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Welcome back to the left of Old North.

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I'm your host Adrian and your other host, CJ.

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And today we are coming off the heels of January 6th and also well a much more peaceful January

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6th, right?

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99% peaceful.

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Yes, but the bar for that is in hell really.

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Yeah, you're right.

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Anyway, we are coming off the heels of that and also there was a Together We Rise rally

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on January 5th and then the very next day it was announced that the national or that

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the North Carolina Supreme Court was going to kick back or get it get a kickback to decide

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on the Jefferson Griffin versus Allison Riggs race.

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So we're going to talk about that.

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We're also going to talk about a couple other happenings with the weather.

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Let's talk the weather today, CJ.

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Sure.

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Why not?

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Yeah.

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And then we'll also talk about future skies in what could possibly be a 2026 run for the

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Senate.

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But you'll have to stick around for that at the end of the episode because we've got a

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lot to cover in terms of what the fuck is going on in the North Carolina Supreme Court

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race.

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CJ, would you like to enlighten some people as to what the hell?

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Yeah.

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So what's going on?

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Yeah.

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That's a good question.

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So like Adrian just said, essentially the case to decide what to do in the case of Jefferson

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Griffin and Allison Riggs has been kicked back to the North Carolina State Supreme Court.

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There's also two other court cases going on related to this.

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But at this point, I need like a flow chart and maps and all this stuff to keep track

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of what's what.

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But it's absolutely insane.

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Just a very, very short Reader's Digest summary.

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Basically November came along and this past November came along and we voted for State

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Supreme Court.

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We had Allison Riggs, Democrat, and Jefferson Griffin, Republican.

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Now Allison Riggs has been on the state Supreme Court for a while.

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Jefferson Griffin went to take her seat.

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And so naturally they have the election and he's ahead initially, then recounts and provisional

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ballots and all that stuff occur.

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And Riggs is ahead by about 700 votes.

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And then Griffin comes along and says, well, I don't like that.

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How about I try to challenge 60,000 votes?

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60,000, six zero comma zero zero zero.

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That's absolutely insane and unheard of.

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Like this isn't even a situation like in 2020 when Trump called up Georgia and was like,

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I need 11,780 something votes.

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Like I think he had the exact number plus one.

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This isn't that it's not Jefferson Griffin calling up his buddies in the court and saying,

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I need 735 votes.

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This is him and the NCGOP using their legal apparatus to try and just completely disenfranchise

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60,000 voters across North Carolina, especially.

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And it is weird how like it is weird how much the pendulum swings towards disenfranchising

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black voters.

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Yeah.

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Now I'm not saying that they did that on purpose, but it is a little odd that somewhere around

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half of them happen to be black voters.

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Yeah.

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Here's the thing.

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So what they are trying, the kinds of voters that they're trying to get thrown out are

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covered under UOCAVA, which is the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

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And this is something that helps people who are in the uniformed services.

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This also sometimes helps.

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It's more often service members, but it also helps out people who are like stationed overseas

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as contractors or are spouses of uniformed service members, things like that.

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I actually have some personal experience with this because I was an FVAP representative

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at several of my bases.

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I helped people get registered to vote.

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And let me tell you, not that easy to be an illegitimate UOCAVA voter.

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You have to do this at least 45 days before federal elections.

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This is not like a last minute thing.

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You have to make sure that you're getting it signed by a representative over there.

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They have to check it and then you have to mail it.

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So we already know that mail-in voting can have delays and can have complications and

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all these other things.

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But throwing these voters out is not only a slap in the face to people who are overseas

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that are still North Carolinians, but it's also a slap in the face to people who are

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serving in the military.

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And I just don't understand why.

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I do understand.

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It's because it's an easy group target.

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They're not going to be here to come and fight for it.

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But then you also have the people who are covered under HAVA, which is Help America

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Vote Act.

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This was an act that was passed by the United States Congress in 2002 during Bush's administration.

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And this helped to allow states to meet new standards and replace voting systems, improve

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election administration.

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This was supposed to make the act of registering and voting easier.

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And so folks 20 years ago who registered under HAVA are now being challenged as illegitimate

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voters.

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This is not a coincidence.

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They're just trying to gunk up the system.

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And here's another little tidbit that I think is interesting.

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So WUNC, Rusty Jacobs on January 9th, which today is three days ago, released a story

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basically saying that the attorney that made the order to the judge to block the certification

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of the Supreme Court election went around to the opposing council, never talked to them,

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just straight up went to the judge, said, this is our issue with this election and now

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we're here.

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So the way that they tell this story, right?

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The ex parte motion took place on Tuesday before Judge Cynthia Sturgis in a Wake County

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courtroom.

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Sturgis, a registered Republican, at first granted the motion, which was then filed by

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Craig Schauer, who represents Jefferson Griffin.

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This is the attorney in question.

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Griffin, a North Carolina court of appeals judge, keep that in mind, is the GOP candidate

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seeking to unseat Democrat Alison Riggs from her associate justice post.

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And after initially granting the ex parte motion, Judge Sturgis later withdrew it because the

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court became concerned that neither the respondent nor the respondent's attorneys received appropriate

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notice of the motion, which is required by local rules and rule 65 of the rules of civil

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procedure.

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And if you don't understand legalese, that means they didn't talk to the other team before

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filing this suit, which is illegal.

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So we shouldn't be talking about this anymore.

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This should be over as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not in the legal system here in North

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Carolina.

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So it really doesn't matter what I think.

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Wait, wait.

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Everyone's doing shady shit?

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No, say it ain't so.

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I know.

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Who could have seen this coming?

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Who could have seen this?

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Like, and this, this is actually huge.

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It's almost like they have to use this unfair and possibly illegal mean to literally block

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the will of the people in an election that was decided by, yes, a very slim margin.

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Nobody's arguing that.

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But hey, man, you can score 100 points in a basketball game, but if the other team scored

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101, you lost.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And I was watching the NCDP had a little live stream tonight that was essentially the state

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of the race.

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So just kind of catching everyone up to speed on how we got to this point, where we go,

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possible outcomes, that kind of thing.

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And of course, Justice Riggs was on there talking for a little bit.

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And she mentioned that her parents who have lived in North Carolina for decades and her

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father who served his country for, I think she said about 30 years, both their votes

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are being challenged.

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Her parents are being challenged.

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And this is absolutely insane.

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And I don't think we can emphasize enough how absurd and just out of the ordinary this

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sort of thing is.

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Whenever you have an election, you know, election day votes are cast.

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You go through the ballot cure process.

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You go through the provisional ballots, absentee ballots, all that stuff.

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You count those out, right?

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And then you have the opportunity to ask for, you know, you have an opportunity to ask for

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a couple of recounts, really.

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And then that's the end of it, you know?

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And it sucks to lose, but yeah, it should be.

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It sucks if you lose, but you know what?

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That's how it goes.

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Or at least that's how it is supposed to go in a healthy democracy in a campaign where

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both parties, both candidates, I should say, respect the rule of law and respect the foundations

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of our democracy.

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But I think it goes to show and it says a lot about who Jefferson Griffin is as a person,

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as an American and possibly as a judge.

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Definitely as a judge.

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Yeah.

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But you know, it says a lot about him that this is what he's trying to do.

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Yeah.

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Far be it from a, for a judge to be litigious.

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I'm not saying that that's, but the fact that they are going to such extremes, just it's

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not enough for them to lose by the count twice.

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Yeah.

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It's, it's drawing it out.

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It's blocking the certification.

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It's calling up his friends in the legislature to get certain things put on the docket to

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take the legs out from underneath the NCDP.

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To be able to challenge this because unless y'all aren't paying attention, the general

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assembly is in session right now.

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And so are the Supreme Court justices.

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I mean, I don't know if they're hearing cases right now, but they've started their jobs.

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They're, they're, they're official now.

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And the thing is we only had the one, the one Supreme Court justice race this year,

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but I want you all to imagine that something like this happens again, where maybe it's

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a couple thousand votes even.

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It's not 734, but it's a couple thousand votes.

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Imagine four years down the line when we have three Supreme Court seats up for grabs, three

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of them.

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Imagine two years from now when we have one up for grabs with current associate justice

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Anita Earls, who's going to be running for reelection.

