Morning Joe - Morning Joe 9/20/24

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Mark Robinson vows to stay in N.C. governor race after report of inflammatory comments on porn site

on a one-two otani sends one in the air the other way back it goes one of a kind player one of a kind season so hey otani starts the 50 50 club a lot of people here standing i'm sure you're standing up at home, leaning on the edge of your seat. 2-0 on Ohtani. Rubbing their hands together. Certainly smiling. We all are watching this guy. Oh, my gosh.

Shohei Ohtani. first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, establishing the 50-50 club. And then he eclipsed that mark last night with one of the best, if not the best, single game performance we've ever seen. With his 51st home run, Otani also became the first player with three home runs and two stolen bases in a game. He also added a pair of doubles and a single for a career best six hits and set a Dodgers record with 10 RBIs to lead L.A. to a playoff clinching 20 to four route of the Marlins. Joe, when I came across this last night, I actually gasped. I couldn't believe it. I had to see it with my own eyes.

Six for six, three home runs, 10 RBIs to join the 50-50 club and put his team into the playoffs. Put this one in the time capsule, send it to Cooperstown, whatever you want to say about it. Unbelievable performance, unbelievable season by Otani. Remember, there are only a tiny handful of players who have ever been in the 40-40 club. Last night with that game enters the 50-50 club, Joe. I mean, enters it, creates it, crushes it. I mean, this guy is so amazing. We were watching Part of the Interruption last night around 6 o'clock,

leading into 6. And Wilbon was saying, oh, that's pretty good. We don't, you know, there was some talk. Is he going to get to 50? And like 10 minutes later, he's at 49. About 30 minutes later, he's at 50, and he just keeps going. Like you said, three homer, two steal game, one of the best. Now, as far as the greatest baseball achievements of all time,

this is where Wilbon and Kornheiser both disagree that this was the greatest. But it's up there. It's on the Mount Rushmore of achievements. Mike Wilbon talked about Gibson 1968. I think he had like 28 complete games, 14 shutouts, a 1.12 ERA or something remarkable like that. And then, of course, you have DiMaggio's streak, 56 games. I mean, nobody, you know, I don't know that anybody will ever get that. But I will say, Jonathan, until we saw saw otani uh 50 50 just didn't seem possible

yeah i mean you got to put ted williams 406 up there obviously a lot of the barry bond seasons there's a lot of to choose from but this is incredible and the most remarkable thing is shay otani he best hitter in the game also let's remember arguably one of the best pitchers in the game and this year because he was hurt and couldn't pitch, he said he spent the offseason trying to figure out how he could improve his game. And he really worked on his speed and his base stealing. So he already hit for power. Of course, he exceeded that this year with over 50 home runs.

But he turned himself into the game's best, best base stealer, too. And to go 50-50 like this year, and he's going to add to it. Right now, 55-55 club very much in range uh just an extraordinary achievement and to do it last night I mean against the willful Marlins team you kind of wish more people were there in the crowd to have seen that game uh but yes certainly in terms of single game performances what he did last night truly historic uh and now you know this will also be let's remember this will be his first time in the playoffs. Otani will have that national stage, that October stage. I can't wait to see what he

does. Well, I mean, it'll be so exciting for Otani and everybody better look closely because, of course, the Dodgers will win 110 games in a year and then get swept in the divisional series. Yeah, so they'll lose to the... The Padres. The Toledo Amberjacks, I mean, or the Mudhens, whomever. They figure out a way to lose. But yeah, Willie, it is very exciting. And, you know, I got to say, I knew the guy was big, knew he was powerful, knew he was a great pitcher.

