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Governor Wes Moore · The David Rubenstein Show

0:03
Speaker 1: I'm in the State House of Maryland, where I just
0:04
Speaker 1: had a conversation with Wesmore, the charismatic governor of Maryland.
0:09
Speaker 1: He said he was definitely going to run for reelection
0:11
Speaker 1: two years. He also said he hasn't decided whether he's
0:13
Speaker 1: going to run for president of the United States, but
0:15
Speaker 1: there are many people who think he'd be an excellent
0:17
Speaker 1: candidate in four years. My conversation with him was one
0:21
Speaker 1: of the most interesting ones I've had with any.
0:23
Speaker 2: Governor in recent years.
0:24
Speaker 1: You were asleep one night and somebody, I think woke
0:28
Speaker 1: you up and said that the key Bridge was collapsing.
0:31
Speaker 2: Who woke you up? And what did you say?
0:34
Speaker 3: It was our fantastic chief of Staff, Fagan Harris, at
0:38
Speaker 3: two o two in the morning called and he said,
0:42
Speaker 3: the key Bridge is gone. And that key Bridge is
0:47
Speaker 3: you know, it's over two miles long. It is literally
0:50
Speaker 3: it's in the skyline of every picture of Baltimore and
0:53
Speaker 3: it's been there since I've been born. And when I
0:56
Speaker 3: said to him, I said, what do you mean gone?
0:58
Speaker 3: And he said it collapsed. And immediately we began mobilizing.
1:04
Speaker 3: We were on the phone with the FBI trying to
1:06
Speaker 3: figure out was their terrorism involved. You know what exactly happened,
1:09
Speaker 3: how many cars were on the bridge, how many people
1:12
Speaker 3: are unaccounted for. I'll never forget that morning because immediately
1:17
Speaker 3: you just saw how we had to put the state
1:20
Speaker 3: on a state of emergency. We had to be and
1:22
Speaker 3: begin coordinating efforts. But I'll never forget that morning.
1:25
Speaker 1: So, as it turned out, a number of people were
1:27
Speaker 1: working in the middle of the night on the bridge,
1:29
Speaker 1: and I guess most of them, if not all of them,
1:30
Speaker 1: lost their lives. And now the bridge is now going
1:35
Speaker 1: to be repaired. Somehow you managed to get the federal
1:38
Speaker 1: government to pay.
1:39
Speaker 3: For all of it by partisan support.
1:41
Speaker 2: So when will the bridge reopen?
1:43
Speaker 3: It will reopen in twenty twenty eight. We will have
1:46
Speaker 3: that bridge done.
1:47
Speaker 1: And why is it important to Maryland and Baltimore to
1:50
Speaker 1: have the Key bridge anyway?
1:52
Speaker 3: Well, you know the Port of Baltimore. It really is
1:55
Speaker 3: America's gateway. It's one of the most important, not just
1:58
Speaker 3: maritime facilities, but just port entries that we have in
2:01
Speaker 3: the country. Two thirds of the country get its goods
2:04
Speaker 3: from the Port of Baltimore as its main entry point.
2:08
Speaker 3: But there's only really three main arteries to the Port
2:11
Speaker 3: of Baltimore. You have the Harbor Tunnel, you have you
2:16
Speaker 3: have the Baltimore Tunnel, and then you have the Key Bridge.
2:21
Speaker 3: The problem is that all has matt materials, oil, oil,
2:26
Speaker 3: or your refinaries, et cetera. They cannot take tunnels legally,
2:29
Speaker 3: they can only take the bridge. And so this is
2:32
Speaker 3: having a distinct impact not just on transit and transportation,
2:36
Speaker 3: but it is having a distinct impact on goods and
2:40
Speaker 3: commerce being able to move.
2:41
Speaker 1: So right now as we talk, there have been fires
2:44
Speaker 1: in California. Do you have any advice for your fellow
2:48
Speaker 1: Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom about how to handle crises like these?
2:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's heartbreaking what's going on in southern California.
