in Louisiana. Look, I was actually going to bring
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: this up. You certainly have your United States senators do
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: their best to try to make news this this I
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: don't look. I think it's a it's a character assassination,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: a ton of chouraging. And if you started to prosecute
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: everybody in Washington who got a bit self absorbed, there'd
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: be nobody left to serve. So I think if if
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: his greatest sin is simply he enjoyed hanging out with
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Julia Roberts, you know, Okay, how many how much should
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: we flog him for this? I don't. I don't quite
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: get the I what do you rand? Paul to me
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: is somebody who I constantly am glad that he's one
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: of the one hundred because we have a very diverse
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: political set of Americans, and I think he does represent
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a part of the country, a part of the electorate
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that not a lot of that doesn't have a lot
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to say so in the Senate. So, and I'm somebody
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: who thinks all these voices there needs to be voices, right,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: we need some socialists, you need this. Ultimately, you figure
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: it out somewhere. You know, everybody has some sayingness and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a lot of times Rand Paul will bring up issues
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: that make everybody uncomfortable left and right, and so he
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: could This feels like a personal vendetta. Do you understand
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: where this comes from and the source of this.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: It absolutely feels like a personal vendetta. I mean to
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: kick someone's lawyer out the hearing while they're testifying. And
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: then you heard not only his questioning, but Josh Hawley's
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: and he's got the poster of Anthony Fauci up. But
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: look at how many hours Josh Hawley spends on his
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: hair every morning before he steps out in front of
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: that camera. So self absorption in anything new in those rooms.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: You know, I was there when this was happening. I
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: was a new governor. I was three months in and
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: I remember the calls. Mike Pence had set up the team.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: And I will actually give Mike Pence credit. He set
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: up a good team. He was available.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: They heard this from a variety of governors, left, the right, center,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: you name it. That Pence was basically the most competent
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: West wing official. You could deal with it.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: You could get him in thirty minutes, didn't matter if
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: you were a Democrat or a Republican. You could get
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Fauci or others on the phone. This attempt at revisionist
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: history about shutting down the economy. I was on that
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: call too, who told us to do it? Donald J.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Trump directly about doing it, and now attacking what was
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: their own team is pretty crazy. And I guess this
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: really interesting world we're living in right now. But I
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: think back to the fact that Donald Trump has had
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: multiple Mount Rushmore moments, and I know he thinks that
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: he should be up there. If he would have followed
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: the medical and health advice, his administration would have created
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: the fastest vaccine to end a pandemic in human history,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: and he would have won reelection running away. And he
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: couldn't do it because a small group of folks bent
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: on conspiracy theories were out there and he would rather
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: glong on to that than save as many lives as
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: possible and ultimately do the right thing.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about Look, let's say you're at President of
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the United States in the next pandemic. I've always said, look,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Pauci was in a known situation. If you're not, you know,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: And I've always expect, I expect government. Government tells me
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: all sorts of things I shouldn't do. You know, whether
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: it's air quality warning, whether it's ingesting a certain product,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: whether it's alcohol, tobacco, cannabis. Right, there's plenty of government warnings.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: And if the government didn't provide those warnings and folks
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: were harmed by it, there would be all sorts of lawsuits,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: political retribution for not warning the American people of these dangers.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: So I have always assumed that government's job is to
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: basically be probably a little bit more cautious because you're
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: governing three hundred and fifty million people, and that at
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, we live in somewhat of
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: a you know, ultimately it's up to you. Right, We
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: don't tell you shouldn't smoke. We warn you of the problems.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Nobody said you had to wear a mask in your
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: own house and all these places. We just warned you
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: what would happen if we did. Do you believe that
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: in hindsight Fauci was overly cautious, or do you think
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: that federal government has to be overly cautious.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I think doctor Falci was providing the best advice
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: he could at the time in dealing with something that
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: none of us had ever seen. To me, I made
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: my decisions through what is almost a basic math equation,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: and it was about saving the most lives. Listen, I
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: had to put my head down on my pillow every
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: night having read the death list out loud that day.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Even if it was going to get me run out
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: of town, I was going to do the best I
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: could to save the most people. But that does not
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: mean you.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Remember which days. I'm sure you do, where you had
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: you couldn't believe the death toll in your state.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I remember the first time that we lost someone. I
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: remember the first time we had ten. I remember the
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: first time we had one hundred. I remember the first
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: time that I knew someone on that list, and I
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: remember the time that I knew about five people on it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: It's one of the toughest things I've ever had to do.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: But every day I addressed the people of Kentucky and
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: every day I read that list because I didn't want
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: anybody else to have to. But having governed through that,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the way to do this is it is the rules
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: and the regulations and how effective they could be times
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: the number of people that will follow them. Right, you
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: have the health piece, and then you have I don't
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: want to call it the political piece, but just knowing
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: what's a little too much for folks and trying to
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: hit that sweet spot where people would be willing to
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: sacrifice for each other. And in many ways, looking back,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: and I talked about it at the time, this was
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: the ultimate test of the parable the good Samaritan. Are
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: you willing to sacrifice in your own life for things
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: to be a little uncomfortable if it saves someone else's
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: life And here it's probably someone that you would never
