Today on The Breakfast Club, Gov. Wes Moore Talks Running For Reelection, National Guard, Big Beautiful Bill, Sean Duffy. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every day a week. Click yours up the Breakfast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Club, finish for y'all done morning.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Everybody is stej Envy, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We
are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in
the building. Indeed, this morning we got your governor Jess.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You all righty now govern up Maryland.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Governor west More, welcome, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Going to be back back of my favorite constituent.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
What stuff are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You might be related the same last name.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm saying, yeah, that's cousin.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
If it's not what you say it is.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I always always say, yeah, makes sense, that's your cousin.
And everybody loves Governor west Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You't go ahead.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You ain't ever asking no pardon, though I didn't.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
That was the conversation at to this interview. Expand some
stuff from me.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
First and foremost, I'm feeling great, man. Everything's great. Everything honestly,
everything's good. It's like, you know, I say this, Thank
God where Maryland? You know, because I see everything that's
going on around the country, and I see the fear,
the frustration, and I see like Maryland's just moving different.
Maryland's taking care of each other. There's no state that's
taking it on the chin from this Trump administration like
(01:10):
Maryland has.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I mean, like people forget.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Before this ridiculous federal government shut down, Donald Trump had
already fired over fifteen thousand Marylanders who are federal workers,
pulled grants, I mean, you know, restricted any type of
aid to our folks over in western Maryland despite having
historic floods. Literally, when we put in for federal disaster relief,
which we qualified for, they literally sent a message back
(01:34):
saying support from Maryland is not warranted.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Wow, that's it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So But despite all that, we have some of the
fastest job growth rates inside the entire country, one of
the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country. We're making
sure we're taking care of our ferial workers. We're making
sure we're uplifting our community. So listen, thank god we're
in Maryland.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
I use Maryland as an example all the time because
I remember I was at my daughter's Chilean tournament back
in like February, and the amount of people who were
walking up to me who were concerned that they were
either going to lose their jobs and they already had
lost their jobs because the dose was insane, So I
can imagine what you get.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And Sean is crazy because like, who are we talking about.
We're talking about people who do things like make sure
that our food is safe, right, make sure that our
critical infrastructure is make sure that veterans like myself who
come back home and who need medication, that they're getting
their medication. That's who they're choosing to go after first.
And so looking at this assault that we have had
(02:29):
on our federal workers and again and now we're talking
about the only way that you're going to reopen a
government is by cutting people off health care, raising premiums
by ninety five percent. Health Care is already too expensive,
and now you're talking about raising premiums by ninety five
percent for folks like, this is crazy, what's going on?
And so Maryland, you know, in many ways, Maryland really
(02:50):
does take it and have to take it. Like these
are not indirect blows. These are direct shots at me,
in direct shots at us. We get it. But the
thing that we're really focusing on is how how can
we make sure we're protecting our people and really diversifying
our economy so we're not we don't have to be
as reliant on Washington, DC, or who sits in an oval.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Office break it down, like how will you getting through it?
Because this governance in May is that are having a
hard time, but Maryland is making it through. So how
is Maryland making it through? How are you know, people
finding jobs? How are people paying rent and car notes
and putting food on their table? How are you guys
doing it well?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
One is I think our folks realizes that we're not
been in the need of nobody. Anybody who's sitting there
saying well, if you just be quiet, they'll stop, or
if you don't, if you don't push back, they'll I'm like, listen,
I don't. I don't know a situation where it's like listen,
if you just be quiet, they'll stop beating you. Like
that's never happens. Never. And so the thing that we're doing,
(03:48):
we're just being We're being aggressive about what it means
to protect our people. So, for example, with our federal workers,
we've made sure that there are pipelines for our federal
workers to be able to get available in essential state
jobs or private sector jobs. We start is something called
fedes to eds, where we knew that Maryland as well
as many other states has a teacher shortage right now.
So I'm saying, if I got someone who's working for
(04:08):
the federal government who was interested and qualified, get them certified,
get them trained, get them in a classroom as quickly
as possible, so we can both address the teacher shortage
as well as making sure that they're getting employment. That alone,
we've now seen since I been the governor, we have
clothes that teacher shortage we have by twenty five percent,
and a lot of that is because of these federal
(04:28):
workers who are now coming on board. We have federal
workers who they are forcing to go to work, which
is this is crazy. They are federal workers that are
forcing to go to work and not paying them. So
we got folks in Maryland who are working and not
getting paid. We got politicians in Washington who are paid
and not working right, and so.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
We still got to pay taxes, and we still got
to pay taxes on them while they're not doing anything right.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And so for federal workers who are now forced to
go to work and they're taking public transportation there paying
for public translation despite not getting paycheck. So what did
I do? I said, for all public translation for federal workers,
it's free.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's free. Just show your federal government pass and you're good.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So it's like, so we are making sure we're being aggressive.
We were said, we're as long as we can, We're
going to cover down on Medicaid snap Wick, despite the
fact that the federal government is now cutting it off
from our states. I'm saying that in the state of Maryland,
we're going to make sure that our people are protected
and our people are taken care of. So I tell
our folks man, while Washington is telling this country, you're
(05:32):
on your own, in Maryland, we tell our people we
leave no one behind.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I wanted to ask you about the No King's protests
that were happening this weekend, and in your view, what
does the level of turnout say about public sentiment toward
executive power in America today.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, I tell you one of the things I was
really taken by. It's not even just the numbers. It's
the where some of the biggest No Kings turnouts that
we had in our state. We're in rural parts of
our state, conservative parts of our state. And I think
about it this way, man, where it's like, you know,
for example, when we just announced our reelection two weeks ago.
(06:11):
Some of the first people that came out and endorsed
us were actually Republican lawmakers. Republican lawmakers in Western Maryland
because they were like at a time, and these are
places that voted for Donald Trump by seventy five, seventy seven,
seventy eight percent, but they were like, but listen, in
our time of need, the governor showed up. We were
(06:34):
some of the first boots on ground when they had
historic flooding out in western Maryland. The President nowhere to
be found that we actually invested millions of dollars to
make sure that they can get furnaces, because I'm telling
you right now, we're talking about some of the coldest
parts of our state and people who do not have furnaces,
people will lose their lives this winter. We put in
millions of dollars from the state to make sure they're good.
(06:55):
The president support from Maryland is not warranted because you
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I known y'all.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
But it's like, but but the point is, it's like,
so when you're going out there and you're seeing no
kings protests, when you're seeing them, like, listen, this is
is this about? You know? Is this about rule of law.
And it's about rule of law. Is it about you
came in and you'd say you make things more affordable?
And we said, how energy prices have risen by twenty
percent since he's been the president. That these terrorists are
(07:26):
making everything from the clothes that we're wearing to the
food that were that food that were eating more expensive. Yeah,
but you know what, it's also about you keep breaking
your promises. Man, everything you said that you were going
to do. They are now waking up and realizing he
never cared about you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right, He promised economic change on day one.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
For him, and it happened. He's great economic change he
has been. I tell you, the two greatest beneficiaries of
the Trump administration so far have been the Trump family
and China. Ooh, the Trump family in China have had
a great streak for the past ten months.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Why China, because it seems like they've been they've had.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Like issues because when American leadership pulls back, who's helping
to fill up the vacuum?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Got you that?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Oftentimes when you're talking about our foreign policy, this really
is a larger battle between the US and China. China
being one of the fastest growing economies over a period
of the past twenty years. China being a country that
is always pushed and reflected and said, like, we want
to make sure that we're having our proper respect. And
the United States, who in many ways is kind of
(08:32):
like this upstart. You know, they're like the startup in
the globe. Now we're about to celebrating two hundred and
fifty years. China's like two hundred and fifty years, Like
that's a blink of an eye when it comes to
Chinese history. But also look at what has now happened
as the US has pulled away from things like foreign
aid and support and everywhere from Africa to South America.