2:55
Speaker 3: And I know, you know, I reached out to Gavin
2:58
Speaker 3: as soon as I heard about happened and offered our
3:01
Speaker 3: support and offered our resources as well, because I was
3:03
Speaker 3: really humbled how many governors reached out to me right
3:06
Speaker 3: after the Key Bridge and did the same. And so
3:09
Speaker 3: that bond does matter. I think when I think about
3:11
Speaker 3: the Key Bridge, the most important thing that we were
3:14
Speaker 3: able to do was have unified command, was be able
3:18
Speaker 3: to bring everybody on board that we were all singing
3:20
Speaker 3: from the same sheet of music that we all had
3:22
Speaker 3: unified goals.
3:23
Speaker 1: What caused the ship to collapse or crash into the bridge?
3:27
Speaker 2: What was the cause?
3:28
Speaker 3: Well, they're still going through that now. In fact, there's
3:31
Speaker 3: litigation that our Attorney General has filed, and so we're
3:34
Speaker 3: going through the process of identification. The thing that we
3:37
Speaker 3: know is that bridges don't just collapse. There's negligence that
3:41
Speaker 3: caused that bridge to collapse on March twenty six.
3:43
Speaker 1: Maryland has had a reputation in this metropolitan area of
3:47
Speaker 1: being a higher tax state than Virginia. Recently, you have
3:51
Speaker 1: announced a three billion dollar budget gap that you're trying
3:54
Speaker 1: to deal with, and part of it is you're increasing
3:57
Speaker 1: taxes on wealthier people.
3:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, but what we're doing is this, no one agrees
4:03
Speaker 3: that the tax code makes sense in the state of Maryland,
4:06
Speaker 3: and so I said, we've got to be able to
4:08
Speaker 3: reform the tax code to make us more competitive and
4:10
Speaker 3: to make taxes simpler, fare and pro growth. And so
4:14
Speaker 3: I just announced a budget plan. And it is kind
4:17
Speaker 3: of intuitive, but I explain to people to deal with
4:19
Speaker 3: the budget deficit, the structural deficit that we inherited, we're
4:23
Speaker 3: actually going to give two thursd of Marylanders a tax cut.
4:26
Speaker 3: We're going to take eighty two percent of Marylanders and
4:28
Speaker 3: say we're actually going to make sure that you pay
4:31
Speaker 3: pay either less in taxes or there's no change. We
4:34
Speaker 3: did not raise the sales tax, we did not raise
4:37
Speaker 3: the income tax. We've cut the corporate tax rate in
4:40
Speaker 3: the State of Maryland, and we've eliminated the inheritance tax.
4:43
Speaker 3: And for a lot of people it did seem a
4:45
Speaker 3: little bit odd because they're like, well, why don't you
4:47
Speaker 3: just raise sales taxes or raise property taxes? And my
4:50
Speaker 3: answer is this a I would have found that to
4:53
Speaker 3: be just a lazy way of thinking because it's not reform.
4:57
Speaker 3: We've got to reform the tax code. And the second
4:59
Speaker 3: piece is it's not pro growth. I actually want to
5:02
Speaker 3: attract businesses to come to the State of Maryland. And
5:05
Speaker 3: that's why in our budget we have some historic adjustments
5:08
Speaker 3: to doing regulatory reform, permitting reform, procurement reform. Actually, we've
5:14
Speaker 3: announced an executive order focusing on government modernization, where it's
5:17
Speaker 3: all about getting rid of the government waste, getting rid
5:20
Speaker 3: of the unnecessary spending, doing consolidation, doing flee consolidation. It consolidation,
5:27
Speaker 3: focusing on real estate, I mean, all things that we
5:29
Speaker 3: can make get our economy going. And so that has
5:32
Speaker 3: been the focus, is that we've got to get out
5:34
Speaker 3: of this crisis by focusing on growth.
