July 30, 2024 • 38 mins
In this episode, I am so excited to welcome my longtime bestie and political confidante, Jennifer Filipowski, for a discussion about the current state of American politics. Having shared experiences over the past three decades, we dig into the political landscape, sharing our perspectives and concerns about the future.
We discussed the recent Republican National Convention (one of us watched some of it, the other none of it). The conversation then shifts to the historic nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, where we consider our hopes, fears, and reservations about a potential Harris presidency.
Throughout the discussion, we address important topics such as the challenges of getting people engaged in politics, the crucial role of party involvement, and the implications of the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" plan.
About Jennifer:
Jennifer Filipowski is a dedicated community leader and former executive with a rich background in both corporate and volunteer sectors. Before retiring, Jennifer served as the Executive Vice President of marketing for a global technology company, where she honed her leadership and strategic skills. Her career achievements are marked by her ability to drive innovative marketing initiatives and foster significant growth within her organization.
Since retiring, Jennifer has channeled her energy into volunteerism, particularly in the realms of politics and the arts. She currently serves as the Chair of her county Democratic Party and the Credentials Chair for the state Party. Her commitment to civic engagement is evident through her organization of extensive canvassing, phone banking, and postcard writing campaigns, reaching thousands of individuals.
In addition to her political involvement, Jennifer is a partner at a local arts non-profit, producing events that not only celebrate the arts but also contribute to local economic development. Jennifer’s combined experience in corporate leadership and volunteer dedication makes her a dynamic and influential figure in her community, championing both political engagement and cultural enrichment.
Interested in possibly being a guest on the show? Click the link to get started!
https://forms.gle/V1yGLH9W9Ck2m4TP7
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Kristen daukas, welcome to Conversations
(00:05):
on the rocks, the podcast wherethe drink is strong and the
stories are stronger. I'm yourhost, Kristen daukas, and this
isn't your average chat fest.
Here. Real people spill the teaalongside their favorite drinks,
from the hilarious to the heartwrenching, each episode a wild
card. You'll laugh, you may cry,but you'll definitely learn
(00:25):
something new. So grab whatever,what's your whistle and buckle
up. It's time to dive into theraw, the real and the
ridiculously human. Let's getthis chat party started.
Hey everybody, it's Kristendaukas. You're listening to the
latest episode of conversationson the rocks, the conversations
that are as random as thethoughts that mumble through my
(00:47):
head. But I've got another greatperson for you to meet today,
whom I have known I believe nowwe're up to almost 30 years, and
that would bethe woman who has stuck by me
through thick and thin. Who ismy sister from another mister
and mother, Jennifer filipowski,and she is the bestest bestie at
the world has ever known. And ifyou think you've got the bestest
(01:10):
bestie, I'm sorry you're wrong.
Jennifer, welcome to the hotseat. Tell everybody about you
fastest bestie. Okay, now we'rethe best as Besty, though.
Now we gottell everybody a little bit
about me. Well, thank you somuch for having me. And I met
Kristen in in North Carolina,and then I dragged her to
(01:38):
Chicago, like, six months later,we had the best friend meet
cute, cute meat. However you sayit, we
actually, I didn't drag you toChicago. It was a mutual like,
we're moving to Chicago, get thehell out of Greensboro. And then
I dragged you to Colorado again,a hard drive. Then,
yes, eventually we all ended upback in North Carolina for a
(01:59):
very long time raising ourchildren, which was absolutely
lovely, and then my husbanddragged me back to Colorado. But
during all that time, I was amarketing executive for a number
of technology companies, and Ihad always sort of dabbled a
little bit in politics, as faras volunteering with candidate
(02:22):
campaigns and such, dating allthe way back to Obama's
Senatorial Campaign in Chicagowhen I was living there, so
because that's where I'mfrom, but Then in 2016 I got
really involved in politics andbecame an officer in the county
(02:42):
party in North Carolina, andthen when we moved to Colorado,
I became the Chair of our countyparty here. I'm also involved at
the state party, handling a lotof the technology needs for our
voting processes and includingthe election of our DNC
delegates and electors, forinstance. And yeah, in addition
(03:03):
to that, I am one of thepartners of a nonprofit here
that focuses on the arts andproducing events that promote
economic development in ourtiny, little town of 8000 some
people. Is it really that many?
(03:25):
Yes,just back in the day, it was
like, what, maybe 500 peoplethat lived there in that
particular area, probably. Sothat's really good. That's so
pretty. Yeah, nobody lived thisour down Valley back then. So
when we were originally, when wewhen I, let me rephrase that,
when I originally was thinkingabout what we were gonna talk
(03:47):
about, I believe I put it toyou, we're going to talk about
the shit show that is happeningright now. And then, all of a
sudden, things changed. Thencame Sunday, similar topic, but
a lot less shitty, showish,wow. Okay, let's, um, I want to
talk real quick. I don't know ifyou watched it all, but only
(04:10):
because I was watching somethingthat would lead right into it. I
did watch part of the RNC lastweek, just to kind of well a it
was came on after whatever showI had been watching, and it was
interesting to say the least.
Did you happen to catch any ofit? I cannot, for my own mental
(04:32):
health, watch any of that. Ireally wanted to get an idea,
because at that point it was,you know, the two old guys. So I
really wanted to get an idea,you know, with, especially with
45 going through theassassination attempt, and it's
just, this is just a reallybizarre thing that's going on.
(04:52):
It's just even before PresidentElect Kamala came in. She, uh.
It's just, it's just been sobizarre. He I will say this, it
appears that whoever 45 has onhis team that told him to shut
the F up and calm down,at least at the RNC, it seemed
(05:13):
it was just a totally differentversion of him, and it was still
him, you know, especially on thelast night of it, because, and,
you know, I finally turned itoff. I could only take about 15
minutes of that and but it'sjust bizarre. So what is your
take on everything that hashappened up until Sunday? Let's
(05:33):
just not jump into Sunday yet.
Matt, jump into Sunday yet?
Yeah, I mean, I think me, and Iknow that I am not alone. There
are a lot of people who have alot of anxiety over if they're
following politics, and you knowat all, a lot of anxiety about
this upcoming presidentialelection. Trump categorically on
(05:57):
a lot of different measures, wasour worst president in history,
as far as the, you know,policies that he enacted. The I
mean, he's a convicted felon.
It's, you know, there's lots ofnarcissism and threats and calls
(06:22):
for violence against, you know,against anybody that doesn't
agree with him, and yet he turnsaround and makes it sound like
it's the opposite happening.
Yeah, he's a good gaslighternarcissist, behavior which has
fired up his followers, his cultmembers, to believe that their
freedoms are threatened if theDemocrats win, which I don't
(06:45):
know if you've seen the likelynominee Kamala Harris's new ad
today. It talks all aboutDemocrats. You know freedom for
you know like fighting forfreedom, basically, and fighting
for our freedoms. So, yeah,it's, it is a scary time, and I
think a lot of people werefeeling despair. Because even
(07:09):
even before the debate, a lot ofpeople were feeling despair over
the fact that it was the twooldest, you know, presidential
candidates in our history. Andhow could we not? How could we
not do something you know,better than that, and you know,
quite honestly, in the historyof our country, if there is an
(07:34):
incumbent, nobody ever runsagainst an incumbent president,
granted. He had said he wasn'tgoing to pursue a second term
when he got elected the firsttime, but there were obviously a
lot of people who voted for him,particularly,
you know, as we all know, womenof color saved our asses from a
(07:56):
second Trump administration in2020 Yeah, in 2020,
so, yeah, it's,there was a lot of despair, a
lot of like, Oh, I really don'tfeel like even voting, which
would be disastrous, because ifpeople don't vote, then, you
know, unfortunately, theunfortunately Trump would win.