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And that's why it's so crazy that like we have these independent races that are partisan

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that you say like, Oh, well I shouldn't, it's really just a candidate.

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It's not necessarily a party.

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No, it absolutely is the parties.

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Absolutely it is.

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And then a couple of days ago we saw that the Democrats almost had no teeth on this

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that we were just kind of hoping and praying and making sure that like, Oh, you know, let's

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talk about on social, but like ultimately she's going to win and the truth will out.

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Right?

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It's now January 12th.

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We are over two months from the original election.

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There's no certification.

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There's no indication that he's going to give up anytime soon.

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So what I'm glad to see is that a, the national democratic party is bringing attention to

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this and is footing legal fees.

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As far as I know, I don't know if that's official, but I saw something about that, that they're

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making it well known, like, Hey, this is a big deal.

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And Democrats across the nation need to be paying attention to this, which is a rare

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bit of spotlighting from the democratic party that I think is a good thing.

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They need to be waking up and like supporting some of these much further down, down, down

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ballot races.

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But that being said, you know, what's also good to see is that the North Carolina democratic

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party is showing that they do have teeth.

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Keep it up is what I say.

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Keep up the pressure because they're not going to stop.

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No, they're not.

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They are very much Republicans that is.

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As a whole.

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Yeah.

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They are very much a given inch, take a mile sort of group.

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They again, I think it's obvious from their actions with this, their actions on just a

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national level and basically everything they do really, they don't care about your vote

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and allowing you to vote and express your voice.

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They care about keeping themselves in power, about enriching themselves, empowering themselves,

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empowering their rich friends, helping their rich friends get even richer.

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They don't care about what you have to say if as long as that what you have to say goes

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against what they want.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And far be it from for us who are on a podcast called the Left of Old North to make sweeping

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generalizations about all Republicans.

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But this is the party you support.

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Yeah.

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You know, this is this is the kind of thing that you want.

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You want total domination of a state where half of the residents vote a certain way and

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half the residents vote a different way.

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Like this is this is a pretty purple state.

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We've we've said it on pretty much every episode so far.

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And actually, Chris Cooper released a book just this last year called Anatomy of a Purple

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State.

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Great book so far.

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Which we have started reading and is is going to be on our official Left of Old North book

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reading list.

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I'm sure it'll have a sticker on it in bookstores anytime, any day now.

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We look at things like this and we have to have a 10,000 foot view of little microcosms

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of races like this because this is the same kind of tactic that is continuously used throughout

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North Carolina politics that you have one party trying to state claims, little ones,

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every chance that they get.

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And if you give an inch, like you said, they'll take a mile.

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And in North Carolina, those are some pretty long miles.

243
00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:54,280
Yeah, because there's a lot of space here to play around with.

244
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:59,600
North Carolina is not the biggest state, but it is one of the states that has a large population

245
00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,840
that is condensed in certain areas and leaves you a lot of wiggle room to play around with

246
00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,000
gerrymandering, to play around with demographics.

247
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,000
Right.

248
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,240
North Carolina is a very diverse state, too.

249
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:11,240
It is.

250
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:12,240
It is.

251
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:18,760
I will say, I think I think we should say North Carolina, Oklahoma and Florida are.

252
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,520
Oklahoma is not what I was expecting.

253
00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:22,520
Yeah.

254
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:28,920
Now, these are the three states where I think the national GMP loves to experiment and use

255
00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:33,800
as testing grounds to see what they can get away with and what might fly on a national

256
00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,120
level in Oklahoma.

257
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:42,480
Like the big thing right now is education out there, trying to force Bibles into classrooms,

258
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:43,720
all this stuff.

259
00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:44,800
These are the testing grounds.

260
00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:45,800
I see.

261
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:52,000
So Oklahoma, Oklahoma is more like the like Yucca Flats testing ground.

262
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:53,000
Yes.

263
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,800
And then like North Carolina is more of the chessboard.

264
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,880
Let's see where we can move the pieces around to try and make make things.

265
00:13:58,880 --> 00:13:59,880
I see.

266
00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:00,880
I see where you're going with that.

267
00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,600
And if I because because one of the first states that came to mind for me was Missouri,

268
00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,400
because because up until very recently, Missouri was a swing state.

269
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:09,400
Yeah, it was.

270
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:10,400
And I lived there for a time.

271
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:11,920
I lived there for four years.

272
00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:16,440
And during my time, what I realized was that this is Trump country.

273
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,320
This isn't this like, yeah, a lot of people vote Republican here.

274
00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:20,960
A lot of people vote Democrats.

275
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,640
But a lot of these Democrats were yellow dogs.

276
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:24,640
Yeah.

277
00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,700
But when Trump came around, that was a different story.

278
00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:30,600
And I think you have a lot of North Carolinians that feel the same way.

279
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,240
Now how does that transition?

280
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,400
How does that translate into future wins for the Democratic Party?

281
00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:39,640
You can't run against Trump the same way we did in 2024.

282
00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:40,640
Right.

283
00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:41,640
You just can't.

284
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,080
There's a lot of lessons to be learned from 2024.

285
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,420
There's a lot of lessons to be learned from 2016.

286
00:14:45,420 --> 00:14:46,920
And they're not the same race.

287
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:50,320
A lot of people and we might go off on a bit of a tangent here, but I think a lot of people

288
00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:54,640
are making the assumption that just because Hillary Clinton was a woman is alone.

289
00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:55,800
She's not dead yet.

290
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,280
Hillary Clinton is a woman who's running a national campaign.

291
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:04,160
Kamala Harris is a woman, a black woman, well, black Indian woman that is running a national

292
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,360
campaign in a state that is historically not, does not have the greatest track record with

293
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:10,560
race relations.

294
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:12,520
Did that move the needle?

295
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:13,520
Probably.

296
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:19,040
Maybe a little bit, but enough to like sway it so far that she lost by as much as she

297
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:20,040
did.

298
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,040
No, I think that there's something deeper than that.

299
00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:26,280
I think that there is a population of, and we talked a little bit about this in our last

300
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:32,560
episode, there's a population that's dying off in a few places in the counties where

301
00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:33,560
we ran.

302
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,720
There was a large swath of Democrats that just are gone off the rolls either because

303
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:39,880
they moved away or they died.

304
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,440
And unfortunately, this is also coming off the heels of COVID-19.

305
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:44,520
So the latter is probably more true.

306
00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,680
And these were, these are Democrats from rural areas that probably are a little bit more

307
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,560
socially conservative, but they will vote for a Democrat because of, you know, their

308
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:57,160
daddy and their daddy's daddy and their daddy's daddy's daddy voted Democrat, not Republican,

309
00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,200
never a Republican.

310
00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:04,300
And the problem is that now we have a situation where some of these older folks who are more

311
00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:08,400
socially conservative, who are on the fence to begin with, may have swayed towards Trump,

312
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,160
especially if they go unaffiliated.

313
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,920
And then some of the people who were socially conservative Democrats are either dying off

314
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:14,920
or losing interest.

315
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,120
And now you have a huge swath of younger voters that are coming in that are disaffected, that

316
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:20,280
don't care.

317
00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:21,280
What do you do?

318
00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,160
And back to the problem that we addressed in our last episode where we need to start

319
00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:31,440
attracting people who are younger because it got better marginally in this last election

320
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:37,900
that there was a slight uptick in the involvement of younger voters from like ages 18 to 35.

321
00:16:37,900 --> 00:16:39,040
Not fantastic though.

322
00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:41,960
Not as good as it could have been, especially for the amount of chirping that we heard on

323
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:42,960
TikTok.

324
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,920
And I mean, I can't say I blame, I can't say I blame them really.

325
00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:52,520
I mean, a lot of, and it's probably going to go into even more of a tangent.

326
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:53,520
That's what we're here for.

327
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:59,440
I think a lot of younger voters, I'm going to include myself in that while I still can

328
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:01,440
because I'm not 35 yet.

329
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:02,440
Right.

330
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:03,640
Don't worry, we're getting there.

331
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:04,640
We're getting there.

332
00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,360
Don't remind me.

333
00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:12,280
But I think a lot of the younger voters, let's say like youngest of the Gen Z voters, they

334
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:17,840
grew up with school shootings and all that stuff, the drills, whereas like you and I,

335
00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:19,800
we had like tornado drills.