But the thing that really snuck up on me this year is just the speed. I had no idea how fast the guy was. 50 steals, just unbelievable. 50, so now he's in the 51-51 club with nine games to go. Not off the board that he goes 55-55, though. He may sit when they clinch the division. So just an unbelievable performance. Morning Joe statistician Mike Barnicle shared a statistic that in their careers, there's only been one player in the last 100 years who's had a six-hit game

and also a 10-RBI game. He did it in the same game yesterday. Six hits, including three home runs and 10 RIs. You just have to laugh when you say the line. It just seems impossible. So incredible, incredible night for Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in the playoffs. With Mika not here, you can see that we lead with baseball, but there is a lot more to talk about this morning. Joining us, the president of the National Action Network and host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, the Reverend Al Sharpton, MSNBC political analyst Elyse Jordan. She's former aide to the George W. Bush White House and State Department and U.S. national editor at the Financial Times, Ed Luce.

Good morning to you all. And we start this morning with a bombshell report that has the governor's race in North Carolina in the national spotlight. The Trump backed nominee, Mark Robinson, reportedly made deeply offensive and disturbing posts on a porn website several years ago. NBC's Laura Jarrett has details. Republican candidate Mark Robinson vowing to stay in the race for governor in North Carolina, vehemently denying an explosive new report, purporting to show dozens of his disturbing comments online. They want to focus on salacious tabloid lies. We're not going to let them do that. We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. The current lieutenant governor facing a swirl of speculation about the fate of his campaign after CNN published what it called a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website's message board more than a decade ago,

before Robinson began his political career. NBC News has not verified the authenticity of the posts CNN says include Robinson referring to himself as a black Nazi and expressing support for reinstating slavery, writing, Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back. I would certainly buy a few. CNN also reporting Robinson, who publicly supports a six-week ban on abortion with exceptions, wrote that he did not care if a celebrity got an abortion, writing, I don't care. I just want to see the sex tape.

CNN says the comments were all made under the same username and that Robinson used it elsewhere on the Internet, including product reviews on Amazon. But Robinson blasting it as tabloid trash. Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words, you know my character, and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before. No stranger to polarizing comments, Robinson has come under scrutiny in the past for calling the Holocaust hogwash, which he later said was a poorly worded remark that wasn't anti-Semitic. Come November, I plan on being the first black governor of North Carolina. He's a social conservative who's been endorsed by former

President Trump. This is Martin Luther King on steroids. North Carolina, a battleground state in the presidential race, but a tough one for Democrats who haven't won it since 2008. NBC's Laura Jarrett reporting there. Robinson had until midnight last night to withdraw from the race because it was the final day before military and overseas absentee ballots are mailed out. As you can see there, he says he's not going anywhere. So, Joe, I'm still recovering again. I've heard it many times. But from that last comment from Donald Trump calling Mark Robinson, quote, Martin Luther King on steroids. We can deal with that later. But this CNN report, obviously, the comments, part of the reason they have grabbed so much attention, not just because they are salacious, but because they fit into a pattern of other things he said, other appalling comments he's made about Jews, about

gay people and about black Americans over the over the years. Yeah. And and Jonathan O'Meara, this is a situation even even before this latest CNN report. This is this was a state that actually was more in play for the Harris campaign than ever before, not only because of him, but because of other extremists that were running in the Republican Party across North Carolina. This, though, to paraphrase Donald Trump, this puts it all on steroids. Yesterday, after this story broke, I received a slew of panic texts from political operatives, but not from Republicans, from Democrats who are fearful that Robinson was going to drop out and would therefore hurt their chances in that state. But now Robinson's staying put and Democrats giddy because they feel like, first of all, Robinson already pulling poorly

in the race for the governorship there. So they like their chances. But now with him on the ticket, this can only help Vice President Harris in this new battleground stage. He's already pulling pretty well there, up a point or two within the margin of error, but feels like they have momentum. In fact, some Harris aides tell me, just in the last day or two, before this story broke,

they actually feel better about North Carolina right now than they do Georgia. And Reverend Sharpton, I mean, we are used to the Trump era of Republicans refusing to apologize, refusing to acknowledge wrongdoing, just no shame, full steam ahead, a tone set by their standard bearer, Donald Trump. This is still pretty breathtaking, some of the stuff that was unveiled in this reporting. And yet they're sticking to the same playbook. You have to think this is going to cost them at the ballot box. It must cost them at the ballot box. I've been in North Carolina twice in the last few weeks preaching for Sir Walter Mack and Winston Salem and and speaking at the Zion National Conference. And everywhere I went, people were saying, have you heard what this Mark Robinson, who's also a minister, has been saying,