(08:17):
Well, and in full transparency,that was me.
I wasn't not going to vote, butI was really and I would not
vote for 45 absolutely at all.
However, I was really strugglingwith that whole thing. So when
Sunday happened, it was like, itwas like this rush of optimism
and happiness and excitement.
(08:43):
I'm like, I'm excited about itagain. I was, I was in the
category of driving, just theway I kind of offhand the post,
like either of those guys were,my dad, I think might be taking
their keys away. You can'tdrive, but, yeah, we're just let
you drive this country. So whydo you think? And I have my own
theory on this. Why do you thinkit is so difficult to get people
(09:08):
interested? I mean it. I meanyou're right. Why? Why were
those our only choices? Andlet's take out of the fact that
of it being an incumbent, butit's so you don't hear people
talking about that they want togo into politics as much
anymore, because especially uprunning it up the flagpole to
that. Why do you think that is?
Well, I think there are a numberof factors as to why that is.
(09:31):
One it's, you know, it is athankless job, and the
responsibilities of the jobs andthe time commitment and the
amount of effort that you haveto put into it is the ratio, in
comparison to the amount you getpaid to do that job, right?
Don't, don't figure it out orsomething that I you know, I
(09:52):
mean general, the GA members inNorth Carolina, and I think it's
similar here, is like they getpaid.
Less than $15,000 a year. Soit's basically volunteer. It is
now a full time job, right? So,like, you can't be, you know,
you can't work in any jobbecause you have to be in the
(10:14):
General Assembly for a month anda half, two months at it, you
know, during a specific time ofthe year when it's in Session.
And, you know, so how are yousupposed to hold a regular job?
Which means you've got to berich to be able to go into
politics. And, you know, that'show we've gotten kind of a
limited pool to choose from. Butif you go back to 2016 or, I'm
(10:38):
sorry, back to 2020 when we didhave a big field, I think again,
going back to, you know, blackwomen in particular were all in
for Biden, mainly because heshowed his receipts under Obama,
not once did he raise any sortof flag or try to contradict
President Obama, or say, youknow, he made a bad Call, or try
(11:00):
to act like he knew better thanyou know, than a black man, just
by right of him being a whiteman, and so I think that
endeared him to to thatcommunity, and pretty strongly.
I mean, most candidates droppedout before, before Super
Tuesday, even. And the otheraspect of it is, is that there
(11:21):
was a fear that electing someonewho was not an old white man
would suffer the same kind ofbacklash. You know, there's a
lot of fear that Trump wasbacklash for a black president,
that the pendulum, you know,swing so far to the other side
and did a lot of harm than tothose communities, and so we
(11:43):
better go back to electing oldwhite guys. And Biden was the
oldest white guy. Literally. Theother aspect of it is
psychologically, is other peoplego, Well, who can win? And we
think too much in our brainsabout who do we think can win
the election? We're notthinking, Who do I want to win
the election? We get moreconcerned about, you know, who,
(12:07):
who do I think everybody else isvoting for? So there was a great
phrase that Elizabeth Warren hadduring her campaign. It's like,
she'll win if you vote for her,right? Yeah, which is similar
to, you know, I still have alittle bit of reservation about
Vice President Harris, and thatwas one of the reasons I was
worried about Biden steppingdown. It was, you know, it's
(12:30):
like, look, he's, you're notvoting for a person, you're
voting for an administration,right? You're, you know, we're
already going to be votingprobably, for an eventual
President Harris, because Idoubt he would make it through
his his next presidency, and sobasically that was where my
(12:51):
brain was like, if I'm vote, youknow, I'm obviously voting for
Biden, but I'm not voting forBiden. I'm by voting for all the
people that he has brought intohis administration, who are all
very smart, very talented, veryqualified people, as opposed to
cronies and donors and whoevercan stick their nose the
furthest up his butt, you know,I'm voting for a vice president,
(13:13):
for vice president Harris to beready to step up if he, you
know, has to leave. And I thinkthat might have been what was
going through their brains, asfar as, like, oh, well, we've
got a, you know,when they were trying to, you
know, getting the calls to stepdown, like, we have to win. It's
our, you know, democracy dependson it our Republic, and so let's
(13:33):
get him elected, and then he canresign. But I wasn't in the
room. I don't know. Even thougheverybody, once you get elected
to a position in the party,everybody thinks you can have
inside information on that. Nosecret hotline and no, that's so
it's so true. And I wasexplaining that to Mackenzie, I
(13:56):
said, you know, it is i and evenbefore all of it, I was like, he
did the right thing for theparty, he did the right thing
for the country, and for that,you know, I feel like that was a
big move. And of course, on theother side, they're all ready,
you know, it's just, it's just,I'm just, I think I speak for
every literal person in theUnited States. We're just so
(14:18):
sick and tired of it. It just,it's exhausting. It's toxic. We
look like the a third worldcountry to everybody else in the
country in the world. And it'sjust, I don't understand why
people just can't get it. My dadtaught me that at a very young
age. He goes the Presidentdoesn't have that much power,
because you need to look ateverybody else around him.
(14:40):
That's where you need to focusyour votes. And which probably,
you know, I would have done hadthe race continued in the way
that it would. Is I would havespent devoted all my time, you
know, researching those asopposed to, okay, you know, I'm
not gonna let my party down. Ijust, I can't. I would never
have voted for that other one.
But.
But what are your let's talkabout Kamala. Kamala. Did I say
(15:05):
Kamala Kamala? That's what Ithought. That's what I thought.
So let's talk about her. VicePresident Harris. Let's talk
about Vice President Harris. Yousaid you had some reservations.
Yeah. I mean, I left she was oneof my top choices in 2020 during
that primary, I have been to anevent and heard her, heard her
(15:29):
speak. She is she's great. Ilove her. She's got a very
dynamic personality. She's supernice, she's, you know, she's
funny, she's professional, she'sauthentic, and, you know, I will
be absolutely thrilled if shebecomes our next president. I
(15:53):
have again, reservations, thoughI was so excited for Hillary to
be our president, and then thekind of depression and the
letdown that happened rightafter that was, you know, was
really, really, really roughtime. So I don't want to, you
know, I feel like I don't wantto get my hopes up and then have
them dashed, because we stilllive in a very racist, very
(16:15):
sexist country. But I amheartened by all of the
enthusiasm and all of the memesand all of the, you know, the
injection of hope that it's putinto people like you and into
young people. And, you know,there's tons of people who think
it's a great thing, and so wejust all need to get out there
and work to get her electeddespite the odds. And I know
(16:41):
just for us, we have gotten alike the number of volunteer
inquiries that we have gottenover the last you know, four
days is has been a great signthat people are energized and
ready to get out there and makesure that she gets elected.
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Here's the thing that I honestlyhave a big fear of, and that is
on the other side, these peopleare loose cannons. They are, and
(17:43):
I am actually, if they're aperson doesn't win and we
succeed. And when I am reallykind of scared as to what's
going to happen, yeah, no, I'mright there with you. I mean,
you need to keep those twodownstairs bedrooms empty. And
I will be on the next flight.
I'll figure something out to dowith my dogs, No, but seriously,
(18:06):
it is something that I'm veryconcerned about. I'm especially
with one of my children livingin Washington, DC, right? It
just these people will go offunhinged if a black woman is our
president, a black Asian woman,a black Asian woman who has no
children, yeah, no, that is,that is definitely very scary. I
mean, you know, January 6 wasjust shocking and yeah, made us
(18:29):
look like a third world country.