(08:52):
Who's helped to fill in that China right, who has
helped to come in when we're having conversations about about
about new resources and energy supports right and come up
with long term energy supplies. When you have the Trump
administration who's pulling away from increasing energy supplies, which by
the way, is making energy prices more expensive on everybody.
I believe that we should be investing in solar and
(09:15):
wind and nuclear and all the energy technologies that can
help to make energy prices more affordable because when you
increase supply, you then can be able to decrease costs.
And Donald Trump is simply saying like, nah, We're not
doing any of that stuff you know that's going to
do it continues to drive energy prices up. Do you
know who is investing in those new technologies? China? So listen,
(09:37):
the Trump family and China have done very, very well
over the past ten months. The average American family not
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And we had a bunch of candidates up here, Mayoro,
candidates from New York and governors from Jersey, and everybody
talks about their relationship or wanting to work with Trump.
Is that even an option with you?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Listen, I'm very clear, man, I will work with anyone.
I will just down to no one. I'm not built
that way. Like I'm always going to fight for my
fi Like the people of my state, they understand like
like I'm not. I don't come from a political world.
I don't come from a political family. I don't come
from a political background. I'm a soldier. That's who I am.
(10:17):
That's how I'm built. And so if someone is trying
to do something that's going to benefit the people of
my state, if someone's trying to do something that's going
to benefit my community and my people, then I'm always
interested in being able to find ways of working together
and so on and so forth. The problem is, I
have seen nothing from this administration that shows as an
interest in that. I have seen nothing but shots at us.
(10:39):
I've seen nothing but talk about how you're going to
send national guards into my communities. I've seen nothing but
them turning down federal aid and federal supports that is
justified and necessary for the people of my state. I've
seen nothing but them using them except using the constitution
like it's a suggestion box. So, you know, if you
want to have a real conversation about being able to
(11:01):
help the people of Maryland and lift us up and
continue the trajectory that we've been on since my administration
has come on board, I'm always down to that conversation.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
As a form of soldier talk about the negative things
about having sold just put into the community.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
There are so many problems with this, and it's so
deeply performative. And here's the thing that gets me on
a couple fronts. If he wants to have a real
conversation about making our community safer, I'm here for that.
I've been very clear there is no higher priority for
me than making sure that our communities are safe. I
think about what's happened in Maryland, and Maryland for the
(11:37):
eight years before I became the governor, we saw the
homicide rate nearly double. The non fatal shooting rate did double.
Baltimore City the year before I became the governor, in
twenty twenty two, we had almost a homicide a day.
And so when we came on board, I said, I
Am not going to be a governor that's going to
sit there and give eulogies and give thoughts and prayers
(11:57):
and not do a damn thing about actually making community safer.
So what do we do? I started working with Mayor Scott.
I started working with local Sorry may Scott, Mayor Baltimore.
I started working with local law enforcement. I started working
with count executives around the state. I started actually, we
made historic investments in predictive analytics and technologies and community
violence intervention groups, community violence interruption groups, and the results
(12:19):
have been this. In the past two and a half years,
we have seen how Maryland has had amongst the fastest
drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of
America amongst the fastest drops in property crime anywhere in
the United States of America. The homicide rates in the
state of Maryland since ide and the governor are down
nearly twenty five percent that we have seen in Baltimore City.
The last time of homicide rate was this slow in
Baltimore City. I wasn't born yet. That's the kind of
(12:42):
drops we've seen. And now, despite the head the presidents
talk about how we have children who are natural born killers,
and he's now going to send the National Guard in
our community. I'm like, first of all, you're nineteen eighties
archie bunker men talenty mindset is not going to fly
because it goes against all data that's actually happening and
(13:04):
the momentum we're actually seeing. But the other thing about
it is this man is that like, I know what
it's like for these soldiers. I know what it's like
to put on the uniform. I know what it's like
to say good boy to your family. I deployed, I
let soldiers overseas in Afghanistan. And so for him to
continue to have this fetish of military uniforms like it's
(13:24):
a child where he's going to ask these men and
women to do something that he was never willing to do.
Say goodbode to your family, and to go to deploy
and to do operations and missions that a they You know,
municipal policing is not something our National Guards are trained for.
I'm the commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard.
I know my gods are trained for and that's not
(13:45):
one of them. And I also know that if you
look at what's happening in Washington, d C. And the
deployments that they're having, you know, I can tell you
that these National Guards men and women, these citizens soldiers
who are giving up their lives because they trust them
commander in chief, have taken more selfies than they've made arrests.
They painted more fences and picked up more trash than
(14:07):
they've actually done drug busts. So what are we talking
about right now? This is what the president is doing
and Headseth and all these guys. It is just it's performative.
It's offensive. It's offensive to our communities, it's offensive to
these military personnel. It's offensive to their families because you're
now asking to leave their families and to.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Do what And nobody ever asked him what's the long
term solution, like, what's the long term solution never for
crime prevention? Okay, you're doing this, now, what's the long
term plan?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
If he wants to have a serious conversation, I would
love for the President United States, and I'm not holding
my breath on this, to have a serious conversation about policy,
because listen, I tell him, you know what I would
love to do. I know for myself and the mayor
and our Acount executives, We'd love to talk to you
about banning block switches and the ability to turn these
blocks into automatic weapons. We'd love to have a conversation
about banning ghost guns. We'd love to have a conversation
(14:58):
with you about additional ATI n FBI resources and supports.
I love to have a conversation with you about lpr's
license plate readers so that can help to actually track
down crime. I'd love to have a conversation with you
about stop stop cutting the funding that was coming to
our communities for community violence intervention groups that were actually
on the ground doing the work. But he's not interested
(15:20):
in that. But what he is interested in doing is
he'll cut funding for stuff that's actually working. But then
ask the American taxpayer to pay over a million dollars
a day so they can watch National Guard take selfies.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
Are you concerned, like when you saw the meeting that
you know, a Secretary of War Pete Hexf and President
Trump had with the US military generals and admirals.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Are you concerned that some of.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Those generals and admirals may go along with him and
pledge loyalty to him and not the Constitution.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, you know, it's the I remember I'm on a
bunch of different like group chats things with a lot
of military folks who I served with, and people were
still in and I remember getting one from a buddy
of mine and he said, listen, I've oftentimes disagreed with
the commander in chief, not often. Am I embarrassed by him?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Because I'm embarrassed. Wow, because there's just a lack of
seriousness that he and accept there are taking on this.
There is, you know. And one thing I, you know,
always say is that listen, as soldiers, we know our job,
we know our oath. We took an oath to the
Constitution and always protect and defend people against all enemies
(16:35):
of this country, foreign and domestic. And we took an
oath that we would always honor all lawful orders of
the President of the United States. The thing that is
is uh is really challenging for a lot of people
right now. Is this blurring of a line that we
are seeing from this White House about what orders are
lawful and what orders are not.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
And we've seen it in other countries, like we've seen
it in Germany. We' seen happen to jenerremies having a
you know, Russia under style, and like what if just
say thirty forty percent of those military people say, you
know what.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We gonna ride with the president.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, no, let's say what I think this is and
this this is where this is where we know that
we are in a really complicated and dangerous place. You know,
I take my role as Commander in chief of the
Maryland National Guard very seriously. I take my commitment to
these men and women. I take my commitment to their families.
