October 19, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of Good News for Lefties, we sit down with William Tong, the Attorney General of Connecticut, who is making waves in the fight for justice and democracy. As the first Asian American elected to statewide office in Connecticut, Tong shares his personal journey as the son of immigrants and his steadfast commitment to defending the 14th Amendment against attempts to undermine birthright citizenship. We delve into his role within the Democratic Attorneys General Association, discussing their collective efforts to push back against the Trump administration's abuses of power, including the targeted attacks on fellow Attorney General Letitia James.Tong emphasizes the importance of an impartial justice system and reflects on the resilience of communities across the nation, drawing parallels between his upbringing in a family-run restaurant and the struggles faced by many immigrant families today. He expresses hope for the future, highlighting the power of grassroots activism and the potential for positive change in the face of adversity.Join us as we explore this inspiring conversation that underscores the strength of progressive values and the ongoing fight for equity and justice in America.
If you enjoy the episode, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform! We’d love to hear from you, so reach out at 202-656-6271 or drop us a line at beowulf@twosquaredmediaproductions.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-news-for-lefties-daily-news-for-democracy--6256627/support.
If you enjoy the episode, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform! We’d love to hear from you, so reach out at 202-656-6271 or drop us a line at beowulf@twosquaredmediaproductions.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-news-for-lefties-daily-news-for-democracy--6256627/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good news for lefties and America. Today, we're going to
be speaking with someone who is out there in the
world doing real and important work to make more good
news for lefties and America happen. William Tong is the
Attorney General of the state of Connecticut. Attorney General Tong,
Welcome to Good News for Lefties. Thanks for being here.
(00:27):
I read a good news story about you on this
podcast earlier this year, and it was about you as
the son of immigrants who came to the United States
from China and Taiwan and the first Asian American to
be elected to statewide office in Connecticut, and your reaction
to Donald Trump's attempt to end the birthright citizenship, which
(00:48):
is enshrined in the fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
And I want to say that you're standing up to
this blatant constitutional violation, both legally and personally, has been
an inspiration to myself and to many people who live
in this country, and definitely to my listeners. You are
a member of the Democratic Attorney's General Association. In that
(01:10):
group has been taking many important stands and engaging in
many important legal struggles during the first year of the
second Trump administration, and among these is an attack on
one of your own members.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Hey, Wolf, how are you doing really well?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Thank you so much for taking the time today. I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You may have the coolest name of anybody I've talked
to in a really long time.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, thank you. My dad was interested in Old English literature,
so that's what I ended up with.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, not Hamlet or Macbeth or something.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I know, you see, that would be entirely more accessible,
easier to spell, and easier to pronounce.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
But do you have a nick give a shortened version?
Are you Wolfe or Bao or so? So?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wolfie is something that is reserved for for my wife. Yes,
occasionally people will will were Wolf is probably a more
common like household name. Not not a whole lot of
people do, but you know, from time to time, mostly
it's beio wolf, but there are a few levels of uh,
you know, you know, beyond the inner door, that are
(02:17):
reserved for some special folks.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It reminds me of Wolfgang van Halen, which is as
a cool name.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh well, now, thanks, thanks very much. I appreciate that. Yeah,
I you know, I sometimes wish it were easier to pronounce,
but then you know, it's kind of fun. I always
have a.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Little bit story.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I have a little bit. It's a rock Rock rockin
That's that's exactly right. It was. It was actually a
name that was changed when my my Jewish Ukrainian ancestors
immigrated to this country in the eighteen nineties. It was
originally Rock Lenko. Yes, I've been, I've been. I've been
(02:59):
thinking a lot about that in in recent years, certainly
since twenty twenty two. I never like had a whole
lot of connection, but I've done a lot more digging.
And I know that that you as the first Asian
American elected statewide representative in Connecticut and the son of
(03:23):
Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants. You know, that's that's been an
enormous thing for you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, you know, I also, for different reasons obviously have
a real interest in my lineage. And it's pretty hard
to go back to the Ukraine. It's kind of hard
to go to China right now, it is.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, Yeah, so you.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Know, things are, things are in flux for a lot
of us who come from other places.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I know, I know, I mean, and that's and that's
one thing that I wanted to bring up is because
one of the earlier this year I read to my audience,
and we do like six positive news stories every day
for progressives and really for the whole country, if you,
if you think about it, one of the stories that
(04:15):
I read was about you and the fact that you
are are standing up and responding to Trump's attempt to
take away birthright citizenship and basically dismantle the fourteenth Amendment.
And I got to say that you both, in what
you've done and what you've spoken out about personally, has
(04:36):
been a tremendous inspiration to myself, and I've had people
in my audience react to that.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So I want to thank you, thank you for saying that.
