KCAA: Jeff Santos (Tue, 21 Oct, 2025)

KCAA: Jeff Santos on Tue, 21 Oct, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
President Trump is thanking Republicans for showing unity during the
government shutdown. During a Rose Garden luncheon today for Senate Republicans,
Trump said radical Democrats are holding the government hostage. Democratic
lawmakers remain dug in on efforts to extend healthcare subsidies,
while Republicans are demanding the government reopened before any negotiations
take place. Vice President JD. Van says things are going

(00:29):
well with the ceasefire deal between Israel and Amas, but
there's more work to do. Speaking from Israel, he says
there will be ups and downs with this peace deal.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
There are going to be hills and valleys. There are
going to be moments where it looks like things aren't
going particularly well. But given that and given the history
of conflict, I think that everybody should be.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Proud of where we are today.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
The Vice President will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin net
Yahoo tomorrow. Millions of low income Americans could soon lose
their Snap food assistance. The acting administrator of SNAP says
the program won't have enough money by the end of
the month if the shutdown continues. Over forty two million
low income Americans use SNAP, and several states have warned
they can't maintain the program without federal funding. A US

(01:11):
marshal and a suspect are wounded after a shooting in
South la. Daniel Martindale reports the shooting happens shortly before
nine am. The US marshal was serving a warrant with ice.
The La Times reports the US marshall was shot in
the hand. The injuries to both people are not considered
life threatening. The LAPED says one person is in custody
in connection with the shooting. The ATF is also assisting

(01:33):
with the investigation. I'm Daniel Martindale. A judge has asked
the case involving National Guard troops in Portland to be
heard by the full court. The judge resides on the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys for Portland, the State
of Oregon, and the federal government have been asked to
present briefs on the issue by the end of the
day tomorrow. Twenty nine judges on the court would vote
to determine if there would be a full review by

(01:54):
the court. If that happens, eleven judges would hear the case.
A three judge panel ruled President Trump has the authority
to deploy the National guard in Portland and the courts
couldn't stop it. I'm Chris Kraji.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
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Speaker 5 (02:38):
Wishing for a little bit more information, You'll get it
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Speaker 6 (02:46):
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Speaker 8 (06:08):
So far, this is Casey.

Speaker 9 (06:30):
Lie.

Speaker 10 (06:32):
This is the Jeff Sato Show on the Revolution Radio Network,
Rebuilding America together, invest in activism and supporting the middle class.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Now here's Jeff.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
It is our two of the Jeff stands Joe and
welcome to it, folks. Coming you live from the South
coast here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Well, of course,
it is a teacher Tuesday here on the Jeff Santo Show.
And nobody better to represent teachers and educators around the
country than our next guest She is a regular here

(07:20):
on the program, has been for many, many years. It
is always a real pleasure to talk to our good
friend from South Jersey, not far from Philly and looking
at that great Garden State from her perch as a
seventh grade teacher in public schools. Yes, the great public

(07:41):
school which has made millions of Americans smarter, wiser, and
in some cases even wealthier. It is always great to
talk to Melissa Thomlinson. She joins his via video from
the Garden State where it's sunny today. That's a good thing.

(08:01):
You can get a little bit of son on Melissa's
face there, so that's a good thing. Well, Happy teacher Tuesday, Melissa.
How are you.

Speaker 9 (08:10):
Good?

Speaker 11 (08:10):
Jeff?

Speaker 9 (08:10):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (08:13):
I'm doing okay. I want to get your thoughts, as
we've been asking a lot of people, and again we
ask our friends and fans alike to go to the
Jeff Santo Show, the Jeffsantoshow dot com and post your photographs,
your experiences on Saturday of the No Kings Rally protest,

(08:36):
however you want to define it. What was your experience? Melissa?
In New Jersey, So.

Speaker 7 (08:43):
My County Union joined with Indivisible and We put on
an event in Atlantic City and we had about between
five and six hundred people there, so it was really good.
We had a little bit of concern. We got some
messages about Proud Boys being in the area the night
before and intending to target our day of action, but

(09:07):
we didn't have any problems, so that was good. It
was a nice day of the community coming together. We
had a lot of speakers, a lot of different issues
were discussed, not just public education.

Speaker 11 (09:20):
But everything that was spoken to all related to public education.

Speaker 7 (09:27):
So you could see the intersectionality of what's going on
in society and in our communities and how that affects
our students.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well, I tell you, it is so incredibly important to
have educators leading the charge. You know, as I've said,
it's the most important profession in America. I've always felt
that way, and without you guys, the future drives up.
So and good teachers that public schools have had for many,

(09:55):
many years. It's so critical, all right. So I don't
know how many students of yours turned out in these
One of the things that I was amazingly impressed with
is that some of the rallies I was in, I
was not in Boston. You know, the cities. I think
the biggest one I was in with maybe fifty thousand,
but you know, a lot of small towns, and it

(10:17):
was retired people, was retired military people, firefighters, police officers,
you know, folks who from all walks of life, you know, African, American, Latino, Asian,
you know, and everybody was just sort of in a
good mood, you know, saying, look, we can't deal with
this anymore. Our country's going to hell in a hand basket.

Speaker 12 (10:39):
You know.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
You get a guy who's only about putting money in
his pocket, he'll do it from any place in the world,
dictators or whatever. And you know, we got to stop this.
And you know, the country is fat up with this,
and it's it's time. It is time, you know, to
move in a in a direction that I think is

(11:01):
a populist, progressive direction, you know, aka Bernie Sanders, aka
where we started in the nineteen thirties with FDR. And
we've we got off course in Vietnam and we really
have never found our way back to the path. We've
done some good things under Obama and a little less
in Clinton, but it to me and a little bit
in Biden to be fair and but you know there's

(11:24):
there's got to be a better path. How are you
looking at this building the momentum? You know, we just
got off the phone with John Nichols, Melissa, and you
know there's a meeting today with the folks who put
it together, Indivisible, Social Security Works, move on dot org,
many of these organizations a c l U. What would
you like to see the next steps the momentum off

(11:47):
of Saturday.

Speaker 7 (11:50):
I hope they have a serious conversation about escalation, Right,
that's part of a lot of the criticism that that's
coming out in the social media networks. Is okay, coming together,
building community, That is all great, getting people, you know,
speaking the same language, understanding everybody else's issues the intersectionality

(12:13):
of them. But at what point are we going to
start actually putting some pressure on spaces, on government officials,
on you know, an anywhere that pressure that we can
find a pressure point. So I hope they have some
conversations about what it would take to get these people
who are attending protests trained in.

Speaker 11 (12:34):
Direct action tactics, what that would look like, and so how.

Speaker 7 (12:38):
We could escalate, hopefully to move towards a general strike.

Speaker 9 (12:43):
Right.

Speaker 7 (12:44):
The withholding of labor across the nation. It's funny. My
father's seventy eight years old this year, and he was
asking me about Saturday and he was like, well, why
are you doing this? And so we're having conversation about
the way things are right now. He's like, but what
is the end goal? What are you hoping to accomplish?

(13:04):
And so we had a conversation about the general strike
and about the three point five percent rule and how
it's going to take some time to get there, right,
it's going to take I was reading an analysis yesterday
somebody who's been studying social movements for years, and it's
a long term, four or five six years. But we

(13:26):
need to keep building and we need to keep escalating
to get there.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Well, in a lot of ways, as as I keep
telling people, I mean, a lot of this started. You
know again, unions were a big part of this. You're
part of the NEA, the the unions that started in
the strikes in the nineteen thirties under FDR. You know,
eleanor FDR's wife after his death, you know, work closely

(13:53):
with public unions, including teachers unions. So there's a pathway there.
Bernie has obviously picked up a lot on the fdo
our language and ideas and how government intersects to help people.
I just think we need to build off of that
and continue the movements. I agree, you just can't. One

(14:13):
of the things that's really infuriating to me as a
talk show host who you know needs to you know,
I'm not holding out a McDonald's cup, but it's not
far from that, and it's at a point where we need,
you know, to invest in infrastructure to bring people like
you on. You know, we're on right now on Los

(14:34):
Angeles Radio, our great friends. They're at am ten fifty
KCAA starts in San Bernardino. It goes east to the
Colorado River, north to Los Angeles, covers most of La County,
it gets out to Long Beach, and you know, it's
an opportunity besides our great station in Boston, Lowell, you know,

(14:58):
to reach out and tonight, you know, in fact, last
night you were on on KSFO in San Francisco that
fifty thousand watts out to Reno, Nevada from last week's show,
and you know, this is where we need to do.
We need to bring out you know, the John Nichols
and the Melissa Tomlinson's and all of our great guests.

(15:18):
And you know, if we don't build upon what we're
doing here, then you know, shame on us. Because the
Republicans have been doing this for forty five years, you know,
since the late seventies, and you know, they're building every day,
and there's a lot of hate and there's you know,
they they looked at destroy Clinton, looked at destroy Obama,

(15:38):
looked at destroy Biden, on and on Harris, et cetera,
et cetera. This is what they do well. They have
the infrastructure do it. And I think that is part
of that, that organizing, you know, to have that. I mean,
if you're you know, going door to door as you
did in the Harris campaign, and you know you have

(15:59):
radio shows that are talking about the same things that
you're talking about when you go door to door, there's
some synergy there. If the only thing you're hearing is
that you know, there's a communist to come into the door,
you know, lock up. You can't talk to Melissa Thomason
or anybody else, you know, so there you go. It
makes your job harder. So that's what really is at stake,

(16:20):
and I think you know that's a big part of it.
But your dad is right, brought you up, you got it.
He's he's looking out to see what you know, his
daughter is going to be doing and what effect it
will have, you know, going forward. I want to I
want to get your thoughts that you know, I don't
know how many children of parents that are have kids

(16:45):
in your in your grade, in your school? What was
that like? Did you talk to any families before and since, Hey,
you know missus Thomlinson. I had my parents and I
went to so and so or you know, my parents
were were out, but friends and neighbors went to a

(17:06):
local one and you know, in Camden or whatever. What
was that like?

Speaker 7 (17:14):
So I didn't have any conversations in my school district.
The event that that we had is far away from
it's like the opposite end of the county, so I
didn't run into any of my students or anything. Yeah,
we did have some youth there from Atlantic City. We
had some youth from the NAACP Youth Advisory Board to

(17:35):
be amazing.