It brought back to mind when wewere going through covid. I
think my favorite meme aboutcovid Was that Canada has to
feel like they're living in theapartment above the crack house.
Yep. I mean, it's just what itlooks like. And you know, these
(18:52):
people don't care. They do notcare. I hadn't unfortunately, we
went to go see it wasn'tIndependence Day, but it was
some movie that we didn't thinkended up being what we didn't
think it was going to be. Andthat movie disturbed me. It
disturbed me because I it wasjust one. It was art imitating
life, or life imitating art,whichever way you want to do it,
(19:13):
Independence Day. It wasn'tIndependence Day. It was we just
went about a month and a halfago. I can't remember the name
of the name of the movie, but itwas, we thought it was going to
be an Independence Day kind ofmovie, and it ended up being
like a whole secession and, youknow, it was very disturbing. It
was so disturbing. And, youknow, I'm pretty I'm pretty
(19:34):
tough when it comes to thatstuff, so I'm just terrified
that something like that's goingto happen. Because these people,
like I said, these people areunhinged and it they don't care.
And I know, I know, as far asmovies go, a lot of people's
brains, especially once HulkHogan took the stage, was to
Idiocracy.
I didn't see Hulk Hogan. Ireally, really liked the guy
(19:57):
from the Teamsters. He gave areally.
Really good speech. And it wasinteresting, because I'm sure he
ticked off a lot of people inthat room because he was going
straight down the middle,because he's like, it's not my
job. He goes, I don't care,because I'm not here to piss
anybody off, you know. And butit was just interesting, if you
go and listen to his speech, I'msure these people were like, we,
like, we like, big companies.
(20:19):
And, you know, his whole thingwas like, I Well, not only that,
the Republicans try to shut downunions every chance they get. So
I am surprised they even invitedsomebody from the dumpsters.
Don't be there. Go check out. Gofind his interview or his
speech. It was a really, reallywell done speech. But yeah, for
me, I'm landing Kid Rock. Butyou saw by those people, and
(20:43):
whatever Lee Greenwood, orwhatever you you could just it
was very well orchestrated tohit their audience. It was their
target audience. They were goingto appeal to their target
audience. And how you roll outsome wrestlers and wrestlers and
things like that, and it's goingto make them all America,
America, right? Well into that,I've got to give Biden credit,
(21:03):
too, for waiting until aftertheir convention was over so
that now he's, you know, now theother guy is stuck with this
vice presidential candidate whoserved a different purpose while
Biden was still the one running.
Yeah. I mean, my my fear withBiden stepping down, in addition
a I was like, I was so sick ofhaving the conversation, and I
(21:27):
would try to talk people off theledge by explaining that part
about you're voting for theadministration, you're not
voting for the person. And sothink about it as if you are
already casting your vote forvice president Harris. Because
if Biden steps down, the onlyperson that it can be is Vice
President Harris, and I wasnervous that there would be
(21:50):
other people, other white guysin particular, who would be
stepping up, thinking that theycould then come in and somehow
take the nomination. So I wasworried about Vice President
Harris getting leapfrogged, andthat upsetting, you know, all
the people who are anti racist,in addition to all of the people
(22:11):
of color, and then, and, youknow, turn off them and make
them not want to vote. Have ourconvention be a, you know,
circus sideshow of multiplevotes. And, you know, ironic
that it's in Chicago,considering that the last time
we had a disastrous DemocraticParty convention, although I
guess I could argue that theBernie Hillary ones was pretty
(22:34):
disastrous, but the last one,the big one, was in Chicago, 68
so that should make it. Itshould be interesting. There was
something it may have beenyesterday, after his speech they
were doing that they wereshowing all the different
parallels between 68 and thisyear. And it was just like,
(22:55):
whoa. It's like a time. It'slike a time capsule. Yeah, yeah,
no. So I'm glad that it seemslike vice president Harris has
locked up all of the delegatevotes and all of the roll call
like, technically, she will bethe nominee before the
convention even convenes,because the roll call and The
(23:16):
actual delegate vote castinghappens now, like my delegate,
who's going, who lives here inEagle County, he put in his vote
today. So, yeah, I think thewhole timing of it, you can't
tell me, it wasn't orchestrated.
It just it was, of course itwas. I mean, the whole thing
everybody you know, theRepublicans being on such a big
(23:38):
high from that party, and nowthey're scrambling. You know,
they knew they could, they knewthey could beat the old white
guy, but now they have the oldwhite guy, so it's totally
different. But I'll say this.
I'm not, not saying that I likeit, but it was a very smart move
(24:00):
on Trump's part, to choose JDVance or someone
that age, I think, because, andthat's what we need to do,
that's what we need to have someof that youth on the Democratic
side. So yeah, it's nice nowwe've got someone that's going
to be our candidate that's twodecades younger than the
(24:20):
Republicans candidate. Butthat's what we need. We need
that that youth and Gen X ain'tstanding up to do it. Hell no,
we're like shit. No way.
Hey, nobody got time.
Y'all just fight for Vicebe like for vice president. Um,
who do you want vice presidentHarris pick. I love Roy Cooper.
(24:42):
I love Roy but I don't thinkit's him. I don't think, I don't
think he's the right choice. Ireally like the guy from
Illinois, jbrickson, yeah,really, yeah. But I also, we've
got him, we've got Cooper. I.
Think the one that she shouldtake is probably the guy from
(25:02):
Kentucky or Cher Yeah. Okay, whyI think, why don't you think Roy
is the right one?
He's, well, he won't get theNorth Carolinian Republican
votes for sure ever, because theRepublicans hate Roy Cooper. I
don't know if he's,well, maybe he's kind of calm
and complacent, which might be anice balance to her charisma. I
(25:25):
don't know you know who I reallywish it would be, but he's way
too young at this point. Is JeffJackson.
Yeah, Jeff Jackson is gonnahe'll probably go far. All
right, so why do you thinkBashir? I think it's more about
his location. It's about, youknow, being from Kentucky. I
(25:45):
think that's a very I think it'sa redder state than they think.
They want to say it's purple,but I think it's a much redder
state, you know, that I thinkit's a more middle aged, middle
income type vote that she'sgoing to need. That's just my
and I haven't done too muchresearch on any of them.
Obviously, I know Roy fromliving here, but Right, just
(26:09):
demographically, and then I'veseen the guy from Illinois. He
just seems kind of cool.
No, JB is very cool. I actuallyknow JB. He and my brother were
would hang out back in the day abit. So, yeah, I like JB. I
didn't even realize he was onthe short list at this point. I
(26:31):
like Cooper, because to offsetour black Asian fireball,
probably need, definitely need,a white you know, white
absolutely has to be a whiteguy. It absolutely does. And his
older years experience, he hasexperience working with a super
(26:51):
majority General Assembly andactually still manages to get
stuff done. I don't know thatNorth Carolina is in a situation
where it will help with theelectoral votes. What I've heard
from some folks is that there'sfour states that are really
(27:11):
going to make the difference asfar as the electoral count, and
that's Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,Michigan and Georgia.
