October 21, 2025 • 64 mins
During the Birmingham stop of her nationwide book tour, Vice President Kamala Harris sits down with Charlamagne tha God to discuss her book '107 Days,', sharing insights into her experiences on election night, personal challenges, and reflections on critical issues facing the nation. Kamala discusses topics from grieving the past election to the impact of misinformation and the role of young voters. She also addresses misconceptions about her public persona, the importance of staying hopeful, and the future of American democracy. Don't miss this deep and heartfelt discussion.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Birmingham.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Get about your seats. Come on, get about your seats.
It makes some noise for our father. Vice President Ms
Connell had.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Good evening. Good evening everyone, Charlomagne.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How are you here? We go again? Okay, we are here.
How many people have read the book? One hundred and
seven days?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Fantastic greed? Fantastic greed. What's what's the part of those
one hundred and seven days? You you still can't talk
about even now, cause there's two days missing from the book.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I think it's the eleven from the twelve of October.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Oh, that's interesting. You counted in all seriousness. Probably the
most difficult, in fact, the most difficult chapter to write
was about election night. So the night before the election,
(01:01):
Doug and I and the kids and my grandnieces and
we all we were in Philly and did a big
rally there like thirty thousand people. We were on the
Rocky steps, and then we flew back to d C.
Got there past midnight on election day, and then the
(01:25):
next morning Doug and my brother in law Tony went
to go campaign in Michigan, and I did a bunch
of stuff in DC. And it was not until I
was writing the book that Doug told me about what
(01:46):
he experienced on election day and night, because you know,
in writing the book, I'm recreating and just remembering one
hundred and seven days, and I would from time to
time in writing the book check in, right, so this
is what I experience on that day. What did you experience?
And so when I sat down and write that chapter,
Doug and I sat down and it was Charlemagne. It
(02:08):
was the first time he and I had talked about
election night. Wow. You know, there are moments where you
experienced something that's so heavy and traumatic that it takes
a minute to be able to talk about it, and
so we hadn't. And so it wasn't until the writing
(02:29):
of the book that I learned what happened during Doug's
day on election Day, which is he and Tony, my
brother in law, went to Michigan. It felt good on
the ground. People on the ground were like, this is good.
Were winning. And then on their way back to DC,
they got a call from a friend of ours who's
a Democrat who speaks on Fox News. And this friend
(02:54):
called to say he was in the war room, in
the boil room at Fox News and said to them,
what are you all hearing because I'm concerned about what
I'm hearing, and that caused, as you can imagine, Doug
and Tony to be very concerned. So when Doug came
back to the house in d C. And the house
was at that point full of family because every election
(03:16):
that I've run, on election night, we do a friends
and family small dinner before we go to the election
campaign headquarters. So I was busy doing all that. I
could tell something was a little off, but I was preoccupied.
What I learned in writing the book is Doug went
straight up the stairs, went to the shower and prayed.
(03:38):
And it was really interesting because then we talked about
the night and I said, Honey, you remember when I
stood up and gave a toast to our family to
thank them for all they gave and sacrificed. And He's like, you,
you didn't stand up and give it to He didn't.
He was so that evening overwhelmed almost by what he
(04:00):
had heard, that that was the only thing on his mind.
But he didn't want to tell me for because he
really just prayed it it wouldn't be right and true.
And so then we learned about the outcome of the
election and I will tell you the only thing I
could say over and over again, had no other words,
(04:22):
was my God, My God, My God. And that night
I and for quite some time, I had not felt
an emotion like I felt since my mother died. And
it was I was grieving for our country because I
knew what was going to happen. I knew what was
(04:42):
going to happen. And to write that chapter resurfaced all
of those feelings and memories in a way that was
very difficult. But it was important to.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Tell how did you get over that grief? I mean,
haven't even been a year yet.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, it was well. Writing the book was part of
the process of reflection. And you know, I mean even
the day after the election. So we had planned that
on election night we would be giving a victory speech
at alma mater at Howard University, and you know, and
(05:27):
and of course that was not to be, and so
we asked people that night to come back the following day,
and I went back the following day to give a
speech that was my concession speech. And in writing the speech,
I was trying to figure out how to reconcile that
(05:49):
at almost every rally I would end the rally by
saying when we fight, we win, because that is what
I believe and know to be true. It is a
lived experience. But I needed to figure out how to
reconcile that with the outcome of that election, and to
hopefully give the thousands of people who turned up the
(06:10):
next day something that would not allow them to feel defeated.
And it wasn't. It was actually in the car on
the way to Howard that I then wrote into this
speech to reconcile that because it wasn't as simple as oh,
you win some, you lose some, right, And so that's
when I wrote in the speech that sometimes the fight
(06:32):
takes a while. Sometimes the fight takes a while, and
to leave people with that sense of it. And that's
how I felt after the election. Part of it in
dealing with my grief was, look, we got it. It's
not just about one moment. It's that the fight is
(06:54):
in an ongoing fight. You know. I used to always
quote Kretit Scott King, who would say the fight for
civil rights must be fought in one with each generation.
This is the nature of it. And after we left
DC after the inauguration on January twentieth, we went back
to La and I literally and figuratively unpacked boxes and
(07:19):
went through a lot of reflection in a way I
hadn't allowed myself in those hundred and seven days. I'm
very task oriented, but I allowed myself to reflection. And
you know, sometimes for anyone who has dealt with well,
we're all dealing with it, aren't we. I mean, how
you doing.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Right? Right? You know? So we in many different ways,
we've all been processing it right. And I and part.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Of the reason I wrote, yes, you're still processing it.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, but that's but part of but part of the reason,
one of the reasons I wrote the book also is
to remind us of what we felt during those hundred
and seven days, because there was an incredible optimism and
a feeling about the potential of our country. And dare
I say joy? Dare I say joy? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
That? Because you don't?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But no, it's it was because of you.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
That campaign was dead before you.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Okay, But here's the thing. Here's the thing, the joy
and the feelings that people had, it was it's inside
of you. It's inside of you. And part of the
reason that I wrote the book is to hopefully remind
us that that is inside of us. And We cannot
(08:56):
let anyone election, or individual or circumstance etish that light.
We have that light, right and we have to see
it in each other, and in particular in moments of darkness.
It is that light and shining the light then on
the path in a moment of darkness toward what we
(09:19):
know is right and just and hopefully you know, we've
all had some time, however, we needed to take it
to process, to grieve, to feel the anger, the righteous anger,
the sadness, the depression, all of that. But we cannot
(09:41):
allow that individual in the White House, or the people
around him, or this circumstance in any way dampen our
sense of what is possible and what we believe in
our country. Our spirit can can not be defeated if
(10:01):
we don't let them so.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, what's the biggest misconception about you that you stopped.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Trying to correct?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't know. Tell me.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I mean, I think there's a lot of misconceptions.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Just because you know, and you've spoken about this, people
didn't really know you, right, and one hundred and seven
days isn't enough time to really get.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
To know it for you at that time.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I think people are getting to know you more
now on these book tours than they did.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
You know why you was campaigning.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I think we definitely needed more time, There's no question
about that. I mean for a number of reasons, including
one of the one of the things that the issues
that I think was probably the most important issue for
people who voted in the election was bringing down prices.
And I really had and ran on exactly that point.
(10:59):
But didn't you know the people in marketing say, you
need to hear the same thing three times for it
really to sink in. And that's about time, right and
having the ability to do that. And for example, one
of the things that we started to see was really
people were starting to hear and know about my priorities.
(11:20):
An example was what I intended to do, which is
to have Medicare cover home health care, which is a
big issue for so many people, and it's an issue
that was personal to me. I took care of my
mother when she was sick, when she was dying of cancer.
And there are so many people, especially in the Sandwich
generation right now, as we call it, people who are
(11:43):
right in the middle who are raising their young children
and taking care of their elderly parents and relatives. Who
are just trying to make it all work and having
Medicare cover home health care so they don't have to
go bankrupt or quit their job and not be able
to have the dig that everyone in that household deserves. Well,
(12:05):
it was starting to take hold, but we didn't really
have enough time for enough people to know. That's part
of what I stand for. The issue of affordable housing
is one of the biggest challenges in our country and
has been for a long time, including one going after
(12:26):
corporate landlords, which is part of my agenda. A twenty
five thousand dollars down payment assistance for first time home
buyers was part of the agenda. Taking on price gouging
was part of the agenda, right, but it took time.
(12:46):
And that's just a reality of the challenges of this
which is it was unprecedented in so many ways that election,
because think about it, the President of the United States
is running for re election. Three and a half months
before the election, decides not to run, The sitting vice
(13:08):
president takes up the mantle against the former president of
the United States who had been running for ten years,
with one hundred and seven days to come.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Lord have mercy.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
But the other point that must be made just for
the point of clarity for this person in the White House.
It was the closest presidential election in the twenty first session.
He does not have a mandate. He does not have
a mandate.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He keeps disputing that.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
By the way, every time you say that, he says
that's not true. I don't know why he hell been.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
On perpetuating lines. And I mean, it's a fact. It's
just a fact.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I want to stick to the money of it all,
you know, and we talk about this every time we're together.
But it's true, and I want people to understand this.
The economy does better when they're the Democrat in the
White House.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's right, Like that is just that's right, a statistical fact.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I mean he's been in eight months and people is
broke right now.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But why doesn't that stick. Why don't Democrats? Why aren't
they known as the party that gets the economy?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Boomb I think that we need to keep working on
making sure that people understand we prioritize their immediate needs.
And that is an ongoing challenge, and it is about
the fact that we stand for. I mean everything that
I ran on we stand for extension of the child
(14:43):
tax credit, we stand for affordable childcare, for paid leave,
and these are the issues that are the immediate issues
that people need to have addressed. I have talked about
the fact that, you know, one of the reasons that
I ran on those issues and it was a priority
for me, is because I realized that over the four
(15:04):
years that we were in the White House, I think
we really should have considered putting those issues before infrastructure
and the Chips Act, And those are both important things.
