Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Cori Bush Talks Running For Congress, AIPAC, St. Louis, Defeating The Machine + More

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INTERVIEW: Cori Bush Talks Running For Congress, AIPAC, St. Louis, Defeating The Machine + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day a week ago.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Click your ass up the Breakfast Club. You know I'm
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: finish for y'all.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Dune morning, everybody. It's dj NV just hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: We are the breakfast Club Law on the roses here
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: as well. We got a special guest in the building.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Indeed, he's back.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Commers from Missouri ladies and gentlemen, Corey with an eye welcome.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling this morning?
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm amazing.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: They feeling good.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: I'm feeling so good. I'm so glad to be here
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: today with you all again.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: What made you want to get back into to this fight? Corey?
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: So, first of all, I wasn't ready to leave, and
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: I should not have lost my seat. I should still
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: be there right now.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: They spent a lot of money to beat you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: They spent fifteen million dollars to beat me, and and
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: for context, it only costs about one million dollars. This
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: race costs anywhere from one to two million dollars to
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: win and run. I mean to run and win. So
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: for them to spend fifteen million to give me out
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: and only one and they only won by five points.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: They they couldn't even get me by double digits like
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: it took that much. And when I beat the person
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: that my predecessor, their family had been in that had
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: helped that seat for fifty two years, I beat them
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: with one million dollars. Wow, So that's just how hard
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: it was for them to get me out.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: When you say them he was a pack fund, he was.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: He was totally a pack funded. But big crypto and
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: big real estate they came in to help, but it
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: was it was mostly a.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: Pack whid Like why did they why did they need
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: to spend so much money to take you up?
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: So first of all, when the insurrection happened, it was
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: my third day in office. We didn't even have like
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: water in the office yet, Like we didn't I didn't
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: have a panic button, but barricaded in my office, and
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: I mean barricaded like and I said, you know, like
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: if these folks come down the hallway, if they come,
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: if they come for me, because my name is on
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: this door, if they come for me, like we bang
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: it to the end. Like I meant, I was going
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: to fight these people if they came, if they came
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: for me and my team. But I sat there so
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: pissed off that I introduced my first piece of legislation
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: to investigate and expel any member of IRESs participated in
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: the insurrection. So first of all, so that pissed off Trump. Yeah,
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: you know, pissed off the administration. It picks off pissed
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: off his administration. They were already upset with me before that,
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: because I'm the Ferguson protester, you know. So, But after that,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: I just kept doing things that was upset in the right.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: But it wasn't until I introduced the Ceasefire Now resolution
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: when there was about to be this ground and invasion
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: in Gaza. How can I, as a human being sit
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: back and just say How can I, as a human
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: being just sit back and say, like it's cool to
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: bomb people? You know, when I have a when I
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: have a decision to make. When if if it wasn't,
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: if I didn't have a decision to make us different.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: But I had a decision to make whether I would
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: vote to send money there, whether I would stay silent
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: or not, because if bombs was about to drop in
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: this country, you know, in my city, I would want
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: somebody else to speak up and say something. So so
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: APAC got mad. They decided we want somebody that's more
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: aligned with us, and we're gonna use somebody that looks
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: like you to help trick people, you know, And so
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: that's what they did. So they wanted me out. They
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: wanted me out so bad. And not only that, Big
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: real Estate wanted me out. So they worked together because
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: I'm the one that camped out on the steps of
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: the US Capitol back in twenty twenty one when the
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: eviction moratorium was about to expire, and I stayed out there.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Activist Corey was out there on the ground four nights
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: and five days. But we pushed the Biden administration, the
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: CDC and all of those folks to extend that moratorium.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: So people were just mad.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: You know, I was going to ask, so this time around,
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: you know, running, what are you doing differently knowing that, like,
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: you know, they don't want you there and they're going
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: to use everything they can.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You know, you're under attack.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. So first of all, they made
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: me stronger. So I'm a different person than I was then.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm better than I was then. So I
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: see things, I think I see things better. I'm doing
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: things faster. We have a team that is bigger right
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: now than we had when we ended the campaign last time,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: like we started off with the heavy team. We are
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: making sure that our message is getting out there. That's
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: really different too, is I had to be in DC
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: and trying to run a race and work in Congress
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: at the same time. Now I'm on the ground, I'm
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: with the people. I'm you know, I'm where people know,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: you know, Corey usually is I'm out in the street.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: So that changes a lot because people said, well, Corey,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: I really couldn't hear your message, like I didn't know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: like it didn't seem like you were fighting. And it's
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: because I had to be away. Now I'm not away
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: and I'm with the community. The community is saying we
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: so many people have come up to me and said, Corey,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: we made a mistake, like we were listening to those ads.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: We you know, we just didn't know what to think.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: And so and the tide has turned, and so now
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: people are like, oh, I understand why you were talking
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: so much about, you know, keeping our money here and
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: not in our money, not going to bond people in
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: another country. We just thought that you were saying you
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: cared more about another country. Now we understand you were
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: saying that you care that that money stays here in
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Saint Louis, So.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Besides the money, and what is the other reason, because
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you analyze it, why you feel that you lost?