336
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:21,640
They have active shooter drills.

337
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:27,360
They have a government and they have a party that to their perception has not done a damn

338
00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:28,800
thing about it.

339
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,380
They see the party as toothless.

340
00:17:31,380 --> 00:17:37,200
They see a spineless to an extent, and they see it as an organization that is just about

341
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:42,560
to maintain the status quo, take a look at Nancy Pelosi and the AOC thing a couple weeks

342
00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:43,560
ago.

343
00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:44,560
Sure.

344
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,720
Of course, why should they waste their time and their day and whatnot and go out to vote

345
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,760
for a party that they don't think gives a shit about them?

346
00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,760
I can't blame them for feeling that way.

347
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:53,960
I'll do you one better.

348
00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,080
They think that being a Democrat is cringe.

349
00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:57,080
Yeah.

350
00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:58,440
And that's the worst offense.

351
00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,440
Yeah.

352
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:00,440
Yeah.

353
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,520
All their favorite streamers are decidedly not Democrats.

354
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,440
They think that SJWs and all these people who ascribe themselves to be for the greater

355
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,520
good are just cringe and not based.

356
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:14,520
But I agree with you.

357
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,260
I think that there is a systemic issue within the Democratic Party.

358
00:18:19,260 --> 00:18:25,240
I'm hoping, I'm not super hopeful, but I'm hoping that something like I'm pretty sure

359
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:27,400
Ben Wickler is going to be the next chair.

360
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:28,400
Yeah.

361
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:34,360
He doesn't have my full throated endorsement because like, I mean, what is he going to

362
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:35,640
do differently?

363
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:37,120
Not sure.

364
00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:39,960
He's promised a lot of things as they all do.

365
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:41,000
So we'll just have to see.

366
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,000
But I like what he's done so far with, what was it?

367
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,000
He's Minnesota, right?

368
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,000
I thought he was Wisconsin.

369
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,000
Wisconsin.

370
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,000
He's one of those, one of the cheese states as I call them.

371
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,680
Wisconsin, Wisconsin, yeah.

372
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,560
As far as I know, he's done a great job up there.

373
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:55,560
Yeah, yes.

374
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,840
Does that, how is that going to translate to the national stage?

375
00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,600
Is the real question?

376
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,840
Because that's one thing to, I mean, Wisconsin is rust built, right?

377
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:03,840
Yeah.

378
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:10,800
So there's some value to be gained from having somebody that runs pretty successful campaigns

379
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:16,180
and candidates in a rust belt state, in a working class state, in a Midwestern state.

380
00:19:16,180 --> 00:19:18,760
It's good to not have somebody from the East Coast.

381
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,480
I mean, I know Jamie Harrison has done what he can, but he was also somebody who kind

382
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:27,880
of got off on a bad start because he ran against Lindsey Graham and wasn't the greatest turnout

383
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:28,880
for him.

384
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:30,960
I mean, it's South Carolina, but there you go.

385
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:31,960
Yeah.

386
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,680
I just think that his tenure has kind of been undercut by a lot of the problems that people

387
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,720
are ascribing to national Democrats as a whole.

388
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:41,280
This inability to message, right?

389
00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,600
That in and of itself has become like a flagship message against Democrats.

390
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:46,600
Democrats are bad at messaging.

391
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,000
Okay, well, half the time when you ask people what do you mean by that, they can't really

392
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:52,360
give you a good answer.

393
00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:53,480
I've heard decent arguments for this.

394
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,440
I'm not saying it's not true, but a lot of the time people will just be like, oh, the

395
00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:58,440
Democrats are so bad at messaging.

396
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,040
It's like, okay, well, what do you think they could do better?

397
00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,920
Just, you know, more, just talking more about this.

398
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:06,240
It's like, yeah, they've talked about that.

399
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:07,360
Well, just talking more about this.

400
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:09,080
It's like, yeah, no, they've talked about that.

401
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,000
It's like, what do you want them to do exactly?

402
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:15,920
I think we need to get back to a position where A, I said we as in like people who are

403
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,920
on the left, not just Democrats, not just leftists, just everybody who is trying to

404
00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,160
win against these Republicans, especially in this state.

405
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,800
We need to get to a point where we have somebody at the helm who is going to lead us into a

406
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,200
direction that is not going to be part of the status quo.

407
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:33,640
Because I think people are sick of it.

408
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,760
And as much as the Nancy Pelosi's and the Chuck Schumers are not sick of it because

409
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,000
it's been very lucrative for them so far.

410
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,000
Insider trading.

411
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,000
What?

412
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,640
Like I said, very lucrative, both politically and financially.

413
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,600
That shit needs to change because we're at a crossroads now.

414
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:55,320
Trump is one of the most unpopular presidents to win reelection ever against the president

415
00:20:55,320 --> 00:21:00,400
who has a what is it as a 32 percent approval rating.

416
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,520
And the man like people want to give Biden a lot of credit.

417
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,040
And I think he deserves a lot of credit.

418
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:11,520
But giving some giving your predecessor or excuse me, but giving your giving your vice

419
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,280
president, giving the person who's going to run after you 100 days to run a national

420
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,920
presidential campaign is insane.

421
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:21,520
Yeah, like just just slice me off at the knees.

422
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,280
Why don't you at the torso?

423
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,600
People want to blame Kamala Harris for a lot of things that happened in this campaign.

424
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,600
And I think that they did the best with what they could.

425
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:29,600
Oh, yeah.

426
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,240
But there was no let's be very clear about this as well.

427
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,240
There was basically no other option.

428
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:36,560
People wanted a full on primary.

429
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:42,080
And I was one of those people until I realized that if there was a full on primary, anybody

430
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:46,480
who wasn't Kamala Harris would not get access to any of the funds that were raised with

431
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:48,040
the Biden Harris campaign.

432
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,040
Yeah.

433
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,040
Big problem.

434
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,160
The policy, though, didn't really matter, did it, because price tag was pretty high

435
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:55,800
and she still didn't win.

436
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:56,800
Yeah.

437
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:57,800
Yeah.

438
00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,720
Like I said, a lot of different facets to this.

439
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,040
This is not one one definitive problem with the twenty twenty four campaign.

440
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,480
This is a problem across the board in a lot of ways because a lot of really popular candidates

441
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:09,480
lost this year.

442
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:10,480
Oh, yeah.

443
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:11,480
Oh, yeah.

444
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,280
Sherrod Brown in Ohio was one that shocked me.

445
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,940
Absolutely shocked me, especially against somebody like Bernie Moreno, a literal used

446
00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:21,400
car salesman, Jesus, a literal con man.

447
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,000
Like this this isn't like, oh, Trump's a con man kind of thing.

448
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,200
I mean, like this guy has been to court because he was caught on fraud.

449
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,280
Like it boggles the mind.

450
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:31,280
Right.

451
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,200
Two years, two years later, we could have had Dr.

452
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,080
Oz in Philadelphia or in Pennsylvania.

453
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:36,600
Like, just think about that.

454
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,760
You know, it's right not to.

455
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:41,760
But that was another one.

456
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,000
Bob Casey losing in Pennsylvania.

457
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,960
This is the kind of thing that in twenty twenty six cannot happen.

458
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,320
Twenty twenty four is just an awful year for them.

459
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:51,320
It really was.

460
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,720
Now, on North Carolina state level, it was actually pretty good, I will say.

461
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:55,720
Yeah.

462
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:57,960
On a national level, it was we stopped the bleeding somewhat.

463
00:22:57,960 --> 00:22:58,960
Yeah.

464
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,520
But on a national level, it was absolutely awful.

465
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:08,520
And that's why whoever is going to be DNC chair, I want them to come in with a rabid

466
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,000
viciousness like I want an attack dog.

467
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,680
I want someone who is willing to tear into every Republican they see.

468
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:22,560
I want someone who is willing to just, you know, let a nuke drop on the Republican Party,

469
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,600
essentially, and just leave them decimated.

470
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,040
I want someone who's not afraid to pick fights, who is not.

471
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:30,440
I want someone who you know what?

472
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:31,560
They might make mistakes.

473
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,160
They might screw up somehow.

474
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,480
But I want them to do that running head first, full speed into that wall.

475
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:38,480
Sure.

476
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:39,480
I want.

477
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:40,480
And we can't be afraid to make mistakes.