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: know and you would never meet, but you were called
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: on to do it. I think one thing that we
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: missed from the federal level, if we could go back
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: in time, as a real call to patriotism, and this
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: was coming to take as many American lives in Kentucky,
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: we lost more people identifying.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: What I've always thought was the biggest problem with COVID
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: is we just had the wrong leader in the wrong moment.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: It was a leadership vacuum more nanny.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: If you think about losing more people at least in
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Kentucky to it than we did to the Vietnam, Korean War,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: World War two put together, then this was in many
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: ways the war of our time, coming for as many
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: of our friends and neighbors as it could. And that's
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: how we cast it here. And when people look back here,
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: sure they have questions. And if we knew everything at
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: the end at the beginning, remember we're dealing with the
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: different strain at that point though.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the thing. It's easy now to say, well,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: I guess maybe we could have opened schools here, We
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: could have done maybe two weeks on, two weeks off.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: But that's because we know how it all worked.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And miss at the federal level that we got right
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: early on in Kentucky and then others followed is teachers
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: and educators needed to be in that very first batch
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: for the vaccine. We needed to recognize that one of
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the most important things that we needed open and fully
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: open were our schools and that should have been that
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: one a category. When we look back, I had.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Michael Osterhomon, who was sort of in the in the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: academia world sort of the expert i'd go to if
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Fauci wasn't available back during those times. And you know,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: the one the one thing that I know he recommended
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the time and it just never took off because frankly,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: there wasn't enough trust out there, is that he really
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: wanted a weather forecasting like model, meaning, hey, guess what,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: for two weeks, we know when the peaks. The peak
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: in Florida is different than the peak in Michigan, the
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: peak in New York was different than the peak in Nevada.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: And we saw this right when in Florida it was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: in the hottest months or when everybody went inside, which
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: then created more spread. Ironically, in the cold months in
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the South, it was better, but that was tougher. And
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the point being is that we did that is that
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: is easily probably the fairest critique you could come with
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: the administration is that it was too much of a
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: one size fits.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: All policy and the idea that there's a relief valve
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: that when it's safer for people to be able to
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: go out, and.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: It's all about hospital beds, right, I mean, that's what
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: your folks were telling you all the time. It was
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: about I see you bed capacity.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Right, And for us, we never ran out of hospital beds.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: But that's because we expanded Medicaid years before, and because
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: of that, we had rural hospitals that were still open.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: And so I got to see firsthand what that type
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: of policy that you do during times when you are
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: not in a pandemic or in a crisis can do
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: for you later. And so, for instance, when I talk
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: about how bad that big ugly is, about how it's
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: going to close thirty five rural hospitals across Kentucky and
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: decimate rural economies because it's the largest payroll fire twenty
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: thousand Kentucky healthcare workers, I'm also thinking about that next
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: crisis that we have, and it could be it could
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: be a big interstate pile up where now the hospital
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: is an hour and a half away when it used
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: to be twenty minutes. There are just real world repercussions
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: that we should know because we've lived through all this.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about political labels. As I wrote
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: a column recently, I think moderation needs a better pr
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the word moderate, And because I will say I am
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: when I say moderate, I'm always thinking temperament more than
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: anything else, But I don't think everybody else everybody. It's
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: a subjective word. So rather than me apply words to you,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: when you hear yourself described as a moderate, you accept it,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: you're not accepted. How would you push back? Did it
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: with the word centrist? And do you there distinction in
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: your mind?
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Well, I consider myself pragmatic, not progressive, not moderate, but pragmatic.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: My job is governors to solve people's problems. It's about
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: bringing in more jobs with better wages. It's about building
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: more housing than most of the rest of the country
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: is doing. It's about expanding and not contracting healthcare, bringing
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: it to areas like West Louisville or Appalachia where we
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: just don't see enough. As governor, you can't sit and
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: be ideological. You've got to find the way to better
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: people's lives and do it as fast as possible. You
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: know those that would.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Call a modical incentive to be that way though, those
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: you couldn't get stuff done if you tried to be
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: a hard progressive in Kentucky as governor.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Correct, Well, what I'd say is those that call me
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: moderate see being pro business and pro worker, strongly pro union,
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: but creating all those jobs, trying to make the economy work.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Those that consider me progressive see that I've vetoed every
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: anti LGBTQ plus bill in a Trump plus thirty one state,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: every anti diversity bill, that I'm the first Kentucky governor
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: and candidate for governor that ever ran a pro reproductive
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: freedom ad during his election. And so again, I think
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: we put people in boxes and no one fits directly
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: in those And I think that's a challenge inside the
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: Democratic Party and with some of the media that we're
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: often on is that there's just this battle to label
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: everyone and everyone's more complicated. And I think that's one
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: of the reasons I went in Kentucky is that I
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: can sit down and talk to someone who might label
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: themselves as a conservative. We're going to have something in common.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Why do you think that this is? I mean, you look,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: you hear from the left, you talk to these progressive
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: You've got to make a decision about Wisconsin governor potentially
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: where somebody who's calls themselves a socialist maybe the Democratic nominee.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: How big should the Democratic tent be?
