May 5, 2024 • 21 mins
Rep. Andy Kim, New Jersey's 3rd District representative, sits with Ronny Chieng and Jordan Klepper to chat about navigating politcs as an Asian-American running for Senate and how he won a district that elected Trump to office. Also, Rep. Colin Allred of Texas' 32nd District joins Desi Lydic to discuss the importance of paternity leave and his run for Ted Cruz's Senate seat.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The Daily Show. It's taking a break this week, but
don't worry. We hampick some of our favorite episode highlights
from the archives just for you. We'll be back with
brand new episodes next week. In the meantime, enjoyed today's episode.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Our guest tonight is the third term congressman from New
Jersey who's running for US Senate. Please welcome Representative Andy Kim.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Thank you, it's nice is Asian Representative?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
Thank you, Andy Kim.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
House representatives you're currently running to replace. Are you ready
for Senate?
Speaker 5 (00:45):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
To replace the previous guy in New Jersey who got
caught with gold Baz in his house.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Right?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
So yeah, I guess.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
That's a big no no in politics, right.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
What do you have against gold Baz?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Yeah, apparently I'm anti gold ours.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Anti Federal Reserve guys.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Your platform, which okay, this is getting a heated into
interviewing right out of the gate here.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
But what you're right for Senate?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Look, I mean it's not something I planned to do.
You know, I'm a three term member of the House
of Representatives. I got a six year old and eight
year old, two little boys at home, So I would not,
you know, planning to take on a statewide election. But look,
I mean right now, I mean, I'm sure that the
audience feels it too. I mean, we live in the
time in the greatest amount of distrust in government in
modern American history, and eighty four percent of people in
(01:31):
New Jersey believe that their politicians are crup Like eighty
four percent like, how can.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Well they were kind of validated, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean,
so you're wondering what's wrong with the other sixteen percent?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Right, yeah, They're just not that educated.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Now, look, I mean we have to I believe that
the opposite of democracies is apathy. It's if people give
up on this, it feel like they're elected officials are
not in it for the right reasons. So I just
I feel at this critical moment, we have to restore
a sense of integrity back into our politics and try
to do our best to give the people New Jersey
a choice.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Sure, and yeah, yeah, I mean you you're running in
a district that I'm not wrong. Voted for Donal Trump twice.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Well my congressional district.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
Yeah, in twenty eighteen, I was part of the class
of twenty eighteen that flipped the House of Representatives, tried,
you know.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Take that away from Donald Trump.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
And I won a district that Trump won, And in
twenty twenty, I was one of only seven Democrats in
the entire country that won a district Trump one.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
So yeah, and you're like, so it's you want.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
In a district a Trump won, and your I'm assuming
a minority in that district both in race.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
And yeah, my district is eighty five percent white, less
than three percent Asian. When I was first elected, there
were zero Korean Americans in Congress, and I had a
lot of people tell me there's no way that Asian
American can win a district the vast, vast majority of.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Holly, How did you win it?
Speaker 6 (03:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Serious? Did you win?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You want it? Then?
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Well, look what I'll say is no offense.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Yeah, you know, Look, I think what I learned is that, like,
I'm not going to let other people determine what I
am or am not capable of accomplishing simply because of
the color of my skin.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
In my last name, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
This was.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
This was this is the district where I you know,
I grew up.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
I did my entire kindergarten through twelve in the public
school systems of my congressional district. I'm raising, you know,
two little boys in that school system. Like, I have
every bit as much right to represent that district as
anybody else, and I have every bit as much right
to represent my state as anybody else.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I will say that is that is both inspiring to
hear and a little gross.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
That's a lot of time in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I just I guess that's wow.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
That you're really New Jersey. Yeah, God, bless well.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think you talk about this feeling in America right now,
we feel very divided. Yeah, but in the House, you guys,
you just passed this bipartisan bill funding for Ukraine Taiwan.
We had the TikTok bill in there as well. Mike
Johnson seemed to want across the aisle and work with
you guys.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
What is this?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Is this the beginning of some sort of bipartisan coalition
or is this a one time spring fling.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
Now, look, I think what he realized is he has
no other choice. He can either be a speaker that
gets zero things done for the entire time that he
has speak. Everything that he has done, whether it's passing
our government's funding or anything else. It's required us on
the Democrats side to be there with it. I'm basically,
you know, he and Jakiem Jeffries are co Speakers of
(04:41):
the House right now. There's nothing that the Speaker of
the House Johnson can get done without Kim Jeffries and
the Democrats. And so look, it's out of necessity in
that way. I mean, you know, I hope that there
are some places where we can find some agreement. But
I'll be honest with you, like I'm not holding my breath.
