Bulwark Takes - Elections Will Be Won on Prices! (w/ Greg Landsman)

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

Tim Miller sits down with Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH) to discuss his bold new plan to reframe the Democratic Party’s message: a “Pledge to America.” Inspired by Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” Landsman argues Democrats must stop running as simply the anti-Trump party and start addressing core issues head-on: a broken economy, unaffordable housing and healthcare, public safety, and education reform. He calls for new language that actually connects with voters, while also embracing culture and authenticity. The conversation also touches on the Ohio Senate race, “Dark Gavin” Newsom’s tactics, and whether Democrats can finally reclaim trust with ordinary Americans. Check out Landsman’s “Pledge to America” article here

Save up to 50% off at Ecotech Windows and doors. Pay no tax or don't pay till 2026. You'll see the difference right away with Ecotechwindows.ca. Quality and comfort you can trust and afford. Ecotechwindows.com. Hey, y'all, Tim Miller from the Bullwark here with my buddy, Congressman Greg Lansman from Ohio. He has a new pledge to America. He has a new pledge to America.

He has a great name. You got a name as ever. everything. We're workshopping the name. Or workshop on the name. He has been pled. What were the other ideas in the brainstorm? So, you know, it started with in the 1990s with the contract for America when New Kingers, like Republicans found themselves in a similar mess in the 90s, right? And, and they put out a new governing document, which isn't the right language either. But they said, look, we will fix this. Like, you know, it feels like everything is broken. If you put us in charge,

We will balance the budget. You know, we will keep you safe. We'll fix the economy. And he called it the contract for America. And they won, you know, 60, 70 seats. I mean, it was an insane election year in 1994 for them. And so I think Democrats have to have something forward looking that says, look, this is a mess. It's pure chaos.

There's a level of corruption none of us have seen. There's a meanness in politics that none of us like. But the economy needs to be. fix. People need to be kept safe. We need to fix the government. There's just a whole bunch of things that need to be fixed. Here are our 10 bills. And it's, it gives people something to hold on to and believe in and work on in addition to just being against Trump, which I think Democrats and Americans in general desperately need. What I like about this at first is, you know, it's the alcoholics issue is first you got to acknowledge you got a problem, you know? And it's like, there are a lot of

Democrats out there, they're like, they kind of acknowledge it. Like, they'll pay lip service to having a problem. You know, it's like your family member, it's like, maybe I should cut back a little bit. But they're not like accepting it internally. You know, they're not totally embracing internally. They're like, no, this was not an accident. It was not bad luck because it was only 100 days the Kamala had to run. Or you hear the other rationales like, we did pretty good in the Senate seats, actually.

If you go down or the house seats, you know, look at the house seats. Yeah, it's closer than it seems. that it's like there's a lot of cope, you know, out there and a lot of rationalization. And I think that what you're starting from is the assessment of like, no, like a guy that was indicted in four different jurisdictions and like launched a mob at the Capitol, like one reelection. There are a bunch of states that used to be on the map, including your state, Ohio, that are like not really, that are only maybe at best you could say kind of on the map now that have moved significantly towards the Republicans in the last 10, 20 years. the voter registration numbers to talk with us in the green room look very bad for Democrats and

continue to. He put all that together. And it's just it's not a good. It's a picture that says you got to do something different. And I think there are different ideas out there on what to do different. But I'm, I'm just interested in to speaking to people that at least accept that first premise, which is like, we got to do something different. Then we can figure out what different looks like. That's right. And I think it's like to dig even deeper or to like, you know, flesh that out. We have an affordability crisis in this country. It's been happening for a while. It's not just the last couple months or the last couple of years. The economy is fundamentally broken. We were telling people, hey, the economy is great. It's not. It's a disaster. So every election will be

an affordability election, in my opinion, until America's affordable again. And that's primarily housing and health care, but also food. You got to get incomes up. But you also have to just build so much more housing, get rents down. You've got to, you know, expand health care and deal with, you know, the transparency and the, you know, all of the awful, you know, health care cost issues that people are dealing with. The point is, is like, we said it was fine when it wasn't. Number two, you know, Democrats struggle when it comes to public safety. People don't think of us as the folks who are going to keep them safe. We have to take that back. We're the ones who are going to create structure and order and get guns out of our neighborhoods.

and invest in police. I always said it on this one. The Democrats had a pretty good, like, pretty easy bumper sticker on this back in the 90s, which is like fewer guns, more cops. That's it. So that was the bill. That was the bill in 1994. And, you know, there were things about the bill that should not be carried forward like

the, you know, mass incarceration that. Some of the sentencing stuff. Yeah, the sentencing stuff needs it. But the idea that you would hire 100,000 new police officers and pair that with gun reform made people safer. And so that's one of the bills here is a 21st century anti-crime bill that says, no, we're going to be the ones who are the adults and serious about public safety. The other, you know, big issue is like the language we use. And so you won't see any of the language that I think, and third way put something out this morning on language that

just so alienates folks. And I think we just have to be very. We're dialogue. actually right now in that language that's alienating. I'm in the middle of the country. My district is a third, a third, a third, third, third, third, third, third, third, third, a third, third, third, third, independent. We talk so, so normally and basically, like, you know, just say the thing you want to say. And do it in a way where people don't feel like you think you're better, but that you actually like them and that you believe in them and that you're going to fight for them.