So I think also, with VicePresident Harris being from
California, that having somebodyin the southeast would be
helpful and might help withGeorgia. So that's another
reason that I like Cooper. He'sone of he's one of the ones at
(27:34):
the top of my list. I thinkshe's probably going to have to
pick Shapiro, or actually takethat back. She might have to
pick Mark Kelly, althoughArizona isn't as you know, I
don't think it's as much inplay, but Mark Kelly checks off
a lot of those boxes of militaryand law and order and, oh yeah,
(27:56):
his wife almost died. That'sright, I forgot an astronaut,
you know, like and they weresaying that that those boxes
that he ticks off, you know,especially once you get to NASA
and the astronaut, it's likeeverybody wants to grow up to
either be president or anastronaut. So, you know, some of
these folks that are on thefence, which is really who she
has to go, who they really haveto attack. And, you know,
(28:17):
unfortunately, you know, afterthat first debate, I said it to
my mastermind girls and who werethere you and my friend Sarah
would get along really, reallywell. She's up in Vermont and
she she'sa dei expert. But I was like it
as much as it pained me to sayit after that debate, I was like
(28:37):
anybody, for a lot of peoplethat were probably sitting on
the fence, unfortunately,probably fell on the wrong side
of the fence. So we really havegot to get those people that are
really teetering. And I agree. Ithink somebody that I forgot
about him, yeah, he's he's cool.
I like him. And I yeah, I thinkhe would appeal to a lot of
people. I don't, and I think hewould, maybe that's my problem
(28:58):
with Roy Cooper. I just don'tthink he has the same appeal.
He's very safe, like the likeyou were just saying, the guy,
you know, the guy's anastronaut. I mean, I love Roy. I
got to meet his wife last year,but I think he's not an
astronaut. No, Roy's not anastronaut. The other guy's an
astronaut. Roy's definitely notan astronaut.
Well, and that's the thing, is,I don't think that. I don't
(29:21):
think Governor Cooper has thename recognition in the rest of
the country. I think Mark Kellyhas the most out of those four,
unless you're from Chicago andyou know the Pritzker Family,
obviously, since that's Hyatt,yeah, yeah, I think he
definitely could win some ofthose undecideds that are
sitting on the fence cool,he's an astronaut. What else
(29:44):
we're wrapping up on 30 minutes?
So what else can you tell usthat we need to be looking for
what's going to happen next?
We've got the we've got the DNCcoming up. DNC is coming up.
Yeah. I mean, just what did Ithink something.
One, the one thing that I when Iwas gonna say, did I hear
something that there's not goingto be a debate between Trump and
(30:06):
Harris, that he doesn't wantone? Of course, he doesn't, he
doesn't want. He's walking back.
He knows that she would cleanhis clock, blabber him, run
circles around him, literally.
And I, I think also that thefact that Vice President Harris
(30:27):
is a little bit of a while, thelike the coconut memes being a
perfect example, she will saywhat she wants to say. She's
she's less scripted, I guess,and less reserved. Whereas, I
think, in the debate, forinstance, between Trump and
Secretary Clinton, that she wasplaying it cool and wasn't, you
(30:53):
know, didn't really go afterhim. Biden would do the same
thing. I don't think that VicePresident Harris would hesitate
for a second to come after himand call him out. And so he does
not want that, obviously. Soyeah, he's saying that ABC
shouldn't, or CBS, or whoeverwas supposed to host it is
biased, and that instead itshould be hosted by Fox, who, of
(31:17):
course, isn't biased, whatever,not against him, against that
side,but yeah. I mean, I think the
biggest thing that I learnedafter, after, in 2016
was that the we're stuck with atwo party system for better or
for worse, probably worse,because the two party system
(31:40):
just perpetuates itself and isset up to do exactly that and
not allow their parties to comein. And so you have so many
people, like the majority of thepeople in this country, are now
unaffiliated, and what thatdoes, unfortunately, is the
folks who aren't a member of theparty, let alone actually
(32:01):
involved in the party. You know,going to meetings, you know,
going to your local meetings,connecting with other Democrats,
becoming a precinct organizer.
Those folks have a lot of power,because they're the ones who
elect the leaders of theircounty and of their state, and
so if you we're all notinvolved, because the party is
(32:24):
not like, this thing that'slike, you know, there's no
conspiracy theory. There's no,like, you know, big meeting
room. It's, and this goes forboth parties. There's no, you
know, there's, it's allvolunteers. I mean, I'm a
volunteer. Everybody's avolunteer, except for maybe a
few people who are at the statelevel, depending on the state,
(32:46):
obviously. But for the mostpart, everybody else is not
paid. We're doing this becausewe don't want to leave it our
party to the crazy people, like,if you're not involved, then you
get the people who are, youknow, if we don't have more
people involved, then it's thepeople who have the, you know,
the Zealots and the and theideologies that lean too far one
(33:10):
way or the other, who then arethe ones making the decisions
and picking the nominees andpicking the people, the people
who are Leading the state partywho are then electing the
delegates who are going to goto, you know, go to the national
convention. So, you know, Iwould just encourage people to
get involved. Call your countyparty, you know, attend a couple
(33:33):
meetings. I know it's scary, butknock on some doors. They're not
going to send you to doors thatare going to be, you know,
someone who's not going to agreewith you. I mean, every door
I've knocked on, people havebeen, you know, receptive and
happy to see somebody from theparty. Because the other
complaint is, well, I never hearfrom you unless you want my
(33:55):
vote. Well, you are actually,you are actually me, and we
could all be doing thistogether, and that's what we
should be doing. I think thatthat we do a big disservice to
our children. We teach themabout, you know, the three
branches of government, but wedon't teach them about politics
and the importance of theimportance of the parties and
(34:16):
how the parties operate and howour elections operate because
that lack of education has ledto a lot of fear, a lot of
misunderstandings, a lot offalse assumptions that you know,
somehow our elections aren'tsecure, etc, well, and I think
something too. And I wastelling, I said, made this
(34:37):
comment to somebody the otherday, is your far left and your
far right are the loudest. Thepeople in the middle are the
biggest right and it I think,because they're so what people
that are in the middle arefocused on is how loud the two
sides are, the left and theright, the far left.
(35:00):
And far right? And that it'sjust like, well, I don't want to
get involved in that. I don'twant to have to deal with that.
Bs and so, but that's why,another reason why it is so
important to have the commonperson like us in there to, you
know, you know, help with that,and go like, you know, and we
don't have, okay, I'm gonna askyou real quick and see if we can
(35:21):
do this real quick, talk to meabout the project 2025 because I
don't really, I don'tunderstand. I do, but I haven't
taken the time to sit down andreally dig into it. Yeah. So, so
project 2025 is a blueprint 920page document that the Heritage
Foundation developed with anumber of authors for what their
(35:46):
vision for America is, and thatincludes,
you know, eliminating thedepartment of education
nationwide, abortion and birthControl bans. You know, changing
this like being able tobasically fire every single
civil servant so that all ofour, you know, all of our
(36:12):
federal and state agencies arepopulated with, you know,
whoever bought their way intothe position through either you
know, whatever, cronyism. Rightnow, a lot of those positions
are protected to a certainextent by law that, you know,
it's hard to fire somebody who'sworking for the government
without some really good cause.
So, yeah, I mean, there's a lotof scary things in Project 25
(36:36):
I'll send you, I'll send you avideo and a couple summaries
that you can look at, butbasically it was written. And
the reason that it scares me, asfar as why I think it's real and
why it would, you know, it istotally their vision and that
they would start enacting it isbecause some of the things have
already started to happen.
(36:59):
Number one, but number two, thesame, you know, the same group
of folks got together and puttogether the plan for
gerrymandering, like for goingat these low level like school
board meetings and city councilsand taking over those boards,
and then getting all of thedistrict lines gerrymandered in
(37:19):
such a way that, mean, NorthCarolina is purple, but you
wouldn't know it based on theway our representatives get
elected, because it's beengerrymandered so bad that
Democrats just can't even win,like the legislature's choosing
their voters, as opposed tovoters choosing their
legislators.