talking about the Holocaust was hogwash, saying blacks should be paying reparations for whites taking care of us during slavery and things like that. So when I read and heard what he said, what was brought to light yesterday, I wasn't shocked. What is surprising to me is how the media is not asking Donald Trump explain to us how he's Martin Luther King number two with all these quotes. I mean, can you imagine if Kamala Harris had said that they would be all over her. And why aren't you doing sit down interviews explaining how you could even compare this man to Martin Luther King? No one's asking Donald Trump, who to me is the bigger question here in North Carolina nationwide, while he has this guy who's clearly off the rails, who's clearly to the right of the right, as not only his candidate, but one he equated with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

It gives me reason to say with exclamation points the old statement we used to say in the community, everybody that's my color is not my kind. Yeah, I would say so. Certainly for all the criticism that Vice President Harris has received for not doing enough interviews, Donald Trump hasn't taken a hostile question. And I couldn't tell you how long beyond the debate itself. He's too busy with the faucets. You got to deal with the big. That's true. He does have water pressures on his on his mind and sharks and windmills. At least I mean, it is it's also the hypocrisy here, the way that the hateful rhetoric he

espouses publicly and then, you know, contrast that to some of his public private conduct. I mean, this is someone who is beyond toxic. It does seem like Republicans have tethered themselves to him. What sort of impact do you see it having? I mean, it doesn't it's not going to have any real impact because Trump is going to stick around. But within the race in North Carolina, maybe it does help turnout Democrats who actually want to vote against this guy and their low turnout voters and they show up and they vote on election day. This is going to be a turnout election. It's to the point where tooth and nails and all that is going to matter is which side is better at getting their low turnout voters out. And so if that helps the Democrats in the slightest by having him still in the ballot, that's a win for Democrats.

Speaking of Donald Trump, he was out last night again saying Jewish voters will be to blame if he loses November's election in an event called Fighting Antisemitism in America. Trump leaned heavily on anti-Semitic tropes and complained about his low support in this race among Jewish Americans. Very most popular person in Israel. But here it doesn't translate. It's a it's a strange thing. The United States election is the most important election in the history of Israel.

Actually, if you think about it, how crazy does that sound? But it's true. With all I have done for Israel, I received only 24 percent of the Jewish vote. Now, think of this. I really haven't been treated very well, but that's the story of my life. You have to defeat Kamala Harris. More than any other people on earth, Israel, I believe, has to defeat her. It hurts me to say it. You're going to still vote for Democrats, and it doesn't make sense. I say all the time that any Jewish person that votes for her, especially now, her or the Democrat Party, should have their head examined. Jewish people, people that's supposed to love Israel in 2020. So remember, I got 24, 25 percent. Now I did all of these things and I got 29 percent. Think of it. So I wasn't treated right. I really haven't been treated right. So if I don't win this election, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with

a loss. He hasn't been treated right. Always the victim blaming Jews, he said, if he loses this election. By the way, that's about where he's polling among Jewish Americans at 28 percent or so. At the same event last night, Trump also said he would reinstitute a travel ban if he returns to the White House to prevent migrants from what he calls infested countries from entering the United States. We will seal our border and bring back the travel ban. Remember the famous travel ban? We didn't take people from certain areas of the world because I didn't want to

have people ripping down and burning our shopping centers and killing people. But we're not taking them from infested countries. Infested countries, infested countries. Let's see now. Let's see now. What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to say, oh, well, infested countries. That sounds like what Gerald Ford. Now, Gerald Ford didn that used to say that

what Roosevelt. No. I mean, this is just straight up. I mean, is that not the language of fascist leaders? I again, I'm just asking historically, you have that sort of language infested countries talking about vermin, talking about all the things that he's talked about. It is, he and his running mate have completely, as you say in your new column, they have doubled down on ethno-nationalism and not the sort of ethno-no nationalism that's ever been prevalent. And at least not in our lifetimes in the United States.

