No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Boebert's challenger now poised to UNSEAT her in upcoming election

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

Trump makes a blatant attempt to pivot to the center ahead of the 2024 election. Brian interviews Congressman Daniel Goldman about the Republicans’ impending government shutdown and their doomed impeachment effort against Joe Biden. He also interviews the Democrat running for Lauren Boebert’s seat in Colorado, Adam Frisch, about her Beetlejuice scandal and how he plans on winning what was the closest race of 2022. And finally, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro joins to discuss the massive implications of his decision to implement automatic voter registration in the state. Support Adam Frisch: https://secure.numero.ai/contribute/Adam-for-Colorado-BTCDLShop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to talk about Trump's blatant effort to pivot to the center, and I interview Congressman Daniel Goldman about the Republican's impending government shutdown and their doomed impeachment effort against Joe Biden. I interviewed the Democrat running for Lauren Bobert's seat in Colorado, Adam Frisch, about her Beetlejuice scandal and how he plans on winning what was the closest race of 2022. And finally, I'm joined by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to discuss the massive implications of his decision to implement automatic voter registration in the state. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie.

Right. So it's probably not news to anyone that Trump is running away with the Republican nomination. The Iowa poll will show him at 20, 30 points ahead of everyone else. New Hampshire is the same story, which is not to say that Trump won't continue hammering away at Ron DeSantis and whoever else he feels may pose some mild threat because not sure if you guys are familiar with Donald Trump's porcelain glass ego, but he will. But what he's also doing now is pivoting to the general election. And here's what I mean by that. Mr. President, I want to give voters who are going to be weighing in on this election. Yeah. A very clear sense of

I think they're all going to like me. I think both sides are going to like me. Let me, but let Mr. President have to happen is you're going to have to. Listen, you're asking me a question. What's going to happen is you're going to come up with a number of weeks or months. You're going to come up with a number that's going to make people happy. Because 92% of the Democrats don't want to see abortion after a certain period of time. If a federal ban landed on your desk, if you were.

elected. Would you sign it at 15? Are you talking about a complete ban? A ban at 15 weeks. Well, people, people are starting to think of 15 weeks. That seems to be a number that people are talking about right now. Would you sign that? I would, I would sit down with both sides and I'd negotiate something and we'll end up with peace in that issue for the first time in 52 years. I'm not going to say I would or I wouldn't. I mean, DeSankt is willing to sign a five week and six week ban. Would you support that? You think that goes too far? I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake. That everyone will like him. Yeah, Donald Trump, the, uh, the common sense center on all things abortion in the United States. Now, this goes without saying, here's why

that is complete and utter bullshit. And I'm not going to use my own words here. I'm going to let Donald Trump explain why Donald Trump is lying. Here's where he actually stands on the issue of abortion. I got rid of Roe v. Wade. I'm the one that got rid of Roe v. I was able to do it. and I was very honored to do it. Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no? It's a principle. The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

For the woman? Yeah, it has to be some form. There, of course, remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. Nobody has ever done more for right to life than Donald Trump. Roe v. Wade, they won. They finally won. The Iowa bill was signed, and they wouldn't have been able to do anything

if I wasn't able to do what I did. So look, I don't really think I have to convince anyone listening right now about Donald Trump's position on abortion. Like, if I were to simply play all of the soundbites of the guy taking credit for the fact that women have been stripped of their bodily autonomy, we would be here for hours. But more importantly, this is actually a pretty telling window into Trump's general election strategy in 2024, which, by the way, is not dissimilar to his general election strategy in 2016. So Trump will position himself on the correct side of these populist issues, where he has zero intention of following through, but who cares? He will lie because it'll get him elected and because regardless of what promises he breaks, he will never be held accountable by the only media

that Republicans consume. So when he promises a health care plan in two weeks that'll be cheaper and more comprehensive for everyone and that never materializes, you think Fox is going to hold him to account for that? You think his supporters even know that it never happened? When he promises a wall along the entire southern border that Mexico is going to pay for

and we end up with like 50 miles of wall that Americans paid for, and you think Fox is going to call him out for that? You think his supporters have any clue about the truth surrounding that? When he promises to protect earn benefits and then every single budget he released his president called for cuts to those very programs, you think Fox is going to reveal that? That he would stand up for workers and instead passed a tax cut for CEOs, which resulted in stock buybacks that only served to further enrich the very people screwing over those workers?

