Latest / Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar / 7/8/26: Arizona Candidate Says Israel Buying Elections, Ryan's DSA Friend Runs For Mayor

Transcript

7/8/26: Arizona Candidate Says Israel Buying Elections, Ryan's DSA Friend Runs For Mayor · Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey guys, Saga and Crystal here.
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0:33
Speaker 3: So Brad par Scale is a former top Trump campaign
0:37
Speaker 3: official and is now a registered foreign agent for the
0:40
Speaker 3: State of Israel and appears to be linked to this
0:43
Speaker 3: project now. Interestingly, I've even I was with a friend
0:47
Speaker 3: recently and they got a text metch that was very
0:49
Speaker 3: similar to these. They come in asking you about Israel,
0:52
Speaker 3: and as you respond, they you know it, then goes
0:56
Speaker 3: back and forth about your positions on Israeloing us now
1:01
Speaker 3: is Kai new Kirk, candidate for the fourth Congressional District.
1:04
Speaker 4: Kai, thanks so much for joining us here. Great to
1:07
Speaker 4: be with you. Good morning, Yeah, good morning.
1:09
Speaker 3: So this is this is quite an extraordinary kind of
1:12
Speaker 3: turn of events in American politics. We're very used to
1:16
Speaker 3: of course a PAC or a Democratic Majority for Israel,
1:20
Speaker 3: or any number of other packs that are headquartered here
1:23
Speaker 3: in the United States and are funded by American citizens
1:27
Speaker 3: who are supportive of our relationship with the State of Israel. Now,
1:32
Speaker 3: APAK often often takes direction, and it is publicly known
1:36
Speaker 3: that the Israeli government speaks directly with APEC routinely, which
1:41
Speaker 3: a lot of people argue say means they ought to
1:44
Speaker 3: be registering under FARA.
1:46
Speaker 4: They do not have to.
1:46
Speaker 3: They're they're an American funded organization. This, though, is something different.
1:53
Speaker 3: So what what is going on in Arizona? What do
1:55
Speaker 3: is you guys uncover? Well, we don't know, to be
1:59
Speaker 3: honest yet what exactly is happening. All we know is
2:02
Speaker 3: as much of the information that you reported there, that
2:04
Speaker 3: we started getting these text messages asking if we wanted.
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Speaker 4: To talk about the US Israel.
2:10
Speaker 5: Relationship, and then when people would engage what we think
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Speaker 5: is the AI chatbot. In that conversation, it was clear
2:18
Speaker 5: that that program was pushing for deeper military and government integration.
2:24
Speaker 5: Right at a time when most Americans are saying, we
2:26
Speaker 5: don't want to be sending in less unconditional military at Israel.
2:29
Speaker 5: We don't want to be complicit in this genocide. It's arguing, no,
2:32
Speaker 5: you're seeing it wrong. We need a deeper partnership. Israel
2:35
Speaker 5: is the best ally, etc. And then when people started
2:40
Speaker 5: asking the chatbot questions about who was behind it, what
2:44
Speaker 5: was going on, we got some information that we could
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Speaker 5: then follow back to the website that, to my great surprise,
2:52
Speaker 5: said right there at the bottom, this is on behalf
2:54
Speaker 5: of the state of Israel. I mean, this is not
2:57
Speaker 5: some conspiracy theory, This is just the facts of what
3:00
Speaker 5: but the people doing this are saying. And then the
3:03
Speaker 5: public reporting that's from various outlets saying that it was
3:06
Speaker 5: Brad Parscal who was behind Cambridge Analytica and all that
3:10
Speaker 5: stuff on Trump's campaign is doing it. So to me,
3:12
Speaker 5: it's shocking. We saw it in our district and then
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Speaker 5: we've seen it happening in other places around the country.
3:19
Speaker 5: I think we don't know exactly what all they're trying
3:22
Speaker 5: to do, but to me, it's clear that a foreign
3:25
Speaker 5: government is trying to interfere in our elections. In our
3:27
Speaker 5: politics using this AI political persuasion texting program, and my view,
3:31
Speaker 5: that's clearly illegal. It's something that needs to be responded to.
3:35
Speaker 5: It's not just about my election, but it seems from
3:38
Speaker 5: those that are looking into it, that they may be
3:40
Speaker 5: targeting areas where APAC is more invested or where these
3:43
Speaker 5: issues are more at stake. And that's very much the
3:45
Speaker 5: case in my race because I'm taking on one of
3:48
Speaker 5: the most powerful corporate DEMS in the country whose top
3:51
Speaker 5: contributor we're into open secrets, not me, open secrets is APEC.
3:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, tell us a little bit about your race and
3:57
Speaker 3: why the State of Israel might have might have an
4:00
Speaker 3: interest in it.
4:01
Speaker 5: Yes, as I said Greg Stanton, co chair of the
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Speaker 5: New Dems, that I'm taking on Apak is this top contributor.