Yeah, it's intense. It really isintense. And, you know, without
(37:43):
knowing enough about it, Ididn't want to even pretend to
speak on it, but so we are goingto wrap up. This has been an
extremely enlightening anddelightful conversation, and I'm
glad Sunday happened gonna beexciting now, so it's but I
think it's gonna get really,really nasty again, probably
nastier than it did in the lastelection. And man, people just
(38:07):
stay in your lane. Seriously.
All right, friends, until nexttime, may you have a delightful
evening, day, afternoon,whatever it is, what time of the
day it is for you and I, asalways, thank you so much for
being here. As the saying goes,you don't have to go home, but
you can stay here, and that's awrap for this week's episode. A
big thanks to my guests forsharing their story and to you
(38:29):
for listening. Don't forget toshare the show with your friends
and spread the words. And ifyou'd like to be a guest on the
show, the link is in the shownotes, until next time, cheers.
You
Kristen daukas, welcome to Conversations
(00:05):
on the rocks, the podcast wherethe drink is strong and the
stories are stronger. I'm yourhost, Kristen daukas, and this
isn't your average chat fest.
Here. Real people spill the teaalongside their favorite drinks,
from the hilarious to the heartwrenching, each episode a wild
card. You'll laugh, you may cry,but you'll definitely learn
(00:25):
something new. So grab whatever,what's your whistle and buckle
up. It's time to dive into theraw, the real and the
ridiculously human. Let's getthis chat party started.
Hey everybody, it's Kristendaukas. You're listening to the
latest episode of conversationson the rocks, the conversations
that are as random as thethoughts that mumble through my
(00:47):
head. But I've got another greatperson for you to meet today,
whom I have known I believe nowwe're up to almost 30 years, and
that would bethe woman who has stuck by me
through thick and thin. Who ismy sister from another mister
and mother, Jennifer filipowski,and she is the bestest bestie at
the world has ever known. And ifyou think you've got the bestest
(01:10):
bestie, I'm sorry you're wrong.
Jennifer, welcome to the hotseat. Tell everybody about you
fastest bestie. Okay, now we'rethe best as Besty, though.
Now we gottell everybody a little bit
about me. Well, thank you somuch for having me. And I met
Kristen in in North Carolina,and then I dragged her to
(01:38):
Chicago, like, six months later,we had the best friend meet
cute, cute meat. However you sayit, we
actually, I didn't drag you toChicago. It was a mutual like,
we're moving to Chicago, get thehell out of Greensboro. And then
I dragged you to Colorado again,a hard drive. Then,
yes, eventually we all ended upback in North Carolina for a
(01:59):
very long time raising ourchildren, which was absolutely
lovely, and then my husbanddragged me back to Colorado. But
during all that time, I was amarketing executive for a number
of technology companies, and Ihad always sort of dabbled a
little bit in politics, as faras volunteering with candidate
(02:22):
campaigns and such, dating allthe way back to Obama's
Senatorial Campaign in Chicagowhen I was living there, so
because that's where I'mfrom, but Then in 2016 I got
really involved in politics andbecame an officer in the county
(02:42):
party in North Carolina, andthen when we moved to Colorado,
I became the Chair of our countyparty here. I'm also involved at
the state party, handling a lotof the technology needs for our
voting processes and includingthe election of our DNC
delegates and electors, forinstance. And yeah, in addition
(03:03):
to that, I am one of thepartners of a nonprofit here
that focuses on the arts andproducing events that promote
economic development in ourtiny, little town of 8000 some
people. Is it really that many?
(03:25):
Yes,just back in the day, it was
like, what, maybe 500 peoplethat lived there in that
particular area, probably. Sothat's really good. That's so
pretty. Yeah, nobody lived thisour down Valley back then. So
when we were originally, when wewhen I, let me rephrase that,
when I originally was thinkingabout what we were gonna talk
(03:47):
about, I believe I put it toyou, we're going to talk about
the shit show that is happeningright now. And then, all of a
sudden, things changed. Thencame Sunday, similar topic, but
a lot less shitty, showish,wow. Okay, let's, um, I want to
talk real quick. I don't know ifyou watched it all, but only
(04:10):
because I was watching somethingthat would lead right into it. I
did watch part of the RNC lastweek, just to kind of well a it
was came on after whatever showI had been watching, and it was
interesting to say the least.
Did you happen to catch any ofit? I cannot, for my own mental
(04:32):
health, watch any of that. Ireally wanted to get an idea,
because at that point it was,you know, the two old guys. So I
really wanted to get an idea,you know, with, especially with
45 going through theassassination attempt, and it's
just, this is just a reallybizarre thing that's going on.
(04:52):
It's just even before PresidentElect Kamala came in. She, uh.
It's just, it's just been sobizarre. He I will say this, it
appears that whoever 45 has onhis team that told him to shut
the F up and calm down,at least at the RNC, it seemed
(05:13):
it was just a totally differentversion of him, and it was still
him, you know, especially on thelast night of it, because, and,
you know, I finally turned itoff. I could only take about 15
minutes of that and but it'sjust bizarre. So what is your
take on everything that hashappened up until Sunday? Let's
(05:33):
just not jump into Sunday yet.
Matt, jump into Sunday yet?
Yeah, I mean, I think me, and Iknow that I am not alone. There
are a lot of people who have alot of anxiety over if they're
following politics, and you knowat all, a lot of anxiety about
this upcoming presidentialelection. Trump categorically on
(05:57):
a lot of different measures, wasour worst president in history,
as far as the, you know,policies that he enacted. The I
mean, he's a convicted felon.
It's, you know, there's lots ofnarcissism and threats and calls
(06:22):
for violence against, you know,against anybody that doesn't
agree with him, and yet he turnsaround and makes it sound like
it's the opposite happening.
Yeah, he's a good gaslighternarcissist, behavior which has
fired up his followers, his cultmembers, to believe that their
freedoms are threatened if theDemocrats win, which I don't
(06:45):
know if you've seen the likelynominee Kamala Harris's new ad
today. It talks all aboutDemocrats. You know freedom for
you know like fighting forfreedom, basically, and fighting
for our freedoms. So, yeah,it's, it is a scary time, and I
think a lot of people werefeeling despair. Because even
(07:09):
even before the debate, a lot ofpeople were feeling despair over
the fact that it was the twooldest, you know, presidential
candidates in our history. Andhow could we not? How could we
not do something you know,better than that, and you know,
quite honestly, in the historyof our country, if there is an
(07:34):
incumbent, nobody ever runsagainst an incumbent president,
granted. He had said he wasn'tgoing to pursue a second term
when he got elected the firsttime, but there were obviously a
lot of people who voted for him,particularly,
you know, as we all know, womenof color saved our asses from a
(07:56):
second Trump administration in2020 Yeah, in 2020,
so, yeah, it's,there was a lot of despair, a
lot of like, Oh, I really don'tfeel like even voting, which
would be disastrous, because ifpeople don't vote, then, you
know, unfortunately, theunfortunately Trump would win.
(08:17):
Well, and in full transparency,that was me.
I wasn't not going to vote, butI was really and I would not
vote for 45 absolutely at all.
However, I was really strugglingwith that whole thing. So when
Sunday happened, it was like, itwas like this rush of optimism
and happiness and excitement.
(08:43):
I'm like, I'm excited about itagain. I was, I was in the
category of driving, just theway I kind of offhand the post,
like either of those guys were,my dad, I think might be taking
their keys away. You can'tdrive, but, yeah, we're just let
you drive this country. So whydo you think? And I have my own
theory on this. Why do you thinkit is so difficult to get people
(09:08):
interested? I mean it. I meanyou're right. Why? Why were
those our only choices? Andlet's take out of the fact that
of it being an incumbent, butit's so you don't hear people
talking about that they want togo into politics as much
anymore, because especially uprunning it up the flagpole to
that. Why do you think that is?