Do you think Fox reported on that? Donald Trump will let whatever words sound nice fall out of his face because he knows what people want to hear, but he will not follow through on anything because he is a marketer. And he knows that when your product sucks, the packaging better be really, really nice. And that is what he's doing. And right-wing media is as shameless as he is,

and because they operate as propaganda networks, they are there to support him, the lying politician, and not the viewers who that politician is lying to. And so Trump will lie, and then right-wing media will cover for his lies, and then the rubs who tune in will be duped, all the while they all call everyone else fake news so that they can hermetically seal that media ecosystem

so that their marks will be none the wiser. It's just all this well-oiled machine of deception. But here's the worst part of it. It could absolutely work. Like what we have to remember is that all of us who are paying attention to politics right now in September of an off year are the exception, not the rule. All of us who've been paying attention to politics these last couple of years are the exception, not the rule. Most people don't have a clue what's going on.

And they won't have a clue what's going on, by the way, until maybe October of 2024. And so for those people who may have been checked out since the last general election, you know, they might turn on the TV one day in October of 2024 and hear Donald Trump talk about a common-sense solution to the issue of abortion. Like talk about how both sides will love him. And that might be what they know about Donald Trump as far as abortion is concerned. And in the same way that they heard him spout bullshit in 2016 about workers' rights and health care and the middle class and on and on.

And in the same way that people bought it, it could happen again in 2024. So I know it feels weird to broadcast on repeat these ads showing Trump's real position on abortion because we assume that we already know it, but not everyone does. And I think we would be really well served as a party, as a movement, to embrace the repetition of this stuff on the left, because repetition works. Like, there's a reason that everybody knows make America great again. There's a reason everybody knows build the wall. There's a reason everybody knows lock her up.

It's because they repeat this stuff at nauseam and then everyone learns it. So our mentality should be that if we see another ad about Trump's actual position on abortion, don't be annoyed because we're hearing it again for the thousandth time. Be encouraged at the fact that Democrats are finally learning that we will repeat these winning arguments a million times if we have to to make sure that we reach every single voter. And if us hearing it for the millionth time means that someone else out there hears it for the first time, then we know it'll be worth it because we know the truth about what he's trying to do. So our job now is to ensure that everyone else does too.

Next up are my interviews with Congressman Goldman, Adam Frisch, and Governor Shapiro. Now we have the congressman from New York's 10th Congressional District, Daniel Goldman. Thanks for taking the time. Thanks for having me, Brian. Now, Republicans are in charge of the House, which inevitably means that we're on the path to yet another government shutdown. Is there actually any appetite among your Republican colleagues to avoid a shutdown? Or is the dysfunction is breaking government the actual point here? No, I think that's actually one of the interesting developments right now, is that

that there does appear to be a significant portion of Republicans who do not want a shutdown. Unfortunately, because they have such a tight majority and there are enough in the party who want to burn the house down, they cannot wield enough influence to impact Kevin McCarthy in a way that can pass anything. So it will be very interesting to see,

I think over the next week or so, what the so-called moderate Republicans do who claim not to want to have a shutdown, but who have to this point not done anything to resist the extreme MAGA wing on the right. Right. At every turn, we always see these same people who claim to want something, then capitulate to the farthest right members of the Republican conference. If there is a shutdown, What's your message amid what will be the inevitable scramble to blame the other side? Well, I mean, look, the message is very clear. This House Republican Party is completely dysfunctional. They're incapable of passing any legislation, even extreme legislation that has no chance of becoming law.