(05:02):
We'll see where things go. But I mean, you guys,
you know, you all see it. I mean, I basically
work in the world's worst reality TV show.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
It's just like, well, speaking of that, I mean, you
are you are on the ground there, you know you
presumably you talk with these people every day, if not
all the time, you know. So I guess my question is, like,
how is it different to what we're seeing on TV
you'll vibe on the ground in Congress. Is it as
divisive as what we think it looks like on Instagram?
Or is it when you guys are in the same room,
(05:30):
is it more like may you know, like finger guns,
tell us, how did you know?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
That's no?
Speaker 6 (05:39):
I mean, look, it's it's very frustrated. I'm not gonna
you know, and I say that as someone who's never
thought that i'd be in politics. I don't enjoy that
aspect of it so much. But I mean, look, you
know one of my one of my colleagues, I guess
I call him that, Matt Gates for instance. You know,
he has this line where he says, you know, if
you're not making news, you're not governing. And I just
(05:59):
think that that is so indicative what's wrong with our
politics right now. You know, it's this idea. You know,
it's this idea that you're equating attention with governance. You
know that that's absolutely the wrong thing. You can see
how someone who has that kind of mindset is then
incentivized to just say crazy things. You know, so like
(06:22):
I always think about it if you gamify Congress, you know,
Congress is a game, and you think of what is
the points system?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
You know, it's like people are.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Chasing you know, the lights online, the followers on social media,
you know, the money into their fundraising, how many cable
news hits they've done. You know, things like that, and like,
you know, I have colleagues of mine who are more
interested in being social influencers rather than lawmakers.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
And that's really crazy, you know.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Like I get to work, like I get to work
a job whose job description is in the Constitution of
the United States, like me as a son of and
we're getting a public school kid gets to do that
kind of work. Like that should be a deeply humbling experiences,
not some platform for you to just go chase your
ego and your ambition.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
That being said, all I said just Ender Kim ticked
every single one of them cons from Jersey.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You never chase attention, but we do appreciate you coming
on our television show.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
It's not about no no, this is I'm a humble man,
a Comedy Central appreciation.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I am curious.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Democratic Party is an interesting place right now. And I
think this last bill that just got pasted had funding
for Israel with very few conditions put upon it. The
more progressive wing the Democratic Party wants there to be
more conditions with Israel funding. How do you balance that?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Right now? It seems as if the.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Progressive side of the Democratic wing is wants more from
a Democratic Party that's not willing to give it.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
No, Look, I mean I think what we need is
to be able to move forward and have as much
leverage as possible. What we see is that, you know,
Nettan Yahoo is taking a path forward that I think
is very dangerous, you know, dangerous for Israel, dangerous for
our world, and we need to make sure that we're
stepping up to be able to have as much strength
as possible, to be able to end this violence as
(08:15):
soon as possible. And I'll be honest with you, a
lot of Democrats feel that same way.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A lot of my colleagues feel that same way.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
We're just trying to figure out how we can have
you know, that kind of approach going forward while addressing
you know, the humanitarian crisis. I mean, there's a famine
that's imminent right now in northern Gaza. You know, that's devastating.
We got to make sure that we're providing the kind
of aid and support to that while also making sure
we're tackling all these other issues around the world. Ukraine,
(08:41):
we have you know, we were trying to pass humanitarian
assistance for the catastrophe in Sudan, which is something that
doesn't get enough attention so yes, you know, we got
to make sure that we're pushing forward in all those directions.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I'll say, also, your some of your colleagues made news
talking about in regards to this Ukraine funding bill that
they're seeing Russian propaganda being echoed and talked about on
the House floor. Are you seeing colleagues, colleagues echo this
Russian propaganda in terms of whether or not we should
be funding Ukraine?
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Absolutely, I mean, you know, it's it's scary.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
It's scary to see how you know, what we're seeing
right now is basically a new movement of neo isolationism,
you know, something that's really about weakening America's position in
the world and just turning not even just turning a
blind eye to Vladimir Putin, but actually enabling him. And
you know, when I think about leaders in other countries,
when they talk to me about what's happening, first they ask,
(09:33):
you know, what is happening in America. And the second
thing they ask is they say, is America a reliable partner?
That's what they ask themselves and they and the answer
to that right now is no. You know, we are
not a reliable partner in the way that we can
and should be, you know, and you see that with
three cards to Ukraine and hopefully we're going to be
able to.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Provide some support.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
But that has a lot of impact in terms of
how we're perceived all over the world with all sorts
of other crises that are out there. So you know,
this is one of the biggest questions that we have
of just what is America's role in the twenty first century.
