WEBVTT 00:00:05.950 --> 00:00:09.410 Welcome, welcome, welcome back to The Left of 00:00:09.410 --> 00:00:11.890 Old North, where we bring progressive insight 00:00:11.890 --> 00:00:14.169 to North Carolina politics to the best of our 00:00:14.169 --> 00:00:17.089 ability. I'm your host, Adrian. And I'm CJ. And 00:00:17.089 --> 00:00:19.010 today, we're sitting down with somebody who's 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:21.629 actually been in the thick of it, the Honorable 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:23.949 Chaz Beasley. Chaz represented House District 00:00:23.949 --> 00:00:26.530 92 in the North Carolina General Assembly, serving 00:00:26.530 --> 00:00:28.870 part of Mecklenburg County during a time of major 00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:31.660 growth and political transformation. a Harvard 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:34.219 and Georgetown Law graduate, he brought a fresh, 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.780 policy -driven voice to Raleigh, and he didn't 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:39.740 stop there. Because in 2020, Chas ran statewide 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:41.939 for Lieutenant Governor, bringing attention to 00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:45.020 issues like economic mobility, education, equity, 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.619 and justice reform, all with a focus on building 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:51.219 a North Carolina that works for everyone, not 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:53.299 just for those in power. And today, we're going 00:00:53.299 --> 00:00:54.780 to talk to him a little bit about his time in 00:00:54.780 --> 00:00:57.200 the legislature, some lessons from running a 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.020 statewide campaign. what the future looks like 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:02.719 for Democrats in our state, and how you juggle 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:06.459 all that while being both an attorney and a dad. 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:09.439 Chaz Beasley, welcome to the show. Adrian, CJ, 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:13.340 thanks for having me. It's a pleasure for us. 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:19.840 You are our first either former or current representative 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:23.239 that has been on the show. So big, big props 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.530 to you. on that. Congratulations. No, I appreciate 00:01:26.530 --> 00:01:28.250 that. I mean, when, when you're, you know, when 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:30.849 you're retired, like me and old man rocking chair, 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:32.609 you got a lot of time to talk to the, to the 00:01:32.609 --> 00:01:35.129 people. So that's exactly how it went down. We, 00:01:35.209 --> 00:01:38.329 we went up the drive up to the porch. He was 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:41.430 sitting there on the rocking chair and it's like, 00:01:41.510 --> 00:01:45.010 what do you want? Yeah. Yep. It's like a, like 00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:46.810 Stewie and family guy when he's rocking and he's 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:52.090 like, it's good to have land. Well, Chaz, we 00:01:52.090 --> 00:01:54.590 definitely have a lot of questions for you just 00:01:54.590 --> 00:01:58.689 because you're, what, 38, 39. Maybe I missed 00:01:58.689 --> 00:02:02.670 a birthday. But you've done a lot. 39. You've 00:02:02.670 --> 00:02:06.170 done a lot in that time. And I feel like that's 00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:09.289 a bit of an understatement. So it's cool to see 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:13.729 somebody under 50 accomplish as much as you have. 00:02:13.849 --> 00:02:17.150 And also, just putting your neck out there, I 00:02:17.150 --> 00:02:20.759 think, is something that... we definitely give 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:24.099 people props for on the show, even if, like in 00:02:24.099 --> 00:02:26.979 2020, there was somebody else that was chosen 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:29.400 in the primary for lieutenant governor. So just 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:31.419 want to thank you there as well. Oh, yeah, no, 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:33.840 I appreciate it. I mean, it really has been the 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:38.180 honor of my lifetime to be able to serve. The 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:41.699 good thing is having not been in elected office 00:02:41.699 --> 00:02:44.240 for the past four years, I can tell you not only 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:46.860 is there life after politics, but there's a lot 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:50.280 of work to do that doesn't require you to have 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:54.080 honor. Right. Yeah. And in those four years, 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:57.860 do you miss it at all? I definitely would say 00:02:57.860 --> 00:03:04.060 that the fact that you have a job where the decisions 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:07.439 that you make. directly impact people's lives 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.080 for the better or for the worse. I think that's 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:12.819 a tremendous responsibility. And you never have 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:16.879 to wonder when you finish a day at work in a 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.860 legislature, whether you made an impact. It may 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:23.199 have been small, may have been, you know, you, 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:25.800 you know, giving it the old college drive and 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:29.080 it not really turning out well, or it could be 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.699 great. But that type of fulfillment is, is something 00:03:32.699 --> 00:03:34.360 that a lot of people never have the opportunity 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:39.039 to to sense. So I feel very honored to be able 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.979 to do it. But I also know, you know, to everything, 00:03:42.099 --> 00:03:47.159 there's a season. I'm very happy to be able to 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:49.659 do the things that I've been able to do in this 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:52.780 season of my life. So, and this might seem like 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:56.599 kind of a basic kind of question, but for those 00:03:56.599 --> 00:04:00.500 listeners who might not know, what exactly did 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:02.800 your kind of day -to -day at the General Assembly 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.039 look like? Like Adrian said, you're the first 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:08.159 current or former member that we've had, so it 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.500 might be a good time to kind of educate the audience. 00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:14.789 Yeah, yeah. So the typical day at the legislature 00:04:14.789 --> 00:04:20.389 is not typical, right? There's just no telling 00:04:20.389 --> 00:04:22.449 what the day is going to bring when you're up 00:04:22.449 --> 00:04:24.009 there. Some days you think, oh, this is going 00:04:24.009 --> 00:04:25.569 to be really calm. We're going to be in, we're 00:04:25.569 --> 00:04:27.329 going to be out. And then it ends up being super 00:04:27.329 --> 00:04:30.550 long. There are some days where you think, oh 00:04:30.550 --> 00:04:31.769 my gosh, this is going to be the longest thing 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:34.889 ever. And then, you know, it ends up being pretty 00:04:34.889 --> 00:04:36.930 non -controversial and people come in, they come 00:04:36.930 --> 00:04:40.689 out, they're done. I would say that most weeks 00:04:40.689 --> 00:04:43.230 are probably, I'd say it's easier to describe 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:46.410 a week in the legislature than it is to describe 00:04:46.410 --> 00:04:50.050 a day in the legislature. And the reason I say, 00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:53.290 yeah, the reason that I say that is because generally 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:56.649 you can assume that your busiest days are going 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:59.610 to be Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You can generally 00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:01.149 assume you're going to be coming up there on 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:04.589 a Monday and leaving on a Thursday. And you can. 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:10.439 Basically assume that as the session goes along, 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:15.980 each week gets progressively more packed until 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:18.819 you hit what's known as crossover, where basically 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:22.379 bills have to cross over from one house to the 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:24.540 other. They have to be passed by one house to 00:05:24.540 --> 00:05:26.680 make it to the other house or else they die and 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:30.319 vice versa. And then it kind of calms down. And 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.180 then each week it gets busier and busier and 00:05:32.180 --> 00:05:35.149 busier to get to the budget. calms down until 00:05:35.149 --> 00:05:37.189 you get to the budget and then the budget is 00:05:37.189 --> 00:05:39.889 this crazy week. So I would say it's, it's a 00:05:39.889 --> 00:05:44.850 lot harder to plan your day at the legislature 00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:47.889 than it is to plan your week at the legislature. 00:05:48.290 --> 00:05:51.470 Interesting. Now, and I know that like the calendar, 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:54.310 it's just, it has to always be changing, especially 00:05:54.310 --> 00:05:56.170 when like somebody has to push back committee 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:59.610 meetings and things like that. So like, do you've 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:03.470 been a word maybe out of left field kind of. 00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:05.680 question do you feel like that's kind of by design 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.639 or is it just like to err as human uh on that 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.800 yeah it's definitely by design i think that if 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:17.879 um if the legislature if i'll speak for the house 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:20.879 which is the one that i was in if you wanted 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:22.920 the house to have a more regular predictable 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.360 schedule and you're in leadership in the house 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:27.420 you totally do it now when you're in the minority 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:30.290 You can't, right? You can't control the calendar. 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:33.750 But there's no reason why there can't be more 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:36.649 predictability. But the lack of predictability 00:06:36.649 --> 00:06:40.430 makes it easier to, especially in a legislature 00:06:40.430 --> 00:06:42.509 where you're on the cusp of something, you're 00:06:42.509 --> 00:06:45.889 on the cusp of supermajority or on the cusp of 00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:48.819 a majority. You can kind of keep people on their 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.079 toes and take advantage of the fact that people, 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.560 you know, also have lives. And so they may have 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.420 to, you know, go to this or go to that. I have 00:06:56.420 --> 00:06:57.839 a doctor's appointment. I got to pick my kids 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:00.490 up. And so they can kind of use that to take 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:04.110 advantage of the fact that somebody is missing 00:07:04.110 --> 00:07:06.310 on a crucial vote, count the people in the room 00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:10.209 and then call a vote. Right. So, no, there are 00:07:10.209 --> 00:07:12.029 a lot of things about the legislature that make 00:07:12.029 --> 00:07:14.889 it very difficult for, you know, just your everyday 00:07:14.889 --> 00:07:18.189 person to serve. And the crazy calendar is one 00:07:18.189 --> 00:07:21.129 of them. But it's definitely by design. Can you 00:07:21.129 --> 00:07:24.230 control the chaos completely? No. I mean, in 00:07:24.230 --> 00:07:26.730 any job you're going to have. to be nimble in 00:07:26.730 --> 00:07:29.750 some sense but it's definitely more on the side 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:34.470 of let's keep things a little un for a lot of 00:07:34.470 --> 00:07:37.529 unpredictable uh because there's political advantage 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:40.350 to that right so so do you think that maybe then 00:07:40.350 --> 00:07:45.269 this uh This might be a bit more conspiracy -brained, 00:07:45.329 --> 00:07:47.509 but do you think that the Republican majority 00:07:47.509 --> 00:07:51.310 has maybe like an internal calendar that they 00:07:51.310 --> 00:07:55.389 don't share with everybody else? That's not conspiracy. 