Speaker 11 (17:37):
Speakers, and then of course they had their friends there.

Speaker 7 (17:40):
We had some of the Hispanic youth from the Hispanic
families from El Pueblo Undo.

Speaker 11 (17:45):
They were there playing a role.

Speaker 7 (17:48):
You know, it's really kind of hard to have political
conversations in schools right now because teachers are under such attack, sure,
and have to be above board and as nonpartisan as possible.
So the tendency is not to bring any type of
politics into the classroom these days at all, even when

(18:10):
even like just posing a question and trying to create
critical thinking. We have to be really really careful about
those conversations right now.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
And this has ratchet up, you know, since Trump, the
you know, took over as a dictator in this country
back in January, So you know it it it became
harder for you to do your job. And we'll only
get harder with more cutbacks. And know that the Department
of Education in DC is making cuts as we speak.

(18:43):
Of course, you know that's all related to Trump. So
you know, talk to me about just going in and
every morning at six, seven, eight o'clock. We're every time,
whatever time you start, and having to deal with all
this bs that you know has been put on educators

(19:08):
and teachers around this country by the Trump administration. Give
us an understanding of what it was like. Again, we
all had a disagreement, particularly over the last year or
two with Biden. But you know comparison, it's you know,
it's got to be night and day for your role
as a educator. Talk to me about that.

Speaker 7 (19:31):
So, the most common answer we get nowadays when we
ask for resources is there's no money. Right, That is
all we hear. We are living in austerity times right now.
When it comes to schools, you might want a program
to put kids on so they can practice multiplication facts.

(19:54):
You might want some manipulatives for your classroom to assist
with equivalent fractions, and the constant response is there's no money.

Speaker 11 (20:04):
Figure out a different way to do it.

Speaker 7 (20:07):
We are a chromebook district, but we have chromebooks that
are broken, that are missing and have.

Speaker 11 (20:14):
Not been replaced.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Right.

Speaker 7 (20:16):
There is just no way to get the resources that
we need, and this is happening across the state, across
the nation.

Speaker 11 (20:23):
On top of that, we have more kids in our
classrooms right now.

Speaker 7 (20:27):
My groups are bigger, all the other classrooms are bigger
and less time.

Speaker 11 (20:31):
Right there's more data collection paperwork that we have to do.

Speaker 7 (20:38):
New Jersey just rolled out a new state test platform,
So now we have to spend Monday and Tuesday mornings
doing a field test for this new platform. So we
have to take up our instructional time to put the
kids on this test that we're not going to see
the data for because this is more of a test
of the system, and yet we're using our students as

(21:01):
ponnds to make sure this new AI system works for
the new test.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Unreal. We'll open up the phones in a minute and
go to Tom in Los Angeles at eight three three
five five five three three three Again, folks, you can
reaches that spells out A three three five four five
Jeff j E f F No goffs allowed. There's too
many letters anyways, if you do it that way. Our

(21:31):
good friend Melissa Thomlinson is with he's executive director of
Badass Teachers, the best name in politics. Before I go
to our good friend Tom in l A, how, how
has the whole you know, transisue the cultural crap that

(21:52):
the other side is doing besides the funding part of it.
So you're you're dealing with, you know, okay, austerity measures here.
You can't get any more money, so you can't get
any of the programs you used to have, and on
top of that, you get all the extremists that are
they're say, oh, well, you know you're all all trands
loving all this bs. How is that wretched up? Because

(22:13):
it was happening last year. We were talking about this
last year. But it to me, it just makes your
job harder. And again, folks, if we want to have
the next generation smarter than than the than generation Z
or Y, then you know you're going to have to
make it. Public schools are the are the incubator of this.

(22:36):
And if you're going to make Melissa's job harder in
seventh or eighth grade in New Jersey or anywhere around
the country, you know you're got to wake up here.
You've got to support people, you know, in in public schools.
Talk to me about that, because you know it's really
unfair because you're getting all, you know, the crap, you know,
avalanche out of the Trump dumpster, you know, being thrown

(22:57):
at you, no funding, you know, you're you're you're terrorist,
all this other nonsense, your thoughts.

Speaker 7 (23:05):
So, mostly in New Jersey, it's manifesting at the school
board level. That's where a lot of the fights and
the arguments are happening. In terms of protections for our
transgender students. We're lucky in this state. We still have
laws and at school policies that protect our transgender students,
but it still is trickling down into schools. Right kids

(23:29):
aren't knowing exactly which adults are safe to talk to
right away. It takes them a little bit of time
to recognize that right they don't have the protection or
that safe feeling that, oh, I can talk to any adult,
any adult in the school that's supposed to take care
of me. They're supposed to help me out, they're supposed
to listen to me, find the resources that I need.

(23:51):
So it takes longer when kids are having issues for
us to kind of, you know, get a sense of
what's going on and find them assistance if they need it.
And it's harder for adults to, you know, to have
that conversation of you know, what's going on in your life?
What can I help you with because some adults, some teachers,

(24:14):
are afraid that they're going to find out something that
they don't want to know and they're not going to
know how to handle, you know, should it be reported,
do I need to tell the parents?

Speaker 9 (24:24):
Do what?

Speaker 11 (24:25):
You know, what kind of counseling might they need?

Speaker 7 (24:28):
So it's it's a like a slower moving process now
for all of this, and you know, I just hope
and pray that we do not come to the day
where it's too late for one of our students.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, it's a horrible, horrible thought, but that's reality. Unfortunately.
In twenty twenty five. All right, let's go to Los Angeles.
Our good friend Tom joins us. Tom, you're next, with
Melissa Thomason, the badass teachers here on the Jeff Santo Show.
And of course out there in Los Angeles are great
friends at ten fifty am where we are live right

(25:02):
now throughout Los Angeles and Sam Bernardino. Go right ahead, Tom,
you're next.

Speaker 13 (25:10):
Yeah, Melisten, Jeff, thank you very much. Melissa, I don't understand, Well,
first off, I don't understand why it is that, you know,
every hundred years just different characters. In some ways, we
should be following the FDR playbook, since Trump is following
the Hitler playbook. You know, I don't understand why it

(25:31):
is that we just can't start educating our students about
what happened back in the thirties. So therefore, you know,
we don't have to repeat history. But apparently the American
people want to learn from the school of hard knocks,
and I know myself as a gay man, as a
gay individual growing up in a small town in two

(25:52):
thousand people in Wisconsin. We now live in Los Angeles
and have run a gay and lesbian jerre for the
past twenty years. That you all I would have needed
to hear at the school level was you know what,
You're all loved. Everybody in this classroom is loved. And

(26:14):
you know what, if any of you need any any help,
whether you're LGBTQ, whether you're straight, whether you're fat, whether
you're thin, whatever it is that you are, you are protected.
And this is a very protected space. If you want
someone to talk to, we're here. We don't have to
talk about it every single day. We don't have to

(26:36):
keep on pushing it and pushing it. Just let people
be human beings for God's face, you know what. And
our transgender brothers and sisters are part of that fabric
of everything, So I don't I just feel like sometimes
we make too big of a deal and we play
into the Republican's playbook because they're all so obsessed with

(26:58):
people's orientations that they really we need to check their
own orientation at the time exactly. But the thing is,
you know, enough is enough of this these people? We
need to go on offense and say that these people
are creeps. They're creepy, there's creepers. They are worried about Bathuum.
You know what Democrats are worried about Podoles, not Toddy.

(27:22):
And thankfully we need to make the minority the majority,
the majority the minority, and start making the feel like
the absolute losers that they.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Are, no doubt about it, Well said Tom, Well said,
and thank you for for giving us that personal perspective
as well. I appreciate that, Melissa, your thoughts on what
our good friend Tom has saying.

Speaker 11 (27:48):
No, I completely agree with him with what he's saying.

Speaker 7 (27:51):
I think a lot of it comes down to this
idea that there's no gray area, right we because this
information comes at us so fast, and our kids get
information from social media and from YouTube that they think
that they should know all the answers, right. So if
they don't understand something and somebody points it out to

(28:13):
them in a way that's hoping to bring about understanding,
they feel like they're immediately.

Speaker 11 (28:20):
Being accused of being bad. Right.

Speaker 7 (28:23):
And you know, this is something that I reconciled within
myself years ago. Because I grew up in a mostly
white suburban town, right, and I did not have a
lot of interaction with people of color. I did not
understand racism, and at first it was, oh my gosh,
people think I'm racist.

Speaker 11 (28:42):
I must be a bad person. But I'm not a
bad person. And it wasn't that I was a bad person.
It was just because I did not have that.

Speaker 7 (28:49):
Background knowledge, I did not have that understanding. So I
think people are very uncomfortable living in that space, whether
it be children or adults. So the tendency is if
you are made to feel uncomfortable, you double down and
you push back even harder.

Speaker 11 (29:05):
And I think that's what we're living in right now.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Talking to Melissa Thomlinson here on the Jeff Santo Show,
thank you again for the call. Tom. Just get about
forty seconds here, Melissa, do you sense that the tide
is turning? Though you know, not only from what happened
on Saturday? Your final thoughts again about thirty seconds.

Speaker 14 (29:28):
I do.

Speaker 7 (29:29):
I'm just hoping that we pushed the tide enough beyond
even what we had before, because what we had before
isn't right. The progressive ideals that we really truly need
for a just society. Right, we've dropped talks of reparations,
we've dropped talks of what it means to be environmentally

(29:49):
just in this country, and we're starting to say we
want to go back to the way it was before.

Speaker 11 (29:54):
But we weren't where we needed to be the way
it was before. So I hope we can. There's a turn,
but it also push.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
That's right, Melissa Thomas, and great to have you on.
We'll see you next Tuesday. Badass teacher, We'll be right back.
You gotta have a badass teacher. It's a Jeff Santo show.

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Speaker 2 (32:18):
Be safe, not sorry, don't drink and drive. Our sponsor,
Wham Plumbing, is family owned, probably serving Riverside and samburand.

Speaker 8 (33:18):
Supporting the middle class.