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Speaker 5: He has been, in my view, actively complicit in the
4:11
Speaker 5: genocide and gods that We've been pushing on him, pushing
4:14
Speaker 5: him on this for years, but he's refused to take
4:16
Speaker 5: any step to hold the extremist Israeli government accountable, not
4:22
Speaker 5: only voting for endless, unconditional military aid, but pushing back
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Speaker 5: when anybody tried to do anything else. When Biden paused
4:28
Speaker 5: the two thousand pound bomb shipments. You'll remember Stanton spoke
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Speaker 5: out against that, said he needed to resume those illegal
4:34
Speaker 5: arm ceales. When the International Criminal Court indicted Netanyahu galant
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Speaker 5: hamas leaders for war crimes, he voted to sanction the
4:41
Speaker 5: International Criminal Court, So he's pushed back on every front.
4:44
Speaker 5: I've been a leader in the fight to try to
4:46
Speaker 5: stop that genocide, to secure Palasin and freedom and human
4:49
Speaker 5: rights for all the people in the Holy Land, and
4:51
Speaker 5: this is a huge fault line in the selection, so
4:54
Speaker 5: it would make sense that this would be one of
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Speaker 5: the areas that they would target with this persuasion program
5:00
Speaker 5: to influence voters. We don't know for sure, but we
5:02
Speaker 5: know enough that we followed this complaint with the Attorney General.
5:05
Speaker 5: I called to follow up, as you saw on the video.
5:07
Speaker 5: Yet on Monday, we haven't got a response yet, but
5:09
Speaker 5: we trust that she will do something. She's been great
5:11
Speaker 5: on standing up for integrity of Arizona elections, and we
5:15
Speaker 5: hope that she will now.
5:16
Speaker 3: And your your primaries on July twenty first, I saw
5:21
Speaker 3: that you're even getting a little bit of attention reasoning
5:23
Speaker 3: because people have noticed that you've been arrested something like
5:26
Speaker 3: twenty five times. For people don't know I've been I've
5:29
Speaker 3: known Kai quite some time because I cover these types
5:32
Speaker 3: of protests, and every time I look up, you were
5:35
Speaker 3: getting arrested for some for some protests or another. You
5:40
Speaker 3: talk a little bit about your background. Usually when voters
5:45
Speaker 3: find out that somebody's been arrested twenty five times, it's
5:48
Speaker 3: it's a press conference and their resign and the resigning
5:51
Speaker 3: from office, or they're dropping out of the campaign. But
5:53
Speaker 3: for you, it's actually, I think kind of propelled your
5:56
Speaker 3: campaign in this in this moment. So give people a
5:59
Speaker 3: little flavor of how you got into politics and what
6:03
Speaker 3: you've been doing up until this.
6:05
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been a community organizer in many different non
6:08
Speaker 5: violent movements for a long time, going back to the
6:11
Speaker 5: anti war movement as a college student, what we call
6:13
Speaker 5: the global justice movement, to the labor movement where I
6:17
Speaker 5: was a shop floor leader in union, to immigrant rights movement,
6:21
Speaker 5: a climate justice and what I'm best known for is
6:24
Speaker 5: the work I've done in the democracy fight, trying to
6:26
Speaker 5: end the big money corruption of our politics and protect
6:29
Speaker 5: voting rights with ninety nine rids and democracy leading a
6:32
Speaker 5: march from Sacramento from LA all the way to Sacramento,
6:35
Speaker 5: five hundred miles, twelve straight days of sit ins at
6:38
Speaker 5: the California Capital from the Liberty Bell all the way
6:41
Speaker 5: to DC, and then mass sit ins at the US
6:43
Speaker 5: Capitol there.
6:44
Speaker 4: In twenty sixteen.
6:46
Speaker 5: And I have been arrested over twenty five times in
6:48
Speaker 5: non violence civil disobedience. Everyone to me is a badge
6:51
Speaker 5: of honor, not a mark of shame. And I look
6:53
Speaker 5: to people like Dolores werta Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
6:57
Speaker 5: who has been arrested twenty five times, from War of
6:59
Speaker 5: Martin with the King Junior twenty nine times, John Lewis
7:02
Speaker 5: over thirty times. And it's an act of deeper fidelity
7:07
Speaker 5: to the law, because it's fidelity to the spirit of
7:09
Speaker 5: the law, which is about justice, which is about what
7:11
Speaker 5: is right, and when that's in conflict, sometimes we have
7:13
Speaker 5: to break the law. And we've done so non violently
7:15
Speaker 5: and peacefully. And I've been encouraged by what people say
7:18
Speaker 5: at the doors, you know, because people want someone who's
7:20
Speaker 5: going to fight and stand up to Trump's authoritarianism. And
7:23
Speaker 5: I've proven that I will put my freedom and my
7:26
Speaker 5: safety on the line to stand up for justice many times.
7:28
Speaker 5: And that's the kind of leadership people want when we're
7:30
Speaker 5: taking on oligarchy, authoritarians and war criminals, and I'm going
7:35
Speaker 5: to take them on as stand up to them no
7:36
Speaker 5: matter what to win in Arizona. That we can afford
7:39
Speaker 5: in America that's free of vice, is cruelty once and
7:41
Speaker 5: for all, and a world where genocide never happens again.
7:45
Speaker 3: We talked to Will Lawrence last week on Breaking Points.