I don't know if it's an inspiration so much as
it's it's a fight that matters to a whole heck
of a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah. Yeah, So you are a member of the Democratic
Attorney's General Association. It's a group that has been taking
many importance stands and engaging in many important battles during
this first year of the second Trump administration, and among
these is an attack on one of your own New
(05:13):
York Attorney General Letitia James. Tell us what is happening here?
And how you and your fellow attorneys general are responding.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well, she's being attacked and targeted. And I'm not guessing
about this. It's not implied. We're not reading anything into it.
President has said this. The President has said, point blank,
I want to go after her. I'm going to go
after her, just like he's gone after Jim Comey. And
(05:42):
it sounds like John Bolton is next or somebody like that,
somebody who he hates wants to seek revenge and retribution against,
and he's ordered the United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi
to do this. You enter a message on social media
(06:03):
that appears to have been supposed to be a private message.
You know, Pam, what are you doing? Please go after
my enemies is a pretty accurate paraphrase I would say
of the message. Yeah, and you know, we had career
prosecutors and a Trump appointed United States Attorney in the
(06:25):
Eastern District of Virginia who said, there's nothing here we
can bring a case, you know, consistent with our ethical duties.
So they forced them out. And you've got Lindsay Halligan, who,
as far as I can tell, is a lawyer, meaning
she has a law degree, but is not a experienced prosecutor,
(06:46):
has never done a job like a United States' journey
or my job, and is now wielding the immense power
of the Department of Justice against the president's political enemies.
And you know this is not again, I'm not making
this up. It's not an exaggeration. I'm not being hysterical.
(07:08):
This is what Donald Trump has said. He he has
told us this is what he wants to do, and
so it is not just it's hard. I was thinking
about this morning, Beowulf, about what the right words are
to describe. Is this an abuse? No, that hardly captures it.
Is it a perversion and contortion? It's a it's really
(07:33):
a betrayal of our system of justice. Maybe that gets
closer to what it is. It is, And it is
a betrayal of a lawyer's oath of office and duty
to seek justice.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, no, I think that right. That is absolutely correct.
It is a betrayal of everything that we believe in
about how justice should be processed in this country.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And it's a betrayal of a free people. Yeah yeah,
free people in America. For my fifty two years as
an American has always meant you have in a largely
impartial system of justice. Let's not be naive, right. We
know that it's not perfect. I get that, and it
(08:22):
has never been perfect. And there have been times in
history where our criminal justice system and our system of
justice has prejudiced people wrongfully. That's true, still does right,
particularly through our system of mass incarceration. So let's be
honest and not naive. But what we have all come
(08:47):
to depend on and accept as a fact of our
freedom is that, in general terms, prosecutors the criminal justice
system should enforce the law impartially, without favor for one
group or another, and without any other agenda other than
(09:10):
to keep people safe and to burst the law and
to make sure that people follow the law. And that's
what makes us free. That's what makes us able to
say what we want to say, believe what we want
to believe, love who we want to love, and go
about our business raising a family, educating our children, running
(09:30):
our businesses, doing our jobs without fear that somebody will
abuse the system to hurt us.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It seems to me, from my late perspective, that one
of the positive things about this is if you look
at it on the legal face of it, as you indicate,
there's no case here. This is purely about retribution and
getting back at someone who has faithfully prosecuted the law
(10:01):
against Donald Trump and has rightly done so. And that
if you look at what is being charged here, there
is no case. And that we see around US judges
coming to that same conclusion in many other cases that
have been raised by the Trump administration this year. Like
(10:25):
is that, I mean, that is a positive thing, But
at the same time, there is such an overwhelming tide
of attempts to push and twist the law and the
constitution in favor of just one individual here. And and
that's a little frightening.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Well, it's more than a little frightening. And what's even
more frightening, I think is that people are just taking it.
They're accepting it as if not okay. There's some tolerance
of it, which is even scarier that people will suffer
(11:07):
this kind of abuse. Now, to be fair, what are
we supposed to do about it? The American people elected
this guy, and we've got three and a half more
years to go. We've sued him thirty five times and
I'm only in October.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's about three times a month.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Huh yeah. And by the way, that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
A good thing that the sovereign state of Connecticut, acting
through its attorney general, should have to say to the
federal government, which is supposed to do work for the
states on behalf of the states, to help the states.
Because the states are sovereign, we're independent of each other.
We delegated limited authority to the federation. Right, that's the
(11:58):
United States of America. It's a federation, and the Federation
is supposed to help us. That's the design of our country.
And yet the Federation is now hurting us, and the
executive leader of the Federation is hurting us and trying
to do damage to us, and is using all of
(12:20):
its immense power to hurt specific people because he doesn't
like them.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, you talk about these thirty five cases that you
and other attorneys general have been involved in. What do
you see as the most hopeful in terms of you
being able to push back against what Trump is trying
to do.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Here, it's working. We are winning a lot of these battles,
to quote the President so much, winning so much.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It's nice to hear that on our side from one.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right, you know, what we're seeing happening is courts are
saying that, yes, the president doesn't have the power, for example,
to say, you know what, I don't like wind power,
so and my fossil fuel cronies don't like wind power,
(13:19):
and they're going to make less money. So I'm going
to order a haul to all work on a win
project called Revolution Win. That's eighty percent done, four billion
dollars in that we need desperately, right, for more power,
more generation, and Republicans and Democrats together need more power.