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Was it the ads that they put out, because it
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: had to be just something besides the money. Were people
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: not coming out like what do you think the reason was?
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Because it wasn't by that much?
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so some people said that they thought I
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: had it in the bag because I had won my
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: other race, the race previously by forty points, you know,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: and so people were like you, like, there's no way
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: you can then turn around. So many people said that.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: And then the other part, which is something we're changing now,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: people said, Corey, we thought that you were running in November,
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: so we were waiting for the November election, and your
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: your election was really in August, and so we missed
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: a lot of people that way. So we've been hammering
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: it now.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: It was a special election, right, No, No, that's.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: That's the primary, the Democratic primary, and so for me,
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: we're in a Democratic district, so the general election is
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: a lot easier to win.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: How did you get that?
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: How did they get that mixed up?
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Though?
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: August from November?
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Because all of the talk about the presidential election of
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: presidential elections on people's focus was I just need to
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: show up in November.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Elections or November so people just automatic I could think of.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Did it hurt the loose?
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: It tore me up like it was really it was devastating,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: and not because I lost an election I had. I
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: had lost elections before, and it's it's tough either way.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Let me just say, but this one like broke me
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: down because I didn't lose because I wasn't doing my job.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: I didn't lose because I was a bad congresswoman or
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: a bad candidate. I lost because fifteen million dollars of
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: dark money, of corporate interest money made the decision of
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: who was going to represent Saint Louis and the person
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: ran on live. So fifteen million dollars worth of ads
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: saying Corey wants children to drink contaminated water from lead pipes.
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: You know, Corey hates Joe Biden. Those were most of
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: the ass None of the ads spoke about Israel, none
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: of the as spoke about Gaza or anything else. They
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: stay it was mostly about Joe Biden. And so my
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: thing is this, if you run in on truth, like
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: if you believe you better than me, and you're gonna
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: do more for the community. Say that, Say what you're
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: gonna do, Like, I respect that, but don't lie because
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: if you lie, then you're deceiving the very people that
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: you claim you want to represent. And it's about you,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: not the people.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Now, a gentleman you lost to is a brother. Do
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: you have any relationship with him at all? Do y'all
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: know each other at all coming up or anything like that?