Well, I think there are a numberof factors as to why that is.
(09:31):
One it's, you know, it is athankless job, and the
responsibilities of the jobs andthe time commitment and the
amount of effort that you haveto put into it is the ratio, in
comparison to the amount you getpaid to do that job, right?
Don't, don't figure it out orsomething that I you know, I
(09:52):
mean general, the GA members inNorth Carolina, and I think it's
similar here, is like they getpaid.
Less than $15,000 a year. Soit's basically volunteer. It is
now a full time job, right? So,like, you can't be, you know,
you can't work in any jobbecause you have to be in the
(10:14):
General Assembly for a month anda half, two months at it, you
know, during a specific time ofthe year when it's in Session.
And, you know, so how are yousupposed to hold a regular job?
Which means you've got to berich to be able to go into
politics. And, you know, that'show we've gotten kind of a
limited pool to choose from. Butif you go back to 2016 or, I'm
(10:38):
sorry, back to 2020 when we didhave a big field, I think again,
going back to, you know, blackwomen in particular were all in
for Biden, mainly because heshowed his receipts under Obama,
not once did he raise any sortof flag or try to contradict
President Obama, or say, youknow, he made a bad Call, or try
(11:00):
to act like he knew better thanyou know, than a black man, just
by right of him being a whiteman, and so I think that
endeared him to to thatcommunity, and pretty strongly.
I mean, most candidates droppedout before, before Super
Tuesday, even. And the otheraspect of it is, is that there
(11:21):
was a fear that electing someonewho was not an old white man
would suffer the same kind ofbacklash. You know, there's a
lot of fear that Trump wasbacklash for a black president,
that the pendulum, you know,swing so far to the other side
and did a lot of harm than tothose communities, and so we
(11:43):
better go back to electing oldwhite guys. And Biden was the
oldest white guy. Literally. Theother aspect of it is
psychologically, is other peoplego, Well, who can win? And we
think too much in our brainsabout who do we think can win
the election? We're notthinking, Who do I want to win
the election? We get moreconcerned about, you know, who,
(12:07):
who do I think everybody else isvoting for? So there was a great
phrase that Elizabeth Warren hadduring her campaign. It's like,
she'll win if you vote for her,right? Yeah, which is similar
to, you know, I still have alittle bit of reservation about
Vice President Harris, and thatwas one of the reasons I was
worried about Biden steppingdown. It was, you know, it's
(12:30):
like, look, he's, you're notvoting for a person, you're
voting for an administration,right? You're, you know, we're
already going to be votingprobably, for an eventual
President Harris, because Idoubt he would make it through
his his next presidency, and sobasically that was where my
(12:51):
brain was like, if I'm vote, youknow, I'm obviously voting for
Biden, but I'm not voting forBiden. I'm by voting for all the
people that he has brought intohis administration, who are all
very smart, very talented, veryqualified people, as opposed to
cronies and donors and whoevercan stick their nose the
furthest up his butt, you know,I'm voting for a vice president,
(13:13):
for vice president Harris to beready to step up if he, you
know, has to leave. And I thinkthat might have been what was
going through their brains, asfar as, like, oh, well, we've
got a, you know,when they were trying to, you
know, getting the calls to stepdown, like, we have to win. It's
our, you know, democracy dependson it our Republic, and so let's
(13:33):
get him elected, and then he canresign. But I wasn't in the
room. I don't know. Even thougheverybody, once you get elected
to a position in the party,everybody thinks you can have
inside information on that. Nosecret hotline and no, that's so
it's so true. And I wasexplaining that to Mackenzie, I
(13:56):
said, you know, it is i and evenbefore all of it, I was like, he
did the right thing for theparty, he did the right thing
for the country, and for that,you know, I feel like that was a
big move. And of course, on theother side, they're all ready,
you know, it's just, it's just,I'm just, I think I speak for
every literal person in theUnited States. We're just so
(14:18):
sick and tired of it. It just,it's exhausting. It's toxic. We
look like the a third worldcountry to everybody else in the
country in the world. And it'sjust, I don't understand why
people just can't get it. My dadtaught me that at a very young
age. He goes the Presidentdoesn't have that much power,
because you need to look ateverybody else around him.
(14:40):
That's where you need to focusyour votes. And which probably,
you know, I would have done hadthe race continued in the way
that it would. Is I would havespent devoted all my time, you
know, researching those asopposed to, okay, you know, I'm
not gonna let my party down. Ijust, I can't. I would never
have voted for that other one.
But.
But what are your let's talkabout Kamala. Kamala. Did I say
(15:05):
Kamala Kamala? That's what Ithought. That's what I thought.
So let's talk about her. VicePresident Harris. Let's talk
about Vice President Harris. Yousaid you had some reservations.
Yeah. I mean, I left she was oneof my top choices in 2020 during
that primary, I have been to anevent and heard her, heard her
(15:29):
speak. She is she's great. Ilove her. She's got a very
dynamic personality. She's supernice, she's, you know, she's
funny, she's professional, she'sauthentic, and, you know, I will
be absolutely thrilled if shebecomes our next president. I
(15:53):
have again, reservations, thoughI was so excited for Hillary to
be our president, and then thekind of depression and the
letdown that happened rightafter that was, you know, was
really, really, really roughtime. So I don't want to, you
know, I feel like I don't wantto get my hopes up and then have
them dashed, because we stilllive in a very racist, very
(16:15):
sexist country. But I amheartened by all of the
enthusiasm and all of the memesand all of the, you know, the
injection of hope that it's putinto people like you and into
young people. And, you know,there's tons of people who think
it's a great thing, and so wejust all need to get out there
and work to get her electeddespite the odds. And I know
(16:41):
just for us, we have gotten alike the number of volunteer
inquiries that we have gottenover the last you know, four
days is has been a great signthat people are energized and
ready to get out there and makesure that she gets elected.
(17:02):
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Here's the thing that I honestlyhave a big fear of, and that is
on the other side, these peopleare loose cannons. They are, and
(17:43):
I am actually, if they're aperson doesn't win and we
succeed. And when I am reallykind of scared as to what's
going to happen, yeah, no, I'mright there with you. I mean,
you need to keep those twodownstairs bedrooms empty. And
I will be on the next flight.
I'll figure something out to dowith my dogs, No, but seriously,
(18:06):
it is something that I'm veryconcerned about. I'm especially
with one of my children livingin Washington, DC, right? It
just these people will go offunhinged if a black woman is our
president, a black Asian woman,a black Asian woman who has no
children, yeah, no, that is,that is definitely very scary. I
mean, you know, January 6 wasjust shocking and yeah, made us
(18:29):
look like a third world country.
It brought back to mind when wewere going through covid. I
think my favorite meme aboutcovid Was that Canada has to
feel like they're living in theapartment above the crack house.
Yep. I mean, it's just what itlooks like. And you know, these
(18:52):
people don't care. They do notcare. I hadn't unfortunately, we
went to go see it wasn'tIndependence Day, but it was
some movie that we didn't thinkended up being what we didn't
think it was going to be. Andthat movie disturbed me. It
disturbed me because I it wasjust one. It was art imitating
life, or life imitating art,whichever way you want to do it,
(19:13):
Independence Day. It wasn'tIndependence Day. It was we just
went about a month and a halfago. I can't remember the name
of the name of the movie, but itwas, we thought it was going to
be an Independence Day kind ofmovie, and it ended up being
like a whole secession and, youknow, it was very disturbing. It
was so disturbing. And, youknow, I'm pretty I'm pretty
(19:34):
tough when it comes to thatstuff, so I'm just terrified
that something like that's goingto happen. Because these people,
like I said, these people areunhinged and it they don't care.