We need to upgrade America's infrastructure. It created jobs, Chips Act,
the America needs to be a leader on this technology
(15:25):
and now outsourcing it to our adversaries. But dealing with
the immediate needs of the people has to be our
first priority, because folks in our country right now are
trying to get through the week much less than month,
and I feel strongly that we have to really be
(15:48):
grounded in that while we also see what's coming.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You talk in the book a lot about how perception
can eclipse truth. Right, do you think we'll ever get
back to where truth will solely better?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Truth matters? But one of the issues that has kept
me up at night for a long time and before
the election, during the election, and now is the rampant
amount of miss and disinformation? And I will tell you
it is. You know, when I was in the United
States Senate, I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
(16:23):
and we investigated Russia's interference in the twenty sixteen election,
and we declassified a lot of that investigation to make
it public. And one of the things that we saw
in our investigation was that this adversarial nation targeted vulnerable
communities with miss and disinformation, and particular targeted the black
(16:44):
community and brown communities with an understanding that there are
certain communities that have a learned experience and a history
of distrusting the system and government and will be then
a prime target for those who are trying to create
discord and division and distrust. And the issue of missing
(17:07):
disinformation is not new. It is centuries old. It maybe
through flyers and other means, but it is centuries old.
But normally to have an impact, it would have to
be nation states engaged because of the resources required to
have a lot of people hear the same thing over
and over again. Because of technology, the bar to entry
(17:32):
in terms of sending out information that hits a lot
of people is much lower. The positive side of that
is that there is also we've democratized information, right, anybody,
if you have a good message, can get it out
and you don't have to have it filled through some
powerful source. And anybody who's got a bad message, if
(17:54):
it's crafted the right way to tweak the right emotions,
will get to a lot of people. And don't discount
how foreign governments will then manipulate that, and how bad
actors will manipulate that with bots to make it flow
through a lot of people, to manipulate their perspective on
(18:16):
reality and truth.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
How come democrats can't get a foreign government to help them.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You've got to cheat back sometimes.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Well, because we believe in the power of the American
people to express their power and their vote and their voice,
and I certainly do, and I believe that one of
this one of our greatest challenges, is this issue of
missing disinformation, and that it will be the power of
(18:48):
the people as much as anything else that will have
the capacity to counteract that. Because, let me just tell
you to be very candid, I don't see, for example,
the use of the abuse of technology being curbed by
the technology industry itself. There are some actors within it
(19:10):
that will do good work, but you know, you've seen
how they're dismissing and getting rid of in their companies
and corporations, the people who are supposed to be responsible
for tracking this and disinformation. I do worry and I'm
concerned that Congress right now for sure will not be
(19:31):
the place that is going to put guardrails in to
curb the aspects of technology that create harm. So then
one has to ask, if it's not going to come
from the industry, if it's not going to come from
the legislators on high, where else could it come from.
Here's what I posit to you, the people, because as
(19:55):
much as anything else, we are also consumers, and the
voice of the consumer to demand what they expect and
want from an industry can be very powerful when we
put it into play, powerful, and so part of that
(20:16):
is about helping people understand how fact is being manipulated,
so we know who to ask and what to ask,
and not just ask, but demand better in terms of
you know, these huge companies and corporations pushing through their
their mechanisms so much that is just patently obviously not
(20:39):
true or factual You've.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Been in politics a long time.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Why are these, you know, major corporations in these institutions
just bend in the knee to the current president.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
So, as you and I have talked about before, I
did predict almost everything that has happened fact, but I
did not predict the capitulation titans of industry bending the
knee at the foot of a tyrant feckless. I use
the f word feckless. And here's as we have discussed.
(21:18):
You know, I said it on the debate stage. The
man in a white house, he loves flattery and favor.
So for those titans of industry who want to have
their merger approved, or avoid an investigation, or just be
(21:40):
close to power, we are seeing whether it be saying
that the man should get the Nobel Prize, Peace Prize,
to just being silent. And part of the dynamic that
is at play that we have to see is part
(22:01):
of the game they're playing is to basically suggest, and
it's about scapegoating and just gaslighting, to suggest to the
American people that your predicament is because of the people
who are relatively powerless, instead of to distract you from
(22:24):
focusing on the people who are powerful. Right. They're essentially
saying to people, you have less because of people who
have even less than you. That's part of what's going
on right now, and we have to see through it
in a way that we understand where the real responsibility lays,
(22:47):
whether it be among members of Congress. And I do
not absolve elected Republicans from their responsibility. I served in
the Senate, and I know that a lot of them
know what this is and that it's wrong. I know
they know it, and they're not saying anything because they
(23:09):
want to be close to power or preserve their standing
and preserve wearing that pin on their lapel and having
a bunch of interns follow them around instead of speaking
truth with clarity and conviction. And then you see the
ones who have done it or are prepared to do it,
(23:32):
are deciding not to run for reelection. So you know,
there's a lot of there's a lot of cowardice that
we are witnessing.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
How hard is it for you to not get on
Twitter three times a week and just post I was
right about everything.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I think you should do it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You said no theory because you said it takes three
times for messaging to connect with people. I think you
need to keep telling people that over and over and
over all.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Right, at least I told you so that's less characters.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It's just not my style. But I'm part of what
I have reflected on, though, is that not only is
it about what we predicted and so many of us did,
about what this would be, but also let's reflect on
the fact that this thing did not just happen overnight,
(24:35):
and that this what we are witnessing, though it feels chaotic,
is actually a high velocity event that is about the
swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in
the making. And so one I would recommend that you know,
for those of us who are Democrats, that we not
(24:56):
be so fixated on one individual that we lose sight
of what is facilitated and surrounds that one individual. And
two that we understand the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, this
project twenty twenty five did not fall out of thin air.
(25:17):
It was It is the culmination of decades of work
going after the Department of Education and Public Education. Did
not just happen overnight. That has been part of an
agenda for a very long time. And then you know,
if you look at how we got here in terms
of the path toward encouraging somebody like the current president.
(25:41):
You know, I just think about I see it as
kind of a combination of the celebrity of Ronald Reagan,
the base level of discourse from neuk Ingridge, the nativism
from Pat Buchanan all into one. Right, This didn't just
(26:04):
happen overnight. And part of what I hope in our
reflection of the one hundred and seven days is to
reflect on the years leading up to those days, so
that we can have a clarity about where we are
now and what the challenges are and what our mission
must be.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
That's why I think one hundred and seven days is
so important, you know, because you are questioning everything that
you know went wrong over those one hundred and seven days,
and I think it'll help Democrats in the future. But
when I think about that, like what went wrong over
these past decades that Republicans were even able to implement
something like Project twenty twenty five and executed, well, look.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
I mean here right here in Alabama, we can look
in this region of our country. The jerrymandering, the taking
over of state houses. It's been it's been very methodical, right,
which is start local, start statewide, and then guess who
(27:06):
you're going to be sent into Congress. I mean, think
about this that we all know this, three co equal
branches of government. The Congress is supposed to be a
stopgap on the excesses and abuses of the executive. So
how about this example, the executive branch through this president
(27:27):
and his Secretary of Education and others, trying to get
rid of the Department of Education. Well, constitutionally not allowed
to do that without Congress. But these feckless so and sos.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You know, crazy, right, y'all don't know she talked. She
talks crazy.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I just know how to pronounce words correctly.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I'm glad you have optimism. I have optimism as well.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
But you know, I was looking at like, if they're
not so Supreme Court, you know, guts the voting rights ach.
I was looking at what the redistricting map would look
like for the South.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It's like, how do you have optimism when they're doing
things like that?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
It is The optimism is about knowing what we fight for.
The optimism is about we cannot afford to give up.
The optimism is about we cannot afford are nor will
we be passive? Right, That is the optimism. The optimism
is about our spirit will not be defeated. The optimism
(28:45):
is about the powers with the people, and we are
not allowing anyone to take our power from us.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That is.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
That is where I derive my optimism, knowing that is
part of the nature and our culture as Americans, that
we are up for a good fight when the things
that we hold dear are on the line. And back
to your point about the South, it is here. I mean,
you all in Birmingham are you are the standing in
(29:19):
the legacy. You are the legacy of the people who
fought for our nation to have a conscience around notions
of equality and fairness and justice and civil rights which
benefit everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Lord have Merton. I don't want to fight that hard,
but I guess we ain't got no choke.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
We have to. We have to. It is Listen, there
is nothing that you can take for granted if you
are not vigilant. And look, we're here for real talk. Look,
it may get worse before it gets better. Okay, it
may get worse before it gets better. And I hope
in these nine months, I pray that we have all
(30:12):
found a way to the extent necessary to heal, to revive,
to have a moment of rest, to have a moment
of reflection, and then to get back out there. Tomorrow
is no King's Day, right right, take it to the
(30:36):
streets and peaceful protests. The midterms are coming up. We
have elections. You know. People have asked me. I just
did an interview earlier and the report asked me, well,
do you what is your role? I said, well, I'm
a leader of the Democratic Party. I am a leader
and my intention. My intention is that we win. That
(30:57):
we win, and it's about election. It's about winning in
terms of fighting for the principles behind our constitution, the
integrity of our nation and our values. Like we have
to know we are winners and know that we fight
like winners because we know what we stand for, so
(31:20):
we know what to fight for. That's what this moment
is right now.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Are you going to take time to enjoy yourself on
your upcoming birthday?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Oh? Yeah, you know right about So if my birthday's
coming up.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, the dove knows that it's time, right and I
know it In the book you kind of forgot last year.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, so I tell a story about I love my
husband so much. I love my husband so much. I
love my Tugie so much. But yeah, that was not
a good birthday.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You got trigger just now just thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Okay, what happened was so what happened was this? So
my birthday is is is just days before the My
birthday is October twenty so so so thank you so so. Anyway,
we were, as you can imagine, knee need deep in
(32:20):
the campaign, and Doug and I, Doug, my husband and I,
we had basically, you know, like so many of our families,
we had you know, split up to everybody being somewhere
that we needed to be, and our teams had conspired
so lovingly that he and I would end up in
the same place the night of my birthday. Yeah, so
(32:50):
you're gonna ask me, did Doug plan a dinner?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
No? I read the book. I know he didn't.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
He didn't. So then it came time for the birthday gift.