(17:29):
I take it very serious. It's the reason that you
know we have we have done everything from you know,
having the largest tax cut to military veterans and younger
military veterans in Maryland history, that we have double the
amount of leave that they have so they can stop
using their PTO on things like military training if they're
a state worker. It's the reason that we have made
Maryland the first day in the country that now has
(17:50):
a pathway to free dental care and health care for
members of our National Guard, because I don't know how
someone can wear the uniform of this country and have
to worry about their dental care. So there's a whole
lot our military communities know that I ride for them,
but knowing that we are getting this type of this
type of you know, almost like comedic effort at leadership
(18:12):
on our national side about the usage, about the serious
and frankly the very sobering usages of our military personnel
is deeply disturbing.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I would call it an authoritarian effort. Yeah, as opposed
to a comedic effort. I was gonna ask you, like
when you when you think about the no Kings protests,
what do you think about the framing and like, is
there a responsibility for an elected leader to address like
the perceptions of authoritarianism, whether it's.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You know, real or proceeds.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean I think there is, and I think
people and I think people are seeing it. I think
people are seeing it in their own real lives, and
I think people and here's the point too, is that
if people thought that this was benefiting their life, this
would be one thing, right if people are like, listen,
we had to clean things up and we had to
make sure that government worked, and we had to And
(19:01):
but you know what, I'm watching my prices go down.
I'm watching my education system being better. I'm watching transportation
assets being built. I'm watching all this stuff. That'd be
one thing, but no one is arguing that. Everybody's just saying,
wait a second. So we're seeing all this authoritarian takeover,
but what I'm also saying is my energy prices keep
(19:22):
going up. We're seeing this takeover. But what I'm also
saying is we're now seeing books that are being banned
and things that I can't teach and things that I
can't lead. We're seeing this takeover and you know what,
all my neighbors are losing their jobs. Yeah, And so
they're like, so, what exactly is this and what exactly
is the point? And it goes back to the thing
(19:43):
that you know, I really believe about Donald Trump. And frankly,
one of the challenges we had with the Democratic Party is,
you know, Donald Trump was a great vessel for the frustration. Absolutely,
he could tell you what is wrong. He could tell
you who is to blame. He could tell you, you
know what, they screwed this thing up. And oftentimes we were,
you know, we the Democrats, we're kind of sitting there like, well,
(20:07):
you know, well it's not true and things aren't that bad.
It's like us, like, you have to understand what people
are actually feeling right now.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Right, put your boots on the ground.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Put your boots on the ground. If you spend your
time in communities, you will understand the frustration that people
are feeling. So that Trump being the vessel for the
frustration made sense. It allowed that him to rise inside
this place. But I think people are very quickly realizing
that he was a vessel for the frustration. But he's
not a vehicle for the solution at all.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
To piggyback on what Schaula Mane says, so, how do
you look at the judicial system now?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
You see Trump people get arrested and Trump's like, that's
my guy. I'm a part of him, and everything he
has is wiped off. You know, Oh, that's my guy.
You ain't got to pay no money back. It's wiped off.
It makes me look at it two ways. One nothing serious,
and two it makes me feel like sometimes when the
Democrats have a guy that went down for something that's
maybe not just that we just leave our people hanging.
(21:04):
Oh I should say they just leave their people hanging.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah Maryland mold.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, So how does that make you feel when you
look at the judicial system and you look at you know,
somebody that you helped tried to get in office, well,
whether it was Biden on a second term, and then
you see how they take care of their people.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
You know, I remember when I first when I first
came in the I ended up winning with more individual
votes than anyone whould ever run for governor in the
history of the state of Maryland, despite literally starting at
one percent, Like I don't come from any political background
at all. Only one thing beat me on the ballot
that year, and that was cannabis. So I was like, yo,
(21:42):
who is cannabis? And but the same time that I
just definitely voted yeah absolutely, But the same time that
I was I was elected governor of Maryland, Maryland voted
to have a recreational cannabis market. So I said, okay,
so we're going to make sure that it's rolled out
in a safe, in a smooth, and an equitable way.
(22:05):
And at the same time, there is no way that
I'm going to celebrate the benefits of legalization if we
do not address the consequences of criminalization. So we got
to work and I ended up signing the largest mass
pardon in the history of the United States of America
when I pardon over one hundred and seventy five thousand
(22:25):
misdemeanor cannabis convictions in the stroke of a pen and
saying like, you know, you cannot we cannot treat every
sentence like a life sentence. Where we got a new
billion dollar market in the state of Maryland, but I
got people who can't get a barber's license, right. That
was how we can utilize the power of the pardon
in a way that actually supports the people, in a
(22:47):
way that actually helps to right some of these wrongs
that have been taking place before. There's a very humble
responsibility that I know I take where I'm one of
fifty one people on the planet that have the ability
to part right. All of our state's governors and the
president of the United States, those are the only ones
that have the ability to look at somebody and say,
(23:09):
we are going to forgive you of the past issue
you might have been involved with. We're going to make
sure we can clean up your record, to make sure
we can give you a second chance at life. It's
a very unique power. And I think about Donald Trump
man and the first thing that he did when he
got back into office his time was part of the
people on January sixth. There is just so everything that
(23:34):
I'm seeing right now.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
None of it.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Surprises me, because the man told you who he was
and who he was going to fight for. And so
I think that, you know, I'm thankful that we have
a legal system in some cases that is helping to
hold the line. I'm thankful that we have judges that
are actually honoring the law and not bending the knee.
(23:59):
Yet it's the same time, you know, this, this this
weaponization of our legal system that we continue to see,
and frankly, this you know, this very loose way that
he is using a very specific and powerful ability to pardon,
I think is more just a continuation of the case.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Well, I got through more questions because I know you
got Okay, how are you handling the pressure you're facing?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
To redistrict Maryland.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Well, I'm very clear. Listen, Maryland, if we have this
country and we have Donald Trump who was picking and
choosing which states should redistrict, and people and people, remember
why we're even having this conversation, right, The reason the
reason why we're having this conversation is because what issue
is Donald Trump going to run on in a midterm elections?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I made all your prices higher.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I fired a bunch of people and driven up the
unemployment rate. We've made our communities less safe. But hey,
vote for me. You're not gonna win on that. So
what do you do? You change the rules, You rig
the game. Frankly, it's a simple continuation of what this
man has done his entire life. Right. And so my
(25:09):
point is this, if Donald Trump is calling individual states
and individual Republican states and saying, I need you to
find me a congress person here, I need you to
do this. I need you to find me a fair map,
then my point is this, if all these states are
going to have conversations about do they have a fair map,
so will Maryland.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
You have to you gotta fight fire with.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Fight, and former Vice Fred Kamala Harris said it last week.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You gotta fight fire with fight.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
If these states are going to talk about do they
have a fair map, then you know what Maryland needs
to decide. Do we have a fair map too? Do
we have a fair map? And I can tell you
right now if you look at the our congressional districts
and people talk about I don't like jeremanny, I hate jeremanner.
I think it's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous right now
that less than ten percent of all congressional seats are
actually competitive. The average congress person ends up winning by
(25:51):
like twenty thirty forty points. So all you got to
do is make it past the primary and you're good. Right,
So this entire system is jerrymandered right now. And so
if we are going to talk about what does it
mean to have fair maps and what does it mean
to have systems where people can actually be heard and represented?