Just really quick on this on those that you think you're better, because I, because I want to get into your policies, too, but just on the vibes. part of this is also important. A friend of mine was sent me this. And there's this huge, like, massive study post-election where consultants went and talked to all voters of all kinds of stripes and stuff. And there were a bunch of different quotes, you know, about what people, just like listening, like, what did people say?

Like, why didn't they like the Democrats? And, like, the one quote that they sent me was from someone who said, the Democrats seem like people that would make fun of me for shopping at Walmart. And I was just like. I may hurt me. That hurts me. That is brutal. But it's true. I mean, it's, you know, it's like there is this sense. And I think voters, and I'm one of those voters who vote for people who I think probably like me. And I vote against people who I think don't like me. And, you know, I grew up in Butler County, same as J.D. Vance. And like, I grew up with, you know, that's mostly, you know, Trump voters. And they're good people. They don't, I don't agree with them on some of the stuff. But the more I talk to them, the more they're like, well, we agree with you. I like what we agree with you. I like what you're saying.

saying. But they're good people. And the idea that we had anyone, you know, that gave them the impression that they were less than is so problematic. And it's one of the reasons why in this recent report about voter registration, why Democrats are losing the voter registration game, which is hugely problematic. And so, like, I think in addition to being like in this moment fighting the chaos and the corruption and the cruelty of Trump and just the pure incompetent, and just the fact that he's like, he's destroying the economy, he's making things less affordable. He's making us less safe.

You know, government is less effective. It's more corrupt. Everything is going in the wrong direction. I think people also want to see a forward-looking, you know, change-based, anti-establishment, reform, whatever you want to call it, agenda that says, no, no, no, we're going to fix all of this. Like, we're going to get serious about, fixing the economy so it works for you. We're going to unrig the whole thing. We're going to

unrig politics, you know, on your behalf or with you. We're going to unrig the economy on your behalf or with you. And we're going to keep you safe. And so the 10 bills give you that roadmap, which I think people need. Now, the other thing I call for is that we do need a new entity. Like the DNC and all these other folks, like they have their day to day work. We need dedicated leadership to this moment, you know, like a heritage foundation for the left, right? Like somebody who's incredibly strong, who can lead this organization with a team of people who are out there helping folks organize in a coordinated and, you know, compelling way and around something that says, no, no, no, we are, we are going to fix all of this. And, you know,

I think we desperately need that kind of dedicated leadership. The fixing all of this is important. I mean, Tommy Vitor, we're just talking about this on the pod about how Democrats got stuck in this spot, like, Democrats are, like, defensive of all these institutions rather than talking about fixing them, you know? And for good, it was a reasonable kind of that they got stuck in this spot, right? Because all of these things were under assault by people who wanted to burn it down. And, like, they were out there fucking, you know, with fire guns. And you're, and you're out there just saying, like, with water buckets, like, no, we don't, we don't want to burn it all down, right? And so you go through a couple of different reforms on how we can, like, fix some of our

democratic institutions fix some of the federal government institutions. One other example about that that I was happy to see was in here was education in schools. Yes. Which is like such a big cornerstone of the Democratic and Republican, frankly, platforms like the 90s and 2000s when we were growing up, which is like not even talked about during the campaign. And it does feel it's kind of like when Republicans are talking about schools now, it's like, oh, they're too woke or whatever. That's their critique. And Democrats are like, we just need to give them more money. The schools are great. And it's like, I feel like that's another. institution that it could use a message, it's like, no, actually, we should try to make this

better for kids. Like, maybe that's what we should do. We haven't had a national sort of strategy around public education or education improvement in 25 years. That was when we did no child left behind, which, you know, it didn't really work. I mean, it was, it was really predicated on this idea that if we just have national standards, everything will get better. And it didn't. I, you know, What I lay out is, you know, having done child education advocacy for a long, you know, most of my career is what we know to be true about what's best for children. And that is, you've got to invest, you know, along the sort of trajectory of brain development, which other countries do. And if we did, we would see fundamentally better outcomes for kids and schools. And that's a better use of your money.