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Well, the Democrat tent has to be big, and we
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: have to try to find common ground that does not
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: mean we have to agree on everything, nor should we know.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: The Democratic Party should be a party of democracy where
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: we can have hard conversations. But that's different than fighting. Now,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: some people would think that Elizabeth Warren and I are
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: in different parts of the Democratic Party, yet we've had
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: multiple conversations on pre K for all four year olds
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: in the United States. What that could do for everyone, Democrat,
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Republican and independent. I mean an actual solution where we
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: can work together, and whether it is in the Democratic
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Party and its differences, or Democrats and Republicans, how about
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: we focus eighty percent of our time on those things
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: that matter to one hundred percent of the American people. Now,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: if we can actually make an aspirational investment in housing,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: tie federal funds to having to break ground quickly and
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: build and thus push through regulation in Nimbia's we can
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: actually do some things that we all agree on. And
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: I bet if we had some success, we could talk
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: about the things we disagree on a little bit better.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Why do you think the activist left is so angry
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: at the Democratic establishment? What do you believe are the
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: sources of this? I have a theory, but I don't
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: want to share it until I hear yours well.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: I think that there are folks on both ends of
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: both parties that feel like the country is broken. They
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: feel like the economy is broken, and they feel like
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: government is broken. On the economy, it's a belief that
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: the American dream is no longer possible. That people are
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: working hard, playing by the rules, but they can't afford
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: a house until they're forty when their parents bought it
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: in their late twenties, and they can't afford to take
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: their kids if they've had them on that same vacation
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: they went on. That's got to make you feel like
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: a failure. And when you believe something's rigged, well, maybe
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: you think it needs to be burnt down or there
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: need to be bigger solutions. On the government side, I mean,
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: just look at Mitch McConnell going up for six weeks
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: and not even looking at a camera and saying why.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: So.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: I believe the Democratic Party and I believe all parts
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: of it, can be the party of making that economy
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: work again, immediately pulling tariffs on groceries, back making that
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: investment in housing. But let me tell you, on the
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: government side, I do think we should think pig I
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: think it's time for a constitutional amendment. And I know
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: most people say, oh, that never happens. It does after
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: times of turmoil. So I think we go big with it.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: I think we outlaw partisan jerrymanderin and put parts of
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: the Voting Rights Act directly in the Constitution. I think
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: that we overturn Citizens United and get corporate money out
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: of politics. I think we set term limits for Congress
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: and the Supreme Court so people can't gain when people
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: step down or not, and then try to elongate terms.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: As soon you would take age limits if you couldn't,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: if you couldn't get people to agree to term limits.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: But either way, it's sort of it's something.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: It's something i'd look at, you know, I see a
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Jim Clyburn who is as sharp as he can be
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: and as leadership is needed. So I see term limits
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: as a as a way to be able to respect
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: people of all ages that have the capacity and are
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: ready to go and for me and I believe that
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: we should directly elect the president and vice president because
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: in Kentucky we never see them unless they come for money.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: And that's most of the rest of the country. So
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: we've got these campaigns about who's about to be our
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: next leader that understands six states, because that's where they've
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: got to win.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: My basic theory is that the there is a loud
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and angry Democratic electorate that essentially blames Democrats for the
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: return of Trump.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: Democrats are good at blaming other Democrats when Republicans are
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: doing something wrong, and sometimes it's it's the you know,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: you're not blaming the bank.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: You know, this argument that basically, had Biden, you know,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: had they the Biden situation, Biden handled Biden better, had
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: there beens sort of whatever you want to, you know,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: and you know, maybe had Biden announced im immediately after
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: the twenty two midterms, I'm not seeking the second term.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: There's all sorts of what ifs, And ultimately, francically I
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: hear it from prens of fais like a better president
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and a better term would have sent the message would
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: have at least led the country to turn the page
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: on Trump. Isn't it a fair criticism?