5:37
Speaker 1: So, as we talk, Donald Trump is about to be
5:40
Speaker 1: inaugurated again as President of the United States. So, as
5:44
Speaker 1: a democratic leader and a democratic governor of Maryland, a
5:47
Speaker 1: very democratic state, do you feel like you're a leader
5:51
Speaker 1: of the opposition or do you feel like your job
5:53
Speaker 1: is to cooperate with him? Or how do you view
5:55
Speaker 1: Donald Trump as somebody that you work with or oppose.
5:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm not the leader of the resistance.
6:01
Speaker 3: I'm the governor of Maryland. I've got six and a
6:03
Speaker 3: half million people who I answer to, and some of
6:07
Speaker 3: whom voted for Donald Trump, some of whom did not
6:09
Speaker 3: vote for Donald Trump. But the thing that I know
6:11
Speaker 3: is that the thing they all have in common is
6:13
Speaker 3: they're Marylanders. And so the way I'm going to approach
6:17
Speaker 3: this working with the new administration is the way that
6:20
Speaker 3: I will approach working with any administration. Where I understand
6:23
Speaker 3: how tethered Maryland is to Washington and to the federal government.
6:27
Speaker 3: We have over one hundred and sixty thousand federal employees.
6:31
Speaker 3: We are the home of some of the largest federal
6:32
Speaker 3: installations in the country here in the state of Maryland.
6:36
Speaker 3: That a lot of our infrastructure projects are being underwritten
6:39
Speaker 3: by the federal government, to include the Key Bridge. So
6:42
Speaker 3: I understand how important that relationship is, and I am
6:46
Speaker 3: I am very clear that I will work with this
6:49
Speaker 3: administration and find ways of finding common sense solutions that
6:53
Speaker 3: are going to uplift Maryland, invest in Maryland, support Maryland.
6:57
Speaker 3: I'll push back on things that I think are either
7:00
Speaker 3: don't make sense or or unconstitutional or challenge our values.
7:04
Speaker 3: But I am approaching this truly with a sense, with
7:08
Speaker 3: a sense of partnership.
7:09
Speaker 1: Why do you think Maryland has now become such a
7:11
Speaker 1: liberal state, such a democratic state?
7:13
Speaker 3: We tell people that we are. This is the northernmost
7:16
Speaker 3: southern state. I'm one of the only democratic southern governors
7:20
Speaker 3: inside of the country. That the bloodiest battles of the
7:23
Speaker 3: Civil War took place in the state of Maryland. I'm
7:26
Speaker 3: the first black governor in the history of the state
7:29
Speaker 3: of Maryland. That literally down the street is the docks
7:33
Speaker 3: of the Annapolis Docks, which was one of the country's
7:37
Speaker 3: first and largest slave ports. That the building we're in
7:40
Speaker 3: right now, the state capital, was built by the hands
7:42
Speaker 3: of enslaved people. So the dichotomy and the complexity of
7:46
Speaker 3: this state is very real, but it's one of the
7:49
Speaker 3: things that I take a real sense of pride in.
7:51
Speaker 1: Now, you ran for governor initially in twenty twenty two,
7:55
Speaker 1: and we're elected overwhelmingly. You're up for reelection in twenty
7:59
Speaker 1: two twenty six. Yes, you haven't announced yet. I don't
8:02
Speaker 1: think that you're running.
8:04
Speaker 3: I can announce now I'm running for re elections.
8:06
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're running for reelection as governor. I think
8:10
Speaker 1: you're likely to win based on everything I known about
8:12
Speaker 1: Maryland politics. But the question you'll be asked is are
8:16
Speaker 1: you thinking of running as well for President of the
8:19
Speaker 1: United States?
8:20
Speaker 2: And the answer to that question is no.
8:23
Speaker 3: I've got the best job around and I love the
8:26
Speaker 3: momentum we're actually seeing in the state of Maryland. You know,
8:28
Speaker 3: I think about when I was first elected, Maryland was
8:32
Speaker 3: ranked forty third in the country in unemployment. Now Maryland's
8:35
Speaker 3: going on fifteen straight months of amongst the lowest unemployment
8:39
Speaker 3: rates in the entire country. When I was elected governor,
8:42
Speaker 3: Maryland was in the middle of a scourge of violent crime.