7:49
Speaker 3: He's running in a competitive you mind, guys may know
7:51
Speaker 3: each other competitive primary in Michigan, and he was saying
7:55
Speaker 3: that the issue that has really propelled his campaign was
7:58
Speaker 3: opposition to data centers, which is a big issue across
8:01
Speaker 3: the country, but particularly in Michigan. Has he has two
8:04
Speaker 3: corporate backed candidates and even though they may recognize which
8:08
Speaker 3: way the political wind is blowing, they're tied back and
8:11
Speaker 3: they're not allowed to put their sale up in that direction.
8:14
Speaker 3: Is our data centers an issue? Where you are and
8:18
Speaker 3: where are you on AI and the Bernie Sanders backed
8:23
Speaker 3: kind of an AOC back data data center moratorium?
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Speaker 4: Yes, well, I love Will.
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Speaker 5: We know each other from the Sunrise movement, So go brother,
8:32
Speaker 5: and this is an important issue here in the district. Absolutely,
8:34
Speaker 5: they're trying to build. Meta is trying to build an
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Speaker 5: AI data center in the district in the Awatuki neighborhood
8:39
Speaker 5: is part of Phoenix. I've been standing with the community there.
8:42
Speaker 5: We've helped to organize protests, We've been pushing back. The
8:45
Speaker 5: incumbent Greg Stanton has been silent on the issue. He
8:47
Speaker 5: takes a ton of corporate pack money and including money
8:51
Speaker 5: from the big tech companies that are driving this. And
8:55
Speaker 5: this is being built right within residential neighborhoods. It's homes
8:58
Speaker 5: on across the street on every side zone commercial should
9:02
Speaker 5: be like a shopping center. Instead, it's going to be
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Speaker 5: this industrial, mega industrial facility if it gets completed. We're
9:08
Speaker 5: fighting to stop it. But I think that Bernie Sanders
9:12
Speaker 5: and AOC are right that we need this moratorium on
9:16
Speaker 5: new AI data center construction to make sure that if
9:19
Speaker 5: they are being built right, they're being built in a
9:22
Speaker 5: safe way with clean power, that they're not creating issues
9:25
Speaker 5: in terms of water, local pollution, etc. But also that
9:27
Speaker 5: this transformative technology, artificial intelligence, that I think has constructive purposes.
9:33
Speaker 5: We're already seeing the scientific and medical research, for example,
9:36
Speaker 5: but has, according to experts in the industry, existential risks. Also,
9:40
Speaker 5: we need this moratorium, and we need, in my view,
9:43
Speaker 5: negotiations toward an international treaty bringing all the world together
9:47
Speaker 5: to create a regulatory framework to make sure that this
9:49
Speaker 5: technology benefits all of us, not just the oligarchs, and
9:52
Speaker 5: to address those existential risks. And my view, democratic socialists
9:55
Speaker 5: like myself should be thinking about how we could make
9:59
Speaker 5: something like this useful to bring down to a thirty
10:02
Speaker 5: hour workweek, right, to be able to shift we're being
10:05
Speaker 5: more productive to society. Let's have that wealth go to
10:07
Speaker 5: all the people, because really AI is a product of
10:11
Speaker 5: the collective sum of human cultural endeavor across generations, and
10:14
Speaker 5: so the benefits of that should flow to everyone. But
10:16
Speaker 5: that's not going to happen unless we stand up to
10:18
Speaker 5: the oligarchs and the military leaders military industrial complex that
10:23
Speaker 5: are the ones driving this right out of either greed
10:26
Speaker 5: or fear, to say that no, we're going to have
10:27
Speaker 5: a democratic process led by wisdom that is going to
10:30
Speaker 5: decide what this technology is going to be and how
10:34
Speaker 5: it's going to be used, and what the framework is
10:35
Speaker 5: for that. So I think it's a critical issue standing
10:38
Speaker 5: up locally in terms of the impacts with data centers
10:40
Speaker 5: it's another corporate power versus democracy and people issue, but
10:44
Speaker 5: also on the bigger front of AI and it's moving
10:47
Speaker 5: so fast. We've got to make it a priority, even
10:49
Speaker 5: if it feels more distant in places where the data
10:51
Speaker 5: centers are not an issue. So I'm in that fight.
10:55
Speaker 5: My incumbent is not taking money from those interests. It's
10:58
Speaker 5: another reason why people are coming to support our campaign
11:00
Speaker 5: and why I believe we can win.
11:02
Speaker 3: And last question for me, I'm curious kind of as
11:04
Speaker 3: a democratic socialist in this rising movement, rising moment, when
11:09
Speaker 3: you are coming across a voter on the street, handing
11:12
Speaker 3: out literature, you're knocking on a door, and you're trying
11:16
Speaker 3: to get them to vote for you, and the kind
11:18
Speaker 3: of democratic social agenda, Like how do.
11:21
Speaker 4: You frame it? What's the fifteen to thirty.
11:23
Speaker 3: Seconds you know, when you've got a voter's attention, like
11:27
Speaker 3: what you stand for, and like why you're different than
11:29
Speaker 3: the new damn corporate democrat who's in office.