Talk about this, this blood and soil campaign and where it has its origins. Yeah, well, I think you hint very accurately at its fascist origins. In the American context, it's America first origins, which was explicitly fascist and Nazi adjacent. But let's just sort of take the irony of Trump speaking at an event last night here in D.C. that's about combating anti-Semitism and using the oldest anti-Semitic trope of all at this conference, which is you Jewish Americans, you're all loyal to Israel. You're all you all have dual loyalty. And therefore, because I'm pro-Israel, you don't understand your interests unless you vote for me. That is the oldest sort of anti-Semitic trope in and says, his own idea of victimhood, his own sense of being the victim of conspiracies carried out by other people. So the irony of that is extraordinary. As regards Mark Robinson, you know, J.D. Vance,

J.D. Vance's blood and soil nationalism, the kind of conservative movement or Republican Party we would like to see in America is what J.D. Vance used to be, which is not an ethno-nationalist. He was a libertarian, but he was a thoughtful one. We saw that in Hillbilly Energy. He was self-questioning, thoughtful, open to debate, open to ideas. He's now gone to the other end of the spectrum, to blood and soil nationalism, because that is what Trump wants. He was quite right when he described Trump as a potential American Hitler a few years ago. Now he's signed up to this potential American Hitler. And we see all the weird sort of morbid manifestations of a party that's chosen that that route. Mark Robinson,

the self-declared black Nazi being one of them. It is it is exactly what you expect to happen when a party chooses the ethno-nationalist fascist route. And I don't use that word lightly. Well, I mean, you're actually just paraphrasing what J.D. Vance warned of when Donald Trump ran for president before. He also, of course, told Christians that they should not vote. If they were Christians, they should not vote for Donald Trump. You know, Ed, we're going to be talking next block or so about how Republicans are trying to shut down the government. Shut down the government. McConnell said it would just be complete lunacy because they don't want people from other countries to have an impact in this election. Of course, it would be illegal for people, illegal immigrants to vote here. And they know that. So they're

basically going to shut down the government. So to say that something that's illegal is illegal. But it's fascinating against that backdrop. You have Donald Trump last night and just a bizarre rambling speech on anti-Semitism talking about himself. But then this is one of the kickers. Israel has to defeat Kamala Harris. A foreign country has to defeat Kamala Harris. I don't even know where to begin with that. So there were two things before this week, two external things that I was really worried could damage Kamala Harris's prospects of winning. One was a turn in the economy. That's now been, I think, ruled out. The Fed has cut interest rates by half a percentage point, an overdue move that will lead to improving consumer sentiment. And I think it's not the reason the Fed did this, but it will help Kamala Harris's prospects. The other, which could wipe out all the benefits of that half a percentage point cut, is a war in the Middle East, specifically a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

However that starts, whether that's an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon, very high risk. I mean, that's a real quagmire we know historically. Or Hezbollah itself in retaliation for the exploding pages this week, escalating and provoking a conflict between them. That would lead to rising oil prices, rising gas prices and hurt consumer sentiment. I have no doubt that Netanyahu wants Trump to win. Netanyahu only does things for his own self-preservation. Even allies in his own party believe that. Yoav Galant, the Israeli defense minister, knows that Netanyahu wants to keep the war in Gaza going. Because if it ends, which the rest of the Israeli defense establishment wants it to, then Netanyahu has no place to hide.