What is the value of the American handshake right now?
And that's very much under question right now in the.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
World right and what you know, just on that note,
like to solve a lot of problems that you know, facing.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
The point to me point crossing, like I can't help
that Asian.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Dog, you know, making it.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Happen, can I?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
But like a lot of compromise is required. So when
you're talking to like your best friend Matt Gates, for example,
like when you did say that your good friend Matt Gates,
he like when when when you are talking to is
there some kind of like, look we put the cameras
off right now, let's just talk or is it always
just you know, this guy's always on. You know, everyone's
(10:47):
always on, even in private meetings. Everyone's still, you know,
yelling about Jewish space lasers.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And you know, like.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
When I came into Congress and a lot of people
ask me, like do they really believe what they say?
And when I first came in, I kind of came
up with category three categories. You know, there are sort
of the traditional conservatives, of which there are very few
of them left. There are the crazies and you can
you know, mad libs, fill in the blank, whatever name
you want.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
And then they're the cowards, you know, the people.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Who know better, but just you know, for their own
purposes of staying in their jobs, they continue on. I'll
be honest with you, just in the five and a
half years that I've been in Congress now, there are
a lot more crazies than that even when I started.
And it's it's really alarming. I mean, like they some
of them really do believe this. And I you know,
(11:33):
I remember it, you know, on the night of January sixth,
when we came back into the House of Representatives after
the insurrection, you know, hearing their speeches, like watching them
like only a few feet from them, and I could tell,
like some of them really do believe the big lie
they have bought into this.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
They're they're feeding it.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
And and that's what I find so scary right now.
You know, my first boss in government, he had this line,
he said, you don't have good government unless you have
good people working in government. Right now, you know, if
you have a government that's filled with you know, egotistical narcissistic,
power hungry people, you will have an egotistical, narcissistic, power
hungry government.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
So we have to try to find a way to
be able to stop it. But part of their plan
is to try to make government so toxic, politics so
toxic that reasonable decent. You know, people don't want to participate,
and that just leaves it for them.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
All right, Well, good luck, thank you Premier, your time.
And as far as from what I'm hearing from you,
I just think that we just need more Asian people
to be running into.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Representative and you Kim, everybody.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
My guests to I represented Texas's thirty second district and
is running for the Senate against America's Sweethearts head Cruise.
Please welcome Representative Colin Alred.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
How you doing doing well?
Speaker 7 (12:59):
How are you I'm doing great, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, this is great. Different I usually do so.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah, they're fun right now, you guys are.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It's a little better than.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
The house right now, just slightly.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
That's I mean, that's not saying a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That's keeping the bar.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
It's pretty low. You have such an interesting resume. You're
a former NFL player, civil rights yeah, civil rights attorney, congressman,
and now currently running against Ted.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Cruise for the.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
Yeah in Texas as a Democrat, which is a bit
of an uphill battle. Right right now, you're currently pulling
at six points behind. Does it make it worse that
you're lagging behind Ted Cruz of all?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Now, listen, I'm confident that on the November fifth that
Texans are going to come out and show who we
really are. I think we've had enough of twelve years
of having, you know, an embarrassment. One of the most
divisive centers in the country is somebody who I think
fundamentally doesn't appreciate who we really are as Texans. I'm
(14:08):
a four generation Texan. You know, he was raised by
a single mom in Dallas. You know, you mentioned what
I've been able to do, But I was able to
do that because I had a lot of help from
my community. For my state. I want to make sure
that we can have someone who actually cares about us
in the Senate.
Speaker 7 (14:28):
You have said before that you don't Texas doesn't have
to be embarrassed by their senator.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
What is the most.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Embarrassing thing about Ted Cruz? Is it that he fled
to Cancun while Texans were in the dark and cold,
or that time that he didn't feel the booger on
his lip for so long burned in my memory.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
You know, I think there's the antics, right, there's like
the you know, reading Green, Inks and Ham on the
Senate floor while you're trying to take health care away
from forty million people, and stuff like that. The fact
that he podcasts three times a week, which is a
lot hard. Yeah, that's a lot when I say senator.
But you know when you had that little ROLLI bag
when he's coming back from Kancun. Oh, yes, you know,
(15:11):
it's frustrating going through those little rope lines at any
time when you're going through it alone to explain why
you abandoned your stake during a statewide crisis, that was
really embarrassing.
Speaker 7 (15:26):
That's the toper.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
That was the tapper.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
You're a father of two and you were one of
the first members of Congress to take paternity leave. First
of all, thank you for your service, And secondly, why
is that so rare among your colleagues.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, well, I didn't know that I was going to
be the first one I did it. I thought that
it was just a normal thing to do. You know.