So if every mom had access to high-quality prenatal care and birth outcomes improved, which is when brain development is happening, and then people had paid family leave and could spend a little bit more time with their child, which helps with brain development. And then they had access to child care and preschool. Every kid is showing up. And if a kid does not show up prepared because we do have these national assessments at kindergarten, then they get an extra year. And that would specifically, well, that would help everybody, but in particular, it would help young boys. And that would help us fix some of the issues with young boys who are just falling further and further behind, in part because they started behind and we never helped. And in terms of the K-12 system, like, yeah, they need additional help after school, summer

learning, you know, catching kids up. But if you can get them all prepared and then you can make sure that they have some career trajectory, whether that's college or something else, and that it's mostly paid for, then you will have, you know, the greatest education system in the world, and we then will have the greatest workforce and economy, which is what we desperately need. And that's laid out here. And I think people could grab onto that and be like, okay, that's better. Right. So in addition to not, you know, defunding the Department of Education and withholding hundreds of billions of dollars from our schools, let's actually fix it. I mean, it feels like a preferable program to,

like, let's take out the gay penguin book out of the school to me. But I feel like, let's take the gay penguin book out of the school was, like, actually winning the argument versus let's do nothing. Yeah. I honestly, let's keep things going, like, things are going great. It's crazy. What do you like have your colleagues, like, have they reacted to this? I mean, I don't know, like there are 10 potential bills here? Are there one or two of them they've grabbed onto?

Are they rolling their eyes at you? No, it's always, it's been positive feedback. I mean, I talked to, you know, Hakeem, Jeffrey's the, the. the leader about this many, many times and at length. And he's working through a process where they're doing listening. You know, he's got the whole caucus. So he's got to really build this with others. But he likes the idea that, you know, that doesn't mean that I can't put something out there

to start that conversation too. I think there's a real sense that, you know, we have to, we have to present something to the American people that's fundamentally better than what they're getting right now from either party. And then I've talked to, you know, just other thought leaders in the party, including AOCs, who I think is, you know, A, one of our best communicators, but B, she does policy well. She's incredibly smart. And, you know, the pieces where I think I'm more of a middle of the road, pragmatic sort of, you know, let's fix it and let's get everyone working together. And I think she's more let's, you know, this is one of the words that we're not allowed to use, but the overture. The Overton window. The Overton window. I'm faking.

I'm pretending I didn't know it. But yeah. I think she sees her role as like trying to shift that, which is great. Like that's important. But the first few bills I think were on the same page, which is you got to fix the economy in part by fixing the tax code. So make everyone at the top pay all their taxes and invest that in balancing the budget and giving people tax relief that they can spend throughout the years so they can pay their bills.

Yeah. Like that's where we have. have to go. You got to tackle price gouging and corporate consolidation. That's that first bill to fix the economy and make things more affordable. I think the abundance get America building again. I do think we are coming to a place where we're all aligned that we have got to start building more infrastructure, more broadband, more housing. Like our moon shop should be around housing, like some insane number of new housing units, right? And then I think that crew, we agree on the health care piece. Like, not maybe every detail, but, you know, like the country needs a public

option and we got to reverse the health care. Health care has to be a piece that we invest in so that people stop worrying about it so much. Like, it's just a huge part of the affordability issue, housing and health care. I think where, I think that where there's going to be a debate within the party is around national security and public safety. I tend to be more of a hawk. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, I tend to be a little more serious about investing in both police and community and gun reform. Like, I just don't think you can pick one. You have to do all of them. I want to do a couple of politics questions for others.

Do you, we'll just lump them together in one. You got Sherrod running in Ohio. How are you feeling about that? On the one hand, obviously, he won some campaigns, you know, in tough spots there in Ohio. So that's encouraging. On the other hand, there's thoughts of like, I don't know, could Democrats use fresh blood? Well, I think let's just start there. Yeah, I mean, I think it's good that Sherrod's running.

Shared's a really good person, and he is, you know, sort of Ohio through and through. I always said about John Tester, like, when John Tester walked in the room, it was like, well, Montana's here, you know. Like, Sheridan's like that with Ohio, which is great. And, you know, and I think he's got an incredibly good shot. I think this is going to be a toss up pretty quickly. But I also think shared ran in part because he believes that there's a path to taking back the majority in the Senate. That doesn't mean that he wouldn't have run.

I just think that like that's really important for him. It's like, well, I don't want to just run and like go back to the Senate if I'm just going to like, you know, cut the margin a little bit or not have any impact on the margin. I want to make sure that I'm part of, you know, taking back the majority so that we can hold this dude accountable. and reverse course. And I think the fact that he said yes, suggests that he does see that pathway,

and it's compelling. And that pathway includes North Carolina. It includes Maine, potentially Alaska, but it's, you know, Iowa and Texas and Ohio, which is good. I think that's very good. What do you think about Dark Gavin? What do you think about what Gavin's been doing?

