February 19, 2023 • 54 mins
Legendary activist Erin Brockovich explains to us how the Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio is being handled improperly. The Lincoln Project’s Stuart Stevens explains what will happen to any of Trump’s challengers once they go into a debate with him. Plus, Adam Frisch who barely lost to Congresswoman Lauren Boebert in 2022 tells us how he will defeat her in 2024.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,
where we discussed the top political headlines with some of
today's best minds, and former President Jimmy Carter has entered
hospice care. We have a great show Today, Legendary consumer
advocate and activist Aaron Brockovich talks about the Ohio trained
(00:21):
derailment and how it should be handled. Then we'll talk
to Adam Fresh, who lost to Lauren Boebert by five
hundred and forty six votes and has just announced he'll
be running against her in But first we have legendary
campaign manager the Lincoln Projects Stewart Stevens. Welcome to Fast Politics.
(00:42):
Stewart Stevens, thanks for asking me to the party. Yeah.
We are very discerning here and I have to say
I love your writing. I really think you're such a
talented writer, which you know, I don't think that about everybody. Welcome.
I want to talk to you about Nicki Haley and
the future of the Republican Party. So this is going
(01:03):
to be depressing depressing. Well now, don't get me wrong,
but I'm not. I'm all sold out of the Hope Store. Right.
They're not going to ever nominate someone who's not an
authoritarian because the party has taken an authoritarian tact. Simple
test of that is, will the Republican Party nominate someone
(01:25):
who will assert positively that the President United States was
elected in a legal, in fair election. That seems like
a pretty low bar. And I can't imagine that's not
the official position of the Republican Party, which I think
it's just sort of a sign of how normalization has changed.
But the Republican Party's official position now is that America
is not a democracy because if we don't have a legal,
(01:46):
infair elected president, then we have an occupier, which for
not a democracy. Yeah. I think that that's where we are, right, Yeah,
that's where we all. I mean, people are not focused
on this. There's sort of a need, I think, which
historical the teams to always happen when democracy side and
deutocracy for the folks on the democracy side, which is
a majority, to want to pretend that everything's okay and normal.
(02:09):
But election, I can't imagine that they're going to nominate
somebody who will say that Donald Trump lost. Uh. And
so you're gonna have, for the first time, not an
election between two parties with different political views. You're gonna
have one party to believe that they are in a
democracy and one party that believes this campaign is about
removing and a legal occupant of the White House right.
(02:31):
I wrote this piece earlier last week about how to
Santis is an Autocrat just like Trump, and how he's
basically the same but much better at it. So right,
because we've seen him do it in Florida and they're
so mad and they're like everyone, we don't you don't
like as Hitler. But the truth is, that's not what
it is. It really is the reason why he's so
(02:54):
popular in the Republican Party is because he is. He
is doing all of these things from the autocrap play bomb.
I think it's fascinating to watch what Ron de Santus
is doing and Donald Trump's doing that. Donald Trump is
out there saying don't cut Medicare and social Security. Ron
de Santus is saying all this crazy stuff aimed at
a Republican primary audience. Boup breaks are going to win
(03:14):
a primary. Donald Trump, he's already running in the general. Listen.
I am a great advocate, and I may take to
walking up and down in a sandwich board of this
that the Democratic Party should aggressively engage and seek out
cultural awards because they're winning them. Think about your average
(03:37):
suburban family or a fam whatever, we're that mythical family. Right.
How many people move so they can send their kids
to better schools? Millions? How many script and safe so
that they can pay for their kids to go to
a private school so that they can study AP And
he's banning a p I think that is absolutely insane.
(03:58):
So look, how do than how how do all these
cultural wars of late gone for the Republicans? So how
did the Donald Trump versus Nike Colin Kaepernack workout? Well,
Nike may nine billion, nine billion off of Colic Kaepernack
to retire. You live in Florida. You know how the
cultural war? You know when they were mad at Nascar
because they banned the Confederate flag. Well, I think Nascar
(04:21):
won that one. They were in the cultural war with
Walmart for a while because Walmart at mass mandates, right,
Walmart seems to be doing okay to me. I don't know.
They lost the cultural war on same sex marriage, lost
the cultural war abortion. I mean, they lost the cultural war,
but you can't get an abortion and huge swaps of
(04:42):
this country. Yeah, I think they won at the action
level if it were, but there are more people today
consider themselves pro choice for higher percentages and everfore in America,
right right, right, that is certainly true. I knew once
people saw how bad this is going to be that
there would be blowback and you I mean, look, the
I mean the thing about abortion, which I think is incredible,
(05:04):
is that you have all these women who were not
pro choice and they now have had miscarriages and they
can't get treated. Yeah. I just woke up in the
middle of the night and said, look, what about a
politician that gets in a fight with the Happiness Company?
How's that working out? Be fighting Peter Pan I mean, really,
you're going to get in a fight with Disney, So like,
(05:25):
who won that fight? I kind of remember, like the
guy who won the Super Bowl went to Disney the
next day. They didn't go to Tallahassee to see iron
It is a complete losing argument and they're doing it.
It's all aimed at white people. Yeah, I mean, it's
it's all about race. That's because you know Trump's coalition
(05:47):
was white. The country's sixty white, sixty Deoman. Now you
count it, you know, since we're talking it's less white,
we're headed to become a majority of an already country.
Republicans can't do anything about except try to change your votes,
and that's what they're about. It does feel like this
is the last bastion of a kind of rage, you know. Yeah.
(06:12):
I mean, I don't think the Santus. This is a
guy with the HARVARDEO and talk what a Darlington's right.
I mean, give me a break. It's just he doesn't
believe any of this stuff, all right, the same as
Nicki Haley. She believed Donald Trump as a person she
said he was in two thousand and sixteen when she
stood out there with Mark Rubio. I think they just
they all collapsed. I don't think the Santis is a
(06:32):
particularly good politician. I mean, look, I did all of
Charlie Chris. Charlie Chris is a guy he ran against
last time. I did all of Charlie's races when he
was a Republican running statewide, which he wants. So I
did all Charlie Chris winning statewide races. So switchers have
a terrible time. They do better if they've become independent.
So like in Connecticut, you've had people who are Democrats
(06:52):
became independent. Yeah, his name shall not be mentioned on
this podcast The Enemy, But yes, yes, you don't have
many examples of someone who was governor in one party
switching and getting re elected in another party. I don't
know a single example that's been successful. Buddy Rohmer tried
(07:15):
in Louisiana. We do research on I I don't know
if it's ever worked. I wouldn't think it's a great
indicator that. I mean no offense to him, but he's
not an amazing candidate, at least now. But the point
is that you don't have to. I won't make you
weigh in on that. But he did still eviscerate the
Santis in the debate. He lost the debate to Charlie Crith,
(07:37):
which is not like losing a pickup game with Michael
Jordan's right, it's like losing a pickup game with me.
So I think he has no idea what he's in for. Yeah. Look,
if I was, you know, God forbid, But if I
was advising around the Santis, I would tell him not
to run because Donald Trump is going to run, and
one of two things is gonna happen. He's gonna win
(07:58):
or he's gonna lose. If he wins, hopefully he'll only
serve four years, and then Ronde Santis would be you
know the ripple age of forty eight, all right, he's
so young the time. And then if he loses, your
your wealth positioned. Look, if somebody beats Donald Trump in
the primary, the next day, Donald Trump is gonna wake
(08:18):
up and the mission in his life seven will be
to stop that person from getting elected president, whatever it takes.
And it's in his power completely, Yes, yes, yes, get
d Jr. On the ballot in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.
It's over. He gets carried. Like to run in Arizona,
it's over. Margiotta run in Pennsylvania, it's over. So to
(08:41):
lose the primary to Donald Trump, and to be that
primary be worth something. You have to exist in the
fantasy that Donald Trump will behave like a normative politician,
which I like my chances in the next NFL draft better.
It's just not go that. Yeah, all of which I
(09:02):
think is good news for Democrats. No, I think so too.
The thing is, it's one of these terrible, dangerous games
right where we find ourselves. Two things can be true.
These things can be good for Democrats but bad for democracy.
So I always have I always find myself like a
little bit conflicted because you know, yes, I want Democrats
(09:24):
to win, but I would rather just have a normal,
safe system where we don't like slide into an autocracy. Listen,
you know I worked on five presidential campaigns for winning
nominations or two generals that we want, Like in the
Romney campaign, you know, we wanted to win with intensity,
with thousand sons. Right. I didn't go to bed at
(09:46):
night after Romney lost worried about the country, right, R
didn't the Romney Right. I think that's the thing about
this Nicki Haley nomination, not nomination, but her jumping into
the promary field is like she's like a charming throwback
to the time when Republicans ran on like you know, ideas. Well.
(10:07):
I find so kind of sad a lot of things
about Niki Hilley, but if you look at that video,
listen to what she's saying, it's like it will be forever,
like like, oh, wouldn't it be amazing to have a woman, Well,
we have a woman vice president. Wouldn't it be amazing
if someone of you know, Indian or South Asian origin
(10:28):
was elected to high office. Yeah, what we have one, right, President.
I mean, it's so kind of yesterday. There's nothing she's
saying in a policy sense that any politician and the
Republican Party couldn't have said for the last thirty five years,
forty years, no new policy there, there's no I've got
(10:49):
a plan, you know, here's an idea, um, there's nothing.
And this is the problem with Republicans have there there
is Ultimately the failure to attract non white votes is
a failure of policy, right, all right, no question, it's
so embarrassing to remember. But so as an hour he
gets forty four percent of the black vote and fifty
(11:10):
six didn't drop to seven percent with gold Water. It
never came back, and there was this while Molly and
I'm just so ashamed to admit this, but in the
you know, when I was Republican consultant, they're doing races.
In the late eighties and the nineties, Republican Party decided
that the reason we weren't getting many black votes is
that black voters just didn't understand what we were saying
because we didn't know how to talk to black voters, right,
(11:31):
so it sponsored this sort of cottage industry of Republican
Party hiring black consultants to come down and talk to,
you know, predominantly white candidates and campaign to tell how
to talk to black people. It's pretty bad, and we
would all sit there. It's so humiliar. Do you think about, Well,
it's also like you could just have run black people
and hired black people and talk to black people. But yeah,
(11:53):
well actually that you know, we should talk about that.
But you know, they say things like you can't talk
about good jobs, you have to talk about meeting jobs,
and we were all not And the problem wasn't that
black people didn't understand Republicans. The problem was Republicans. They
didn't understand them exactly what they were saying. It was
the failure of policy anyway. And when you look at
(12:13):
black Republicans who run, they don't do better with black
than non black Republicans than white Republicans, which is kind
of interesting. I want to ask you about this Fox
News defamation dominion suit because last night there was a
sort of incredible Was that a leaks document or was
(12:34):
it just the court finally? I think the court finally
put out the document, but it was you know, it
includes included text messages from Fox News host to each other.