Speaker 10 (33:20):
This is the Jeff Santos Show.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
It is our two and a half thirty three minutes
past the hour. It is the Jeff santo Show, and
our next guest comes to us from the great state
of Ohio. Of course, I believe it's tomorrow night. The
Cavaliers are on TV against the New York Knickerbockers. And

(33:55):
for those of you who haven't followed this show over
the last few decades, our next guest is a native
of the Bronx, but lives in eastern Ohio and of
course has a huge basketball background, actually played at City
College years ago, and he's both a Cavaliers fan and

(34:17):
a Knicks fan. I think they're playing tomorrow night. I'm
not mistaken opening up the NBA. And of course he's
got you know, both the Knicks as a kid and
the Cavs now so I don't know where he's going,
but anyways, it's Jerry Austin, the political media consultant we
have on this show mentor of mine, a good friend
of mine as well, and we bring him in from

(34:41):
just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. It's great to have you back, Jerry.
Welcome back, first time in twenty twenty five. I hope
you're doing well today.

Speaker 19 (34:53):
Yeah, thanks, glad to be back. Plead you're on.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Well, it's good to be back and have you on
with us, particularly throughout the great state of California. This show,
of course is on casey AA and southern California, San Bernardino,
Los Angeles, out to Long Beach, and it will be
replayed in the coming days in San Francisco as well,
which spent a lot of time in as well. Okay,

(35:20):
so we had the big event on Saturday. I've been
talking to a lot of our contributors, Jerry, and Okay,
how do you how do you bounce off that momentum?
Seven million people, the largest piece, full gathering, demonstration, protest,
move whatever you want to call in history of the country,

(35:42):
small towns, big cities. I guess, first, I don't know
if you ended up having to go to any of
these events or if you had friends and family who
did your experiences. And then the next step, where do
we take the Democratic Party from here to the next
step capturing that momentum? To your thoughts?

Speaker 19 (36:01):
Jerry, Well, first of all, I guess Saturday's event the
number one headline. There were more people there on Saturdays
in the previous events. Okay, and so so what happens now?

(36:21):
What happened after the last event? Nothing? What's happening after
this event? There's more stories about about the Trump cartoon
with you know him up playing, you know, crapping all
over the United States than there was anything else. Yeah, well,
I get I get the you know, the show of opposition.

(36:46):
But what happens after one of these things as over?
There is there a peace of legislation there? You know,
we we want the you know, the government open up again,
and et cetera. Et cetera. But this doesn't seem to
affect that whatsoever. So you know, I'm asking a rhetorical question. Okay,

(37:07):
so now a lot. You know, we've played another one
in six month. I mean, the problem is there's nobody
calling signals for the Democratic Party. I mean, if there is,
I'm I'm missing who it is. I mean, you know,
I'm a football fan, and I know that there's a
quarterback calling signals. Uh, you know, whatever sport you want,

(37:30):
there's somebody calling signals. So there's nobody calling signals for
the Democrats. We don't control anything now. Were two leaders
are not only both from New York, but both from
different parts of Brooklyn. And and so this thing happens,
and it's now two days, three days later. What's happened

(37:53):
since then? What's what's the goal here? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Well, I think you raised some interesting points, and I
think it's also good to be brought back to earth.
And you know, again, Jerry's credentials, you know, need to
be announced here because it's not like he's coming from
you know, a conservative, middle of the road Democrat. This
is a guy who was a media consultant and campaign
managed for Jesse Jackson's eighty eight run, Paul Wellstone's Nightie campaign,

(38:24):
the upset of Boschowitz, Carol Molsey Brown the first female
African American female elected after reconstruction. So, you know, just
want to make sure people are aware of Jerry's background
and grew up in New York City. So I agree
with you, and I think what is happening and this

(38:45):
is going to be fascinating. We're gonna have a chance
to talk to minority with Catherine Clark coming up after
you at five o'clock, and one of the questions I
want to pose is how do we come off this
fantastic momentum and get her take on this? But I
think that the We just had our good friend John

(39:06):
Nicholson earlier and you know, we were talking about, well,
what is going to come out of this meeting with
the people who put together this event, move on dot org,
you know, Indivisible, our friends of Social Security Works, Alex
Loss and company, the ACLU, you know, are they going
to collaborate? And that's a word. Sometimes you know, it

(39:31):
means something and sometimes it means nothing. With those in
the Democratic Party and actually pulled together a moderate progressive
wing and You know, again, this is not pie in
the sky, because this actually happened in government back when
Biden was president and Bernie came in the American Rescue
Plan and the poll numbers, you know that. I remember

(39:54):
in the first six months of twenty one, we're over
sixty percent for Biden. He never even came close to
the at within the six months or a year later.
So I think it's there, but whether or not they
can pull it off. Now, look, we got we've got
a number of leaders and really three big cities or
four big cities if you include San Francisco, Gavin Newsom,

(40:15):
the governor California, LA and San Francisco, which of course
we're on, and KABC in LA as well as k
kc AA and San Bernardino covers Greater Los Angeles and
KSFO and San Francisco. Okay, we've covered a lot of
that in Illinois not far from you. And Governor pritsk
is doing some fantastic things. He's been pushing back. These

(40:36):
videos are fantastic. And of course we got Mondani. He's
talking to people on the bus that maybe the same
routes that you grew up in. I don't know the
last time we've seen a political candidate talk to somebody
on a bus and actually shows that as part of
his videos. So there's a lot of people that are
there leading, and of course there are leaders in Washington,

(40:56):
and you and I have talked about this for a
long time. There's a lot a separation of reality from
those who are in d C and those who are
around the country, and all the people that I just mentioned,
none of them live and work in DC. I think
it's going to be those groups, some of them which

(41:16):
have headquarters in DC, going to all these these governors
and in the case of Mondani future mayor and working
with them. I think that's the winning coalition. And then
the folks from Washington at in of course is always
going to be burning in AOC, and the Chris Murphys
and and even somebody who's now running for Senate, and
John Nichols tells me is even in the polls in Ohio,

(41:39):
shared Brown. So your thoughts. I'm optimistic after what I
saw on the ground, you know, in the small towns
in Massachusetts and cities that I visited. But you're right,
what's next? What Robert Redford said, Now, what after the
candidate at the end of the movie. There your thoughts,
mister Austin.

Speaker 19 (42:01):
Well, first of all, that's not sugget that there is
a goal that we should be talking about.

Speaker 12 (42:06):
That's two weeks from today the election day, right.

Speaker 19 (42:11):
We need to win. We need to win the issue
in California. We need to retain the judges in Pennsylvania.
We need to win the governorship in New Jersey and Virginia, uh,
and take back the House of Delegates in Virginia. We
need to win as many of those as possible to
show that, you know, even though we're in the minority. Uh,

(42:33):
you know, we're resurgent and we've come back and won
these elections. And then you know, basically twenty twenty six
and the convential races and Senate races and governorships become
a number one priority. But this is all about winning
at the ballot box. And two weeks from today, you know,
is the first time up. And people who are involved

(42:56):
on Saturday, even though they may not live in those communities,
can certainly contribute to those candidates. Can certainly they are
volunteer activities that people can do even though they live
in a different state. With phone calls et cetera, and
a that's where our episode should be.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
I agree, And you know, you know, we're we're talking
Prop fifty and we're looking to get more and more
people on the program, uh, including uh, you know, fellow
uh connections to Ohio like Gary South and and hopefully
among many other political leaders uh in the great uh

(43:34):
Golden state of California. Jerry, do you sense that, you know,
the the stuff that is happening where you know, Trump,
would you know, talk about throwing crap on people from
a plane that that kind of stuff has just sort of,

(43:55):
you know, it's made him look like not only a fool,
but sort of a mean spirited one. And and do
you think that the pole numbers you're seeing because I'm
thinking that in what I saw over the weekend, people
are sick and tired. These are not very political folks
that I saw. You know, some of them were holding signs,

(44:16):
but some pole just you know, dressed in their military
you know, garb and so forth. They just want to
see at a better America that's respected and and people
don't you know, laugh at the leader. I'm wondering if
you're feeling that, and I think it probably would show
first in the Midwest, And that's what Nichols was saying.
He said he saw a lot of the same thing,

(44:37):
good vibes, people who are not necessarily political coming out
to the to the events at particularly smaller, smaller town,
smaller cities. You know, a lot of the previous ones
were just in the massive cities of New York, La,
San Francisco, Boston, Chicago. But now you had people in
you know, small towns in Mississippi and Idaho. Do you

(44:58):
think there's a distinction, And I mean, I guess we'll
find out in the polls. You know, a lot of
them are in northeastern states, Virginia, New Jersey, and California.
Of course New York City, you know, in terms of
twenty twenty five elections. But I'm wondering if you're seeing
the fact that Brown is close in the in the

(45:19):
polls that Nichols was talking about in Ohio shared Brown,
does that sense that you think the tit is turning slowly? Maybe?

Speaker 19 (45:29):
No, I don't. I don't. I don't since that the
tide is turning. You know, the only the only way
that anybody can prove that it is turning or turns
is election Day.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Okay, you know everything else is just two weeks.

Speaker 19 (45:47):
That if Sheriff Brown race is a year and change away, right,
he's been, he's been on the ballot, you know, in
this state of fifty years. He's not an unknown. Comme outit. Yuh,
So it wouldn't be not a surprise that Sherick Brown,
you know, is competitive in a state that he's representative,

(46:08):
you know, in Washington for over fifty years. But more importantly, again,
I go back to two weeks from today, and and
I go back to the fact that that you know,
we we've not seen unless I'm I missed it. One
Republican elected official, I don't care whether it's a county

(46:29):
commissioner or a city council person in Podugue to the
Senate of the House of Representatives. Not one person that's
ever condemned what Trump did.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
With that video.

Speaker 19 (46:41):
Yeah, they won't president of United States would do something
like that. Well that we all know, we despicable human being,
but not one of these, not one, you know, Oh
that's Trump being Trump. So we're sort of used to
that by now.

Speaker 9 (46:56):
Uh.

Speaker 19 (46:57):
And you know, they let them get away with everything.
But the way to show that the American people have
turned on this guy is in the ballot box.

Speaker 9 (47:07):
Uh.

Speaker 19 (47:07):
And and two week from now is the beginning. I mean,
if you want emphasis for an issue in California, the
North Carolina legislature, you know just basically you know, grab
another Republican seats by doing some geremandry. But even though
we have the governor and we have the attorney general there,
the legislature is where you know, it happened in North

(47:30):
Caromina and they grabbed another seat.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Yep, no, this is this is and that's why we're
hoping it'd be a big win in California. You know
that Gavin Newsom, you know, can can get every vote possible.