I grew up and not knowing my father, and so
for me, I knew that when we had kids that
I was going to do it right. And that starts
at the beginning. And there's so much we've learned a lot.
(16:06):
There are so many benefits for when men take leave
in those early days. It's better for the men themselves,
for their spouses, for their kids. And you know, this
is not available to every American, and I want to
make sure that it is. And that's one of the
things I've been working on. You and I both know
(16:27):
that those early days are tough. Oh yeah, And when
you're welcoming, you know your bundle of joy is also
coming with a whole lot of other things that are
changing your life. And you know, I don't think it's
right that we're the only major developed country in the
world that doesn't have a national paid lead policy.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
But do not agree more Texas was one of the
first states to criminalize abortion. What would be your plans
to protect and restore women's reproductive rights?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
As you mentioned, my wife and I we've had two
boys in Dallas and life five years and I went
to every ultra sound appointment, every genetic testing, and you
know those rooms when you're having those conversations with your doctor,
they're too small to have somebody like Ted Cruz in
there with you. You know what's happening in Texas is
(17:19):
really it's a tragedy. We've had twenty six thousand women
who had to get birth to their rapist child since
these laws went into place. We've had stories like ky Cox,
So it was a mother of two who had a
much wanted third pregnancy. She'd go to the emergency room
four times. Her doctor said she needed a medically necessary abortion,
and she asked her state, can I have it close
to home because I have a one and a three
(17:39):
year old at home. They said no, And they didn't
just say no, it's if you do this, we're going
to prosecute you, your doctor, your hospital. We have counties
saying you can't drive to the county if you're to
use the roads to access an abortion. I mean, that
doesn't sound like freedom to me. And I know one
thing about us is Texans, so we believe in freedom,
and so for me, the only way that we can
(18:03):
restore this right to Texas women and families is at
the federal level by codifying Roe v. Wade. And I'm at.
Speaker 7 (18:10):
Yeah, Voter turnout is going to be critical for you
to flip the seat. It's been estimated that nine point
five million registered voters didn't vote in the last election.
How will you encourage Texans to get out and vote
and does it rhyme with mush Morshin?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Well, as you mentioned, I was a civil rights lawyer,
but I was a voting rights lawyer, specifically before I
ran for Congress. You know, to me, there's nothing more
important than getting Texans and our fellow Americans engaged in
our democracy and in Texas, we make it way too
difficult to vote. But I want folks to know there's
a reason why they're trying to make it harder for
you to vote. Why are they trying to take your
(18:51):
voice away? Why are they trying so hard to make
it difficult for you to be engaged? Don't let them
do it right? And to our young people. You know,
it's like one of the things where wouldn't let you
grandparents pick your playlist for the next six years. I
don't want to pick your center, right, you know?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So you know, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I think it's also true that we have to talk
about what's at steak. You know. To me, in Texas,
what's at steak is our fundamental freedoms. If taken away
a woman's right to choose, the ability to make your
own decisions about your body. They're banning books, They're kicking
kids out of school because of their hairstyle. I mean
to me, this is fundamentally about who we are as
Texans and as Americans, and we have to restore freedom
(19:33):
in Texas and across this country. And I think folks
are going to come out and stand up for that.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
You serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee. We just recently
found out that seven aid workers were killed in Gaza
due to Israel air strikes. Does that give you any
hesitation to providing Israel with bombs?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Listen, this is a horrible tragedy. And these folks were
there to feed folks who are suffering from famine, extreme conditions.
They've done it around the world, and to me, it's
an incredibly noble venture that they're engaged in to try
and make sure that we can combat these conditions. And
you know, as I see it, October seventh was a
(20:20):
tragedy and the response in many ways has been incredibly
difficult to deal with. Our role, I think has to
be to try and ensure that we as we're negotiating
for an extended cease fire, that we have these hostages
come home, and that we find a way forward in
which there's two states existing peacefully next to each other.
And that has to be all in gold. And we've
(20:42):
had you know, this has been our policy for some time,
but in some ways I think it had drifted away
in a strange way. I think this is a highlight
of the need that we come back to this, that
we make sure that we have a peaceful and independent
Palacitian state next to a stable, democratic and Jewish Israeli
state and these folks and COXIT, because we honestly cannot
continue down this road.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
I so appreciate the work that you do, and I
so appreciate you being on the show tonight. I wish
you the best of luck. Representative Colin Alred.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Watch The Daily Show week nights at eleven.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime
on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
This has been a Comedy Central podcast now
You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The Daily Show. It's taking a break this week, but
don't worry. We hampick some of our favorite episode highlights
from the archives just for you. We'll be back with
brand new episodes next week. In the meantime, enjoyed today's episode.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Our guest tonight is the third term congressman from New
Jersey who's running for US Senate. Please welcome Representative Andy Kim.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Thank you, it's nice is Asian Representative?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
Thank you, Andy Kim.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
House representatives you're currently running to replace. Are you ready
for Senate?