478
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,480
Yeah, exactly.

479
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,400
And I think that's a good thing as well.

480
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:44,400
Republicans make mistakes all the time.

481
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:45,400
Yeah.

482
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:46,400
Does that slow them down?

483
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:47,400
Hell no.

484
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:48,400
Hell no.

485
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:49,400
If anything, it gives them more ammunition.

486
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,120
Well, because then it's like, oh, look, see, they're coming after us.

487
00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:55,200
They're coming after us just because we make one little mistake.

488
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,840
We can't be afraid to continuously put the other side on the back foot.

489
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:00,840
Yeah.

490
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:01,840
And that's what we haven't been doing.

491
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,460
Like we we as the left have to stop hinging.

492
00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:08,840
And I know what some people will say, because I've already gotten this from a couple of

493
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:13,000
people online is, well, the Democratic Party is not really on the left.

494
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,720
Yeah, I know.

495
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:19,200
Ostensibly, though, nominally, let's let's stick to you.

496
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:20,720
You want to make a wider umbrella.

497
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,800
You want you want to you want to move toward the center.

498
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:25,840
Let's just label everybody from this side over to the left.

499
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:26,840
Yeah.

500
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:28,120
That makes it more cohesive in my mind.

501
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:29,120
Yeah.

502
00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:32,720
Regardless, the Democratic Party as a whole, like you said, has to be ready to be an attack

503
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:33,720
dog.

504
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:38,120
And unfortunately, right now, we're we're at we're at a nexus where a bunch of different

505
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:41,160
people think that we should be doing one thing or another.

506
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:42,160
Yeah.

507
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:43,920
And that we should be headed in this direction.

508
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:45,640
No, no, we should be doing this thing.

509
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,000
We have pundits on the news that are constantly talking about how the left is too woke.

510
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,560
The left talked about trans issues too much.

511
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,240
The left did this, this, that and the other.

512
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:54,720
And we should be moving more towards the center.

513
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,000
They're going to make the same mistake that they did in 2016 if they go with that route.

514
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,000
Yeah.

515
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,160
And the problem is that they may think that that worked in 2020.

516
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,800
But part of the reason that Biden got reelected is because it was Trump.

517
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,600
Yeah, that's that's really it.

518
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,920
I think that so many people push that out, like like as if Biden had this great campaign,

519
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,640
he did not have a great campaign.

520
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,080
It was not like this stellar barn busting campaign.

521
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,600
It was or barn barn storming door busting campaign.

522
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,240
It was I mean, they even made fun of him for it that he was in the basement the whole time.

523
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:25,240
Yeah.

524
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,020
Now imagine if he had able he'd been able to run a fully fledged campaign.

525
00:25:28,020 --> 00:25:29,760
It might have gone worse.

526
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:30,760
Yeah.

527
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:31,960
Who knows?

528
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,880
And then looking towards 2026, we see that there are a couple of names coming down the

529
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,720
pipeline that well, we'll save that a little bit more towards the end.

530
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,040
I'm getting ahead of myself.

531
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,560
But I think to close out this little section, I'm interested to see we've got some people

532
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,680
who are running for vice chair here in the North Carolina Democratic Party.

533
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,000
The current first vice chair is Jonah Garson.

534
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:57,440
I think he's done a pretty dang good job as far as I'm concerned, especially with raising

535
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,160
money and doing all the things the first vice chair is supposed to do.

536
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,600
Well, there's some other people who think that they could do a better job.

537
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:08,080
One of the more prominent names that I've seen so far is Aaron Johnson.

538
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:09,440
Spoke with him a few nights ago.

539
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,200
If he wins, I think we're still in good hands.

540
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:16,880
So, you know, may the best may the best person win, or at least whoever the Democratic establishment

541
00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:21,440
within the North Carolina Democratic Party believes to be the best person for the job.

542
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:27,000
And I want to sorry, I'm going to take this back just a few minutes ago really quickly.

543
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000
Oh, sure.

544
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,000
Yeah, go for it.

545
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,800
Going back to the Alison Ray Starrison Griffin thing for just a second while it's on my mind.

546
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,640
We need to get off the tangent.

547
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,400
You're good.

548
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:41,480
So this Tuesday, I just for anyone interested, Kate Barr.

549
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:46,680
So she ran for state Senate at this election in a very gerrymandered district.

550
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,040
Yeah, her handle was Kate Barr can't win.

551
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,140
Yeah, she fully embraced embraced it.

552
00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:55,200
She now has the can't win victory fund.

553
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,240
So essentially, it's going to like start promoting all these different causes and whatnot.

554
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:04,360
But one thing that they that is doing is this Tuesday, starting at 6am and until every vote

555
00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:08,920
of our name is read, they're going to be reading all 60,000 book names in front of the North

556
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,400
Carolina State Supreme Court starting at 6am.

557
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:17,200
I think they said like they plugged in the chat GPT and it estimated about 17 hours.

558
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,200
Holy crap.

559
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,680
Yeah, they're live stream.

560
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:20,680
Yeah.

561
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,200
So if y'all are in the rally area, I'd say definitely stop by at some point, you know,

562
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:26,200
show your support.

563
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,880
You can also go to the can't win victory fund website, can't win victory fund dot com and

564
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,000
look and see if your vote is one of the ones that's being challenged.

565
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,000
Yeah.

566
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,720
Please make sure now because if you don't get in touch with the North Carolina Democratic

567
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,820
Party or you don't get in touch with the Board of Elections, they're not going to be able

568
00:27:42,820 --> 00:27:43,820
to help you.

569
00:27:43,820 --> 00:27:44,820
Exactly.

570
00:27:44,820 --> 00:27:47,640
And if you do discover your names on there, I don't know what happens if you put it in

571
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,440
on her website and you are one of the ones I don't know if it sends you anywhere.

572
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,660
But if you discover your name is on there, you can either reach out to the state party

573
00:27:55,660 --> 00:27:59,080
or if you don't know how to get in contact with them, you can get in contact with us.

574
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:00,320
We can help point you in the right direction.

575
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:01,960
We have contacts with state for yourselves.

576
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:02,960
Yeah.

577
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,200
And we are more than willing to help you out in any way we can.

578
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:07,200
Yeah.

579
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:08,200
Every vote counts.

580
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:09,200
So make sure yours does.

581
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:10,200
It should be counted.

582
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:11,200
And should be counted.

583
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:12,200
So make sure yours does.

584
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:13,200
Absolutely.

585
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,680
So now that we're done with small talk, let's talk about the weather.

586
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,600
It's pretty, pretty crazy stuff so far.

587
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:21,640
You know, it's been colder than usual.

588
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:22,640
Yeah.

589
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:27,680
And that led to an advisory that led to a lot of people on Facebook telling me not to

590
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,080
worry about it because it's not even going to stick to the ground.

591
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:32,080
Alas.

592
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:33,080
Alas.

593
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,320
And then at the same time, and part of the reason why I bring the weather up is because

594
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:41,320
at the same time that all this was happening, the Palisades fire was going on in California,

595
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:47,720
which prompted thousands of Twitter and Facebook users to come out in full force and blame

596
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:54,320
Biden personally for not funding relief efforts for Hurricane Eileen.

597
00:28:54,320 --> 00:29:01,520
Because if you missed it, he's going to, he did a whole order to 100% fund the relief

598
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,200
for the Palisades fire recovery.

599
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,480
So people immediately took to the online space and started saying, well, what about North

600
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:09,480
Carolina?

601
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:10,480
What about North Carolina?

602
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:11,480
What about North Carolina?

603
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:12,480
Hey, idiots.

604
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:13,480
He did do that.

605
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:14,480
Yep.

606
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,960
In case you were so far up your own ass that you missed it.

607
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:18,960
He did do that.

608
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:19,960
He did.

609
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,600
And then on the back end of it, Congress approved $9 billion in funding.

610
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,280
You know what our state government did?

611
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:26,760
I wonder.

612
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,480
Not even a 10th of that.

613
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:29,480
Not even a 10th.

614
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,240
So put that into perspective.

615
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,760
Shut up for a minute.

616
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:38,360
I might be a little harsh there, but it really does grind on you after a while, I think,

617
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,960
to see this kind of stuff just pop up over and over and over again.