Speaker 16 (47:43):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
You know across this country, across the state of California.
You know, from San bernuon Riverside to where we heard
on k c A A to to the mountains out
to Reno, Nevada, to that border area in northern California,
down to San Diego or our friends at KABC know
get into the uh San Diego and down to the

(48:03):
Mexican border. You got to get every vote and and
that is critical. And you know why we are pushing
that because it helps the four young other states. I mean,
if California can can win this, and then the legislature
goes to work, which they can because they hold big
majorities in both the House and Senate, and you can implement,
you know, and you know, get five new seats. If

(48:26):
you do that, then all of a sudden, people may
wake up in other parts of the of the country,
in New York and Illinois, you know, in other states,
and all of a sudden, you can pick up two,
three more and now you know you're you're combating with
the Trump I agree with you, Jerry. I think you
know and you understand. You know, you use the term war,
you know when it comes to you know, both back

(48:48):
and forth. And as a consultant, you know, you have
been in campaigns for a president, you know, as part
of different teams on the Democratic side, you have seen it.
And you know the Republicans play for keeps and you know,
we have to play that same kind of way. And
that's why I'm really excited about Avin Newsom because he's
taking it right back to Trump, right in his face,

(49:09):
you know, that old nineteen eighties basketball thing when I
was just a kid, you know, in your face disgrace.
Some of the players would use back in those days.
That's what we sort of have to have, I think
going forward. You agree with that assessment, Well.

Speaker 19 (49:29):
Yeah, you know it's not we're in a war here,
and the people who are around on Saturday that understand that,
you know, participating on Saturday is great. But what happens
next and whether it's in the local communities or whether
it's you know, sending a check to one of these
places that have elections two weeks from now, that you know,

(49:50):
we're all in this together. It's a war. You know,
there's a battle going on in California that's really important,
and you concern your back and you know that everything
else and give the finger to an achronism like Arnold Schwarzmaker,
you know, who basically is saying, well, I created this
and this is a He's an an achronism, you know,

(50:11):
he you know, he's a victim of happenstance, and you
know people shouldn't be paying attention to him. Because the
Republicans understand more that they've understood a few years and
we have to start understanding that this is war. That
whatever they are capable of doing, whether it's legal or
not legal. With the color troop or Home Color troops

(50:32):
they're gonna do. I'm not suggesting that we have to
get in the gutter with them, but you know, when
they go low, we don't go high. We got to
go low to and we're going to expose them. So
all the things that you know that they've they've been
doing and lying about. And in California this is basically
you know, math, they're they're gerremandering in different places where

(50:54):
they have the majorities. And Gavin Newsom understandings and I think,
you know, Governor Pritzker understands, and we've got to do
the same thing.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, no doubt. And look, you're fighting fire with fire.
I mean, whatever cliche you want to use. Talking with
Jerry Austin again, Uh, Jerry's resume, Uh, you know, pretty
amazing stuff, particularly when it comes to a lot of progressives.
Shared Brown one of his clients in Ohio. Uh, you
know Dick Celeste. Last time, folks, the Democrats had back

(51:26):
to back, back to back election wins for governor. This
man was part of the team. Media consultant. I think
he might have been involved, chief of staff, you know,
a number of different roles. But that's that's pathetic. Really
in Ohio because he used to go back and forth
all the time. Jerry educated me at a very young
age about all that. But you know, was the last

(51:48):
guy go ahead. They have to correct me on.

Speaker 12 (51:56):
One of the.

Speaker 19 (51:56):
Reasons that Dick Celeste was elected governor. And many of
your listeners coming never heard of them, and it was
way back two ninety. But we never let the opponents
get away with anything, with anything. We responded immediately and
we shot one across the bow before you know, they'd

(52:17):
had anything to do. We understood more at that time
in Ohio, and we've got to understand that that's what
this is all about. And there are things that happened
every day, and the congress person making a speech on
the House floor which is going to be seen by
people who like c stand h it's not enough. It's
not enough, asked, as you know, Leader Clark, why isn't

(52:43):
there a democratic military veteran coalition in the House that's
kicking these people for what they're doing to veterans, benefits
and the military in general. Why isn't that happening now?
We were looked at as thought of the military, where

(53:03):
we have you know, scores of military veterans. As a
matter of fact, the last time I looked in terms
of our candidates for Congress in twenty twenty six, there's
an incredible amount of veterans running, both men and women.

Speaker 12 (53:17):
It's right.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
I mean, you know, Jason Crow saved colleagues of MSS
Clark and his colleagues of himself as the Colorado representative,
fought in the military. I mean, you got a whole
slew of them. We've got a race here in Massachusetts
going on with a military vet, you know, primary and Marquee.

(53:39):
So there's a whole slew of things that are happening.
You're right, and again you're going to have the infrastructure
to put these people on, and you know, we hope
to be you know, expanding the show as we go
into twenty twenty six and to a lot of places
that you know, heavy congressional maps and obviously some statewide
races as well. You know, these are very difficult days

(54:04):
for the country and and the Democrats now have some momentum.
I think it's time to do something with it. And
if you can't miss the opportunity, you know, I know
you watched the game last night with Seattle Uh and Toronto.
I was rooting for the Mariners, but I'm glad that
the country of Canada, which has been given the middle
finger by Trump, came back. And maybe they'll they'll shock
the world and beat the Dodgers and show you, you

(54:26):
know that the people in Canada can play baseball too,
and although not from Canada's most of the players are
from either the Dominican Republic or the US or whatever.

Speaker 9 (54:36):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
But you know, I would love to see that. But
you know, the add opportunities Seattle to add on yesterday
to take advantage of the opportunity that was given them,
and they didn't do it, and they ended up losing. It,
brought in the wrong picture and the seventh inning, and
you know that's that. But that's I think the same situation,
you know, for the Democrats and how we move this
this forward. So let me let me ask you, uh, Jerry,

(55:01):
do you do you feel that if New York goes
to mamdani uh and the Democrats in California, you know,
maybe exceed expectations on you know what the what the
margin of victory would be. Those are two east coast
West coast states. You know, it's not Ohio, it's not

(55:25):
Wisconsin or or you know, the heartland Michigan. But I
think that that would open the door because particularly with
both Mamdanni and Newsome, you have fantastic communicators and if
you can amplify that, that's something to go forward into
the into the congressional, gubernatorial and senate elections in twenty

(55:50):
twenty six. Your your views there.

Speaker 19 (55:54):
Well, I, first of all, you know is running in
New York. He's running on New York centric issues. He's
not running on national issues. Pre Bus rides in New
York is not a national issue. And the issue in
California is again germane to California. If I would be
reading the hell of a lot into anything that happens there,

(56:14):
except you know, the win's a win, and and that's great.
But but the the important thing is what did we
learn from from Mondomi? We've we've we've known that Newsom
is a great communicator, that gruesome, that Newsom is a
great standardate and campaigner. We didn't never heard of Mondomi.
So what do we see in this guy? We see

(56:36):
a guy that's articulate. He understands the media, he understands
how to communicate, he understands they're doing spots on buses
or subways or in bus lanes, or eating falafa or
stuff that that's a way to communicate in a different way.
Do we have people out there like that? Now we've
got a guy, a guy running in Maine now to

(56:58):
take on Susan Collins who has a prior, who's got
some of that same ability. I agree, you know, we
we've got to find these candidates that that you know,
the times, having the you know, resume to run for office,
also have the ability to communicate.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
And of course, you know, the main governor now get
into the race and there's now you know, that back
and forth with the incumbent who's under fifty percent. In
the case of Mills, not an incumbent, but she's an
incumbent governor running for Senate seat. So there's a whole
slew of issues there too. And I agree, we'd love
to have on mister Planteer. I think is I was

(57:36):
pronounced the candidate who's running wh's got a military background
on top of it all in Maine. Just one one
more minute here in our segment, Jary, I wonder if
you feel that there are a number of folks in

(58:02):
the Midwest who are looking at the economic message. That
is the overarching thing.

Speaker 12 (58:09):
You know.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
The other day I brought up and I bring it
on time to time. The Dunkin Donuts one pound of coffee.
About three weeks ago, it went from seven ninety nine
at the local grocery store here in Massachusetts to fourteen
ninety nine. I call it the Trump tariff economy. And
to me that Duncan Donuts courts is Massachusets, Dunkin Donuts

(58:32):
is where you know was born. To me is an insult.
And I have to pay fourteen dollars for this and
it went up again seven bucks. This to me is
is a not only is a good prop for what
we do on both video and audio, but to me
shows the example to you know, everybody drinks coffee pretty much,

(58:53):
not everybody, but a lot of people. Your your thoughts
on that. I got about forty seconds. You can have
it all.

Speaker 19 (59:00):
Look, we have in the Midwest, in Michigan, in Minnesota
and Illinois in particular, major gobernatorial races, Senate races, congracial
races coming up in twenty six and there are a
number of candidates running, a lot of women running. A

(59:21):
lot of women would know theary backgrounds, but they all
seem to be singing in the same hymn though about
the economy and what things are costing you at your
grocery store, and blaming all this on Trump and his
parents and his policies. So I think that that's happening,
and I wish the election for two weeks from now

(59:43):
instead of being in twenty six.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Yeah, I agree with that. On twenty six Jerry Austin,
so great to have you back, my friend, go Calves
and we will talk soon, maybe next week. Thank you,
appreciate you. May We'll be right back, folks, you too,
Our good friend. Minority with Catherine Clark joins us after
this news update.

Speaker 8 (01:00:10):
NBC News on CACAA Lommel sponsored by Teamsters Local The
Future of Working Families Teamsters nineteen thirty two dot.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Org, NBC News Radio. I'm Chris Karashio.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
President Trump is thanking Republicans for standing firm during the
government's shutdown, which is now in its twenty first day.
During a Rose Garden luncheon today for Senate Republicans, Trump
called out Democrats and Chuck Schumer, who have.