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we you know, we were friends. We were friends,
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: and so much so to where my dad even went
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: to one of his events when he was because so
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: first he came out saying he was running against Josh Holly.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: We all know Josh Holly, Republican out of Missouri who
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: became you know, I think he he got some more
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: notoriety at the insurrection when he put up the fists
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: outside the capitol. So he said he was running against him.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: He called him the greatest threat to America and to democracy.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: He actually wasn't really running against him. He used that
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: to raise money, but to run against me. But so
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: my dad was so excited, like, Okay, somebody's gonna take
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: out Josh Holly, And my dad got all of his
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: friends to come to one of his fundraisers, and my
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: dad gave him a check. Two weeks later, he announced
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: he was running against.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Me, and you's money to run, you know, and.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: So I But but before that, we had worked together
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: on different issues, you know, we had been at events together.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: We were cool, like we would talk on the phone,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: you know, republic and well, you know, he played like
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: he wasn't a Republican, but he really, you know, I
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: think in his heart he really is. But yeah, we
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: were like, we weren't see this coming in all. No,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: like I wouldn't have never thought that. And so, but
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: what I did though, because people kept calling me saying Corey,
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: he's running against you, like it's a lie that he's
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: running against Josh Holly, and so I called him one day.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: I called him and I said, Hey, getting this, yeah,
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: you know, but I was like, okay, let me just
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: let me just tell you what people are saying. Because
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: the whole, a whole article came out in our in
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: our biggest newspaper in town saying that he was it
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: was really a lie. So I called him. I'm like, hey,
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: why am I hearing all of these things about you
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: running against me, and you said, you run against Josh Holly.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Oh sis, No, I'm not. I would never run against you.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't you won your race the way I did.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: I would never run against you. And so I so
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: I because he started doing and then I hit record
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: and I recorded it, and so so it turns out,
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: you know, he he was, he lied, and you know,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: so I lost all respect for dude. Because the thing is,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: if we're friends, you can run against. This is a democracy.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: You can run against somebody like that's not my issue,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: but at least like be upfront say that, hey, this
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: is what I want. But when Apac comes to you,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: he'll harper sack with you all. And what a year
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: or two years ago and talked about how Apac came
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: to him and asked him to run against to run
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I think against Rashida to lead for twenty million dollars
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: and he turned it down. Well, the guy that's in
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: the seat now in my community, he didn't turn the
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: money down.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Wow, and he's a Democrat. I just want to say,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I said Republican.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: Before he was the campaign manager to a Republican that
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: was trying to restrict abortion rights in Missouri.
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: So's yeah, I was gonna say, just listening to it
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: is it literally is like the shows that we watch
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: on TV, like What Goes Down by the Seas. And
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: I know that that because you guys's race was one
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: of the most expensive primaries in American history.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: Literally, yes, yes, just because they were trying to get
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: you about it. There only because they wanted me out,
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: you know, and they knew that I had already been
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: been like doing a lot to try to uncover what
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: was gonna happen with Project twenty twenty five had Trump
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: got in and people were like, oh no, it's not
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: real Trump, you know, Project twenty twenty five won't happen,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: And so they were just trying to stop that. So, yeah,
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: they spent all of that money, you know. And the
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: thing is this, why would they why would they spend
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Why would they need to spend all of that money
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: in a Democratic district one that's going to go to
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: a Democrat anyway, and APAK is primarily funded by Republicans.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: But why would they get involved in the race like that?
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: And you got two black folks running, why get involved?
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: Why did they get involved in my race and Jamal
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: Bowman's race and make us, the most expensive US house
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: races in history, primaries in his street, why are you
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: coming for two black people?
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: And they said they spent over eight point five million
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: dollars from APEX spent more than that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I know you said it.
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: I know you said it made you stronger, right, strong
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: enough to run this time? But did you ever feel
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: discouraged to the point where you're like, no, I'm not
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: doing this.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, up until I made the day, it took me months.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: You know, I was broken. So I lost the race
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: August I think it was August sixth of twenty twenty four,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: and I still had to be in Congress for another
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: several months until January. So I had to, you know,
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: move out of the office.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: They put you in.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: This little cubicle, like you you don't even have an
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: office anymore. They're trying to transition you out. And so
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: I had to still show up as a congress person,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: still do all of my work and know that I
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: was that I was leaving, and I was trying to
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: figure out, like what do I do with my life?
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Because I didn't like I had been working for this
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: for ten years, you know, so like what like what
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: am I going to do now? So that was just
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: really I just didn't know what to do. But it
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: was after I left my sister in service for Shida Tale.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: She came to me like that February and she said, Corey,
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: are you gonna run again? And I was like no,
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm talking to my husband. We're like, you know,
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: we're trying to get ourselves like grounded. And then the
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: people of Saint Louis were coming up to me on
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: the street, like everywhere. I would be walking down a
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: street and people would stop and jump out of cars.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: You gotta run again, like you know. And so that's
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: what helped to build me back up is seeing the
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: community like we messed up, we didn't do right by
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: you last time. We want to beat We are here
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: for you now, and so that really helped. But I
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: to climb out of that, you know it. You know,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: it's hard because my heart wasn't for My heart wasn't
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: for me. My heart was for the community. Everything I did,
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: I have been I have been shot at, beat up,
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: like so many things have happened to me and my family.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: To be able to do this work, we needed security
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: because we needed security, you know, like like I put
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: my life on the line for the people of my
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: community in this country, and then to get kicked in
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: the back like that, it was it was hard.