8:45
Speaker 3: Over an eight year period, Maryland saw our homicide rate
8:48
Speaker 3: nearly doubled. Baltimore City had eight straight years of three
8:51
Speaker 3: hundred plus homicides. Now Maryland has amongst the most precipitous
8:56
Speaker 3: drops in violent crime of anywhere in the country right now.
8:59
Speaker 3: And so I love the momentum that we're seeing here
9:02
Speaker 3: and I want this to be Maryland's decade and I
9:04
Speaker 3: want to lead that charge.
9:06
Speaker 1: Suppose people come to you and say, you did a
9:08
Speaker 1: great job as Maryland governor. You just talked about some
9:10
Speaker 1: of the things you've done. You've been reelected overwhelmingly. The
9:14
Speaker 1: party really needs a charismatic figure to be the leader
9:18
Speaker 1: in the post Donald Trump era.
9:21
Speaker 3: You would say, I would say people should pay attention
9:25
Speaker 3: to what we're doing here in Maryland, Okay, because I
9:28
Speaker 3: think the momentum we're seeing here in Maryland, and I know,
9:31
Speaker 3: you know, Maryland are seemed very happy. Our numbers are
9:33
Speaker 3: very strong here. But people seem to people understand that
9:37
Speaker 3: the momentum we're we're having here is really big and important.
9:40
Speaker 2: To me.
9:40
Speaker 1: The biggest city in the state is Baltimore. Why is
9:42
Speaker 1: Baltimore so important to you.
9:44
Speaker 3: It's our state's largest city, and if your state's largest
9:47
Speaker 3: city is not thriving, your state can't thrive. And that
9:50
Speaker 3: is just a mathematical equation because the only way this
9:54
Speaker 3: is going to be Maryland's decade is if it's Baltimore's time.
9:57
Speaker 3: And so that's why we did focus on things like
9:59
Speaker 3: being able to extend the Oriole's lease and make sure
10:02
Speaker 3: the Oreos could be it for thirty years. It's the
10:04
Speaker 3: reason we focus on things like the Preakness and keeping
10:06
Speaker 3: the Preakness in Maryland for generations to come. While we've
10:09
Speaker 3: invested in the Convention Center, the reason we focused on
10:12
Speaker 3: housing and getting rid of the vacant housing, the reason
10:15
Speaker 3: we focus on violent crime, and now Baltimore is having
10:18
Speaker 3: among the most precipitous drop of anywhere in the country
10:21
Speaker 3: when it comes to homicides and non fatal shootings and
10:24
Speaker 3: carjackings and auto thefts. So if you can have Baltimore thriving,
10:29
Speaker 3: your state is going to thrive.
10:31
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about your background, which is quite unusual.
10:36
Speaker 2: Where were you born.
10:37
Speaker 3: I was born in Maryland in Tacoma Park, Maryland.
10:39
Speaker 2: Okay, And your parents did what.
10:42
Speaker 3: My father was a radio journalist and my mother actually
10:47
Speaker 3: was his assistant.
10:48
Speaker 2: So your father died when you were only three years old.
10:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, he died from something called acute epicatitis, which is basically,
10:55
Speaker 3: you know the epiglottis that all of us have. It's
10:57
Speaker 3: a flat that sits over your wind pipe and every
10:59
Speaker 3: time you breathe and talk, and his became so swollen
11:02
Speaker 3: that it just sat on top of his windpipe. So basically,
11:05
Speaker 3: his body suffocated itself and he actually died in front
11:09
Speaker 3: of me.
11:10
Speaker 1: And did you realize what was happening when it was
11:12
Speaker 1: going on you're only three years old.
11:14
Speaker 3: I did, And in fact, my mother tells a story
11:18
Speaker 3: about how at his funeral, my uncle Vin took me
11:21
Speaker 3: up to go see his body for the final time
11:24
Speaker 3: in the casket, and I actually touched him and I
11:27
Speaker 3: asked him if he was going to come with us.