00:07:57.050 --> 00:08:01.810 The majority caucus always knows more about what's 00:08:01.810 --> 00:08:05.069 going on in the majority caucus. Always. And 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:09.360 yeah, they take advantage of that, right? You 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.779 know, if you're ahead in the game, you know, 00:08:13.860 --> 00:08:15.779 what's going on in your huddle probably matters 00:08:15.779 --> 00:08:17.060 a little bit more than what's going on the other, 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:20.199 right? Right. So, yeah, they definitely know 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:22.399 more about kind of what the game plan is and 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:25.319 what the schedule looks like. And if they don't 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:26.839 think they're going to have, you know, some of 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:28.980 their folks there, they're definitely going to, 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:31.660 you know, adjust their calendar accordingly because 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:33.039 they're going to say, oh, such and such can't 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:34.779 be here. So, yeah, no, that's not conspiracy. 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.519 That's just them taking advantage of the fact 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.820 that they run a show. It's just strategy Yeah, 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:43.360 they definitely get a love that they, you know, 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:46.120 play games instead of actually helping people. 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:49.480 But, you know, that's me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.259 mean, it's definitely frustrating. And my thing 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:54.320 is, I love when people make the argument like, 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:57.620 oh, well, the Democrats did this. And so when 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:00.139 they were in power, I'm like, number one, that 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:02.639 was, you know, I mean, they've been in the majority 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:06.440 since basically 2011. So we've now been at this 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.299 for a decade and a half at some point. you know 00:09:09.299 --> 00:09:12.139 you gotta start actually having conversations 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:16.320 about what you think is best for the state and 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.700 not keep trying to not not continuing to try 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:20.720 to do this whole well you know y 'all did it 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.799 so we're gonna do it too stuff like that like 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:25.919 it's been it's been almost 15 years that y 'all 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.620 been running the show you know the democrats 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:30.059 did this so we're gonna do it too like be your 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:31.940 own person people who are in leadership really 00:09:31.940 --> 00:09:33.740 need to just be their own person like they can't 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:37.269 always live through the lens of what democrats 00:09:37.269 --> 00:09:42.049 did a decade and a half ago um and if you really 00:09:42.049 --> 00:09:45.470 think that something needs to change then change 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:47.350 it if you think something needs to be better 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:49.230 in the legislature make it better you've had 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:52.570 15 years you know those those wounds are not 00:09:52.570 --> 00:09:56.590 still fresh so why why are you still you know 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:59.190 putting the the entire state at a disadvantage 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:02.259 Because you refuse to make the changes that need 00:10:02.259 --> 00:10:04.899 to be made to actually have, you know, we want 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:06.799 to have a citizen legislature. Cool. Let's have 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:09.019 a citizen legislature. Make it so that citizens 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:13.679 can actually serve. Right. So. Let me ask you 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.759 this. Short of absolute, like, miracle, divine 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.519 intervention type of thing, what do you think 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.340 it would take for the Republican leadership to 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:25.940 stop playing this kind of blame game and, you 00:10:25.940 --> 00:10:28.879 know, being stuck 15 years in the past? Oh, I 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:32.740 mean, it's going to take either Democrats, either 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:37.080 looking like Democrats are in a position to materially 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:41.220 eat into the majority that they have or get to 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:43.799 a majority. Now, some people, you know, I know 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:45.580 this is a completely different topic, but I think 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:47.659 it needs to be said. You have some people that 00:10:47.659 --> 00:10:51.019 treat politics as though it's like physics, right? 00:10:51.179 --> 00:10:54.919 That there are just these laws of political gravity 00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:57.679 and you can't change it. There's no way to change 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:01.919 it. fast i mean my first just take a flashback 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.980 back to 2004 which is the first presidential 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:06.899 election i could vote in you had george bush 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:10.879 win reelection and everybody thought and he won 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:15.019 reelection with a strong popular vote number 00:11:15.649 --> 00:11:18.029 And so a lot of people were like, man, Democrats 00:11:18.029 --> 00:11:22.230 are just in trouble, man. And in 2006, Democrats 00:11:22.230 --> 00:11:25.649 had a phenomenal year. In 2008, we had Barack 00:11:25.649 --> 00:11:28.750 Obama elected. So I'm just not one of these people 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:34.190 who believe that in politics, you know, that 00:11:34.190 --> 00:11:37.190 there are just these immutable facts, like things 00:11:37.190 --> 00:11:40.070 have to happen a certain way, and that it's just 00:11:40.070 --> 00:11:42.250 impossible for Democrats to ever get back to 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:45.019 the majority ever. History doesn't bear that 00:11:45.019 --> 00:11:51.080 out. And also, politicians love sports analogies, 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.539 right? But I'm going to use one anyway because 00:11:53.539 --> 00:11:56.840 it needs to be said. They play so well. I know, 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:00.080 right? In football, I remember when we used to 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:02.200 play football, we used to always say, the only 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:05.220 thing prevent defense does is prevent you from 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:08.919 winning the game. If you try not to lose, you 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:11.620 will... put yourself in a position to lose. You 00:12:11.620 --> 00:12:13.700 might not lose. You might actually squeak it 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:17.039 out. But you got to play aggressive, right? And 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:19.379 I think that a lot of people just assume that, 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.519 like, Democrats are just doomed all the time. 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:26.179 And those are the times when, especially in politics, 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.600 you tend to overplay your hand. And that's when 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.840 you start seeing, you know, yourself get knocked 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.379 on your tail, frankly. And that can definitely 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:36.759 happen with this legislature. I would not bank 00:12:36.759 --> 00:12:40.000 on the Republicans just... forever and ever running 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.659 the show now if they continue to be able to draw 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.100 the lines every 10 years that's a huge advantage 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:49.659 right that you can't deny um and sometimes and 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.019 depending on how they do it an unfair one um 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.379 but it doesn't mean that we should just pretend 00:12:54.379 --> 00:12:56.440 like oh yeah we're just doomed for another 10 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:58.159 years let's all go home i don't think that's 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.970 the right approach No, I think we wholeheartedly 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:04.070 agree. And I mean, I'll flip the page one more. 00:13:04.210 --> 00:13:07.350 You brought up 2006 and 2008. And let's not forget 00:13:07.350 --> 00:13:10.629 that in 2010, the Tea Party movement was nationwide 00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:15.710 and led to a multitude of state legislatures 00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:18.769 and even Congress swinging to the right. So, 00:13:18.789 --> 00:13:21.850 I mean, politics is very fluid. There's no doubt 00:13:21.850 --> 00:13:24.889 about that. Yeah. I think you bring up an interesting 00:13:24.889 --> 00:13:28.740 point, too, that. Because it's not set in stone, 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.720 there are not these immutable characteristics 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:35.240 in both the electorate and in politicians. Things 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.120 are going to change whether the majority likes 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:40.980 it or not. And they should be worried that... 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:43.759 there's, you know, whether it's on the horizon, 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:46.379 near or far, that that change is going to be 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:49.600 at their doorstep. And it depends entirely on 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.059 them as to whether they're going to be ready 00:13:51.059 --> 00:13:54.240 for it or not. And that leads me into my question 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:57.279 for you with both your time in the legislature 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:01.539 and as just a member of the Democratic Party 00:14:01.539 --> 00:14:03.679 in general. Do you think that the General Assembly 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:07.370 has become the Democratic? side of the General 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:09.750 Assembly has become more reactionary because 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:12.769 of the way that the General Assembly operates 00:14:12.769 --> 00:14:15.409 underneath the Republican supermajority before 00:14:15.409 --> 00:14:18.850 majority now? Or do you think that perhaps the 00:14:18.850 --> 00:14:22.029 Democratic Party has not quite met the moment? 00:14:22.230 --> 00:14:26.210 Like, what is the gap here that needs to be filled? 00:14:26.450 --> 00:14:29.529 Yeah, I think that there's, I think there's kind 00:14:29.529 --> 00:14:31.429 of two things that I saw while I was in there 00:14:31.429 --> 00:14:33.850 that are definitely playing themselves out. Number 00:14:33.850 --> 00:14:39.029 one, you definitely saw that once the Republicans 00:14:39.029 --> 00:14:42.230 got back into the majority, they did that by 00:14:42.230 --> 00:14:46.970 beating a lot of conservative Democrats in pretty 00:14:46.970 --> 00:14:49.909 conservative seats, right? North Carolina's Democratic 00:14:49.909 --> 00:14:54.830 Party is not some like mad liberal, you know, 00:14:54.830 --> 00:14:58.389 completely like all about national progressive 00:14:58.389 --> 00:15:01.529 issues type party. It's never been that. And 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:04.669 so a lot of the people who got beat in 2010, 00:15:04.889 --> 00:15:06.570 in the year that you were talking about, were 00:15:06.570 --> 00:15:08.590 a lot of those Democrats that a lot of them had 00:15:08.590 --> 00:15:11.909 a good amount of power and they were pretty conservative. 