Speaker 5 (00:45):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:45):
To replace the previous guy in New Jersey who got
caught with gold Baz in his house.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
That's right?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Right?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
So yeah, I guess.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
That's a big no no in politics, right.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
What do you have against gold Baz?
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Yeah, apparently I'm anti gold ours.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Anti Federal Reserve guys.
Speaker 6 (01:02):
Your platform, which okay, this is getting a heated into
interviewing right out of the gate here.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
But what you're right for Senate?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (01:09):
Look, I mean it's not something I planned to do.
You know, I'm a three term member of the House
of Representatives. I got a six year old and eight
year old, two little boys at home, So I would not,
you know, planning to take on a statewide election. But look,
I mean right now, I mean, I'm sure that the
audience feels it too. I mean, we live in the
time in the greatest amount of distrust in government in
modern American history, and eighty four percent of people in
(01:31):
New Jersey believe that their politicians are crup Like eighty
four percent like, how can.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Well they were kind of validated, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean,
so you're wondering what's wrong with the other sixteen percent?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Right, yeah, They're just not that educated.
Speaker 6 (01:47):
Now, look, I mean we have to I believe that
the opposite of democracies is apathy. It's if people give
up on this, it feel like they're elected officials are
not in it for the right reasons. So I just
I feel at this critical moment, we have to restore
a sense of integrity back into our politics and try
to do our best to give the people New Jersey
a choice.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Sure, and yeah, yeah, I mean you you're running in
a district that I'm not wrong. Voted for Donal Trump twice.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Well my congressional district.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
Yeah, in twenty eighteen, I was part of the class
of twenty eighteen that flipped the House of Representatives, tried,
you know.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Take that away from Donald Trump.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
And I won a district that Trump won, And in
twenty twenty, I was one of only seven Democrats in
the entire country that won a district Trump one.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
So yeah, and you're like, so it's you want.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
In a district a Trump won, and your I'm assuming
a minority in that district both in race.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
And yeah, my district is eighty five percent white, less
than three percent Asian. When I was first elected, there
were zero Korean Americans in Congress, and I had a
lot of people tell me there's no way that Asian
American can win a district the vast, vast majority of.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Holly, How did you win it?
Speaker 6 (03:00):
No?
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Serious? Did you win?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You want it? Then?
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Well, look what I'll say is no offense.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Yeah, you know, Look, I think what I learned is that, like,
I'm not going to let other people determine what I
am or am not capable of accomplishing simply because of
the color of my skin.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
In my last name, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
This was.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
This was this is the district where I you know,
I grew up.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
I did my entire kindergarten through twelve in the public
school systems of my congressional district. I'm raising, you know,
two little boys in that school system. Like, I have
every bit as much right to represent that district as
anybody else, and I have every bit as much right
to represent my state as anybody else.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I will say that is that is both inspiring to
hear and a little gross.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
That's a lot of time in New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I just I guess that's wow.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
That you're really New Jersey. Yeah, God, bless well.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think you talk about this feeling in America right now,
we feel very divided. Yeah, but in the House, you guys,
you just passed this bipartisan bill funding for Ukraine Taiwan.
We had the TikTok bill in there as well. Mike
Johnson seemed to want across the aisle and work with
you guys.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
What is this?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Is this the beginning of some sort of bipartisan coalition
or is this a one time spring fling.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
Now, look, I think what he realized is he has
no other choice. He can either be a speaker that
gets zero things done for the entire time that he
has speak. Everything that he has done, whether it's passing
our government's funding or anything else. It's required us on
the Democrats side to be there with it. I'm basically,
you know, he and Jakiem Jeffries are co Speakers of
(04:41):
the House right now. There's nothing that the Speaker of
the House Johnson can get done without Kim Jeffries and
the Democrats. And so look, it's out of necessity in
that way. I mean, you know, I hope that there
are some places where we can find some agreement. But
I'll be honest with you, like I'm not holding my breath.