I opened the gift. I told you my birthday is
October twentieth. The gift was a necklace that it was engraved.
(33:16):
It was not October twentieth, it was the date of
our anniversary. Because Doug had clearly thought he was going
to get a two fur with that one gift.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Need you to do better this year? Doug.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Okay, fourthday hit and he was so and it was
it was leading up to the World Series, and so
we had had we had dinner and which I selected,
and we had a little cupcake and I blew out
the candle and I was done. And so I went
(33:57):
to go take a bath because actually during the camp
and I highly suggest it for anybody who has a
bathtub that it is a really wonderful way to distressed
at the end of the day. Yes, with epsom salt
with EBB some salt. Right, So I went to go
take a bath. Doug was watching the baseball game, and
then I realized in this hotel and they had it
(34:20):
was a nice little sweet they got us for that night,
and the towels were on the other side of the bathroom.
So of course I'm vice president running for president the
United States. So I had my phone next to the bathtub,
and but first I just called out to my husband,
dougie nothing. Then I went to Doug calling him out,
(34:47):
Doug nothing. And then it's real serious when I go Douglas.
So I picked up the phone to call him. He
didn't answer, so then I FaceTime audio him. Here's how
(35:08):
he answered, what's up? And that was it, and so
we got into it a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Rightfully.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But here's the thing about my husband and about that moment.
We all, in our relationships, in whatever form you have,
go through stressful moments and go through you know what
life brings. There are joy and there is also stress.
And my husband said to me at that moment, he
(35:48):
looked at me and he just poured cold water on
the heat of that moment, and he looked at me
and he said, we cannot turn on each other. And
it was so poignant. And you know, I tell a
few stories like that about just what this was because Charlemagne.
(36:08):
In many ways, I just wanted to write this book
to also just lift the hood on what happens behind
the scenes in every way. I think there's so much
about I mean, obviously the office of president is and
it affects the entire globe, but there's so much about
(36:29):
the process that's very opaque that people unless you've been
personally involved at a very close level, you don't really
have a sense of And I wanted to help people
have a sense of it in a way that I
hope helps people see where they could fit in or
be involved or a part of it, and feel a
sense of understanding what it all involves so that we
(36:51):
can all participate in an active way.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
It feels like this is the first time that you
get to control your own narrative, because I feel like,
you know, even when you first ran for president back
in twenty twenty, from that time until now, it's people
that have been trying to control your narrative. They've been
trying to shape who Kamala Harris is to the people,
as opposed to Kamala Harris letting the people know who
she is.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Well, Look, there are all always when you put yourself
out there, and especially in this environment, be it just
for any of us, whether you have a public persona
or not, because of social media and so much else,
putting yourself out there in any way leads to invariably
(37:39):
that there will be people who misunderstand you on purpose
and even dislike you. And it is an awful feeling
to be misunderstood, much less dislike. But it's an awful
feeling to be misunderstood, and it is sadly, you know,
(38:02):
hopefully it is just a few. It is not everybody
but it is sadly an aspect of putting yourself out there.
And that's why I will always applaud anybody for putting
themselves out there for any reason, be it a job
or a promotion or applying for you know, school or
(38:24):
or or whatever. There is always going to be a
level of vulnerability associated with ambition. And I am in
that way no different than anybody who puts themselves out there.
That you are exposed to that and it is not
(38:44):
enjoyable and it can be painful.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But campaigns against.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
You, well yeah, I mean look when I when I
from the big when I ran for Attorney general, the
National Republicans put this was before I sitting since United
when they put a million dollar hit piece against me
when I ran for Attorney general in twenty ten, and
I asked my campaign consultant what is going on? And
(39:12):
he said, look, their theory is, you know, kill the
baby in the crib. I am, yeah, But.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
They don't believe in abortion, and we don't believe in killing.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Let's not go there, let's just not let's not do that.
But I do believe that it is important for one
to exercise their voice, and that's part of the reason
I wrote the book, which is, look this, these one
hundred and seven days are part of American history. It
is part of American history, and I wasn't about to
(39:48):
let history tell the story without my voice.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
So if there's one truth in one hundred and seven
days that might make people uncomfortable, what do you think
it is.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Well, it depends on who you are, right, I don't.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
I think that there are a number of conversations that
we need to have right now that are difficult conversations
that will make people uncomfortable. But now is the time
to have those conversations in a way that is not
intended to be confrontational or you know, to bring attention
(40:35):
to oneself, but just literally we've got some deep work
to do as a country. We really do. There's among
the things that is I think weighing on us and
I and so many people are feeling on edge, is
you know, we've always had a fair amount of cynicism
(40:56):
based on you know, trust of the system and government, right,
but I think it was really highlighted by the pandemic
when the rug just got pulled out from so many people.
So there is that trust around the individual and the
government and systems. But what also we are experiencing right
now that I think is so it's weighing us down,
(41:21):
is the high level of distrust between the American people.
And I don't mean just cannot leave my door unlocked,
I mean can I trust you to not be a
threat to my very existence? Right? And that's that's a
(41:46):
real issue right now for us as a country. And
this is where again I say the power is with
the people, because it is also about what we do
in our daily lives in the context of of whatever
our world is, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, are coworkers.
(42:07):
But to really work on these conversations and also to
understand that not everybody is working with the same information,
and we should not assume that we know someone else's
morals or principles or values on the assumption that we're
working with the same information. And that gets back to
(42:27):
the point of the rampant amount of miss and disinformation.
And part of the antidote to that is really working
on developing community and developing those relationships of trust, and
that requires work. Relationships and trust require work. We know
(42:49):
that we know that in our personal lives and our
professional lives and right now we need to do a
lot of work as a country on that.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Do you think the media ever truly wanted to understand you?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Yes? I do think they're Yes, I think. I mean, look,
the media is a broad thing, right, Like, did Fox
News want to understand me?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
No? No they didn't.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
But that was one of your favorite, my favorite interviews
of yours during the campaign though, when you went on
a because I was like, you know, I like when
you get at people, even when it's me.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
But I'm like, yeah, I like, I like that.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
But here's the thing, and I and I You're right.
In the book, I do talk a lot about the media.
And the thing that I was so disappointing about that
interview and I write about it, is that I was
told and believed that he would be tough.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
But fair on Fox News.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Yeah, but I know that. But you know what, but listen,
here's the thing. I was running to be president of
all Americans, including people who watched Fox News, and and
so I wasn't going to not give myself and them
an opportunity to have that conversation. But the way he
(44:11):
set up the interview was quite disingenuous, and I think
right now, we are faced with a real challenge around
media writ large. We are looking at a lot of
corporate run media. I would urge everyone to really support
(44:31):
independent media. You know, the climate is changing, so you know,
in addition to trusted sources I mentioned earlier, like AP
and you know New York Times. But really it's so
diffuse now. I was talking with a group of young
people earlier today here in Birmingham, and they were between
(44:55):
about age of eighteen and twenty two, and I was
asking him where do you get your news? And it's
all online. They're not really reading their news, They're they're
receiving it mostly through a video presentation, and it's through TikTok,
(45:15):
it's through Twitter, it's through the shade room through And
what they are yearning for, as they expressed to me
without me asking, is we know how we are being
treated like a commodity. They know it, our young leaders
(45:37):
know it, and they are yearning to have those conversations
where they can trust that fact and truth are being
sent their way. So there we are.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I thought you did a great job.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I mean, even when you read one hundred and seven days,
you did a great job of going to you know,
the legacy media outlets like The View, the Code Bands,
but then you still were doing the that's like that.
I thought that was a great way to do it
because you kind of got to meet everybody where they
are nowadays.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I thought you did a good that's of course with
with with the View. You know, you you had a
lot of regret over that moment in the book.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Yeah. There. I did an interview on The View shortly
before the election, and I was asked about the difference
between myself and Joe Biden, and it was in an
environment where there had been so much being sent his
way and I just wasn't about to pile on for
(46:41):
better and worse. I am a loyal person, and I
interpreted the question as requiring me to criticize him, and
I wasn't going to do that. What thank you. But
what I misinterpreted was that there was also a desire
(47:08):
for me to distinguish myself from him. But I thought
the differences were obvious, and you know, maybe I should not.
Maybe I should have probably given more thought to how
to point out you know, for example, I was focused
(47:31):
on what we need to do around childcare and those
kinds of things. So yeah, I do reflect on that
interview in the book and talk about that, And you do.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Talk about loyalty a lot in the book.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
You talk about your loyalty being tested, Like what's your
definition of loyalty in politics versus loyalty in friendship.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Oh, that's a great question. I mean, loyalty is about
as much as anything, not being a fair weather friend.