11:34
Speaker 5: Well, look, I say, if we're going to deal with
11:36
Speaker 5: this cost of living crisis, if we're going to stand
11:38
Speaker 5: up to Trump's authoritarianism, we need leaders that aren't beholden
11:42
Speaker 5: to the same corporate interests that are screwing the working
11:44
Speaker 5: class over that are running independently, that can fight stand
11:47
Speaker 5: up for us, to shift power from the oligarchs to
11:50
Speaker 5: the working class and give us a better life, from
11:52
Speaker 5: Medicare for all to freezing utility rates, to getting ice
11:57
Speaker 5: off our streets forever, disbanding that agency and ending our
12:01
Speaker 5: complicity in war crimes. Democratic socialism doesn't come up very much,
12:05
Speaker 5: to be honest, but if it does, I talk about
12:07
Speaker 5: doctor King. I wrote an article about Kingyan Democratic socialism
12:11
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty one, pointing to his legacy is something
12:14
Speaker 5: we needed to follow in the left, and he said,
12:16
Speaker 5: as Zurn said in his campaign, call it democracy, call
12:19
Speaker 5: it democratic socialism. We need a better distribution of wealth
12:22
Speaker 5: for all God's children. We have to focus on that.
12:24
Speaker 5: I don't care what you call yourself. I'm going to
12:26
Speaker 5: be honest about what I call myself. But I'm focused
12:28
Speaker 5: on change for you and your family, for basic justice,
12:31
Speaker 5: for democracy in our country. And that's what we're doing
12:34
Speaker 5: in this race. There's no other primary in the country
12:38
Speaker 5: this month. Right, we have a chance to be the
12:40
Speaker 5: next big victory following on Colorado on New York. To
12:44
Speaker 5: continue this wave of momentum, and we're asking people from
12:47
Speaker 5: around the country to join us in this fight, to
12:49
Speaker 5: go to Kyfhasy dot com and be part of this.
12:52
Speaker 5: We can take out one of the most powerful corporate
12:54
Speaker 5: Dems in the country and Apak is his top contributor,
12:57
Speaker 5: and continue to send a message to the Democratic you
13:01
Speaker 5: don't want to be beholden to corporations anymore or apex.
13:04
Speaker 4: We want to go in a different direction. We want
13:05
Speaker 4: to start now.
13:06
Speaker 3: I can say, as somebody who's been watching for too long,
13:09
Speaker 3: if the chair of the New Democratic New Democrat cauc
13:12
Speaker 3: is that which.
13:13
Speaker 4: Is basically the kind of pro corporate.
13:15
Speaker 3: Wing of the party lost on July twenty first, it
13:18
Speaker 3: would be it would be a shockwave here here here
13:21
Speaker 3: in Washington. So we'll find we'll find out. Kai, thanks
13:25
Speaker 3: so much for taking some time. Really appreciate it. Thank
13:28
Speaker 3: you for having me have a great day. Appreciate it.
13:30
Speaker 4: You got it. Take it easy.
13:34
Speaker 3: Joining us now is State Representative Dave Morales, who is
13:37
Speaker 3: a candidate for Providence mayor and maybe the next kind
13:43
Speaker 3: of DSA backed mayor after New York and Seattle.
13:49
Speaker 4: Are there any others that we know of?
13:51
Speaker 6: We have to keep the movement going as of right now. Again,
13:54
Speaker 6: I think those are the prominent examples that we have
13:56
Speaker 6: of executive officers have that back, you know, be democratic, socialist.
14:00
Speaker 4: Rhode Island is such an interesting state.
14:03
Speaker 3: I will speak ill of it so you don't have to,
14:05
Speaker 3: but you know, our smallest it is our smallest state
14:08
Speaker 3: that's great, and by population, you know, quite small, yet
14:12
Speaker 3: also has two senators just like just like every other state,
14:17
Speaker 3: and the senators from a democratic kind of grassroots perspective,
14:21
Speaker 3: are often good on some things, often bad on some
14:24
Speaker 3: other things.
14:25
Speaker 4: And being a one.
14:27
Speaker 3: Party state, whether it's Republican or Democrat, creates an interesting
14:33
Speaker 3: kind of political economy because the reactionary and corporate forces
14:38
Speaker 3: have to go somewhere, and there's if there's only one party,
14:41
Speaker 3: then they create kind of a massive faction within that party,
14:44
Speaker 3: and for many years in Rhode Island, a very very
14:48
Speaker 3: corrupt I would argue faction of democratic politics has been
14:54
Speaker 3: just hegemonic. But I've been covering this, this push in
14:58
Speaker 3: Rhode Island for almost you know, it's been going on
15:01
Speaker 3: more than a decade now to say, wait a minute,
15:04
Speaker 3: like what are we doing here? Like this state's small enough,
15:07
Speaker 3: we should not actually be getting run over by just
15:09
Speaker 3: a few, like if the many of us joined together.
15:13
Speaker 4: So Rhode Island's left has done this in fits and.
15:16
Speaker 3: Starts, like give us the kind of the the insight
15:22
Speaker 3: of how you got into this, and like how we
15:26
Speaker 3: got to a place where DSA might actually now you know,
15:30
Speaker 3: take control of the most powerful position in the city
15:33
Speaker 3: in the state, in the state's biggest city.
15:35
Speaker 6: Yeah. So I'm happy to share that there have been
15:37
Speaker 6: strides around the progressive movement all across Rhode Island really
15:40
Speaker 6: since the start of twenty twenty. We saw a wave
15:43
Speaker 6: of state representatives and senators get elected that sent.