11:29
Speaker 3: So even at that time, I still had no idea
11:31
Speaker 3: what had fully happened, and didn't really process until I
11:34
Speaker 3: got older.
11:35
Speaker 2: So you have siblings, I do.
11:37
Speaker 3: I have an older sister and a younger sister, and
11:39
Speaker 3: my mother had a really tough time with the transition,
11:41
Speaker 3: and she didn't feel safe in the neighborhood she didn't
11:44
Speaker 3: feel safe in the house, and so she called up
11:46
Speaker 3: her parents, my grandparents.
11:47
Speaker 1: And then you grew up there and were you a
11:49
Speaker 1: great student? Were you're a great athlete?
11:51
Speaker 3: I was not a great student. But what was really
11:54
Speaker 3: interesting was that the work actually came easy to me.
11:59
Speaker 3: The attention into detail and the interest in doing it
12:03
Speaker 3: did not. And so by the time I was eleven
12:05
Speaker 3: years old, I had handcuffoer risks. By the time I
12:09
Speaker 3: was thirteen, I was kicked out of my school and
12:13
Speaker 3: I was sent to a military school in Pennsylvania. So
12:17
Speaker 3: I had a really difficult time transitioning when I was younger.
12:20
Speaker 1: So you went to the military school and it was
12:22
Speaker 1: sort of a college and a high school combined.
12:25
Speaker 3: It was it was it was a junior college, so
12:27
Speaker 3: it was a two year college and also a middle
12:30
Speaker 3: school in a high school. That's the thing that changed
12:33
Speaker 3: everything for me at the military school was they put
12:36
Speaker 3: me in charge of something and I was actually accountable
12:39
Speaker 3: to other people from my actions. And that's why I
12:43
Speaker 3: just believed deeply in accountability because I think that's actually
12:46
Speaker 3: it's one of the things I helped to save my life.
12:47
Speaker 1: So you went into the military, the Army, and you
12:50
Speaker 1: were there for a year or so before you went
12:52
Speaker 1: to Hopkins.
12:53
Speaker 3: So I went to I was there for two I
12:55
Speaker 3: was in two years, so I finished up. I got
12:58
Speaker 3: my associates degree. So in fact, I want the only
13:00
Speaker 3: governors in the country actually with a two year college degree.
13:03
Speaker 3: That's actually this ring right here. And then I transferred
13:06
Speaker 3: after finishing my associate's degree, and then I went to
13:09
Speaker 3: Johns Hopkins to finish my mindorgrad.
13:10
Speaker 1: So who told you you should apply for a Rhodes scholarship.
13:14
Speaker 3: It was actually actually a mutual friend of ours, Kirchmoke.
13:18
Speaker 3: I interned with Kirchmok who at that time was the
13:21
Speaker 3: mayor of Baltimore. And in fact, I have a picture
13:24
Speaker 3: in my office of him pointing to a picture in
13:28
Speaker 3: his office back when I was a young intern and
13:30
Speaker 3: i'd hair and he was a young mayor he had hair,
13:34
Speaker 3: and the picture he's pointing to is actually his Rhodes
13:36
Speaker 3: Scholarship class. And it was in that moment that he
13:41
Speaker 3: was telling me, I want you to apply for the
13:43
Speaker 3: Rhodes Scholarship.
13:43
Speaker 1: So you got a Rhodes scholarship, which is only thirty
13:46
Speaker 1: two Americans every year get them you went to Oxford.
13:50
Speaker 1: When you got there, did you study anything?
13:52
Speaker 3: I actually studied. I got my amlet or master's in
13:55
Speaker 3: international relations, and I actually started the DFIL. So right
13:58
Speaker 3: now I'm all by dissertation for my doctorate in international relations.
14:02
Speaker 2: Okay.