They do not accept the reality that even though they have a narrow majority in the House, the Senate is controlled by Democrats and the president is a Democrat. We are in divided government. You don't get everything you want in divided government. You rarely get everything you want even in unified government. But the fact that they refuse to pass anything, that there's clear chaos and dysfunction over there makes it very clear that all of the really dangerous and bad ramifications, including a $6 billion hit to the economy every week, numerous sources and really

resources for Americans, obviously tons of government jobs. This will have a real significant impact on our economy and on the American people. And the Republicans just don't seem to care. We are eager to avoid a government shutdown, consistent with the bill that the vast majority of Republicans voted to pass in order to raise the debt ceiling, which set the appropriate. top line numbers. Now the Republicans are going back on their own bill that they agree to and trying to cut spending even more and really dangerously. Moving over to another source of Republican dysfunction, you've actually been a brutally effective messenger when it comes to the GOP's lack of a predicate to open an impeachment inquiry

against Joe Biden. Can you go over what evidence Republicans have to justify this escalation? Well, basically all they have right now is two things that they point to. One is a FBI document of an interview of a confidential source who spoke to someone we now know to be the head of the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, on whose board Hunter Biden served. In that document, he alleged that he paid $5 million, I think it looks like $5 million bribe, either to Joe, Hunter, or both. The Trump Department of Justice had that information available to them when Bill Barr set up a repository for Rudy Giuliani's conspiracy theories within the Department of Justice to see if anything could be made from them. After a review by the Trump Justice Department, they found clearly that this information was not credible and they did not pursue an investigation. Perhaps part of the reason they found it was not credible is that the source itself after that meeting has gone on record to say that he not only never paid a bribe, but never had a single conversation with Joe Biden. Then, in addition, they have Hunter Biden's business partner who says that Joe Biden, that Hunter

put Joe Biden on the phone approximately 20 times over a decade to say hello to some of Hunter's business partners. Therefore, they are making the allegations, and this is quite a stretch that Joe was using his official position to help Hunter. But that same witness, their own witness, said that they never discussed business. Joe Biden never discussed business with the business associates, never discussed business with Hunter, did not know what was going on, never benefited from any of Hunter's business. So they are pinning a lot on these non-credible and very weak evidence to say that Joe Biden committed some sort of high crime and misconduct. And it is quite clear from the evidence they have.

Not only did he not commit a high crime or misdemeanor, he didn't commit a low crime or misdemeanor. He didn't commit any crime or misdemeanor. So given the fact that there is a glaring lack of evidence here and that they knew that prior to the escalation to impeachment inquiry, what justifies that escalation? Donald Trump. So the interesting thing about this is that these are the same allegations that Rudy Giuliani cooked up and convinced Donald Trump to try to extort the president of Ukraine to investigate.

And he withheld military assistance so that he would investigate it for his own personal benefit because he thought it would be helpful in the upcoming election. He was impeached because of that after President Zelensky of Ukraine refused to do his bidding. Unfortunately now, four years later, the House Republicans are doing Donald Trump. They clearly don't have the backbone of President Zelensky. And that's why because of Donald Trump's urging and because Marjorie Taylor Green has threatened to shut the government down if there's no impeachment inquiry, Kevin McCarthy decided

to unilaterally move forward with an impeachment inquiry, even though there are a number of people within his own party who acknowledge that there is no evidence to support such an inquiry. To what extent do you think is the point here to perpetuate a narrative that Biden is corrupt, knowing full well that these Republicans will never get fact checked on the networks where their audiences actually get their news? Look, that's a real problem. It's part of the reason why I have been as vociferous about calling out their lies as possible. They are lying. Their allegations have been already debunked. The prime allegation of this bribe. to buy the Burisma head. And then Joe Biden urged the firing of the prosecutor general is complete bogus. The reality is it is the opposite. And there were numerous witnesses in the first impeachment who were experts in this area who were in Ukraine at the time with the State Department, who said that not only did Joe Biden execute official U.S. foreign policy, but by firing or urging,

urging Ukraine to fire the corrupt prosecutor general, that was actually bad for Burisma. And even their own star witness, Devin Archer, says that Burisma believed they had this prosecutor general under control. So the allegations have already been debunked. They are flat-out lies. And the unfortunate reality in our media ecosphere is that too many people are hearing those lies without anyone fact-checking it because the right-wing media are not made up of actual journalists. They are political operatives. Yeah, perfectly put. So right now, we've got an impeachment inquiry based on nothing. We've got a government on the verge of shutting down. None of that seems to bother Republicans, but what does seem to bother Republicans is the fact

