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'A raging fire is burning in America and Trump is throwing gasoline on the fire' · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Right now, voters in five states are casting their ballots
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  Speaker 1: on another important primary day. In Michigan, voters will decide
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  Speaker 1: a primary race with ripple effects for Democrats far beyond
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  Speaker 1: their state. They're picking between Abdulla el sayeeda a progressive
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  Speaker 1: candidate looking to establish a base in a state Trump
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  Speaker 1: won twice, and Congressman Haley Stevens, an establishment favorite with
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  Speaker 1: the backing of party heavyweights like Senator Chuck Schumer. Both
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  Speaker 1: candidates are making the case they are the most electable
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  Speaker 1: Democrat for the general election in a pivotal race for
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  Speaker 1: control of the Senate.
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  Speaker 2: And my next guest has a new book that.
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  Speaker 1: Says twenty twenty six is just the first stepping stone
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  Speaker 1: of a multi year project for Democrats too, as he
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  Speaker 1: puts it, fight for Freedom's survival. Joining me now is
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  Speaker 1: Ben Wickler, former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 1: He's also the author of the brand new book This
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  Speaker 1: is the Plan, How to end America's meltdown and save Democracy. Ben,
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  Speaker 1: It is good to see you. Let's talk about Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: What are the results tonight actually going to tell us
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  Speaker 1: about where the party is headed.
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  Speaker 3: That's great to be with you, Alicia and I think
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  Speaker 3: we're watching Michigan for the same reason why so many
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  Speaker 3: folks are transfixed with politics generally.
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  Speaker 4: There's a level of fury.
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  Speaker 3: About how things are going in general that I think
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  Speaker 3: is going to express itself through primaries and through general
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  Speaker 3: election results. So as we watch, I think one of
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  Speaker 3: the things to parse out there's the positions of the
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  Speaker 3: candidates on the issues. There's also this general sense that
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  Speaker 3: things are wrong with systems broken, it's not working for people,
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  Speaker 3: and people want change. And I think whatever happens in
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  Speaker 3: the primary today, you're going to see the same kind
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  Speaker 3: of fury and desire to do something about the problem
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  Speaker 3: flow into the fights at every level the ballot this fall.
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  Speaker 1: The stakes of this midterm feel so heightened because of
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  Speaker 1: what it means, I think, specifically for the fight for democracy,
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  Speaker 1: which is what your book gets at. You have a
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  Speaker 1: year by year plan, and for twenty twenty six, this
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  Speaker 1: year you say the single most important priority is likely
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  Speaker 1: to be found in state governments. The attention, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of attention today is going to be on the Senate
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  Speaker 1: and the House. Why make the argument that we really
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  Speaker 1: need to be focused on is the state level.
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  Speaker 4: So there's a reason why I put a fire extinguisher
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  Speaker 4: on the cover of the book.
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  Speaker 2: I have my two type A student.
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  Speaker 4: Look at that. I'd love to see it.
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  Speaker 3: So many people people watching right now share the sense
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  Speaker 3: that I certainly have, that there's a raging fire burning
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  Speaker 3: and the guy in charge of the whole country is
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  Speaker 3: throwing gasoline on the fire. That his ability to break
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  Speaker 3: the American system of democracy and government in general depends
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  Speaker 3: on his ability to overturn elections that are run at
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  Speaker 3: the state level. So in twenty twenty six, if we
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  Speaker 3: want to have free and fair elections in twenty twenty eight,
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  Speaker 3: we have to make sure that election deniers don't take
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  Speaker 3: over state government offices that would allow them to do
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  Speaker 3: what Trump tried to get them to do in twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 3: The House and the Senate absolutely critical to put a
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  Speaker 3: check on Trump. But the Constitution puts the power of
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  Speaker 3: election administration into the states. That means at this moment,
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  Speaker 3: state Supreme courts, governor's attorney general, secretaries of state, state
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  Speaker 3: legislative chambers. They play a giant role in determining whether
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  Speaker 3: we go completely off a cliff or whether we have
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  Speaker 3: a fighting chance to ensure that democracy survives into the
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  Speaker 3: next decade and beyond.
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  Speaker 4: And that is step one of the battle plan. And
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  Speaker 4: this is the plan.
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  Speaker 2: So today is all about Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: The attention next week will turn to your home state
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  Speaker 1: of Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 2: I thought it was very brave that you.