00:15:12.149 --> 00:15:16.460 Well, that left kind of this. group of Democrats 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:20.419 that were used to being in power, also pretty 00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:24.059 conservative, in their mind, pretty pragmatic, 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:27.659 but there weren't a large number of them. And 00:15:27.659 --> 00:15:30.600 that ended up leaving a lot of Democrats that 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.279 are from like more the cities that were a lot 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:36.659 of times more to the left than the more rural 00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:39.679 Democrats that were more conservative. And so 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.320 basically, that ended up creating a dynamic where 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.679 you had the people who used to run the show when 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.539 the show was being run by Democrats, and then 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:51.580 you had people that really had never been running 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:53.919 the show that now felt like they could actually, 00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:57.019 you know, kind of affect the direction of the 00:15:57.019 --> 00:16:00.399 caucus itself. And what you've seen is, of course, 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:03.139 the conservatives have shrunk and shrunk and 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:06.220 shrunk and shrunk, especially once the lines 00:16:06.220 --> 00:16:09.940 are drawn. They were drawn to break, right? And 00:16:09.940 --> 00:16:14.250 more and more of the... uh party has become more 00:16:14.250 --> 00:16:15.929 and more to the left because they're coming from 00:16:15.929 --> 00:16:19.309 places where that's their electorate so you end 00:16:19.309 --> 00:16:21.710 up now and then you add so you add that that 00:16:21.710 --> 00:16:24.629 number shrinking but then you add that on top 00:16:24.629 --> 00:16:27.590 of the fact that the republicans have drawn the 00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:30.529 lines to get them pretty close to super majorities 00:16:30.529 --> 00:16:34.009 if not over super majorities so that means that 00:16:34.009 --> 00:16:39.179 this shrinking number of people also has an increasing 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:42.980 amount of power outside the caucus when inside 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.860 the caucus, their numbers and their voice is 00:16:45.860 --> 00:16:48.240 frankly becoming smaller and smaller because 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:50.460 they have fewer and fewer of them, right? So 00:16:50.460 --> 00:16:54.220 you have that tension that plays out in public 00:16:54.220 --> 00:16:56.519 as like, oh, it's a Democrat's in a rift. It's 00:16:56.519 --> 00:17:01.399 really not. It's really kind of a change. that 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:05.440 has happened over the last 15 years in kind of 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.779 an inevitable change, but it plays itself out. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:11.819 It's almost like it's, in other words, more like 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:14.619 it's a feature, not a bug. Sure, yeah. Because 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:18.559 guess what? If the Republicans had 65 seats, 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:21.400 no disrespect to the more conservative members 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:24.059 of the Democratic caucus, but they would have 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:26.500 zero power. Because they would have no power 00:17:26.500 --> 00:17:28.160 within the caucus because they'd have too few 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.220 people. They'd have no power outside the caucus 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:32.619 because the Republicans wouldn't need them because 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:34.619 they're nowhere close to majority. It really 00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:37.940 is a particular feature of the fact that the 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:39.960 Republicans have drawn themselves into situations 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:41.809 where they should. where they think they should 00:17:41.809 --> 00:17:44.829 be getting super majorities, and they just can't 00:17:44.829 --> 00:17:48.369 quite get there without some sort of lucky break. 00:17:48.509 --> 00:17:51.170 Somebody switches. Somebody changes parties. 00:17:51.609 --> 00:17:54.269 Somebody blows a race because they got caught 00:17:54.269 --> 00:17:56.509 napping. Like, they really haven't been able 00:17:56.509 --> 00:17:59.609 to get themselves over that hump. But if the 00:17:59.609 --> 00:18:02.349 Democrats can consolidate and get some wins in 00:18:02.349 --> 00:18:05.109 some districts that are coming our way, that 00:18:05.109 --> 00:18:07.990 situation will resolve itself. Yeah, it's almost 00:18:07.990 --> 00:18:10.650 a prison of their own making because they have 00:18:10.650 --> 00:18:14.170 drawn themselves into a supermajority or at current 00:18:14.170 --> 00:18:20.069 time, a majority inching at the edge of a supermajority, 00:18:20.069 --> 00:18:23.849 but not quite enough to actually deny the fact 00:18:23.849 --> 00:18:27.990 that this state votes pretty 50 -50, not always, 00:18:28.130 --> 00:18:31.579 but pretty close most of the time. especially 00:18:31.579 --> 00:18:35.420 in recent years. Right, right. And look, I think 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:38.200 I don't know if I'm breaking any news on your 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:41.940 podcast, but if the Republicans could ignore 00:18:41.940 --> 00:18:45.240 all the Democrats, some of them would still try 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.359 to create relationships across the aisle. But 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:50.539 a good number of the ones that are in leadership 00:18:50.539 --> 00:18:52.940 right now, if they could ignore the party completely, 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:55.569 they would gladly do that. right let's not pretend 00:18:55.569 --> 00:18:58.349 let's not pretend like they're like they're i 00:18:58.349 --> 00:19:00.269 i definitely worked with some people who are 00:19:00.269 --> 00:19:03.269 still there who very much had that old school 00:19:03.269 --> 00:19:05.890 mentality and very much did try to build relationships 00:19:05.890 --> 00:19:08.690 across the aisle you knew where we could agree 00:19:08.690 --> 00:19:10.509 and you knew where we couldn't and it was all 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:13.400 good but there are some that are like if If the 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:17.460 legislature was 120 House Republicans and 50 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:21.859 Senate Republicans, they'd be cool with that. 00:19:21.900 --> 00:19:23.519 There are some people who believe that. That 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.559 would be terrible for North Carolina. It's not. 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:27.819 It wouldn't be good for North Carolina to be. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.480 Maybe. So don't get it twisted. When they come 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.660 to y 'all, Democratic members in the House and 00:19:35.660 --> 00:19:38.019 the Senate, they're doing it because they need 00:19:38.019 --> 00:19:40.920 the numbers. They have a Democratic governor 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:44.000 who can veto their stuff and whose veto can be 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.380 sustained. So let's be real here. Don't get it 00:19:46.380 --> 00:19:49.910 twisted. So CJ, I see that you have a... a question 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:51.309 on the tip of your tongue, but I have to interject 00:19:51.309 --> 00:19:54.750 real quick to ask. So Chaz, with this change 00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:56.190 in the leadership, kind of like you're talking 00:19:56.190 --> 00:19:59.589 about that maybe they once were willing to work 00:19:59.589 --> 00:20:01.970 across the aisle, not so much anymore. Do you 00:20:01.970 --> 00:20:04.789 see that same trend continuing with the new Speaker 00:20:04.789 --> 00:20:07.150 of the House, Destin Hall? We've seen a little 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:08.930 bit of how he operates in the General Assembly, 00:20:09.089 --> 00:20:12.890 but not so much long term. You were in the General 00:20:12.890 --> 00:20:15.859 Assembly when... representative tim moore was 00:20:15.859 --> 00:20:17.900 speaker and i was hoping you could tell us a 00:20:17.900 --> 00:20:20.099 little bit about what that was like and then 00:20:20.099 --> 00:20:24.440 also what you foresee with this new speaker taking 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:28.160 over things yeah so uh destin and i actually 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.200 came into the legislature in the exact same at 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:36.079 the exact same time same class um and um he's 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.160 we're actually around the same age believe it 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:41.769 or not um so a lot of overlap in our careers. 00:20:41.990 --> 00:20:47.230 I think that Destin is much more of a true believer 00:20:47.230 --> 00:20:50.890 than Tim Moore. Can you expand upon that? What 00:20:50.890 --> 00:20:53.569 do you mean by true believer? Yeah, so I think 00:20:53.569 --> 00:20:58.109 that Destin very much came up at a time when 00:20:58.109 --> 00:21:01.529 Republicans ran the show. He's actually from 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:05.230 one county over from where I grew up. So he's 00:21:05.230 --> 00:21:07.329 from a pretty, I'm from a pretty red area too. 00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:09.460 Catawba County, I was born in Iredell. county 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:11.640 lived in alexander county and catawba county 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.559 literally all three counties uh trump 60 plus 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:19.839 so i'm i i i learned how to i learned how to 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:24.329 argue early I'm sure that helped you in law school, 00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:28.730 too. It definitely did. I'm sure it drives my 00:21:28.730 --> 00:21:31.250 wife crazy sometimes, but she's she's got the 00:21:31.250 --> 00:21:34.829 patience of a saint. But but, you know, so he 00:21:34.829 --> 00:21:38.809 he he's not like he didn't grow up or come up 00:21:38.809 --> 00:21:41.349 in the legislature like a Tim Moore or even like 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:44.170 a Tom Tillis, frankly, where they had to know 00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:46.029 how to make deals to actually get things done. 00:21:47.569 --> 00:21:50.130 He's much more the kind of person that, you know. 00:21:50.220 --> 00:21:53.200 he's totally cool with running the controversial 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:58.700 bills. He's totally cool with getting his, like 00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:01.700 getting his caucus in line, making sure that 00:22:01.700 --> 00:22:03.460 people are not breaking. Like he's, he's got 00:22:03.460 --> 00:22:05.460 a, but the thing, but when I say he's a true 00:22:05.460 --> 00:22:07.420 believer, what I mean is like, he's not, there 00:22:07.420 --> 00:22:13.000 are some people who. are, they are, I would say, 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.619 much more, like, I'm willing to kind of see both 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:19.920 sides. Like, I think he's a conservative through 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:24.000 and through. And I think he would probably agree 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.640 with me that he's a conservative through and 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.859 through. I think that he probably, you know, 00:22:27.859 --> 00:22:30.220 he's like, yeah, yeah, please say that louder. 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:34.900 But I think that if he thinks that he can get 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:37.559 to 72 on a number, but it's something that he 00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:40.599 doesn't like, I think he's going to try to figure 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:42.680 out a way to not do that thing and figure out 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:47.220 another way to get to 72. And so, you know, it's... 