that John Federman wore a hoodie. Can I get your reaction to Republicans finally? finding their red line. Well, I mean, the way you just described it shows the preposterousness of focusing on that. And it is very consistent with the things that they have focused on that are either extreme ideological culture wars or are completely irrelevant to the American people. And what they are not focusing on is what actually the American people need and want and care about. And the distinction and the difference between what House Democrats did in the last Congress in passing historic legislation to rebuild our roads, bridges, and broadband, to bring back manufacturing in the United States, to keep up competitively with China, to pass gun legislation

for the first time in 30 years, and to reduce climate change with the most meaningful climate investment ever and also to reduce the price of insulin to $35. These are all things that have a significant impact on the American people. And what you are seeing from the Republicans is a focus on things that have no impact on the Republican people and a complete abdication of responsibility about the things that do. Now, I want to focus for a moment on the issue of Biden's age, which has been a primary focus of the media, especially because, you know, if they're going to criticize Trump for contending with 91 criminal charges, then by the laws of both sides'ism, that requires that Biden be criticized for something, too. So what's your reaction

to these media stories suggesting that Biden's age is the biggest issue in this upcoming election? Look, I think it is a complete red herring. Yes, he's old, but he has also made historic accomplishments. And I think there are a couple of things that have happened even this year that really point out how capable and qualified he is. The first is the way that he reacted to real improper Republican etiquette at the state of the Union. And he was quick. He was fast on his feet.

And he shut them down, responded to them, and really actually moved the needle on some policy issues. The other thing that I don't think enough people understand is during the debt ceiling negotiations, it was clear that President Biden's wisdom, experience, knowledge was essential to fashioning an agreement that could raise the debt ceiling and keep our economy from cratering. And he doesn't get enough credit for that because he was not necessarily in the room to negotiate every single detail. But when you talk to the people in the White House, the people in the room negotiating that,

they speak incredibly admirably about the experience and wisdom that President Biden offered, and he could see the pathway to the end in a way that most people cannot. So sure, he's old, but look at what his accomplishments are, and they're historic. So he is executing the job as well or better than anyone ever has. And so the age is somewhat of a distraction because, of course, the actual governance and results are what matters, not the age. And some people are an old 80, some people are young 80, and it is all based on the individual. And in this case, the individual has been incredibly successful.

Building on that, does it not defy logic that in an election where we all know the choice is binary, that the media narrative here, that they're desperate to shoehorn in, is that there is an equivalency between the fact that Biden is 80 and the fact that Trump, who, by the way, is 77, incited insurrection against the seat of government for the express purpose of overturning an American election with the help of his criminal enterprise? Well, that's obvious. But even putting that aside, Donald Trump is 77. If you listen to him to speak, he is incoherent. He cannot put a coherent, sensible sentence together with any meaning. If you want to talk about age having an impact, look at Donald Trump. And that is the thing that is bewildering to me that there's so much focus

on Joe Biden's age. Donald Trump has really almost gone off the deep end. I mean, he is there with Rudy Giuliani now at this point where it's conspiracy after conspiracy theory. There is no sense to anything that he says. It's pure grievances and revenge. And he clearly has lost his marbles and would be incapable of governing. And so I think that as this campaign moves forward, that that paradox is going to become more and more apparent. Well, you know, in Donald Trump's defense, he is the only one worrying about the prospect of World War II. So I want to give him that at least. Trump recently said that he's not worried about the threat of prison, about going to jail. But for example, if Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the proud boys, if he was sentenced

to 22 years in prison for a scheme that was executed for the benefit of Donald Trump, then wouldn't it lend itself to reason that the guy who inspired that effort, who led that effort, would also suffer a comparable punishment, if not worse? Well, the way that sentencing works is it really is based on the charge. And seditious conspiracy is a much more serious charge that with it. I should say it's a charge with a much more serious punishment than what Donald Trump is charged with. But that does not mean we're talking about 22 years versus zero years. Donald Trump, if he is convicted, will get a significant jail sentence. And he should and will go to prison if he's

convicted. All right. Well, we'll leave it there. Obviously, a lot to come on that front as we wait and see what happens with these prosecutions as they continue to play out in the trials that will take up most of the first half of 2024. So with that said, Congressman, thank you so much for taking the time. Thanks for having me, Brian. Great to be with you again. Now you've got the Democrat running for Colorado's third congressional district, Adam Frisch. Thanks so much for taking the time. Great to be here again. So you're running for Lauren Bobert's seat in Congress.