You're right, there's an insatiable demand for electricity, especially if
(13:44):
the President's AI and crypto and techbros have anything to
say about it. So the court said, no, the president
can't just step in and you know, wave his hands
his ericle and say we're not going to do this anymore.
He doesn't have that power under any concept of federal law.
(14:09):
When a project has been fully permitted and is ready
to go, and all the questions that he's raising now
have been answered. On tariffs, right, I will tell you
when he levied the tariffs, I'll be honest, Yes, I'm
inexperienced attorney, but you know, when he did it, I
wasn't like an expert in tariff law.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's not something that I'm required to learn before I
become Attorney general. But it's clear there's no economic emergency.
The statute he tried to use does even mention tariffs, right.
So we went to court, we sued, and now we've
beaten him twice. We're two to zero against Donald Trump
on tariffs, both at the district court level and the
(14:50):
United States Court of Appeals. So of these thirty five
cases that I'm involved, and there are more, but of
the thirty five that Connecticut is involved in, we're winning
most of them. And the truth is not all of
them will go to the Supreme Court. I think there's
a temptation on our side, particularly if people doom scrolling
(15:10):
infinitely on their on their phones. And by the way,
I've I've sued the Meta over the infinite scrolling.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Thank you, thank you. It's different that that that that
aids in the doom scrolling. So whatever extent that, what.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It does is it aids in the in the addiction
to the social media, which is why I suiting. But
for those who are quick and I get it to
go down the rabbit hole, well, what's the point. The
Supreme Court is just gonna side with Trump anyway. No,
that's not true. Okay. First of all, it has to
get to the Supreme Court, and in many cases when
(15:47):
we win, the president backtracks, okay and doesn't move forward.
There are some cases we've lost, and there's some cases
where we've had some bad decisions, no doubt. And there
are some cases in which the Superreme Court has not
been great but on birthright.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And there are other cases in which the federal courts
don't have jurisdiction correct.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yes, right, and so those cases have been tossed and
we're winning on birthright now.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Get back to social media. If you hear the president
and you listen to him and his surrogates and their
social media posts, they're winning on birthright.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
We have two injunctions right now by United States Courts
of Appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. They're saying, no,
mister President, you don't have the right unilaterally to rewrite
the fourteenth Amendment. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, that's very goodness, because I mean that that is
so critical, Like we have a president who thinks he
has the ability to rewrite the Constitution at will. And
one of the things that has encouraged me is the
fact that not only you and the members of your
(17:03):
organization and people in your position as attorneys general have
responded so so valiantly. But it seems to me that
the majority of the American people, even though the electorate
put Trump in office, they are very much opposed to
what he has decided to do with the power that
(17:26):
he was given by that electorate. They're not supportive of this.
And that's very encouraging to me.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, I think, yes, it's encouraging. I think what continues
to be challenging, though, is you can show people the
many different ways in which they have been harmed or
her prejudiced by this president and things that he has done.
But you know, support or not for Donald Trump is
(17:53):
not based on a weighing of the issues, right, It's
very true. On the one hand, you know, I'm for
this and against that, Right, It's not that's not the calculus.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
It's more it's more emotional.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
It's so emotional, right, and fueled by vengeance and grievance
and greed, you know, And and so it it's hard.
People ask all the time, political scientists, commentators, journalists, politicians,
(18:25):
whether people why do people vote against their self interest? Right,
Why do they support somebody who has done so much
damage to them? And it's because it's really about how
he makes them feel.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah. Yeah, he gets up there in front of a
podium and you know, he'll tell a joke or you know,
cast some you know, remark off that that touches on
some emotional hotspot for someone or or something that they
might legitimately think is bad, and that will resonate with them.
(18:59):
That doesn't mean he's going to do anything about it.
He might, in fact, you know, do something to make
what they're thinking about even worse. But nevertheless, he has
connected with them in a way that unfortunately transcends logic
and transcends self interest. So yes, yeah, I think you're
absolutely right about that. As you note, a lot of
(19:20):
bad news for progressives and for everyday Americans out there
because of what Trump and his administration have done. And
really the main point of this show is to remind
people that there is positive news happening every day for
progressives and Americans in spite all of that. What in
(19:41):
the headlines do you see or you know it may
or may not be within your purview as attorney general.