618
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:42,960
Yeah.

619
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:43,960
No.

620
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,800
And it goes back to a few weeks ago with the American Inland Relief Bill.

621
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:54,040
To see people particularly on the right, because that's where this whole, oh, what about North

622
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:55,040
Carolina thing?

623
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,380
Oh, Biden didn't do that for North Carolina.

624
00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:00,440
This all originally has right-wing talking points.

625
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,320
Well, they knew this was going to happen.

626
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,240
Maybe not this, maybe not this specifically, but natural disasters occur.

627
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:08,240
Yeah.

628
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:14,160
And it pisses me off to no end, both as North Carolinian and just as a person.

629
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:19,360
It pisses me off to no end to see the right try and use these natural disasters, try to

630
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:25,840
use this hurricane, and try to use the fires out in California, where I saw like an hour

631
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,160
ago, I think there were up to 15 or 20 deaths.

632
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:29,160
Something like that, yeah.

633
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,200
Confirmed deaths, because some of these fires, they still don't have it under control at

634
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:33,200
all.

635
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:34,200
One of whom was like a child actor or something.

636
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:35,200
Yeah.

637
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:36,200
What the heck?

638
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,200
Yeah, child actor or a foreign child actor.

639
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,000
Aren't they all former child actors?

640
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,800
That's fair.

641
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:47,640
But to see the right use this for cheap political points is just maddening.

642
00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:55,520
And it just, the basic human indecency that is shown by that is astounding.

643
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,960
And I'm shaking my head because it's like, yeah, at this point, don't expect it.

644
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:00,960
Right?

645
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:06,240
Because at this point, anybody who is in this space, anybody who is paying attention to

646
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,760
the political nature of what's going on here in the old North State, could have foreseen

647
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,120
this coming.

648
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,760
That the moment anything else happened anywhere else, they've already laid the propaganda

649
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,720
groundwork to make it seem like North Carolina was not getting help.

650
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,560
And now these liberal cities are getting help from the liberal government.

651
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,200
Here's the thing, man.

652
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:29,240
We had a chance to help out our state and they sold out for 200 and what was it like

653
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:30,240
$253 million.

654
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:31,240
Yep.

655
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:38,920
And that was not even new money and alongside that bill were ways to gut multiple facets

656
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,680
of our state government.

657
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:47,140
We had the chance to rein in an authoritarian power grab of the state and we didn't do that.

658
00:31:47,140 --> 00:31:50,640
And then Biden and Congress came back in and we're like, okay, we're actually going to

659
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,000
help fund the relief efforts down in North Carolina.

660
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,280
Of course we should be doing that.

661
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:55,280
So they did that.

662
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,560
Cut to a month later and we're experiencing the same thing again.

663
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:03,640
It's like it never even happened because the rights messaging is so strong because it's

664
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:04,640
so simple.

665
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,960
It's why every time I passed one of those Trump safety, Kamala crime signs, I was like,

666
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,020
this is what will win him the election.

667
00:32:11,020 --> 00:32:12,880
This right here, this is the messaging.

668
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:18,240
Four words, easily digestible, easily understandable and something you can't take your eyes away

669
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:19,240
from.

670
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:20,240
Right.

671
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,280
It's like, it's almost embarrassing to support Kamala because you're basically saying you

672
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:23,560
support crime.

673
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,000
You want people in Western North Carolina to be homeless.

674
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,000
It's like, wait, what?

675
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,000
No, I don't.

676
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,200
You're like, well, that's what you're doing.

677
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,560
If you vote for Democrats, what that doesn't make it.

678
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:32,560
That doesn't make any sense.

679
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:33,560
But it doesn't matter.

680
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,560
You're already you're already past the point because the point has already been made to

681
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:37,560
them.

682
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:39,120
So how do we get ourselves out of that hole?

683
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:43,120
How do we on the left start to message effectively against something that is like politically

684
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:48,800
incoherent as not understanding how a fucking budget works?

685
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:56,280
It's honestly a tough thing to kind of work out because how do you how do you break down

686
00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:04,040
something as complicated and just incoherent at times as a budget and as different things?

687
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,400
You know, how do you break that down and make it digestible in four words?

688
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:13,240
You know, how do you make it digestible for a population that is used to, you know, 15

689
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,000
seconds hits the dopamine on TikTok?

690
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,640
Not to say that they're addicted or they can't pay attention or anything like that.

691
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:18,880
Not not saying that at all.

692
00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:19,880
Right.

693
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:21,840
No, and definitely subscribe to us and follow us on everything.

694
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:22,840
Yeah.

695
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,480
We love that we can keep your attention for at least 15 seconds.

696
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:32,560
So like, you know, what I'm saying is for a population that is so busy with life, how

697
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:34,080
do you get through to them?

698
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,800
You know, because if I'm someone who doesn't care about politics, you know, I'm going to

699
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:44,080
scroll past that or I'm going to go do really anything else rather than think about Congress.

700
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:50,680
You know, well, because Congress is this is this nebulous blob of a 14 percent approval

701
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:51,680
rating.

702
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,300
So it's like individual members.

703
00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:55,240
It's like, oh, Congress is bad.

704
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,240
But I like my congressman.

705
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:57,240
Congress is bad.

706
00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,240
But AOC has some good ideas.

707
00:33:58,240 --> 00:33:59,240
It's like, OK, well, she's part of Congress.

708
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:00,240
And so is the Senate.

709
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:07,960
There's four hundred there's five hundred thirty five members of Congress, not including

710
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:14,320
all the other like people that technically get a say like Guam, American Samoa, Washington,

711
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:15,320
D.C.

712
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:16,320
Yeah.

713
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:21,280
All these territorial pieces of this American empire that technically get a say.

714
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,840
We should have voting power in Congress anyway.

715
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:26,520
No, I agree.

716
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,480
Like honestly, this is this is a bit of a hot take.

717
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,680
But like this is somewhere to meet in the middle.

718
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:34,720
It's like, look, if you don't want to give these people statehood, at least make it just

719
00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:36,480
this make it a territorial vote.

720
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:37,480
Yeah.

721
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,640
They get an electoral vote based or like a territorial vote in Congress.

722
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:43,440
It could be the deciding factor.

723
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:44,440
Yeah.

724
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:45,440
You have people in Puerto Rico.

725
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:46,440
You have people in Guam.

726
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,520
You have people all over millions of people, in fact, that just don't get a say.

727
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:51,800
But that's not what we're here to talk about.

728
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,280
So that's that's my take.

729
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,320
Just some kind of representation and not not just nominally.

730
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:57,320
Yeah.

731
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:02,440
But I mean, I think at the end of the day, part of it is you have to make your message

732
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:03,440
simple.

733
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:04,440
You really do.

734
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,440
It's the keep it simple, stupid approach.

735
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:07,440
Yeah.

736
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:08,440
Four words or less.

737
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:09,440
Yeah.

738
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:14,600
You know, don't say, oh, the General Assembly passed a hurricane relief bill that was power

739
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,920
grab because it transferred power from the governor.

740
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:24,200
By that point, you have scrolled past you are, you know, you put your phone down, you're

741
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:25,200
getting ready for bed.

742
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:26,200
You know, yeah.

743
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:27,720
Most people don't know what a gerrymander is.

744
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:28,720
Yeah.

745
00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:29,720
They don't care to know.

746
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:30,720
And I can't blame them.

747
00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:33,000
You and I and probably people listen to this.

748
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,480
No offense to the audience.

749
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:35,480
We're the odd ones out.

750
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,840
We're we're the weirdo, so to say, because we're engaged and interested in the same.

751
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,520
The vast population is not.

752
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,200
And again, I can't blame them.

753
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:50,280
This is stuff that is incredibly archaic and boring and just not high on a list of people's,

754
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,080
you know, list of important things.

755
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:53,080
Right.

756
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:57,200
It's nebulous sometimes by design, but not necessarily not necessarily.

757
00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:00,520
It's just I mean, who's going to really tune in to their city council meetings?

758
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:01,520
Right.

759
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:03,160
You know, it's like, yeah, it's important.

760
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,440
But like, who's really doing that on a day to day basis?

761
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:06,440
Right.

762
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:07,440
It's only once a month, too.

763
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:08,680
It's not like it's some huge chunky.

764
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:10,800
I watched my city council meeting today.