It's about standing with people when they're down and when
they're up. It's about you know, not you know, not
(48:09):
just fair weather. I'm with you when the times are good,
and and it's about you know, I think there is
loyalty is rooted and really caring about another person and
their well being. Loyalty I think is about for me,
(48:30):
you know, knowing life is long and I mean, look,
my best friend from kindergarten is still one of my
best friends, right, and that's just how I am.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
But even with that, like in the book, you know,
your loyalty was being questioned even though you was, you know,
loyal to the soil, Like your loyalty was being questioned
by you know, the Biden, Biden's wife in particular, and
Dougie had an issue with that, like that that didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Mean you feel a way.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
Nobody likes to have their loyalty or they're good questions,
but that was I mean, that was something that I
think needs to be put in context as well. But
the reality of it is that my focus was not
one not in the book and not on the campaign
(49:24):
trail about Joe Biden. My focus was on the fact
that I was running against Donald Trump and that that
needed to be the focus of everybody involved, as opposed
to trying to find some kind of palace intrigue in
terms of what was going on within our administration.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
When people say they still don't know who the real
Kamala Harris is, do you ever think to yourself, that's
because you're.
Speaker 3 (49:49):
Not ready for her, because I'm not.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
What do you ever think to yourself that's because you're
not ready for her as in me?
Speaker 3 (49:58):
I think there is some truth to that, I suppose,
but yeah, I don't know that people are asking that
question as much as they're asking how can we bring
down the cost of food?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
During the campaign, they were though, Like during the campaign,
they definitely were.
Speaker 3 (50:15):
Well, not seventy five million people. Seventy five million people
voted for me.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
I think, yeah, pact. You want to do some audience questions, sure,
Courtney Weaver. Oh how are you? Yeah, this is a
good question.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
How are you fostering hope during a time when hope
can feel lost?
Speaker 3 (50:36):
Oh? Courtney, are you here? Can we turn on the
lights so we can see everybody? Courtney, somebody's gonna turn
on the lights in here. Where are you? Wait? Wave
waves everybody around Courtney Wave.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Oh there were a great you just woke up. You
was on your on Instagram? Was something pay attention.
Speaker 3 (51:02):
Hope. So here's for example, I just ask everybody look
at each other, the person sitting next to you that
you don't know, and just say hello, and how you
do it right? My hope is is born out of
(51:26):
just the mood here and my knowledge that we want
to we love our country and we know it's our
country and we're prepared to fight for it. The same
(51:49):
people who came to the rallies by the tens of
thousands during those hundred and seven days still have that
sense of hope. I know it for what are our
country can be. They still believe it on behalf of
their children and the children and their lives. And hope
is an interesting thing is It's something that is ours
(52:12):
to have, but it can't be taken from us. We
can't let our hope be taken from us. It's something
that comes from inside of us that we have and
when we look around and see each other and we
know that this fight is worth it, that gives me hope.
(52:32):
That gives me hope, And it gets back to my point,
don't let any circumstances, situation diminish that light that when
I think about hope and light, it's part of the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Did you ever have to build that back up?
Speaker 2 (52:53):
Like was there ever a period like after election night
and now where you had to replenish that couple hope.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Well, I needed to take some time, and that's for sure.
I spent time, you know, with my family. I spent
a lot of time cooking. Doug's very happy. I needed
to take a minute. And you know, for example, for months,
(53:23):
I did not watch cable news. I just was not
going to I was watching the cooking channel full time.
So I knew I needed to take a minute to
just pull back because again, every day and still every day,
you see what's happening and we knew what could have been,
(53:47):
and it's very it's painful for all of us, and
most importantly, it's painful for the people who right now,
for example, starting on November first, their premiums are going
to go up in terms of the healthcare because the
Republicans who are in charge of the House to send
it in the White House. They're in charge. This is
(54:07):
their shutdown. This is their shutdown, right And you know,
so when you see bad things happening, it has a
way of being very deflating, and sometimes you need to
just step step back for a moment to realize it's
(54:28):
not everybody, and it's and and there are more good
people than there are those who are trying to cause destruction.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
You know, you asked me earlier it was the misconception
that people have you, And I just thought about it
that people I don't know if people really know you
really be cooking because I remember one time we were
in South Carolina. We was in Somerville, South Carolina, I believe,
and I think we were speaking. You were speaking at
a church. That's when you unveiled your mental health plan.
And I was with you, and you know that you've.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
Been a great leader on mental health.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
And it was when it was over you. You It
was like, look, I want to show you something. And
you had a trunk full of calligreens.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
And wasn't no cameras around. It was nothing. And she
asked me, say, you think I'm a little crazy walking
through the airport with all these calligreens.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
Okay, So here's what happened. It was Thanksgiving, yes, and
I was campaigning and my family we decided to spend
our Thanksgiving in Iowa, and I wanted to take my
(55:37):
callagreens from South Carolina. So I had plastic bags full
of fresh collar greens walking through the airport. I didn't care.
I was a good country woman. I was walking through
(55:58):
put in my collar.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
It's true story.
Speaker 3 (56:02):
It's a true story.
Speaker 1 (56:04):
Darryl Prewitt, he says, Madam Vice President.
Speaker 2 (56:07):
A lot of people in our communities feel like we
only get attention when it's election season, but not when
it's time for real investments. So my question is how
do we move from being needed from votes to being
valued for our power?
Speaker 1 (56:20):
Darryl Pruitt.
Speaker 3 (56:21):
Darryl, where are you there, darl there? You are hello? No,
you're right. I mean part of the work that elected
leaders have to do, that we all have to do
is not just come around election time and and it
can't be transactional.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
One of the reasons I decided not to run for
governor of California is I'm just I need I want
to be I want to be talking like to the
young people else talking with today in Birmingham, and it
not be transactional where I'm not there asking for their
vote and elected leaders people are running for office. Democrats
(57:08):
need to do a better job of that and being
present and listening. I mean as an extension at that point.
So part of what I am proposing to extend the
power of the people and to make sure that people
who have so much at stake are heard, is I
(57:32):
actually believe we need to bring down the age of
voting to sixteen. I do. So let that sit with
you for a minute. I know it's if you have
(57:53):
if you have sixteen year olds in your life, it's
a complicated thing I'm asking you.
Speaker 1 (57:56):
To think about.
Speaker 3 (57:58):
I mean, you can work and drive, it's but here's
the thing. The biggest issues that I think we are facing,
that are the most intractable, are directly going to impact
people who are in that generation. It is going to
(58:18):
there is so much about way the things have been
that for some of us, we're going to be okay.
But if you look at it in terms of the
future of work, for example, what technology is doing right
now to change the future of work in America and
the world is profound. Gen Z are from age thirteen
(58:43):
to about twenty seven to twenty eight. They are a
larger population of people than boomers. They have only known
the climate crisis. They missed substantial phases of their education
and socialization through the pandemic. Understand one in four Black
(59:05):
Americans lost a family member during the pandemic, So imagine
what that means in terms of the trauma for the
family unit. Understand that the statistics that I have seen
are that gen Z will come out of high school
or college having ten to twelve jobs in their lifetime.
(59:27):
Previous generations, the job you took out of high school
or college was pretty much the job you had until
you retired. For those who are in high school in
college right now, they're wondering, especially those who are in college,
if what they are studying is actually going to result
in a job that pays them. Right. The American dream
(59:54):
around the possibility of home ownership all of that. And
so when I think about if we were to allow
younger people to vote and what that would require of
people running for office, which is to not just talk
about right now, but what is your plan for the
(01:00:16):
next five, ten, and twenty years for our country, Because
it is they, our youngest generation, that are going to
either benefit or pay the price for what we are
doing right now. So there you go, think about it,
think about it. But I think it is it is
(01:00:37):
when we talk about listening to the people, and not
just around election time, because when I'm talking to young
people around our country, they're done with us. They are impatient.
They're like, you know what, y'all need to figure it
out or we're going to do it for you. So
there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
You know, in the book you write about democracy being fragile,
and we see that happening right now. Do you still
believe the system can can fix yourself from the inside?
Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
No, not necessarily. Okay, it pains me to say that.
I when I decided to become a prosecutor, I had
to defend that decision with my family. They were not
down with that decision, so many of them. And I said, look,
why is it that we are always thinking that for
(01:01:28):
systems that need change or reform, that we have to
be on the outside on Ben de knee or trying
to break down the door to get that improvement done.
I said, shouldn't we also think about being on the
inside of the system as a way to have an impact.
And I have believed that, and I've seen the benefit
(01:01:50):
of that my entire career. But to be very candid,
I perhaps naively thought the system and would be stronger
in this moment, and it's been. And I think that
without any question, the destruction caused by this administration in
(01:02:13):
this moment and the debris that will be left is
going to require some serious work, and it will need
to be without nostalgia about how things were, knowing that
there was a lot that was not working so well
(01:02:35):
and there was a lot that was working well, to
be sure, and the people inside, these career people who
have been there doing incredible God's work must be applauded always.
But the structure and the way we have designed some
of these systems has turned out to be quite flawed.
And so the change that we want and the improvement
(01:02:59):
that we're going to need, some of it will be
from inside the system. But I think a lot of
it is going to be because of the pressure that
the people put to say, this is how I want
my government to work for me. I think that's and
I think that perhaps in this moment of crisis, it
is going to one of the maybe opportunities in this
(01:03:19):
moment of severe crisis is that when we have to
then start figuring out how we're going to deal with
the debris and the cleanup, that it gives us an
opportunity to reimagine some of these systems to make them
more effective and responsive to the needs of the people.
Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Well, if one hundred and seven days was your closure
for one chapter, what's the new one you're ready to open?
Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Are you going to be part of that cleanup? Are
you going to be out there to shoot you?
Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
You know, it is my nature to serve. I'm not
going to stop serving, But right now my focus is
on winning, and so I'm going to be doing work
on behalf of folks in the midterms. There are two
important governor's races happening in the country right now, which
we should focus on. In New Jersey and Virginia. There's
(01:04:14):
the local work that's happening, and that's going to be
my focus. We have to win on everything, and it's
about not only elections, but around this war on disinformation
and also just lifting up the ability of us as
Americans to trust each other. There's a lot of work
(01:04:35):
to be done, and I'm in it and I'm here
for the fight.
Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Make some noise for the Madame Vice President John Kamala
Harris Birmingham, y'all have been amazing.
Birmingham.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Get about your seats. Come on, get about your seats.
It makes some noise for our father. Vice President Ms
Connell had.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Good evening. Good evening everyone, Charlomagne.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How are you here? We go again? Okay, we are here.
How many people have read the book? One hundred and
seven days?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Fantastic greed? Fantastic greed. What's what's the part of those
one hundred and seven days? You you still can't talk
about even now, cause there's two days missing from the book.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
I think it's the eleven from the twelve of October.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Oh, that's interesting. You counted in all seriousness. Probably the
most difficult, in fact, the most difficult chapter to write
was about election night. So the night before the election,
(01:01):
Doug and I and the kids and my grandnieces and
we all we were in Philly and did a big
rally there like thirty thousand people. We were on the
Rocky steps, and then we flew back to d C.
Got there past midnight on election day, and then the
(01:25):
next morning Doug and my brother in law Tony went
to go campaign in Michigan, and I did a bunch
of stuff in DC. And it was not until I
was writing the book that Doug told me about what
(01:46):
he experienced on election day and night, because you know,
in writing the book, I'm recreating and just remembering one
hundred and seven days, and I would from time to
time in writing the book check in, right, so this
is what I experience on that day. What did you experience?
And so when I sat down and write that chapter,
Doug and I sat down and it was Charlemagne. It
(02:08):
was the first time he and I had talked about
election night. Wow. You know, there are moments where you
experienced something that's so heavy and traumatic that it takes
a minute to be able to talk about it, and
so we hadn't. And so it wasn't until the writing
(02:29):
of the book that I learned what happened during Doug's
day on election Day, which is he and Tony, my
brother in law, went to Michigan. It felt good on
the ground. People on the ground were like, this is good.
Were winning. And then on their way back to DC,
they got a call from a friend of ours who's
a Democrat who speaks on Fox News. And this friend
(02:54):
called to say he was in the war room, in
the boil room at Fox News and said to them,
what are you all hearing because I'm concerned about what
I'm hearing, and that caused, as you can imagine, Doug
and Tony to be very concerned. So when Doug came
back to the house in d C. And the house
was at that point full of family because every election
(03:16):
that I've run, on election night, we do a friends
and family small dinner before we go to the election
campaign headquarters. So I was busy doing all that. I
could tell something was a little off, but I was preoccupied.
What I learned in writing the book is Doug went
straight up the stairs, went to the shower and prayed.
(03:38):
And it was really interesting because then we talked about
the night and I said, Honey, you remember when I
stood up and gave a toast to our family to
thank them for all they gave and sacrificed. And He's like, you,
you didn't stand up and give it to He didn't.
He was so that evening overwhelmed almost by what he
(04:00):
had heard, that that was the only thing on his mind.
But he didn't want to tell me for because he
really just prayed it it wouldn't be right and true.
And so then we learned about the outcome of the
election and I will tell you the only thing I
could say over and over again, had no other words,
(04:22):
was my God, My God, My God. And that night
I and for quite some time, I had not felt
an emotion like I felt since my mother died. And
it was I was grieving for our country because I
knew what was going to happen. I knew what was
(04:42):
going to happen. And to write that chapter resurfaced all
of those feelings and memories in a way that was
very difficult. But it was important to.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Tell how did you get over that grief? I mean,
haven't even been a year yet.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, it was well. Writing the book was part of
the process of reflection. And you know, I mean even
the day after the election. So we had planned that
on election night we would be giving a victory speech
at alma mater at Howard University, and you know, and
(05:27):
and of course that was not to be, and so
we asked people that night to come back the following day,
and I went back the following day to give a
speech that was my concession speech. And in writing the speech,
I was trying to figure out how to reconcile that
(05:49):
at almost every rally I would end the rally by
saying when we fight, we win, because that is what
I believe and know to be true. It is a
lived experience. But I needed to figure out how to
reconcile that with the outcome of that election, and to
hopefully give the thousands of people who turned up the
(06:10):
next day something that would not allow them to feel defeated.
And it wasn't. It was actually in the car on
the way to Howard that I then wrote into this
speech to reconcile that because it wasn't as simple as oh,
you win some, you lose some, right, And so that's
when I wrote in the speech that sometimes the fight
(06:32):
takes a while. Sometimes the fight takes a while, and
to leave people with that sense of it. And that's
how I felt after the election. Part of it in
dealing with my grief was, look, we got it. It's
not just about one moment. It's that the fight is
(06:54):
in an ongoing fight. You know. I used to always
quote Kretit Scott King, who would say the fight for
civil rights must be fought in one with each generation.
This is the nature of it. And after we left
DC after the inauguration on January twentieth, we went back
to La and I literally and figuratively unpacked boxes and
(07:19):
went through a lot of reflection in a way I
hadn't allowed myself in those hundred and seven days. I'm
very task oriented, but I allowed myself to reflection. And
you know, sometimes for anyone who has dealt with well,
we're all dealing with it, aren't we. I mean, how
you doing.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Right? Right? You know? So we in many different ways,
we've all been processing it right. And I and part.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Of the reason I wrote, yes, you're still processing it.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, but that's but part of but part of the reason,
one of the reasons I wrote the book also is
to remind us of what we felt during those hundred
and seven days, because there was an incredible optimism and
a feeling about the potential of our country. And dare
I say joy? Dare I say joy? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
That? Because you don't?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But no, it's it was because of you.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
That campaign was dead before you.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Okay, But here's the thing. Here's the thing, the joy
and the feelings that people had, it was it's inside
of you. It's inside of you. And part of the
reason that I wrote the book is to hopefully remind
us that that is inside of us. And We cannot
(08:56):
let anyone election, or individual or circumstance etish that light.
We have that light, right and we have to see
it in each other, and in particular in moments of darkness.
It is that light and shining the light then on
the path in a moment of darkness toward what we
(09:19):
know is right and just and hopefully you know, we've
all had some time, however, we needed to take it
to process, to grieve, to feel the anger, the righteous anger,
the sadness, the depression, all of that. But we cannot
(09:41):
allow that individual in the White House, or the people
around him, or this circumstance in any way dampen our
sense of what is possible and what we believe in
our country. Our spirit can can not be defeated if
(10:01):
we don't let them so.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Right, what's the biggest misconception about you that you stopped.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Trying to correct?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I don't know. Tell me.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I mean, I think there's a lot of misconceptions.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Just because you know, and you've spoken about this, people
didn't really know you, right, and one hundred and seven
days isn't enough time to really get.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
To know it for you at that time.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I think people are getting to know you more
now on these book tours than they did.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
You know why you was campaigning.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I think we definitely needed more time, There's no question
about that. I mean for a number of reasons, including
one of the one of the things that the issues
that I think was probably the most important issue for
people who voted in the election was bringing down prices.
And I really had and ran on exactly that point.
(10:59):
But didn't you know the people in marketing say, you
need to hear the same thing three times for it
really to sink in. And that's about time, right and
having the ability to do that. And for example, one
of the things that we started to see was really
people were starting to hear and know about my priorities.
(11:20):
An example was what I intended to do, which is
to have Medicare cover home health care, which is a
big issue for so many people, and it's an issue
that was personal to me. I took care of my
mother when she was sick, when she was dying of cancer.
And there are so many people, especially in the Sandwich
generation right now, as we call it, people who are
(11:43):
right in the middle who are raising their young children
and taking care of their elderly parents and relatives. Who
are just trying to make it all work and having
Medicare cover home health care so they don't have to
go bankrupt or quit their job and not be able
to have the dig that everyone in that household deserves. Well,
(12:05):
it was starting to take hold, but we didn't really
have enough time for enough people to know. That's part
of what I stand for. The issue of affordable housing
is one of the biggest challenges in our country and
has been for a long time, including one going after
(12:26):
corporate landlords, which is part of my agenda. A twenty
five thousand dollars down payment assistance for first time home
buyers was part of the agenda. Taking on price gouging
was part of the agenda, right, but it took time.
(12:46):
And that's just a reality of the challenges of this
which is it was unprecedented in so many ways that election,
because think about it, the President of the United States
is running for re election. Three and a half months
before the election, decides not to run, The sitting vice
(13:08):
president takes up the mantle against the former president of
the United States who had been running for ten years,
with one hundred and seven days to come.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Lord have mercy.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
But the other point that must be made just for
the point of clarity for this person in the White House.
It was the closest presidential election in the twenty first session.
He does not have a mandate. He does not have
a mandate.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He keeps disputing that.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
By the way, every time you say that, he says
that's not true. I don't know why he hell been.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
On perpetuating lines. And I mean, it's a fact. It's
just a fact.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I want to stick to the money of it all,
you know, and we talk about this every time we're together.
But it's true, and I want people to understand this.
The economy does better when they're the Democrat in the
White House.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
That's right, Like that is just that's right, a statistical fact.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
That's right, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I mean he's been in eight months and people is
broke right now.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But why doesn't that stick. Why don't Democrats? Why aren't
they known as the party that gets the economy?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Boomb I think that we need to keep working on
making sure that people understand we prioritize their immediate needs.
And that is an ongoing challenge, and it is about
the fact that we stand for. I mean everything that
I ran on we stand for extension of the child
(14:43):
tax credit, we stand for affordable childcare, for paid leave,
and these are the issues that are the immediate issues
that people need to have addressed. I have talked about
the fact that, you know, one of the reasons that
I ran on those issues and it was a priority
for me, is because I realized that over the four
(15:04):
years that we were in the White House, I think
we really should have considered putting those issues before infrastructure
and the Chips Act, And those are both important things.