Speaker 8 (01:00:41):
Known for a long time and the radical left Democrats
are holding the entire federal government hostage to appease the
extremists in their party.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
Democratic lawmakers remain dug in on efforts to extend healthcare subsidies,
while Republicans are demanding the government reopened before any negotiations
take place. The White House now says there's no immediate
plans for President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet.
Trump told reporters last week that he would meet with
Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks to discuss the
war between Russia and Ukraine. The White House also said

(01:01:12):
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov held a productive call today. President Trump says he
intends to send National Guard troops into San Francisco. San
Francisco Supervisor Contie Chan says the Trump administration doesn't care
about facts or the city's crime statistics.

Speaker 15 (01:01:29):
They are going to say whatever it is they are
going to say, but San Francisco is ready to protect
its residents and everybody who visit.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
This comes after a three judge panel ruled Trump has
the authority to deploy the National Guard in Portland. The
Portland ruling could potentially make it easier for the deployment
in San Francisco. Trump says he can even invoke the
Insurrection Act and bring military force to any city. Meantime,
federal ICE agents are on their way to San Francisco.
Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noome echoed President Trump's comments, indicating

(01:01:57):
the city could see Ice and National Guard president despite
opposition from Governor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The NBA season tips off tonight with a doubleheader. The
Oklahoma City thunder will raise their championship banner as they
host the Houston Rockets at seven thirty pm Eastern. Kevin
Durant will be making his debut for the Rockets In
the night's second game. The Golden State Warriors will visit

(01:02:18):
the Los Angeles Lakers at ten Eastern. I'm Chris Karragio,
NBC News Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:02:23):
It's time to vote. County of Riverside Register our Voters
asks you to make a plan and vote early in
the November fourth statewide special election. For information on the
three easy ways to vote, visit voteinfo dot Net. Your Voice,
Every Vote Our Future.

Speaker 4 (01:02:39):
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Is by shopping locally. Teamster Advantage is a shop local
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Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
Keep bombs to say.

Speaker 20 (01:06:30):
Live.

Speaker 10 (01:06:32):
This is the Jeff Santo Show on the Revolution Radio Network,
rebuilding America together, invest in activism and supporting the middle class.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
Now here's Jeff.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
And is our three of the Jeff Santo Show, and
welcome to it, folks, coming to you live from the
South Coast and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is my
pleasure to talk to the minority whip in the Democratic House.
It's so great. From a fan of somebody who I

(01:07:20):
knew when she was a state legislator here in the
great Commonwealth of Massachusetts and now the number two person
behind I Keem Jeffries. It is my pleasure to bring
to the Jeff Santo Show for the first time in
a long time, our good friend again, Congresswoman Catherine Clark
of Massachusetts. Again the minority whip in the Democratic side.

(01:07:44):
So great to have you, Congresswoman.

Speaker 9 (01:07:46):
How are you today, Oh, Jeff, nice to be on
your show again.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
It's a pleasure. It's great to have you on the program.
Let's tell you it's an exciting time to be a Democrat,
to be a progressive. We're excited to be on in California.
And we'll be replaying this interview throughout the next couple
of days for our audiences in Boston and San Francisco

(01:08:16):
and other parts of southern California as well, so people
will have a chance to get to hear what a
good Massachusetts representative for so many years and of course
now number two in the House of Leadership. Well, first
of all, let me start with no King's Day. What
was your experience Like I had a chance to go

(01:08:38):
to small towns in the South Coast and some mid
size cities, and I found that the vibes were great
from people who were very political to people who never
went to a rally before. What was your impressions and
the tour that you had around the Commonwealth and around
the country if you were in different states.

Speaker 9 (01:09:01):
Yeah, I was only in Massachusetts and it was a great,
great day, Jeff, just as you said, across the country,
over twenty seven hundred events, seven million people peacefully coming
out to say that we are patriots, and patriots don't
believe in kings. And from the people I talked to,

(01:09:26):
to the over one hundred and twenty five thousand people
that came down to the Boston Commons, everybody was there
because they believe in this country. They believe in an
economy that includes them, they believe in having healthcare as

(01:09:47):
a right. And it was just a really picture perfect
weather day and just a lot of community building and
a real great atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
We're talking with minority whip in the Democratic House, Catherine Clark,
Congresswoman Clark represents, of course a Cambridge metro West in
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I must tell you it was
not only a great day, but I saw people from
every walk of life. You know, Tino, African American, Asian American,

(01:10:25):
you know, young old people in their military garb, folks
who you know were retired and not necessarily very political,
but they feel that this country is off on the
wrong tract to a point where they say, look, I
have to get engaged. Did that also come across in
your visits across the Commonwealth.

Speaker 9 (01:10:46):
Oh yeah, the crowd was beautiful ever where we went,
and just like you said, a very diverse crowd. There
were a lot of students and young people there. We
had a lot of babies and toddlers running around, young
families to you know. I know, I brought my eighty

(01:11:07):
six year old in laws and for my father in law,
it was his first sort of political rally, and you know,
you couldn't help but feel in a time that is
so challenging to families at home, you know, when we
have sixty percent of families in this country who are

(01:11:28):
unable to afford the basics to you know, people who
have given so much to this country. It was just
there was an optimism there that is sometimes hard to
find in these very difficult times and days, and an

(01:11:50):
optimism and a vision for our country, for our security,
for our economy. That was just a great reminder of
what we're doing and how we are meeting this moment
with community as we see this administration and Republicans literally

(01:12:13):
shutting down government in order to take away people's healthcare.
And so it was not only a wonderful part of
being part of a movement to reclaim our country and
to stand for those values of quality and justice, but

(01:12:36):
also to be a great split screen too. We're seeing
Republicans refusing to come to work, refusing to come to
the negotiating table, and standing aside as American families receive
these health insurance premium notices that are just skyrocketing and

(01:12:57):
adding to real economic pain that people are already experiencing.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
You know, I held this up congresswoman the other day.
It was a you know, stop and shop had this,
but probably other stores too. It was seven dollars back
in early September for a pound of dunkin Donuts coffee.
It's fourteen dollars now. That is the Trump tariff economy.
I use it as a prop on the show for
the video portion of it, and I think that's what

(01:13:24):
people should be doing across the country. And I'd be
glad to give it to you or anybody else if
there wants to use that prop next time they're in
front of the US Capital whatever. This is where we
where we're at, and I'm wondering, is that now how
we leave, how we keep the momentum and take the
next steps, you know, beyond Saturday is the economic message

(01:13:47):
that to me is so critical. You know, it's insurance,
it's the ACA, it's it's education, everything. And Americans are,
you know, are in a ditch and Trump is throwing
dirt on them. Your thoughts, Yeah, yeah, And you know.

Speaker 9 (01:14:05):
We see it in just the arrogant way that he
treats what's happening to people while he enriches himself and
his own family. And listen, we're really clear what our
messages as House Democrats, and our message to Americans.

Speaker 11 (01:14:23):
Is you deserve better.

Speaker 9 (01:14:25):
You deserve lower costs, whether that's housing or groceries or
utility bills. You deserve to be able to afford healthcare
and be able to get it when you need it
and where you need it. And you deserve to have
a government that works for you. And that means we
are ready to go after corruption and make sure that

(01:14:47):
government services that people serving our country from the highest
office on down are working for you and not for
their own not for their own enrichment, and not for
their own purposes. And those are the three pillars that

(01:15:08):
we are going to be putting forward to the American people.
And central to that is healthcare. And you know it
is astounding that for an administration and Republicans who ran
saying they would lower costs on day one have done

(01:15:28):
just the opposite. And with healthcare, it's you know, over
trillion dollars taken out of Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA Veterans'
health programs, all of this with huge cuts that are
just you know, more than a family can afford. And

(01:15:52):
it seems that with the Republicans in the House and
the Senate, and certainly with Donald Trump and the White House,
those American families are forgotten. And this is a game
about uh pleasing Donald Trump. He is where the loyalty
of the members of Congress lies. And for Donald Trump,

(01:16:13):
it's about doing the very best, buy himself for himself
at the expense.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
In his pocket. That's what he does every time. Take
the money from the American people, put it in his
back pocket.

Speaker 9 (01:16:31):
So, you know, we are very aware of how painful
a shutdown is, and we just want the Republicans to
get back to work, start working again for the people
who elected you and are are looking for your leadership

(01:16:51):
to help them be able to afford the basics for
their families and get ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
You know, one one of the things that I think
coming out of this as a unified approach, and you
know we're here, you know, in Massachusetts, but we're out
there communicating what is important in California with Prop fifty
and the idea of making sure that Catherine Clark is
a majority whip, our majority leader in the new Democratic

(01:17:20):
House come November twenty twenty six, come January twenty twenty seven.
You know, to me, unifying around some of these issues
economic issues is the is the key element here as
you talk to Democrats in Washington and around the country.
Is that sort of how people are kind of coming
together because you have some great progressive leaders. You see

(01:17:41):
what Mom Donnie is doing in New York City, You
see what Gavin Newsom is doing in California with Prop
fifty and fighting back against Trump. Your final thoughts, because
I know you have to run, but to me, a
unified Democratic Party is a very very difficult party to beat.
We have to get there, of course, your final thoughts,

(01:18:03):
That's right.

Speaker 9 (01:18:04):
And I will just close on Prop fifty because you
brought it up. We know that this message that connecting
with people who work for a living and who just
want to have a solid floor and no ceiling on
their family's success. Are the people that we are working with,

(01:18:26):
and they are the ones who feel so betrayed by
Donald Trump, and this is showing up in all the polling.
So they have decided to try and change the.

Speaker 11 (01:18:38):
Voters and redistrict.

Speaker 9 (01:18:41):
Mid decade, which is just you know, it is preposterous
that they're undertaking this. But we have to fight back, right,
cannot stand aside and let them do it. And Prop fifty,
the California redistricting, which complies with the Voting Rights Act,
which is going before the voters, is not being done

(01:19:03):
in a back room in a state house without the
public's involvement, is not only leading the polls, but is
leading in the way that we get to protect our
democracy by winning back the majority in the House. So
we had no kings stay and all lives on November

(01:19:26):
fourth and getting out that vote for Proposition fifty and
for making sure that we elect Abigail Spamberger in Virginia
and Mikey Cheryl in New Jersey as their new governors.
So you know, we hope all your listeners will will
do what they can. You can help with Prop fifty

(01:19:46):
from anywhere in the country, and it truly is what
we have to do to make sure that we have
a chance at a level playing field. Because if we
have a level playing field and their districts elections, Democrats
are gonna win.