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  Speaker 1: Sort of like laid out your brackets for which Senate
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  Speaker 1: races going into this cycle are the most likely for
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  Speaker 1: Democrats to flip. You start with Ohio, you then move
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  Speaker 1: on to Alaska. You give Iowa and Texas kind of
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  Speaker 1: honorable mentions. But I wonder where you think it is
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  Speaker 1: wisest for Democrats to be placing their limited resources.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, don't forget North Carolina. I think you have
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  Speaker 3: to hold your well.
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  Speaker 1: But North Carolina is a gimme ben. That's why I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't say it.
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  Speaker 3: Here's my argument in the book. You have to expand
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  Speaker 3: the field. You can't just do places that were battlegrounds
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  Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four or blue states, because there just
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  Speaker 3: aren't enough states. There aren't enough, you know, states with
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  Speaker 3: easy to reach Republican senators, which means you have to
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  Speaker 3: go to places where Republicans won by double digits. That
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  Speaker 3: doesn't mean you win all of them, but you do
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  Speaker 3: have to fight across the board. The thing about this
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  Speaker 3: level of volcanic rage in a public that is so
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  Speaker 3: sick of the warrant I ran driving up gas prices,
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  Speaker 3: of the tariffs, of all these things Trump has done
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  Speaker 3: to make an unaffordable country even less affordable for people,
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  Speaker 3: is it means that there are folks both who are
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  Speaker 3: tuned into politics who are ready to vote for change
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  Speaker 3: and people who would like to never think about politics
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  Speaker 3: who are going to vote for change. And that means
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  Speaker 3: a bigger map. But the other side of the coin
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  Speaker 3: is once Democrats win, then they have to be ready
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  Speaker 3: to put term limits on the US Supreme Court, you know,
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  Speaker 3: abolish the filibuster, banned partisan jerrymandering nationwide. If you don't
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  Speaker 3: change the system itself, we're going to wind up right
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  Speaker 3: back where we are right now, in a state of emergency.
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  Speaker 4: And that's that's the longer term plan in the book.
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  Speaker 3: And that's why I think a bigger map is a
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  Speaker 3: critical part of the fight that we have ahead of us.
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  Speaker 1: So, speaking of Senate mats, NBC News reports you're considering
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  Speaker 1: a Senate run in twenty twenty eight.
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  Speaker 2: What's going to help you make that decision?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean Ron Johnson is a flaming total disaster
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  Speaker 3: train wreck for the country. His problem with the Medicaid
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  Speaker 3: cuts is that they weren't big enough. He wanted to
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  Speaker 3: cut even more than a trillion dollars from healthcare. For myself,
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  Speaker 3: I will decide what to do in the future in
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  Speaker 3: the future. My number one goal right now, and it's
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  Speaker 3: the thing I urge other folks to do the same
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  Speaker 3: thing in the book, is to make sure that this
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  Speaker 3: fall we win all of the offices that are critical
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  Speaker 3: to ensuring democracy survival. We have very few days left,
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  Speaker 3: We have a scant three months in change, and this
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  Speaker 3: I think really is an existential battle. It doesn't mean
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  Speaker 3: it means you should focus on the things that are
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  Speaker 3: on voters' minds in the biggest way, which especially as
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  Speaker 3: an affordability message at this moment. But the stakes in
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  Speaker 3: making sure that that lands and that we stayed laser
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  Speaker 3: focused on how to deliver for working families, across party,
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  Speaker 3: across ratingisticity and geography, that we deliver for them. The
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  Speaker 3: stakes in that fight will extend to whether my kids
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  Speaker 3: and your kids and future generations have a say and
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  Speaker 3: who runs their government. This is an existential moment for
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  Speaker 3: the country.
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  Speaker 1: It is in fact an existential moment for the country.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that I think is so interesting
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  Speaker 1: about your book is that we often ask act as
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  Speaker 1: though saving democracy is the only existential threat and if
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  Speaker 1: and when that is over, and then we can all
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  Speaker 1: move on and scurry off into the sunrise.
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  Speaker 2: You say, Actually, though, we're.
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  Speaker 1: Going to have to contend with the even bigger challenge
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  Speaker 1: of the fact that you now have a populace that
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  Speaker 1: does not believe the system is working for them, some
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  Speaker 1: multiple existential threats on the horizon. Ben Wickler, thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much for being with us.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks Leziah