It's what's saving his political career. But I've no doubt that Trump and Netanyahu will will be on the phone to each other and are acutely aware of what a wider conflict would do to Kamala Harris's prospects. That was my other concern. And it's it's getting more it's getting more intense, that concern with events going on there. And again, an event ostensibly last night about anti-Semitism. Donald Trump not talking really about anti-Semitism, but in a rambling speech, as Joe said, that was just self-pity. If I don't win this election, in my opinion, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with it. U.S. national editor at the Financial Times, Ed Luce. Ed, thanks so much as always. Still ahead on Morning Joe, Israel's military launches new strikes across Lebanon after Hezbollah's leader

vowed to retaliate for this week's pager and walkie-talkie attacks. We'll have a live report from Beirut. Plus, a look at where the funding fight stands on Capitol Hill as lawmakers face a government shutdown and how Speaker Mike Johnson meets with former President Trump. Morning Joe is back in 90 seconds. Who is making sure that if somebody shows up, pick a random name and says they're a citizen, who is checking that they are a citizen? Of course, nobody's checking that they're a citizen. So you have an entire opportunity here for cheating,

and that's why this bill has to pass. You have to ask yourself, why did all but three Democrats vote against a provision yesterday that you have to prove that you're a citizen before you vote? I mean, isn't that a bizarre vote to take? But that is sadly where the Democrat Party is right now. They can't wait a few years until some of these new immigrants become citizens or until they have children and they become citizens.

The Democrat Party is so radical right now that they want these people voting immediately. And if they don't want them to vote, fine, just have them show their citizens. What's the evidence that it's happening? Where have you seen that? Well, I haven't seen it, but we know it's happening, right? I haven't seen it, but we know it's happening, right? That's Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin admitting he has no evidence of his voter fraud claims after suggesting voting by undocumented immigrants will influence the outcome of federal elections. Joe, this is something we've heard right from the top,

from Donald Trump all the way down through the party, that preparing themselves for some kind of a protest if Donald Trump loses this election because it will be that undocumented immigrants voted for Kamala Harris. Again, no evidence of it at all. And they are now willing to shut down the government. Most Senate Republicans, I think, believe this is crazy, but willing to shut down the government to say that something that's illegal is illegal. It just makes it just makes absolutely no sense and Elise Jordan I've got to say on top of that throwing in the replacement theory that oh these

illegal immigrants are being brought into America because they want to get them to vote and replace us basically is again the overall argument and they are and by the way they're split in their own party over this, too. They are willing. Our Donald Trump is trying to push them to shut

down the government. To say in a bill that something that illegal is still illegal. Again, it's just they're they're they're looking for a fight. They're looking for an excuse to shut down the government when actually people that understand in the Republican Party what's best for them knows that Donald Trump is once again leading them down a dangerous electoral path. about the functioning of the American government and that American citizens have government institutions that are funded and able to respond to their needs. He cares about scoring political points right now. And you look at what happened with the border bill, and there was a chance for there to be bipartisan agreement to do something about the crisis at the border. But no, Donald Trump torpedoes it. He's not interested in policy and doing anything that actually helps the American people. He only is out for himself and his narrow electoral interests, which is why we're also

seeing the increased fear mongering, him using words like infested and dehumanizing immigrants and migrants. You know, we're hearing that because he's at a moment of desperation. It reminds me of 2018 when he was ranting about the caravans of migrants coming over the border. And that was an election where he was nervous and he didn't fare as well. And I think this is just repeating again. Let's bring into the conversation congressional investigations reporter for The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany. Jackie, it's great to see you. So what is the state of play here? The sort of this bind that Speaker Johnson finds himself in needing Democratic votes to get

through the continuing resolution to keep the government open is set to close on October the 1st. But Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, saying the SAVE Act is an absolute nonstarter. He believes it's voter suppression, that there are already laws in the books that say if you're here illegally, you cannot vote in an American election. What does the speaker do with all this? That is really the question going into next week, when government funding is going to expire on September 30th with a government shutdown on October 1st. But look, this six-month extension that Speaker Johnson had, his majority, really forced his majority to vote on this week, despite knowing that it was most likely going to fail. It was a six-month extension of current federal spending levels in addition to the SAVE