We need to upgrade America's infrastructure. It created jobs, Chips Act,
the America needs to be a leader on this technology
(15:25):
and now outsourcing it to our adversaries. But dealing with
the immediate needs of the people has to be our
first priority, because folks in our country right now are
trying to get through the week much less than month,
and I feel strongly that we have to really be
(15:48):
grounded in that while we also see what's coming.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You talk in the book a lot about how perception
can eclipse truth. Right, do you think we'll ever get
back to where truth will solely better?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Truth matters? But one of the issues that has kept
me up at night for a long time and before
the election, during the election, and now is the rampant
amount of miss and disinformation? And I will tell you
it is. You know, when I was in the United
States Senate, I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
(16:23):
and we investigated Russia's interference in the twenty sixteen election,
and we declassified a lot of that investigation to make
it public. And one of the things that we saw
in our investigation was that this adversarial nation targeted vulnerable
communities with miss and disinformation, and particular targeted the black
(16:44):
community and brown communities with an understanding that there are
certain communities that have a learned experience and a history
of distrusting the system and government and will be then
a prime target for those who are trying to create
discord and division and distrust. And the issue of missing
(17:07):
disinformation is not new. It is centuries old. It maybe
through flyers and other means, but it is centuries old.
But normally to have an impact, it would have to
be nation states engaged because of the resources required to
have a lot of people hear the same thing over
and over again. Because of technology, the bar to entry
(17:32):
in terms of sending out information that hits a lot
of people is much lower. The positive side of that
is that there is also we've democratized information, right, anybody,
if you have a good message, can get it out
and you don't have to have it filled through some
powerful source. And anybody who's got a bad message, if
(17:54):
it's crafted the right way to tweak the right emotions,
will get to a lot of people. And don't discount
how foreign governments will then manipulate that, and how bad
actors will manipulate that with bots to make it flow
through a lot of people, to manipulate their perspective on
(18:16):
reality and truth.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
How come democrats can't get a foreign government to help them.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
You've got to cheat back sometimes.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Well, because we believe in the power of the American
people to express their power and their vote and their voice,
and I certainly do, and I believe that one of
this one of our greatest challenges, is this issue of
missing disinformation, and that it will be the power of
(18:48):
the people as much as anything else that will have
the capacity to counteract that. Because, let me just tell
you to be very candid, I don't see, for example,
the use of the abuse of technology being curbed by
the technology industry itself. There are some actors within it
(19:10):
that will do good work, but you know, you've seen
how they're dismissing and getting rid of in their companies
and corporations, the people who are supposed to be responsible
for tracking this and disinformation. I do worry and I'm
concerned that Congress right now for sure will not be
(19:31):
the place that is going to put guardrails in to
curb the aspects of technology that create harm. So then
one has to ask, if it's not going to come
from the industry, if it's not going to come from
the legislators on high, where else could it come from.
Here's what I posit to you, the people, because as
(19:55):
much as anything else, we are also consumers, and the
voice of the consumer to demand what they expect and
want from an industry can be very powerful when we
put it into play, powerful, and so part of that
(20:16):
is about helping people understand how fact is being manipulated,
so we know who to ask and what to ask,
and not just ask, but demand better in terms of
you know, these huge companies and corporations pushing through their
their mechanisms so much that is just patently obviously not
(20:39):
true or factual You've.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Been in politics a long time.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Why are these, you know, major corporations in these institutions
just bend in the knee to the current president.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
So, as you and I have talked about before, I
did predict almost everything that has happened fact, but I
did not predict the capitulation titans of industry bending the
knee at the foot of a tyrant feckless. I use
the f word feckless. And here's as we have discussed.
(21:18):
You know, I said it on the debate stage. The
man in a white house, he loves flattery and favor.
So for those titans of industry who want to have
their merger approved, or avoid an investigation, or just be
(21:40):
close to power, we are seeing whether it be saying
that the man should get the Nobel Prize, Peace Prize,
to just being silent. And part of the dynamic that
is at play that we have to see is part
(22:01):
of the game they're playing is to basically suggest, and
it's about scapegoating and just gaslighting, to suggest to the
American people that your predicament is because of the people
who are relatively powerless, instead of to distract you from
(22:24):
focusing on the people who are powerful. Right. They're essentially
saying to people, you have less because of people who
have even less than you. That's part of what's going
on right now, and we have to see through it
in a way that we understand where the real responsibility lays,
(22:47):
whether it be among members of Congress. And I do
not absolve elected Republicans from their responsibility. I served in
the Senate, and I know that a lot of them
know what this is and that it's wrong. I know
they know it, and they're not saying anything because they
(23:09):
want to be close to power or preserve their standing
and preserve wearing that pin on their lapel and having
a bunch of interns follow them around instead of speaking
truth with clarity and conviction. And then you see the
ones who have done it or are prepared to do it,
(23:32):
are deciding not to run for reelection. So you know,
there's a lot of there's a lot of cowardice that
we are witnessing.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
How hard is it for you to not get on
Twitter three times a week and just post I was
right about everything.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I think you should do it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
You said no theory because you said it takes three
times for messaging to connect with people. I think you
need to keep telling people that over and over and
over all.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Right, at least I told you so that's less characters.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
It's just not my style. But I'm part of what
I have reflected on, though, is that not only is
it about what we predicted and so many of us did,
about what this would be, but also let's reflect on
the fact that this thing did not just happen overnight,
(24:35):
and that this what we are witnessing, though it feels chaotic,
is actually a high velocity event that is about the
swift implementation of a plan that has been decades in
the making. And so one I would recommend that you know,
for those of us who are Democrats, that we not
(24:56):
be so fixated on one individual that we lose sight
of what is facilitated and surrounds that one individual. And
two that we understand the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, this
project twenty twenty five did not fall out of thin air.
(25:17):
It was It is the culmination of decades of work
going after the Department of Education and Public Education. Did
not just happen overnight. That has been part of an
agenda for a very long time. And then you know,
if you look at how we got here in terms
of the path toward encouraging somebody like the current president.
(25:41):
You know, I just think about I see it as
kind of a combination of the celebrity of Ronald Reagan,
the base level of discourse from neuk Ingridge, the nativism
from Pat Buchanan all into one. Right, This didn't just
(26:04):
happen overnight. And part of what I hope in our
reflection of the one hundred and seven days is to
reflect on the years leading up to those days, so
that we can have a clarity about where we are
now and what the challenges are and what our mission
must be.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
That's why I think one hundred and seven days is
so important, you know, because you are questioning everything that
you know went wrong over those one hundred and seven days,
and I think it'll help Democrats in the future. But
when I think about that, like what went wrong over
these past decades that Republicans were even able to implement
something like Project twenty twenty five and executed, well, look.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
I mean here right here in Alabama, we can look
in this region of our country. The jerrymandering, the taking
over of state houses. It's been it's been very methodical, right,
which is start local, start statewide, and then guess who
(27:06):
you're going to be sent into Congress. I mean, think
about this that we all know this, three co equal
branches of government. The Congress is supposed to be a
stopgap on the excesses and abuses of the executive. So
how about this example, the executive branch through this president
(27:27):
and his Secretary of Education and others, trying to get
rid of the Department of Education. Well, constitutionally not allowed
to do that without Congress. But these feckless so and sos.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You know, crazy, right, y'all don't know she talked. She
talks crazy.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
I just know how to pronounce words correctly.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
I'm glad you have optimism. I have optimism as well.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
But you know, I was looking at like, if they're
not so Supreme Court, you know, guts the voting rights ach.
I was looking at what the redistricting map would look
like for the South.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It's like, how do you have optimism when they're doing
things like that?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
It is The optimism is about knowing what we fight for.
The optimism is about we cannot afford to give up.
The optimism is about we cannot afford are nor will
we be passive? Right, That is the optimism. The optimism
is about our spirit will not be defeated. The optimism
(28:45):
is about the powers with the people, and we are
not allowing anyone to take our power from us.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
That is.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
That is where I derive my optimism, knowing that is
part of the nature and our culture as Americans, that
we are up for a good fight when the things
that we hold dear are on the line. And back
to your point about the South, it is here. I mean,
you all in Birmingham are you are the standing in
(29:19):
the legacy. You are the legacy of the people who
fought for our nation to have a conscience around notions
of equality and fairness and justice and civil rights which
benefit everyone.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Lord have Merton. I don't want to fight that hard,
but I guess we ain't got no choke.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
We have to. We have to. It is Listen, there
is nothing that you can take for granted if you
are not vigilant. And look, we're here for real talk. Look,
it may get worse before it gets better. Okay, it
may get worse before it gets better. And I hope
in these nine months, I pray that we have all
(30:12):
found a way to the extent necessary to heal, to revive,
to have a moment of rest, to have a moment
of reflection, and then to get back out there. Tomorrow
is no King's Day, right right, take it to the
(30:36):
streets and peaceful protests. The midterms are coming up. We
have elections. You know. People have asked me. I just
did an interview earlier and the report asked me, well,
do you what is your role? I said, well, I'm
a leader of the Democratic Party. I am a leader
and my intention. My intention is that we win. That
(30:57):
we win, and it's about election. It's about winning in
terms of fighting for the principles behind our constitution, the
integrity of our nation and our values. Like we have
to know we are winners and know that we fight
like winners because we know what we stand for, so
(31:20):
we know what to fight for. That's what this moment
is right now.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Are you going to take time to enjoy yourself on
your upcoming birthday?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Oh? Yeah, you know right about So if my birthday's
coming up.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, the dove knows that it's time, right and I
know it In the book you kind of forgot last year.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, so I tell a story about I love my
husband so much. I love my husband so much. I
love my Tugie so much. But yeah, that was not
a good birthday.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You got trigger just now just thinking about it.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Okay, what happened was so what happened was this? So
my birthday is is is just days before the My
birthday is October twenty so so so thank you so so. Anyway,
we were, as you can imagine, knee need deep in
(32:20):
the campaign, and Doug and I, Doug, my husband and I,
we had basically, you know, like so many of our families,
we had you know, split up to everybody being somewhere
that we needed to be, and our teams had conspired
so lovingly that he and I would end up in
the same place the night of my birthday. Yeah, so
(32:50):
you're gonna ask me, did Doug plan a dinner?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
No? I read the book. I know he didn't.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
He didn't. So then it came time for the birthday gift.