14:02
Speaker 1: So, usually when people finish their Rhodes scholarships and they
14:05
Speaker 1: get degrees, or they don't get degrees, they come back
14:08
Speaker 1: and they run for office, They go to a private
14:10
Speaker 1: equity firm, they go to an investment banking firm, they
14:13
Speaker 1: teach at someplace. You did something different. What did you
14:16
Speaker 1: do after your Rhodes scholarship?
14:18
Speaker 3: So what was interesting? Initially? I actually went into the
14:20
Speaker 3: world of finance. And I remember getting a phone call
14:25
Speaker 3: from a friend of mine who was at that time
14:26
Speaker 3: a major, and he called me, and a major in
14:30
Speaker 3: the army, he just finished twenty Rock. He was getting
14:33
Speaker 3: ready to deployed to Afghanistan. And he called me and
14:36
Speaker 3: he said, when are you going to get in the fight?
14:39
Speaker 3: And that was such an indicting question because he was
14:42
Speaker 3: right that I had trained with all these people. I'd
14:45
Speaker 3: done my airborne training, I became a paratrooper, and these
14:50
Speaker 3: many of these people were now on their second and
14:51
Speaker 3: third deployments and I hadn't done a single one yet,
14:56
Speaker 3: and so I made the decision and I left. I
15:00
Speaker 3: left banking, and I linked up with the eighty second
15:03
Speaker 3: Airborne Division and we deployed to Afghanistan.
15:06
Speaker 2: How many years were you in Afghanistan?
15:08
Speaker 3: I was there for almost a full year. I was
15:10
Speaker 3: thankful for the people I was serving with. The eighty
15:13
Speaker 3: second is some of the best, some of the best
15:15
Speaker 3: and most hard charging soldiers that the Army's ever created.
15:18
Speaker 3: And there were really hard days.
15:20
Speaker 2: So you came back and then what did you do
15:22
Speaker 2: when you came back?
15:23
Speaker 3: I actually did a White House Fellowship and part of
15:27
Speaker 3: it was was my deputy brigade commander was also a
15:30
Speaker 3: former White House Fellow.
15:32
Speaker 1: After you finished your White House Fellowship, then what did
15:34
Speaker 1: you do?
15:35
Speaker 3: Went to City City Bank at that point, and so
15:38
Speaker 3: then I spent about I spent closet to five years
15:40
Speaker 3: working for City doing investment banking, doing M and A,
15:45
Speaker 3: and also doing technology.
15:47
Speaker 1: Okay, she did that for a number of years and
15:48
Speaker 1: then an organization came along called robin Hood and they
15:52
Speaker 1: said we want you to head it up. What is
15:55
Speaker 1: Robinhood and why did you take that job?
15:56
Speaker 3: It's one of the nation's largest poverty fighting organizations. It
16:00
Speaker 3: started really over thirty years ago, and it started with
16:06
Speaker 3: an initial idea of saying, what if you could take
16:08
Speaker 3: analytics and data the same way we take analytics and
16:11
Speaker 3: data when we're making trading decisions when we're buying companies,
16:15
Speaker 3: and put that towards the poverty fight.
16:17
Speaker 1: So, after four years at Robinhood, you decide to run
16:22
Speaker 1: for governor of Maryland, never having run for anything else before,
16:25
Speaker 1: Never did you think you had a chance.
16:28
Speaker 3: The data didn't seem to show I had a chance.
16:31
Speaker 3: I mean I was pulling at one percent in our
16:33
Speaker 3: first poll. I mean, I say it is true, literally,
16:36
Speaker 3: I'm not voting, was polling higher than Wesmore. And so
16:40
Speaker 3: the data showed I was running against statewide elected officials.
16:44
Speaker 3: I was running against the former head of the DNC.
16:47
Speaker 3: I was running against two cabinet secretaries. One of the
16:50
Speaker 3: people I was running against was actually on my board
16:53
Speaker 3: at Robinhood, which made board meetings very awkward. So I'm like,
16:56
Speaker 3: I had people who were just like who were seasoned
16:59
Speaker 3: at this. But I think I think the thing that
17:00
Speaker 3: actually really resonated with people is that I don't come
17:03
Speaker 3: from a political background. I don't come from a political family.