Act. He wanted it to fail so he can now go and have additional leverage, pivot to the Senate and be able to say to his party, OK, now we're going to start negotiations with Senate Democrats, a Senate Democratic led majority, in order to try to avoid a shutdown, which both Republicans and Democrats have said is politically unpalatable. But look, as you just noted, the SAVE Act is not going to get done. The White House has said they're going to veto it. It's not going to get done through a Senate. And actually, just to fact check Glenn Grothman there,

there were actually a number of Democrats who initially voted in favor of this bill when it got through the House over the summer. So there isn't a sort of unanimity over Democratic feelings about this, but there is an acknowledgment that it's not ultimately going to pass. But whether all of these sort of ideological factions are going to be able to come together and ultimately agree on the current spending levels and whether or not they want to extend that for three months or six months and whether that should be a clean bill or not is really a TBD question that's going to need to be answered this week. So, Jackie, it seems like no one on Capitol Hill actually wants a shutdown. I believe Mitch McConnell's words were it would be beyond stupid

to do so so close to an election in particular. And he noted correctly, Republicans would get the blame. The one person who might, though, is Donald Trump. He keeps posting on Truth Social saying, hey, if you don't get my voting rights legislation out there, that voter I.D. citizens rights thing, which is all nonsense, you know, you should shut it down. We know he met with Speaker Johnson last night in Washington. We heard we learned anything about what they spoke about. And what's the fear among Republicans that Trump is going to take them over a shutdown cliff. We don't have a readout of that conversation just yet, but we know that Speaker Johnson has been in close touch with Trump throughout these last few weeks as Trump has been consistently calling for a government shutdown calls that really started at the end of August over the SAVE Act. There is a sort of a quiet, private feeling that Trump is really trying to utilize the situation

that Congress finds itself in in order to elevate and escalate attention around these anti-immigrant policies that he's really pushing from Springfield, Ohio, to demonizing Haitian migrants, to passing the SAVE Act in Congress. And, you know, when I was doing some reporting on preparations that House Democrats are making ahead of January 6th, this was something that they all pointed to as sort of a galvanizing call that Trump was making to try to, as Elise noted, set up some sort of, you know, a problem for Democrats that once an election, the election does ultimately happen there. there's a scapegoat here that that Trump can ultimately point to, again, these these these unsupported claims that there are illegal immigrants who are voting in mass in elections, which there's no evidence to support whatsoever. None. But this is a good congressman said, you know, it's happening. It must be happening. So, Jackie, I'm curious about Speaker Johnson. He has sort of survived against all odds much longer than people thought he was going to survive.

I'm wondering, does this present a real challenge to his long term viability as Republican speaker? Yeah, Joe, this is the exact scenario that actually Kevin McCarthy found himself in when he when he ultimately lost the speakership, when he was trying to cajole his very narrow majority to get behind continuing the same spending of federal funds that that the government is now seeing. difference between Johnson and McCarthy that has gotten Johnson so far, at this point at least, is that Johnson is less preoccupied with holding on to power. And at the end of the day, despite some of the performative actions and some of his rhetoric, he is really focused on trying to ultimately fund the government and get things through. He's a little bit more of a realist when it comes to what is politically palatable. And he has maintained some decent relationships with players in these ideological factions. That being said, I think that Johnson is potentially

setting himself up for some mutiny post-election in the case that Republicans do lose their majority. I think that he could see some serious challenges from people like Jim Jordan, people who are going to be trying to push him out, vying for minority leader. But but that there's so much to come before that. And I think for now, if there is anyone who has been able to somehow navigate this narrow majority and these brittle factions. It has been Mike Johnson, surprisingly. And the clock is ticking to that October 1st shutdown deadline. The Washington Post, Jackie Alimany.