The State of Connecticut. What do you see as the
most hopeful news out there within the context?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, I'm happy to talk about specific news, but I
give this question a lot because you know, when I
when I talk to groups here in Connecticut, when I
speak at large rally is like the ones coming up
this weekend. Because of the nature of what I do,
I often find myself taking people down the rabbit hole, right,
(20:17):
And and you know, because I I have to talk
about the darkness because of of our fight against it. Right.
So people ask me, well, what gives you hope? Well,
a lot of things give me hope. But but my family,
my children, my community. Connecticut is a wonderful place to
(20:39):
grow up and to raise a family. And we're very
fortunate in my home state. But a couple of things
I say that I feel very personally and viscerally. One
is just remember America is too big, too chaotic, too decentralized,
(21:03):
to be swallowed whole.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
If this were a small you know, European, Latin American,
Asian country, it'd be over right, right. But we are
fifty sovereign states, damn it. Yeah. I'm looking over at
in my office or behind.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Me is the Connecticut flag and the American flag, and
the Connecticut flag stands for not just where I live,
it's our independence right from the forty nine others.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
And so it's just we're too big. What that means
is we have to use that to our advantage. We've
got to get loud, we got to get boisterous. We've
got to pour out in the streets and show that
we are not okay with us. I spoke about that
tolerance earlier. We can't be tolerant of this abuse and
this misconduct. The other thing that gives me hope is
(22:01):
is that we're having this conversation at all. As you mentioned,
not far from where I'm sitting as Harford Hospital. I
was born there fifty two years ago, and I became
the first American citizen in my immediate family, as you know,
by right of my birth on American soil by operation
(22:22):
of the fourteenth Amendment. And my parents were not yet
citizens when I was born, and about ten minutes from here.
I grew up in my parents' Chinese restaurant, first in
Hartford and then in a closed suburb. And that was tough,
(22:44):
you know, growing up the son of immigrants and refugees,
and you know, starting in the sixth grade seventh grade,
business started to go in the wrong direction. And so
my parents did what most people, most immigrants, small business
people do in their position when business starts to go south,
(23:06):
they call on their children. Yeah, and so I got
up off the bench. I work side by side with
my parents in that hot Chinese restaurant kitchen. And I
will tell you, I'll be very candid, it sucked at
times to have your parents yelling at you, working nights
and weekends, not being able to go to Michael Jackson
(23:29):
or Duran Duran. I missed those two shows. I remember.
I'm still not over it. And you know, my friends
were going to concerts and movies and parties and being kids,
and I was working, you know. And I don't mean
standing around the kitchen. I mean I mean if you
put a blindfold on me right now, I could cook
(23:50):
most things on your standard Chinese restaurant menu.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah. And so that's how I grew up in that
hot Chinese restaurant kitchen. And what gives me hope is
that in one generation I went from that hot Chinese
restaurant kitchen to being the twenty fifth Attorney General of
the State of Connecticut. Yeah, and that that is that's
(24:19):
not just the that's not just an American dream, it's
a fact. This is who we are. Yeah, this is
who we have always been. And what gives me hope
is that there is some kid, well not just some kid.
There are thousands, if not millions of kids across this country,
but there are definitely thousands across Connecticut whose parents are
working seven days a week, twelve to fifteen hours a day.
(24:41):
We're fighting for every inch just like my parents. And
there are kids that are working at counter right in
their parents store or restaurant or autobody shop. And those kids.
I know those kids, and I know that they will
make it, but we have to fight for them right now.
That's what gives me hope. That what gets me up
in the morning every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, you're right. This this country is big enough, and
there are enough stories like like yours and and like
millions of people in this country. It's we're big enough,
and we're resilient enough, and we have had those experiences
and we can we can outlast Donald Trump. Where we're
we're we're bigger even than his gigantic ego together, where
(25:25):
we're we're more than enough to be able to resist
this and thank you for that wonderful thought and thank
you for that that story.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And yeah, I feel, uh.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I feel very privileged by comparison. You know, growing up
in Marin County, California. Uh, you know, I worked, I
worked retail, but I never worked in a hot Chinese kitchen.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So there's a lot of people in and around Marin
County who share this story.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
So you know, no, no, absolutely, they're absolutely.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And in Kansas City and in Austin, Texas, right, I
mean all over all over Houston. Go to Houston. Houston's
full I mean Texas right, like Greg Abbott, Texas National
Guard all that, but Houston talk about a hotbed of
of immigrant vigor and strength, driving driving the future of
(26:23):
that city in that community. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
William Toung, the Attorney General of Connecticut, thank you for
doing what you're doing, and thank you for joining with
other attorneys general across the country and fighting the important
legal fights that you're engaged in. Right now, Where can
we find out more about what you are doing and
the fights that you were fighting.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Ct dot gov is our Connecticut government website ct dot
gov backslash ag and there's press releases every single day
about all these fights. You know, hardly a day goes
by there isn't important news about what we're doing to
protect Connecticut and join with other states to protect our
way of life. Democratic Attorneys General Association is very active
(27:10):
and so their website is also a great place to
look Dems dot AG. You know, the final thing I'll
say is, wherever you are, wherever you are listening, plug
into what your AG is doing. There's a reason why
we are on the front lines right now because because
(27:31):
Washington's broken, I mean that's not a secret, and because
Washington's broken, the fights we have to undertake the work
we have to do, and the authority is in the
states and states acting through their ags that are doing
what we can to protect protect our states, protect our people,
protect our country.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
You're definitely a bulwark in these difficult times. Attorney General Tom,
thank you very much. You really appreciate you being with
us on good news for lefties. All the best to you.