And you have people choosing the representatives and not represented
(26:12):
choosing their people, then you know what add Maryland to
that list? Who should have that conversation too?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
Absolutely, and the Baltimore Banner reported that you have a
fifty four percent approval rate, but voters can't identify any
of your accomplishments, Governor, how do you plan.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
To rectify that by the time the elections roll around.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Well, you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I think they say they like you, but they don't
know what you did that's actual lives.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But you know what though, But here's here's the thing
that I think the people of our state now is
that when we first came on board, we had we
were forty third in the country in unemployment. Right now
we are now going on having amongst the lowest unemployment
rates in the entire country, one of the fastest job
growth rates in the entire country over the past year
and a half, despite watching the assaults that we've seen
(27:03):
from the federal government that we have seen in our state,
that we went from having amongst the highest violent crime
rates inside the entire country to now having amongst the
fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States
of America. That we have been able to create make
Maryland the first day in the country that has a
service year option for all of our high school graduates.
That we've been able to make Maryland a state that
has the first state based placed place led initiative to
(27:26):
address the issue of childhood poverty, that we have been
able to actually do procriment reform and now creating over
eight hundred million dollars for black owned businesses inside of
the state of Maryland. That we have made investments over
one point four billion dollars to Maryland's HBCUs at a
time when the federal government is pulling back from our HBCUs,
That we have actually raised a minimum wage and made
it easier for working people to be able to survive
(27:48):
and exist within our society. That we have actually we
have actually had tax cuts for the middle class in Maryland,
tax cuts for military veterans in the state of Maryland.
And yes, I asked wealthy Mairee own there's millionaires to
pay a little bit more to help to make sure
that we can have the best public schools inside the
entire inside of the entire country. So I think that
people see that we're doing the work. I think people
(28:11):
see and are happy about the fact that Maryland is
really leading the charge. People see that, you know, they
gotta they got a governor who's ah, who's standing on
the wall and who's going to fight for him and
I and I and I appreciate the fact that we're still,
you know, amongst one of the most popular democratic governments
in the country.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
But it is something to say for, you know, people
to like you just because you bring them joy.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yes, did not know anything that you've done, but I
like them unapologetic joy. And we're out in the communities,
like I'm telling you, and Jess knows like I've got
this reputation being governor outside because they're like, he's everywhere.
We're out in the community. We are out with the
people and listen. And I think that's what people have
come to not just appreciate about us, but expect from us.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Is that.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You know, when I when I first came out, and
when people said again, when people are like, well, you know,
you were not the Democratic Democratic Party's real choice when
you first decided you want to run, the answer was
I wasn't. I was the only person never run for
office for my life. I was runn against state wide
elected officials. I ran against the former head of the
Democratic Party, and we ended up winning. Because I wasn't
(29:11):
the choice of the party. I was the choice of
the people. And that's always how I'm gonna ride for
the people.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Now, I want to ask you the Franciscott key Bridge, right,
because I saw that you got some criticism from the
US Transportation Secretary about what he's saying, the way you're
handling it.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
P Duffy like what you're doing, what you're doing like.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
That? I like that.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
That's his name. Yes, yeah. And here's the thing I mean,
I remember my grandfather used to tell me, don't let
someone take something away from you that they never gave
you in the first place. Ye you know, a little
over a year ago, we had one of the most
traumatic moments in our state's history where you know, a
ship the size of three football fields slammed into you know,
(30:17):
our FRANCISCTT key Bridge and we lost six workers people
who fell who were fixing potholes, who fell one hundred
and eighty feet into dark, cold waters and lost their lives.
And how that first morning when they were like when
I was asking the workers because we're you know, on
the ground immediately, and I said, how long do you
(30:39):
think it's going to take for us to clean up
this channel? Because the Port of Baltimore responsible for about
thirteen percent of my state's economy. And they says, you know,
Governor's probably going to take about eleven months, and I
said that's the wrong answer, and we worked hard, we
worked together, and we got it cleared in eleven weeks.
When they told me the permitting for a bridge of
that size, they meant we were talking like a two
mile long bridge. Permitting alone could take two and a
(31:03):
half years. We got it done in months. We are
making historic progress on something like this. And if you
look at a bridge like the Gordy Howbridge, for example,
you know they started that in two thousand and seven
about the same size bridge. It's still not done and
we're talking twenty close twenty years. And I have said
we will rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge on our
(31:24):
time and I'm not going to get distracted by foolishness.
And so our people are moving at historic speed to
be able to get this bridge back up, to be
able to restore confidence in government and restore confidence in
what we can do and actually get done. So I
appreciate the commentary that we got from you know, Sean P.
(31:46):
Duffy and the President on this, but the thing I
will say is this is that we're going to do
our job and we're going to make sure we're going
to make the people of Maryland to make the people
of this country proud. And I'm really thankful that Congress,
bipartisan Republicans and Democrats in Congress were the ones who
were proved who approved the one hundred percent cost share,
because uh, you know, we're currently in litigation. The American
(32:07):
people are going to be made whole on this, and
I'm thankful to Congress because they're the ones that appropriated
the money.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
This is my last question.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
You know, I want you to talk about this because
you know, I saw you get a little flack because
you vetoed a measure to create a commission to study
potential slavery reparations in the state of Maryland. But to me,
you had a valorie if people actually heard your home statement.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Exactly, I mean, listen what I what I said was,
I'm a person of action. I don't need more studies.
I mean, like what we have we have, we have,
we have done. We've done four studies over the past
twenty years on similar type of elements. Four studies over
the past twenty years, by the way, one of which
my wife worked on. And so when we're now talking
(32:53):
about doing a two year study on something that I
already know the answer to I'm like, what are we studying?
And this was my point. I think about the work,
and again I'm not saying that that this issue was
not worth working on. In fact, frankly, I've been working
very closely with the members of our caucus and members
of the community around a whole series of these issues.
(33:14):
It's the reason that we just authorize four hundred million
dollars for a Just Community Initiative, which made sure that
we're putting four hundred million dollars of additional capital into
communities that have been that have been the subject and
have been truly hurt by racist and discriminatory policies, things
like redlining, things like mass incarceration, things like you know,
(33:35):
things like mass highway constructions which were cutting off neighborhoods.
That we said, we are going to identify all those
communities and neighborhoods, and we're starting off with is four
hundred million dollars that's going specifically to those neighborhoods to
address the racist policies of the past. It's the reason
that we've done things like historic investments and our HBCUs
because they've been historically neglected and pulled back on. Maryland
(33:55):
has four remarkable HBCUs we're putting a storic investment back
into them. It's the reason we've done things like the
mass pardons and giving people a second chance of life,
because who do people think that is going to benefit most.
It's the reason that we've done things like procurement reform
and created black millionaires inside of the state of Maryland.
I am unapologetic about the support for our black community,
(34:17):
for the support for black people who oftentimes have been
the fabric and the backbone for so much of our society.
And I know right now when we are watching this assault,
this assault on our communities, when we're watching you know,
the Trump administration now is fire and to find more
black women than we have seen in a generation that
(34:39):
we have now seen seen our insurance being pulled away,
grants going to entrepreneurs, that everything that is connected to diversity, equity,
inclusion that they are making illegal. We don't need it
to your study right now, man, I need action. I
need action. And so that was the point that we're
trying to make is that in this time, in this
(34:59):
crisis moments, I don't need a study.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Let's get to it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Absolutely, that's right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Absolutely, let's get on with it.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
We appreciate you for joining us, running for re election
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
My cousin ye.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Govern to west More, Thank you for joining.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Us, brother, appreciate y'all. Thanks the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Hold up every day I wake click your ass up
the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You don't finish for y'all. Done,
Every day a week. Click yours up the Breakfast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Club, finish for y'all done morning.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Everybody is stej Envy, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We
are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in
the building. Indeed, this morning we got your governor Jess.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
You all righty now govern up Maryland.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Governor west More, welcome, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Going to be back back of my favorite constituent.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
What stuff are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
You might be related the same last name.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm saying, yeah, that's cousin.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
If it's not what you say it is.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
I always always say, yeah, makes sense, that's your cousin.