She made headlines this past week after getting kicked out of a Beetlejuice musical for vaping and also engaging in sexually lewd acts in a crowded family theater. Can I get your response to this latest spectacle from the Colorado Congresswoman? Yeah, I wish we weren't having these conversations, Brian, in reality. I mean, there's two things we focused on from day one last cycle when we had the closest race in the country. And that was people want the circus to stop. And they want this anger-tainment industry that my buddy Dean Phillips talks about, and I talk about a lot as well. And they want someone in the House of Representatives to focus on the district and not themselves.

And so this latest Beetlejuice escapade is just under a notch in the belt of, embarrassment, as I say, for the district. I wish we were having conversations about accessing rural health care better for our constituents and our families and trying to figure out how to get inflation and some of these costs under control and child care and making sure that we have the water we need for our ranchers and our farmers and our recreation people. And unfortunately, the whole country, literally the whole country is just focused on the current representatives, latest shenanigans. And I'd rather just spend my time focusing on the district. But we are working with what's dealt with us in the life of politics in 2023. Yeah. You know, just to just to

stay on the the Beetlejuice saga for for one quick moment. There has been a lot of grandstanding by Bobert herself about grooming children and playing into that whole genre to appease the farthest fringe as the Republican base. In November of 2021, she actually tweeted, seems Joe Biden understands basic economics as well as he understands appropriate behavior around kids. What does it say that she violated this purported sacred rule as far as her own party is concerned? Yeah, we're not spending on time talking about this, but obviously there's a lot of people out there that are partying out the hypocrisy of that conversation and the drag shows with her boyfriend. There's a reason and understandably so so many more people are more cynical of politicians,

elected officials in D.C., how they act, what they say, do what I say, not what I do. That type of conversation happens a lot. And again, we're trying to just focus on issues that matter to the communities and the families and the business owners of our district. However, it goes back to just said, there's a lot of people pointing out this hypocrisy that you mentioned. You know, embarrassing behavior aside, is she delivering in any meaningful way for the district for Colorado's third? No, I mean, that's really what we're focusing on. I mean, last cycle, she was zero. for 39 and the amendments that she tried to bring up and pass. I mean, she's just not delivering. And it's one thing if you're delivering for your district and you have some antics and you get

more freedom to do this kind of stuff. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's worse to be embarrassing and effective, but she's embarrassing and ineffective. And that's, and I'm really focused on the ineffectiveness part. We have all sorts of issues with rural access to health care, making sure that our kids and our poorer communities get the same type of school funding as some of our wealthier communities. And there's a lot of conversations about water and soil health and making sure that we have a smooth transition with the energy that we need to work on as our district in our country. And all that stuff is getting lost.

And she just continues to not deliver for her constituents, even those that voted for her. And, you know, she just can't figure out how to do the job. She made a big case last time that the reason she was zero for 39 is that she wasn't in the majority. Well, they've been in the majority for almost a year now, and they've probably got less done than they did before. And there were a lot of Republicans that got things done last cycle as well. You know, I'm hoping to be one of the more bipartisan members of Congress, and she's literally 433 out of 435. She's one notch above her former mentor, Marjor Taylor Green, who's 434 in bipartisan. So she's just not delivering for the district, and that is the crux of the matter.

Right. And this is immediately preceding what may very well be a government shutdown by her party. So she's complaining that her party isn't in power, that they can't exercise their ability to govern. When they do actually have the majority, we're careening toward a government shutdown itself. So I think that kind of speaks for itself here. Adam, have you heard from folks who may have voted for her in the past as the result of this whole situation who may now be looking to, I guess, turn away from her? her? Yeah, no, thank you. We've, you know, from day one, the plan was to build what my mom calls our pro-normal party coalition. And that's really what we're focused on. You know, our district out here leans about eight or nine points for a Republican. So it's kind of like a normal Republican's

going to get 54, 55 points. And the Democrat will get 45, 46. And, you know, the district is only 22 or 23 percent registered Democrats. And we got 49.9 percent of the vote last time, as you mentioned, closest race in the country. We really like her chances going forward now. But yes, as I drive around, I've driven another 910,000 miles since February, which is in top of the 25,000 miles I drove last time. And they just put their head down. And they talk about this embarrassment. They talk about she's not taking the job seriously. They talk that she's not delivering, that she's not fighting for the businesses. She's not fighting for the community. She's kind of focused on that angertainment stuff.