It included basically the I think the top line is
Fox New and did it anyway? Of course they knew,
(12:55):
but I mean we now know they knew, like the right, right,
It's hold another conversation. But you know, when democracies slot
into autocracy, there has to be five elements. There has
to be financiers, there has to be supportive a major party,
there has to be shock troops, there has to be
a legal system that is evolving to justify it. And
(13:15):
there have to be propagandists right right, right, So we
have evolved with people are propaganders. Yeah, and look, I
I would deport Rupert Murdoch, right. I hesitate to get
involved in stuff like that, but I do understand it
does seem to me like the man is doing quite
a bit of damage to our country. Yeah. Yeah, the
(13:37):
impact of Fox News is much greater than its audience.
It is more the web of what used to be
conserned I now anti democratic elements. I mean, it's a
true statement that at its most popular, Fox News was
much less popular than Storage Wars, right right, a statistical fact.
(13:59):
So it's was just like three times. It's popular. It's
not the number of people, but it is the ability
that it has. In part, what Fox has done is
normalized the really they're out there is the normal people
and the really crazies of the Bannings and the other people,
which always happens. Um But yeah, I mean, you know,
(14:21):
I hope Dominion bankrupts them all individually and collectively. I
have no mercy for any of them. Every person that
works at Fox News is getting paid off of money
Tucker Carson makes. So you want to get your salary
from a white supremacist, that's fun. Maybe you could go
apply to KKK because it's the same goddamn thing. I
have zero sympathy for any of those people. Where do
(14:42):
you think this goes? Now? With this primary? Haley is in,
Trump is in. I think it's gonna be two thousand fifteen.
I think a bunch of people are gonna run. A
lot of people run for president who previously would have
gone on book tours, and it has the same function.
I think a bunch of people are gonna run, and
I think Donald Trump is going to be the nominee.
(15:04):
I mean, the one thing if you go back and
you look at two thousand fifteen two thousand and sixteen debates.
The only person who was the same right he kills
people in the debate. The only person who was the
same person when they walked on stage for the first
debate and when he walked off stage at the last
debate was Donald Trump. I've done five of these are
poking domities and all these debate prips. And the only
(15:26):
way to take on a candidate like Donald Trump, if
you're Nikki Hayley or anyone, if you're trying to win,
you have to make the decision one of us is
going to walk off that stage alive, and you have
to be willing to say that's not gonna be me.
But you have to go out there with that. You
can't have any other mentality than I am going to
(15:46):
kill Donald Trump's political chances, and probably you won't, but
that is the only way you have any chance of winning.
There are people who were waiting for Donald Trump. If
you first started to wait while Donald Trump to self destruct,
your kids are now in the third grade. It ain't
(16:08):
gonna happen. Baby. I don't think that she'll do that.
She didn't have the courage to mention Donald Trump's name.
So you know who else is going to run? I
think all these people are. I think John Bolton will
probably run. But you know there is no I mean,
Larry Hogan may run. That Look, Larry Hogan was a
client amount. You know there is this other Republican party
out there of these governors Skill Scott, Larry Hogan Maryland,
(16:30):
Charlie Baker Massachusetts. I work for all those guys. I
love those guys. If the party und any sense, they
look at them and go, they're selling our product in
the harvest market. If we could carry these states and
the presidents will run the world instead. These people can't
even pick your own state party chairman. That's a lot
of are at the party. So I would love to
say that Larry Hogan, you know, can run and there
(16:51):
is a enough of the Republican Party that he can
win a nomination. But in a party that that drew
this chain. Yeah, Stewart Stevens, I appreciate you so much.
I hope you'll come back, all right, Be careful. I'm
like that uncle like nanksgiving dinner. You know, if you
invite me, I come. So Aaron Brockovich is a consumer
(17:16):
advocate and activist. Welcome to Fast Politics, Aaron Brockovich. I
am so happy to be here. Thanks for having me on. Well,
we're delighted. I mean, this is not a happy he gets.
I guess you're used to not being called when the
happy stories. Can you explain to our listeners a little
bit about what is going on in Ohio? I'll do
(17:40):
my best because I've watched this unfold into one of
the most mismanaged, confused environmental disasters I've ever seen. So yeah,
to back up February three, Norfolk how To train that
derailed near Palestine, Ohio. This rail car was carrying twenty
(18:05):
rail cars full of liquid hazardous waste as matt materials,
and it caught fire and then derailed. And my understanding
is that that they were concerned it was going to explode,
which would have really been bad, and so they set
(18:26):
out to do a controlled burn, if you will, and slowly,
you know, like released the chemicals, and at that point,
you know, a huge black, toxic cloud was released, and
at this moment, everybody's going, what is going on? So
they were put into a mandatory evacuation. And if you
(18:46):
couldn't evacuate or didn't want to, evacuate. You had the
shelter in place, and this was about a mild containment zone.
There was several days went on with that, and the
state e p A Norfolk, who had been supposedly doing
the testing and controlling the burn, said everything was safe
(19:06):
and you could come back home. So as people go
back home, several more days passed, and then the governor
a couple of three or four days ago, announces, well,
you're safe to go home, but don't drink the water.
If I were you, I drink bottled water. And the
next day suddenly the testing has changed and oh it's
safe to drink the water. So this community has been
(19:30):
reaching out to me since actually figru Way fourth, and
they are so frustrated. They are scared. They know something
dangerous has happened. They have had all kinds of reports
of you know, the nausea headaches, that labored breathing, the
blue lips, the feeling that their throat is going to
(19:52):
close off. Their cat died, their chickens have died, their
foxes die, Holy sh it, it's killing pets. Yes, videotapes
coming in and I believe they now confirmed twelve different
species of fish to the tunes of thousands and thousands
and thousands and thousands and died in the creeks and
the rivers. So something's going on and getting any kind
(20:16):
of answer other than this, well it's safe to return.
People don't know what's happening, and at this moment they're
becoming unbelievably concerned about what their future health holds and
who can they trust on Is the soil safe, is
the water safe? And there's three chemicals of concern. The
(20:40):
first one is vinyl chloride, and vinyl chloride is a liquid,
and when it's you know, on fire and exposed to
air and heat, it becomes a very dangerous gas. That
might be why animals were just dyeing. And they're saying, well,
that's all clear now. And then there's another one that's
(21:01):
pronounced beautifl, beautifl a krylling, And they have confirmed that
that chemical has now left the containment zone and they're
finding it and they're saying lower levels. Mind you, nobody's
ever really seen in the actual physical hard test results
(21:21):
what they're looking for and what detection limit they're at,
and is that parts pervilion parts pervilion parts for trillion.
Nobody's seen that, but this chemical has now gone out
of the containment zone into the creeks. And what worries
me about this chemical and people wouldn't know unless you
review the m s DS sheet. It has an additive
(21:41):
as an ingredient, and that additive is ben zene. Can
you explain to our listeners what benzine is and why
that is scary? Ben Zine is clearly known cancer causing compounds.
I mean, they're the links with leukemia and cancer is
very very well established, and it is very detrimental to
(22:06):
the ecosystem. And it doesn't absorber evaporate in water. And
I've heard that they're now putting booms out because the
way this area is designed, these creeks and rivers, these
tributaries run right into the Ohio River. We all know
the importance of the Ohio River down in the Mississippi
(22:26):
down to Louisiana, and if you get bituzine in those waterways,
it's a ginormous ecological and health impact potentially for for decades.
So what we're dealing with right now is we obviously
from common sense can tell you something's going really wrong.
(22:48):
And uh, I just have this horrible feeling that somebody's
not disclosing what's really going on, or thinking this will pass,
people will forget about it, will be out of the
woods on it. And now we're just kind of watching
in real time a real ship show happening. I don't
know how else to say it, unfolding in front of
(23:08):
all of us, with mishaps and mistruths and lack of
information and nothing but total confusion, and a population a
small village East Palestine, Ohio of about people, but neighboring
communities spreading out from there are all having health implications,
(23:30):
and nobody can seem to get any answers. I was curious.
Mike DeWine, who was known as a sort of less
terrible Republican governor than the average, did a press conference
where he talked about the possibility that he had sort
of not talked to Pete Buddha dig that he hadn't
(23:54):
called him back, and that he had called and said
anything you need, but that he had said he hadn't
called him back yet. Besides the fact that the idea
that this should be handled on local level when it's
clearly going to be have large federal implications seems ridiculous,
but I'm just curious, if you were governor of Ohio,
what would you need. Okay, we've got a train derailment
(24:16):
and you got hazardous chemicals. I definitely want to know
about those hazardous chemicals. Secondly, I would definitely be who's
doing the controlled burn? Is it going to be the
stated p A. Is it going to be Norfolk. I
would be getting in every expert I could to begin
to question them on what actions to take. And then
(24:39):
the next thing I would do is, as he did,
you need to have an established an evacuation zone to
get people out of harm's way, right, But once they're
out of harm's way, and once you think that this
is under control, I would want to see and understand
every test result regarding the air, the soil, and the
(25:03):
water before I ever deemed it's safe. And I would
have had a press conference and said, I know you
do not want to be evacuated, but I do not
have all the answers. My questions aren't being answered. I
do not have the personal assurance yet that satisfies me
(25:26):
this area is safe, so please bear with us. This
information can take a while, but to air on the
side of caution before I jeopardize public health and welfare
with continual reports coming into dead animals. I better have
every fact in hand, and if I don't know, at
(25:47):
least let the people know. I don't know. These leaders
think because you're this leader, you're supposed to know everything.
And for me that some of the best leaders are
the ones that say, well, hell have I know, But
I'm gonna find out because that is my job to
be your your elected official, in your leader, and I'm
not letting you back into an area until I'm certain
it's safe. And I'm not sure he had all that information.
(26:10):
And I feel that way because there's very inconsistent messaging
coming from him that I think he's being fed from others,
which is indicating to me he in fact doesn't know,
and he might be being fed from the train company
or people who have a vested interest in this going away.
(26:31):
Oh well, that I've seen way too often. I've dealt
with that out here in California with Pacific Gas and Electric,
and my gosh, boy, when they do something wrong and
you get involved in any kind of litigation or media
or trying to reach out to pr groups that can
help manage all the inquiries and stuff, they practically own
(26:56):
every one of them in the state. So somehow somebody
gets into somebody's pocket, and I would expect that could
be very plausible in this scenario. And you know, I know,
speaking of you know, Pete Buddha Judge, Department Secretary Transportation.