And everybody loves Governor west Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You't go ahead.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You ain't ever asking no pardon, though I didn't.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
That was the conversation at to this interview. Expand some
stuff from me.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
First and foremost, I'm feeling great, man. Everything's great. Everything honestly,
everything's good. It's like, you know, I say this, Thank
God where Maryland? You know, because I see everything that's
going on around the country, and I see the fear,
the frustration, and I see like Maryland's just moving different.
Maryland's taking care of each other. There's no state that's
taking it on the chin from this Trump administration like
(01:10):
Maryland has.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I mean, like people forget.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Before this ridiculous federal government shut down, Donald Trump had
already fired over fifteen thousand Marylanders who are federal workers,
pulled grants, I mean, you know, restricted any type of
aid to our folks over in western Maryland despite having
historic floods. Literally, when we put in for federal disaster relief,
which we qualified for, they literally sent a message back
(01:34):
saying support from Maryland is not warranted.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Wow, that's it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So But despite all that, we have some of the
fastest job growth rates inside the entire country, one of
the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country. We're making
sure we're taking care of our ferial workers. We're making
sure we're uplifting our community. So listen, thank god we're
in Maryland.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
I use Maryland as an example all the time because
I remember I was at my daughter's Chilean tournament back
in like February, and the amount of people who were
walking up to me who were concerned that they were
either going to lose their jobs and they already had
lost their jobs because the dose was insane, So I
can imagine what you get.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And Sean is crazy because like, who are we talking about.
We're talking about people who do things like make sure
that our food is safe, right, make sure that our
critical infrastructure is make sure that veterans like myself who
come back home and who need medication, that they're getting
their medication. That's who they're choosing to go after first.
And so looking at this assault that we have had
(02:29):
on our federal workers and again and now we're talking
about the only way that you're going to reopen a
government is by cutting people off health care, raising premiums
by ninety five percent. Health Care is already too expensive,
and now you're talking about raising premiums by ninety five
percent for folks like, this is crazy, what's going on?
And so Maryland, you know, in many ways, Maryland really
(02:50):
does take it and have to take it. Like these
are not indirect blows. These are direct shots at me,
in direct shots at us. We get it. But the
thing that we're really focusing on is how how can
we make sure we're protecting our people and really diversifying
our economy so we're not we don't have to be
as reliant on Washington, DC, or who sits in an oval.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Office break it down, like how will you getting through it?
Because this governance in May is that are having a
hard time, but Maryland is making it through. So how
is Maryland making it through? How are you know, people
finding jobs? How are people paying rent and car notes
and putting food on their table? How are you guys
doing it well?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
One is I think our folks realizes that we're not
been in the need of nobody. Anybody who's sitting there
saying well, if you just be quiet, they'll stop, or
if you don't, if you don't push back, they'll I'm like, listen,
I don't. I don't know a situation where it's like listen,
if you just be quiet, they'll stop beating you. Like
that's never happens. Never. And so the thing that we're doing,
(03:48):
we're just being We're being aggressive about what it means
to protect our people. So, for example, with our federal workers,
we've made sure that there are pipelines for our federal
workers to be able to get available in essential state
jobs or private sector jobs. We start is something called
fedes to eds, where we knew that Maryland as well
as many other states has a teacher shortage right now.
So I'm saying, if I got someone who's working for
(04:08):
the federal government who was interested and qualified, get them certified,
get them trained, get them in a classroom as quickly
as possible, so we can both address the teacher shortage
as well as making sure that they're getting employment. That alone,
we've now seen since I been the governor, we have
clothes that teacher shortage we have by twenty five percent,
and a lot of that is because of these federal
(04:28):
workers who are now coming on board. We have federal
workers who they are forcing to go to work, which
is this is crazy. They are federal workers that are
forcing to go to work and not paying them. So
we got folks in Maryland who are working and not
getting paid. We got politicians in Washington who are paid
and not working right, and so.
Speaker 5 (04:49):
We still got to pay taxes, and we still got
to pay taxes on them while they're not doing anything right.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And so for federal workers who are now forced to
go to work and they're taking public transportation there paying
for public translation despite not getting paycheck. So what did
I do? I said, for all public translation for federal workers,
it's free.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's free. Just show your federal government pass and you're good.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So it's like, so we are making sure we're being aggressive.
We were said, we're as long as we can, We're
going to cover down on Medicaid snap Wick, despite the
fact that the federal government is now cutting it off
from our states. I'm saying that in the state of Maryland,
we're going to make sure that our people are protected
and our people are taken care of. So I tell
our folks man, while Washington is telling this country, you're
(05:32):
on your own, in Maryland, we tell our people we
leave no one behind.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
I wanted to ask you about the No King's protests
that were happening this weekend, and in your view, what
does the level of turnout say about public sentiment toward
executive power in America today.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, I tell you one of the things I was
really taken by. It's not even just the numbers. It's
the where some of the biggest No Kings turnouts that
we had in our state. We're in rural parts of
our state, conservative parts of our state. And I think
about it this way, man, where it's like, you know,
for example, when we just announced our reelection two weeks ago.
(06:11):
Some of the first people that came out and endorsed
us were actually Republican lawmakers. Republican lawmakers in Western Maryland
because they were like at a time, and these are
places that voted for Donald Trump by seventy five, seventy seven,
seventy eight percent, but they were like, but listen, in
our time of need, the governor showed up. We were
(06:34):
some of the first boots on ground when they had
historic flooding out in western Maryland. The President nowhere to
be found that we actually invested millions of dollars to
make sure that they can get furnaces, because I'm telling
you right now, we're talking about some of the coldest
parts of our state and people who do not have furnaces,
people will lose their lives this winter. We put in
millions of dollars from the state to make sure they're good.
(06:55):
The president support from Maryland is not warranted because you
exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I known y'all.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
But it's like, but but the point is, it's like,
so when you're going out there and you're seeing no
kings protests, when you're seeing them, like, listen, this is
is this about? You know? Is this about rule of law.
And it's about rule of law. Is it about you
came in and you'd say you make things more affordable?
And we said, how energy prices have risen by twenty
percent since he's been the president. That these terrorists are
(07:26):
making everything from the clothes that we're wearing to the
food that were that food that were eating more expensive. Yeah,
but you know what, it's also about you keep breaking
your promises. Man, everything you said that you were going
to do. They are now waking up and realizing he
never cared about you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right, He promised economic change on day one.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
For him, and it happened. He's great economic change he
has been. I tell you, the two greatest beneficiaries of
the Trump administration so far have been the Trump family
and China. Ooh, the Trump family in China have had
a great streak for the past ten months.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Why China, because it seems like they've been they've had.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Like issues because when American leadership pulls back, who's helping
to fill up the vacuum?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Got you that?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Oftentimes when you're talking about our foreign policy, this really
is a larger battle between the US and China. China
being one of the fastest growing economies over a period
of the past twenty years. China being a country that
is always pushed and reflected and said, like, we want
to make sure that we're having our proper respect. And
the United States, who in many ways is kind of
(08:32):
like this upstart. You know, they're like the startup in
the globe. Now we're about to celebrating two hundred and
fifty years. China's like two hundred and fifty years, Like
that's a blink of an eye when it comes to
Chinese history. But also look at what has now happened
as the US has pulled away from things like foreign
aid and support and everywhere from Africa to South America.