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:51.799 different styles. I think that style also, as 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:54.160 I was talking about earlier, puts you in much 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:57.359 more of a position to overplay your hand. If 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.200 you are, I think that if you are the type to 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:03.940 run a caucus and to run a house where you can 00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:06.880 kind of sort of see both sides, because you can 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.160 see both sides, you're less likely to be blindsided. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:13.559 You're less likely to see like political blowback. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.660 um because you can kind of see around the corner 00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:18.299 if you ain't looking around the corner because 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:19.700 you like i don't care what's around the corner 00:23:19.700 --> 00:23:23.339 that's that's how you end up in you know situations 00:23:23.339 --> 00:23:25.599 where you you know where frankly democrats do 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:28.259 better in 2026 than people give them credit for 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:31.140 right running around saying i'm in charge and 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.599 just changing as much as you can there's definitely 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:35.059 going to be some blowback if you're not paying 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:37.500 attention to your lefts and rights yeah because 00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:39.759 the part because the fact of the matter is I 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:44.160 say this as somebody who knows exactly what type 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:48.980 of deep values I have. The mark of political 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:52.420 wisdom. This goes for our side, too. In fact, 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:54.839 I think it goes to our side more so. The mark 00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:58.339 of political wisdom is this statement. I believe 00:23:58.339 --> 00:24:01.599 X, but I know a lot of people might disagree. 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.660 That is the mark of political wisdom. The reason 00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:06.980 that we are in the state that we are in right 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:10.319 now nationally is because we have a lot of people 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:14.359 in the White House who believe that the wild 00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:17.440 things they believe are reality and that people 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.759 agree with them. That is why we are in the state 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.559 we're in. And the reason why North Carolina is 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.319 actually in a pretty good position is because 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:28.220 we kind of had to buy. by will of the voters, 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:31.900 frankly, we've had to have situations where, 00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:34.759 you know, the Republicans in the legislature 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:36.920 wanted to do something, but they had to get past 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:39.339 Governor Cooper's veto and they couldn't do it. 00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:42.180 Well, too bad, right? That has kind of kept our 00:24:42.180 --> 00:24:47.640 state from veering too far to one side because... 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:51.309 You can't. But right now we have people in the 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:54.609 White House who could just do wild stuff, like 00:24:54.609 --> 00:24:57.549 irresponsible stuff, stuff that we shouldn't 00:24:57.549 --> 00:25:00.049 be scared to call out as wild and irresponsible 00:25:00.049 --> 00:25:04.490 and like nobody has any business doing it. We 00:25:04.490 --> 00:25:06.980 should be willing to say that. But they can do 00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.380 that because they surround themselves with people 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:11.940 who not only don't look around the corner, they 00:25:11.940 --> 00:25:14.480 say there is no corner. All right. They say the 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.920 corner doesn't exist. They say the corner is 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.319 a deep state conspiracy. That's how you get into 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:22.480 trouble. That's how you have a president who 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:25.559 literally his first term had more Americans thinking 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:28.140 he was strong on the economy. And literally in 00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:31.059 the first hundred days, he's already he already 00:25:31.059 --> 00:25:32.799 has a higher disapproval rating on the economy 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.359 than approval. Didn't happen. for a lot of his 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:37.279 first four years. Say what you want to say about 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.119 Donald Trump, but voters thought he was good 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:40.700 on the economy because he's a businessman. You 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:43.559 know, he does deals. They don't think that now 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:46.900 because he made a big, huge mistake on this whole 00:25:46.900 --> 00:25:49.240 terror stuff, which we should call him out on. 00:25:49.420 --> 00:25:50.819 And then double down. That's a prime example. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:55.039 And then double down. And then triple down. And 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:58.500 then pretended like everybody else is crazy because 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:03.019 they don't see what we've known. for literally 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:07.400 a hundred years if you try and slap big tariffs 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:10.220 on stuff all you're doing is multiplying the 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:12.950 price of stuff which ain't good for the economy 00:26:12.950 --> 00:26:15.849 also let's talk about what happens when it comes 00:26:15.849 --> 00:26:17.789 to these tariffs i know you're asking about the 00:26:17.789 --> 00:26:19.549 legislature but i want to make sure we have we 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:21.549 we know how to talk about these kind of things 00:26:21.549 --> 00:26:23.769 on the democratic side yeah yeah all right so 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:25.569 your goal with tariffs i want to make things 00:26:25.569 --> 00:26:27.670 more expensive because then people will take 00:26:27.670 --> 00:26:29.410 their factories from overseas they'll bring them 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:32.309 back here they'll build factories here right 00:26:32.309 --> 00:26:34.670 they'll build their stuff here all right where 00:26:34.670 --> 00:26:37.009 are you going to get the stuff to build those 00:26:37.009 --> 00:26:41.819 factories exactly i i think i actually We talked 00:26:41.819 --> 00:26:44.480 about this. Yeah, no, I think I actually mentioned 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:47.059 that a couple episodes ago. I was, you know, 00:26:47.059 --> 00:26:50.019 if the whole point of the tariffs is to increase 00:26:50.019 --> 00:26:52.420 domestic manufacturing and production and whatnot, 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.500 you still got to get the stuff from somewhere. 00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:57.940 So if you got, if the whole idea is like an auto 00:26:57.940 --> 00:27:01.420 plant in Detroit up and running again, that's 00:27:01.420 --> 00:27:03.420 going to take steel, it's going to take aluminum, 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.099 goods, all this stuff. Now, CJ, I have a proposal 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:09.799 for you. And Chaz, you can jump on this too. 00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:12.940 think it's going to be great um it's going to 00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:15.440 be a huge leap uh we're going to go forward with 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.759 it we're going to have people make steel in their 00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:21.700 backyard millions of citizens making steel in 00:27:21.700 --> 00:27:24.420 their backyard it'll be a great leap forward 00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:27.019 it's going to work so well for everybody we're 00:27:27.019 --> 00:27:29.059 doing like victory gardens but for like you know 00:27:29.059 --> 00:27:32.240 good like metal and whatnot yeah no i'm pretty 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.519 sure that's just the entire show forged in fire 00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:42.079 like i watched that whole thing i like it um 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:45.519 yeah no it's we we did talk about this because 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.109 it was something that when when it was first 00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:50.390 happening, it kind of struck us as like, okay, 00:27:50.430 --> 00:27:53.730 but the logic isn't even sound. And I think Americans, 00:27:53.769 --> 00:27:55.690 even if you don't really understand tariffs, 00:27:55.930 --> 00:27:57.990 even if you don't really understand the economy 00:27:57.990 --> 00:28:02.029 as broad as a subject as it is, that's fine if 00:28:02.029 --> 00:28:05.269 you don't, but like, don't believe this guy who's 00:28:05.269 --> 00:28:07.190 telling you that tariffs are just going to make 00:28:07.190 --> 00:28:09.589 us richer somehow. It's just going to work, right? 00:28:09.809 --> 00:28:12.190 I mean, it'll make him richer. It'll make corporations 00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:17.180 richer. And on the back end. the matter is a 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:20.700 lot of times it might actually hurt uh corporations 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:23.980 too because there's but so here's here's the 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:27.099 thing that here's the thing that we have to make 00:28:27.099 --> 00:28:30.680 sure that we're doing sometimes right um as you 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:33.119 say when i was growing up don't use a ten dollar 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:35.700 word when a two dollar word will do right all 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:38.519 the tariffs are is somebody basically saying 00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:42.640 i'm gonna make whatever you bring in cost a lot 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.279 more because i'm gonna slap more taxes on it 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.680 and when you do what they did which is where 00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:52.180 you slapped a bunch of taxes on stuff fast what 00:28:52.180 --> 00:28:55.640 you're doing is basically saying to people um 00:28:55.640 --> 00:28:57.279 all the stuff you're gonna get is gonna be more 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.980 expensive and if you're a trucker it's gonna 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:03.720 hit distribution so if you work in a warehouse 00:29:04.430 --> 00:29:06.329 guess what people ain't gonna be buying as much 00:29:06.329 --> 00:29:08.789 stuff if if now what they're buying costs twice 00:29:08.789 --> 00:29:11.890 as much you don't have to be you know phd nobel 00:29:11.890 --> 00:29:14.170 prize winning economist to know that if you double 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:16.309 the price of a refrigerator people gonna buy 00:29:16.309 --> 00:29:19.049 less refrigerate right right and if people are 00:29:19.049 --> 00:29:20.690 buying less refrigerators they're gonna need 00:29:20.690 --> 00:29:22.509 less truck drivers to drive them around and they're 00:29:22.509 --> 00:29:24.549 gonna need and there's gonna be a lot more empty 00:29:24.549 --> 00:29:28.009 warehouses right um and people talk about oh 00:29:28.009 --> 00:29:29.390 well like we were talking about before over a 00:29:29.390 --> 00:29:32.539 few years they'll move everything over um you 00:29:32.539 --> 00:29:35.240 know in the words of warren buffett who is a 00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:37.519 no who apparently is a communist that some of 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:41.000 these people uh he's like not warren buffett 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:45.019 said he's a class trainer yeah exactly the warren 00:29:45.019 --> 00:29:48.259 buffett said um the market can stay irrational 00:29:48.259 --> 00:29:52.000 longer than you can it can stay solvent in other 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.319 words um the