17:07
Speaker 3: I don't do the politician thing. I don't do the
17:10
Speaker 3: partisan thing. I just really focus on results and actually
17:14
Speaker 3: meeting people where they are. And I think that actually
17:15
Speaker 3: resonated with folks.
17:16
Speaker 1: So when you get elected governor, do you actually say,
17:20
Speaker 1: I'm really happy now I'm governor.
17:22
Speaker 2: You took the job.
17:23
Speaker 1: In the first day you're sworn in, did you realize
17:26
Speaker 1: that the responsibilities are much greater than you thought or
17:28
Speaker 1: you actually thought. Wasn't that difficult a job?
17:30
Speaker 3: No? I mean it's a hard job because also I
17:32
Speaker 3: think there were things that we inherited that we did
17:34
Speaker 3: not that we didn't anticipate. You I remember coming in
17:39
Speaker 3: and being able to re reports that you realize after
17:42
Speaker 3: you came on board about the fiscal crisis that we
17:45
Speaker 3: are getting ready to inherit that you know, we're currently
17:48
Speaker 3: navigating the worst fiscal crisis that Maryland has seen in
17:51
Speaker 3: twenty years. And it's something that has been predicted since
17:54
Speaker 3: twenty and seventeen. But the problem was it wasn't dealt
17:57
Speaker 3: with because there was COVID money, and COVID money kept
18:01
Speaker 3: on masking the obstacles and masking the fact that our
18:05
Speaker 3: business model in the state of Maryland was broken, and
18:07
Speaker 3: that our economy wasn't moving. We were just so deeply
18:10
Speaker 3: underperforming when it came to growth, whether it be the
18:13
Speaker 3: way that Medicaid was being completely out of whack and
18:16
Speaker 3: had a billion dollar expenditure that was not anticipated and
18:20
Speaker 3: we need to see coming. There was a brokenness of
18:22
Speaker 3: state government that I don't think we fully understood, and
18:26
Speaker 3: so that's why our first priority had to be fixed
18:29
Speaker 3: state government.
18:30
Speaker 1: So what is your typical day as a governor? You
18:33
Speaker 1: do some interviews, maybe on an interview like this, but
18:36
Speaker 1: you are, let's say, at the beginning, every morning, is
18:38
Speaker 1: I understand it, you go over to the Naval Academy
18:41
Speaker 1: and you work out with the Navy midshipment, and I
18:44
Speaker 1: mean you're a little bit older than them.
18:46
Speaker 2: Is that a little day wouldn't know it?
18:49
Speaker 3: I do, And honestly I love the fact that the
18:51
Speaker 3: Naval Academy is down the street from here. And as
18:54
Speaker 3: an army guy, I always say, I just need to
18:55
Speaker 3: figure out who to talk to. They have that beat
18:58
Speaker 3: army stuff all over the place.
18:59
Speaker 2: So you can keep up with them.
19:00
Speaker 3: Oh yes, oh, there is no way as an army
19:03
Speaker 3: guy there's no way I'm letting maybe smoke me.
19:05
Speaker 2: No way.
19:05
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to get you to say you're
19:07
Speaker 1: going to run for president.
19:08
Speaker 2: I can know that.
19:09
Speaker 1: But you are going to play a role I assume
19:11
Speaker 1: in the Democratic Party over the next couple of years
19:14
Speaker 1: beyond just Maryland.
19:15
Speaker 3: I assume right, absolutely absolutely.
19:17
Speaker 1: And do you think people who are governors are more
19:20
Speaker 1: qualified to be presidents than people who are senators?
19:23
Speaker 3: I think. I think if people want to find inspiration,
19:27
Speaker 3: look at the states, because we just get stuff done.