(08:52):
Who's helped to fill in that China right, who has
helped to come in when we're having conversations about about
about new resources and energy supports right and come up
with long term energy supplies. When you have the Trump
administration who's pulling away from increasing energy supplies, which by
the way, is making energy prices more expensive on everybody.
I believe that we should be investing in solar and
(09:15):
wind and nuclear and all the energy technologies that can
help to make energy prices more affordable because when you
increase supply, you then can be able to decrease costs.
And Donald Trump is simply saying like, nah, We're not
doing any of that stuff you know that's going to
do it continues to drive energy prices up. Do you
know who is investing in those new technologies? China? So listen,
(09:37):
the Trump family and China have done very, very well
over the past ten months. The average American family not
so much.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And we had a bunch of candidates up here, Mayoro,
candidates from New York and governors from Jersey, and everybody
talks about their relationship or wanting to work with Trump.
Is that even an option with you?
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Listen, I'm very clear, man, I will work with anyone.
I will just down to no one. I'm not built
that way. Like I'm always going to fight for my
fi Like the people of my state, they understand like
like I'm not. I don't come from a political world.
I don't come from a political family. I don't come
from a political background. I'm a soldier. That's who I am.
(10:17):
That's how I'm built. And so if someone is trying
to do something that's going to benefit the people of
my state, if someone's trying to do something that's going
to benefit my community and my people, then I'm always
interested in being able to find ways of working together
and so on and so forth. The problem is, I
have seen nothing from this administration that shows as an
interest in that. I have seen nothing but shots at us.
(10:39):
I've seen nothing but talk about how you're going to
send national guards into my communities. I've seen nothing but
them turning down federal aid and federal supports that is
justified and necessary for the people of my state. I've
seen nothing but them using them except using the constitution
like it's a suggestion box. So, you know, if you
want to have a real conversation about being able to
(11:01):
help the people of Maryland and lift us up and
continue the trajectory that we've been on since my administration
has come on board, I'm always down to that conversation.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
As a form of soldier talk about the negative things
about having sold just put into the community.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
There are so many problems with this, and it's so
deeply performative. And here's the thing that gets me on
a couple fronts. If he wants to have a real
conversation about making our community safer, I'm here for that.
I've been very clear there is no higher priority for
me than making sure that our communities are safe. I
think about what's happened in Maryland, and Maryland for the
(11:37):
eight years before I became the governor, we saw the
homicide rate nearly double. The non fatal shooting rate did double.
Baltimore City the year before I became the governor, in
twenty twenty two, we had almost a homicide a day.
And so when we came on board, I said, I
Am not going to be a governor that's going to
sit there and give eulogies and give thoughts and prayers
(11:57):
and not do a damn thing about actually making community safer.
So what do we do? I started working with Mayor Scott.
I started working with local Sorry may Scott, Mayor Baltimore.
I started working with local law enforcement. I started working
with count executives around the state. I started actually, we
made historic investments in predictive analytics and technologies and community
violence intervention groups, community violence interruption groups, and the results
(12:19):
have been this. In the past two and a half years,
we have seen how Maryland has had amongst the fastest
drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of
America amongst the fastest drops in property crime anywhere in
the United States of America. The homicide rates in the
state of Maryland since ide and the governor are down
nearly twenty five percent that we have seen in Baltimore City.
The last time of homicide rate was this slow in
Baltimore City. I wasn't born yet. That's the kind of
(12:42):
drops we've seen. And now, despite the head the presidents
talk about how we have children who are natural born killers,
and he's now going to send the National Guard in
our community. I'm like, first of all, you're nineteen eighties
archie bunker men talenty mindset is not going to fly
because it goes against all data that's actually happening and
(13:04):
the momentum we're actually seeing. But the other thing about
it is this man is that like, I know what
it's like for these soldiers. I know what it's like
to put on the uniform. I know what it's like
to say good boy to your family. I deployed, I
let soldiers overseas in Afghanistan. And so for him to
continue to have this fetish of military uniforms like it's
(13:24):
a child where he's going to ask these men and
women to do something that he was never willing to do.
Say goodbode to your family, and to go to deploy
and to do operations and missions that a they You know,
municipal policing is not something our National Guards are trained for.
I'm the commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard.
I know my gods are trained for and that's not
(13:45):
one of them. And I also know that if you
look at what's happening in Washington, d C. And the
deployments that they're having, you know, I can tell you
that these National Guards men and women, these citizens soldiers
who are giving up their lives because they trust them
commander in chief, have taken more selfies than they've made arrests.
They painted more fences and picked up more trash than
(14:07):
they've actually done drug busts. So what are we talking
about right now? This is what the president is doing
and Headseth and all these guys. It is just it's performative.
It's offensive. It's offensive to our communities, it's offensive to
these military personnel. It's offensive to their families because you're
now asking to leave their families and to.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Do what And nobody ever asked him what's the long
term solution, like, what's the long term solution never for
crime prevention? Okay, you're doing this, now, what's the long
term plan?
Speaker 1 (14:38):
If he wants to have a serious conversation, I would
love for the President United States, and I'm not holding
my breath on this, to have a serious conversation about policy,
because listen, I tell him, you know what I would
love to do. I know for myself and the mayor
and our Acount executives, We'd love to talk to you
about banning block switches and the ability to turn these
blocks into automatic weapons. We'd love to have a conversation
about banning ghost guns. We'd love to have a conversation
(14:58):
with you about additional ATI n FBI resources and supports.
I love to have a conversation with you about lpr's
license plate readers so that can help to actually track
down crime. I'd love to have a conversation with you
about stop stop cutting the funding that was coming to
our communities for community violence intervention groups that were actually
on the ground doing the work. But he's not interested
(15:20):
in that. But what he is interested in doing is
he'll cut funding for stuff that's actually working. But then
ask the American taxpayer to pay over a million dollars
a day so they can watch National Guard take selfies.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
Are you concerned, like when you saw the meeting that
you know, a Secretary of War Pete Hexf and President
Trump had with the US military generals and admirals.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Are you concerned that some of.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Those generals and admirals may go along with him and
pledge loyalty to him and not the Constitution.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, you know, it's the I remember I'm on a
bunch of different like group chats things with a lot
of military folks who I served with, and people were
still in and I remember getting one from a buddy
of mine and he said, listen, I've oftentimes disagreed with
the commander in chief, not often. Am I embarrassed by him?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Because I'm embarrassed. Wow, because there's just a lack of
seriousness that he and accept there are taking on this.
There is, you know. And one thing I, you know,
always say is that listen, as soldiers, we know our job,
we know our oath. We took an oath to the
Constitution and always protect and defend people against all enemies
(16:35):
of this country, foreign and domestic. And we took an
oath that we would always honor all lawful orders of
the President of the United States. The thing that is
is uh is really challenging for a lot of people
right now. Is this blurring of a line that we
are seeing from this White House about what orders are
lawful and what orders are not.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
And we've seen it in other countries, like we've seen
it in Germany. We' seen happen to jenerremies having a
you know, Russia under style, and like what if just
say thirty forty percent of those military people say, you
know what.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We gonna ride with the president.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, no, let's say what I think this is and
this this is where this is where we know that
we are in a really complicated and dangerous place. You know,
I take my role as Commander in chief of the
Maryland National Guard very seriously. I take my commitment to
these men and women. I take my commitment to their families.