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: What did the pastor do you like? The pastor? You like,
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: you know the pastor in you? What did that kick in?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely no, that's what did it. I So first
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: I had to check with my family and my husband
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: more directly, because how things impacted us, you know, and
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: how like the DJ was being weaponized against us. You know,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: we want to make it seem like you're a criminal
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: and you did this and all of that kind of stuff.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: So I had to make sure that home was good first.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: But it was my faith that kept me from feeling
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: like I needed to go hide in a corner somewhere.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: It was like Corey, you know who you are and
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: who you are. You know you got God and you
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: know you have a purpose. The only reason I ran
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: for that seat in the first place was my mission.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: I knew that it was my mission. Even right now,
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: even right now, it's like, you know, like like you
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: asked Charlamagne, like you know, you put yourself out there
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: doing this again. Some people have asked me about Ayana
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Presley had asked me She's like, Corey, why would you
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: want to do this to yourself again? You know? And
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: for me? And what I said to her was because
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: it's not about me, It's about the mission. It is
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: what I know that the Lord is sending me to do,
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: you know. And so whether however it goes, I gotta
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: I gotta say yes, like I gotta say yes because
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: on the other side of this, yes, people are helped. Whatever.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: It looks like, I'm glad.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: You're saying this, and I'm glad you just asked those
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: questions because I've seen so many people just become bitter
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: and all they do now is complain on Instagram.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm like, yo, why don't you get back
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: into the fight?
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah? You know what I mean, Like, get back into
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: the fight. Okay, you lost a couple of races, Get
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: back into the fight.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: But they got to be depressed. It gotta be difficult,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: it gotta be heard, but stay. I gotta feel like
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: you would, you know, people switch sides on you. It
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: gotta hurt, you know, because especially when all you want
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: to do is do something positive for your community and
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: you see all these ads. You gotta get to a
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: point where you were like, f this, I rather my piece,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: but you know you you decided to say, na, I'm
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: gonna get back in there for But like.
• 15:00
  Speaker 7: You said, people was coming up to you on the
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: streets though, like the people. That's what the connection is, right, Yes,
• 15:05
  Speaker 7: these whether it's politics, pastoring, like, it's people, as long
• 15:10
  Speaker 7: as you connect to them.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's service. All of it is service. And
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: you know there are days when I'm like this, this
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: still hurts because when you know that you've helped people,
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: Like there are people in the community that I help,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: organizations that I helped financially, where I put my name
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: on the line, where I put I was a freshman
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: trying to help put I was pushing leadership, saying no,
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: my community needs this, no I need you know, even
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: President Biden would say, here, okay, Corey, here she comes,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: she's gonna talk about Saint Louis again. Like people knew,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: like I was putting my name on the line, making
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: sure that these folks that said we need X amount
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: of dollars that they were able to get those dollars.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: And to see them turn on me when this other
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: person decided to run against me, it was so easy,
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: Like they didn't even reach out to say, Sis, you know,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: we got to make a different decision this time because
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: of X. It was just like stab you in the back,
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: you know. So that's what it was. It was really
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: hard and even some days now and I've had to
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: get myself together to forgive, you know. I had to,
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: like I had to really sit with forgiveness and understand, like,
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: forgiveness is not for them. Forgiveness it's for me. Forgiveness
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: is so that I can go out and do the
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: work with the clean heart. Because the thing is this
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: the night that I won my election in twenty twenty,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: when I find when I won the last election that November,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: the general, I said, I don't in my speech, I
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: don't care if you voted for me. I don't care
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: if you like me. I don't care if you villainize
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: my name. My question for you is do you have food?