765
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:15,440
It was literally 15 minutes long because they had like one thing and there were three people

766
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,320
in that audience.

767
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,200
But but you're right.

768
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:24,980
One of the problems, I think, amongst politicos and pundits and all these people who espouse

769
00:36:24,980 --> 00:36:29,240
these high minded ideas about politics and the soul of the country and ideology and all

770
00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:34,920
these things, there is a threshold that once you become a certain once you're woke, once

771
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:41,200
you are politically woke, once you have gone beyond this this thin ceiling of not understanding

772
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:46,160
what's going on, it's very hard to look back downward and understand what people who don't

773
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,280
know about this stuff don't know.

774
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:49,280
Right.

775
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:50,280
How do you translate?

776
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:54,960
I mean, and this is what people get paid millions of dollars a year to do is to translate back

777
00:36:54,960 --> 00:37:01,200
downward through the through the film, the thin layer of understanding to the people

778
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:07,400
who A don't care, B don't understand it, and C don't want to understand it.

779
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:10,880
There are plenty of people who are they're like, yeah, but like, it's you know, they

780
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:11,880
don't want to get political.

781
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,840
They don't but but although Democrats like no, like, this is important.

782
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:16,080
You should probably understand this.

783
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,700
I understand that you're still going to vote.

784
00:37:17,700 --> 00:37:19,240
But do you really know what you're voting for?

785
00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:20,240
Right.

786
00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:21,240
Because there are Democrats that are bad, too.

787
00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:22,240
Yeah, there are.

788
00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,960
There are people that run in primaries that you're just like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

789
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:26,960
whoa.

790
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:28,880
Hey, I know he's a Democrat.

791
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:30,560
But this dude, I mean, okay.

792
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:33,280
Great example is Eric Adams in New York State.

793
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,480
Yeah, sorry, New York State, New York City.

794
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:40,520
Yeah, the man is an ex Republican, a cop, and somebody who is being indicted on charges

795
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:41,520
of corruption.

796
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,760
Yeah, I could have told you that when he was running.

797
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,520
Yeah, that he was somebody that you should not support as a Democrat.

798
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:48,520
Yep.

799
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:54,440
And the problem is that people don't understand half the time how to delineate Democrats or

800
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:58,600
how to delineate Republicans even there are Republicans who are way worse than some other

801
00:37:58,600 --> 00:37:59,600
Republicans.

802
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:04,240
Yeah, like, yeah, everybody hates Mitch McConnell and with due cause, but Mitch McConnell is

803
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:05,240
not Trump.

804
00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:09,400
There is a very there's a vast canyon of difference between the two of them ideologically.

805
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:10,400
Yeah.

806
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,000
Is he going to use Trump to gain power?

807
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Absolutely.

808
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,000
Because that is McConnell's MO.

809
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:16,000
Yeah.

810
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:17,200
But Donald Trump doesn't need Mitch McConnell.

811
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:18,200
And he knows that.

812
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:23,040
So he he messes with the Senate to make it to where they are a cog running just just

813
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,640
enough out of step with Trump's regime that you know, they can still piggyback off of

814
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:33,160
his success and yet keep some of their autonomy that again, how do you even begin to translate

815
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:34,280
that downward?

816
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,960
How do you even begin to make people understand that?

817
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,680
Yeah, I've listened to hours of podcasts.

818
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:42,200
I've watched tons of explainer videos.

819
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,160
I've read hundreds of articles.

820
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:45,160
That's a lot of time.

821
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:46,160
Yeah, it is.

822
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,400
I mean, I think I think there are a few people out there who do it really well, who are able

823
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:55,400
to condense this information into very concise, very clear, easy to understand ways.

824
00:38:55,400 --> 00:39:00,760
And now I'm thinking about basically all of them are on TikTok thinking of like under

825
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:02,200
the desk news, for example.

826
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:03,200
Sure.

827
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:04,200
What's their V?

828
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,400
I think they go by V. V. V. Spar maybe.

829
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:09,400
Yeah.

830
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:13,200
They are able to take very complicated stories and condense them, condense several of them

831
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,320
to like two, three minute video.

832
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:19,600
And you can walk away with a very good understanding.

833
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:20,600
What's your name?

834
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:22,440
Victoria Hammett, I think.

835
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,800
She's with like GNC for change or something like that.

836
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:29,120
Like 30 second, 45 second video stops.

837
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:35,720
And she can tell you all about how shady whatever the Republicans are doing that day is and how

838
00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:37,920
to fight back against that.

839
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:39,920
How do you get that hook?

840
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,400
And for me, the hook was I don't understand how any of this shit works.

841
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:47,320
Back in 2016 before, really it was 2015 when Trump first started running.

842
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:49,760
I was like, I don't understand how any of this shit works.

843
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:51,880
I need to probably understand how some of it works.

844
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,360
I didn't understand the Electoral College at all.

845
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,560
And like I had watched the schoolhouse rock video.

846
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:02,800
I had government class in high school and I still didn't understand it.

847
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,600
So when people say, oh, well, we need more education.

848
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:06,680
We need government classes.

849
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:07,680
We need civics classes.

850
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,280
I'm going to tell you right now that that's not going to help.

851
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,600
It might help some people, but it's not going to help the vast majority of high schoolers

852
00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:18,360
who are not going to care about how a bill becomes a law more than they are going to

853
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:22,280
care about what they're going to be doing after school with their friends.

854
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,200
I was more concerned about going home and playing Halo.

855
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:26,360
And I was hanging out with my girlfriend.

856
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:27,360
We live two different lives.

857
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:28,360
It's fine.

858
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:29,360
I was in BAND.

859
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,360
What did I know about a girlfriend?

860
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,360
Anyway, there it is.

861
00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,720
Even then, you probably care more about BAND than you do about government.

862
00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:40,520
And look what you do now.

863
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:46,600
So it's this there's a crowd out there that exists that thinks there is a simple answer

864
00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,360
to everything.

865
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,080
There's a blanket answer, one of which is education.

866
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:52,960
Oh, we just need more education.

867
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:53,960
Not necessarily.

868
00:40:53,960 --> 00:41:00,240
I'm not saying I'm not coming out as an as an an adversary of public education or that

869
00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:01,280
we need more education.

870
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:02,720
But I don't think it's the end all be all.

871
00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:06,320
I think that there is a severe lack of participation.

872
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,600
Yeah, like we run in some small circles.

873
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,160
And I didn't until I was in them, I did not realize how small they were.

874
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:19,580
Yeah, it's it's a little bit jarring because you start running into the same people over

875
00:41:19,580 --> 00:41:21,040
and over and over again.

876
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,120
And you're like, wait, you're part of this group, too.

877
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:25,840
Oh, and you're part of that group and you're elected to this office.

878
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:31,560
And you start to realize, like, oh, the fabric that's holding this whole thing together is

879
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:32,960
like a couple hundred people.

880
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:33,960
Yeah.

881
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,080
And a good portion of them are retirees.

882
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:42,800
I am back in about 2015, 2016, because that's when I also really started paying attention

883
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:43,800
to politics.

884
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:50,120
I mean, I thought like I thought like government was kind of interesting because I was a nerd.

885
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:51,120
We know.

886
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:52,120
Yeah.

887
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:57,240
But like I say, I'm a nerd as I'm filling with a Lego set off screen.

888
00:41:57,240 --> 00:41:58,240
That's your fidget toy, huh?

889
00:41:58,240 --> 00:41:59,240
Yeah.

890
00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,240
So, you know, I was nervous.

891
00:42:01,240 --> 00:42:06,280
I thought it was interesting, but I didn't really pay attention to the current events.

892
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:10,200
I didn't pay attention to the actual current political happenings until about 2015 where

893
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:14,600
I'm like, OK, you know, Trump, he's that dude from The Apprentice.

894
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:15,640
This guy's got to be a joke.

895
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,760
And then like the more I watched it, the more I was like, hold up.

896
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,360
I'm like, this guy just seems not right.

897
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,120
So that's when I started to get more involved.

898
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:31,240
I went to a, yeah, I was in Watauga County Democratic Party, like their monthly meeting.

899
00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:33,680
And you know, it's a pretty cool way for me to get involved.