(17:29):
I take it very serious. It's the reason that you
know we have we have done everything from you know,
having the largest tax cut to military veterans and younger
military veterans in Maryland history, that we have double the
amount of leave that they have so they can stop
using their PTO on things like military training if they're
a state worker. It's the reason that we have made
Maryland the first day in the country that now has
(17:50):
a pathway to free dental care and health care for
members of our National Guard, because I don't know how
someone can wear the uniform of this country and have
to worry about their dental care. So there's a whole
lot our military communities know that I ride for them,
but knowing that we are getting this type of this
type of you know, almost like comedic effort at leadership
(18:12):
on our national side about the usage, about the serious
and frankly the very sobering usages of our military personnel
is deeply disturbing.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
I would call it an authoritarian effort. Yeah, as opposed
to a comedic effort. I was gonna ask you, like
when you when you think about the no Kings protests,
what do you think about the framing and like, is
there a responsibility for an elected leader to address like
the perceptions of authoritarianism, whether it's.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You know, real or proceeds.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean I think there is, and I think
people and I think people are seeing it. I think
people are seeing it in their own real lives, and
I think people and here's the point too, is that
if people thought that this was benefiting their life, this
would be one thing, right if people are like, listen,
we had to clean things up and we had to
make sure that government worked, and we had to And
(19:01):
but you know what, I'm watching my prices go down.
I'm watching my education system being better. I'm watching transportation
assets being built. I'm watching all this stuff. That'd be
one thing, but no one is arguing that. Everybody's just saying,
wait a second. So we're seeing all this authoritarian takeover,
but what I'm also saying is my energy prices keep
(19:22):
going up. We're seeing this takeover. But what I'm also
saying is we're now seeing books that are being banned
and things that I can't teach and things that I
can't lead. We're seeing this takeover and you know what,
all my neighbors are losing their jobs. Yeah, And so
they're like, so, what exactly is this and what exactly
is the point? And it goes back to the thing
(19:43):
that you know, I really believe about Donald Trump. And frankly,
one of the challenges we had with the Democratic Party is,
you know, Donald Trump was a great vessel for the frustration. Absolutely,
he could tell you what is wrong. He could tell
you who is to blame. He could tell you, you
know what, they screwed this thing up. And oftentimes we were,
you know, we the Democrats, we're kind of sitting there like, well,
(20:07):
you know, well it's not true and things aren't that bad.
It's like us, like, you have to understand what people
are actually feeling right now.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Right, put your boots on the ground.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Put your boots on the ground. If you spend your
time in communities, you will understand the frustration that people
are feeling. So that Trump being the vessel for the
frustration made sense. It allowed that him to rise inside
this place. But I think people are very quickly realizing
that he was a vessel for the frustration. But he's
not a vehicle for the solution at all.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
To piggyback on what Schaula Mane says, so, how do
you look at the judicial system now?
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
You see Trump people get arrested and Trump's like, that's
my guy. I'm a part of him, and everything he
has is wiped off. You know, Oh, that's my guy.
You ain't got to pay no money back. It's wiped off.
It makes me look at it two ways. One nothing serious,
and two it makes me feel like sometimes when the
Democrats have a guy that went down for something that's
maybe not just that we just leave our people hanging.
(21:04):
Oh I should say they just leave their people hanging.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah Maryland mold.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, So how does that make you feel when you
look at the judicial system and you look at you know,
somebody that you helped tried to get in office, well,
whether it was Biden on a second term, and then
you see how they take care of their people.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
You know, I remember when I first when I first
came in the I ended up winning with more individual
votes than anyone whould ever run for governor in the
history of the state of Maryland, despite literally starting at
one percent, Like I don't come from any political background
at all. Only one thing beat me on the ballot
that year, and that was cannabis. So I was like, yo,
(21:42):
who is cannabis? And but the same time that I
just definitely voted yeah absolutely, But the same time that
I was I was elected governor of Maryland, Maryland voted
to have a recreational cannabis market. So I said, okay,
so we're going to make sure that it's rolled out
in a safe, in a smooth, and an equitable way.
(22:05):
And at the same time, there is no way that
I'm going to celebrate the benefits of legalization if we
do not address the consequences of criminalization. So we got
to work and I ended up signing the largest mass
pardon in the history of the United States of America
when I pardon over one hundred and seventy five thousand
(22:25):
misdemeanor cannabis convictions in the stroke of a pen and
saying like, you know, you cannot we cannot treat every
sentence like a life sentence. Where we got a new
billion dollar market in the state of Maryland, but I
got people who can't get a barber's license, right. That
was how we can utilize the power of the pardon
in a way that actually supports the people, in a
(22:47):
way that actually helps to right some of these wrongs
that have been taking place before. There's a very humble
responsibility that I know I take where I'm one of
fifty one people on the planet that have the ability
to part right. All of our state's governors and the
president of the United States, those are the only ones
that have the ability to look at somebody and say,
(23:09):
we are going to forgive you of the past issue
you might have been involved with. We're going to make
sure we can clean up your record, to make sure
we can give you a second chance at life. It's
a very unique power. And I think about Donald Trump
man and the first thing that he did when he
got back into office his time was part of the
people on January sixth. There is just so everything that
(23:34):
I'm seeing right now.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
None of it.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Surprises me, because the man told you who he was
and who he was going to fight for. And so
I think that, you know, I'm thankful that we have
a legal system in some cases that is helping to
hold the line. I'm thankful that we have judges that
are actually honoring the law and not bending the knee.
(23:59):
Yet it's the same time, you know, this, this this
weaponization of our legal system that we continue to see,
and frankly, this you know, this very loose way that
he is using a very specific and powerful ability to pardon,
I think is more just a continuation of the case.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Well, I got through more questions because I know you
got Okay, how are you handling the pressure you're facing?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
To redistrict Maryland.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Well, I'm very clear. Listen, Maryland, if we have this
country and we have Donald Trump who was picking and
choosing which states should redistrict, and people and people, remember
why we're even having this conversation, right, The reason the
reason why we're having this conversation is because what issue
is Donald Trump going to run on in a midterm elections?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Right?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I made all your prices higher.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I fired a bunch of people and driven up the
unemployment rate. We've made our communities less safe. But hey,
vote for me. You're not gonna win on that. So
what do you do? You change the rules, You rig
the game. Frankly, it's a simple continuation of what this
man has done his entire life. Right. And so my
(25:09):
point is this, if Donald Trump is calling individual states
and individual Republican states and saying, I need you to
find me a congress person here, I need you to
do this. I need you to find me a fair map,
then my point is this, if all these states are
going to have conversations about do they have a fair map,
so will Maryland.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
You have to you gotta fight fire with.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Fight, and former Vice Fred Kamala Harris said it last week.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You gotta fight fire with fight.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
If these states are going to talk about do they
have a fair map, then you know what Maryland needs
to decide. Do we have a fair map too? Do
we have a fair map? And I can tell you
right now if you look at the our congressional districts
and people talk about I don't like jeremanny, I hate jeremanner.
I think it's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous right now
that less than ten percent of all congressional seats are
actually competitive. The average congress person ends up winning by
(25:51):
like twenty thirty forty points. So all you got to
do is make it past the primary and you're good. Right,
So this entire system is jerrymandered right now. And so
if we are going to talk about what does it
mean to have fair maps and what does it mean
to have systems where people can actually be heard and represented?