Jackie, thanks so much. Coming up next, our next guest stepping out of the world of politics, excuse me, out of Hollywood into politics, the son of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dylan Douglas joins us as he seeks to energize young voters. He'll explain next on Morning Joe. And so I showed up at a town hall and did something which we call like bird dogging in a in an organizing space. And I asked my senator at the time, Jeff Blake, why he as an older white man was making these decisions about me and my body. And he gave me sort of this like really canned political answer of like, I support policies that support the American dream, which like someone get him a better speech writer, better talking points. We're begging you. Um, and I asked him why he would deny

me the American dream. And I woke up the next day and millions of people had seen that video. Um, and I think it really sparked for me this like line of inquiry that I've been following for years and years and years now, which is like that I, as a girl, 16 year old girl, right. Who's working at a gas station, who's experiencing homelessness was suddenly on even footing in the public discourse with the United States Senator. That's a clip from the new Sirius XM political program, young American with Dylan Douglas featuring interview with Gen Z abortion rights rights activist Deja Fox. She was the featured guest on the premiere episode of the new show hosted by Dylan Douglas. You might recognize his parents, Academy Award winning actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But Dylan has chosen to work mainly behind the scenes in the world of politics, spending much of his young adult life getting involved in political campaigns and grassroots movements. Now, though, using his

new show to focus on how Gen Z voters and politicians can work together to address issues and reach goals important to young Americans stepping in front of the microphone. And Dylan joins us now. Dylan, it's good to have you on the show. Congratulations on the first episode, the rollout on Sirius XM. Let's before we dig into some of the specific issues that you and Deja Fox talked about there, for example, let's just talk big picture about Gen Z, the group you cover on your show and the energy that we've seen around that group of voters among Democrats since Kamala Harris, the vice president of the United States, took the baton effectively from Joe Biden. How have the dynamics of this race

changed since that moment? Sure. Well, I think it's just changed absolutely 100 percent. It's funny. I was actually a Kamala Harris fan back in 2020 when she was running. Actually, the first presidential campaign I myself donated to. And now we've had four years of her as, of course, our vice president. As you may know, the vice presidency can be a sort of complicated role, hard to navigate. And I think a lot of people thought that she lost her voice. And now, of course, we have her as our nominee. And she's definitely found her voice.

And the energy I've seen, I mean, I'm a political person, right? You're a political person. All of us here, I think, are political people. But I'm seeing people that have never posted online about politics, aren't inherently political, that are going to her rallies. So the energy I'm seeing, not just from Gen Z, but from all Democrats, is really, really hopeful. And it makes me very inspired and excited for November. So Dylan, let's talk about Gen Z. What are some of the issues, abortion rights being one, but what are some of the issues right now that are particularly animating for them? What do they care about heading into November? You know, it's funny. I think the idea of Gen Z issues is

almost a misnomer, because Gen Z issues are the issues. It's climate change. It's gun control, because we were the first generation to live in schools where we were scared of getting shot. It's so many things, and it just so happens that it's our issues, because we were the first generation to live in schools where we were scared of getting shot. It's so many things, and it just so happens that it's our issues because we were the first generation to not remember anything else. It's housing. We're growing up as a society, as a generation, where owning our own home for an entire life is not guaranteed. So it's not necessarily, we talk about modern-day slavery, but it's modern-day serfdom, not being able to have control of your own home, your own property. So it's many issues, all of which I think affect all Americans. It just so happens that we're the first generation to grow up not knowing anything else. So what are who are some of the guests that we're going to

hear from on your show over the course of this election season? So you just heard from Deja Fox, a Gen Z rock star out of Arizona has been fighting for Planned Parenthood abortion rights her entire adult life. And you're going to see more of her, I think, just generally going forward. On my show specifically, I've just come back from Ukraine. I was in Kiev for two days. Very, very interesting experience. Really life changing. And we have a few guests this week from Kyiv, including Andrei Yermak, Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine. Considered by many as a real power broker, the sort of right-hand man of President Zelensky,

he joins us this Saturday at 11 on SiriusXM Progress. And we're going to talk about just his message to America and get kind of in the nitty-gritty of where Ukraine is right now in this third year of conflict. We actually have a clip from that interview. Let's play it right now. Sir, before you go, what is your message to Americans listening? Our American brothers and friends, we are very appreciative that the first day of this full-scale invasion, we are very appreciative that you feel our pain, pain for our children, pain for our people. You feel like yours, our tragedy. We never forget about it. My dream that these relations will be for centuries for the future. Thank you very much. And our victory will be your victory.