900
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:38,520
I looked around and it struck me because even in a college town, a very liberal college

901
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:42,360
town, because we're talking about Boone, North Carolina, you know, a very bright blue dot

902
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:43,360
and a sea of red.

903
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:44,840
I was one of the youngest people there.

904
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:48,760
And there were like maybe two or three other people really who were that young.

905
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,280
And it definitely got a lot better, I will say.

906
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:52,760
But like, you know, that was concerning.

907
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:55,240
I'm like, we need, you know, we need older people.

908
00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:56,960
Yes, because we need that institutional knowledge.

909
00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:57,960
We need that experience.

910
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,120
We need that know how.

911
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,480
But we also need the young blood, so to say, who have that time, who have the energy, who

912
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,360
have the experience with, you know, the best way to reach people their age.

913
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,240
Yeah.

914
00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:13,160
And I think as OK, so CJ, you're 32, right?

915
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:14,160
We'll say that 33.

916
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:15,160
Oh, you're 33.

917
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:16,160
OK.

918
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:17,160
And I'm 31.

919
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:18,160
We're both dads.

920
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:19,160
We're both married.

921
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,200
We both have had full time jobs.

922
00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:26,420
Young people, especially of North Carolina, who are in your 20s, who are unmarried, who

923
00:43:26,420 --> 00:43:32,200
do not have children, you will never have as much time on your hands as you do right

924
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,120
now to make an effect change.

925
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:41,280
Just for the love of God, do it now before you before you get tied down by anything else.

926
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:42,720
And let me let me just say this.

927
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:43,720
I love my family.

928
00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:44,720
I love my daughter.

929
00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:46,560
I love that I have a job that I have liked.

930
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:47,720
I love my life.

931
00:43:47,720 --> 00:43:54,600
But but there are people that have a shit ton more time on their hands to get involved,

932
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:55,760
to get engaged.

933
00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:59,840
And you'll never have as much time as you do when you're not around family.

934
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:00,840
It's just true.

935
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:01,840
Yeah.

936
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:02,840
You have to make it.

937
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:03,840
Yeah.

938
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,000
And I think there's something about this on on TikTok, as a matter of fact, that part

939
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:12,600
of the reason that people with families tend to veer so far to the middle politically is

940
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:16,800
because they can't risk certain things, is because they can't get involved.

941
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:18,700
There's too much at stake.

942
00:44:18,700 --> 00:44:24,880
And we, you and I, out of, you know, the 10 or 12 people that were campaign managers that

943
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,640
we know of, like in our circles, we were the only ones with kids.

944
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:29,640
Yeah.

945
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:30,640
Besides one other person.

946
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:31,640
And they were a single mom.

947
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:32,640
Yeah.

948
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:34,000
And we had time on our hands.

949
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:35,000
Just just as is.

950
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,360
And that's not a complaint.

951
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:37,880
It's just a fact.

952
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:38,880
Yeah.

953
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:44,960
So even now, like you and I are recording this at 10 o'clock at night on a Sunday because

954
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,160
we literally don't have any other time on our hands.

955
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:52,640
So this is my this is my desperate plea to all the 18 to 35 year olds out there that do

956
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,040
not have kids that do not have wives or husbands or partners to go to.

957
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:58,240
You're not alone.

958
00:44:58,240 --> 00:45:03,160
And while you have the energy and the time, use it because you'll never have it again.

959
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:05,160
And I will say, I mean.

960
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:06,960
And that was a critical time, too.

961
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:07,960
Sorry.

962
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:08,960
I'm not trying to keep on going.

963
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:14,040
But like you, we think like, oh, it's, you know, time is going to pass us by.

964
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,560
What's what's there for me on the horizon?

965
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,440
This right here, right now, it's in front of you.

966
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:19,440
Yeah.

967
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,320
I get for the young folks out there.

968
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:28,680
I understand that what you see right now in D.C. and even on a state level is incredibly

969
00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,960
frustrating and it may feel like, you know, there's not a space for you in, you know,

970
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:37,000
the Democratic Party may not feel like there is a way for you to get involved.

971
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:40,000
You may not feel like you will be welcomed or anything like that.

972
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:46,160
You know, nothing is going to change unless you change it.

973
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,800
Nothing is going to change unless you get involved.

974
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:53,640
There's a speech that Teddy Roosevelt gave.

975
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:57,680
I think it was I think he was in France, maybe.

976
00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:58,680
Oh, yeah.

977
00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:04,240
It was the the man in the arena speech or the ship in the republic.

978
00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:09,360
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how strong man stumbles or

979
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:11,840
the doer of deeds could have done them better.

980
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:16,200
The credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust

981
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:22,760
and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again

982
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:26,580
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive

983
00:46:26,580 --> 00:46:31,720
to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in

984
00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:36,880
a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who

985
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:41,280
at the worst, if he fails, at least falls without daring greatly so that his place shall

986
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:45,760
never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

987
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:46,760
Love that speech.

988
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:48,040
Love that section.

989
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:53,280
It's evergreen because there is never going to be a time that does not matter.

990
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:54,280
Right.

991
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,920
And I know that sounds weird to say it first, but like a lot of people feel as though we're

992
00:46:57,920 --> 00:46:59,880
in the middle era of history.

993
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:01,860
Like things are just the way that they are.

994
00:47:01,860 --> 00:47:06,340
But you affect change every day, whether you realize it or not.

995
00:47:06,340 --> 00:47:10,880
We've already done a good portion of the kind of work that we'll do for the rest of our

996
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,040
lives.

997
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:15,960
It was a great honor for me to be a part of a campaign this year.

998
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:21,680
We did not win, but I was still there and I learned a lot and I felt like a fraud for

999
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:22,800
a good portion of it.

1000
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:24,640
I'll be honest.

1001
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:30,960
I think that there always exists when you first really start getting into the arena,

1002
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:36,480
there always exists this part of you that is like, I don't belong here.

1003
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:40,800
This is for people that are different than me or better than me or more experienced than

1004
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:41,800
me.

1005
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,680
I don't know what I'm doing, but eventually you get the rhythm of it and you start to

1006
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:45,680
understand it better.

1007
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:49,720
You start to understand yourself better and you start to not feel so much like a fraud.

1008
00:47:49,720 --> 00:47:54,160
And I can guarantee you that unless they're a freaking psycho, almost everybody in the

1009
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,160
arena has felt that way at some point.

1010
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:58,520
Yeah, absolutely.

1011
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:04,600
I was campaign manager this cycle and I had been one before and there are still times

1012
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,160
I was like, what the hell am I doing?

1013
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:08,440
Why am I here?

1014
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:09,720
I shouldn't even be here.

1015
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:13,360
I have no business doing this stuff, even though I have worked in politics since 2016.

1016
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:17,480
For almost 10 years, I've been at this in some way or another.

1017
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:21,160
I still felt like that, but I pushed through it.

1018
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:25,560
For me, part of it was, well, I wouldn't be here if people wouldn't have hired me for

1019
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:30,760
this position if they didn't believe me.

1020
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:31,760
And you're stepping up.

1021
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:32,760
Yeah.

1022
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:33,760
That's a big thing too.

1023
00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:40,440
And again, and I have to reiterate this because, and I see your cat now, sorry.

1024
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:44,800
And I have to reiterate this because I think that people tend to believe that there is

1025
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:49,000
this huge swath of talent that's just waiting to get started.

1026
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:51,200
It's a much smaller pool than you think.

1027
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:53,100
That's not to discourage people.

1028
00:48:53,100 --> 00:48:57,160
That's to say, get started now, whether it's politics, whether it's advocacy work, if you

1029
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:01,080
care about something, if you're listening to us right now, if you're on TikTok and you

1030
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:05,920
scroll through hours of political content and you sit on the sidelines, you don't have

1031
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:06,920
to.

1032
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:07,920
There's tons of resources.

1033
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:09,440
There's tons of things that need to be done.

1034
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:14,560
I started out just by making calls on Better It Works campaign for Senate.

1035
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,240
That was the first thing that I did.

1036
00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:20,840
And I technically shouldn't have really been doing it, but I didn't use my real name in

1037
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:21,840
the calls.

1038
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:23,040
So it was fine.

1039
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:25,640
I was part of the Air National Guard at the time.

1040
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:29,360
So like it's a little gray area, but when you're active duty, you can't be doing that

1041
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:30,360
stuff at all.