(05:02):
We'll see where things go. But I mean, you guys,
you know, you all see it. I mean, I basically
work in the world's worst reality TV show.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
It's just like, well, speaking of that, I mean, you
are you are on the ground there, you know you
presumably you talk with these people every day, if not
all the time, you know. So I guess my question is, like,
how is it different to what we're seeing on TV
you'll vibe on the ground in Congress. Is it as
divisive as what we think it looks like on Instagram?
Or is it when you guys are in the same room,
(05:30):
is it more like may you know, like finger guns,
tell us, how did you know?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
That's no?
Speaker 6 (05:39):
I mean, look, it's it's very frustrated. I'm not gonna
you know, and I say that as someone who's never
thought that i'd be in politics. I don't enjoy that
aspect of it so much. But I mean, look, you
know one of my one of my colleagues, I guess
I call him that, Matt Gates for instance. You know,
he has this line where he says, you know, if
you're not making news, you're not governing. And I just
(05:59):
think that that is so indicative what's wrong with our
politics right now. You know, it's this idea. You know,
it's this idea that you're equating attention with governance. You
know that that's absolutely the wrong thing. You can see
how someone who has that kind of mindset is then
incentivized to just say crazy things. You know, so like
(06:22):
I always think about it if you gamify Congress, you know,
Congress is a game, and you think of what is
the points system?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
You know, it's like people are.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Chasing you know, the lights online, the followers on social media,
you know, the money into their fundraising, how many cable
news hits they've done. You know, things like that, and like,
you know, I have colleagues of mine who are more
interested in being social influencers rather than lawmakers.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
And that's really crazy, you know.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Like I get to work, like I get to work
a job whose job description is in the Constitution of
the United States, like me as a son of and
we're getting a public school kid gets to do that
kind of work. Like that should be a deeply humbling experiences,
not some platform for you to just go chase your
ego and your ambition.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
That being said, all I said just Ender Kim ticked
every single one of them cons from Jersey.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
You never chase attention, but we do appreciate you coming
on our television show.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
It's not about no no, this is I'm a humble man,
a Comedy Central appreciation.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I am curious.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Democratic Party is an interesting place right now. And I
think this last bill that just got pasted had funding
for Israel with very few conditions put upon it. The
more progressive wing the Democratic Party wants there to be
more conditions with Israel funding. How do you balance that?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Right now? It seems as if the.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Progressive side of the Democratic wing is wants more from
a Democratic Party that's not willing to give it.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
No, Look, I mean I think what we need is
to be able to move forward and have as much
leverage as possible. What we see is that, you know,
Nettan Yahoo is taking a path forward that I think
is very dangerous, you know, dangerous for Israel, dangerous for
our world, and we need to make sure that we're
stepping up to be able to have as much strength
as possible, to be able to end this violence as
(08:15):
soon as possible. And I'll be honest with you, a
lot of Democrats feel that same way.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A lot of my colleagues feel that same way.
Speaker 6 (08:20):
We're just trying to figure out how we can have
you know, that kind of approach going forward while addressing
you know, the humanitarian crisis. I mean, there's a famine
that's imminent right now in northern Gaza. You know, that's devastating.
We got to make sure that we're providing the kind
of aid and support to that while also making sure
we're tackling all these other issues around the world. Ukraine,
(08:41):
we have you know, we were trying to pass humanitarian
assistance for the catastrophe in Sudan, which is something that
doesn't get enough attention so yes, you know, we got
to make sure that we're pushing forward in all those directions.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I'll say, also, your some of your colleagues made news
talking about in regards to this Ukraine funding bill that
they're seeing Russian propaganda being echoed and talked about on
the House floor. Are you seeing colleagues, colleagues echo this
Russian propaganda in terms of whether or not we should
be funding Ukraine?
Speaker 5 (09:09):
Absolutely, I mean, you know, it's it's scary.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
It's scary to see how you know, what we're seeing
right now is basically a new movement of neo isolationism,
you know, something that's really about weakening America's position in
the world and just turning not even just turning a
blind eye to Vladimir Putin, but actually enabling him. And
you know, when I think about leaders in other countries,
when they talk to me about what's happening, first they ask,
(09:33):
you know, what is happening in America. And the second
thing they ask is they say, is America a reliable partner?
That's what they ask themselves and they and the answer
to that right now is no. You know, we are
not a reliable partner in the way that we can
and should be, you know, and you see that with
three cards to Ukraine and hopefully we're going to be
able to.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Provide some support.
Speaker 6 (09:53):
But that has a lot of impact in terms of
how we're perceived all over the world with all sorts
of other crises that are out there. So you know,
this is one of the biggest questions that we have
of just what is America's role in the twenty first century.
What is the value of the American handshake right now?