Good news for lefties and America. Today, we're going to
be speaking with someone who is out there in the
world doing real and important work to make more good
news for lefties and America happen. William Tong is the
Attorney General of the state of Connecticut. Attorney General Tong,
Welcome to Good News for Lefties. Thanks for being here.
(00:27):
I read a good news story about you on this
podcast earlier this year, and it was about you as
the son of immigrants who came to the United States
from China and Taiwan and the first Asian American to
be elected to statewide office in Connecticut, and your reaction
to Donald Trump's attempt to end the birthright citizenship, which
(00:48):
is enshrined in the fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
And I want to say that you're standing up to
this blatant constitutional violation, both legally and personally, has been
an inspiration to myself and to many people who live
in this country, and definitely to my listeners. You are
a member of the Democratic Attorney's General Association. In that
(01:10):
group has been taking many important stands and engaging in
many important legal struggles during the first year of the
second Trump administration, and among these is an attack on
one of your own members.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Hey, Wolf, how are you doing really well?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Thank you so much for taking the time today. I
really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You may have the coolest name of anybody I've talked
to in a really long time.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Well, thank you. My dad was interested in Old English literature,
so that's what I ended up with.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, not Hamlet or Macbeth or something.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I know, you see, that would be entirely more accessible,
easier to spell, and easier to pronounce.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
But do you have a nick give a shortened version?
Are you Wolfe or Bao or so? So?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wolfie is something that is reserved for for my wife. Yes,
occasionally people will will were Wolf is probably a more
common like household name. Not not a whole lot of
people do, but you know, from time to time, mostly
it's beio wolf, but there are a few levels of uh,
you know, you know, beyond the inner door, that are
(02:17):
reserved for some special folks.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It reminds me of Wolfgang van Halen, which is as
a cool name.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh well, now, thanks, thanks very much. I appreciate that. Yeah,
I you know, I sometimes wish it were easier to pronounce,
but then you know, it's kind of fun. I always
have a.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Little bit story.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I have a little bit. It's a rock Rock rockin
That's that's exactly right. It was. It was actually a
name that was changed when my my Jewish Ukrainian ancestors
immigrated to this country in the eighteen nineties. It was
originally Rock Lenko. Yes, I've been, I've been. I've been
(02:59):
thinking a lot about that in in recent years, certainly
since twenty twenty two. I never like had a whole
lot of connection, but I've done a lot more digging.
And I know that that you as the first Asian
American elected statewide representative in Connecticut and the son of
(03:23):
Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants. You know, that's that's been an
enormous thing for you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, you know, I also, for different reasons obviously have
a real interest in my lineage. And it's pretty hard
to go back to the Ukraine. It's kind of hard
to go to China right now, it is.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, Yeah, so you.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Know, things are, things are in flux for a lot
of us who come from other places.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I know, I know, I mean, and that's and that's
one thing that I wanted to bring up is because
one of the earlier this year I read to my audience,
and we do like six positive news stories every day
for progressives and really for the whole country, if you,
if you think about it, one of the stories that
(04:15):
I read was about you and the fact that you
are are standing up and responding to Trump's attempt to
take away birthright citizenship and basically dismantle the fourteenth Amendment.
And I got to say that you both, in what
you've done and what you've spoken out about personally, has
(04:36):
been a tremendous inspiration to myself, and I've had people
in my audience react to that.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So I want to thank you, thank you for saying that.
I don't know if it's an inspiration so much as
it's it's a fight that matters to a whole heck
of a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah. Yeah, So you are a member of the Democratic
Attorney's General Association. It's a group that has been taking
many importance stands and engaging in many important battles during
this first year of the second Trump administration, and among
these is an attack on one of your own New
(05:13):
York Attorney General Letitia James. Tell us what is happening here?
And how you and your fellow attorneys general are responding.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well, she's being attacked and targeted. And I'm not guessing
about this. It's not implied. We're not reading anything into it.
President has said this. The President has said, point blank,
I want to go after her. I'm going to go
after her, just like he's gone after Jim Comey. And
(05:42):
it sounds like John Bolton is next or somebody like that,
somebody who he hates wants to seek revenge and retribution against,
and he's ordered the United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi
to do this. You enter a message on social media
(06:03):
that appears to have been supposed to be a private message.