So we're continually building an assortment of a wide variety of people. Most of the people out here in Western and Southern Colorado, they're not really political. They just want to be left alone, the kind of a libertarian conversation, and they don't want to be embarrassed by their government leaders, and they want to make sure the government leaders are fighting for them, and they don't feel that is the case in either situation with their current representative. And what's going to be the difference for you in 2024 versus 2022? How can you overcome that margin from the last election, which, again, as you noted, was the closest election in the country?

You know, the believability is a big conversation. You know, last year when we were driving around working really, really hard, you had 538 and other political forecasters, Democrats as well as Republicans, saying that we were going to lose by 40,000 votes. And we are, you know, we lost by 500, fewer than 550 votes. And so just the fact that we don't have to spend so much time telling our story that this can be done gives us a lot more leeway and a lot more time to kind of focus on why people should be looking not just against the current representative, but to be supporting us because I'm focused on the issues that matter to the vast majority of people in our district. And that's the connection that we're making. We also have a whole other year that we didn't have before. And unlike last time where we were

scraping money left and right is going very well. We still do. need the support club for growth and some of these other organizations are trying to they promise that they're going to put 20 million bucks into four or five races in the country and our race is one of them but we're off to a really good start we've raised three times as much money as she has since the start of this race through the end of june we'll have another reporting thing in october and i think we will continue to do well but we do have to advertise in four medium markets in Grand Junction in Colorado Springs and Albuquerque, New Mexico, of all places, as well as in Denver. But we really, really like our momentum, and people are just sick and tired of the circus.

What's your message to Bobert voters as we head into 2024? You know, whether I'm talking to Republicans or Democrats or independents or Latinos or Anglos or old or young, we have so much more in common. There's so much more common ground. And it just goes back to water, obviously water, water, water is really, really important out here in Western and Southern Colorado. The other thing is just rural health care access. Everyone has health care access in the country

because how expensive it is. And it's really challenging to fill out all the paperwork and the insurance and the time on the phone. But a lot of our residents in Colorado, in Western Colorado and Southern Colorado are driving anywhere from a half an hour to five hours to see a doctor. It's literally five hour drive for something.

people. And that affects Republicans, that affects Democrats, that affects independence. And there's just, I'm focused on the common ground that so many people in our country in our district are facing. And we're making, you know, at the end of the day, we're making the competency case. Like, who do you want sitting down in that chair, looking, supporting your family, supporting your community and supporting your businesses? And that's the case we're making and we're doing a really good job of making that case. To that end, how can people support you in your campaign, And why is it important to do so now so early before the election? Yeah, so thank you.

Obviously, we need funding. I wish we didn't need the money in politics. I wish the money wasn't in politics as much as it was. But Adamforcolr, Colorado.com, Adam, F-O-R, Colorado.com. There's also not just the donation page, but there's a way to sign up to volunteer. We have people from all over the country. Obviously, we're focused on those in our district in the state, but we have people that are going on to a website and signing up from literally all over the country to help us make phone calls

later on in life, do some door knocking and do some postcards. So money is important, but it's not the only thing. So there's a way to do that as well. And if you have friends or neighbors that live in Western and Southern Colorado, just make sure that they're registered. It's really, really important to get that registration taken care of. And we're working really hard on that. And those are the best ways that you can support our campaign. And that's what we really need now. It's a long row ahead of us. We have 13 or 14 months, but we like our momentum, but we're going to continue to need the resources we need to tell our story. Well, thank you so much for taking the time.

Best of luck on the campaign trail. And I'm certain that we'll speak again before the election in 2024. So Adam Frisch, thanks again. Look forward to it. Have a great day. Now we've got the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. Thanks so much for taking the time. Hey, Brian, great to be with you.