Speaker 2 (01:20:04):
Right what happens in California, you know they've been They've
been doing everything from you know, the convertible to hula hoops,
as you know. And this is an opportunity to follow
California because it helps the other forty nine states, as
you will know. So great to have you on, Congresswoman.
We look forward to doing it again, hopefully over the
coming weeks. And appreciate you very much. I know it's

(01:20:27):
it's a whirlwind for you today. Keep on fighting for
us from Massachusetts and for the country against those Republicans
in the shutdown. I know you're doing the right thing.
Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

Speaker 9 (01:20:39):
Ye good to talk to you. Congrats on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
Fun guy, Thank you appreciate it. That is a minority whip.
Catherine Clark here on the Jeff Santo Show. Open up
the phones for any comments you may have about the interview,
and again we'll be replaying this interview tomorrow at four
o'clock in Boston. And we will also be replaying it

(01:21:04):
tomorrow evening or Thursday evening in both San Francisco and
eventually Friday in KABC. So we're going to be putting
this out there. Of course, it's on demand at the
Jeff Santo Show. Our great team, the A team, Rocky
and Company are going to be putting this out so

(01:21:25):
you'll be able to watch it at your own leisure.
But again tomorrow and WCAP in Boston at four pm
again Eastern time, that's one o'clock Pacific. We'll replay this
interview also again have it on both KSFO and KBC
later in the week. We'll let you know more about

(01:21:46):
that in the next twenty four hours. Again, the phone
number to join us A three three five four five
five three three three. We look forward to having the
congresswoman on the Minority Whip in the House on over
the coming weeks. It was so much to talk about.
We had a small window because of her tight schedule

(01:22:06):
and all of course the negotiations and shut down what
she's involved with with the Republicans police and this is
this is an opportunity, folks. You know you heard how
she connected that Prop fifty in California that our listeners
at casey AA are listening to right now live at

(01:22:28):
ten fifteen in sam Bernardino and across the Greater Los Angeles.
The point is is that we're all tied into this together,
as I've been saying, as Jerry Austin was talking about before,
you know, this is going to be, you know, a
big decision by California voters. You know, don't listen to
the you know, the terminator. And Schwarzenegger is a better

(01:22:50):
actor than he was a governor. And the fact is
is that he you know, had with the Democratic Assembly
in the Senate in two thousand and two, put together
this independent you know that wasn't partisan one way or
the other. And that's what's going back in twenty thirty two.
That's that's the genius of what Gavin Newsom has done.

(01:23:13):
He's been able to fight back, he's been able to
kick butt, and he is doing it within the laws,
as Catherine Clark, Congresswoman Clark has just said, you know,
they're doing it within the voting rights parameters Texas, you know, Trump,
They're kicking the whole thing to the curb. They want

(01:23:33):
they want the Supreme Court to get rid of this all.
They don't need it anymore, you know, you know, racism
doesn't exist. That's only like fifty years ago or one
hundred years ago. This is all BS. But this is
who the Republicans are. It's a BS party. But they
have the platforms and they can lie all night long.
As our good friend John from Minnesota said, you know,
it's easy to lie. That's the easy way to communicate.

(01:23:55):
You know, this guy's terrible, this guy sucks. You know,
your situation is bad because Democrats are Joe Biden, you know,
on and on and on, and they just make up
as you go along.

Speaker 8 (01:24:03):
It's all.

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
It's all BS. But that's who they are. So again, folks, uh,
the opportunity now is for the Democrats to push hard.
I'm really glad to hear on the economic issue. The
more you expand that economic issue, not only on healthcare again,
the prices, housing cost, you know, the whole New York.

(01:24:25):
The African American candidate ran for a mayor, I forget
his name. I think it was Coleman. You know, it
n'tew very well in the race several years ago, but
he got the line down. The rent is too damn high.
The rent is too damn high. And that's the case
for New Yorkers, that the people for all around the
country in big cities, and if you unless you do

(01:24:46):
something about it, and that's state government, that's municipalities, you're
going to end up being in a very very difficult situation.
The ditch has been built by Trump and he's thrown
a lot of people in there, and he's now putting
the craft, as he says, on top of it. We've
got to make sure we get out of the hole.
And you know, the only way they can do that
is the Democrats and progressive Democrats with moderate Democrats coming together,

(01:25:11):
are going to have to lead the way. Five four
five five three three three And Kevin, let me know
who we have online and we'll go to the phones momentarily.
All right, let's go to Tom from Los Angeles. Uh,
you are next here on the Jeff Santo Show. Your

(01:25:35):
thoughts on what Minority Whip Clark had to say and
where you think the Democrats are going. Uh, you know
from this point on, well.

Speaker 13 (01:25:47):
You know me, joff I, I would love to hear
you know, more of talking about FDR, whether that's educating
people right now, I'm the start, you know, and I'd
love to hear, you know, we actually get to a
point where Democrats can start staying you know, there the
our Democrats.

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
That would be a really, really interesting thing.

Speaker 13 (01:26:11):
However, I would say to all my friends in California,
you know, it's pretty disgusting that we're the fourth largest
economy in the world and when we left, when we
and when we elect a president, it really doesn't matter
in California because of the stupid electoral college.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
This is another biggest.

Speaker 13 (01:26:40):
This is this is the one time with top fifty
that we actually can make a difference in terms of
the whole country. And we hope that everyone gets out
and I hope every one votes early for Yes on fifty,
because honestly, you know, if we had a national popular vote,
you would probably see, uh, in California, the numbers double

(01:27:03):
in terms of the election returns. But when we really
don't even have a say, because the election has already
decided by the time they even get to California, you know,
it's toll bys. And I hope that, like I said,
all my California friends and people in our state get

(01:27:23):
out and vote yes I'm fifty, because so one time
actually we do have some type of power to change
what's happening here in this country.

Speaker 2 (01:27:32):
So well said you know, well, look we whether it's
the idea of the expansion of the Supreme Court, which
we've talked about on this program, whether or not we've
talked about, you know, the statehood for DC and Puerto
Rico if they decide that they want to become part
of the country and not just take off because of Trump.
And again, uh end in end of the electoral college.

(01:27:54):
Having as we talked with our good friend John Bussinger
about a couple of weeks ago, who was a a
real maverick in the Massthusetts legislature, you know, going back
to the seventies for longer hours for voters to go there.
It was at five or six o'clock at night. Now
now it's eight o'clock thanks to people like Bussinger. All
these reforms Democrats have to run on them. These are

(01:28:16):
great ideas that have been around for forty years and
they've been on the table and you got to make
it move. And basically, if you want to fight fire
with fire, you know, you want a Jerry Mander to
get yourself seats. Well, the Democrats will give statehood to
d C. That's probably two Democratic senators right there. And
if Puerto Rico agrees to be part of America and

(01:28:37):
they want to have two senators from that great island,
then in my opinion, that is another two Democratic seats.
Not a guarantee, but close to it. So I just
think all of these things. You know, you want to
have a Supreme Court that works, Well, let's get to eleven.
Let's get to thirteen, you know, I mean, let's make

(01:28:58):
it happen. So when the next president gets in there,
Newsome Pritzker, you know, whomever it might be, Murphy, you
got to go and you've got to make it clear
that we are going for the gold. I'm sick, guitared
and going for the bronze. That's how I looked at it.
Thanks so much, Tom, you're spot on great ideas. All right,
let's go back to Minnesota and get a quick comment

(01:29:19):
from my good friend John D before we go to break.
John D, I got about thirty seconds. You can go
ahead and have it.

Speaker 14 (01:29:27):
Yeah, I used to live in California. I lived in
San Bernardino. I did a residency at Lomlinda. You know,
I love California, I, you know, for various reasons, did
not settle there but came back. Well, I lived in
New Mexico and.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
The fifteen seconds John then the last yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:29:47):
Yeah, the last thirty years lived here, and I think
that proportional representation, you know, representation, not on the basis
of I.

Speaker 2 (01:29:56):
Got to run, my friend. Thank you so much. I
hear what you're saying. Yep, right on, thank you, John. Look, folks,
we're gonna give a tape replay of John Nichols coming up,
and then we'll say goodbye. It's the Jeff Santo.

Speaker 21 (01:30:08):
Show, KCIA, Lomolanda, The Legacy, KCIA ten fifty Am and
Express one oh six point five fl.

Speaker 3 (01:30:27):
NBC News Radio. I'm Chris Karacio.

Speaker 1 (01:30:29):
President Trump is thanking Republicans for standing firm during the
government's shutdown during a Rose Garden luncheon today for Senate Republicans.
Democratic lawmakers remain dug in on efforts to extend healthcare subsidies,
while Republicans are demanding the government reopen before any negotiations
take place. The White House now says there are no
plans for a meeting between President Trump and Russian President
Vladimir Putin in the near future. Trump told reporters last

(01:30:52):
week that he would meet with Putin and Hungary in
the coming weeks to discuss the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The White House also said Secretary of Statement unc Rubio
and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov elder productive call today.
The two were expected to also meet in person, but
the White House said the additional meeting is not necessary.
The thirteenth tropical storm of the season is formed over

(01:31:13):
the Central Caribbean. Sea forecaster say Melissa could make a
quick northward turn, continue to drift west, or do a
combination of both. I'm Chris Karaghio, NBC News Radio okay ce.

Speaker 12 (01:31:25):
A a.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
Monday Night devilheader.

Speaker 20 (01:31:29):
Jamir Gibbs with a career high two hundred and eighteen
yards from scrimmage two touchdowns, Lions silence Baker Mayfield in
the box twenty four to nine. Box Wide receiver Mike
Evans suffered a broken collar bone, will be out close
to the end of the season. Despite four turnovers, Seahawks
took down the Texans twenty seven nineteen, improved to five
and two. In baseball, George Springer smacked a go ahead

(01:31:53):
three run homer in the seventh to help the Blue
Jays and knock out the Mariners in Game seven of
the ALCS to advance to the World Series for the
first time since nineteen ninety three. Springer says he's proud
of the work they did their.

Speaker 2 (01:32:06):
That's before me. I mean, if it's not for those guys,
that that moment doesn't happen.

Speaker 3 (01:32:13):
I'm so happy for our team, our fans, our city,
our country.