I opened the gift. I told you my birthday is
October twentieth. The gift was a necklace that it was engraved.
(33:16):
It was not October twentieth, it was the date of
our anniversary. Because Doug had clearly thought he was going
to get a two fur with that one gift.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Need you to do better this year? Doug.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Okay, fourthday hit and he was so and it was
it was leading up to the World Series, and so
we had had we had dinner and which I selected,
and we had a little cupcake and I blew out
the candle and I was done. And so I went
(33:57):
to go take a bath because actually during the camp
and I highly suggest it for anybody who has a
bathtub that it is a really wonderful way to distressed
at the end of the day. Yes, with epsom salt
with EBB some salt. Right, So I went to go
take a bath. Doug was watching the baseball game, and
then I realized in this hotel and they had it
(34:20):
was a nice little sweet they got us for that night,
and the towels were on the other side of the bathroom.
So of course I'm vice president running for president the
United States. So I had my phone next to the bathtub,
and but first I just called out to my husband,
dougie nothing. Then I went to Doug calling him out,
(34:47):
Doug nothing. And then it's real serious when I go Douglas.
So I picked up the phone to call him. He
didn't answer, so then I FaceTime audio him. Here's how
(35:08):
he answered, what's up? And that was it, and so
we got into it a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Rightfully.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But here's the thing about my husband and about that moment.
We all, in our relationships, in whatever form you have,
go through stressful moments and go through you know what
life brings. There are joy and there is also stress.
And my husband said to me at that moment, he
(35:48):
looked at me and he just poured cold water on
the heat of that moment, and he looked at me
and he said, we cannot turn on each other. And
it was so poignant. And you know, I tell a
few stories like that about just what this was because Charlemagne.
(36:08):
In many ways, I just wanted to write this book
to also just lift the hood on what happens behind
the scenes in every way. I think there's so much
about I mean, obviously the office of president is and
it affects the entire globe, but there's so much about
(36:29):
the process that's very opaque that people unless you've been
personally involved at a very close level, you don't really
have a sense of And I wanted to help people
have a sense of it in a way that I
hope helps people see where they could fit in or
be involved or a part of it, and feel a
sense of understanding what it all involves so that we
(36:51):
can all participate in an active way.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
It feels like this is the first time that you
get to control your own narrative, because I feel like,
you know, even when you first ran for president back
in twenty twenty, from that time until now, it's people
that have been trying to control your narrative. They've been
trying to shape who Kamala Harris is to the people,
as opposed to Kamala Harris letting the people know who
she is.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Well, Look, there are all always when you put yourself
out there, and especially in this environment, be it just
for any of us, whether you have a public persona
or not, because of social media and so much else,
putting yourself out there in any way leads to invariably
(37:39):
that there will be people who misunderstand you on purpose
and even dislike you. And it is an awful feeling
to be misunderstood, much less dislike. But it's an awful
feeling to be misunderstood, and it is sadly, you know,
(38:02):
hopefully it is just a few. It is not everybody
but it is sadly an aspect of putting yourself out there.
And that's why I will always applaud anybody for putting
themselves out there for any reason, be it a job
or a promotion or applying for you know, school or
(38:24):
or or whatever. There is always going to be a
level of vulnerability associated with ambition. And I am in
that way no different than anybody who puts themselves out there.
That you are exposed to that and it is not
(38:44):
enjoyable and it can be painful.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But campaigns against.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
You, well yeah, I mean look when I when I
from the big when I ran for Attorney general, the
National Republicans put this was before I sitting since United
when they put a million dollar hit piece against me
when I ran for Attorney general in twenty ten, and
I asked my campaign consultant what is going on? And
(39:12):
he said, look, their theory is, you know, kill the
baby in the crib. I am, yeah, But.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
They don't believe in abortion, and we don't believe in killing.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Let's not go there, let's just not let's not do that.
But I do believe that it is important for one
to exercise their voice, and that's part of the reason
I wrote the book, which is, look this, these one
hundred and seven days are part of American history. It
is part of American history, and I wasn't about to
(39:48):
let history tell the story without my voice.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
So if there's one truth in one hundred and seven
days that might make people uncomfortable, what do you think
it is.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Well, it depends on who you are, right, I don't.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
I think that there are a number of conversations that
we need to have right now that are difficult conversations
that will make people uncomfortable. But now is the time
to have those conversations in a way that is not
intended to be confrontational or you know, to bring attention
(40:35):
to oneself, but just literally we've got some deep work
to do as a country. We really do. There's among
the things that is I think weighing on us and
I and so many people are feeling on edge, is
you know, we've always had a fair amount of cynicism
(40:56):
based on you know, trust of the system and government, right,
but I think it was really highlighted by the pandemic
when the rug just got pulled out from so many people.
So there is that trust around the individual and the
government and systems. But what also we are experiencing right
now that I think is so it's weighing us down,
(41:21):
is the high level of distrust between the American people.
And I don't mean just cannot leave my door unlocked,
I mean can I trust you to not be a
threat to my very existence? Right? And that's that's a
(41:46):
real issue right now for us as a country. And
this is where again I say the power is with
the people, because it is also about what we do
in our daily lives in the context of of whatever
our world is, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, are coworkers.
(42:07):
But to really work on these conversations and also to
understand that not everybody is working with the same information,
and we should not assume that we know someone else's
morals or principles or values on the assumption that we're
working with the same information. And that gets back to
(42:27):
the point of the rampant amount of miss and disinformation.
And part of the antidote to that is really working
on developing community and developing those relationships of trust, and
that requires work. Relationships and trust require work. We know
(42:49):
that we know that in our personal lives and our
professional lives and right now we need to do a
lot of work as a country on that.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Do you think the media ever truly wanted to understand you?
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Yes? I do think they're Yes, I think. I mean, look,
the media is a broad thing, right, Like, did Fox
News want to understand me?
Speaker 1 (43:13):
No? No they didn't.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
But that was one of your favorite, my favorite interviews
of yours during the campaign though, when you went on
a because I was like, you know, I like when
you get at people, even when it's me.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
But I'm like, yeah, I like, I like that.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
But here's the thing, and I and I You're right.
In the book, I do talk a lot about the media.
And the thing that I was so disappointing about that
interview and I write about it, is that I was
told and believed that he would be tough.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
But fair on Fox News.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Yeah, but I know that. But you know what, but listen,
here's the thing. I was running to be president of
all Americans, including people who watched Fox News, and and
so I wasn't going to not give myself and them
an opportunity to have that conversation. But the way he
(44:11):
set up the interview was quite disingenuous, and I think
right now, we are faced with a real challenge around
media writ large. We are looking at a lot of
corporate run media. I would urge everyone to really support
(44:31):
independent media. You know, the climate is changing, so you know,
in addition to trusted sources I mentioned earlier, like AP
and you know New York Times. But really it's so
diffuse now. I was talking with a group of young
people earlier today here in Birmingham, and they were between
(44:55):
about age of eighteen and twenty two, and I was
asking him where do you get your news? And it's
all online. They're not really reading their news, They're they're
receiving it mostly through a video presentation, and it's through TikTok,
(45:15):
it's through Twitter, it's through the shade room through And
what they are yearning for, as they expressed to me
without me asking, is we know how we are being
treated like a commodity. They know it, our young leaders
(45:37):
know it, and they are yearning to have those conversations
where they can trust that fact and truth are being
sent their way. So there we are.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I thought you did a great job.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
I mean, even when you read one hundred and seven days,
you did a great job of going to you know,
the legacy media outlets like The View, the Code Bands,
but then you still were doing the that's like that.
I thought that was a great way to do it
because you kind of got to meet everybody where they
are nowadays.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I thought you did a good that's of course with
with with the View. You know, you you had a
lot of regret over that moment in the book.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Yeah. There. I did an interview on The View shortly
before the election, and I was asked about the difference
between myself and Joe Biden, and it was in an
environment where there had been so much being sent his
way and I just wasn't about to pile on for
(46:41):
better and worse. I am a loyal person, and I
interpreted the question as requiring me to criticize him, and
I wasn't going to do that. What thank you. But
what I misinterpreted was that there was also a desire
(47:08):
for me to distinguish myself from him. But I thought
the differences were obvious, and you know, maybe I should not.
Maybe I should have probably given more thought to how
to point out you know, for example, I was focused
(47:31):
on what we need to do around childcare and those
kinds of things. So yeah, I do reflect on that
interview in the book and talk about that, And you do.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Talk about loyalty a lot in the book.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
You talk about your loyalty being tested, Like what's your
definition of loyalty in politics versus loyalty in friendship.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
Oh, that's a great question. I mean, loyalty is about
as much as anything, not being a fair weather friend.
It's about standing with people when they're down and when
they're up. It's about you know, not you know, not
(48:09):
just fair weather. I'm with you when the times are good,
and and it's about you know, I think there is
loyalty is rooted and really caring about another person and
their well being. Loyalty I think is about for me,
(48:30):
you know, knowing life is long and I mean, look,
my best friend from kindergarten is still one of my
best friends, right, and that's just how I am.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
But even with that, like in the book, you know,
your loyalty was being questioned even though you was, you know,
loyal to the soil, Like your loyalty was being questioned
by you know, the Biden, Biden's wife in particular, and
Dougie had an issue with that, like that that didn't.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Mean you feel a way.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
Nobody likes to have their loyalty or they're good questions,
but that was I mean, that was something that I
think needs to be put in context as well. But
the reality of it is that my focus was not
one not in the book and not on the campaign
(49:24):
trail about Joe Biden. My focus was on the fact
that I was running against Donald Trump and that that
needed to be the focus of everybody involved, as opposed
to trying to find some kind of palace intrigue in
terms of what was going on within our administration.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
When people say they still don't know who the real
Kamala Harris is, do you ever think to yourself, that's
because you're.