15:47
Speaker 4: Shock waves to the polinorandad out late. That is correct.
15:50
Speaker 6: Yeah, so we had at the time what was known
15:52
Speaker 6: as the Rhodeland Political Cooperative, which was running the slate
15:54
Speaker 6: of candidates, in addition to DSA being actively involved, as
15:58
Speaker 6: was the Working Families Party, and that led to this
16:00
Speaker 6: systemic change in the sense that we were able to
16:01
Speaker 6: shift the culture inside of the state House. I was
16:03
Speaker 6: very proud to have been elected in twenty twenty and
16:06
Speaker 6: during that timeframe being able to pass bold legislation around
16:09
Speaker 6: raising the minimum wage. Finally towards fifteen dollars, being able
16:12
Speaker 6: to guarantee healthcare coverage to every child in our state,
16:14
Speaker 6: regardless of immigration status. Like those are meaningful victories that
16:18
Speaker 6: we've been able to have, and in a large part
16:20
Speaker 6: it was because of the electoral results of getting more
16:24
Speaker 6: progressives in office between twenty twenty to twenty twenty two.
16:27
Speaker 6: But we have seen the pendulum swing on the other side,
16:29
Speaker 6: where the status quo in the political establishment has doubled
16:32
Speaker 6: down to try to stomp this progress out. Now, I'm
16:34
Speaker 6: happy to share that over the course of the last
16:36
Speaker 6: several years, our Providence City Council in particular, has gotten
16:40
Speaker 6: a lot more progressive and policy oriented than ever before.
16:43
Speaker 6: This year they put forward rent stabilization, which would cap
16:46
Speaker 6: rent hikes at four percent a year. They passed it.
16:49
Speaker 6: Unfortunately it was vetoed by the current mayor, who is
16:52
Speaker 6: the corporate backed incumbent that I'm taking on. And it
16:55
Speaker 6: goes to show the strength that we've been able to demonstrate,
16:58
Speaker 6: not just in the form of more presentation, but actually
17:01
Speaker 6: in the form of delivering when it comes to meaningful change.
17:05
Speaker 6: And so I'm running for mayor because right now Providence
17:07
Speaker 6: is becoming far too expensive for so many working people,
17:10
Speaker 6: and we've been building a movement unlike any other in
17:12
Speaker 6: our city, where we have hundreds of volunteers that are
17:15
Speaker 6: actively knocking on doors feeling inspired by our message of
17:18
Speaker 6: building a providence for all, And in large part, we're
17:20
Speaker 6: doing it alongside a coalition of other council candidates and
17:24
Speaker 6: candidates for state legislature, because we want to make sure
17:26
Speaker 6: that all levels of government have that level of representation
17:30
Speaker 6: of those that align with the principles of democratic socialism.
17:34
Speaker 3: And one reason I wanted to talk to you about
17:36
Speaker 3: all of this is because obviously a lot of our
17:38
Speaker 3: audiences in New York City, because a lot of the
17:40
Speaker 3: public is in New York City, but it's a vast
17:44
Speaker 3: minority of the overall number of people in this country,
17:47
Speaker 3: and a lot of people who've been watching the success
17:50
Speaker 3: of the DSA and the left more broadly populist move
17:54
Speaker 3: more broadly in New York City are like, how can
17:56
Speaker 3: I do this where I am? How like I want
17:59
Speaker 3: to be in politics and I want to be able
18:02
Speaker 3: to throw overthrow the old guard. Now Rhode Island is
18:05
Speaker 3: Rhode Island's labor movement has historically been and you tell
18:11
Speaker 3: me how much of this is a caricature associated with
18:14
Speaker 3: the mob with kind of broad organized crime elements. How
18:22
Speaker 3: yet organized labor seems to have become a real battleground
18:27
Speaker 3: for this this fight.
18:29
Speaker 4: How have you so?
18:30
Speaker 3: How how has DSA been able to kind of DSA
18:34
Speaker 3: and the cooperative and your movement more broadly been able
18:37
Speaker 3: to kind of influence and penetrate organized labor in Providence?
18:42
Speaker 3: And how true is that charricture today? Does it vary
18:45
Speaker 3: by union?
18:46
Speaker 4: Like? What is this? What is the situation with organized
18:48
Speaker 4: labor in Rhode Island now?
18:50
Speaker 6: So the same way that we've seen a shift in
18:52
Speaker 6: terms of the culture we see at the state House
18:53
Speaker 6: where there's more progressive representation and action that has been
18:57
Speaker 6: met with urgency, we're seeing the same trend cross organized labor.
19:01
Speaker 6: I'm really proud to share that we've been endorsed by
19:04
Speaker 6: the SEIU State Council, which represents thousands of healthcare and
19:08
Speaker 6: home care and childcare.
19:09
Speaker 4: Workers, Which is kind of crazy, right the.
19:11
Speaker 6: First time YEA over fifteen years that they had engaged
19:15
Speaker 6: in a mayoral primary in profits. The fact that they're
19:18
Speaker 6: flexing this muscle as a part of this race speaks volume.