market can do crazy stuff and bankrupt 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.440 your tail before it finally like oh we need to 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.359 fix things like so you need to you need to understand 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:06.119 if you are a like a person who considers themselves 00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:09.500 working class you are going to get hit hardest 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:12.200 by terrorists i don't care who you are you are 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:13.980 going to get hit hardest by terrorists because 00:30:13.980 --> 00:30:16.319 if your car breaks down you can't go to your 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:19.779 mechanic and say uh i know my part is going to 00:30:19.779 --> 00:30:22.619 cost twice as much now and you have to get it 00:30:22.619 --> 00:30:24.599 from somewhere but can i give you the old price 00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:26.500 they're gonna say no Unless they're doing you 00:30:26.500 --> 00:30:28.240 a small, unless like, you know, if you're doing 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:29.880 your cousin or something, maybe they can do it. 00:30:29.900 --> 00:30:31.559 They cut you a brand, but they can't do that 00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:33.440 with everybody or they're going to be the ones 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.720 that are going to go bankrupt. So we got to, 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:37.519 we got to start calling this stuff out. Like 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:39.220 some of this stuff, I think we're, and this, 00:30:39.299 --> 00:30:41.240 this drove me crazy when we first started talking 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:44.519 about tariffs, people were so scared to say, 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:46.599 yo, this is a bad idea because they were like, 00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:48.920 well, you know, people, we need to understand 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:51.680 where he's coming from. No, we don't because 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:54.400 this is not the way to bring jobs back to the 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.369 United States. You bring jobs back to the United 00:30:56.369 --> 00:30:59.750 States by making more of them in things that 00:30:59.750 --> 00:31:02.269 we do better, right? If a country wants to send 00:31:02.269 --> 00:31:04.930 us olives and we want to send them fighter jets, 00:31:05.210 --> 00:31:08.150 that's a good trade, right? Like if that means 00:31:08.150 --> 00:31:10.029 we're going to make more, if we're going to make 00:31:10.029 --> 00:31:13.809 more like technology and they're going to send 00:31:13.809 --> 00:31:17.329 us the parts, but we get the benefit of the tech, 00:31:17.369 --> 00:31:20.329 of the entire technology, that's a good trade. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.160 We have to be willing to call these things like 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:25.839 we see it. But sometimes we are so scared that 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:27.440 somebody is going to say that we're out of touch 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.039 somehow that we don't just call it, call it like 00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.599 it is like, this is bad stuff. Agreed. And so, 00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:36.420 you know, when it comes to like calling, not 00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:39.000 just this whole tariff stuff out, but just kind 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:41.900 of. let's say, the awful Republican policies 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:45.400 and going back a few minutes, calling out the 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:47.880 kind of, I guess, extremism or, you know, the 00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.859 true believer aspect of people like Destin Hull 00:31:50.859 --> 00:31:53.039 and people in the NC General Assembly Republican 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:56.519 Party. Like, how do you see or what do you think 00:31:56.519 --> 00:31:58.839 the Democratic Party needs to do on messaging? 00:31:58.940 --> 00:32:01.160 How do you think the best way to go about this 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:06.410 would be? Yeah, sorry about that. But I think 00:32:06.410 --> 00:32:09.089 that we've got to make sure people understand 00:32:09.089 --> 00:32:11.650 that what happens in Raleigh affects them a lot 00:32:11.650 --> 00:32:14.910 more than what happens in Washington. And we 00:32:14.910 --> 00:32:19.650 also have to be willing to tell people in simple 00:32:19.650 --> 00:32:23.890 terms, not in super complex, you know, super 00:32:23.890 --> 00:32:27.759 academic. terms, what's happening in Raleigh, 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:31.819 right? We sometimes get in our own way because 00:32:31.819 --> 00:32:36.140 we don't know who our audience is. And no disrespect, 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:41.400 but I appreciate everyone that donates to campaigns. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:43.880 It's important that we have people who donate 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:46.579 to campaigns, but sometimes our audience is not 00:32:46.579 --> 00:32:50.160 donors. Sometimes our audience is people who 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:53.599 are just living their lives. They don't pay attention 00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:57.000 to politics all the time. They don't watch MSNBC 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:00.230 every night. They are people who are just living 00:33:00.230 --> 00:33:02.309 their lives and they might not even know what's 00:33:02.309 --> 00:33:05.890 going on. So we have to make sure that we are 00:33:05.890 --> 00:33:08.390 speaking to people, not that we're dumbing things 00:33:08.390 --> 00:33:10.950 down for people. That's not that we're condescending 00:33:10.950 --> 00:33:13.690 to people, but that we're telling people in a 00:33:13.690 --> 00:33:16.150 way that they can understand why this stuff matters. 00:33:16.769 --> 00:33:20.170 I think sometimes we have gotten so like, it's 00:33:20.170 --> 00:33:23.049 almost like we have, we sometimes develop our 00:33:23.049 --> 00:33:25.670 own language on our side, right? Where we say 00:33:25.670 --> 00:33:28.269 things and they are certain. ways that certain 00:33:28.269 --> 00:33:30.789 things have to be said and that's it's totally 00:33:30.789 --> 00:33:36.029 fine to know that but if you're knocking on somebody's 00:33:36.029 --> 00:33:38.289 door and they're like why should i care what's 00:33:38.289 --> 00:33:40.809 going on in raleigh and you say well do you care 00:33:40.809 --> 00:33:42.750 that they might be throwing out your ballot do 00:33:42.750 --> 00:33:45.750 you care they're throwing out ballots for literally 00:33:45.750 --> 00:33:48.210 you know literally for people who are in the 00:33:48.210 --> 00:33:49.710 military right now that's what they're trying 00:33:49.710 --> 00:33:52.069 to do because they want to win like that's the 00:33:52.069 --> 00:33:53.670 kind of thing like we need to say it like that 00:33:53.670 --> 00:33:55.529 we don't need to say you know i'll give you another 00:33:55.529 --> 00:33:57.849 example It's a national example, but I think 00:33:57.849 --> 00:34:00.849 it's important. We have people who are saying 00:34:00.849 --> 00:34:05.509 things like the rendition of a person who was 00:34:05.509 --> 00:34:08.090 legally in the United States is highly concerning 00:34:08.090 --> 00:34:11.650 to me because it violates our fundamental principles 00:34:11.650 --> 00:34:14.050 of due process. OK, cool. Well, I'm a lawyer. 00:34:14.130 --> 00:34:15.710 I understand exactly what you said. And I agree. 00:34:15.869 --> 00:34:18.329 But if I'm talking to my grandma. I'm not going 00:34:18.329 --> 00:34:20.289 to talk to her about that because she may not 00:34:20.289 --> 00:34:22.869 understand that. And she's a reliable Democratic 00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:26.110 voter, both in every primary and general. She 00:34:26.110 --> 00:34:28.349 doesn't know what I just said. There is definitely 00:34:28.349 --> 00:34:30.349 a median voter out there that would just go, 00:34:30.369 --> 00:34:34.170 huh? Right. If you say, if you say personally, 00:34:34.369 --> 00:34:36.469 if you say to somebody, you say, look, personally, 00:34:36.510 --> 00:34:38.710 I think that before you get kicked out the country, 00:34:38.849 --> 00:34:40.989 you should be able to say in front of a judge, 00:34:41.230 --> 00:34:43.190 here's why I shouldn't be kicked out of the country. 00:34:43.289 --> 00:34:45.610 And if the judge says you should stay, they shouldn't 00:34:45.610 --> 00:34:47.340 say, well, we're kicking you out anyway. Like 00:34:47.340 --> 00:34:50.159 that's how you convey the issue of the problem 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:52.679 with due process and rendition, right? People 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:54.460 don't know what those words mean. And people 00:34:54.460 --> 00:34:56.400 say things like, oh, well, you think voters are 00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:59.920 dumb. No, I think voters don't pay as much attention 00:34:59.920 --> 00:35:02.500 to this. They don't live this. This is not their 00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:06.260 thing. And so you want to be able to convey complex 00:35:06.260 --> 00:35:09.239 issues to people in a way they can get it. Because 00:35:09.239 --> 00:35:12.340 if you say to somebody, do you think you should 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:14.760 be able to be kicked out of the country? And 00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:17.059 if a judge says, no, Ashley should stay, the 00:35:17.059 --> 00:35:18.739 government should be able to say, no, Ashley, 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:20.849 we're going to kick you out anyway. Yeah. Everybody 00:35:20.849 --> 00:35:23.690 gets that. Bring it back to big government. Yeah. 00:35:23.789 --> 00:35:27.510 That's crazy. Like people, like people who are 00:35:27.510 --> 00:35:29.969 literally like, you know, I don't, I, you know, 00:35:29.969 --> 00:35:32.289 I just don't want there to be death panels. The 00:35:32.289 --> 00:35:34.630 same people are now like, yeah, cool. Like kick 00:35:34.630 --> 00:35:36.809 them out because we're talking about due process 00:35:36.809 --> 00:35:39.570 instead of talking about kicking people out of 00:35:39.570 --> 00:35:42.150 the country without having their day in court. 00:35:42.309 --> 00:35:45.829 That's an E that is a much easier way to say 00:35:45.829 --> 00:35:49.090 the same. thing you know it's so it drives that's 00:35:49.090 --> 00:35:50.849 the kind of messaging stuff that i think we where 00:35:50.849 --> 00:35:54.090 we where we defeat ourselves frankly so i think 00:35:54.090 --> 00:35:57.269 that's yeah sorry cj so no you're good uh so 00:35:57.269 --> 00:35:59.769 let me kind of let me ask you this so you know 00:35:59.769 --> 00:36:02.269 i i completely agree with what you said i think 00:36:02.269 --> 00:36:03.570 we've kind of said something along the lines 00:36:03.570 --> 00:36:05.170 on here before or at least you're gonna have 00:36:05.170 --> 00:36:08.110 talked about before yeah yeah we i called it 00:36:08.110 --> 00:36:10.789 um meeting people where they're at both mentally 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:17.320 and geographically yeah but so that is once you 00:36:17.320 --> 00:36:20.239 kind of get their attention right so i think 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:23.179 one of the biggest problems we have is just starting 00:36:23.179 --> 00:36:28.260 that conversation to begin with most people they're 00:36:28.260 --> 00:36:32.019 busy with their day -to -day lives they yeah 00:36:32.019 --> 00:36:34.260 yeah if they are paying attention anything on 00:36:34.260 --> 00:36:37.519 the news anything political it is basically solely 00:36:38.539 --> 00:36:40.460 you know, on the federal level. I mean, I'm, 00:36:40.539 --> 00:36:42.719 I personally have an example of this. I mean, 00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:46.579 I did not pay attention to state level politics 00:36:46.579 --> 00:36:49.860 until I was in college and was forced to take 00:36:49.860 --> 00:36:52.739 a North Carolina politics class. Yeah. Right. 00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:55.460 Like I, you know, it wasn't, you know, quote, 00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:58.599 sexy, so to say, it wasn't interesting. And so 00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:01.059 like, you know, now i was a political science 00:37:01.059 --> 00:37:06.039 major right so yeah i was yeah so like how do 00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:10.900 you think we get that initial that start uh going 00:37:10.900 --> 00:37:12.420 yeah because we can have those conversations 00:37:12.420 --> 00:37:15.500 but we have to instigate them somehow yeah So 00:37:15.500 --> 00:37:19.000 I think that it's all about, to your point, it's 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.739 all about the approach. If you say to somebody, 00:37:22.179 --> 00:37:24.880 let's have a conversation about politics right 00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:27.480 now, their eyes are going to glaze over. But 00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:30.480 these same people, I guarantee you have an opinion. 