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: Did you eat? Do you have shelter? Do you have water?
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: Do you have so that and so today that is
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: still the same.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Were you ever considered a member of the squad?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Do you feel like they had your back after you
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: lost in four Oh?
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we've never stopped communicating. They are you know with me?
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: You know, as far as like we talk all the time. Yeah,
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: there's no distance between me and the Squad. And I
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: know some people have said you all having but some
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: people have said, oh, former Squad member Corey, but I'm
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: still squad.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Squad.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: Sure. The Squad started off in twenty eighteen with four
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: black and brown women who were able to win, and
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: some of them against incumbents, were able to come in
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: as full on progressives and win these seats in Congress
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: where people where they didn't come from money and wealth
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: and didn't have the quote unquote pedigree that you would
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: think would win these seats. But they came in and
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: they won, and they held you to their progressive values.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: And once they got in, the Trump administration came for them,
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: but they held strong, like they never let go of
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: their values, and they started to People called them the Squad,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: and I knew most of them already at that point,
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: and so but I lost. I ran to twenty eighteen too,
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: but I lost my race, and so in twenty twenty,
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty, Iran Jamal Bowman ran and we were
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: able to become part of the Squad. Jamal so far
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: has been the only the only guy in the squad.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: How do you.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Respond to critics who say, you know, voters already made
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: their choice in twenty twenty four, so why should they
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: change their mind.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Then, because you know, like Es said, voters are coming
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: up to me saying, we need you to be our
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: congress person. We messed up, we failed you, you know,
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: And this is actually what they're saying, and they say
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: it all the time. We're getting our lick back, that's
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: what they say. We're getting our lick back because this
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: was stolen. Had you lost this fair and square. We
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: understand that that elections get dirty and all of that,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: but fifteen million dollars being one of the most expensive
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: house races you know in US history, primaries in US history,
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: that was intentional, and that was that was designed to
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: hurt Saint Louis. So that's why that's why, like, you can't.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: And the thing is, I'm a fighter. I went in
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: as a fighter. You know, everybody's a fighter. Now, everybody's
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: a fighter. When I was, you know, coming into when
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: I was moving into politics, and I'm like, but I'm
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: the fighter, they was like, oh no, you gotta be
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: a statesman, o the quorum and be nice and you're
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: too aggressive. Not everybody, you know, everybody's a fighter. But
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: if I say I'm a fighter, if I say I
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: get knocked down and I get back up, if the bullets,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: if the tear gas, the noise munitions, if the dogs,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: if me getting getting assaulted by the police, if none
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: of that knocked me down, if me living in my car,
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: if me being left for dead by an abusive partner,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: if all of those things have happened to me in
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: my life and I didn't give up, then why would
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: I give up?
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: Now?
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: I'm going to ask you about messaging.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: But I mean, shoot, how are you going to defeat
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: the machine?
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Though? Yeah?