You know, Pam, what are you doing? Please go after
my enemies is a pretty accurate paraphrase I would say
of the message. Yeah, and you know, we had career
prosecutors and a Trump appointed United States Attorney in the
(06:25):
Eastern District of Virginia who said, there's nothing here we
can bring a case, you know, consistent with our ethical duties.
So they forced them out. And you've got Lindsay Halligan, who,
as far as I can tell, is a lawyer, meaning
she has a law degree, but is not a experienced prosecutor,
(06:46):
has never done a job like a United States' journey
or my job, and is now wielding the immense power
of the Department of Justice against the president's political enemies.
And you know this is not again, I'm not making
this up. It's not an exaggeration. I'm not being hysterical.
(07:08):
This is what Donald Trump has said. He he has
told us this is what he wants to do, and
so it is not just it's hard. I was thinking
about this morning, Beowulf, about what the right words are
to describe. Is this an abuse? No, that hardly captures it.
Is it a perversion and contortion? It's a it's really
(07:33):
a betrayal of our system of justice. Maybe that gets
closer to what it is. It is, And it is
a betrayal of a lawyer's oath of office and duty
to seek justice.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, no, I think that right. That is absolutely correct.
It is a betrayal of everything that we believe in
about how justice should be processed in this country.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And it's a betrayal of a free people. Yeah yeah,
free people in America. For my fifty two years as
an American has always meant you have in a largely
impartial system of justice. Let's not be naive, right. We
know that it's not perfect. I get that, and it
(08:22):
has never been perfect. And there have been times in
history where our criminal justice system and our system of
justice has prejudiced people wrongfully. That's true, still does right,
particularly through our system of mass incarceration. So let's be
honest and not naive. But what we have all come
(08:47):
to depend on and accept as a fact of our
freedom is that, in general terms, prosecutors the criminal justice
system should enforce the law impartially, without favor for one
group or another, and without any other agenda other than
(09:10):
to keep people safe and to burst the law and
to make sure that people follow the law. And that's
what makes us free. That's what makes us able to
say what we want to say, believe what we want
to believe, love who we want to love, and go
about our business raising a family, educating our children, running
(09:30):
our businesses, doing our jobs without fear that somebody will
abuse the system to hurt us.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It seems to me, from my late perspective, that one
of the positive things about this is if you look
at it on the legal face of it, as you indicate,
there's no case here. This is purely about retribution and
getting back at someone who has faithfully prosecuted the law
(10:01):
against Donald Trump and has rightly done so. And that
if you look at what is being charged here, there
is no case. And that we see around US judges
coming to that same conclusion in many other cases that
have been raised by the Trump administration this year. Like
(10:25):
is that, I mean, that is a positive thing, But
at the same time, there is such an overwhelming tide
of attempts to push and twist the law and the
constitution in favor of just one individual here. And and
that's a little frightening.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Well, it's more than a little frightening. And what's even
more frightening, I think is that people are just taking it.
They're accepting it as if not okay. There's some tolerance
of it, which is even scarier that people will suffer
(11:07):
this kind of abuse. Now, to be fair, what are
we supposed to do about it? The American people elected
this guy, and we've got three and a half more
years to go. We've sued him thirty five times and
I'm only in October.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's about three times a month.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Huh yeah. And by the way, that's not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
A good thing that the sovereign state of Connecticut, acting
through its attorney general, should have to say to the
federal government, which is supposed to do work for the
states on behalf of the states, to help the states.
Because the states are sovereign, we're independent of each other.
We delegated limited authority to the federation. Right, that's the
(11:58):
United States of America. It's a federation, and the Federation
is supposed to help us. That's the design of our country.
And yet the Federation is now hurting us, and the
executive leader of the Federation is hurting us and trying
to do damage to us, and is using all of
(12:20):
its immense power to hurt specific people because he doesn't
like them.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yeah, you talk about these thirty five cases that you
and other attorneys general have been involved in. What do
you see as the most hopeful in terms of you
being able to push back against what Trump is trying
to do.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Here, it's working. We are winning a lot of these battles,
to quote the President so much, winning so much.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
It's nice to hear that on our side from one.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Right, you know, what we're seeing happening is courts are
saying that, yes, the president doesn't have the power, for example,
to say, you know what, I don't like wind power,
so and my fossil fuel cronies don't like wind power,
(13:19):
and they're going to make less money. So I'm going
to order a haul to all work on a win
project called Revolution Win. That's eighty percent done, four billion
dollars in that we need desperately, right, for more power,
more generation, and Republicans and Democrats together need more power.
You're right, there's an insatiable demand for electricity, especially if
(13:44):
the President's AI and crypto and techbros have anything to
say about it. So the court said, no, the president
can't just step in and you know, wave his hands
his ericle and say we're not going to do this anymore.