Trains are federal and there's this is a conversation that's
(27:21):
going to have to be had. But my focus is
always the people and this community and a train derailment
and some verry hazardous chemicals. They're gonna get caught up
in the political bs, which I think is the biggest
travesty of all. But we have infrastructure issues. We have
maintenance issues on our rail system. And when we have
(27:45):
a rail system that is transporting hazardous chemicals, and by
the way, we have another big spill in Louisiana in
November that the Department of Transportation doesn't come in and
go work. We need what the hell is going on
and where is infrastructure money If that's part of the problem,
(28:05):
or is a company cutting corners that's now jeopardizing the
entire ecosystem and public health and welfare, I think you
better step in there so that conversation will be had
regarding that the conversation is there about our failing infrastructures.
I think we're all aware of that. But what I
don't want to get lost in this is the community
(28:27):
and people in these agencies. You know, well, okay, they're
once you have a little sore throat, so you threw
up dismissive of what it is that's actually happening to them.
But also, this is a job for the e p
A here right, ideas I've read that the U S.
E p A was going to be down there today.
(28:49):
Did I see that? I know the stated p has
been out there and was out there. Um wow, I
would have been there. Well what is today the fifteen
sixteen that's happened on the ward? So there seems to
be tensions between federal and state at this point. We're
just definitely not getting the actual transparent information. I know
(29:12):
you know that Dwine says it's all safe. He's done
the test, show show me, show us, show us, show us,
put that out, put that out there on a website
so people could come in. It's it's like the like
we were discussing with the Beautle of Act. We all know,
you know, you may have something on the market shelf.
(29:34):
That's questionable, but sometimes the sister chemicals or the additives
can be worse than the actual chemical. And that's what's
happening here, that we've got an additive of ben zine?
Are you even looking for it? Are you thinking we're
also stupid that we won't know that and you could
get away with something. So that's why I think it's
(29:54):
important any testing you're all needs to be in a
format where we can go see were those that might
have a question a legitimate one and I won't put
it out there because you're probably gonna catch them at something.
Why are you not looking for this? And that's a
detection limit that means it's off site, so we haven't
had the ability to do that, and that's adding to
(30:18):
the frustration of this situation. Yeah, it sounds like it.
I also just wonder like the narratives around it seemed
really destructive to write, like the right has said that
it's white genocide, which I mean, I think that a
lot of bad stuff has gone down, but I don't
(30:40):
think that this was intentionally focused on that. No, unless
we're talking about by DuPont, any chemical contamination, whether it
was a mistake or somebody wants to think it was deliberate.
These chemicals recognize no boarders right, no no economic status,
(31:03):
no race really true. What should people who are listening
to this podcast do to support their people? At this point,
they could probably clearly see that they can't assume or
take it for granted or necessarily by you know, the
(31:23):
line that all is safe, especially when they're questioning it.
So what you have to do is trust your own instincts.
In these communities, I've learned, nobody knows the land, the water,
the creeks, the animals, or how they feel better than
themselves in the community. So instead of hoping and waiting
(31:48):
for someone to give you the answers, you be the eyes.
You be the ears, You are the one experiencing it,
and believe you don't need anybody to verify for you,
right what it is you're experiencing it. You on that
document what's happening, journal your health, if you're down out
(32:09):
in the creeks and you're seeing the fish debt, We've
got a great boone that we can all use and
put it out there on social media that can be
helpful because seeing is believing what is going on and
start protecting yourself. Ask questions about the water. If your
water looks funny, or you've noticed the smell of change,
(32:32):
maybe you shouldn't drink it. If you're on well water,
nobody's coming to test that for you. After a train derailment,
there's online places you can go to get testing kits,
so you can test yourself to find out what's in
the water. And be vigilant in your surroundings, your observations.
(32:55):
If you don't feel good, if you think something strange
happening with your child, and you know there's been a
toxic spill, go to a doctor. So and believe that
you you We actually hold the answers when disasters like
this happened, especially the victims. But we just don't want
to trust ourselves. You have to trust yourself. No one
(33:17):
knows better than you, So work with your community. Be vigilant,
ask questions, demand answers. If something smells different, if something
looks different, if something's changed, if you feel different, don't
hesitate for one minute to leave, to go to a doctor,
(33:37):
or to not drink the water. Yeah, definitely don't drink
the water. Thank you so much, Aaron. I hope that
we will not have a reason to have you back,
but I'm sure we well, well listen, I I thank
you for everything that you do, and you know, maybe
we can talk again about happier days. That's always happy
(33:59):
to come on. But I I will leave with this,
and I wrote, please, this is daunting. I know everyone
feels it's apocalyptic. I know we all are feeling these things.
And I've been thirty years down on the ground during COVID.
I released my book Superman is Not Coming. We are
in a national water crisis. But what we can do
(34:20):
about the people, And what I want to leave with
is I have a great sense of hope sometimes of late,
more than I've had historically, because I think we're more
in tune. I think we're reconnecting. I think that we're
waking up. And I'll tell you time after time again,
(34:41):
what gives me hope is watching moms in communities rise up.
This is my child. I will make it my business.
I'm going to find out what's happening, and they do.
We are still so lovely as humans and people in
times of tragedy. That always comes out. My hope is
(35:04):
and what I want to share and say to you
and my observation of thirty years on the ground that
hope is alive and it is well, yeah, really true.
Thank you so much, Aaron, Thank you. I know you,
our dear listeners are very busy and you don't have
time to sort through the hundreds of pieces of pundentry
(35:25):
each week. And this is why every week I put
together a newsletter of my five favorite articles on politics.
If you enjoy the podcast, you will love having this
in your inbox every Friday. So sign up at Fast
Politics pod dot com and click the tab to join
our mailing list. That's fast politics pod dot com. Adam
(35:50):
Fresh is running against Congresswoman Lauren Boubert in Colorado's third
congressional district. Welcome to Fast Politics. Great to be here,
But into Molly first, I need to caveat this interview
with I had you on this podcast before your race
against Lauren Boubert in Colorado's third district. I had you
(36:12):
on this podcast and everyone said, you're crazy, You're crazy.
You lost by how many votes? So let's talk about
what happened. Some people thought we were gonna lose by
forty to forty five thousand votes. From politics to the
Democratic Party to the Republican Party to everybody in between.
(36:35):
But you know, a year and a half ago, Molly
I had this a little bit of epiphany that of
all the extremists on the right, representing Bobart was the
only one that any chance of losing Margutilla Green, Jim
Jordan's Matt Gates, that whole caucus of Chaos has ten
to fifteen to twenty wins every year, representing Bobart only
one by five, and she did not even win her
(36:58):
home county. Those in her best don't care for her.
A lot more people knew her than and now her
now than before, and not for good reason. So I
thought that we had a Redistry team in CD three
Western and Southern Colorado. So it kind of became an
our ten to R twelve to R fourteen or nine district.
But I just put my head down and said, you know,
(37:18):
of the Republican Party wants their party back, we need
to get ten percent of our prior voters. And I
think if a moderate Democrat can get by the primary,
which I did not by much, I would just drive
around the district almost seven which we did four thousand
mile road trip. Just I was on the road and
we we built a coalition. My mom calls it the
(37:40):
pro normal party coalition, and we came you know, we
executed about ninety nine eight five of our plan. Okay,
so you're back for the other seven votes. Yeah, we
got a flip two hundred seventy five or find another
five or six hundred. You know, I think we have
had the race done. A week later, amount of superliberals
(38:01):
they came up to me and said, Adam, I didn't
think you have a chance and you're too moderate for me.
I left a blank, but they voted up and down
the Democratic ticket for the rest of the race. And
a bunch of moderate Republicans came up to me and
said the same thing. They're like, Adam, you seem to
be a nice person, but I just I've never voted
for Democrat and you're not gonna win, so it's not
gonna matter. There was a lot of those as well,
and so you know, a number one message democracy, your
(38:23):
vote matters. Make sure people fill out every bubble that
they can. We are excited to get going again. We
think we have a longer runway, and we're getting the
support from a wide variety of people right off the bat.
And you know, we're going to be working very, very
hard and listening and connecting with people and the same
reasons I ran before. People want the circus to stop.
(38:43):
They don't like this entertainment aspect of politics, and that
just resonates with a lot of people. I like that
word angertainment, and I think it's true. I mean, if
we saw anything from these mid terms, it's that people
hate this. They don't like being governed by reality stars. Yeah,
you know, so, I need to make a hats off
(39:04):
to my high school and middle school buddy Deean Phillips,
who is a congressman out of Minnesota. We grew up
together and he used that term once entertainment, and like Dean,
that is a brilliant summation of what's going on in
the country, especially in western and southern Colorado with our
current representative. And I just use it all the time
and everyone realizes it is senses exactly. People want the
(39:25):
circus to stop, and I've heard that from much is
from moderate Republicans, even conserved Republicans. They want people to
focus on the job, not in themselves. And people are
not saying that there's any change one iota from the
current incumbent now as she he cocked her way around
that first week of Congress, and she thought she was
doing a great service for herself, raising money um every
(39:48):
time she was poking the bear at soon to be
Speaker McCarthy. But the ranchers and farmers and a lot
of people in Colorado that I spoke to who've voted
for her in the past, they just put their head
down and said, you know, I wish she would have
learned her lesson about having, you know, the closest race
in the country. She almost had the most surprising result
in twenty five years across the country. You know, she
(40:11):
was supposed to win by again twelve or fifteen points,
and she won by point one five or something. Yeah,
it seems like that you're race in Colorado is actually
really meaningful, not just because it's yet another annoying example
of pollsters being wrong and fucking up candidates who really
(40:31):
could have won, which is really the I feel like
the headline of your race, right, just like Mandela Barnes,
just like you know a lot of other candidates who
got killed by just really inaccurate polling. But the other
thing is that I feel like the state of Colorado,
it's not a blue state. It's the purple state. But
(40:53):
Republicans have run lunatics and Democrats have run, you know,
saying candidates twenty years ago or thirty years ago, it
was read it's now summer purple, and it's gone pretty
blue in some places for sure. And again I think
a lot of that has to do with the Democratics
out here have been running just people that are trying
(41:13):
to get the job. John b pragmatic work across party lines,
solve problems that are facing the issues of the day
for a lot of people, whether it's urban or rule.
The Republican Party has run some real extremists. Having said that,
you know, it's interesting. Joe day was is a pretty
normal person, uh and and a thoughtful businessman, and he
lost to Michael Bennett by fifteen points. So it was
(41:35):
there was definitely a bit of a blue wave. And
so people have gone back and forth whether we helped
the Democrats in c D three or they helped us.