00:37:30.699 --> 00:37:33.360 All right. I guarantee it. One of the things 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.119 we have to do, number one, is we got to start 00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:39.300 knocking on doors that are not just. people who 00:37:39.300 --> 00:37:42.559 already agree with us all right um because if 00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:44.380 you knock on some doors of some people that are 00:37:44.380 --> 00:37:46.440 kind of in the middle you're going to have some 00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:48.340 you're going to have some conversations that 00:37:48.340 --> 00:37:50.119 you might not have with people who already agree 00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:53.280 with you um so part of it is literally having 00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:57.739 fewer so we have a lot of events where we say 00:37:57.739 --> 00:38:01.059 come to me and talk to me and those are important 00:38:01.059 --> 00:38:03.960 i'm not saying that they're not um but i think 00:38:03.960 --> 00:38:06.119 if you're gonna if you're in the state legislature 00:38:06.119 --> 00:38:09.000 if you're gonna have two hours of like office 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:11.139 hours in your district you also probably need 00:38:11.139 --> 00:38:12.880 to have two hours where you go knock on doors 00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:16.239 all right because if 20 people come if 20 people 00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:19.739 come to your office hours in two hours that's 00:38:19.739 --> 00:38:22.900 that's a good number but if you knock on doors 00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:28.039 in a pretty pretty like a lot of people in a 00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:29.739 neighborhood you'll probably be able to knock 00:38:29.739 --> 00:38:33.960 on about 45 ish 50 doors in that same uh hour 00:38:33.960 --> 00:38:35.760 and probably talked to 14 people so literally 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:37.820 you're probably if you did three hours you're 00:38:37.820 --> 00:38:40.099 talking to 21 people most likely 20 you know 00:38:40.099 --> 00:38:42.619 18 21 people so you're literally if you spend 00:38:42.619 --> 00:38:45.199 for the two hours that you spent with office 00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:47.860 hours of people coming to you if you had 20 people 00:38:47.860 --> 00:38:49.679 show that's pretty good showing if you spent 00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:52.019 three hours knocking on doors you probably talked 00:38:52.019 --> 00:38:53.840 to the same number of people and you probably 00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.679 would get a perspective That you would probably 00:38:56.679 --> 00:38:59.119 not get from people who are taking the initiative 00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:01.260 to go and talk to you. And I'm not saying do 00:39:01.260 --> 00:39:03.940 one rather than the other. I'm saying do both, 00:39:04.039 --> 00:39:07.960 right? Sure. Make time for both. So, yeah. That's 00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:10.019 what I like to call campaign math. Yeah. Yeah. 00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:14.380 Yeah. Now, before we go, I have a couple more 00:39:14.380 --> 00:39:19.599 questions for you. One is anything on the horizon 00:39:19.599 --> 00:39:24.139 for Chaz Beasley in terms of running for something? 00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:27.719 maybe throwing your hat in the ring again at 00:39:27.719 --> 00:39:31.199 some point yeah so um i've been getting i've 00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:33.019 gotten this question a few times oh i'm sure 00:39:33.019 --> 00:39:37.699 you have um i am not the type of person who needs 00:39:37.699 --> 00:39:39.739 to be in somebody's political office in order 00:39:39.739 --> 00:39:42.860 to do the work or to be in somebody's political 00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:45.800 office because i feel like like part of my identity 00:39:45.800 --> 00:39:48.739 is missing because i'm not in somebody's office 00:39:48.739 --> 00:39:52.539 like i'm not that person um no opportunities 00:39:52.539 --> 00:39:56.389 have presented themselves um that makes me want 00:39:56.389 --> 00:39:59.730 to just jump right in i love the work that i'm 00:39:59.730 --> 00:40:03.710 doing um i love you know being at home with my 00:40:03.710 --> 00:40:08.449 my wife and my baby every night um i really love 00:40:08.449 --> 00:40:12.210 the life that i'm living right now um i just 00:40:12.210 --> 00:40:13.650 am not one of these people just needs to be in 00:40:13.650 --> 00:40:15.570 office to be somebody like that's just not me 00:40:15.570 --> 00:40:19.050 um but opportunity presents itself you know We'll 00:40:19.050 --> 00:40:21.630 see. But right now, no, I'm not running for anything. 00:40:21.809 --> 00:40:23.590 I'm not looking at anything. I'm not angling 00:40:23.590 --> 00:40:26.670 for anything. I just think the work is important 00:40:26.670 --> 00:40:28.630 enough that, yo, you got to do the work regardless 00:40:28.630 --> 00:40:30.409 of whether or not you're at the front of the 00:40:30.409 --> 00:40:33.590 line or the back. And I think we got, I think 00:40:33.590 --> 00:40:36.070 there are definitely some people who take a different 00:40:36.070 --> 00:40:37.869 approach. I think there's some people that are 00:40:37.869 --> 00:40:39.510 like, yo, if I'm not in somebody's political 00:40:39.510 --> 00:40:41.989 office, like who am I? That ain't me though. 00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:45.840 I'm not that guy. That's a very, no, I think 00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:48.480 it's a healthy reluctance, a very wholesome response, 00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:53.340 honestly. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, final 00:40:53.340 --> 00:40:55.920 question that we ask pretty much all of our guests. 00:40:56.380 --> 00:41:01.420 What is your go -to cookout menu order? Oh, okay. 00:41:01.500 --> 00:41:06.199 So two hot dogs, chili and mustard on both, chicken 00:41:06.199 --> 00:41:10.260 nuggets with extra protein, which is what I like 00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:13.300 to tell myself, complete. Complete lie. Doing 00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:19.019 so. Fries, Cajun seasoning, and huge tea. Sweet 00:41:19.019 --> 00:41:25.679 tea. That's definitely my trade. I will say that 00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:29.599 if I'm really, like, not trying to be productive 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:32.000 at all, I might switch out the huge tea for, 00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:36.579 like, a shake or a Cheer One float. But if I 00:41:36.579 --> 00:41:39.579 do that, I know I'm done for the day. I am not 00:41:39.579 --> 00:41:44.300 getting anything done. So was that a Republican 00:41:44.300 --> 00:41:47.159 strategy was to bring Chaz Beasley, Representative 00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:51.039 Chaz Beasley, a Coke float, a Pepsi or a Cheerwine 00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:52.860 float? He'll be out for the rest of the day. 00:41:53.559 --> 00:41:55.559 Exactly, exactly. It's like Samson cutting his 00:41:55.559 --> 00:42:00.480 hair. That's definitely my kryptonite is the 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:04.429 Cheerwine float. No, I know. I know myself well 00:42:04.429 --> 00:42:06.909 enough at this stage in my life. You've got, 00:42:06.929 --> 00:42:08.690 you gotta, you gotta, you gotta bounce it out 00:42:08.690 --> 00:42:10.610 a little bit when it comes to the, to the shakes 00:42:10.610 --> 00:42:13.849 that cook out. Cause those things are huge. And 00:42:13.849 --> 00:42:17.230 you could definitely finish them. I, I, I think 00:42:17.230 --> 00:42:19.489 what I love is like, you know, we've had some 00:42:19.489 --> 00:42:20.909 people like they've had to think about it for 00:42:20.909 --> 00:42:23.369 like half a second or so. Yeah. You had your 00:42:23.369 --> 00:42:26.730 answer ready to go. Like, I love that. Is that 00:42:26.730 --> 00:42:28.710 a good thing though? No, you can tell you've 00:42:28.710 --> 00:42:30.889 had to like, cause man, those, those cook out. 00:42:31.230 --> 00:42:34.289 those cookout people are they are fast they're 00:42:34.289 --> 00:42:36.469 like what do you want so like you definitely 00:42:36.469 --> 00:42:40.309 had to order this a few times oh yeah oh yeah 00:42:40.309 --> 00:42:42.949 no I think I have it I have it memorized and 00:42:42.949 --> 00:42:46.610 I'm gonna if my I think my wife will probably 00:42:46.610 --> 00:42:49.449 listen to this podcast so just tell me what minute 00:42:49.449 --> 00:42:51.690 that question comes up and I'll turn it off because 00:42:51.690 --> 00:42:54.630 she's I'm like oh that's it no bunch of housekeeping 00:42:54.630 --> 00:42:57.230 stuff at the end because I'm telling you she 00:42:57.230 --> 00:43:00.840 she has done she has done uh god's work when 00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:03.440 it comes to getting me getting my diet right 00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:07.300 because oh man that legislative diet boy it'll 00:43:07.300 --> 00:43:12.099 get you so i've come a long way Well, Chaz, I 00:43:12.099 --> 00:43:15.079 tell you what, as a favor to you, I will upload 00:43:15.079 --> 00:43:18.239 two versions of this one with the cookout order 00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:21.780 cut out. But I'm going to leave the Yale part 00:43:21.780 --> 00:43:26.139 in. So that's the trade off. OK, buddy. Chaz 00:43:26.139 --> 00:43:28.780 Beasley, the Honorable Chaz Beasley. It has been 00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:30.639 a pleasure to talk to you today. Do you have 00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:33.599 any anything you want to plug or any cause that 00:43:33.599 --> 00:43:36.320 you want to tell people about before we go? Yeah, 00:43:36.519 --> 00:43:38.820 yeah. No, definitely want to tell you guys appreciate 00:43:38.820 --> 00:43:41.250 the fact that y 'all are doing this. I would 00:43:41.250 --> 00:43:43.789 definitely put in a plug to all my fellow legislators 00:43:43.789 --> 00:43:46.750 come on this podcast. I don't want to be the 00:43:46.750 --> 00:43:50.030 only one. I want to be the first, but not the 00:43:50.030 --> 00:43:53.289 last. And also, you know, just remember the people 00:43:53.289 --> 00:43:55.650 out in Western North Carolina. My grandmother 00:43:55.650 --> 00:43:58.760 was one of those people who was out there. When 00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:01.019 Helene hit, don't forget about those people. 00:44:01.139 --> 00:44:03.860 They still need us. So keep them top of mind. 00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:08.380 Especially when you start getting those tax refund 00:44:08.380 --> 00:44:10.320 checks and you're looking for a charitable cause, 00:44:10.539 --> 00:44:12.820 send a little bit out to the 828. Love it. Well, 00:44:12.980 --> 00:44:15.780 Chaz, again, thank you so much. Thanks, y 'all. 00:44:18.179 --> 00:44:20.239 All right. Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation. 00:44:20.659 --> 00:44:23.699 And we were really lucky to get Chaz on the podcast. 00:44:23.980 --> 00:44:25.679 I thought it was a really good conversation. 00:44:26.039 --> 00:44:28.619 Oh, no, it was fantastic. I mean, he had a lot 00:44:28.619 --> 00:44:33.019 of great things to say. And I'm glad we had him 00:44:33.019 --> 00:44:35.280 on there. It made me feel good that some of his 00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:37.800 concerns and his views were similar and the same 00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:40.599 thing as ones we've had ourselves on here in 00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:42.599 previous episodes. So that's nice. It was a good 00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:45.820 idea to send him that script beforehand. I think, 00:44:45.820 --> 00:44:48.280 you know, I definitely praise you. for that good 00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:50.940 thinking on your part thank you yeah i um the 00:44:50.940 --> 00:44:53.699 contract i had to write up was a little was a 00:44:53.699 --> 00:44:55.780 little tricky but you know he signed in blood 00:44:55.780 --> 00:44:59.800 and whatnot so we're good Well, for any Republicans 00:44:59.800 --> 00:45:01.719 listening, I swear to God, this is not real. 00:45:01.719 --> 00:45:04.119 We are not the deep state. Don't worry. That's 00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:07.599 exactly what the deep state would say. And, you 00:45:07.599 --> 00:45:10.239 know, like when we talk about just politics in 00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:12.420 general, you always got to think like somebody, 00:45:12.619 --> 00:45:15.340 somebody at some point is going to dig back through 00:45:15.340 --> 00:45:19.019 these and try to find something, anything. And 00:45:19.019 --> 00:45:23.159 to you, intern or page or legislative aid that 00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:25.739 is listening to this. Are you doing okay? The 00:45:25.739 --> 00:45:29.719 year's 2032. Republicans are not doing so well 00:45:29.719 --> 00:45:31.440 right now. Or maybe they're doing great, but 00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:33.820 they're also still crazy. Are