He doesn't have that power under any concept of federal law.
(14:09):
When a project has been fully permitted and is ready
to go, and all the questions that he's raising now
have been answered. On tariffs, right, I will tell you
when he levied the tariffs, I'll be honest, Yes, I'm
inexperienced attorney, but you know, when he did it, I
wasn't like an expert in tariff law.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's not something that I'm required to learn before I
become Attorney general. But it's clear there's no economic emergency.
The statute he tried to use does even mention tariffs, right.
So we went to court, we sued, and now we've
beaten him twice. We're two to zero against Donald Trump
on tariffs, both at the district court level and the
(14:50):
United States Court of Appeals. So of these thirty five
cases that I'm involved, and there are more, but of
the thirty five that Connecticut is involved in, we're winning
most of them. And the truth is not all of
them will go to the Supreme Court. I think there's
a temptation on our side, particularly if people doom scrolling
(15:10):
infinitely on their on their phones. And by the way,
I've I've sued the Meta over the infinite scrolling.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Thank you, thank you. It's different that that that that
aids in the doom scrolling. So whatever extent that, what.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It does is it aids in the in the addiction
to the social media, which is why I suiting. But
for those who are quick and I get it to
go down the rabbit hole, well, what's the point. The
Supreme Court is just gonna side with Trump anyway. No,
that's not true. Okay. First of all, it has to
get to the Supreme Court, and in many cases when
(15:47):
we win, the president backtracks, okay and doesn't move forward.
There are some cases we've lost, and there's some cases
where we've had some bad decisions, no doubt. And there
are some cases in which the Superreme Court has not
been great but on birthright.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And there are other cases in which the federal courts
don't have jurisdiction correct.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yes, right, and so those cases have been tossed and
we're winning on birthright now.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Get back to social media. If you hear the president
and you listen to him and his surrogates and their
social media posts, they're winning on birthright.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Wrong.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
We have two injunctions right now by United States Courts
of Appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. They're saying, no,
mister President, you don't have the right unilaterally to rewrite
the fourteenth Amendment. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah, that's very goodness, because I mean that that is
so critical, Like we have a president who thinks he
has the ability to rewrite the Constitution at will. And
one of the things that has encouraged me is the
fact that not only you and the members of your
(17:03):
organization and people in your position as attorneys general have
responded so so valiantly. But it seems to me that
the majority of the American people, even though the electorate
put Trump in office, they are very much opposed to
what he has decided to do with the power that
(17:26):
he was given by that electorate. They're not supportive of this.
And that's very encouraging to me.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, I think, yes, it's encouraging. I think what continues
to be challenging, though, is you can show people the
many different ways in which they have been harmed or
her prejudiced by this president and things that he has done.
But you know, support or not for Donald Trump is
(17:53):
not based on a weighing of the issues, right, It's
very true. On the one hand, you know, I'm for
this and against that, Right, It's not that's not the calculus.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
It's more it's more emotional.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
It's so emotional, right, and fueled by vengeance and grievance
and greed, you know, And and so it it's hard.
People ask all the time, political scientists, commentators, journalists, politicians,
(18:25):
whether people why do people vote against their self interest? Right,
Why do they support somebody who has done so much
damage to them? And it's because it's really about how
he makes them feel.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah. Yeah, he gets up there in front of a
podium and you know, he'll tell a joke or you know,
cast some you know, remark off that that touches on
some emotional hotspot for someone or or something that they
might legitimately think is bad, and that will resonate with them.
(18:59):
That doesn't mean he's going to do anything about it.
He might, in fact, you know, do something to make
what they're thinking about even worse. But nevertheless, he has
connected with them in a way that unfortunately transcends logic
and transcends self interest. So yes, yeah, I think you're
absolutely right about that. As you note, a lot of
(19:20):
bad news for progressives and for everyday Americans out there
because of what Trump and his administration have done. And
really the main point of this show is to remind
people that there is positive news happening every day for
progressives and Americans in spite all of that. What in
(19:41):
the headlines do you see or you know it may
or may not be within your purview as attorney general.
The State of Connecticut. What do you see as the
most hopeful news out there within the context?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, I'm happy to talk about specific news, but I
give this question a lot because you know, when I
when I talk to groups here in Connecticut, when I
speak at large rally is like the ones coming up
this weekend. Because of the nature of what I do,
I often find myself taking people down the rabbit hole, right,
(20:17):
And and you know, because I I have to talk
about the darkness because of of our fight against it. Right.