It was probably a little bit of both. But again,
when you're running against people who are part of the
chaos caucus, it makes life much easier. And the Republican
Party in Colorado which I'm not going to spend too
much time focus on, is an uproars. One of the
(41:55):
biggest counties in the district is there's a splinter group
that's suing each other. They're during their during their reassembly
and blah blah blah, blah blah. So again, I just
think it's a matter of you know, you focus on
the job at hand and you go forward, and you
know that resonates with you know, the vast majority of
people that want both parties to be played play ball
between the two forty yard lines. Yeah, yeah, no exactly,
(42:18):
But I do think, like I mean, you're not running
against someone who's normal. You're running and someone who is
taking quite a lot of the air out of the room. Yeah,
and not for a good reason. I try to make
the case that of all these extremists were the only
ones that can defeat somebody, and no one believed us,
And sadly, there aren't any other Republicans that are that
(42:39):
kind of brand known nationally that have any chance of losing.
In so, with all due respect to those Democrats that
are going to be running against Marge Taylor Green and
Jim Jordan and Macada, the numbers and it's not there.
We have proved our point and I think we've earned
the trust. We've seen a tremendous amount of money come in,
not just within the district, in the state, but around
the country because they realize that, you know, she is
(43:02):
the one person in the country with that type of
brand name nationally that has any not just a chance
of losing, but are really done the chance to losing.
And that's what we're going to focus on. This is
all good point, but just remind our listeners why you're
the right person for this, Candida say, for this job. Yeah, no,
I mean so, there's a couple of things. You know,
it's a it's a very rural district. We have asked
(43:22):
an entire ride in quest to be at three resorts
towns that a lot of people know in your listenership.
And you have Carbondel to right. Yeah, you have Carbondale
and Basalt and Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, ten of
twenty miles away from the Utah border. Is kind of
the hub of Trump country in the Colorado not just
in our district. But it is changing over over time.
(43:45):
As you know, there's a brewery indecks I use the
more breweries, and she the less conservative the areas, and
we just started making connections. And again, I just I
was very, very focused on working on that thirty to
forty percent of the Republican Party that wants their party back,
and I just pitched my self is a very safe
alternative that the issues that face out here, water and
rural healthcare, rural education. The water is not flowing red
(44:07):
or blue. It's just not flowing. And they want somebody
that's going to focus on that job. And I'm very
good about that. And in my first five years. I
was born on an Indian reservation for Peck Indian Reservation
in northeastern Montana. My dad was in the public Health Service.
He went on to becoming ob n for fifty years.
I grew up in Minnesota. My great grandfather was a
cattleman and Esco Minnesota outside of Duluth, and so I
(44:29):
have some rural roots in addition to living in the
mountain town now. But I'm a good listener and I
worked really hard and we connected with a lot of people.
And the phones are ringing off the hook because I
left a lot of messages last year and now it's
not taking nine months for people to return my phone
call anymore. Yeah, well, I do think that there really
is a real problem with rural representation. There's a caveat
(44:52):
to that, right, because there are a lot of rural
places attend red senators and congressman to Congress and the Senate.
But the thing is those people don't necessarily look out
for rural voters, and they're more tied to special interests.
So I do think, like, we've seen rural hospitals closed
(45:12):
at alarming rates, We've seen rural maternal fetal health rate,
you know, deaths rise. I mean, we do need people
looking out for rural people. The problem is these Republicans
don't do that. You lead into my number one statistics
I share. There's about thirty one counties in the country,
about thirty one and fifty counties in the country. Of that,
(45:33):
two thousand of them are deemed ruled by the Department
of Agriculture, two thousand and rural counties. In Bill Clinton
won more than fifty percent of the rural counties two
thousand and twelve. Barack Obama one of the rural counties
from President Biden one fewer than ten percent of the
(45:55):
rural counties in the country, and so the Democratic Party
is twenty big cities Aspen and Tucket. Like that's kind
of what's left of the Democratic Party. And so I'm
spending a lot of time trying to not just focus
on CD three, but a little bit of time just
making the case that monopolies are bad and rule America
has a big monopoly issue with the Republican Party. And
(46:17):
so you know, we are in John Tester Joe Mansion country,
which not every Democrat wants to hear, but that's just
kind of the makeup of our district. It is an
ur ten district that that is egg in ranching and
farming and domestic energy production from solar and wind to
also gas and coal which starts to wind down as
it should and it needs to be done and everything
else like that. But we need to make sure it's
(46:39):
realistic about how we treat people and this rural aspect
of making sure that every zip code and rule America
has fought over by both parties. That's part of my
little mission as well. Yeah, and that's a really good mission.
And actually one of the things that happened during these
mid terms is that in North Dakota, especially Democrats didn't
(47:00):
run candidates in some of these races because they thought
they wouldn't lose, would lose, which of course they would.
But that is really a problem a for this idea
of getting elected in these rural areas, but also because
also because it's just so incredibly self defeating, it is hard.
(47:22):
But listen, I know it's hard to run. I can
vouch for that, especially in the district that's half the
state of Colorado geographically. But you know, the main messages.
I just think that the policies that the Democratic Party
have are very beneficial to a lot of working class
Americans and that but Fox News has done a brilliant job,
quote unquote brilliant of taking a couple of sentences over
(47:43):
the past generation and really amplifying them and skewing them.
And it's turned into a very dimissive and demeaning brand
of Democrats to a lot of people in rural America.
And that's something I'm just trying to get over. Miles
by miles, I drive around in a pickup truck, right,
and the coffee houses and the breweries, and the beer
halls and and the barbecue joints. It's not Authinian exercise
(48:05):
to run for Congress in a place that has so
many good restaurants, but you know, the Democracy calls so
here I am, but you know, and that's the message
I've been having with people in Washington at the highest levels,
just to say, hey, listen, we've got to figure out
how to expand the base. And all these zip codes
are being left in the wind, and the messages there,
the policies are there. You just have to make sure
(48:26):
you get the right candidates that are willing to go
and really meet the people and hit the road, meet
them where they are physically as emotionally, and just be
a good listener because a lot of people just feel
like they've been left behind by a lot of people.
And that's what former President Trump, you know again quote
unquote brilliantly tapped into just that they just didn't feel
(48:46):
like no one who was speaking to them. The Democratic
Party used to be bad and it's left. My buddy
Dean Phillips again in Minnesota. Minnesota Democratic Party is called
the DFL the Democratic Farm Labor and said the Dems
have lost the fs, and they've left the elves and
they're left with the Dems and we need to do
a much better job of building back the farmers and
(49:07):
the working class labor movement, which is really important for
our right. And I don't think that that necessarily means
like sometimes you'll see people on the right saying, well,
that's why Democrats have to abandon being pro lgbt Q
or pro you know, choice, And I don't think it's binary.
(49:28):
I think that you can be I mean, Colorado is
a great example. You can be pro lgbt Q and
believe that people have the right to their own lives
and bodily autonomy and still want to build hospitals in
rural areas. So you know, it's interesting. Our district has
some of the highest support for Second Amendment in the country,
(49:51):
and it has a really high pro choice support. And
it goes back to whether you want to call it
the libertarian view or more of a kind of the
UB Party, which is just leave us alone. And I
met a lot of Republicans, a lot of Christian Evangelic
Evangelicas who are like, listen, I don't like abortion, but
the only thing worse than that is having the government
involved in it. And so it is a little bit
(50:12):
of just leave us alone out here. We live out
in rule and Western and southern Colorado. We're not in
the big city for a reason, and we just don't
want to government. You know, government should be there to
support when needed, but the less regulation the better. And
you see that on things that are more traditionally left
from our traditionally right and as you know, as the
son of Gioana fifty years that had bomb threats from
(50:35):
his father's office growing up in the seventies and eighties
in Minneapolis, I can attest to how important it is
important for the government to just be at a women's
healthcare decisions, and that resonates with some of the most
rule read yes in the country. It's different if you're
down in the South and Alabama, Mississippi, but out west
it is the you do you party and it's something
(50:56):
that resonates with a lot of people well. And I
would also say in the South there are a lot
of different voters in the South too, and and a
lot of them are pro choice. It's a very interesting coalition.
But I would say, um, I think that's right. And
I think the rural hospital stuff is just unconscionable that
we have places where you you know, it's hours and
hours to at a hospital and there, and and also
(51:20):
you know, we are seeing we need to take better
care of our trains and our infrastructure. And if that's
not clear from this week, I don't know what it is.
That's exactly what we're trying to work on, and that
infrastructure bill is really important. And you know, you know
represented Bobart. One of the things we talked about is
she's one of the few people that probably decides that
(51:41):
she does not want to try to have some of
that taxpayer based at Western and Southern Colorado pay in DC,
and she doesn't fight to try to bring that stuff back.
And if that money is not coming back to c
D three, it's showing up in Denver or Detroit, or
Newark or rural Kansas or rural Florida. And I made
it very very clear that it's really really important how
to figure out how to bring those resources back here.
(52:02):
It's a lot healthcare has a lot of moving parts.
But when you're an hour and a half away from
an urgent care center or two hours away, if you
have any type of pregnancy that's not just more of
a traditional normal pregnancy, those are real issues that are
facing to know people, and I'd love to see kind
of that money be returned to the taxpayers pay and
show up in the county health departments mental and physical,
(52:24):
and again block grants. Let the county officials decide where
that money should go. They're going to know better than
people in Denver, you see. But the money needs to
come because we just you know, we have some of
the poorest counties. We have some of the wealthiest and
the porest counties in the country. And I'm very focused
on you know, with all respect to my friends and
my neighbors up in Picking County where I live, I'm
(52:44):
really focused on those counties that are going to need
the help and have see huge transitions with energy and
agriculture and are dealing with a really big drought that
needs some focus. Adam, I hope you will come back
multiple times before you're a congress person. Always great to
chat with you, Molly Hope of a great week going ahead.
(53:06):
Jesse Cannon, Molly John Fast. You know, when those Fox
News emails come out, you see who they really are.
What was your favorite part where you see him? The
dominion filing was released on Friday night, and in it
we learned that Tucker, Shawn and Laura Ingram all knew
exactly what they were doing. They knew that there was
(53:28):
no election fraud and that they were just lying liars
who lie, And they texted each other and they were
very clear that they knew the truth and we're not
following it. And for that, they then poisoned the well
of many Americans. And there are still people in this
(53:49):
country who believe that the election was rigged? Was they rigged?
Did you enjoy more when it was ridiculous things like
them threatening to get fact checkers fired, or when they
said that Bruty Giuliani and City Power were insane but
kept having them on their shows. There were so many
(54:11):
moments that we had suspected were likely what was happening
backstage at Fox News, but it was still a bit
strange to actually see it firsthand. And a good lesson
here is that if you think that there's some real
corruption going on behind the scenes, sometimes there really is.