19:31
Speaker 3: You know, we don't. We don't we don't play the
19:32
Speaker 3: partisan game. I don't do the you know I think
19:35
Speaker 3: about I've introduced twenty six pieces of legislation since I've
19:38
Speaker 3: been the governor. Not only have we gone twenty six
19:40
Speaker 3: for twenty six, We've gone twenty six for twenty six
19:42
Speaker 3: by partisan, with both Democrat and Republican support on every
19:46
Speaker 3: single bill that I've introduced. And so I would say,
19:49
Speaker 3: if you really want to see what it means to
19:52
Speaker 3: focus on results, because that's what I focus on. I mean,
19:55
Speaker 3: I don't do the partisan party stuff. Results show me results.
20:00
Speaker 3: And I think if you look at what's happening in
20:02
Speaker 3: Maryland and if you look what's happening in the states.
20:04
Speaker 3: I think you're going to start seeing what results look like.
20:06
Speaker 1: So if somebody is watching this and they're not from Maryland,
20:09
Speaker 1: but they want to know a little bit about Maryland,
20:12
Speaker 1: what would you encapsulate in a paragraph or two about
20:14
Speaker 1: what people should know about the state of Maryland.
20:16
Speaker 3: I would say Maryland really is American miniature. You tell
20:19
Speaker 3: me what you want to do, and no matter where
20:22
Speaker 3: you're standing in the state of Maryland, I can tell
20:24
Speaker 3: you where to have a world class experience within two hours.
20:27
Speaker 3: If you want to go to the beaches, if you
20:29
Speaker 3: want to go skiing, if you want to visit Farmland,
20:33
Speaker 3: if you want to go see r O's win, tell
20:36
Speaker 3: me what you want to do, and I can tell
20:38
Speaker 3: you how to get there within two hours. And I
20:41
Speaker 3: think about you know we are. We're the home of innovation.
20:44
Speaker 3: We're the home of Johns. Hope's University, the home of
20:47
Speaker 3: the NSSA, the home of NIST, the home of the
20:51
Speaker 3: Applyed Physics Slab, the home of Fort Meade and the
20:54
Speaker 3: Naval Academy, the home of four historically black colleges and universities.
20:58
Speaker 3: We have so much to offer in the state of Maryland,
21:01
Speaker 3: and I think it's one of the reasons that people
21:02
Speaker 3: are so excited about the growth ejectory we're on.
21:05
Speaker 1: So final question, how can you bottle the happiness you have?
21:08
Speaker 1: How do you get to be so happy all the
21:10
Speaker 1: time and smiling all the time?
21:11
Speaker 2: Is that?
21:12
Speaker 1: Does anybody ever can make you feel bad about something?
21:15
Speaker 3: You know? One of the things I lean on a
21:17
Speaker 3: lot is history, And even in really dark times or
21:22
Speaker 3: really challenging moments, I'm a history buff and I think
21:26
Speaker 3: about having a chance to read about one of our
21:30
Speaker 3: most famous Marylanders, Harriet Tubman, And on my toughest days,
21:35
Speaker 3: I will go back to my office in my house
21:39
Speaker 3: and I'll read on Harriet Tubman, and then I think
21:43
Speaker 3: to myself, what am I complaining about? Like, no matter
21:46
Speaker 3: what kind of day I'm having, imagine having a theoretical
21:51
Speaker 3: conversation with Harriet Tubman explaining to her how tough my
21:55
Speaker 3: day was, when I know how tough all her days were.
21:59
Speaker 3: And I think that it's important that we live life
22:02
Speaker 3: with a sense of context, that even when times are tough,
22:06
Speaker 3: and even when times are challenging, remember where we've come from,
22:13
Speaker 3: Remember what is a country we've seen? Remember as a state,
22:18
Speaker 3: what we've endured and we're still here, and that's I
22:23
Speaker 3: think what continues to give me a sense of hope
22:26
Speaker 3: and optimism because I know that, no matter what kind
22:28
Speaker 3: of days we are having, we are our ancestors' wildest dreams.
22:32
Speaker 3: And there's a sense of pride that I do have
22:34
Speaker 3: in that.
22:35
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You
22:38
Speaker 1: can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or
22:42
Speaker 1: wherever you listen.