So people ask me, well, what gives you hope? Well,
a lot of things give me hope. But but my family,
my children, my community. Connecticut is a wonderful place to
(20:39):
grow up and to raise a family. And we're very
fortunate in my home state. But a couple of things
I say that I feel very personally and viscerally. One
is just remember America is too big, too chaotic, too decentralized,
(21:03):
to be swallowed whole.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
If this were a small you know, European, Latin American,
Asian country, it'd be over right, right. But we are
fifty sovereign states, damn it. Yeah. I'm looking over at
in my office or behind.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Me is the Connecticut flag and the American flag, and
the Connecticut flag stands for not just where I live,
it's our independence right from the forty nine others.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
And so it's just we're too big. What that means
is we have to use that to our advantage. We've
got to get loud, we got to get boisterous. We've
got to pour out in the streets and show that
we are not okay with us. I spoke about that
tolerance earlier. We can't be tolerant of this abuse and
this misconduct. The other thing that gives me hope is
(22:01):
is that we're having this conversation at all. As you mentioned,
not far from where I'm sitting as Harford Hospital. I
was born there fifty two years ago, and I became
the first American citizen in my immediate family, as you know,
by right of my birth on American soil by operation
(22:22):
of the fourteenth Amendment. And my parents were not yet
citizens when I was born, and about ten minutes from here.
I grew up in my parents' Chinese restaurant, first in
Hartford and then in a closed suburb. And that was tough,
(22:44):
you know, growing up the son of immigrants and refugees,
and you know, starting in the sixth grade seventh grade,
business started to go in the wrong direction. And so
my parents did what most people, most immigrants, small business
people do in their position when business starts to go south,
(23:06):
they call on their children. Yeah, and so I got
up off the bench. I work side by side with
my parents in that hot Chinese restaurant kitchen. And I
will tell you, I'll be very candid, it sucked at
times to have your parents yelling at you, working nights
and weekends, not being able to go to Michael Jackson
(23:29):
or Duran Duran. I missed those two shows. I remember.
I'm still not over it. And you know, my friends
were going to concerts and movies and parties and being kids,
and I was working, you know. And I don't mean
standing around the kitchen. I mean I mean if you
put a blindfold on me right now, I could cook
(23:50):
most things on your standard Chinese restaurant menu.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah. And so that's how I grew up in that
hot Chinese restaurant kitchen. And what gives me hope is
that in one generation I went from that hot Chinese
restaurant kitchen to being the twenty fifth Attorney General of
the State of Connecticut. Yeah, and that that is that's
(24:19):
not just the that's not just an American dream, it's
a fact. This is who we are. Yeah, this is
who we have always been. And what gives me hope
is that there is some kid, well not just some kid.
There are thousands, if not millions of kids across this country,
but there are definitely thousands across Connecticut whose parents are
working seven days a week, twelve to fifteen hours a day.
(24:41):
We're fighting for every inch just like my parents. And
there are kids that are working at counter right in
their parents store or restaurant or autobody shop. And those kids.
I know those kids, and I know that they will
make it, but we have to fight for them right now.
That's what gives me hope. That what gets me up
in the morning every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, you're right. This this country is big enough, and
there are enough stories like like yours and and like
millions of people in this country. It's we're big enough,
and we're resilient enough, and we have had those experiences
and we can we can outlast Donald Trump. Where we're
we're we're bigger even than his gigantic ego together, where
(25:25):
we're we're more than enough to be able to resist
this and thank you for that wonderful thought and thank
you for that that story.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And yeah, I feel, uh.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I feel very privileged by comparison. You know, growing up
in Marin County, California. Uh, you know, I worked, I
worked retail, but I never worked in a hot Chinese kitchen.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So there's a lot of people in and around Marin
County who share this story.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
So you know, no, no, absolutely, they're absolutely.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And in Kansas City and in Austin, Texas, right, I
mean all over all over Houston. Go to Houston. Houston's
full I mean Texas right, like Greg Abbott, Texas National
Guard all that, but Houston talk about a hotbed of
of immigrant vigor and strength, driving driving the future of
(26:23):
that city in that community. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
William Toung, the Attorney General of Connecticut, thank you for
doing what you're doing, and thank you for joining with
other attorneys general across the country and fighting the important
legal fights that you're engaged in. Right now, Where can
we find out more about what you are doing and
the fights that you were fighting.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Ct dot gov is our Connecticut government website ct dot
gov backslash ag and there's press releases every single day
about all these fights. You know, hardly a day goes
by there isn't important news about what we're doing to
protect Connecticut and join with other states to protect our
way of life. Democratic Attorneys General Association is very active
(27:10):
and so their website is also a great place to
look Dems dot AG. You know, the final thing I'll
say is, wherever you are, wherever you are listening, plug
into what your AG is doing. There's a reason why
we are on the front lines right now because because
(27:31):
Washington's broken, I mean that's not a secret, and because
Washington's broken, the fights we have to undertake the work
we have to do, and the authority is in the
states and states acting through their ags that are doing
what we can to protect protect our states, protect our people,
protect our country.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
You're definitely a bulwark in these difficult times. Attorney General Tom,
thank you very much. You really appreciate you being with
us on good news for lefties. All the best to you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.