That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in
(54:33):
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to her the best minds
and politics makes sense of all this chaos. If you
enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to a friend
and keep the conversation going. And again, thanks for listening,
Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics,
where we discussed the top political headlines with some of
today's best minds, and former President Jimmy Carter has entered
hospice care. We have a great show Today, Legendary consumer
advocate and activist Aaron Brockovich talks about the Ohio trained
(00:21):
derailment and how it should be handled. Then we'll talk
to Adam Fresh, who lost to Lauren Boebert by five
hundred and forty six votes and has just announced he'll
be running against her in But first we have legendary
campaign manager the Lincoln Projects Stewart Stevens. Welcome to Fast Politics.
(00:42):
Stewart Stevens, thanks for asking me to the party. Yeah.
We are very discerning here and I have to say
I love your writing. I really think you're such a
talented writer, which you know, I don't think that about everybody. Welcome.
I want to talk to you about Nicki Haley and
the future of the Republican Party. So this is going
(01:03):
to be depressing depressing. Well now, don't get me wrong,
but I'm not. I'm all sold out of the Hope Store. Right.
They're not going to ever nominate someone who's not an
authoritarian because the party has taken an authoritarian tact. Simple
test of that is, will the Republican Party nominate someone
(01:25):
who will assert positively that the President United States was
elected in a legal, in fair election. That seems like
a pretty low bar. And I can't imagine that's not
the official position of the Republican Party, which I think
it's just sort of a sign of how normalization has changed.
But the Republican Party's official position now is that America
is not a democracy because if we don't have a legal,
(01:46):
infair elected president, then we have an occupier, which for
not a democracy. Yeah. I think that that's where we are, right, Yeah,
that's where we all. I mean, people are not focused
on this. There's sort of a need, I think, which
historical the teams to always happen when democracy side and
deutocracy for the folks on the democracy side, which is
a majority, to want to pretend that everything's okay and normal.
(02:09):
But election, I can't imagine that they're going to nominate
somebody who will say that Donald Trump lost. Uh. And
so you're gonna have, for the first time, not an
election between two parties with different political views. You're gonna
have one party to believe that they are in a
democracy and one party that believes this campaign is about
removing and a legal occupant of the White House right.
(02:31):
I wrote this piece earlier last week about how to
Santis is an Autocrat just like Trump, and how he's
basically the same but much better at it. So right,
because we've seen him do it in Florida and they're
so mad and they're like everyone, we don't you don't
like as Hitler. But the truth is, that's not what
it is. It really is the reason why he's so
(02:54):
popular in the Republican Party is because he is. He
is doing all of these things from the autocrap play bomb.
I think it's fascinating to watch what Ron de Santus
is doing and Donald Trump's doing that. Donald Trump is
out there saying don't cut Medicare and social Security. Ron
de Santus is saying all this crazy stuff aimed at
a Republican primary audience. Boup breaks are going to win
(03:14):
a primary. Donald Trump, he's already running in the general. Listen.
I am a great advocate, and I may take to
walking up and down in a sandwich board of this
that the Democratic Party should aggressively engage and seek out
cultural awards because they're winning them. Think about your average
(03:37):
suburban family or a fam whatever, we're that mythical family. Right.
How many people move so they can send their kids
to better schools? Millions? How many script and safe so
that they can pay for their kids to go to
a private school so that they can study AP And
he's banning a p I think that is absolutely insane.
(03:58):
So look, how do than how how do all these
cultural wars of late gone for the Republicans? So how
did the Donald Trump versus Nike Colin Kaepernack workout? Well,
Nike may nine billion, nine billion off of Colic Kaepernack
to retire. You live in Florida. You know how the
cultural war? You know when they were mad at Nascar
because they banned the Confederate flag. Well, I think Nascar
(04:21):
won that one. They were in the cultural war with
Walmart for a while because Walmart at mass mandates, right,
Walmart seems to be doing okay to me. I don't know.
They lost the cultural war on same sex marriage, lost
the cultural war abortion. I mean, they lost the cultural war,
but you can't get an abortion and huge swaps of
(04:42):
this country. Yeah, I think they won at the action
level if it were, but there are more people today
consider themselves pro choice for higher percentages and everfore in America,
right right, right, that is certainly true. I knew once
people saw how bad this is going to be that
there would be blowback and you I mean, look, the
I mean the thing about abortion, which I think is incredible,
(05:04):
is that you have all these women who were not
pro choice and they now have had miscarriages and they
can't get treated. Yeah. I just woke up in the
middle of the night and said, look, what about a
politician that gets in a fight with the Happiness Company?
How's that working out? Be fighting Peter Pan I mean, really,
you're going to get in a fight with Disney, So like,
(05:25):
who won that fight? I kind of remember, like the
guy who won the Super Bowl went to Disney the
next day. They didn't go to Tallahassee to see iron
It is a complete losing argument and they're doing it.
It's all aimed at white people. Yeah, I mean, it's
it's all about race. That's because you know Trump's coalition
(05:47):
was white. The country's sixty white, sixty Deoman. Now you
count it, you know, since we're talking it's less white,
we're headed to become a majority of an already country.
Republicans can't do anything about except try to change your votes,
and that's what they're about. It does feel like this
is the last bastion of a kind of rage, you know. Yeah.
(06:12):
I mean, I don't think the Santus. This is a
guy with the HARVARDEO and talk what a Darlington's right.
I mean, give me a break. It's just he doesn't
believe any of this stuff, all right, the same as
Nicki Haley. She believed Donald Trump as a person she
said he was in two thousand and sixteen when she
stood out there with Mark Rubio. I think they just
they all collapsed. I don't think the Santis is a
(06:32):
particularly good politician. I mean, look, I did all of
Charlie Chris. Charlie Chris is a guy he ran against
last time. I did all of Charlie's races when he
was a Republican running statewide, which he wants. So I
did all Charlie Chris winning statewide races. So switchers have
a terrible time. They do better if they've become independent.
So like in Connecticut, you've had people who are Democrats
(06:52):
became independent. Yeah, his name shall not be mentioned on
this podcast The Enemy, But yes, yes, you don't have
many examples of someone who was governor in one party
switching and getting re elected in another party. I don't
know a single example that's been successful. Buddy Rohmer tried
(07:15):
in Louisiana. We do research on I I don't know
if it's ever worked. I wouldn't think it's a great
indicator that. I mean no offense to him, but he's
not an amazing candidate, at least now. But the point
is that you don't have to. I won't make you
weigh in on that. But he did still eviscerate the
Santis in the debate. He lost the debate to Charlie Crith,
(07:37):
which is not like losing a pickup game with Michael
Jordan's right, it's like losing a pickup game with me.
So I think he has no idea what he's in for. Yeah. Look,
if I was, you know, God forbid, But if I
was advising around the Santis, I would tell him not
to run because Donald Trump is going to run, and
one of two things is gonna happen. He's gonna win
(07:58):
or he's gonna lose. If he wins, hopefully he'll only
serve four years, and then Ronde Santis would be you
know the ripple age of forty eight, all right, he's
so young the time. And then if he loses, your
your wealth positioned. Look, if somebody beats Donald Trump in
the primary, the next day, Donald Trump is gonna wake
(08:18):
up and the mission in his life seven will be
to stop that person from getting elected president, whatever it takes.
And it's in his power completely, Yes, yes, yes, get
d Jr. On the ballot in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.
It's over. He gets carried. Like to run in Arizona,
it's over. Margiotta run in Pennsylvania, it's over. So to
(08:41):
lose the primary to Donald Trump, and to be that
primary be worth something. You have to exist in the
fantasy that Donald Trump will behave like a normative politician,
which I like my chances in the next NFL draft better.
It's just not go that. Yeah, all of which I
(09:02):
think is good news for Democrats. No, I think so too.
The thing is, it's one of these terrible, dangerous games
right where we find ourselves. Two things can be true.
These things can be good for Democrats but bad for democracy.
So I always have I always find myself like a
little bit conflicted because you know, yes, I want Democrats
(09:24):
to win, but I would rather just have a normal,
safe system where we don't like slide into an autocracy. Listen,
you know I worked on five presidential campaigns for winning
nominations or two generals that we want, Like in the
Romney campaign, you know, we wanted to win with intensity,
with thousand sons. Right. I didn't go to bed at
(09:46):
night after Romney lost worried about the country, right, R
didn't the Romney Right. I think that's the thing about
this Nicki Haley nomination, not nomination, but her jumping into
the promary field is like she's like a charming throwback
to the time when Republicans ran on like you know, ideas. Well.
(10:07):
I find so kind of sad a lot of things
about Niki Hilley, but if you look at that video,
listen to what she's saying, it's like it will be forever,
like like, oh, wouldn't it be amazing to have a woman, Well,
we have a woman vice president. Wouldn't it be amazing
if someone of you know, Indian or South Asian origin
(10:28):
was elected to high office. Yeah, what we have one, right, President.
I mean, it's so kind of yesterday. There's nothing she's
saying in a policy sense that any politician and the
Republican Party couldn't have said for the last thirty five years,
forty years, no new policy there, there's no I've got
(10:49):
a plan, you know, here's an idea, um, there's nothing.
And this is the problem with Republicans have there there
is Ultimately the failure to attract non white votes is
a failure of policy, right, all right, no question, it's
so embarrassing to remember. But so as an hour he
gets forty four percent of the black vote and fifty
(11:10):
six didn't drop to seven percent with gold Water. It
never came back, and there was this while Molly and
I'm just so ashamed to admit this, but in the
you know, when I was Republican consultant, they're doing races.
In the late eighties and the nineties, Republican Party decided
that the reason we weren't getting many black votes is
that black voters just didn't understand what we were saying
because we didn't know how to talk to black voters, right,
(11:31):
so it sponsored this sort of cottage industry of Republican
Party hiring black consultants to come down and talk to,
you know, predominantly white candidates and campaign to tell how
to talk to black people. It's pretty bad, and we
would all sit there. It's so humiliar. Do you think about, Well,
it's also like you could just have run black people
and hired black people and talk to black people. But yeah,
(11:53):
well actually that you know, we should talk about that.
But you know, they say things like you can't talk
about good jobs, you have to talk about meeting jobs,
and we were all not And the problem wasn't that
black people didn't understand Republicans. The problem was Republicans. They
didn't understand them exactly what they were saying. It was
the failure of policy anyway. And when you look at
(12:13):
black Republicans who run, they don't do better with black
than non black Republicans than white Republicans, which is kind
of interesting. I want to ask you about this Fox
News defamation dominion suit because last night there was a
sort of incredible Was that a leaks document or was
(12:34):
it just the court finally? I think the court finally
put out the document, but it was you know, it
includes included text messages from Fox News host to each other.