And that's very much under question right now in the.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
World right and what you know, just on that note,
like to solve a lot of problems that you know, facing.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
The point to me point crossing, like I can't help
that Asian.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Dog, you know, making it.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Happen, can I?
Speaker 4 (10:27):
But like a lot of compromise is required. So when
you're talking to like your best friend Matt Gates, for example,
like when you did say that your good friend Matt Gates,
he like when when when you are talking to is
there some kind of like, look we put the cameras
off right now, let's just talk or is it always
just you know, this guy's always on. You know, everyone's
(10:47):
always on, even in private meetings. Everyone's still, you know,
yelling about Jewish space lasers.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And you know, like.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
When I came into Congress and a lot of people
ask me, like do they really believe what they say?
And when I first came in, I kind of came
up with category three categories. You know, there are sort
of the traditional conservatives, of which there are very few
of them left. There are the crazies and you can
you know, mad libs, fill in the blank, whatever name
you want.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
And then they're the cowards, you know, the people.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
Who know better, but just you know, for their own
purposes of staying in their jobs, they continue on. I'll
be honest with you, just in the five and a
half years that I've been in Congress now, there are
a lot more crazies than that even when I started.
And it's it's really alarming. I mean, like they some
of them really do believe this. And I you know,
(11:33):
I remember it, you know, on the night of January sixth,
when we came back into the House of Representatives after
the insurrection, you know, hearing their speeches, like watching them
like only a few feet from them, and I could tell,
like some of them really do believe the big lie
they have bought into this.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
They're they're feeding it.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
And and that's what I find so scary right now.
You know, my first boss in government, he had this line,
he said, you don't have good government unless you have
good people working in government. Right now, you know, if
you have a government that's filled with you know, egotistical narcissistic,
power hungry people, you will have an egotistical, narcissistic, power
hungry government.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
So we have to try to find a way to
be able to stop it. But part of their plan
is to try to make government so toxic, politics so
toxic that reasonable decent. You know, people don't want to participate,
and that just leaves it for them.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
All right, Well, good luck, thank you Premier, your time.
And as far as from what I'm hearing from you,
I just think that we just need more Asian people
to be running into.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Representative and you Kim, everybody.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
My guests to I represented Texas's thirty second district and
is running for the Senate against America's Sweethearts head Cruise.
Please welcome Representative Colin Alred.
Speaker 5 (12:58):
How you doing doing well?
Speaker 7 (12:59):
How are you I'm doing great, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, this is great. Different I usually do so.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah, they're fun right now, you guys are.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
It's a little better than.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
The house right now, just slightly.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
That's I mean, that's not saying a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
That's keeping the bar.
Speaker 7 (13:13):
It's pretty low. You have such an interesting resume. You're
a former NFL player, civil rights yeah, civil rights attorney, congressman,
and now currently running against Ted.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Cruise for the.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
Yeah in Texas as a Democrat, which is a bit
of an uphill battle. Right right now, you're currently pulling
at six points behind. Does it make it worse that
you're lagging behind Ted Cruz of all?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Now, listen, I'm confident that on the November fifth that
Texans are going to come out and show who we
really are. I think we've had enough of twelve years
of having, you know, an embarrassment. One of the most
divisive centers in the country is somebody who I think
fundamentally doesn't appreciate who we really are as Texans. I'm
(14:08):
a four generation Texan. You know, he was raised by
a single mom in Dallas. You know, you mentioned what
I've been able to do, But I was able to
do that because I had a lot of help from
my community. For my state. I want to make sure
that we can have someone who actually cares about us
in the Senate.
Speaker 7 (14:28):
You have said before that you don't Texas doesn't have
to be embarrassed by their senator.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
What is the most.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Embarrassing thing about Ted Cruz? Is it that he fled
to Cancun while Texans were in the dark and cold,
or that time that he didn't feel the booger on
his lip for so long burned in my memory.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
You know, I think there's the antics, right, there's like
the you know, reading Green, Inks and Ham on the
Senate floor while you're trying to take health care away
from forty million people, and stuff like that. The fact
that he podcasts three times a week, which is a
lot hard. Yeah, that's a lot when I say senator.
But you know when you had that little ROLLI bag
when he's coming back from Kancun. Oh, yes, you know,
(15:11):
it's frustrating going through those little rope lines at any
time when you're going through it alone to explain why
you abandoned your stake during a statewide crisis, that was
really embarrassing.
Speaker 7 (15:26):
That's the toper.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
That was the tapper.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
You're a father of two and you were one of
the first members of Congress to take paternity leave. First
of all, thank you for your service, And secondly, why
is that so rare among your colleagues.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, well, I didn't know that I was going to
be the first one I did it. I thought that
it was just a normal thing to do. You know.