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Because I mean the machine is still here, you know
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: what I'm.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: Saying, Like, you're still still your stance has not changed, right,
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: So how are you going to defeat the machine?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Because they're back still they spending money now.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they're spending money. Yeah, what we're seeing right now,
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: they're spending like somewhere around two million dollars in a
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: lot of these races. But back in twenty twenty four,
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: people didn't really know like a on a mass level anyway,
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: on a mass scale, who apack was at the time,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: you know, and we weren't able to spend the money
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: to get to make the connection to just like message
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: that we had to talk about other things as well.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: Now the tide has turned and people know who a
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Pack is. People are pissed off now that they know
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: who a Pack is. There was a town hall in
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: my community that the current congressman held his town It
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: was in person, his town hall back in August. Most
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: of the questions were around a pac money and it
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: was around his support for a genocide. And when I say,
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: he was hammered over and over again at people asking
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: about that because they were like, we just didn't know
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: that this is this is who you would be. But
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: also at the end of that and I don't know
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: if you all saw it went viral, but at the
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: end of that time hall, some of his constituents were
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: brutalized by local his security and local law enforcement just
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: waiting to talk get a chance to talk to him,
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: to ask him more questions. And so the community is
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: already upset. Also, we had a devastating tornado that came
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: through the inner city in Saint Louis and devastated homes
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: and people. That was in May of last year. People
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: are still living in tents. People who are homeowners still
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: don't have a place to live right now, and the
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: community has been fighting for more dollars. He has not
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: shown up. He has not shown up, and so people.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: So that's what's different, you know, is that people are saying,
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: we know that we don't have the right person. So yeah,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: APAC can try to put all of this money into
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: our community. But the people are saying, we're watching now.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: We want to see if they're given, how much money
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: they're given, because we don't want our candidates to take
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: that money. So that's what's different, too, is and we're
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: seeing it all across the country. Different members of Congress
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: are saying, I'm not this time, I'm not going to
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: take the money because they're getting pressure from their communities.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: For people who are listening who don't know what APAC is, like,
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: explain to people, you know what a pack is, because
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: I'm hearing a lot of folks now say they're not
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: voting for any candidate.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah takes money from APAC.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah. A PAK is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: It is an organization, but are they also have affiliated
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: packs with political action committees where they can get funnel
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: money to candidates to run for office. But their whole mission,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: to paraphrase, is basically to make sure that there is
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: one hundred percent support for Israel and the agenda to
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: be this big ally to the United States, but basically
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: supporting Israel. So if you, you know, if you won't
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: vote exactly the way they want you to vote on
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: every single bill that prioritizes Israel, even if it deprioritizes
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: the United States, you're in trouble with them. And for me,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: when my community is you know, in need of health
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: people in my community don't have health care, when people
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: in my community are sleeping on the street, when people
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: in my community are still trying to figure out how
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: to end gun violence, and you know, and we have
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: all of these issues. You know, we don't have clean
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: water all the time. We have you know, we have
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: issues with water, We have issues, we have fringing. People
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: dying right now in our community from a radioactive waste
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: dumping our community from the federal government that's been happening
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: for decades. And people are literally dying. And you're telling
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: us to give money to to prioritize another country, you know,
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: And so that so people I need people to understand
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: that this is not something that is against a people.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: We're not against another country. What we're saying is the
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: United States deserve, we deserve to take care of our people,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: you know. But can we help Congo?
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: Can we help? You know, the Sudan Can we help Gods?
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Or can we help Syria? Can we help Yemen? Can
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: we help? Who? Can we help these other countries? Can
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: we help Hating? And can we help? We should be
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: helping who we can help. Can we help Honduras? We
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: should be helping who we can help. But we take
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: care of our people.
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: I mean, I mean that's why America first messaging works, right.
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: And you know I said all the time, nobody would
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: care where America sent money if people in.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: America were taken care of.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the people basically needs in America would care, and
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: they had money in their pocket, they could care less
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: where you send money.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Right, But they want to defund the social safety that
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: when you want to when this country says, you know what,
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: we're gonna knock people off a snap, snap is fool
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: Like it's you need food to live to survive. Nobody
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: is becoming a millionaire or getting rich off of snap.
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: You know, people just need to eat. So when you
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: say we would rather prioritize, you know, giving tax breaks
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: to the rich and the wealthy, and we're gonna we're
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: gonna help do that by defunding SNAP.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: When I saw Trump said the stated other day when
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: he was like bragging about cutting food stamps, like that's
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: a good thing, I'm like, oh, yeah, he has no idea,
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: who's who even basis?
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Because I was gonna.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Ask, you know, when you have you know, your district, right,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: what do you tell them because they have to be
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: discouraged from all the politics and even young leaders out
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: there that want to get into it. So what do
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: you tell those young leaders and people from your district
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: how to not get discouraged?
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Like what is your message to them?
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: So the thing is right now, and I know that
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: there has there had been a lot of discourse for
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: a while like we're going to sit this out, like,
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: you know, let somebody else do it. And I understand
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: that sentiment and people feeling really discouraged. But I look
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: at it like this, for all the things that we've
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: gone through over the last ten years, fifteen years, but
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: especially the last ten to me, it was in preparation
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: for this moment. It was us getting in place, It
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: was us learning so that we could be ready for
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: right now. Are we tired? Are we discouraged? Are we
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: tired of our politicians, you know, being hypocrites? Are we
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: tired of all of this?