It included basically the I think the top line is
Fox New and did it anyway? Of course they knew,
(12:55):
but I mean we now know they knew, like the right, right,
It's hold another conversation. But you know, when democracies slot
into autocracy, there has to be five elements. There has
to be financiers, there has to be supportive a major party,
there has to be shock troops, there has to be
a legal system that is evolving to justify it. And
(13:15):
there have to be propagandists right right, right, So we
have evolved with people are propaganders. Yeah, and look, I
I would deport Rupert Murdoch, right. I hesitate to get
involved in stuff like that, but I do understand it
does seem to me like the man is doing quite
a bit of damage to our country. Yeah. Yeah, the
(13:37):
impact of Fox News is much greater than its audience.
It is more the web of what used to be
conserned I now anti democratic elements. I mean, it's a
true statement that at its most popular, Fox News was
much less popular than Storage Wars, right right, a statistical fact.
(13:59):
So it's was just like three times. It's popular. It's
not the number of people, but it is the ability
that it has. In part, what Fox has done is
normalized the really they're out there is the normal people
and the really crazies of the Bannings and the other people,
which always happens. Um But yeah, I mean, you know,
(14:21):
I hope Dominion bankrupts them all individually and collectively. I
have no mercy for any of them. Every person that
works at Fox News is getting paid off of money
Tucker Carson makes. So you want to get your salary
from a white supremacist, that's fun. Maybe you could go
apply to KKK because it's the same goddamn thing. I
have zero sympathy for any of those people. Where do
(14:42):
you think this goes? Now? With this primary? Haley is in,
Trump is in. I think it's gonna be two thousand fifteen.
I think a bunch of people are gonna run. A
lot of people run for president who previously would have
gone on book tours, and it has the same function.
I think a bunch of people are gonna run, and
I think Donald Trump is going to be the nominee.
(15:04):
I mean, the one thing if you go back and
you look at two thousand fifteen two thousand and sixteen debates.
The only person who was the same right he kills
people in the debate. The only person who was the
same person when they walked on stage for the first
debate and when he walked off stage at the last
debate was Donald Trump. I've done five of these are
poking domities and all these debate prips. And the only
(15:26):
way to take on a candidate like Donald Trump, if
you're Nikki Hayley or anyone, if you're trying to win,
you have to make the decision one of us is
going to walk off that stage alive, and you have
to be willing to say that's not gonna be me.
But you have to go out there with that. You
can't have any other mentality than I am going to
(15:46):
kill Donald Trump's political chances, and probably you won't, but
that is the only way you have any chance of winning.
There are people who were waiting for Donald Trump. If
you first started to wait while Donald Trump to self destruct,
your kids are now in the third grade. It ain't
(16:08):
gonna happen. Baby. I don't think that she'll do that.
She didn't have the courage to mention Donald Trump's name.
So you know who else is going to run? I
think all these people are. I think John Bolton will
probably run. But you know there is no I mean,
Larry Hogan may run. That Look, Larry Hogan was a
client amount. You know there is this other Republican party
out there of these governors Skill Scott, Larry Hogan Maryland,
(16:30):
Charlie Baker Massachusetts. I work for all those guys. I
love those guys. If the party und any sense, they
look at them and go, they're selling our product in
the harvest market. If we could carry these states and
the presidents will run the world instead. These people can't
even pick your own state party chairman. That's a lot
of are at the party. So I would love to
say that Larry Hogan, you know, can run and there
(16:51):
is a enough of the Republican Party that he can
win a nomination. But in a party that that drew
this chain. Yeah, Stewart Stevens, I appreciate you so much.
I hope you'll come back, all right, Be careful. I'm
like that uncle like nanksgiving dinner. You know, if you
invite me, I come. So Aaron Brockovich is a consumer
(17:16):
advocate and activist. Welcome to Fast Politics, Aaron Brockovich. I
am so happy to be here. Thanks for having me on. Well,
we're delighted. I mean, this is not a happy he gets.
I guess you're used to not being called when the
happy stories. Can you explain to our listeners a little
bit about what is going on in Ohio? I'll do
(17:40):
my best because I've watched this unfold into one of
the most mismanaged, confused environmental disasters I've ever seen. So yeah,
to back up February three, Norfolk how To train that
derailed near Palestine, Ohio. This rail car was carrying twenty
(18:05):
rail cars full of liquid hazardous waste as matt materials,
and it caught fire and then derailed. And my understanding
is that that they were concerned it was going to explode,
which would have really been bad, and so they set
(18:26):
out to do a controlled burn, if you will, and slowly,
you know, like released the chemicals, and at that point,
you know, a huge black, toxic cloud was released, and
at this moment, everybody's going, what is going on? So
they were put into a mandatory evacuation. And if you
(18:46):
couldn't evacuate or didn't want to, evacuate. You had the
shelter in place, and this was about a mild containment zone.
There was several days went on with that, and the
state e p A Norfolk, who had been supposedly doing
the testing and controlling the burn, said everything was safe
(19:06):
and you could come back home. So as people go
back home, several more days passed, and then the governor
a couple of three or four days ago, announces, well,
you're safe to go home, but don't drink the water.
If I were you, I drink bottled water. And the
next day suddenly the testing has changed and oh it's
safe to drink the water. So this community has been
(19:30):
reaching out to me since actually figru Way fourth, and
they are so frustrated. They are scared. They know something
dangerous has happened. They have had all kinds of reports
of you know, the nausea headaches, that labored breathing, the
blue lips, the feeling that their throat is going to
(19:52):
close off. Their cat died, their chickens have died, their
foxes die, Holy sh it, it's killing pets. Yes, videotapes
coming in and I believe they now confirmed twelve different
species of fish to the tunes of thousands and thousands
and thousands and thousands and died in the creeks and
the rivers. So something's going on and getting any kind
(20:16):
of answer other than this, well it's safe to return.
People don't know what's happening, and at this moment they're
becoming unbelievably concerned about what their future health holds and
who can they trust on Is the soil safe, is
the water safe? And there's three chemicals of concern. The
(20:40):
first one is vinyl chloride, and vinyl chloride is a liquid,
and when it's you know, on fire and exposed to
air and heat, it becomes a very dangerous gas. That
might be why animals were just dyeing. And they're saying, well,
that's all clear now. And then there's another one that's
(21:01):
pronounced beautifl, beautifl a krylling, And they have confirmed that
that chemical has now left the containment zone and they're
finding it and they're saying lower levels. Mind you, nobody's
ever really seen in the actual physical hard test results
(21:21):
what they're looking for and what detection limit they're at,
and is that parts pervilion parts pervilion parts for trillion.
Nobody's seen that, but this chemical has now gone out
of the containment zone into the creeks. And what worries
me about this chemical and people wouldn't know unless you
review the m s DS sheet. It has an additive
(21:41):
as an ingredient, and that additive is ben zene. Can
you explain to our listeners what benzine is and why
that is scary? Ben Zine is clearly known cancer causing compounds.
I mean, they're the links with leukemia and cancer is
very very well established, and it is very detrimental to
(22:06):
the ecosystem. And it doesn't absorber evaporate in water. And
I've heard that they're now putting booms out because the
way this area is designed, these creeks and rivers, these
tributaries run right into the Ohio River. We all know
the importance of the Ohio River down in the Mississippi
(22:26):
down to Louisiana, and if you get bituzine in those waterways,
it's a ginormous ecological and health impact potentially for for decades.
So what we're dealing with right now is we obviously
from common sense can tell you something's going really wrong.
(22:48):
And uh, I just have this horrible feeling that somebody's
not disclosing what's really going on, or thinking this will pass,
people will forget about it, will be out of the
woods on it. And now we're just kind of watching
in real time a real ship show happening. I don't
know how else to say it, unfolding in front of
(23:08):
all of us, with mishaps and mistruths and lack of
information and nothing but total confusion, and a population a
small village East Palestine, Ohio of about people, but neighboring
communities spreading out from there are all having health implications,
(23:30):
and nobody can seem to get any answers. I was curious.
Mike DeWine, who was known as a sort of less
terrible Republican governor than the average, did a press conference
where he talked about the possibility that he had sort
of not talked to Pete Buddha dig that he hadn't
(23:54):
called him back, and that he had called and said
anything you need, but that he had said he hadn't
called him back yet. Besides the fact that the idea
that this should be handled on local level when it's
clearly going to be have large federal implications seems ridiculous,
but I'm just curious, if you were governor of Ohio,
what would you need. Okay, we've got a train derailment
(24:16):
and you got hazardous chemicals. I definitely want to know
about those hazardous chemicals. Secondly, I would definitely be who's
doing the controlled burn? Is it going to be the
stated p A. Is it going to be Norfolk. I
would be getting in every expert I could to begin
to question them on what actions to take. And then
(24:39):
the next thing I would do is, as he did,
you need to have an established an evacuation zone to
get people out of harm's way, right, But once they're
out of harm's way, and once you think that this
is under control, I would want to see and understand
every test result regarding the air, the soil, and the
(25:03):
water before I ever deemed it's safe. And I would
have had a press conference and said, I know you
do not want to be evacuated, but I do not
have all the answers. My questions aren't being answered. I
do not have the personal assurance yet that satisfies me
(25:26):
this area is safe, so please bear with us. This
information can take a while, but to air on the
side of caution before I jeopardize public health and welfare
with continual reports coming into dead animals. I better have
every fact in hand, and if I don't know, at
(25:47):
least let the people know. I don't know. These leaders
think because you're this leader, you're supposed to know everything.
And for me that some of the best leaders are
the ones that say, well, hell have I know, But
I'm gonna find out because that is my job to
be your your elected official, in your leader, and I'm
not letting you back into an area until I'm certain
it's safe. And I'm not sure he had all that information.
(26:10):
And I feel that way because there's very inconsistent messaging
coming from him that I think he's being fed from others,
which is indicating to me he in fact doesn't know,
and he might be being fed from the train company
or people who have a vested interest in this going away.
(26:31):
Oh well, that I've seen way too often. I've dealt
with that out here in California with Pacific Gas and Electric,
and my gosh, boy, when they do something wrong and
you get involved in any kind of litigation or media
or trying to reach out to pr groups that can
help manage all the inquiries and stuff, they practically own
(26:56):
every one of them in the state. So somehow somebody
gets into somebody's pocket, and I would expect that could
be very plausible in this scenario. And you know, I know,
speaking of you know, Pete Buddha Judge, Department Secretary Transportation.