you okay? I hope 00:45:33.820 --> 00:45:37.940 your mental health is, you know, doing... well 00:45:37.940 --> 00:45:40.480 and i hope you are uh you know skimming a little 00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:43.440 bit off the top uh from from your uh republican 00:45:43.440 --> 00:45:45.800 counterparts you know you know get that bag while 00:45:45.800 --> 00:45:48.800 you can um you don't have to report us it's okay 00:45:48.800 --> 00:45:50.260 just tell them you found nothing all right i 00:45:50.260 --> 00:45:53.340 think that covered our bases yeah i think that 00:45:53.340 --> 00:45:55.340 covered our bases i think we're good now so now 00:45:55.340 --> 00:45:58.079 we can get to the uh the bullshit of the week 00:45:58.079 --> 00:46:01.679 unfortunately yeah so this is the nature of uh 00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:06.329 recording a a topical podcast cj This is the 00:46:06.329 --> 00:46:09.309 line that we've chosen for ourselves. Things 00:46:09.309 --> 00:46:13.510 change within hours of hitting that record and 00:46:13.510 --> 00:46:18.090 submit button. Yep. So last week we were talking 00:46:18.090 --> 00:46:22.150 about the whole paragraph by Republicans to give 00:46:22.150 --> 00:46:25.300 Dave Bulyak the... north carolina state auditor 00:46:25.300 --> 00:46:27.599 the power to oversee the state board of elections 00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:29.659 we were talking last week about how the court 00:46:29.659 --> 00:46:31.820 of appeals had to stop that in its tracks right 00:46:31.820 --> 00:46:34.980 uh today it's currently as we are recording this 00:46:34.980 --> 00:46:40.909 may 1st and abc11 .com You can see the headline, 00:46:41.170 --> 00:46:44.070 NC Auditor Names Elections Board Members After 00:46:44.070 --> 00:46:47.650 Judges Let Law Stand During Appeals. So, as we 00:46:47.650 --> 00:46:52.230 kind of mentioned last episode, this got sent 00:46:52.230 --> 00:46:56.179 to the appeals court. And, yeah. They said, you 00:46:56.179 --> 00:46:58.179 know, you can go through with this power grab 00:46:58.179 --> 00:47:03.199 and, you know, completely destroy years of, you 00:47:03.199 --> 00:47:05.179 know, settled law and precedents and all that 00:47:05.179 --> 00:47:09.039 stuff. Logic, yeah. Really just kind of taking 00:47:09.039 --> 00:47:11.679 North Carolina back a few more steps. Yeah, because 00:47:11.679 --> 00:47:14.559 when I think elections and when I think, you 00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:17.800 know, keeping them in the hands of people who 00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:20.889 are allied to... the small D democratic values 00:47:20.889 --> 00:47:22.789 that we hold dear in this country. The first 00:47:22.789 --> 00:47:25.670 guy that I think of to manage them is the money 00:47:25.670 --> 00:47:28.530 guy in the council of state is, is the state 00:47:28.530 --> 00:47:31.190 auditor. Definitely think about the guy who, 00:47:31.269 --> 00:47:33.210 as we said in the last episode, only switched 00:47:33.210 --> 00:47:35.489 parties recently and said, he's only in this 00:47:35.489 --> 00:47:37.610 for Donald Trump. Definitely trust him with, 00:47:37.670 --> 00:47:39.789 you know, as you put it, the small D democratic 00:47:39.789 --> 00:47:42.590 values. Yeah. Very trustworthy guy. Not at all 00:47:42.590 --> 00:47:45.510 going to fuck everything up. No, no, definitely 00:47:45.510 --> 00:47:48.730 not a partisan hack. Um, and I mean, And obviously 00:47:48.730 --> 00:47:51.989 they had appointments ready to go as soon as 00:47:51.989 --> 00:47:54.510 this dropped. And this is something that I think, 00:47:54.510 --> 00:47:58.289 just as a quick aside, that if Democratic politicians, 00:47:58.449 --> 00:48:01.510 if you are not already doing this, where regardless 00:48:01.510 --> 00:48:03.630 of how things go, that you don't have a slate 00:48:03.630 --> 00:48:06.909 ready to go, the moment anything happens, learn 00:48:06.909 --> 00:48:09.030 from what Republicans are doing right now. Learn 00:48:09.030 --> 00:48:11.230 from what North Carolina Republicans are doing 00:48:11.230 --> 00:48:13.269 and learn from what national Republicans are 00:48:13.269 --> 00:48:16.050 doing. Because the moment they get any kind of 00:48:16.050 --> 00:48:18.230 favorable ruling, They just go ahead and do it. 00:48:18.250 --> 00:48:20.389 They don't wait. Oh, we got to wait and make 00:48:20.389 --> 00:48:22.170 sure it's legal. It's like, it's literally that 00:48:22.170 --> 00:48:25.010 moment. And this is very topical because, well, 00:48:25.110 --> 00:48:28.010 not super topical, but this is very topical in 00:48:28.010 --> 00:48:31.269 a way because it is about to be May the 4th and 00:48:31.269 --> 00:48:33.530 the Revenge of the Sith has been re -released 00:48:33.530 --> 00:48:35.550 to theaters, which is amazing. I am going to 00:48:35.550 --> 00:48:36.929 try to see it. I don't know if I'll be able to, 00:48:37.010 --> 00:48:41.389 but it's that moment in the first episode when 00:48:41.389 --> 00:48:46.940 he says, but my Lord, is that legal? I will make 00:48:46.940 --> 00:48:49.340 it legal. And I can't do Palpatine, so don't 00:48:49.340 --> 00:48:51.380 get me to try. All right. You pushed me to it. 00:48:51.659 --> 00:48:56.539 I will make it legal. There. And so we have this 00:48:56.539 --> 00:48:58.980 exact scenario right now is playing out where. 00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:02.099 They made it legal to do what they're doing. 00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:05.300 Doesn't even matter that a previous court said 00:49:05.300 --> 00:49:07.260 that it's unconstitutional. It does not matter. 00:49:07.340 --> 00:49:10.239 And like, granted, yes, that is how the court 00:49:10.239 --> 00:49:12.559 system works. Not arguing that that's not how 00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:15.420 it should work, right? How dare I question the 00:49:15.420 --> 00:49:20.380 efficacy of our judicial system? I'm just saying, 00:49:20.460 --> 00:49:24.460 it's a little bit bullshit. Oh, yeah. And, I 00:49:24.460 --> 00:49:28.920 mean, I'm skimming through this article really 00:49:28.920 --> 00:49:30.960 quick. I'm about to pull up the ruling. But last 00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:34.579 I heard, they had not... announced who the uh 00:49:34.579 --> 00:49:39.559 yeah they left the judges unnamed in the ruling 00:49:39.559 --> 00:49:43.260 now we're looking at trying to submit some kind 00:49:43.260 --> 00:49:46.000 of records request to figure out who the judges 00:49:46.000 --> 00:49:49.119 are i completely understand that they are probably 00:49:49.119 --> 00:49:51.880 doing this to make sure that they are not subject 00:49:51.880 --> 00:49:55.179 to harassment that is not the goal for us it 00:49:55.179 --> 00:49:58.760 is purely academic to figure out which of these 00:49:58.760 --> 00:50:03.900 judges decided This was totally fine and decided, 00:50:04.019 --> 00:50:06.250 you know what? I will make the decision, but 00:50:06.250 --> 00:50:08.090 we're not going to tell people who we're not 00:50:08.090 --> 00:50:11.210 going to reveal who made this decision, even 00:50:11.210 --> 00:50:14.610 though we need to reiterate, too, that there 00:50:14.610 --> 00:50:17.789 are 12 Republican judges on the Court of Appeals. 00:50:17.869 --> 00:50:22.050 So odds are this unanimous court decision did 00:50:22.050 --> 00:50:25.889 not include a Democrat. Now, I'm again on this 00:50:25.889 --> 00:50:35.309 article. So this says, Francis DeLuca, who is 00:50:35.309 --> 00:50:37.070 the former president of a conservative think 00:50:37.070 --> 00:50:41.409 tank. If you are from Western North Carolina, 00:50:41.449 --> 00:50:44.710 specifically from Woon, Watauga County, and the 00:50:44.710 --> 00:50:47.250 Eggers name sounds familiar, that's because this 00:50:47.250 --> 00:50:49.730 is the same family of Eggers that tried numerous 00:50:49.730 --> 00:50:53.070 times to get on -campus voting taken away from 00:50:53.070 --> 00:50:55.690 Appalachian State University. I personally, as 00:50:55.690 --> 00:50:59.010 an App alum, have a particular dislike for all 00:50:59.010 --> 00:51:02.849 things for Eggers and company. I think that's 00:51:02.849 --> 00:51:07.409 a completely reasonable way to feel. um i should 00:51:07.409 --> 00:51:09.829 also say during that time when i was an app like 00:51:09.829 --> 00:51:13.130 we sued and won many lawsuits because the courts 00:51:13.130 --> 00:51:14.769 were like yeah no some of these things are absolutely 00:51:14.769 --> 00:51:18.510 insane they're overreaching they are an affront 00:51:18.510 --> 00:51:22.929 to small d democratic values and i think i don't 00:51:22.929 --> 00:51:24.750 know what i'll be honest i do not know the makeup 00:51:24.750 --> 00:51:26.670 of the bills courts or anything like that at 00:51:26.670 --> 00:51:29.250 that time this was like you know like 2016, 2019 00:51:29.250 --> 00:51:32.489 -ish. I do not know the makeup of the appeals 00:51:32.489 --> 00:51:35.309 court, but I think it says a lot that nowadays, 00:51:35.730 --> 00:51:39.650 common sense legal victories aren't necessarily 00:51:39.650 --> 00:51:44.349 common. I like to think that anyone who at least 00:51:44.349 --> 00:51:48.090 has a respect for the rule of law and for constitutionality 00:51:48.090 --> 00:51:50.730 and small d democracy, I like to think anyone 00:51:50.730 --> 00:51:53.489 who has that respect can see what is going on 00:51:53.489 --> 00:51:55.909 and see that this was a partisan power grab and 00:51:55.909 --> 00:51:58.610 that it is a slap in the face to those values. 00:51:59.869 --> 00:52:02.710 I like to think that anyway. Who knows? No, I 00:52:02.710 --> 00:52:05.590 do too, but we do live in an age of hyper -partisanship. 00:52:06.130 --> 00:52:09.969 Doing no small part to Trump, but also just the 00:52:10.030 --> 00:52:12.510 fallout from the tea party movement that still 00:52:12.510 --> 00:52:15.909 exists in ripples to this day we have partisan 00:52:15.909 --> 00:52:19.190 judges that have seemingly made it their life's 00:52:19.190 --> 00:52:23.170 mission to just be as conservative as possible 00:52:23.170 --> 00:52:27.400 just like let's push the bounds of what conservatism 00:52:27.400 --> 00:52:30.679 actually means within a legal framework and that 00:52:30.679 --> 00:52:33.900 that is not to say that what they're doing is 00:52:33.900 --> 00:52:37.400 strictly illegal it's in our opinion unethical 00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:40.699 but again they're working within a legal framework 00:52:40.699 --> 00:52:43.360 and like not to bring it back to fascism uh not 00:52:43.360 --> 00:52:47.199 saying this is fascism it is adjacent to it in 00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:50.739 a way but like this is this is how tyranny becomes 00:52:50.739 --> 00:52:54.840 itself it's how it manifests you have one party 00:52:54.840 --> 00:52:56.449 one group of people and And it's not even like 00:52:56.449 --> 00:52:59.210 it's a whole party. It's not like all Republicans 00:52:59.210 --> 00:53:02.510 got together and made this decision. This was 00:53:02.510 --> 00:53:06.949 the NCGOP. This was... republican insiders this 00:53:06.949 --> 00:53:10.190 is businessmen and lawmakers and people within 00:53:10.190 --> 00:53:12.809 the legal system that are making these decisions 00:53:12.809 --> 00:53:15.530 and making these plans and then when it comes 00:53:15.530 --> 00:53:18.789 time right these loyalists these people that 00:53:18.789 --> 00:53:20.769 have been in the party structure or they know 00:53:20.769 --> 00:53:22.349 somebody who knows somebody or they've been an 00:53:22.349 --> 00:53:25.190 old family friend for three generations that 00:53:25.190 --> 00:53:27.909 now when they have the chance bing bang boom 00:53:28.280 --> 00:53:32.480 You all get nice, cushy, little spoiled system 00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:35.920 jobs. You're now on the Board of Elections. You're 00:53:35.920 --> 00:53:37.820 now on the Board of Education. We're going to 00:53:37.820 --> 00:53:40.960 appoint you to these positions. And also keep 00:53:40.960 --> 00:53:43.119 this in mind. The governor has a lot of authority 00:53:43.119 --> 00:53:45.119 on who he gets to appoint to certain positions. 00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:47.039 We're not just talking about Board of Elections 00:53:47.039 --> 00:53:51.340 now. For instance, the DA in my county recently 00:53:51.340 --> 00:53:54.039 announced that she's going to resign. Now, initially 00:53:54.039 --> 00:53:55.480 I thought, okay, does this mean that there's 00:53:55.480 --> 00:53:57.559 going to be a special election? No. This means... 00:53:57.579 --> 00:54:00.019 that the governor gets to appoint who the next 00:54:00.019 --> 00:54:03.059 da is going to be in that district can you guess 00:54:03.059 --> 00:54:06.739 where their sites might be set on next if they're 00:54:06.739 --> 00:54:08.699 not already going to try and do that with another 00:54:08.699 --> 00:54:11.960 bill let me guess um you get rid of you get rid 00:54:11.960 --> 00:54:14.900 of the local level da's and the local level judicial 00:54:14.900 --> 00:54:18.940 uh system you're you're in trouble if you take 00:54:18.940 --> 00:54:21.340 away the power of the governor who was duly elected 00:54:21.340 --> 00:54:24.079 to do the job that he was going to run on doing 00:54:24.079 --> 00:54:26.940 and you take that that power of appointment away 00:54:26.940 --> 00:54:28.980 from the governor and give it to the state auditor 00:54:28.980 --> 00:54:32.019 who has like 200 followers on tiktok or not tiktok 00:54:32.019 --> 00:54:34.900 who has like 200 followers on twitter not that 00:54:34.900 --> 00:54:37.460 that means anything but like nobody knows who 00:54:37.460 --> 00:54:40.039 this fucking guy is i think that that's what 00:54:40.039 --> 00:54:41.699 i'm getting at it's not about the followers it's 00:54:41.699 --> 00:54:44.019 that nobody knows who he is except for the people 00:54:44.019 --> 00:54:46.440 who follow politics does that not you know does 00:54:46.440 --> 00:54:49.159 that not alarm you at all oh yeah no it's very 00:54:49.159 --> 00:54:50.980 alarming but i will say that you specifically 00:54:50.980 --> 00:54:54.019 but you listener yell through your screen and 00:54:54.019 --> 00:54:57.039 let me know that this alarms you um next week 00:54:57.039 --> 00:54:58.739 you're going to be out on the street just walking 00:54:58.739 --> 00:55:00.320 and someone will like run up to you and be like 00:55:00.320 --> 00:55:05.139 this alarms me but no so no it no it is very 00:55:05.139 --> 00:55:08.949 alarming though And it's one thing that I don't 00:55:08.949 --> 00:55:11.730 think people are talking about a lot yet, because 00:55:11.730 --> 00:55:13.269 this story is just like really groundbreaking. 