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that the Democratic Party should always be
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: willing to accept criticism because it makes us better. But
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: living in a would have, could have or should have
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: when we're dealing with Donald Trump right now, when we're
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: dealing with the Congress. That won't be a constitutional check
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: when you have a Supreme Court allowing him to do
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: what he is doing. Is losing focus on a critical
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: moment for our country. Our job right now has to
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: be to win in November. And so we can either
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: call out the Republicans for doing these terrible things, like
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: like eleven thousand Kentucky kids lost snap benefits because of
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: the big ugly Bill. It's eleven thousand kids that are
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: hungry today that previously weren't. We can either blame the
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: people that did that, which are congressional Republicans and Trump,
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: or we can yell at each other. I certainly know
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: which one to be more effective.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Going back to Wisconsin, do you think Francisca Honk can win?
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be a competitive primary. As
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: head of the DGA, I can't get involved in those primaries,
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: but I believe that we will see as it comes
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: down to the wire at least one candidate emerge who
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: has a strong message and can ultimately win in November.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: Look, Wisconsin's a strange state in this respect is that
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: it is a swing state with no swing voters. Is
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: how I always put it no swing counties. It's an
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: unusual state in that it's so evenly divided, but the
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: bases of the two parties have almost outsized influence on
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: those there. I think you're going to have. It's possible
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: you have a Democratic nominee that many think is outside
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: the mainstream and a Republican nominee that many feel is
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: outside the mainstream. What's the pitch if that's the case.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: Well, first, let me say that there was big worry
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: in California and that worked out. There was a lot
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: of worry in Michigan and that's working out. And so
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: I think sometimes we don't give enough respect to Democratic
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: voters that when it gets down to it, they are
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: going to understand that electability is absolutely critical and choose
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: the candidate that they believe is most electable. Go back
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: to twenty in the presidential race and what Pete won
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Iowa though we didn't know it until days later. Yeah,
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: Ernie one the second state, I'm sure. And then South
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: Carolina comes and Joe Biden the oh yeah, But then
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: South Carolina comes and Joe Biden, who was left for
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: dead by all the political consultants, is a presumptive Demoocratic nominee. Now,
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: I think what you're going to see in Wisconsin our
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: voters coming together. But I would always say that if
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: you look at this country right now, one party is
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: breaking it and the other party, while we might not
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: always agree on the right solution, is trying to fix it.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: The party of Donald Trump told you they bring down costs.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: He had, his tariffs and his war with Iran are
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: hitting every single American family hard and making it that
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: much more difficult. So whichever part of the Democratic Party
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: you were in, you are committed to making people's lives better. Now,
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: we might have to talk about the avenue to do that,
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: but I would always want to vote for that person,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: and I believe would get out there and fight for
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: ultimately that better life.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: This episode of the Chuck Podcast is brought to you
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  Speaker 1: vary and rates may vary. I want to look at
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: the governor's map through the presidential swing states. North Carolina
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: I believe of the Big seven is the only one
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: that doesn't have a governor's race that's already got a
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Democratic governor. So you got Georgia open seat. Is this
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: your most expensive state?
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: You are going to play big in Keisha Lance Bottoms
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: came out of what should have been a really tough
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: primary and dominated it. I like a lot of the
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: other candidates that were in there too, but obviously has
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: an incredible amount of talent. Polls are either close or
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: have her up. I think there is a huge opportunity
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: in Georgia. John Ossif is also running there and there's
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: some good synergies where I believe we are going to
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: flip Georgia.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: But you do have a Republican nominee, Like I will
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: say this. You know, I'm sure you wish there was
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: a different Republican nominee there.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I believe that we have a Republican nominee that
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: we can beat. It's just going to be expensive to do. So, yeah,
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: that is that's enormous he just announced.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, I feel sorry for any anybody running down
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: the ballot. Good luck finding airtime.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: Right, But I would I would say that's a critical election.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Look at Arizona where we have a sitting Democratic governor
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: running against an election denier. If you want a full
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: and fair her election in twenty eight, Katie Hobbs has
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: to be re elected and that's really ground zero for
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: fair elections.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Well, as much as I said you probably didn't like
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: the way the Republican primary turned out in Georgia, I'm
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: guessing you had no problem with how the Republican primary
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: turned out in Arizona. I believe the situation.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: I believe that Katie Hobbs is going to win that race.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: She's a good governor, she's working hard, she's running in