Dylan, one of the things I'm getting from what you're saying is that talking to Gen Z is not acting like they're in some other nation. It's talking to them through the lens that they understand and the issues that they understand. Like, like, you know, I'm in civil rights. Race is different in Gen Z. Still racism. But they grew up. There was a black president. So they don't see that as an achievement like I would. Talk about how Gen Z can look at the same thing through different lens. And you need to address them without losing those that are older and cutting them off. How do you bridge the gap where everybody. Sure, Reverend. I think I mean, you have lived a longer life than I have. And your life,

you both actively played a part in and just been witness to huge changes, civil rights. You know, we go back to the assassinations of RFK and JFK, the Vietnam War, those protest movements. And so it was such a generational time that informed, I think, your politics, your perspective. And I'm 24, and I think the last 20 years similarly have been fundamental to the history of this country. I was born a year after 9-11. I don't remember it, of course, but I sort of lived in that post-9-11 world. I vaguely remembered that there was a financial crisis going on in 2008. I remember Sandy Hook. I actually went to school in Westchester County, just 20 minutes from Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

And so I remember we were on lockdown that day. And ever since then, we've had school shooting drills many times a year in school. So similar to your life experience, we're living in a moment, a time, not to mention the forever wars, the rise of the Tea Party. Now is my, you know, eight years of Trump, almost half my life. We're defined by so much chaos, not to mention just transformative moments. The first African-American president. I didn't even realize that I was eight years old. That sort of moment in racial politics history for this country. And now, of course, the second chance at a first female president. So it's been a time of such turmoil, but also transformation,

all of which has defined our generation, just as your moments of your youth, you know, made you who you are. I mean, the moments of our youth were like, oh, a walkman. Oh, wow, I can walk around. I think about this all the time because I have children your age, you know, younger or older. And I've got to say, we, you know,

there was, you know, our parents dealt with the Great Depression and with World War II. I think about what people this century, growing up, coming of age this century, have dealt with. And you talked about it. 2001, the failure of Hurricane Katrina. Sure. The financial crisis and the greed of 2008, the horrors of Sandy Hook and the inability of Congress to do anything to respond to that. Four years in the presidency of Donald Trump, January the 6th.

I mean, there's all of this chaos. I mean, it has to be an extraordinarily unsettled population coming of age. And then you add on top of that the financial insecurities. Me being able to buy a house in my 20s. Most of us my age were able to get some house, even if it's a little house in our 20s. But a lot of people under 40 just seeing that is being out of reach. Talk about how all of this puts younger voters up for grabs. Well, quite honestly, I think a lot of what our generation has dealt with, and to your point, not to mention the sort of existential crises that we deal with, housing, the first generation America knowing that we'll probably not be better

off than the generation that preceded us, housing, climate. All these things, I think, can make us really, really radical, really, really pessimistic, and really, really angry. And some of us are, but what I see from my generation more so is hope and optimism and excitement to do the hard work, engage civically to make that change. And I think that's what separates our generation from a lot is the hope and ready to do the hard work to make the change. And that's what inspires me so much about my generation. Well, Willie, it is it is really inspiring. This is and, you know, I was going down the list of all the traumas, Willie. I didn't mention the one that hangs like a shadow over this generation and others. COVID, a worldwide pandemic that kept

people locked down and isolated and and actually really sort of exaggerated the problems of loneliness and isolation that we had even before COVID. Yeah, completely altered childhoods changed the way they approach school, the way they approach friendships, the way they approach their families, the way they approach going out in the world. And as Dylan said right from the outset here, this is an energized group of young voters now. And the addition of Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden has changed a lot. We'll see if they show up in November. Young American with Dylan Douglas airs Saturdays at 11 a.m. Eastern on Sirius XM channel 127. That's 127. Dylan Douglas, great to have you on the show this morning. Thanks for being here. Thank you.