I grew up and not knowing my father, and so
for me, I knew that when we had kids that
I was going to do it right. And that starts
at the beginning. And there's so much we've learned a lot.
(16:06):
There are so many benefits for when men take leave
in those early days. It's better for the men themselves,
for their spouses, for their kids. And you know, this
is not available to every American, and I want to
make sure that it is. And that's one of the
things I've been working on. You and I both know
(16:27):
that those early days are tough. Oh yeah, And when
you're welcoming, you know your bundle of joy is also
coming with a whole lot of other things that are
changing your life. And you know, I don't think it's
right that we're the only major developed country in the
world that doesn't have a national paid lead policy.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
But do not agree more Texas was one of the
first states to criminalize abortion. What would be your plans
to protect and restore women's reproductive rights?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
As you mentioned, my wife and I we've had two
boys in Dallas and life five years and I went
to every ultra sound appointment, every genetic testing, and you
know those rooms when you're having those conversations with your doctor,
they're too small to have somebody like Ted Cruz in
there with you. You know what's happening in Texas is
(17:19):
really it's a tragedy. We've had twenty six thousand women
who had to get birth to their rapist child since
these laws went into place. We've had stories like ky Cox,
So it was a mother of two who had a
much wanted third pregnancy. She'd go to the emergency room
four times. Her doctor said she needed a medically necessary abortion,
and she asked her state, can I have it close
to home because I have a one and a three
(17:39):
year old at home. They said no, And they didn't
just say no, it's if you do this, we're going
to prosecute you, your doctor, your hospital. We have counties
saying you can't drive to the county if you're to
use the roads to access an abortion. I mean, that
doesn't sound like freedom to me. And I know one
thing about us is Texans, so we believe in freedom,
and so for me, the only way that we can
(18:03):
restore this right to Texas women and families is at
the federal level by codifying Roe v. Wade. And I'm at.
Speaker 7 (18:10):
Yeah, Voter turnout is going to be critical for you
to flip the seat. It's been estimated that nine point
five million registered voters didn't vote in the last election.
How will you encourage Texans to get out and vote
and does it rhyme with mush Morshin?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Well, as you mentioned, I was a civil rights lawyer,
but I was a voting rights lawyer, specifically before I
ran for Congress. You know, to me, there's nothing more
important than getting Texans and our fellow Americans engaged in
our democracy and in Texas, we make it way too
difficult to vote. But I want folks to know there's
a reason why they're trying to make it harder for
you to vote. Why are they trying to take your
(18:51):
voice away? Why are they trying so hard to make
it difficult for you to be engaged? Don't let them
do it right? And to our young people. You know,
it's like one of the things where wouldn't let you
grandparents pick your playlist for the next six years. I
don't want to pick your center, right, you know?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
So you know, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I think it's also true that we have to talk
about what's at steak. You know. To me, in Texas,
what's at steak is our fundamental freedoms. If taken away
a woman's right to choose, the ability to make your
own decisions about your body. They're banning books, They're kicking
kids out of school because of their hairstyle. I mean
to me, this is fundamentally about who we are as
Texans and as Americans, and we have to restore freedom
(19:33):
in Texas and across this country. And I think folks
are going to come out and stand up for that.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
You serve on the Foreign Affairs Committee. We just recently
found out that seven aid workers were killed in Gaza
due to Israel air strikes. Does that give you any
hesitation to providing Israel with bombs?
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Listen, this is a horrible tragedy. And these folks were
there to feed folks who are suffering from famine, extreme conditions.
They've done it around the world, and to me, it's
an incredibly noble venture that they're engaged in to try
and make sure that we can combat these conditions. And
you know, as I see it, October seventh was a
(20:20):
tragedy and the response in many ways has been incredibly
difficult to deal with. Our role, I think has to
be to try and ensure that we as we're negotiating
for an extended cease fire, that we have these hostages
come home, and that we find a way forward in
which there's two states existing peacefully next to each other.
And that has to be all in gold. And we've
(20:42):
had you know, this has been our policy for some time,
but in some ways I think it had drifted away
in a strange way. I think this is a highlight
of the need that we come back to this, that
we make sure that we have a peaceful and independent
Palacitian state next to a stable, democratic and Jewish Israeli
state and these folks and COXIT, because we honestly cannot
continue down this road.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
I so appreciate the work that you do, and I
so appreciate you being on the show tonight. I wish
you the best of luck. Representative Colin Alred.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Watch The Daily Show week nights at eleven.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime
on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
This has been a Comedy Central podcast now
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.