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: a tough state. But at a time when people are struggling,
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: this is the only social worker that's been elected governor
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: in the country. She had to drive an uber or
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: a lyft to support her kids during her life. She
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: is very connected to the moment. But as you look
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: at the map, though, the goal in the governor's races
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: is to expand it. How twenty eight looks is how
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: we do in twenty twenty six in those races. When
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: Rob sand wins Iowa and he's going to and that flips,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: that's in play in twenty eight. When Amy Actin wins Ohio,
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: and I believe that's very much in play. Ohio is
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: in play in twenty.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: It's interesting and I want to get to more of that.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Let's go to Nevada. This was the the I always say,
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: the second hardest thing to do in politics is to
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: knock off the sitting governor. It's not easy. It's I
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: know it's not easy to win a second term, but
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: it's also very difficult. You don't see it often. Only
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: thing harder is to knock off sitting presidents. Usually voters
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: have this, well, we're going to give them the second
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: term unless it's they're really upset. And obviously I always
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: say with governors to select you try running for reelection
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: and shut down the UH and shut down by and
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: shut down the strip. It's just that you're just asking
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: for UH. It's like playing baseball with no hands. Good luck,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: But what's your sense in that race? It's a huge
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: financial disparity, but all the polls have shown it very close.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think we're going to win. And I'm a
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: guy who knocked off a sitting a government governor and
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: we would still have when we would still have a
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: democratic governor of Nevada, just like you said, but for
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: the pandemic. And the pandemic hit tourism and hit tourism hard,
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: and so is Donald Trump. When you look at Las
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Vegas right now, it's down, and it's down in part
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: because of Trump's attacks repeatedly on Canada and Canadians not
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: coming either to Las Vegas or by the way, buying
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: Kentucky bourbon. It has hit.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: By the way, they're not coming to Florida either. Okay,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: I mean we're losing the Canadians. We were in the Bahamas.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: They were all in the Bahamas, is what we found
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: out over the holidays.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: So you take their economy being down along with so
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: many hardworking Latino Americans that are afraid because of ice
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: to go to work, whether that's in Vegas or Reno
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: or other places. And then we've got a really good candidate.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: So General Ford and I have been friends for a
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: long time. I was with the Democratic Attorney General's Association
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: when he won. I would never count him out. He
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: is a fighter, He's somebody that the people of Nevada
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: believe in. And if you look at the Colorado primary,
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: Democratic ags are doing pretty well right now.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't tell that to my friend Michael Bennett.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: He's he is a good man that gets to continue
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: in the seton.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: That's it's a pretty good message.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Look, we talked about Wisconsin enough. You don't You don't
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: sound enthusiastic about the current front runner in that race.
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, I just it's still going on, and then all
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: three major candidates are reaching out, which which you know
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: they all should be pushing to win. But I've always
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: believed a contested primary creates a better general election candidate.
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: The winner of that will be ready, will have gone
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: through all of the trials and tribulations, and we'll be
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: ready to take on whoever we get from the other side.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: We uh, you briefly mentioned Michigan. But that feels like
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: that that literally went from sort of a constant source
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: of of of of potential problems too suddenly, look, it's
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: not gonna win in a walk. It's a tough race.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: But now she's.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: Favored Jocelyn Vincent is going to be a great candidate.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Now she still I think she's been a very good candidate.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: To be still, that's why Dougan dropped is because of
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: her candidacy.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: And I think to his credit, Doug had been a
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: great mayor, had been a good Democrat, and when he
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: saw that he didn't have a lane and that he
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: might be a spoiler, he did a thing very few
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: when politics do. He checked his ego, he stepped out,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: and for that, I think he ought to be commended.
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: She's working incredibly hard that primary against a really good sheriff,
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: and I hope he continues in some former fashion. And
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: I believe. I believe she is the next governor of Michigan.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: Uh, you talked about Iowa. I've I've been a sess
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: with Ohio. In fact, I think there's a real scenario
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: that she she can win regardless of the Senate race.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: I know some people think it's very great tide. I
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: don't know if I'm just curious of your experience in
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: these places. Georgia and Ohio are probably the two most
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: interesting tests of this, which is correlation between governor's races
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: and Senate races. What's your sense on them and voters
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: that split? Where does that usually fall in your in
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: your experience.
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: I believe that people are willing to take a second
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: look at a goodnatorial candidate outside of just the partisanship.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Past Jersey color. You know, it's like instead of just
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: looking at the Jersey.