19:22
Speaker 6: In addition to that, we have the Providence Teachers Union
19:24
Speaker 6: that again, in a shocking turn of events, is not
19:27
Speaker 6: supporting the incumbent but instead of supporting our campaign because
19:31
Speaker 6: it speaks to the vision that they want to align with,
19:33
Speaker 6: which is one centered around progressive values. And that has
19:36
Speaker 6: a lot to do with some of the shifts that
19:38
Speaker 6: we've seen in organized labor in terms of leadership. So
19:40
Speaker 6: I certainly believe that that's helped contribute. But also the
19:43
Speaker 6: fact that.
19:44
Speaker 3: So you've been challenging, like your folks, your movement has
19:47
Speaker 3: been like winning leadership positions in the unions and like
19:51
Speaker 3: organizing the members themselves, like how have you gotten to
19:54
Speaker 3: this place?
19:55
Speaker 6: I think what we have seen over the years is
19:57
Speaker 6: just rank and file speaking up, rank and file speaking
20:00
Speaker 6: up in recognizing that their legislators and that their advocates
20:03
Speaker 6: and activists on the ground.
20:05
Speaker 3: There's new young people coming into the unions, or these
20:07
Speaker 3: are older people who are like just sick of how
20:09
Speaker 3: things have been going.
20:10
Speaker 6: It's a mix of both. It's a mix of both
20:11
Speaker 6: those who have been a part of the union and
20:13
Speaker 6: want their union to be a lot more active and
20:15
Speaker 6: engaged as a part of the electoral process, and also
20:18
Speaker 6: beyond that, also seeing a wave of new younger members
20:22
Speaker 6: also being part of the union as well. So again
20:25
Speaker 6: I'm very proud to just share that SEIU State Council,
20:27
Speaker 6: the Providence Teachers' Union, and Local twenty six from Unit
20:31
Speaker 6: here have been actively supporting us. And again these are
20:34
Speaker 6: unions that generally speaking might have just stayed neutral when
20:38
Speaker 6: it came to a mayoral primary, but instead have gone
20:41
Speaker 6: behind our movement.
20:42
Speaker 4: And so I give a lot of credit to.
20:43
Speaker 6: The shift in the leadership that we've seen and also
20:45
Speaker 6: their willingness to take what is otherwise seen as a
20:47
Speaker 6: quote unquote political risk, which is going up against an
20:50
Speaker 6: incumbent that is backed by corporate interests.
20:53
Speaker 3: You know, and as people organize, go door to door
20:56
Speaker 3: and like you know, they run campaigns, volunteer for camp pains,
21:00
Speaker 3: they know that they're taking risks. Professionally, they're taking you know,
21:04
Speaker 3: they're they're giving their time. But in some cases, like
21:07
Speaker 3: there's an actual threat going on. And I'm curious if,
21:11
Speaker 3: as as your movement has grown in Providence, if any
21:16
Speaker 3: anybody has been kind of threatened or like the power
21:20
Speaker 3: structure there, Like we're saying, like this is not a
21:25
Speaker 3: small town council where you're just gonna like they're just
21:27
Speaker 3: gonna like say, oh they it seems like the political
21:30
Speaker 3: winds blow in their way. They got more votes. I
21:32
Speaker 3: guess we're gonna, you know, fold up shop here. I
21:35
Speaker 3: would imagine that they are fighting back and might be
21:38
Speaker 3: fighting back in ways beyond just the ballot box, like
21:40
Speaker 3: it have you been threatened?
21:42
Speaker 4: Like?
21:42
Speaker 3: What's what has it been like for people who are
21:46
Speaker 3: trying to stand up for their communities here?
21:48
Speaker 6: So power concedes nothing without demand, and we have watched
21:52
Speaker 6: as a status quo will fight tooth and the able
21:54
Speaker 6: to try to prevent any shift.
21:56
Speaker 4: That little tooth and nail like what's so, what.
21:58
Speaker 6: We've seen are certain city council members that essentially have
22:02
Speaker 6: corporate backed challengers. And I am talking specifically around large
22:07
Speaker 6: developers and industrial facilities that have been polluting our waterfront.
22:12
Speaker 6: These are corporate interests that do not want our movement
22:14
Speaker 6: to move forward because they don't want to cap around
22:16
Speaker 6: rent increases. They don't want us to transform the waterfront
22:19
Speaker 6: and tax industrial polluters at a higher rate. And so
22:21
Speaker 6: what we've seen are members of the Providence City Council
22:25
Speaker 6: who voted, advocated, and spoke up in regards to rent
22:28
Speaker 6: stabilization are all now facing challengers, and some of whom
22:32
Speaker 6: we are actively backing and supporting as a part of
22:34
Speaker 6: our campaign. So it's been exciting to watch that despite
22:37
Speaker 6: the fact that, yes, the status quo and the political
22:39
Speaker 6: establishment is now going on the offense. We're ready, We're
22:42
Speaker 6: ready to defend these existing legislative seats while at the
22:45
Speaker 6: same time also running candidates for open seats and recognizing
22:49
Speaker 6: that the establishment also has their series of candidates. So
22:51
Speaker 6: a lot of what we've seen are certain council members
22:54
Speaker 6: that during the legislative process, we're being pressured, We're being
22:57
Speaker 6: pressured not to support rent stabilization, Otherwise they would face
23:00
Speaker 6: a major challenge when it came to reelection.