And you have people choosing the representatives and not represented
(26:12):
choosing their people, then you know what add Maryland to
that list? Who should have that conversation too?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
Absolutely, and the Baltimore Banner reported that you have a
fifty four percent approval rate, but voters can't identify any
of your accomplishments, Governor, how do you plan.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
To rectify that by the time the elections roll around.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Well, you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I think they say they like you, but they don't
know what you did that's actual lives.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But you know what though, But here's here's the thing
that I think the people of our state now is
that when we first came on board, we had we
were forty third in the country in unemployment. Right now
we are now going on having amongst the lowest unemployment
rates in the entire country, one of the fastest job
growth rates in the entire country over the past year
and a half, despite watching the assaults that we've seen
(27:03):
from the federal government that we have seen in our state,
that we went from having amongst the highest violent crime
rates inside the entire country to now having amongst the
fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States
of America. That we have been able to create make
Maryland the first day in the country that has a
service year option for all of our high school graduates.
That we've been able to make Maryland a state that
has the first state based placed place led initiative to
(27:26):
address the issue of childhood poverty, that we have been
able to actually do procriment reform and now creating over
eight hundred million dollars for black owned businesses inside of
the state of Maryland. That we have made investments over
one point four billion dollars to Maryland's HBCUs at a
time when the federal government is pulling back from our HBCUs,
That we have actually raised a minimum wage and made
it easier for working people to be able to survive
(27:48):
and exist within our society. That we have actually we
have actually had tax cuts for the middle class in Maryland,
tax cuts for military veterans in the state of Maryland.
And yes, I asked wealthy Mairee own there's millionaires to
pay a little bit more to help to make sure
that we can have the best public schools inside the
entire inside of the entire country. So I think that
people see that we're doing the work. I think people
(28:11):
see and are happy about the fact that Maryland is
really leading the charge. People see that, you know, they
gotta they got a governor who's ah, who's standing on
the wall and who's going to fight for him and
I and I and I appreciate the fact that we're still,
you know, amongst one of the most popular democratic governments
in the country.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
But it is something to say for, you know, people
to like you just because you bring them joy.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yes, did not know anything that you've done, but I
like them unapologetic joy. And we're out in the communities,
like I'm telling you, and Jess knows like I've got
this reputation being governor outside because they're like, he's everywhere.
We're out in the community. We are out with the
people and listen. And I think that's what people have
come to not just appreciate about us, but expect from us.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Is that.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You know, when I when I first came out, and
when people said again, when people are like, well, you know,
you were not the Democratic Democratic Party's real choice when
you first decided you want to run, the answer was
I wasn't. I was the only person never run for
office for my life. I was runn against state wide
elected officials. I ran against the former head of the
Democratic Party, and we ended up winning. Because I wasn't
(29:11):
the choice of the party. I was the choice of
the people. And that's always how I'm gonna ride for
the people.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
Now, I want to ask you the Franciscott key Bridge, right,
because I saw that you got some criticism from the
US Transportation Secretary about what he's saying, the way you're
handling it.
Speaker 5 (29:34):
P Duffy like what you're doing, what you're doing like.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
That? I like that.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
That's his name. Yes, yeah. And here's the thing I mean,
I remember my grandfather used to tell me, don't let
someone take something away from you that they never gave
you in the first place. Ye you know, a little
over a year ago, we had one of the most
traumatic moments in our state's history where you know, a
ship the size of three football fields slammed into you know,
(30:17):
our FRANCISCTT key Bridge and we lost six workers people
who fell who were fixing potholes, who fell one hundred
and eighty feet into dark, cold waters and lost their lives.
And how that first morning when they were like when
I was asking the workers because we're you know, on
the ground immediately, and I said, how long do you
(30:39):
think it's going to take for us to clean up
this channel? Because the Port of Baltimore responsible for about
thirteen percent of my state's economy. And they says, you know,
Governor's probably going to take about eleven months, and I
said that's the wrong answer, and we worked hard, we
worked together, and we got it cleared in eleven weeks.
When they told me the permitting for a bridge of
that size, they meant we were talking like a two
mile long bridge. Permitting alone could take two and a
(31:03):
half years. We got it done in months. We are
making historic progress on something like this. And if you
look at a bridge like the Gordy Howbridge, for example,
you know they started that in two thousand and seven
about the same size bridge. It's still not done and
we're talking twenty close twenty years. And I have said
we will rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge on our
(31:24):
time and I'm not going to get distracted by foolishness.
And so our people are moving at historic speed to
be able to get this bridge back up, to be
able to restore confidence in government and restore confidence in
what we can do and actually get done. So I
appreciate the commentary that we got from you know, Sean P.
(31:46):
Duffy and the President on this, but the thing I
will say is this is that we're going to do
our job and we're going to make sure we're going
to make the people of Maryland to make the people
of this country proud. And I'm really thankful that Congress,
bipartisan Republicans and Democrats in Congress were the ones who
were proved who approved the one hundred percent cost share,
because uh, you know, we're currently in litigation. The American
(32:07):
people are going to be made whole on this, and
I'm thankful to Congress because they're the ones that appropriated
the money.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
This is my last question.
Speaker 5 (32:15):
You know, I want you to talk about this because
you know, I saw you get a little flack because
you vetoed a measure to create a commission to study
potential slavery reparations in the state of Maryland. But to me,
you had a valorie if people actually heard your home statement.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Exactly, I mean, listen what I what I said was,
I'm a person of action. I don't need more studies.
I mean, like what we have we have, we have,
we have done. We've done four studies over the past
twenty years on similar type of elements. Four studies over
the past twenty years, by the way, one of which
my wife worked on. And so when we're now talking
(32:53):
about doing a two year study on something that I
already know the answer to I'm like, what are we studying?
And this was my point. I think about the work,
and again I'm not saying that that this issue was
not worth working on. In fact, frankly, I've been working
very closely with the members of our caucus and members
of the community around a whole series of these issues.
(33:14):
It's the reason that we just authorize four hundred million
dollars for a Just Community Initiative, which made sure that
we're putting four hundred million dollars of additional capital into
communities that have been that have been the subject and
have been truly hurt by racist and discriminatory policies, things
like redlining, things like mass incarceration, things like you know,
(33:35):
things like mass highway constructions which were cutting off neighborhoods.
That we said, we are going to identify all those
communities and neighborhoods, and we're starting off with is four
hundred million dollars that's going specifically to those neighborhoods to
address the racist policies of the past. It's the reason
that we've done things like historic investments and our HBCUs
because they've been historically neglected and pulled back on. Maryland
(33:55):
has four remarkable HBCUs we're putting a storic investment back
into them. It's the reason we've done things like the
mass pardons and giving people a second chance of life,
because who do people think that is going to benefit most.
It's the reason that we've done things like procurement reform
and created black millionaires inside of the state of Maryland.
I am unapologetic about the support for our black community,
(34:17):
for the support for black people who oftentimes have been
the fabric and the backbone for so much of our society.
And I know right now when we are watching this assault,
this assault on our communities, when we're watching you know,
the Trump administration now is fire and to find more
black women than we have seen in a generation that
(34:39):
we have now seen seen our insurance being pulled away,
grants going to entrepreneurs, that everything that is connected to diversity, equity,
inclusion that they are making illegal. We don't need it
to your study right now, man, I need action. I
need action. And so that was the point that we're
trying to make is that in this time, in this
(34:59):
crisis moments, I don't need a study.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Let's get to it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Let's get to it.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Absolutely, that's right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Absolutely, let's get on with it.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
We appreciate you for joining us, running for re election
in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
My cousin ye.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Govern to west More, Thank you for joining.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Us, brother, appreciate y'all. Thanks the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Hold up every day I wake click your ass up
the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
You don't finish for y'all. Done,
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