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: That's right, because in many ways, if you're in the Senate,
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: you are one of one hundred. When you're governor, you're
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: one of one. We don't vote where it's not a
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: group body where we get together. You are the leader
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: of your state and people have a direct connection with
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: their governor. And Kentucky people don't call me governor. They
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: call me Andy. And that's probably why I'm still in
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: this job. You are on the ground every single day
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: with people, and it's more likely that anyone going to
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: vote may have met so one running for governor and
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: or knows someone that knows them, so it's much more personal.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: I believe that shared Brown will win. Now do I
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: think Amy Acton may run two points above? Yes, I
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: think she's running a great race. I have been in
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: that area a bunch, especially in the Cincinnati in Cincinnati
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: suburbs area, a bunch, and she is doing really well.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: Think about this. He has poured tens of millions of
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: dollars in and he has not moved the needle. It's
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: either tied or she's a little up, and now it's
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: her turn. And to me, his race feels a lot
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: like Elon Musk coming in in Wisconsin and trying to
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: buy it. Yea.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: I know if I were running for office, I'd love
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: to run against somebody who was pals with Elon Musk.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: Well, and that's where Ramasam is.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: That's a. I think that's a And I think he
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: knows I know him a little bit. He's not stupid.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: I think he knows he's got a uphill battle. Let's
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: talk about two races that I bet you hear a
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: lot about, but realistically they're long shots, even if even
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: when they end up, races that will probably be decided
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: by five points or less. And that is my home
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: state of Florida and the great large, big state of Texas.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: I mean in theory, right, you've got this, you know
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: tenure incumbent and Abbott, and I think fatigue is there.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: You kind of see it. It's tough. It's a path
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: to forty seven. The question is can you get to fifty.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: I've interviewed Byron Donald's, I've spent time with David Jolly,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: I've done the here. I think he's going to be
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: a very good candidate. I think people underestimate him at
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: their own peril and we'll see on Jolly. I say
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: that because arguably Florida Democrats tried this four years ago
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: and it failed spectacularly. So what's your sense and where
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: is DGA money going to be prioritized?
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: Well, we are watching them both very closely, and there
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: will be races that might not be in the top
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: three or four that people talk about that open up
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: that there might be a candidate on the other side
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: that we learn is like Mark Robinson from North Carolina,
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: and so.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: One of those gifts.
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: Our goal is to be funded enough and strong enough
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: to play in anywhere we can win, especially coming down
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: the stretch. Gina Hinehos in Texas is a good candidate
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: that's out there working hard trying to create her own luck.
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: David Jolly is in a good position in Florida, and
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: we will see what that looks like again as we
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: go down the stretch. So we're going to make wise
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: decisions with the DGA, but we're going to make sure
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: that we have the flexibility to win the maximum number
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: of states.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: Is it hard though, with Texas and Florida, how expensive
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: they are. I mean, I don't mean meaning like I
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: sit here and go if you're not in yet, I
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: don't know if you come in late, whether that money
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: would make Let's say you through five million dollars at
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: Florida in October. I think that's I don't know if
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: that does as much as throwing five million dollars at
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: Aaron Ford in Nevada.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: Well, we're going to be strategic about all of it.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: But my goal is to have us strong enough to
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: where even in those big states coming down the stretch,
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: if it's close that we could help hopefully move that needle.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: I want to get you out of here. On the
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: presidential stuff. You've not it's something you'll think about. It's
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: something you're not. You know you're not. You're not doing
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: the Please don't ask me about it, you know, but
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: ask me about it weekend or nine, which I appreciate.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: I think that I think those days are over right
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: in our political media. What do you think I do?
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: And so for me, I'm at the same place that
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: I've been. I've got a job this year, and that's
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: to win as many governors races as I can. And
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: if I concentrate on that, I help whoever the Democratic
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: nominee for president is to have more states to win,
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: and so that that's my focus. And then I'm going
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: to sit down with my family and we'll make a decision.
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: I'll say this. I never thought I'd be in the
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: position to even consider it, but I just will not
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: leave a broken country to my kids. And being a
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: person who can win in a Trump plus thirty one state,
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: I think I offer something to the conversation. We need
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: to make sure that we have a candidate that can
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: relate to people, that can bring more people on board.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: And what I want most is for my kids and
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: one day grandkids to have the same stability in this
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: United States that I did growing up.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Is is this a campaign that if you're going to
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: do it, you need to go in early. Do you
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: think this is a January February decision or is this, say,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: June July decision for you in twenty seven.
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: I think it'll be different for everyone. Certainly, I'm not
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: going to sit down and take any type of action
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: until I'm done being dghchair in late December, and then
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: I'm going to celebrate Christmas with my family and then
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: we'll figure it out.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: This primary calendar south Carolina leading off Virginia as the
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: booke end. I say that because I'm of the I
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: think as I'm of the Ricky Bobby rule, if you
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: ain't first, your last, and in some ways it that's
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: what I focus on in this window. But what do
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: you make of the entire calendar.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: I think the calendar is going to create a candidate
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: that can be competitive in the South, that can be
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: competitive in the Midwest, that can ultimately create the type
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: of appeal that reaches all Americans, because all Americans are
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: struggling with the same general issues. I will say, having
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: two Southern states, I'm happy that the DNC recognizes that
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: the South was left out, was underfunded, and was sometimes
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: even looked down upon by our party. But look at
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: how we scrap back. We have three Southern Democratic governors
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: thanks to Georgia. We have two Southern Democratic US senators,
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: and Roy Cooper is about to be another.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: Do you consider Kentucky a southern state or a border state?