23:02
Speaker 3: Right, but at least we're talking democratically. You haven't seen
23:05
Speaker 3: threats of political violence.
23:07
Speaker 6: Thankfully not, and I would hope that it remains that
23:09
Speaker 6: way over the next two months and beyond.
23:12
Speaker 4: And so what are you finding that is really landing
23:16
Speaker 4: with people? And are you.
23:19
Speaker 3: Are your opponents trying to use the democratic socialism label
23:22
Speaker 3: or do they recognize that it kind of backfires at this.
23:25
Speaker 4: Point and people like, oh, okay, then I know who
23:27
Speaker 4: to vote for.
23:28
Speaker 6: What resonates is speaking to the needs of working families
23:30
Speaker 6: all across Providence. Right now, we have so many of
23:33
Speaker 6: our neighbors that are just being priced out because the
23:35
Speaker 6: cost of rent has gone far too expensive. So when
23:37
Speaker 6: we speak about rent stabilization, it is literally speaking to
23:40
Speaker 6: their needs. Because the working mom who just watched to
23:43
Speaker 6: rent and go up from fourteen hundred dollars to two
23:45
Speaker 6: thousand dollars, that knows that that's not sustainable. And so
23:48
Speaker 6: when they hear that we have a plan to cap
23:51
Speaker 6: rent increases at four percent, it provides that level of reassurance.
23:54
Speaker 6: When we talk about the ways that we're going to
23:55
Speaker 6: maximize the city Solicitor's office to be able to prosecute
23:59
Speaker 6: fascist ICE agents and take action around the activity of
24:03
Speaker 6: ICE that has been abusing our neighbors, that speaks to
24:06
Speaker 6: the needs of what our immigrant community is going through.
24:08
Speaker 6: So I believe that our campaign and our movement as
24:11
Speaker 6: a whole is meeting the moment. And to your point,
24:13
Speaker 6: our opponents are certainly trying to use the term around
24:16
Speaker 6: democratic socialism and red Scare up against us, while also
24:19
Speaker 6: trying to demonize us as being overly radical and inexperienced
24:23
Speaker 6: to be able to take on the responsibilities of the
24:25
Speaker 6: mayor's office. But I think what has been shown over
24:27
Speaker 6: the last several months as a part of our campaign
24:29
Speaker 6: is that one we're speaking to the needs of our neighbors,
24:32
Speaker 6: but two we have a plan to make sure we're
24:34
Speaker 6: actually delivering.
24:36
Speaker 3: And so for people who are outside of Rhode Island,
24:39
Speaker 3: outside of New York and are trying to figure out,
24:41
Speaker 3: like how to develop some kind of a movement like this,
24:43
Speaker 3: one thing I'm curious is maybe you could offer some
24:45
Speaker 3: advice on as I've watched Rhode Island's populist progressive movement
24:51
Speaker 3: go through it's growing pains, and it's you know, fits
24:54
Speaker 3: and starts, you know, huge wins and then and then setbacks.
24:57
Speaker 3: Every movement has severe factionalism that develops at times, and
25:02
Speaker 3: you guys in your state had had some of the
25:04
Speaker 3: most dramatic that I've seen, and such that at times
25:08
Speaker 3: I thought, well, I guess this is over, Like they're
25:10
Speaker 3: just going to rip each ozz or others throats out
25:12
Speaker 3: at this point.
25:15
Speaker 4: Yet that didn't happen.
25:16
Speaker 3: I mean throats were ripped metaphorically, thankfully, not actually.
25:21
Speaker 6: I'm a pro wrestler, Yeah, so I just want you
25:23
Speaker 6: to know I use these terms right, it means something.
25:26
Speaker 4: Else to me exactly.
25:27
Speaker 3: So, but you guys have thrived despite some extremely dark
25:33
Speaker 3: and you know, drama filled moments of sectarian factionalism that
25:37
Speaker 3: that kind of threatened to undermine the entire project. So
25:41
Speaker 3: what would you say to people outside who are who
25:45
Speaker 3: are facing that? Because when when people come together to
25:47
Speaker 3: fight for something, tensions are high and you're gonna have
25:51
Speaker 3: you're going just factionalism is going to develop.
25:54
Speaker 4: How did how did you?
25:55
Speaker 3: I won't say anybody ever overcomes it, but how did
25:58
Speaker 3: you overcome it enough that you're now pulled together and
26:00
Speaker 3: threatening power at the highest level.
26:03
Speaker 6: Here, it's all about coalition building, making sure that different
26:07
Speaker 6: leaderships of respective organizations are actively coming together and communicating,
26:11
Speaker 6: because more often than not, we've seen a breakdown communication,
26:14
Speaker 6: a mix up in disagreements around strategy, and that has
26:17
Speaker 6: led to exactly what you described, factions being formed.
26:19
Speaker 4: So happy hours, how do you like? What's like? Practically speaking?
26:23
Speaker 4: How do you keep that?