And I know, I know, as far asmovies go, a lot of people's
brains, especially once HulkHogan took the stage, was to
Idiocracy.
I didn't see Hulk Hogan. Ireally, really liked the guy
(19:57):
from the Teamsters. He gave areally.
Really good speech. And it wasinteresting, because I'm sure he
ticked off a lot of people inthat room because he was going
straight down the middle,because he's like, it's not my
job. He goes, I don't care,because I'm not here to piss
anybody off, you know. And butit was just interesting, if you
go and listen to his speech, I'msure these people were like, we,
like, we like, big companies.
(20:19):
And, you know, his whole thingwas like, I Well, not only that,
the Republicans try to shut downunions every chance they get. So
I am surprised they even invitedsomebody from the dumpsters.
Don't be there. Go check out. Gofind his interview or his
speech. It was a really, reallywell done speech. But yeah, for
me, I'm landing Kid Rock. Butyou saw by those people, and
(20:43):
whatever Lee Greenwood, orwhatever you you could just it
was very well orchestrated tohit their audience. It was their
target audience. They were goingto appeal to their target
audience. And how you roll outsome wrestlers and wrestlers and
things like that, and it's goingto make them all America,
America, right? Well into that,I've got to give Biden credit,
(21:03):
too, for waiting until aftertheir convention was over so
that now he's, you know, now theother guy is stuck with this
vice presidential candidate whoserved a different purpose while
Biden was still the one running.
Yeah. I mean, my my fear withBiden stepping down, in addition
a I was like, I was so sick ofhaving the conversation, and I
(21:27):
would try to talk people off theledge by explaining that part
about you're voting for theadministration, you're not
voting for the person. And sothink about it as if you are
already casting your vote forvice president Harris. Because
if Biden steps down, the onlyperson that it can be is Vice
President Harris, and I wasnervous that there would be
(21:50):
other people, other white guysin particular, who would be
stepping up, thinking that theycould then come in and somehow
take the nomination. So I wasworried about Vice President
Harris getting leapfrogged, andthat upsetting, you know, all
the people who are anti racist,in addition to all of the people
(22:11):
of color, and then, and, youknow, turn off them and make
them not want to vote. Have ourconvention be a, you know,
circus sideshow of multiplevotes. And, you know, ironic
that it's in Chicago,considering that the last time
we had a disastrous DemocraticParty convention, although I
guess I could argue that theBernie Hillary ones was pretty
(22:34):
disastrous, but the last one,the big one, was in Chicago, 68
so that should make it. Itshould be interesting. There was
something it may have beenyesterday, after his speech they
were doing that they wereshowing all the different
parallels between 68 and thisyear. And it was just like,
(22:55):
whoa. It's like a time. It'slike a time capsule. Yeah, yeah,
no. So I'm glad that it seemslike vice president Harris has
locked up all of the delegatevotes and all of the roll call
like, technically, she will bethe nominee before the
convention even convenes,because the roll call and The
(23:16):
actual delegate vote castinghappens now, like my delegate,
who's going, who lives here inEagle County, he put in his vote
today. So, yeah, I think thewhole timing of it, you can't
tell me, it wasn't orchestrated.
It just it was, of course itwas. I mean, the whole thing
everybody you know, theRepublicans being on such a big
(23:38):
high from that party, and nowthey're scrambling. You know,
they knew they could, they knewthey could beat the old white
guy, but now they have the oldwhite guy, so it's totally
different. But I'll say this.
I'm not, not saying that I likeit, but it was a very smart move
(24:00):
on Trump's part, to choose JDVance or someone
that age, I think, because, andthat's what we need to do,
that's what we need to have someof that youth on the Democratic
side. So yeah, it's nice nowwe've got someone that's going
to be our candidate that's twodecades younger than the
(24:20):
Republicans candidate. Butthat's what we need. We need
that that youth and Gen X ain'tstanding up to do it. Hell no,
we're like shit. No way.
Hey, nobody got time.
Y'all just fight for Vicebe like for vice president. Um,
who do you want vice presidentHarris pick. I love Roy Cooper.
(24:42):
I love Roy but I don't thinkit's him. I don't think, I don't
think he's the right choice. Ireally like the guy from
Illinois, jbrickson, yeah,really, yeah. But I also, we've
got him, we've got Cooper. I.
Think the one that she shouldtake is probably the guy from
(25:02):
Kentucky or Cher Yeah. Okay, whyI think, why don't you think Roy
is the right one?
He's, well, he won't get theNorth Carolinian Republican
votes for sure ever, because theRepublicans hate Roy Cooper. I
don't know if he's,well, maybe he's kind of calm
and complacent, which might be anice balance to her charisma. I
(25:25):
don't know you know who I reallywish it would be, but he's way
too young at this point. Is JeffJackson.
Yeah, Jeff Jackson is gonnahe'll probably go far. All
right, so why do you thinkBashir? I think it's more about
his location. It's about, youknow, being from Kentucky. I
(25:45):
think that's a very I think it'sa redder state than they think.
They want to say it's purple,but I think it's a much redder
state, you know, that I thinkit's a more middle aged, middle
income type vote that she'sgoing to need. That's just my
and I haven't done too muchresearch on any of them.
Obviously, I know Roy fromliving here, but Right, just
(26:09):
demographically, and then I'veseen the guy from Illinois. He
just seems kind of cool.
No, JB is very cool. I actuallyknow JB. He and my brother were
would hang out back in the day abit. So, yeah, I like JB. I
didn't even realize he was onthe short list at this point. I
(26:31):
like Cooper, because to offsetour black Asian fireball,
probably need, definitely need,a white you know, white
absolutely has to be a whiteguy. It absolutely does. And his
older years experience, he hasexperience working with a super
(26:51):
majority General Assembly andactually still manages to get
stuff done. I don't know thatNorth Carolina is in a situation
where it will help with theelectoral votes. What I've heard
from some folks is that there'sfour states that are really
(27:11):
going to make the difference asfar as the electoral count, and
that's Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,Michigan and Georgia.
So I think also, with VicePresident Harris being from
California, that having somebodyin the southeast would be
helpful and might help withGeorgia. So that's another
reason that I like Cooper. He'sone of he's one of the ones at
(27:34):
the top of my list. I thinkshe's probably going to have to
pick Shapiro, or actually takethat back. She might have to
pick Mark Kelly, althoughArizona isn't as you know, I
don't think it's as much inplay, but Mark Kelly checks off
a lot of those boxes of militaryand law and order and, oh yeah,
(27:56):
his wife almost died. That'sright, I forgot an astronaut,
you know, like and they weresaying that that those boxes
that he ticks off, you know,especially once you get to NASA
and the astronaut, it's likeeverybody wants to grow up to
either be president or anastronaut. So, you know, some of
these folks that are on thefence, which is really who she
has to go, who they really haveto attack. And, you know,
(28:17):
unfortunately, you know, afterthat first debate, I said it to
my mastermind girls and who werethere you and my friend Sarah
would get along really, reallywell. She's up in Vermont and
she she'sa dei expert. But I was like it
as much as it pained me to sayit after that debate, I was like
(28:37):
anybody, for a lot of peoplethat were probably sitting on
the fence, unfortunately,probably fell on the wrong side
of the fence. So we really havegot to get those people that are
really teetering. And I agree. Ithink somebody that I forgot
about him, yeah, he's he's cool.