Speaker 3 (49:49):
Not ready for her, because I'm not.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
What do you ever think to yourself that's because you're
not ready for her as in me?
Speaker 3 (49:58):
I think there is some truth to that, I suppose,
but yeah, I don't know that people are asking that
question as much as they're asking how can we bring
down the cost of food?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
During the campaign, they were though, Like during the campaign,
they definitely were.
Speaker 3 (50:15):
Well, not seventy five million people. Seventy five million people
voted for me.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
I think, yeah, pact. You want to do some audience questions, sure,
Courtney Weaver. Oh how are you? Yeah, this is a
good question.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
How are you fostering hope during a time when hope
can feel lost?
Speaker 3 (50:36):
Oh? Courtney, are you here? Can we turn on the
lights so we can see everybody? Courtney, somebody's gonna turn
on the lights in here. Where are you? Wait? Wave
waves everybody around Courtney Wave.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
Oh there were a great you just woke up. You
was on your on Instagram? Was something pay attention.
Speaker 3 (51:02):
Hope. So here's for example, I just ask everybody look
at each other, the person sitting next to you that
you don't know, and just say hello, and how you
do it right? My hope is is born out of
(51:26):
just the mood here and my knowledge that we want
to we love our country and we know it's our
country and we're prepared to fight for it. The same
(51:49):
people who came to the rallies by the tens of
thousands during those hundred and seven days still have that
sense of hope. I know it for what are our
country can be. They still believe it on behalf of
their children and the children and their lives. And hope
is an interesting thing is It's something that is ours
(52:12):
to have, but it can't be taken from us. We
can't let our hope be taken from us. It's something
that comes from inside of us that we have and
when we look around and see each other and we
know that this fight is worth it, that gives me hope.
(52:32):
That gives me hope, And it gets back to my point,
don't let any circumstances, situation diminish that light that when
I think about hope and light, it's part of the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Did you ever have to build that back up?
Speaker 2 (52:53):
Like was there ever a period like after election night
and now where you had to replenish that couple hope.
Speaker 3 (53:00):
Well, I needed to take some time, and that's for sure.
I spent time, you know, with my family. I spent
a lot of time cooking. Doug's very happy. I needed
to take a minute. And you know, for example, for months,
(53:23):
I did not watch cable news. I just was not
going to I was watching the cooking channel full time.
So I knew I needed to take a minute to
just pull back because again, every day and still every day,
you see what's happening and we knew what could have been,
(53:47):
and it's very it's painful for all of us, and
most importantly, it's painful for the people who right now,
for example, starting on November first, their premiums are going
to go up in terms of the healthcare because the
Republicans who are in charge of the House to send
it in the White House. They're in charge. This is
(54:07):
their shutdown. This is their shutdown, right And you know,
so when you see bad things happening, it has a
way of being very deflating, and sometimes you need to
just step step back for a moment to realize it's
(54:28):
not everybody, and it's and and there are more good
people than there are those who are trying to cause destruction.
Speaker 2 (54:37):
You know, you asked me earlier it was the misconception
that people have you, And I just thought about it
that people I don't know if people really know you
really be cooking because I remember one time we were
in South Carolina. We was in Somerville, South Carolina, I believe,
and I think we were speaking. You were speaking at
a church. That's when you unveiled your mental health plan.
And I was with you, and you know that you've.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
Been a great leader on mental health.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
And it was when it was over you. You It
was like, look, I want to show you something. And
you had a trunk full of calligreens.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
And wasn't no cameras around. It was nothing. And she
asked me, say, you think I'm a little crazy walking
through the airport with all these calligreens.
Speaker 3 (55:15):
Okay, So here's what happened. It was Thanksgiving, yes, and
I was campaigning and my family we decided to spend
our Thanksgiving in Iowa, and I wanted to take my
(55:37):
callagreens from South Carolina. So I had plastic bags full
of fresh collar greens walking through the airport. I didn't care.
I was a good country woman. I was walking through
(55:58):
put in my collar.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
It's true story.
Speaker 3 (56:02):
It's a true story.
Speaker 1 (56:04):
Darryl Prewitt, he says, Madam Vice President.
Speaker 2 (56:07):
A lot of people in our communities feel like we
only get attention when it's election season, but not when
it's time for real investments. So my question is how
do we move from being needed from votes to being
valued for our power?
Speaker 1 (56:20):
Darryl Pruitt.
Speaker 3 (56:21):
Darryl, where are you there, darl there? You are hello? No,
you're right. I mean part of the work that elected
leaders have to do, that we all have to do
is not just come around election time and and it
can't be transactional.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
One of the reasons I decided not to run for
governor of California is I'm just I need I want
to be I want to be talking like to the
young people else talking with today in Birmingham, and it
not be transactional where I'm not there asking for their
vote and elected leaders people are running for office. Democrats
(57:08):
need to do a better job of that and being
present and listening. I mean as an extension at that point.
So part of what I am proposing to extend the
power of the people and to make sure that people
who have so much at stake are heard, is I
(57:32):
actually believe we need to bring down the age of
voting to sixteen. I do. So let that sit with
you for a minute. I know it's if you have
(57:53):
if you have sixteen year olds in your life, it's
a complicated thing I'm asking you.
Speaker 1 (57:56):
To think about.
Speaker 3 (57:58):
I mean, you can work and drive, it's but here's
the thing. The biggest issues that I think we are facing,
that are the most intractable, are directly going to impact
people who are in that generation. It is going to
(58:18):
there is so much about way the things have been
that for some of us, we're going to be okay.
But if you look at it in terms of the
future of work, for example, what technology is doing right
now to change the future of work in America and
the world is profound. Gen Z are from age thirteen
(58:43):
to about twenty seven to twenty eight. They are a
larger population of people than boomers. They have only known
the climate crisis. They missed substantial phases of their education
and socialization through the pandemic. Understand one in four Black
(59:05):
Americans lost a family member during the pandemic, So imagine
what that means in terms of the trauma for the
family unit. Understand that the statistics that I have seen
are that gen Z will come out of high school
or college having ten to twelve jobs in their lifetime.
(59:27):
Previous generations, the job you took out of high school
or college was pretty much the job you had until
you retired. For those who are in high school in
college right now, they're wondering, especially those who are in college,
if what they are studying is actually going to result
in a job that pays them. Right. The American dream
(59:54):
around the possibility of home ownership all of that. And
so when I think about if we were to allow
younger people to vote and what that would require of
people running for office, which is to not just talk
about right now, but what is your plan for the
(01:00:16):
next five, ten, and twenty years for our country, Because
it is they, our youngest generation, that are going to
either benefit or pay the price for what we are
doing right now. So there you go, think about it,
think about it. But I think it is it is
(01:00:37):
when we talk about listening to the people, and not
just around election time, because when I'm talking to young
people around our country, they're done with us. They are impatient.
They're like, you know what, y'all need to figure it
out or we're going to do it for you. So
there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
You know, in the book you write about democracy being fragile,
and we see that happening right now. Do you still
believe the system can can fix yourself from the inside?
Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
No, not necessarily. Okay, it pains me to say that.
I when I decided to become a prosecutor, I had
to defend that decision with my family. They were not
down with that decision, so many of them. And I said, look,
why is it that we are always thinking that for
(01:01:28):
systems that need change or reform, that we have to
be on the outside on Ben de knee or trying
to break down the door to get that improvement done.
I said, shouldn't we also think about being on the
inside of the system as a way to have an impact.
And I have believed that, and I've seen the benefit
(01:01:50):
of that my entire career. But to be very candid,
I perhaps naively thought the system and would be stronger
in this moment, and it's been. And I think that
without any question, the destruction caused by this administration in
(01:02:13):
this moment and the debris that will be left is
going to require some serious work, and it will need
to be without nostalgia about how things were, knowing that
there was a lot that was not working so well
(01:02:35):
and there was a lot that was working well, to
be sure, and the people inside, these career people who
have been there doing incredible God's work must be applauded always.
But the structure and the way we have designed some
of these systems has turned out to be quite flawed.
And so the change that we want and the improvement
(01:02:59):
that we're going to need, some of it will be
from inside the system. But I think a lot of
it is going to be because of the pressure that
the people put to say, this is how I want
my government to work for me. I think that's and
I think that perhaps in this moment of crisis, it
is going to one of the maybe opportunities in this
(01:03:19):
moment of severe crisis is that when we have to
then start figuring out how we're going to deal with
the debris and the cleanup, that it gives us an
opportunity to reimagine some of these systems to make them
more effective and responsive to the needs of the people.
Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Well, if one hundred and seven days was your closure
for one chapter, what's the new one you're ready to open?
Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Are you going to be part of that cleanup? Are
you going to be out there to shoot you?
Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
You know, it is my nature to serve. I'm not
going to stop serving, But right now my focus is
on winning, and so I'm going to be doing work
on behalf of folks in the midterms. There are two
important governor's races happening in the country right now, which
we should focus on. In New Jersey and Virginia. There's
(01:04:14):
the local work that's happening, and that's going to be
my focus. We have to win on everything, and it's
about not only elections, but around this war on disinformation
and also just lifting up the ability of us as
Americans to trust each other. There's a lot of work
(01:04:35):
to be done, and I'm in it and I'm here
for the fight.
Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Make some noise for the Madame Vice President John Kamala
Harris Birmingham, y'all have been amazing.
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