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we've got different parts of Kentucky that
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: consider themselves different things. I'm from Lexington, which is certainly Southern.
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: I lived in Louisville for a long time, which probably
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: considers itself Midwestern. Typically, I try to be whichever one
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: will get us the best grant from the federal government
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: or anywhere else.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: Well, considering that this administration does apparently take politics into
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: consideration of every decision that they make, so I don't
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: blame you there, but it is it is, you know that.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: I guess that's an age old debate. Is Kentucky a
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: southern state or not?
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: I will say I consider myself southern, but you know,
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: different folks across our state may have different ideas. My
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: job is just to represent all of them the best
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: I can.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Israel, is this an issue that is going to be
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: so divisive that that it's splinters the party and make
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: some elections unwinnable? Are you doing think of this?
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: I don't think it should, because I think the approach
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: that the Democratic Party ought to have in Israel is
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: what we would hope countries in Europe would think about US. Now,
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: countries in Europe are anti Trump, and they should be,
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: but I hope they're still pro America. So I believe
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: that the Democratic Party candidates sitting elected officials. You can
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: be anti Netanyahoo. You can think he has engaged in
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: actions that cause needless suffering, but you can still be
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: pro Israel recognizing there's a democratic state, a Jewish state,
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: and that our security interests are tied to each other.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get you out of here on this.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: I did back to back interviews in the last two
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: weeks with Byron Donald's and with Doug Jones. And by
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: the way, I'm asking about Alabama's Doug Jones, going to
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: GETDGA help.
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: We're watching Doug Jones race really closely. He's a friend,
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: but they're primary. They doubled the Democratic turnout from four
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: years before, and that is pretty amazing.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: South Carrone said he shared with me and basically a
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: math equation that anytime this has happened, it has led you.
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you've seen this, he said out to me, Yeah,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: and that it is indicated that it's going to be
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: a victory for that party. Do you buy it?
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: Well, he is a good man and a good candidate
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: that is putting the state in play, and we're going
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: to be watching it very closely, Doug. Doug would be
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: a fantastic governor.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: Well, I bring it up because he said this to me,
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: because I said, what is the top issue you're talking about?
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: He goes, well, right now, it's data centers. Everywhere I go,
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: it's data centers. Stata Center's data center. I've I spent
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of time on this issue over the last
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: six months. I'm pretty convinced people's anger about data centers
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: aren't about the data centers, meaning that this is about
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: big tech. This is about something much larger. But I'll
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: be honest, I feel like the political answers have all
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: been small ball. A lot of people are looking at
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: this as a nimbi issue, and I have a feeling
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: it's not do you share my view on this or
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: do you think this really is one of an old
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: tip onehilism, that this is just a classic case of
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: all politics is local.
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: Now, I think this is two things. Number One, it's
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: concerned about AI, some of it rightful concern about AI
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: and what it's going to do to our lives. On
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: one end, the medical research that could be done through
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: it could end every genetic disease that we know of
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: combined with crisper, and that's a world I hope for.
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: On another end, it could take millions of jobs. It
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: could make us less safe, and right now we don't
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: have a federal government that will create the type of rules, regulations,
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: and guidelines that are needed. So people see it coming
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: and people say it'll be as big as moving from
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: farms to factories, and yeah, that's going to create fear
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: on the actual placing of the data centers. I will
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: say this, these companies are about to invest massive amounts
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: of money, maybe ten or one hundred times more than
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: their headquarters. But they don't come to these communities. They
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: don't talk to people and assure them if they are
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: going to be that big of a part of the community,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: that it's going to be a net benefit. And for me,
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: three rules that you have to start with before you
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: ever have the conversation. Number One, you pay for all
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: your own power, not one cent on the backs of
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: our people that pay too much already, that's transmission, that's production.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: Now Number two, you got to pay your fair share
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: of taxes because you're not going to employ that many people,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: But you may kick off enough to the school system
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: to double its budget because of property taxes, pay teachers
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: more and have the resources to address that displacement. But
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: third and swhere I started, you've got to get in
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: there and make the community want you. These facilities are
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: not going to be successful in the long term unless
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: these companies develop a little more of a human side,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: get into the community and talk about the real benefits
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: and have one on one conversations with those that are concerned.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: Do you think it should go as far as look,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: all these guys want to It was something Doug Jones
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: brought up to me. Said. One of the fears he
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: came across is that what is our what is what
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: have we all learned about technological advances over the last
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: thirty years, Meaning what you think is on the front
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: end of a technological change is suddenly obsolete within twenty