Speaker 2 (01:32:17):
I'm so happy.

Speaker 20 (01:32:17):
Right now blue Jays will face the Dodgers in the
Fall Classic beginning Friday night in Toronto.

Speaker 3 (01:32:24):
That's sports. I'm round to moss cacaa.

Speaker 18 (01:32:32):
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Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
Stock up supporting the middle class. This is the Jeff
Santos Show. Thank you, Kevin. Just a couple of notes
here before we go to the tape interview with John Nichols. Folks,
you gotta keep on fighting, you gotta fight peacefully. Catherine
Clark's interview. Will we replayed tomorrow four pm on AM

(01:33:40):
ninet eighty of course on The Jeff Santo Show as well,
and we'll be replaying an all week long KSFO KABC
as well. Thanks to our friends at KCAA for being
there live. Folks, keep on fighting peacefully. My name is
Jeff Santos and right now I get to go, but
you don't stay tuned for John Nichols. Thank you, Kevin,
and happy Tuesday everyone. This is the Jeff Santo Show.

(01:34:03):
Good afternoon, Americans, and welcome to it. We're coming to
you live from the South coast here in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, and we have a fantastic show for you.
Today we're going to be speaking to the Minority Whip
Catherine Clark. Yesterday we had some issues scheduling wise to

(01:34:25):
do that, but today we are on for five oh
six for about ten minutes with the congresswoman from Cambridge
Metro West here in Massachusetts. Of course, the number two
person at the level of the leadership of the Democratic
Party it is King Jeffries and then this Ms Clark,
So we're very excited about that and hopefully just one

(01:34:48):
of the big names we'll be having on our show,
not only over these next couple of weeks, but going
forward into twenty twenty six, because it's going to be
the leads. The big names are going to have to
rise to the occasion and lead. I mean, obviously there
are people who are not in leadership that are fantastic,
whether it's Governor Gavin Newsom or soon to be hopefully

(01:35:11):
Mayor of New York City, the largest city in the country,
mister Mamdani or Bernie Sanders or AOC or a number
of different people that don't have leader next to their name,
but they are leaders. Just you know, in their own way,
whatever that means. So we're looking forward to that. We

(01:35:32):
got a fantastic show to start with. John Nichols will
be with us at three thirty, the longest serving contributed
to the Jeff Santo Show. Of course, the Nation magazine
is where he's worked for over thirty years. I believe
he is, of course, the national affairs correspondent of the
being this massive rally, and of course we're talking about

(01:35:52):
the one and only John Nichols. Mister Nichols, how are you, sir?

Speaker 12 (01:35:58):
I am well, how are you, sir?

Speaker 2 (01:36:01):
Doing well? Doing well? Had a great experience talking to
a lot of people in small town and mid cities
all around Massachusetts and didn't get to Boston. But I
found that there are a lot of people who care
about this country desperately, some who are very political like

(01:36:21):
you and I, you know, where's on our sleeves. But
there are others who, you know, maybe retired, and they
just look at this current occupant of the White House
and they think this stinks. I got to get involved
in my grandkids or whatever. And I thought that was,
you know, very very good feeling to come out of it.

(01:36:44):
Great vibes, what was your experience, sir.

Speaker 12 (01:36:49):
Well, my experience described very similar to yours.

Speaker 10 (01:36:52):
I was.

Speaker 12 (01:36:54):
In a town called Dodgeville, which is west of Madison
about It's a town of about four thousand people a
little over that and you know, kind of a classic
rural Wisconsin county seat. And uh, they had about a

(01:37:14):
thousand people out. And so if you imagine that, just
to give people perspective, a thousand people in Donetville is
roughly the equivalent of two million people in New York,
and so I would.

Speaker 2 (01:37:30):
Say I could imagine that pretty packed.

Speaker 12 (01:37:33):
Yeah, well yeah, but just but the point is, of
course that in this rural community, the level of presence
to you know, raise the banner of economic and social
and racial justice and an alternative to what Trump is
doing and a real concern about democracy was pretty amazing.

(01:37:55):
And then I came up to Madison and I spoke
at an event on Saturday afternoon, and they had about
twenty thousand people march from a park outside of downtown,
and probably about another ten thousand on the square around
the capitol. Madison, being a town of about three hundred thousand,

(01:38:20):
you had something in the range of twenty five to
thirty thousand people marching. Again, if you did the proportionality
for New York, that'll be about a million people. And
this is not to diminish New York, by the way,
which had a huge turnout, oh Chicago as well.

Speaker 2 (01:38:38):
And what but what it is to tell you is.

Speaker 12 (01:38:41):
When you went out to America, you saw, if we
could say this even disproportional turnout right that in Middle America,
in places that you know are far from Washington, far
from you know, a lot of the quarters of power,
you saw just stunning numbers of people out and marching.

(01:39:04):
In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, they had about someplace the ranges
seven to eight thousand in a small city. And then
you hear this all across America in Michigan and Iowan Illinois, Illinois.
The Chicago march was just mind blowing. Governor Picker let
it there he was at the front of the march,

(01:39:24):
you know, leaving the chance.

Speaker 2 (01:39:26):
I'm hearing great things from so many people about his
you know, his taking on like avenuwsome taking on Trump
and the Republicans, and I love it. You know, he
is really performing and I think the people of Illinois
need it right now. In the city of Chicago, needs
to help as well. So, you know, kudos to Governor Pritzk,

(01:39:47):
go ahead.

Speaker 12 (01:39:49):
Yeah, there's no question needed, without a doubt, And it's
just that how often do we have leaders who stand
up when they're.

Speaker 2 (01:39:55):
Needed, not exactly we'd like exactly.

Speaker 12 (01:39:59):
And so what was so encouraging was to see that, right,
to see Newsom out there, to see yeah, obviously Printsville
and Illinois, but Newsom, you know, talking it up in California.
And of course California is going to provide us with
one of the first great measures of whether everything that

(01:40:21):
we're seeing on the street can translate.

Speaker 8 (01:40:25):
To the ballot box.

Speaker 12 (01:40:26):
Because obviously in November you have the California referendum on
you know, a pushback against Trump's attempt to jerrymander Congress.
And here's the interesting thing. It's not just California. We
also are here and now that of course, there are
efforts in Ohio and Indiana several other states to jerrymander

(01:40:51):
their seats in favor of Trump's Republicans. Right, and now
what we're learning is that those states also have referendum models,
amendment models that can go to the ballot and if
the California thing works and if they use similar strategies

(01:41:13):
in other states to put these issues on the ballot.
There is a very real chance that Trump's effort to
kind of upend Congress to create an unfair circumstance where
through mid term jerrymandering he gets maybe ten or maybe
you know, fifteen, even twenty seats could be reduced down

(01:41:36):
to a much smaller number, perhaps even note that's like
keeping an even trumble, probably still buy some advantage there,
but less than most people expected initially. What that means
is that I know, this is frustrating because there's so
many demands at every minute. I mean, this is really
a struggle for democracy and it struggles for functionality as

(01:42:00):
a society. But what I'm seeing is evidence in the
streets of people marching as well as with strategies in
states and other ones that hold out the possibility, the
real possibility that we can get to November of twenty
twenty six and have something akin to a fair election,

(01:42:23):
and if we do that, we can push back against
Trump and a way that just is in twenty eighteen
really just powered, just empowered, you know, made it impossible
or difficult for him to do much of the damage
that he sought to do. And one final thing I'll
suggest to you, which is really fascinating, is that there's

(01:42:44):
a whole bunch of new evidence that a sentiments toward
the Democrats are becoming dramatically more enthusiastic. Right even though
people may feel tree with the Democratic Party and they yeah,
they should be frustrated. The party has not been great
on a lot of fronts, and yet there's evidence that

(01:43:05):
that people are uh still saying, Okay, maybe I don't
love the Democrats, but I want to stop what's going
on in Washington with the Republicans and where that's playing
out in the most fascinating of always is in the
Senate races. We just got to pull a good poll
out of Alaska that suggested that if Mary Peltola, the

(01:43:25):
former member of Congress, runs for the Senate, she might
win as a Democrat, might win Alaska's Senate seat.

Speaker 2 (01:43:35):
Think about that, now, is that with Murkowski on the
ballot orside, this is the other seat? Oh, this is
the other seat? Oh even better?

Speaker 15 (01:43:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:43:47):
Oh no, much better, much better. Because Murkowski has many flaws,
but but she is one who at least has shows
a little bit of variability. What we're talking about here, honestly,
is a city situation where you have, I think a
real chance of the Democrats picking up several seats. Maybe

(01:44:10):
in Maine, I think maybe likely in North Carolina, there's
a decent chance. I mean, there was a poll the
other day that showed Shared Brown narrowly ahead in Ohio.
And I think that's very very last into play. What's that.

Speaker 2 (01:44:29):
I think that Shared Brown is very viable. I think
the lieutenant governor that replaced vance, the the Senate senator
who advance uh that seat, right, I don't think the
seat yeah, yeah, right right. And so what we're looking
at here is.

Speaker 12 (01:44:48):
Well, we're looking at as a chance that that it's
not beyond the realm possibility if there is a real,
you know, robust swing to the Democrats and some very
lucky right as regards to recruitment of candidates, that this
party could theoretically take the House and maybe even the Senate.

(01:45:10):
Now that's hard. I mean, I'm not I am not
naive about how difficult all this would be.

Speaker 2 (01:45:16):
But what I am telling you is that I think
it's very viable.

Speaker 12 (01:45:20):
Certainly not a time that wish to be Yeah, it's
not a time that wish to give up. Let's say
it that way.