00:55:13.809 --> 00:55:16.590 Yeah, this was late last night that this was 00:55:16.590 --> 00:55:18.949 decided. And then early this morning, he was 00:55:18.949 --> 00:55:22.469 appointing people already. Like this could also 00:55:22.469 --> 00:55:25.349 have some effect on the whole Jefferson Griffin, 00:55:25.429 --> 00:55:28.510 Ellison Riggs thing. Potentially. And that's 00:55:28.510 --> 00:55:31.369 not just me saying that. Like, that's Stein saying 00:55:31.369 --> 00:55:33.630 that. Yeah. Saying that he feared that appointment 00:55:33.630 --> 00:55:35.730 changes would mean Republicans could succeed 00:55:35.730 --> 00:55:37.670 in helping Griffin win the seat. Yeah. Right? 00:55:37.750 --> 00:55:39.750 And, like, earlier today, on my lunch break, 00:55:39.789 --> 00:55:42.210 I decided to walk over to the North Carolina 00:55:42.210 --> 00:55:45.610 Science Museum. You know? Because if y 'all have 00:55:45.610 --> 00:55:48.489 never been, it's here in Raleigh. It's a really 00:55:48.489 --> 00:55:50.989 cool place. It's really neat. Yeah. And one thing 00:55:50.989 --> 00:55:53.170 I love, there's just something about it. I cannot 00:55:53.170 --> 00:55:55.610 place what it is. Whenever I walk in there, I'm 00:55:55.610 --> 00:55:56.989 just, like, really happy. Maybe it's just because 00:55:56.989 --> 00:55:59.869 I'm a nerd. earth i don't know but yes you know 00:55:59.869 --> 00:56:02.650 they talk about you know just all the natural 00:56:02.650 --> 00:56:05.730 resources and the various types of environments 00:56:05.730 --> 00:56:07.250 and climates and whatnot that we have in this 00:56:07.250 --> 00:56:09.750 state and it makes me think about you know the 00:56:09.750 --> 00:56:12.590 state as a whole what it means what it stands 00:56:12.590 --> 00:56:15.650 for and you know i'm thinking about just all 00:56:15.650 --> 00:56:18.090 the various things and then you know it's a little 00:56:18.090 --> 00:56:20.469 happy place and then all of a sudden out of nowhere 00:56:20.469 --> 00:56:21.989 i'm just like fucking republicans are kind of 00:56:21.989 --> 00:56:29.079 messing it all up No, like, I'm just like, you 00:56:29.079 --> 00:56:34.389 know, this is a state. love for its natural beauty, 00:56:34.550 --> 00:56:37.909 its resources, for the people here, right? Whether 00:56:37.909 --> 00:56:39.570 or not I agree with them or not, whether or not 00:56:39.570 --> 00:56:42.710 we're politics -aligned or not, but they are 00:56:42.710 --> 00:56:45.610 not being represented like they should be. They 00:56:45.610 --> 00:56:49.849 are not having their rights maintained and protected 00:56:49.849 --> 00:56:53.710 and expanded like they should be. Every generation 00:56:53.710 --> 00:56:58.489 of lawmaker is a custodian and a guardian of 00:56:58.489 --> 00:57:00.650 the democracy and the people who elected them 00:57:00.650 --> 00:57:04.150 there. positions yeah and who we have now at 00:57:04.150 --> 00:57:06.630 least on the republican side are failing in their 00:57:06.630 --> 00:57:10.010 mission dramatically it's not because they are 00:57:10.010 --> 00:57:13.010 in net or they just don't have the ability or 00:57:13.010 --> 00:57:15.550 know how it's because they don't want to right 00:57:15.550 --> 00:57:18.210 because they do not care about what they have 00:57:18.210 --> 00:57:20.690 been you know what duty has been bestowed upon 00:57:20.690 --> 00:57:24.670 them and if they only care yes and if i may add 00:57:24.670 --> 00:57:26.929 to it a little bit they don't even feel as though 00:57:26.929 --> 00:57:29.550 they have the obligation to you know what i you 00:57:29.550 --> 00:57:31.500 know what i'm saying yeah Like, you're saying 00:57:31.500 --> 00:57:34.619 they don't want to. I'm saying, yes, and they 00:57:34.619 --> 00:57:36.800 don't feel they have the obligation to. That's 00:57:36.800 --> 00:57:40.019 true. Like, no, I don't need to meet with constituents. 00:57:40.380 --> 00:57:43.920 No, I don't need to actually adhere to what the 00:57:43.920 --> 00:57:46.599 majority of the population in the state wants. 00:57:46.900 --> 00:57:48.840 Because, like, why would I need to meet with 00:57:48.840 --> 00:57:51.579 the constituents? Why would I need to adhere 00:57:51.579 --> 00:57:54.400 to, you know, or, again, small d democratic values 00:57:54.400 --> 00:57:57.699 whenever the party that I'm a part of, the part 00:57:57.699 --> 00:58:01.320 of the Republican Party. has drawn the maps and 00:58:01.320 --> 00:58:04.500 have gerrymandered the state all to hell. I never 00:58:04.500 --> 00:58:06.639 had to worry about losing power as long as my 00:58:06.639 --> 00:58:09.099 party is in control, so why should I give a shit 00:58:09.099 --> 00:58:10.940 about what my constituents have to say? Why should 00:58:10.940 --> 00:58:13.019 I meet with them? Right. And it's a tenuous situation, 00:58:13.300 --> 00:58:15.719 because, kind of like what Chaz was saying earlier, 00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:18.039 it's not as if they're never going to get to... 00:58:18.300 --> 00:58:21.059 a point where it's so overwhelmingly Republican 00:58:21.059 --> 00:58:23.820 or conservative in this state that Democrats 00:58:23.820 --> 00:58:25.940 just have absolutely no power. No matter how 00:58:25.940 --> 00:58:28.500 badly you cut up the maps, you're not going to 00:58:28.500 --> 00:58:30.619 make us Oklahoma. Like, that's just not going 00:58:30.619 --> 00:58:32.900 to happen because there are far too many people 00:58:32.900 --> 00:58:34.739 in this state. There are too many big cities. 00:58:34.920 --> 00:58:37.519 There's too much diversity. And I'm not saying 00:58:37.519 --> 00:58:40.320 that those are the hallmarks of Democrats, but 00:58:40.320 --> 00:58:43.320 they certainly seem to be what we flock to, right? 00:58:43.420 --> 00:58:46.250 They certainly seem to be what liberals... and 00:58:46.250 --> 00:58:49.230 leftists and people who have more democratic, 00:58:49.369 --> 00:58:52.190 more liberal values, that tends to be where we 00:58:52.190 --> 00:58:55.289 are. And when you have a population that is screaming 00:58:55.289 --> 00:59:00.210 for help, both with housing, the costs of goods 00:59:00.210 --> 00:59:02.789 and services going way beyond what we're able 00:59:02.789 --> 00:59:06.030 to actually pay for, the wages stagnating, the 00:59:06.030 --> 00:59:08.929 excruciatingly low teacher pay, the inability 00:59:08.929 --> 00:59:12.460 for us to get good health care in... a place 00:59:12.460 --> 00:59:14.659 that is known for having the research, the medical 00:59:14.659 --> 00:59:17.199 research triangle in its state. There's so many 00:59:17.199 --> 00:59:19.980 things in this state that like you're saying. 00:59:20.360 --> 00:59:23.619 It is a beautiful place. There's a reason that 00:59:23.619 --> 00:59:26.619 I want to be here. But there's also a reason 00:59:26.619 --> 00:59:30.400 that we have so much work to do to fix it. Because 00:59:30.400 --> 00:59:33.400 this should be a place that people want to come 00:59:33.400 --> 00:59:35.480 to. And right now, there's not a whole lot of 00:59:35.480 --> 00:59:38.219 reason to because of the way that we are being 00:59:38.219 --> 00:59:41.059 treated by our governing body. And I say we, 00:59:41.219 --> 00:59:45.420 I mean we, as in everybody. Republicans in Western 00:59:45.420 --> 00:59:48.219 North Carolina, this is not good for you. Conservative... 00:59:48.860 --> 00:59:51.420 unaffiliated it's in eastern north carolina this 00:59:51.420 --> 00:59:53.659 is not good for you this will not work out well 00:59:53.659 --> 00:59:55.960 because the only ones that they are doing the 00:59:55.960 --> 00:59:58.239 only people that they are doing this for is themselves 00:59:58.239 --> 01:00:02.340 is the party the the ncgop that is all they care 01:00:02.340 --> 01:00:06.340 about and and and their majority slipped atlas 01:00:06.340 --> 01:00:08.760 shrugged this last cycle to bring it back around 01:00:08.760 --> 01:00:13.460 to like libertarianism right to to stalwart uh 01:00:13.460 --> 01:00:21.260 conservatism to to uh to aesthetic libertarianism, 01:00:21.340 --> 01:00:26.639 right? Anytime I hear Atlas Shrugged or I hear 01:00:26.639 --> 01:00:29.380 Ayn Rand or anything like that, just those words, 01:00:29.519 --> 01:00:32.559 I freeze and mentally prepare myself to hear 01:00:32.559 --> 01:00:38.539 the most inane, absurd bullshit ever. And I look 01:00:38.539 --> 01:00:41.320 for ways to escape whatever room I'm in, even 01:00:41.320 --> 01:00:43.780 if it's just through a window on the 30th floor. 01:00:44.099 --> 01:00:49.619 I just, I love the... I love the idiom, I guess, 01:00:49.820 --> 01:00:53.019 of Atlas Shrugged. Because that, I think, is 01:00:53.019 --> 01:00:56.119 apt in this scenario. That for a few years we've 01:00:56.119 --> 01:00:59.179 seen this Republican supermajority and the power 01:00:59.179 --> 01:01:01.079 that they've been able to wield. The things that 01:01:01.079 --> 01:01:03.900 they've been able to do. It seems imposing. And 01:01:03.900 --> 01:01:07.320 almost unbeatable in certain instances, right? 01:01:07.420 --> 01:01:09.320 Well, we'll never win that seat. Oh, we'll never 01:01:09.320 --> 01:01:12.800 be able to overcome that vote majority, right? 01:01:12.880 --> 01:01:15.400 Like we say a lot, politics is fluid, nothing's 01:01:15.400 --> 01:01:18.099 set in stone. Like Chaz said earlier, we go through 01:01:18.099 --> 01:01:21.760 many different waves. Where you think that for 01:01:21.760 --> 01:01:23.239 one moment, oh man, they've just got this shit 01:01:23.239 --> 01:01:25.300 on lock. And then two years later, everything 01:01:25.300 --> 01:01:27.119 flips on its head for one reason or another. 01:01:27.300 --> 01:01:28.980 Am I saying that's going to happen here? No, 01:01:29.099 --> 01:01:32.599 it probably won't. But again, that two seat loss 01:01:32.599 --> 01:01:36.820 in 2024, that's not nothing. And it's, again, 01:01:37.059 --> 01:01:40.519 Atlas shrugged. He lost the step. And to push 01:01:40.519 --> 01:01:43.579 the analogy even further, there's a reason that 01:01:43.579 --> 01:01:45.880 we remember the gods of Olympus and not the Titans. 01:01:46.599 --> 01:01:50.809 And with that... To end it on talks of deities, 01:01:50.949 --> 01:01:54.469 which we will not get into on this show, I promise 01:01:54.469 --> 01:01:57.050 you. I'm not going to go on TikTok and start 01:01:57.050 --> 01:02:00.130 debating atheists and agnostics and Christians. 01:02:00.510 --> 01:02:02.750 You don't want to talk to Ken Ham? I really don't. 01:02:02.849 --> 01:02:07.739 I think I'm good, honestly. We thank you so much 01:02:07.739 --> 01:02:09.639 for listening. I hope you enjoyed our conversation 01:02:09.639 --> 01:02:11.820 with the Honorable Chaz Beasley. And I hope you'll 01:02:11.820 --> 01:02:14.059 stick around for more interviews that I am sure 01:02:14.059 --> 01:02:15.860 that we are going to be conducting in the next 01:02:15.860 --> 01:02:17.559 few weeks. We've got one lined up that we are 01:02:17.559 --> 01:02:19.980 very, very excited about. And you should be too. 01:02:20.159 --> 01:02:21.980 We can't announce who it is right this second. 01:02:22.519 --> 01:02:25.800 But if you follow us on our Blue Sky and Twitter 01:02:25.800 --> 01:02:28.599 and all those places, and if you check us out 01:02:28.599 --> 01:02:31.000 on Substack, we will be able to give you updates 01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:32.900 about it. We may also post it on our Patreon 01:02:32.900 --> 01:02:35.280 early if you would like to go there and support 01:02:35.280 --> 01:02:38.079 the channel. That would be amazing of you, dear 01:02:38.079 --> 01:02:40.000 listener. CJ, you got anything else to say to 01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:42.260 the people listening right now? Just one thing 01:02:42.260 --> 01:02:43.820 really quick. So, you know, last week's episode 01:02:43.820 --> 01:02:45.760 was episode number 10, and Adrian and I were 01:02:45.760 --> 01:02:47.679 talking earlier, and we were like, 10 felt pretty 01:02:47.679 --> 01:02:50.460 good, not going to lie. It has definitely been 01:02:50.460 --> 01:02:52.519 a learning process for us so far. I just want 01:02:52.519 --> 01:02:54.599 to say to those who were there from the beginning, 01:02:54.679 --> 01:02:56.820 thank you. But for those who have kept on listening, 01:02:56.980 --> 01:02:59.460 we really do appreciate it. We know that the 01:02:59.460 --> 01:03:01.059 podcast is starting to grow and whatnot. And 01:03:01.059 --> 01:03:03.840 we are both excited. At least I'm assuming Adrian 01:03:03.840 --> 01:03:08.739 is. We are both excited. But thank you for tuning 01:03:08.739 --> 01:03:11.239 in. Yeah, thank you. And we hope you tune in 01:03:11.239 --> 01:03:13.159 next time. Follow us on TikTok. Follow us on 01:03:13.159 --> 01:03:15.239 Instagram. All those places. And we'll see you 01:03:15.239 --> 01:03:17.179 next time on The Left of Old North. Bye -bye.