Trains are federal and there's this is a conversation that's
(27:21):
going to have to be had. But my focus is
always the people and this community and a train derailment
and some verry hazardous chemicals. They're gonna get caught up
in the political bs, which I think is the biggest
travesty of all. But we have infrastructure issues. We have
maintenance issues on our rail system. And when we have
(27:45):
a rail system that is transporting hazardous chemicals, and by
the way, we have another big spill in Louisiana in
November that the Department of Transportation doesn't come in and
go work. We need what the hell is going on
and where is infrastructure money If that's part of the problem,
(28:05):
or is a company cutting corners that's now jeopardizing the
entire ecosystem and public health and welfare, I think you
better step in there so that conversation will be had
regarding that the conversation is there about our failing infrastructures.
I think we're all aware of that. But what I
don't want to get lost in this is the community
(28:27):
and people in these agencies. You know, well, okay, they're
once you have a little sore throat, so you threw
up dismissive of what it is that's actually happening to them.
But also, this is a job for the e p
A here right, ideas I've read that the U S.
E p A was going to be down there today.
(28:49):
Did I see that? I know the stated p has
been out there and was out there. Um wow, I
would have been there. Well what is today the fifteen
sixteen that's happened on the ward? So there seems to
be tensions between federal and state at this point. We're
just definitely not getting the actual transparent information. I know
(29:12):
you know that Dwine says it's all safe. He's done
the test, show show me, show us, show us, show us,
put that out, put that out there on a website
so people could come in. It's it's like the like
we were discussing with the Beautle of Act. We all know,
you know, you may have something on the market shelf.
(29:34):
That's questionable, but sometimes the sister chemicals or the additives
can be worse than the actual chemical. And that's what's
happening here, that we've got an additive of ben zine?
Are you even looking for it? Are you thinking we're
also stupid that we won't know that and you could
get away with something. So that's why I think it's
(29:54):
important any testing you're all needs to be in a
format where we can go see were those that might
have a question a legitimate one and I won't put
it out there because you're probably gonna catch them at something.
Why are you not looking for this? And that's a
detection limit that means it's off site, so we haven't
had the ability to do that, and that's adding to
(30:18):
the frustration of this situation. Yeah, it sounds like it.
I also just wonder like the narratives around it seemed
really destructive to write, like the right has said that
it's white genocide, which I mean, I think that a
lot of bad stuff has gone down, but I don't
(30:40):
think that this was intentionally focused on that. No, unless
we're talking about by DuPont, any chemical contamination, whether it
was a mistake or somebody wants to think it was deliberate.
These chemicals recognize no boarders right, no no economic status,
(31:03):
no race really true. What should people who are listening
to this podcast do to support their people? At this point,
they could probably clearly see that they can't assume or
take it for granted or necessarily by you know, the
(31:23):
line that all is safe, especially when they're questioning it.
So what you have to do is trust your own instincts.
In these communities, I've learned, nobody knows the land, the water,
the creeks, the animals, or how they feel better than
themselves in the community. So instead of hoping and waiting
(31:48):
for someone to give you the answers, you be the eyes.
You be the ears, You are the one experiencing it,
and believe you don't need anybody to verify for you,
right what it is you're experiencing it. You on that
document what's happening, journal your health, if you're down out
(32:09):
in the creeks and you're seeing the fish debt, We've
got a great boone that we can all use and
put it out there on social media that can be
helpful because seeing is believing what is going on and
start protecting yourself. Ask questions about the water. If your
water looks funny, or you've noticed the smell of change,
(32:32):
maybe you shouldn't drink it. If you're on well water,
nobody's coming to test that for you. After a train derailment,
there's online places you can go to get testing kits,
so you can test yourself to find out what's in
the water. And be vigilant in your surroundings, your observations.
(32:55):
If you don't feel good, if you think something strange
happening with your child, and you know there's been a
toxic spill, go to a doctor. So and believe that
you you We actually hold the answers when disasters like
this happened, especially the victims. But we just don't want
to trust ourselves. You have to trust yourself. No one
(33:17):
knows better than you, So work with your community. Be vigilant,
ask questions, demand answers. If something smells different, if something
looks different, if something's changed, if you feel different, don't
hesitate for one minute to leave, to go to a doctor,
(33:37):
or to not drink the water. Yeah, definitely don't drink
the water. Thank you so much, Aaron. I hope that
we will not have a reason to have you back,
but I'm sure we well, well listen, I I thank
you for everything that you do, and you know, maybe
we can talk again about happier days. That's always happy
(33:59):
to come on. But I I will leave with this,
and I wrote, please, this is daunting. I know everyone
feels it's apocalyptic. I know we all are feeling these things.
And I've been thirty years down on the ground during COVID.
I released my book Superman is Not Coming. We are
in a national water crisis. But what we can do
(34:20):
about the people, And what I want to leave with
is I have a great sense of hope sometimes of late,
more than I've had historically, because I think we're more
in tune. I think we're reconnecting. I think that we're
waking up. And I'll tell you time after time again,
(34:41):
what gives me hope is watching moms in communities rise up.
This is my child. I will make it my business.
I'm going to find out what's happening, and they do.
We are still so lovely as humans and people in
times of tragedy. That always comes out. My hope is
(35:04):
and what I want to share and say to you
and my observation of thirty years on the ground that
hope is alive and it is well, yeah, really true.
Thank you so much, Aaron, Thank you. I know you,
our dear listeners are very busy and you don't have
time to sort through the hundreds of pieces of pundentry
(35:25):
each week. And this is why every week I put
together a newsletter of my five favorite articles on politics.
If you enjoy the podcast, you will love having this
in your inbox every Friday. So sign up at Fast
Politics pod dot com and click the tab to join
our mailing list. That's fast politics pod dot com. Adam
(35:50):
Fresh is running against Congresswoman Lauren Boubert in Colorado's third
congressional district. Welcome to Fast Politics. Great to be here,
But into Molly first, I need to caveat this interview
with I had you on this podcast before your race
against Lauren Boubert in Colorado's third district. I had you
(36:12):
on this podcast and everyone said, you're crazy, You're crazy.
You lost by how many votes? So let's talk about
what happened. Some people thought we were gonna lose by
forty to forty five thousand votes. From politics to the
Democratic Party to the Republican Party to everybody in between.
(36:35):
But you know, a year and a half ago, Molly
I had this a little bit of epiphany that of
all the extremists on the right, representing Bobart was the
only one that any chance of losing Margutilla Green, Jim
Jordan's Matt Gates, that whole caucus of Chaos has ten
to fifteen to twenty wins every year, representing Bobart only
one by five, and she did not even win her
(36:58):
home county. Those in her best don't care for her.
A lot more people knew her than and now her
now than before, and not for good reason. So I
thought that we had a Redistry team in CD three
Western and Southern Colorado. So it kind of became an
our ten to R twelve to R fourteen or nine district.
But I just put my head down and said, you know,
(37:18):
of the Republican Party wants their party back, we need
to get ten percent of our prior voters. And I
think if a moderate Democrat can get by the primary,
which I did not by much, I would just drive
around the district almost seven which we did four thousand
mile road trip. Just I was on the road and
we we built a coalition. My mom calls it the
(37:40):
pro normal party coalition, and we came you know, we
executed about ninety nine eight five of our plan. Okay,
so you're back for the other seven votes. Yeah, we
got a flip two hundred seventy five or find another
five or six hundred. You know, I think we have
had the race done. A week later, amount of superliberals
(38:01):
they came up to me and said, Adam, I didn't
think you have a chance and you're too moderate for me.
I left a blank, but they voted up and down
the Democratic ticket for the rest of the race. And
a bunch of moderate Republicans came up to me and
said the same thing. They're like, Adam, you seem to
be a nice person, but I just I've never voted
for Democrat and you're not gonna win, so it's not
gonna matter. There was a lot of those as well,
and so you know, a number one message democracy, your
(38:23):
vote matters. Make sure people fill out every bubble that
they can. We are excited to get going again. We
think we have a longer runway, and we're getting the
support from a wide variety of people right off the bat.
And you know, we're going to be working very, very
hard and listening and connecting with people and the same
reasons I ran before. People want the circus to stop.
(38:43):
They don't like this entertainment aspect of politics, and that
just resonates with a lot of people. I like that
word angertainment, and I think it's true. I mean, if
we saw anything from these mid terms, it's that people
hate this. They don't like being governed by reality stars. Yeah,
you know, so, I need to make a hats off
(39:04):
to my high school and middle school buddy Deean Phillips,
who is a congressman out of Minnesota. We grew up
together and he used that term once entertainment, and like Dean,
that is a brilliant summation of what's going on in
the country, especially in western and southern Colorado with our
current representative. And I just use it all the time
and everyone realizes it is senses exactly. People want the
(39:25):
circus to stop, and I've heard that from much is
from moderate Republicans, even conserved Republicans. They want people to
focus on the job, not in themselves. And people are
not saying that there's any change one iota from the
current incumbent now as she he cocked her way around
that first week of Congress, and she thought she was
doing a great service for herself, raising money um every
(39:48):
time she was poking the bear at soon to be
Speaker McCarthy. But the ranchers and farmers and a lot
of people in Colorado that I spoke to who've voted
for her in the past, they just put their head
down and said, you know, I wish she would have
learned her lesson about having, you know, the closest race
in the country. She almost had the most surprising result
in twenty five years across the country. You know, she
(40:11):
was supposed to win by again twelve or fifteen points,
and she won by point one five or something. Yeah,
it seems like that you're race in Colorado is actually
really meaningful, not just because it's yet another annoying example
of pollsters being wrong and fucking up candidates who really
(40:31):
could have won, which is really the I feel like
the headline of your race, right, just like Mandela Barnes,
just like you know a lot of other candidates who
got killed by just really inaccurate polling. But the other
thing is that I feel like the state of Colorado,
it's not a blue state. It's the purple state. But
(40:53):
Republicans have run lunatics and Democrats have run, you know,
saying candidates twenty years ago or thirty years ago, it
was read it's now summer purple, and it's gone pretty
blue in some places for sure. And again I think
a lot of that has to do with the Democratics
out here have been running just people that are trying
(41:13):
to get the job. John b pragmatic work across party lines,
solve problems that are facing the issues of the day
for a lot of people, whether it's urban or rule.
The Republican Party has run some real extremists. Having said that,
you know, it's interesting. Joe day was is a pretty
normal person, uh and and a thoughtful businessman, and he
lost to Michael Bennett by fifteen points. So it was
(41:35):
there was definitely a bit of a blue wave. And
so people have gone back and forth whether we helped
the Democrats in c D three or they helped us.