Speaker 2 (01:45:26):
Well, you've got to build on it. And you know,
one of the things you can't see it because we're
you know, we're not on video together. But on go
to your point about Middle America, if you might. So
I'm walking into one of the rallies that maybe started
five ten minutes earlier, and an older woman, middle aged

(01:45:48):
was walking out and she looked at me and I
think I was wearing a Red Sox T shirt or something,
I'm not sure, and said, do you want an American flag?
So I said yeah, So she gave it to me,
and I'm thinking, you know, we are more patriotic than
any Donald Trump supporter. I mean, you know, there are

(01:46:11):
a lot of people who call themselves progressives who don't
have to carry a gun to be patriotic. There are
a lot of teachers. We'll be talking to another one
coming up next after you, John, and I good friend
Melissa Thomlinson of Badass Teachers, very close to Bernie World,
and you know, but we don't show it, but I
well know what I did is on top of the

(01:46:31):
Bernie Sanders sign, I put an American flag, the one
that I had picked up on Saturday. And you know,
because you know, whether it's it's Sanders and his view
of helping America that you helped introduce him to Wisconsin
into the nation, you know, back in twenty sixteen and
a little bit before that. And as you know, you've

(01:46:53):
been interviewing him for a long long time before that,
and I was interviewing him in two thousand and eight
and nine in Boston. But the point is is that
I think that there is a lot of ways in
which you can connect democrats, you know, to to patriotism,
to to doing the right thing, to making your neighborhoods better,

(01:47:14):
and and and you can do that now. You can't
do that bye by running a bunch of corporate lawyers
or listening to a bunch of corporate consultants. And that's
you know, we're seeing a little bit of this play
out in Maine, by the way, with the Mills Planteer thing.
But I I think it's there. I just think you
need to, you know, come together, and that's what we

(01:47:36):
gotta do. And and in California, I mean we're on tonight,
you know, back to back on fifty thousand watch stations
in La on K ABC and KSFO in San Francisco.
We're you know, we're communicating with a tremendous amount of people,
and you'll be on on tape delay John Uh in
the next twenty four hours on this too, with our

(01:47:57):
good friend Uh and the Minority of the House Democrats,
Catherine Clark. I think that'll be tomorrow night actually in
San Francisco. So the opportunity is there. We just I
think need to have to, you know, get that message
out because you know this the way the Republicans have
been painting the picture, and we have been responding a

(01:48:18):
lot of times because we don't have the infrastructure to
do just that. Your thoughts and then we'll take a
call from John and Minnesota.

Speaker 12 (01:48:27):
Yeah. Look, let me say it in a way I
sat it on Saturday. Donald Trump and Mike Johnson and
a lot of other folks try to paint the No
Kings protests with something unpatriotic. It's anti American. It was
a very negative view. They rolled that out obviously because

(01:48:49):
they're afraid that these are going to be huge, very successful,
very popular demonstrations that you're a tremendous number of people.
And they were right to be afraid because The demonstrations
were huge, and they did draw a tremendous number of people,
and most importantly, they drew people from urban, suburban and

(01:49:10):
rural areas, multi racial, multi ethnic, a lot of veterans,
a lot of people who you know, farmers and workers,
and all sorts of folks who are the backbone of America.
And there they were out marching saying we don't like
what's going on in Washington. And the last piece of

(01:49:33):
this calculus is okay, the President, speak of the House,
put out a very negative vision of what was going
to happen. Reality counters that vision with a very positive,
very patriotic, very appealing version of scent against the administration
that is taking the country in the long direction in
a lot of ways. How will the media deal with that?

(01:49:55):
How will media cover that? Actually, I think there was
a lot of good coverage of No Kings on Sunday
morning and even Saturday night, you know, at local level
around the country. But I still think that on balance,
our media doesn't do a very good job of giving
a clear vision of what's happening in America.

Speaker 9 (01:50:17):
I e.

Speaker 12 (01:50:18):
That Trump says one thing, Reality is very very different.
And that's why a radio show, like what you're doing
here is important, right because you get a chance to
come on a regular basis and offer, you know, an
assessment that kind of gets closer to reality.

Speaker 19 (01:50:37):
Right.

Speaker 12 (01:50:37):
It gives people a real sense of what's going on
and lets them decide, you know, where they want to
come down on these issues. But at least they can
come down on the basis of information that is rooted
in reality, not in lies or spin or disinformation or
efforts to kind of upend something before it even happens.

(01:50:58):
And so this is really important. Rate And and I
think that that I know you worked hard to develop
this network and to get people, uh to support it
and also to get people to appear to talk about
these issues to go deeper. And you know, I'll give
you my compliments for that, and I also thank you.
Man will tell you that this is important, This is important.

Speaker 2 (01:51:21):
So well, you know, your your guidance through the process
was tremendous as well. My friend, A lot of a
lot of people that you know, I counted on the
past weren't there, but people like John Nichols and and
a handful of others were and appreciate it very much. John.
All right, let's go to another John in Minnesota. You

(01:51:42):
are next with mister Nichols. John D from Minneapolis, go
to head.

Speaker 14 (01:51:47):
Sir, Yeah, I absolutely agree. It's important to build out
alternative media to the point where it is very competitive
with the corporate media that brings this message out, which
is essentially a truthful message, rather than just repeating the

(01:52:08):
lives that you know that they hear from the administration.
I mean, they called us even worse than that all
Democrats are terrorists. I think that the tide is changing,
you know, turning rather and you know, Donald is going
down in the polls. I think that they're making a

(01:52:29):
big mistake, the Republicans by following him literally off the cliff.
And you know, this is a rural state. And yeah,
we had a lot of turnout in smaller towns cities
in Minnesota because you know, they're not doing very well.

(01:52:50):
I mean, the farm economy is just falling, you know
out completely almost, I would say, soybeans and wheat and
all of the different things that are uh, you know,
traded on the global market are not being traded, and
they're losing their shirts and they don't like to hear

(01:53:12):
the fact that the administration, you know, thinks that that's
a good thing so that we can have you know,
fewer producers of farm goods at higher prices. Uh, And
they're you know, going to be on the chopping block.
So they don't like that. And I think that message
is getting out, especially in a state like Minnesota, where

(01:53:34):
you know, that's like the backbone of the economy here.
I mean, yes, we're have a lot of healthcare, and
we have some industrial and medical manufacturing and things like that,
but the backbone is still our farm economy.

Speaker 2 (01:53:51):
So I want to get mister Nichols a chance, John
d in Minneapolis to answer that. Yeah, and go ahead,
and mister Nichols and do that. I wanted to also
follow up after your reply and the idea of the
Midwest and Minnesota in Wisconsin, how close they are, and

(01:54:14):
the connection there and maybe connecting it to the bigger
cities of Detroit and Chicago, and how important that is
kind of a wholesome view of the Midwest going forward
into twenty six and beyond. Mister Nichols continued.

Speaker 12 (01:54:29):
Sir, sure, well, look the great like states and that's
a way to kind of organize this concept. Are historical
states that have been able to vote democratic and often
sent a lot of Democrats of the US Senate and
to the US House. But they're competitive, and so after

(01:54:50):
twenty ten, a whole bunch of these states had a
real Republican search, right, Republicans were basically running you know,
most of the great like state, uh and where they
weren't running them, they were highly competitive. That has changed
a lot now. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania all have

(01:55:17):
democratic governors and in some cases they have you know,
kind of rising democratic legislatures, are already in place democratic legislatures.
They're in some cases sending a couple of Democrats to
the Senate. In no other case is just one. The
outlier there is Ohio, and Ohio has has in fact
become a more republican state, you know, over the last

(01:55:39):
you know, fifteen years and so, but it's not so
republican that it's it's hopeless.

Speaker 9 (01:55:45):
Right.

Speaker 12 (01:55:45):
We just had all the other day, as I said,
that showed Sharon Brown was doing well. And and so
the thing to understand about these states is cycle after cycles,
election after election, how they go as a group. We'll
tell you pretty much everything you know need to know
about how the presidential race is going to turn out,

(01:56:07):
and who's going to control the set. These are fundamental
realities of American politics, and right now I would agree
with the caller. I think the trend is going toward
the Democrats. Why it is because of a factor that
national pundits too frequently miss, and that is that in
these states there's all a lot of farm country. And

(01:56:27):
that's true of Illinois, It's true Michigan. States that we
think of as very industrial also have a tremendous amount
of farm countries. That farm country is usually going to
go at least a little bit to the Republicans, sometimes
a lot. It's rural, it's more conservative, et cetera. You
take it the word, it's for it. But the Democrats
have to do well, They have to hold their own

(01:56:48):
in rural to then add that to their urban votes
and to whatever breakthroughs they get in the suburbs. And
what Trump has done on tariffs, but also in medicare
and medicare, which is very, very vital to fign families
and rural families, especially because these are places often further
from healthcare, often more in need of, you know, a

(01:57:09):
little bit of a boost. What Trump has done on
these issues has driven a lot of rural people for
the Democrats. If the Democratic candidate in twenty twenty six
can tap into that, if they can, you know, make
real that promise, there is a very good chance that
critical races are decided for governorships and for Senate seats. Remember,

(01:57:33):
we're talking about a Senate seat in which are Senate
seat in Michigan that is open currently. We are talking
about an Ohio seat that where a Democrat has a
chance to pick up. We are talking about some other
races around the region as well as some house races
that are very critical. Suddenly you see the possibility here,

(01:57:55):
and the possibility is that out of the Upper Midwest,
out of the Great Lakes, because of what Trump has
done that has harmed rural areas, there is a real
chance that we see something like what we saw in
nineteen eighty six, a long long time ago, when Reagan
Ron Reagan lost a lot of ground in farm country

(01:58:18):
and at that point the Democrats were able to reassert
in the Senate.

Speaker 2 (01:58:23):
John d thank you very much for the call. I
appreciate it. We'll be talking to you later in the
show and over the next couple of days. John Nichols
before we go, my friend, I must tell you, I
really believe that the momentum from Saturday is there. And

(01:58:46):
I don't know if you're hearing anything yet out of
this meeting with Indivisible, move On, ACLU, are friends at
Social Security works, etc. What are you hearing? If anything?
Are is this taking place tonight?

Speaker 12 (01:59:02):
You know? Because I think that's you know, well, here's
something I want to tell you. No meeting ever takes
place without most things.

Speaker 2 (01:59:11):
Being set right.

Speaker 12 (01:59:13):
To emphasize that, you know, for the meeting occurs, people
have communicated with one another, they have outlined their agenda,
they have at least offered some perspective on what they
want to accomplish, and and you know, big groups don't
tend to go into a room without a desire to
come out with something that's right. What would something substantial

(01:59:35):
be a clearly defined agenda for two things? Number one policy,
i e. What are the issues you want to fight out?
Where do you want to you know, put a marker
down and say, you know, this is where we're gonna
We're going to be heard, and we're going to we're
going to stamp the simple messages.

Speaker 8 (01:59:54):
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