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: We are. But then this is the moment that we
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: step up, because if we do not, what are we
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: leaving to our children and our children's children? What world
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: are we leaving to them? And so I understand feeling
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: discouraged and to our youth too. What I tell them is, look,
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: there are parts of Missouri where there are children. There
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: are students who go to school four days a week.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: There are students who go to school five days a week.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: I said, that was a decision that a person made.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: A person said this is what I want. They went
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: to talk to their friends and they made a law
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: and changed and changed how kids go to school in Missouri.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: I said, that is how these laws happens. It's somebody's idea.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: It didn't come from, you know, up in the sky.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: So somebody's going to get in the seat. Somebody is
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: going to be your your voice, somebody's going to be
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: the person to write these laws to legislate for you
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: to speak for you. Don't let them do it without you,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: you know, and don't and start showing up. So I
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: let them know, like get in on the ground floor,
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: because this is your world to create and it's right now.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: I want I want to ask you.
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: You know, I'm sure you saw the DNC autopsy that
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: said Kamala Harris's silence song the Gaza genocide cost her votes.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: That was the headline.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: What should the messaging be from Democrats in regards to
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Israel and Gaza moving forward? Because most of them that's
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: gonna run in twenty twenty eight, they're not gonna pivot
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: on they support for Israel.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I don't know about I think that there's
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: going to have to be a shift because so many
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: people are saying that they're paying attention to a PAK.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of talk that if the twenty twenty
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: eight candidates are taking money from APAK, that they're not going.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: To get the votes.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: So I think what they're going to have to do
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: is reckon with what they did wrong. Look at this autopsy,
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: be real with it, because not listening to the polling
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: that was telling them this and people like me saying, hey,
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: we're all over the country. This is what people are saying, like,
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: in order to win, we need you to start listening
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: and make some different decisions. You know. The fact that
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: they didn't listen then to me, if they continue the
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: way that they're doing, then they don't want to win.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Like you're not being serious about winning. You have to
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: make a change, You have to do something different. So
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: the message, the message has to be that you know
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: there is this is the United States. Can we support
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: people who need our help? Yes, we can. Do we
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: make anybody more? Does anybody get the priority over anyone else? No? No,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: you know, but will we support where we need to? Yes?
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: And we need to make sure that the aid is
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: getting in. We shouldn't be cutting programming. We shouldn't be
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: cutting money going to groups like unrun so many others
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: who are providing the support that's needed. People are still starving,
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: people are still cold, people are still living in tents.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: People are still being bombed, you know, so that has
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: to end. And the thing is this, when you want
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: to be the most when you want to be the
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: quote unquote most powerful person in the world, you are
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: saying I'm signing to do the hard work. I'm signing
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: up to make difficult decisions that other people probably wouldn't
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: want to make. So let's start with that. Yes, it's
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: a difficult decision to make. Yes, it's going to be hard.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: Yes you might get you know, you might get you know,
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: demonized and dragged for it. But do the right thing.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: So I think that hard, you know, like hard things
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: are hard.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: How are you doing anything of your campaign, Corey?
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: Look Coreybush dot org. It's co RI I b U
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: s H dot org. Yes. Please, you know, small dollar donations,
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: you know, we don't you know, if you got five dollars,
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: twenty dollars, whatever, you have, all the way up up
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: to thirty five hundred dollars, pheel, please reach out to us.
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: We can use volunteers. You know, you don't have to
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: be in Saint Louis a volunteer for us because you
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: can get on the phones. You know, there are so
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: many things that a campaign needs. We're a grass roots campaign.
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: We have never taken a dollar of corporate pack money.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: So we are totally one hundred percent people powered and
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: this is for the people. So if you if you
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: can donate, please please go to Coreybush dot org.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: That's right. Congresswoman Corey Bush, thank you for joining us
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you for having me and love you look. Thank you.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Hold every day I wake picks up the Breakfast Club.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: You don't finish for y'all done,