I like him. And I yeah, I thinkhe would appeal to a lot of
people. I don't, and I think hewould, maybe that's my problem
(28:58):
with Roy Cooper. I just don'tthink he has the same appeal.
He's very safe, like the likeyou were just saying, the guy,
you know, the guy's anastronaut. I mean, I love Roy. I
got to meet his wife last year,but I think he's not an
astronaut. No, Roy's not anastronaut. The other guy's an
astronaut. Roy's definitely notan astronaut.
Well, and that's the thing, is,I don't think that. I don't
(29:21):
think Governor Cooper has thename recognition in the rest of
the country. I think Mark Kellyhas the most out of those four,
unless you're from Chicago andyou know the Pritzker Family,
obviously, since that's Hyatt,yeah, yeah, I think he
definitely could win some ofthose undecideds that are
sitting on the fence cool,he's an astronaut. What else
(29:44):
we're wrapping up on 30 minutes?
So what else can you tell usthat we need to be looking for
what's going to happen next?
We've got the we've got the DNCcoming up. DNC is coming up.
Yeah. I mean, just what did Ithink something.
One, the one thing that I when Iwas gonna say, did I hear
something that there's not goingto be a debate between Trump and
(30:06):
Harris, that he doesn't wantone? Of course, he doesn't, he
doesn't want. He's walking back.
He knows that she would cleanhis clock, blabber him, run
circles around him, literally.
And I, I think also that thefact that Vice President Harris
(30:27):
is a little bit of a while, thelike the coconut memes being a
perfect example, she will saywhat she wants to say. She's
she's less scripted, I guess,and less reserved. Whereas, I
think, in the debate, forinstance, between Trump and
Secretary Clinton, that she wasplaying it cool and wasn't, you
(30:53):
know, didn't really go afterhim. Biden would do the same
thing. I don't think that VicePresident Harris would hesitate
for a second to come after himand call him out. And so he does
not want that, obviously. Soyeah, he's saying that ABC
shouldn't, or CBS, or whoeverwas supposed to host it is
biased, and that instead itshould be hosted by Fox, who, of
(31:17):
course, isn't biased, whatever,not against him, against that
side,but yeah. I mean, I think the
biggest thing that I learnedafter, after, in 2016
was that the we're stuck with atwo party system for better or
for worse, probably worse,because the two party system
(31:40):
just perpetuates itself and isset up to do exactly that and
not allow their parties to comein. And so you have so many
people, like the majority of thepeople in this country, are now
unaffiliated, and what thatdoes, unfortunately, is the
folks who aren't a member of theparty, let alone actually
(32:01):
involved in the party. You know,going to meetings, you know,
going to your local meetings,connecting with other Democrats,
becoming a precinct organizer.
Those folks have a lot of power,because they're the ones who
elect the leaders of theircounty and of their state, and
so if you we're all notinvolved, because the party is
(32:24):
not like, this thing that'slike, you know, there's no
conspiracy theory. There's no,like, you know, big meeting
room. It's, and this goes forboth parties. There's no, you
know, there's, it's allvolunteers. I mean, I'm a
volunteer. Everybody's avolunteer, except for maybe a
few people who are at the statelevel, depending on the state,
(32:46):
obviously. But for the mostpart, everybody else is not
paid. We're doing this becausewe don't want to leave it our
party to the crazy people, like,if you're not involved, then you
get the people who are, youknow, if we don't have more
people involved, then it's thepeople who have the, you know,
the Zealots and the and theideologies that lean too far one
(33:10):
way or the other, who then arethe ones making the decisions
and picking the nominees andpicking the people, the people
who are Leading the state partywho are then electing the
delegates who are going to goto, you know, go to the national
convention. So, you know, Iwould just encourage people to
get involved. Call your countyparty, you know, attend a couple
(33:33):
meetings. I know it's scary, butknock on some doors. They're not
going to send you to doors thatare going to be, you know,
someone who's not going to agreewith you. I mean, every door
I've knocked on, people havebeen, you know, receptive and
happy to see somebody from theparty. Because the other
complaint is, well, I never hearfrom you unless you want my
(33:55):
vote. Well, you are actually,you are actually me, and we
could all be doing thistogether, and that's what we
should be doing. I think thatthat we do a big disservice to
our children. We teach themabout, you know, the three
branches of government, but wedon't teach them about politics
and the importance of theimportance of the parties and
(34:16):
how the parties operate and howour elections operate because
that lack of education has ledto a lot of fear, a lot of
misunderstandings, a lot offalse assumptions that you know,
somehow our elections aren'tsecure, etc, well, and I think
something too. And I wastelling, I said, made this
(34:37):
comment to somebody the otherday, is your far left and your
far right are the loudest. Thepeople in the middle are the
biggest right and it I think,because they're so what people
that are in the middle arefocused on is how loud the two
sides are, the left and theright, the far left.
(35:00):
And far right? And that it'sjust like, well, I don't want to
get involved in that. I don'twant to have to deal with that.
Bs and so, but that's why,another reason why it is so
important to have the commonperson like us in there to, you
know, you know, help with that,and go like, you know, and we
don't have, okay, I'm gonna askyou real quick and see if we can
(35:21):
do this real quick, talk to meabout the project 2025 because I
don't really, I don'tunderstand. I do, but I haven't
taken the time to sit down andreally dig into it. Yeah. So, so
project 2025 is a blueprint 920page document that the Heritage
Foundation developed with anumber of authors for what their
(35:46):
vision for America is, and thatincludes,
you know, eliminating thedepartment of education
nationwide, abortion and birthControl bans. You know, changing
this like being able tobasically fire every single
civil servant so that all ofour, you know, all of our
(36:12):
federal and state agencies arepopulated with, you know,
whoever bought their way intothe position through either you
know, whatever, cronyism. Rightnow, a lot of those positions
are protected to a certainextent by law that, you know,
it's hard to fire somebody who'sworking for the government
without some really good cause.
So, yeah, I mean, there's a lotof scary things in Project 25
(36:36):
I'll send you, I'll send you avideo and a couple summaries
that you can look at, butbasically it was written. And
the reason that it scares me, asfar as why I think it's real and
why it would, you know, it istotally their vision and that
they would start enacting it isbecause some of the things have
already started to happen.
(36:59):
Number one, but number two, thesame, you know, the same group
of folks got together and puttogether the plan for
gerrymandering, like for goingat these low level like school
board meetings and city councilsand taking over those boards,
and then getting all of thedistrict lines gerrymandered in
(37:19):
such a way that, mean, NorthCarolina is purple, but you
wouldn't know it based on theway our representatives get
elected, because it's beengerrymandered so bad that
Democrats just can't even win,like the legislature's choosing
their voters, as opposed tovoters choosing their
legislators.
Yeah, it's intense. It really isintense. And, you know, without
(37:43):
knowing enough about it, Ididn't want to even pretend to
speak on it, but so we are goingto wrap up. This has been an
extremely enlightening anddelightful conversation, and I'm
glad Sunday happened gonna beexciting now, so it's but I
think it's gonna get really,really nasty again, probably
nastier than it did in the lastelection. And man, people just
(38:07):
stay in your lane. Seriously.
All right, friends, until nexttime, may you have a delightful
evening, day, afternoon,whatever it is, what time of the
day it is for you and I, asalways, thank you so much for
being here. As the saying goes,you don't have to go home, but
you can stay here, and that's awrap for this week's episode. A
big thanks to my guests forsharing their story and to you
(38:29):
for listening. Don't forget toshare the show with your friends
and spread the words. And ifyou'd like to be a guest on the
show, the link is in the shownotes, until next time, cheers.
You
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