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: four or thirty six months. And that you know right now,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: especially wherever you go, there's there's abandoned strip malls, all
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: over the country, well, data centers in ten years when
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: all this is moved into space, as Elon Musk and
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: Jeff Bezel's dream of what you know, are we going
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: to have like a bunch of abandoned you know, data
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: centers that get turned believe it or not. There's strip
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: malls near me that here in Florida that have been
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: turned into churches, and old staples down the streets is
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: now a church. They even kept the sliding doors, the
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: auto sliding doors, which I found interesting. But that that's
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: a real fear that all these local communities are basically
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: being asked to be a stop gap while these companies
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: hurry up with this advancement and eventually get to the
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: point where they don't need these data centers.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: I think you're pointing out the uncertainty in all of
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: it now. People don't know if it's going to be
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: y two k we know it's going to be bigger
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: than that, or if it's going to be data centers
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: on the moon, and that is just a huge spread
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: for people to try to think about and deal with.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: When I think about those strip malls, I've actually seen
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: them go from the mall to the church to now
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: a healthcare facility, because.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I've seen that there's one that got turned into a
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: high school, I think too. And they even kept the escalators,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: which we.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: Ought to look at that. But this is a part
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: of having good leaders, rational leaders, leaders that put the
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: American people first. Because we don't know what step three
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: of this might look like, and it's going to be
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: scary for the American people, but our job will be
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: to address it together in a transparent way that puts
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: people first.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: This last questions totally going to be out of left
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: field for you, but I think you'll enjoy it. One
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: of my favorite books that I've ever read is on
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: the history of the ABA, and one of the great
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: franchises in the ABA were the Kentucky Colonels. Kentucky Colonels.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: NBA wants to expand. They've said they want to expand.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: They've identified Seattle and Las Vegas. When I see the
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: success of Oklahoma City, and I see the success of
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: Indianapolis just in general and what we've seen, but particularly
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: basketball crazy with the Fever and the Pacers, Louisville should
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: be an NBA market right The state of Kentucky should
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: have an NBA team If the state of Oklahoma has
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: an NBA team. The state of Kentucky one of the
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: you know, in some ways foundational basketball states that there
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: are should have one. Is there an effort? Is there?
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: You know Louisville has always been right there. Are they
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: gonna take the leap to major league city? You're watching
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: Nashville do this? What's your sense and does Louisville have
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: the business support to pull it off?
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: The Commonwealth of Kentucky is ready. Louisville is the largest
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: media market in the country that doesn't have one of
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: the big sports, and so we are ready. We have
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: the business community to do it. We have an NBA
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: ready arena right now, so that would not be an
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: extra cost.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: Is basketball probably one on the list in baseball two?
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: Or what would be your sense of what's realistic?
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: We have the facilities right now for basketball, and it
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: would work. I mean, the NFL will work anywhere if
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: the NFL wants to.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: It works in Green Bay and Jacksonville, It's gonna work anywhere.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: We'll get that stadium built and people can go from
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: Indy to Louisville to Nashville. Well, I'm sure you'd love that. Yeah,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: But the NBA is is the one where I think
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: we're Taylor made, uh and we're ready. And whether that's
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: a new team, whether that's a team that might be
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: looking for a new home.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: I'm just looking at you, Memphis. Oh did I say
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: that out loud?
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: I'm just a call away and our people would support it.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: We would fill up that arena every day. I mean,
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 2: I remember when the Titans came to Nashville. I was
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: I was in school in Nashville and watched how a
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: community that no one thought could support a team came
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: together with one of the biggest launches that I've seen.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: No, it just feels as if Louisville's more than ready.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: And I as as somebody who doesn't love when Miami,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: my Miami Hurricanes have to play the Louisville Cardinals in Louisville.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: It's a great fan base, it's a great community, and
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: you got has already host one of the great events
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: annually for the world. So count me in cheerleading for Louisville.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: NBA as we close. I guess I will make one
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: announcement that that I don't know what my future in
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: politics will look like. The president of Basketball Operations is
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 2: a job I would strongly consider who's your NBA t oh.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: So when you're in Kentucky, you you you don't really
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: have an.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: NDA home the UK players. Is that what you do?
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: So Karl Anthony Towns winning that championship? What a what
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: a good human being? Uh shy. In Oklahoma City, we're
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: real proud of Tyrese Maxi is about to play with
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: Lebron and Ann Brown and a great team. So we
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: love watching our players go. Anthony Davis is one of
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: all of our favorites, so we follow him wherever he goes.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: Boy, it's interesting. It's all UK with you.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: Huh oh. So when you were the governor of Kentucky
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: you have two jobs. Root for your in state schools
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: and a root against Duke.
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: All right, Governor, Share really appreciate the time.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.