Two things. Like, as a human being, love it. hilarious um you know anytime you can energize uh the troops great we live in this attention seeking uh you know environment where you have to you have to grab attention i get it and he's he's crushing it if you thought about doing any of those no so that's the second thing yeah okay it's not for me you know like i love it it's just not it's not for me it's not the way i'm built i'm not i'm saying that you don't have that dog in you no well i mean i have a fight in me like i'm i'm probably maybe more aggressive you know like

maybe more intense you don't have a shit posting dog you've got a different one yeah it's just a very different intensity like my intensity plays out and like let's get something done and like i'm gonna like run through a wall to get it done yeah but yeah shit posting is not my thing i just but that doesn't mean i'm not i'm not saying it's like it's good like i'm glad he's doing it again energizing the true pulling attention great i just as i watch it and i was telling my wife this the other night I was like, God, I would, it's just not me. Like, because sometimes you see other politicians when you're a politician and they do something, they get all this attention. You're like, oh, I should do that.

Yeah, I could have done that. Yeah. Or, well, yeah, it was like, I could have done that or maybe I need to play that game. And I'm like, no, not me. No, no. Look, I keep saying to all the Democrats, you want difference. Exactly. Like, the party is different.

The party is very diverse. Like, it's good to have somebody. What I don't like is where it's like, oh, we need to be singing from the same hymn book. not really. I mean, maybe for three months at the end of the election in 2028. Yeah, it's good to sing for the same handbook. But like, right now it's good to have. I want some Democrats are out there saying, we need solutions and answers and some other ones that are out there saying, fuck you, Donald Trump. And like other ones that are like, I'm really pissed about this. You know what I mean? Like, that's good. That's how you engage different types

of people. Yeah, it actually takes pressure off me a little bit because like on one hand, like obviously I'm fighting back every day, you know, but like it doesn't break through as much. much. It's been hard to break through me. Gavin had to do this, this, you know, he's the, the governor of the larger state. He's in the middle of multiple, like, confrontations with Trump plus the Twitter. Like, it took a lot to break through. But because that's happening, the pressure is taken off a little bit in terms of being able to say, like, hey, let's talk a little bit about where we go from here, which is more my space. Final topic was just coming across the trans of here. Always news with Donald Trump. He just said this. The 20,

26 FIFA World Cup draw will take place at the Kennedy Center. Some people refer to it as the Trump Kennedy Center, but we're not prepared to do that quite yet, maybe in a week or so. It's always a week or so, which is fantastic. And Gavin needs to start doing the week or so. Yeah. Right? Because it's always a week or so.

I obviously think that, like, the Kennedy Center is, you know, it's, it's, it's, on one hand, it's like, attention seeking, like, he just needs everyone. talking about him constantly, which is, which suggests he's a very small, fragile, weak person, and I want strong leaders. How about this? I've got an idea for you. I've got an idea for you to appeal to his fragility. Yeah.

Maybe you just go, I don't know, are there any Republicans you actually talk to? Are you a ton of? There's something you talk to. I mean, it's a little different these days. No, I mean, behind the scenes, they're still like, they want to do the work, too. Not all of them. So why don't you grab a couple of them don't want to do the work and say, how about this? we'll do a co-sponsor will do the build baby build bill we're going to build a bunch of houses and what you guys i'm going to do get all of my policy priorities and what you guys get is we're going to put trump on mount rushmore so it's a joint bill we're going to build baby bill or to build houses or want to put his face on there and call their bluff or how about like medicate we're going to we're going to restore all the medicaid cuts he gets his

he gets his face on mount rushmore would you guys vote for that you know kind of put them on the put them on the two together yeah i mean that's what world leaders do to him yeah right That's how they treat him. Now, on the FIFA thing, just because there's one, he is good at sort of stepping into the culture in a way that sounds like so lame, but in a way that Democrats don't, like, I've become a big soccer football, you know, guy because we have an MLS team and like, we love our MLS team. And so now that means that I like watch the Premier League and like FIFA is great. So he does this in a way where like Democrats should do the same.

it is it is an indictment on us that he was the first president to go to the super ball like that's terrible and i understand that there's some money there but people need to see you participating in their world yeah and so i do think it is smart and like you democrats should spend time thinking about like all right am i going to like we have fight nights here boxing stuff that that are so great you got high school football stuff you got uh you got a million things but like i i think leaning into that stuff is something that we have to do yeah you got to do it authentically like you can't like you can't be a be a weirdo at a nascar bat but like go to a nascar at m m m m m m m all the kids are right now yeah all right greg lansman we'll put a link here at the

bottom for folks who want to see the specifics of the bill of the part of the bills the pledge to america appreciate it brother and we chat with you soon all right man see you