1042
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:31,360
Right.

1043
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:36,640
So I would just say I lost 10 years of my ability to do political work.

1044
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:37,640
And here I am.

1045
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:41,080
I had to hit the ground running immediately as soon as I got here.

1046
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:45,360
And already I've met so many amazing people, including CJ, including some people who are

1047
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:46,960
now in office.

1048
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,940
And I'm proud to know those people because they are the men and women in the arena.

1049
00:49:50,940 --> 00:49:52,600
And they're just, most of them are just people.

1050
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:54,120
Those are just regular folks.

1051
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:56,440
They're like, you can talk to them.

1052
00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:58,120
They'll come right up to you and shake your hand.

1053
00:49:58,120 --> 00:49:59,440
And it's really not that big of a deal.

1054
00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:04,080
You know, like Alison Riggs, I know she's at the very center of this huge story, but

1055
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:08,120
you can like walk up to her and just have a conversation.

1056
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:10,000
She's not really a politician like that.

1057
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:11,000
Right.

1058
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,440
She's a justice of the court.

1059
00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:14,440
She's a lawyer.

1060
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:15,440
She was a civil rights attorney.

1061
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:18,600
Like these are the kinds of things that I think people get a little disillusioned with

1062
00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:21,480
because they see politicians and they don't want to be associated with it because it's

1063
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:23,120
dirty and all these other things.

1064
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:24,240
Start by talking to them.

1065
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:26,180
You will be able to sniff it out pretty quick.

1066
00:50:26,180 --> 00:50:27,440
I can guarantee you that.

1067
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:34,000
I mean, you know, the guy who's campaign I worked on earlier last year, which I looked

1068
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:38,000
back at my Facebook memories, I think it was after a year ago today that I accepted the

1069
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:39,000
job.

1070
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:40,000
Thank you.

1071
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:41,000
Rodney Pierce.

1072
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:44,720
He is one of the new members of the North Carolina General Assembly.

1073
00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:45,960
He was a middle school teacher.

1074
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:50,000
You know, he is, you can go up to him and just track up a conversation as long as you

1075
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:51,000
are respectful, obviously.

1076
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,120
I'll talk to you all day long if you want.

1077
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:55,120
You know?

1078
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:56,120
Yeah.

1079
00:50:56,120 --> 00:51:01,160
I think I think most of the people that you'll find that are like self-important, that take

1080
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:04,760
their own time very, very seriously, not usually the people that are worth talking to.

1081
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:05,760
Yeah, not very much.

1082
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:11,960
So I mean, I when I was working on the this campaign, I got off of back in November, you

1083
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:16,880
know, at one point I was talking to Robert Reeves, who if you don't know, is the House

1084
00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:18,480
Minority Leader in the General Assembly.

1085
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,720
And I'm like, hey, sorry to bother you.

1086
00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:22,640
I know you're very busy.

1087
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:24,720
I'm sure this is, you know, below your pay grade.

1088
00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:27,200
And I'm like, no, good.

1089
00:51:27,200 --> 00:51:28,720
They will shut that down really quickly.

1090
00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:29,720
Yeah.

1091
00:51:29,720 --> 00:51:30,720
A lot of them will.

1092
00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:31,720
Yeah.

1093
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:36,640
And these the people who are in office for the right reasons, you know, people who want

1094
00:51:36,640 --> 00:51:41,280
to actually affect positive change and help better the lives of their constituents and

1095
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:45,520
not just their constituents, North Carolinians, Americans, whatever as a whole, they will

1096
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:47,520
take the time to talk to you.

1097
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:52,840
Or if they don't have the time, they will have someone listen, listen to your concerns,

1098
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:56,160
genuinely listen, genuinely engage with you.

1099
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:57,160
Yeah.

1100
00:51:57,160 --> 00:52:00,560
And again, to go back a few minutes, this is going to hit me.

1101
00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:01,560
Oh, sure.

1102
00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:02,560
Yeah.

1103
00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:06,680
If if you are a young person who is still hesitant to get involved with politics, but

1104
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:11,000
cares about something now is the time, not just because you don't have, you know, family

1105
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:17,960
or commitments or whatever, but because the next four years under Trump are going to be

1106
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:18,960
a mess.

1107
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:22,400
You know, if his first term is any indication.

1108
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:23,400
Yeah.

1109
00:52:23,400 --> 00:52:26,640
And I think his second term is going to be his first term on steroids.

1110
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:29,920
He gets sworn in a week from tomorrow or a week from.

1111
00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:31,960
Yeah, a week from tomorrow.

1112
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:32,960
Yeah.

1113
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:35,240
And there are people who are going to be hurt.

1114
00:52:35,240 --> 00:52:36,920
There are people who are going to suffer immensely.

1115
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:39,560
There are people who are going to die because of his policies.

1116
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:44,560
And if you're someone, even if you think it's the most niche thing to care about, if you're

1117
00:52:44,560 --> 00:52:48,140
someone who has something that they are passionate about, who they care about or what that they

1118
00:52:48,140 --> 00:52:53,800
care about, and you think that a Trump administration or a Republican controlled general assembly

1119
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:57,600
is going to hurt, whatever that thing is, get involved.

1120
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:02,760
Because what is it from the lower acts like unless someone cares an awful lot, nothing

1121
00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:04,880
will change or whatever, whatever it is.

1122
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:05,880
I can't rhyme.

1123
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:06,880
I don't remember.

1124
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:07,880
Yes.

1125
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,400
No, I think the general ideas there are there.

1126
00:53:11,400 --> 00:53:12,400
Yeah.

1127
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:16,640
But like fight for what you care about and what you believe in.

1128
00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:18,960
You don't need to be a lawyer.

1129
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:22,120
You don't need to have a doctor in political science.

1130
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,040
You don't need anything like that.

1131
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:25,880
You can be whatever.

1132
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:29,920
And if you care, if you have someone you're passionate about, voice that passion and get

1133
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:30,920
involved defending it.

1134
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:32,720
AOC, for example, she was a bartender.

1135
00:53:32,720 --> 00:53:33,720
And now look at her.

1136
00:53:33,720 --> 00:53:36,840
She is, I'd argue, the most popular member of Congress.

1137
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:37,840
Probably.

1138
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:39,840
We'd have to look at a poll for that.

1139
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:42,120
Yeah, I would argue she's the most popular member.

1140
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:49,160
Because polls are extremely reliable as far as I've seen, especially in 2024.

1141
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:53,360
I have made the resolution, the New Year's resolution to not look at polls anymore.

1142
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:54,840
Yeah, I am done.

1143
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:55,840
I am fed up.

1144
00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:59,360
I am completely disillusioned with polls.

1145
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:03,920
I have unsubscribed to all the pollster people on YouTube and TikTok and stuff because I'm

1146
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:04,920
done.

1147
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:05,920
I'm officially done.

1148
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:07,640
I don't care what any of them have to say anymore.

1149
00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:10,040
It's like I know that was a bit of a dime turn.

1150
00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:12,240
No, you're good.

1151
00:54:12,240 --> 00:54:15,640
I'm just talking about my burning, passionate hatred, Nate Silver.

1152
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:25,120
Well Nate Silver has curated an incredible career for himself by virtually just saying,

1153
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:27,640
it looks like this, but it might not be.

1154
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:30,560
Yeah, really, really hedging its bets there.

1155
00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:31,800
Pretty insightful stuff, Nate.

1156
00:54:31,800 --> 00:54:36,080
Appreciate the silver bullet that you always lay out for us.

1157
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:41,920
But with that, I think we have gone way over time with what I originally had in mind.

1158
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:44,960
And we didn't even get to talk about the Wiley Nickel revelation.

1159
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:45,960
Oh God.

1160
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:48,000
We might talk about that next time.

1161
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:52,800
Considering that the next episode is going to be when the new president is going to be

1162
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:59,680
sworn in, TikTok will likely be beheaded in the states and the next four years officially

1163
00:54:59,680 --> 00:55:01,220
begins.

1164
00:55:01,220 --> 00:55:03,760
So until then, we'll see you next time folks.

1165
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:06,800
Stay safe and make sure to stay over here on the left of Old North.

1166
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:10,480
Good luck to us all.

1167
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:37,720
God help us.