It was probably a little bit of both. But again,
when you're running against people who are part of the
chaos caucus, it makes life much easier. And the Republican
Party in Colorado which I'm not going to spend too
much time focus on, is an uproars. One of the
(41:55):
biggest counties in the district is there's a splinter group
that's suing each other. They're during their during their reassembly
and blah blah blah, blah blah. So again, I just
think it's a matter of you know, you focus on
the job at hand and you go forward, and you
know that resonates with you know, the vast majority of
people that want both parties to be played play ball
between the two forty yard lines. Yeah, yeah, no exactly,
(42:18):
But I do think, like I mean, you're not running
against someone who's normal. You're running and someone who is
taking quite a lot of the air out of the room. Yeah,
and not for a good reason. I try to make
the case that of all these extremists were the only
ones that can defeat somebody, and no one believed us,
And sadly, there aren't any other Republicans that are that
(42:39):
kind of brand known nationally that have any chance of losing.
In so, with all due respect to those Democrats that
are going to be running against Marge Taylor Green and
Jim Jordan and Macada, the numbers and it's not there.
We have proved our point and I think we've earned
the trust. We've seen a tremendous amount of money come in,
not just within the district, in the state, but around
the country because they realize that, you know, she is
(43:02):
the one person in the country with that type of
brand name nationally that has any not just a chance
of losing, but are really done the chance to losing.
And that's what we're going to focus on. This is
all good point, but just remind our listeners why you're
the right person for this, Candida say, for this job. Yeah, no,
I mean so, there's a couple of things. You know,
it's a it's a very rural district. We have asked
(43:22):
an entire ride in quest to be at three resorts
towns that a lot of people know in your listenership.
And you have Carbondel to right. Yeah, you have Carbondale
and Basalt and Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, ten of
twenty miles away from the Utah border. Is kind of
the hub of Trump country in the Colorado not just
in our district. But it is changing over over time.
(43:45):
As you know, there's a brewery indecks I use the
more breweries, and she the less conservative the areas, and
we just started making connections. And again, I just I
was very, very focused on working on that thirty to
forty percent of the Republican Party that wants their party back,
and I just pitched my self is a very safe
alternative that the issues that face out here, water and
rural healthcare, rural education. The water is not flowing red
(44:07):
or blue. It's just not flowing. And they want somebody
that's going to focus on that job. And I'm very
good about that. And in my first five years. I
was born on an Indian reservation for Peck Indian Reservation
in northeastern Montana. My dad was in the public Health Service.
He went on to becoming ob n for fifty years.
I grew up in Minnesota. My great grandfather was a
cattleman and Esco Minnesota outside of Duluth, and so I
(44:29):
have some rural roots in addition to living in the
mountain town now. But I'm a good listener and I
worked really hard and we connected with a lot of people.
And the phones are ringing off the hook because I
left a lot of messages last year and now it's
not taking nine months for people to return my phone
call anymore. Yeah, well, I do think that there really
is a real problem with rural representation. There's a caveat
(44:52):
to that, right, because there are a lot of rural
places attend red senators and congressman to Congress and the Senate.
But the thing is those people don't necessarily look out
for rural voters, and they're more tied to special interests.
So I do think, like, we've seen rural hospitals closed
(45:12):
at alarming rates, We've seen rural maternal fetal health rate,
you know, deaths rise. I mean, we do need people
looking out for rural people. The problem is these Republicans
don't do that. You lead into my number one statistics
I share. There's about thirty one counties in the country,
about thirty one and fifty counties in the country. Of that,
(45:33):
two thousand of them are deemed ruled by the Department
of Agriculture, two thousand and rural counties. In Bill Clinton
won more than fifty percent of the rural counties two
thousand and twelve. Barack Obama one of the rural counties
from President Biden one fewer than ten percent of the
(45:55):
rural counties in the country, and so the Democratic Party
is twenty big cities Aspen and Tucket. Like that's kind
of what's left of the Democratic Party. And so I'm
spending a lot of time trying to not just focus
on CD three, but a little bit of time just
making the case that monopolies are bad and rule America
has a big monopoly issue with the Republican Party. And
(46:17):
so you know, we are in John Tester Joe Mansion country,
which not every Democrat wants to hear, but that's just
kind of the makeup of our district. It is an
ur ten district that that is egg in ranching and
farming and domestic energy production from solar and wind to
also gas and coal which starts to wind down as
it should and it needs to be done and everything
else like that. But we need to make sure it's
(46:39):
realistic about how we treat people and this rural aspect
of making sure that every zip code and rule America
has fought over by both parties. That's part of my
little mission as well. Yeah, and that's a really good mission.
And actually one of the things that happened during these
mid terms is that in North Dakota, especially Democrats didn't
(47:00):
run candidates in some of these races because they thought
they wouldn't lose, would lose, which of course they would.
But that is really a problem a for this idea
of getting elected in these rural areas, but also because
also because it's just so incredibly self defeating, it is hard.
(47:22):
But listen, I know it's hard to run. I can
vouch for that, especially in the district that's half the
state of Colorado geographically. But you know, the main messages.
I just think that the policies that the Democratic Party
have are very beneficial to a lot of working class
Americans and that but Fox News has done a brilliant job,
quote unquote brilliant of taking a couple of sentences over
(47:43):
the past generation and really amplifying them and skewing them.
And it's turned into a very dimissive and demeaning brand
of Democrats to a lot of people in rural America.
And that's something I'm just trying to get over. Miles
by miles, I drive around in a pickup truck, right,
and the coffee houses and the breweries, and the beer
halls and and the barbecue joints. It's not Authinian exercise
(48:05):
to run for Congress in a place that has so
many good restaurants, but you know, the Democracy calls so
here I am, but you know, and that's the message
I've been having with people in Washington at the highest levels,
just to say, hey, listen, we've got to figure out
how to expand the base. And all these zip codes
are being left in the wind, and the messages there,
the policies are there. You just have to make sure
(48:26):
you get the right candidates that are willing to go
and really meet the people and hit the road, meet
them where they are physically as emotionally, and just be
a good listener because a lot of people just feel
like they've been left behind by a lot of people.
And that's what former President Trump, you know again quote
unquote brilliantly tapped into just that they just didn't feel
(48:46):
like no one who was speaking to them. The Democratic
Party used to be bad and it's left. My buddy
Dean Phillips again in Minnesota. Minnesota Democratic Party is called
the DFL the Democratic Farm Labor and said the Dems
have lost the fs, and they've left the elves and
they're left with the Dems and we need to do
a much better job of building back the farmers and
(49:07):
the working class labor movement, which is really important for
our right. And I don't think that that necessarily means
like sometimes you'll see people on the right saying, well,
that's why Democrats have to abandon being pro lgbt Q
or pro you know, choice, And I don't think it's binary.
(49:28):
I think that you can be I mean, Colorado is
a great example. You can be pro lgbt Q and
believe that people have the right to their own lives
and bodily autonomy and still want to build hospitals in
rural areas. So you know, it's interesting. Our district has
some of the highest support for Second Amendment in the country,
(49:51):
and it has a really high pro choice support. And
it goes back to whether you want to call it
the libertarian view or more of a kind of the
UB Party, which is just leave us alone. And I
met a lot of Republicans, a lot of Christian Evangelic
Evangelicas who are like, listen, I don't like abortion, but
the only thing worse than that is having the government
involved in it. And so it is a little bit
(50:12):
of just leave us alone out here. We live out
in rule and Western and southern Colorado. We're not in
the big city for a reason, and we just don't
want to government. You know, government should be there to
support when needed, but the less regulation the better. And
you see that on things that are more traditionally left
from our traditionally right and as you know, as the
son of Gioana fifty years that had bomb threats from
(50:35):
his father's office growing up in the seventies and eighties
in Minneapolis, I can attest to how important it is
important for the government to just be at a women's
healthcare decisions, and that resonates with some of the most
rule read yes in the country. It's different if you're
down in the South and Alabama, Mississippi, but out west
it is the you do you party and it's something
(50:56):
that resonates with a lot of people well. And I
would also say in the South there are a lot
of different voters in the South too, and and a
lot of them are pro choice. It's a very interesting coalition.
But I would say, um, I think that's right. And
I think the rural hospital stuff is just unconscionable that
we have places where you you know, it's hours and
hours to at a hospital and there, and and also
(51:20):
you know, we are seeing we need to take better
care of our trains and our infrastructure. And if that's
not clear from this week, I don't know what it is.
That's exactly what we're trying to work on, and that
infrastructure bill is really important. And you know, you know
represented Bobart. One of the things we talked about is
she's one of the few people that probably decides that
(51:41):
she does not want to try to have some of
that taxpayer based at Western and Southern Colorado pay in DC,
and she doesn't fight to try to bring that stuff back.
And if that money is not coming back to c
D three, it's showing up in Denver or Detroit, or
Newark or rural Kansas or rural Florida. And I made
it very very clear that it's really really important how
to figure out how to bring those resources back here.
(52:02):
It's a lot healthcare has a lot of moving parts.
But when you're an hour and a half away from
an urgent care center or two hours away, if you
have any type of pregnancy that's not just more of
a traditional normal pregnancy, those are real issues that are
facing to know people, and I'd love to see kind
of that money be returned to the taxpayers pay and
show up in the county health departments mental and physical,
(52:24):
and again block grants. Let the county officials decide where
that money should go. They're going to know better than
people in Denver, you see. But the money needs to
come because we just you know, we have some of
the poorest counties. We have some of the wealthiest and
the porest counties in the country. And I'm very focused
on you know, with all respect to my friends and
my neighbors up in Picking County where I live, I'm
(52:44):
really focused on those counties that are going to need
the help and have see huge transitions with energy and
agriculture and are dealing with a really big drought that
needs some focus. Adam, I hope you will come back
multiple times before you're a congress person. Always great to
chat with you, Molly Hope of a great week going ahead.
(53:06):
Jesse Cannon, Molly John Fast. You know, when those Fox
News emails come out, you see who they really are.
What was your favorite part where you see him? The
dominion filing was released on Friday night, and in it
we learned that Tucker, Shawn and Laura Ingram all knew
exactly what they were doing. They knew that there was
(53:28):
no election fraud and that they were just lying liars
who lie, And they texted each other and they were
very clear that they knew the truth and we're not
following it. And for that, they then poisoned the well
of many Americans. And there are still people in this
(53:49):
country who believe that the election was rigged? Was they rigged?
Did you enjoy more when it was ridiculous things like
them threatening to get fact checkers fired, or when they
said that Bruty Giuliani and City Power were insane but
kept having them on their shows. There were so many
(54:11):
moments that we had suspected were likely what was happening
backstage at Fox News, but it was still a bit
strange to actually see it firsthand. And a good lesson
here is that if you think that there's some real
corruption going on behind the scenes, sometimes there really is.
That's it for this episode of Fast Politics. Tune in
(54:33):
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to her the best minds
and politics makes sense of all this chaos. If you
enjoyed what you've heard, please send it to a friend
and keep the conversation going. And again, thanks for listening,
Host
Molly Jong-Fast
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