26:23
Speaker 6: Social gatherings are incredibly important? So thankfully we have a
26:27
Speaker 6: grassroots organization called Reclaimer Rhode Island. They've been around since
26:30
Speaker 6: twenty twenty where some of the endorsing folks that allowed
26:33
Speaker 6: me to get elected the first time around, and they've
26:35
Speaker 6: been very intentional about building relationships with the working families party,
26:39
Speaker 6: building relationships with labor like SCIU. And some of that
26:42
Speaker 6: does take the form of social gatherings, being able to
26:44
Speaker 6: get together at our neighborhood bars and restaurants to just
26:48
Speaker 6: be able to get to know one another as neighbors,
26:51
Speaker 6: and then beyond that, having an actual unified strategy because
26:54
Speaker 6: leadership teams have had conversations on how do we want
26:57
Speaker 6: to tackle this next legislative session, and over the course
27:00
Speaker 6: of the last two years, for example, there has been
27:02
Speaker 6: an ongoing fight to preserve our public transportation system RIFTA,
27:05
Speaker 6: and that's been a part of an organization called a
27:07
Speaker 6: Provident Streets Coalition that has garnered a group of neighborhood associations,
27:12
Speaker 6: community organizations, unions, and nonprofits to get behind this basic
27:16
Speaker 6: principle that public transit is a right that all of
27:18
Speaker 6: our neighbors should be able to access and that has
27:21
Speaker 6: led to very strong legislative advocacy that is now transitioning
27:26
Speaker 6: over to electoral organizing. And so I think what's always
27:29
Speaker 6: important to know is that the fight does not stop
27:31
Speaker 6: in September, November or the ballot box in general. That
27:34
Speaker 6: we need to maintain this level of advocacy year round,
27:38
Speaker 6: whether it's during election season or during the legislative session.
27:41
Speaker 6: We need to consistently be partnering. And that's what I
27:44
Speaker 6: want to be able to help formulate and facilitate as mayor,
27:48
Speaker 6: making sure that once we're elected, going into office in
27:52
Speaker 6: January of twenty twenty seven, that we're mobilizing in our
27:54
Speaker 6: neighbors because we're gonna have a tough city budget that
27:56
Speaker 6: will require large industrial facilities to pay more intact. But
28:00
Speaker 6: we know the corporate polluters aren't going to want to
28:02
Speaker 6: pay more in taxes. So it's going to be up
28:03
Speaker 6: to our office, alongside organizations like Reclaim, the Working Families
28:07
Speaker 6: Party in some of our labor unions, to be at
28:10
Speaker 6: these committee hearings to make sure that it is known
28:12
Speaker 6: that the public here in Providence wants to see a
28:16
Speaker 6: more fair tax structure.
28:17
Speaker 3: And last question for me, like what made you think
28:19
Speaker 3: the mayor was vulnerable? Like what made you say, you
28:22
Speaker 3: know what, this is the year and we can do this.
28:24
Speaker 6: A series of poor decisions that he has made, the
28:27
Speaker 6: fact that he vetoed rent stabilization despite the fact that
28:31
Speaker 6: it is an overwhelmingly popular issue that neighbors wanted to
28:35
Speaker 6: see actively passed, so they had a sense of reassurance.
28:37
Speaker 6: The fact that he allowed for Providence Police to be
28:41
Speaker 6: in a situation where they collaborated with Ice and then
28:44
Speaker 6: thereafter there was no accountability. There are many moments where
28:47
Speaker 6: the mayor has missed the mark, and you combine that
28:50
Speaker 6: with the fact that he is just simply out of
28:52
Speaker 6: touch with the needs of so many of our neighbors.
28:54
Speaker 6: Given who takes money from and I'm talking about corporate landlords,
28:57
Speaker 6: I'm talking about the lawyers representing these industrial facilities in
29:01
Speaker 6: corporate packs. Providence as a whole, a city of one
29:04
Speaker 6: hundred and ninety thousand plus people, is relatively progressive and
29:07
Speaker 6: they want to see change. And so I knew back
29:09
Speaker 6: when we launched in September of twenty twenty five that
29:12
Speaker 6: we were going to meet the moment that we had
29:14
Speaker 6: an opportunity to mobilize, especially young people, immigrant communities, and
29:18
Speaker 6: folks who generally do not feel engaged when it comes
29:21
Speaker 6: to local politics and government.
29:23
Speaker 3: All Right, David Morales, candidate for Mayor in Providence. The
29:26
Speaker 3: election is September.
29:28
Speaker 6: Wednesday, September ninth. Then you can visit David MORALESPVD dot
29:31
Speaker 6: com to learn more about our movement.
29:33
Speaker 3: All right, all right, so election of September will be
29:36
Speaker 3: following as closely the next next DSA target.
29:39
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Riyan, you got it. Quick clarification.
29:42
Speaker 3: David Morales is a longtime DSA member. DSA itself is
29:46
Speaker 3: not endorsing in this particular may oral race that will
29:51
Speaker 3: do it for us. Today, I didn't make Sager sit
29:54
Speaker 3: through the two comic questioning sessions. I'm not a total
29:59
Speaker 3: say this. I try to be a good colleague. But
30:02
Speaker 3: Soccer and I will be back for another Bro show tomorrow.
30:05
Speaker 4: We'll see you then,