Thanks for having me. So we've got some major news out of Pennsylvania. Can you speak on your decision to implement automatic voter registration in the state? Well, Brian, it's real simple. I think increased voter participation equals a stronger democracy. And this is something I've been working on for years. As you may recall, I was the Attorney General before governor and worked very hard to protect voting rights,

including having to go to court more than 40 times against the former president and his enablers in lawsuits that tried to make it harder for people to vote and thwart the will of the people. And by the way, Brian, we run every single time to defend the right to vote and the will of the people. I then was campaigning for governor and said that if elected, I'd continue to strengthen democracy. And one of the core ways I would do that is by implementing automatic voter registration.

And yesterday on National Voter Registration Day, I made good on that promise. We know that there's about 10 million people who are eligible to vote in Pennsylvania. And there's a gap between those who are actually registered and those who could be registered of about a million six, about a million and a half people. And so we want to make it as easy as possible with security and the protocols necessary to ensure that only eligible voters can vote. But we want to make it easy as possible for people to engage in our democracy and have their voices heard. So this really was a natural extension of the work that I've been doing for years. And I'm pleased that Pennsylvania is now an automatic voter registration state. Now, does this encompass all voters of all ages who weren't previously eligible?

or registered or does it mean that new voters will be automatically registered when they apply for a driver's license? Got it. So here's how it works. If you go to get your driver's license or go to update it here every few years when you have to get your license updated, you'll now be presented with a pretty simple screen that walks you through that automatically registers you to vote unless you choose to opt out. You have to affirmatively choose to opt out. Otherwise, you're automatically registered. It's really important for folks to understand this is done through our DMV, and it's done with security in mind to make sure that only eligible voters are able to register. So, for example, the first question you have to answer is, are you a citizen, right? And so you go through all the

different steps. And because you're at the DMV, trying to get your license or get your license renewed, you already have the key documentation, the legal documents you need to register to vote. So it's kind of common sense to extend that out to make sure you're registered to vote as well. Now, is this move legally sound? Is there anything that Republicans can do to challenge it? Because that's what we can expect to inevitably see here. I mean, look, I'm well within my legal authority as governor to do this. I think that there's maybe a different question. It's not one that is for a court of law, but really the court of public opinion, which is,

why are some Republicans against the idea of more people participating in our democracy? Look, Brian, I have no idea if people are going to register to vote who are Republicans or Democrats, Green Party, Independent, you name it. I have no idea if they agree with me on issues or don't agree with me on issues. That's not the point. This is not about any kind of partisan advantage. This is about strengthening our democracy. You strengthen democracy through voter participation, regardless of what their particular viewpoint is

on health care, taxes, whatever, you name it. Just gaming this out, though, if something like this was challenged, would that challenge go to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court? What is the partisan makeup of that court? What can we expect just on the legal front, just gaming it out in the future? Look, I don't know. There's been no lawsuits filed because I'm firmly, I'm on firm legal ground here. Okay.

It's the attorney general that went to court more than 40 times to defeat efforts to make it harder for people to vote. make it harder for their voices to be heard. We obviously spent a considerable amount of time getting prepared for this, and I'm certainly within my legal authority as governor to do it. I think it's also important to note that for those maybe on the other side, and it's a small group, but for those on the other side who want to complain about security, this is the most secure way to do it. This is a way because, again, you have to have all your legal documents and order. You've got to be going through the process at a government facility that checks and verifies

this stuff. So we're really confident, not only obviously in my legal authority to do it, but that this is going to be a safe and secure way to register to vote. What's your message to those Republican officials who are currently restricting the right to vote in their own respective states? What the hell are you afraid of? I mean, seriously, like, what are you afraid of? I want to have more voices engaged in the process. It strengthens our democracy and make sure that we've got a healthier system when more people are participating. It's my job to try and make sure that the rules are set in a way that only eligible voters obviously participate. And we've had free and fair, safe and secure elections here in

Pennsylvania, but that we expand the opportunities to participate in a common sense way that streamlines our process. You also announced recently that Pennsylvania would be offering universal free breakfast at schools. And that announcement came not too long after Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the loosening of child labor laws in her state of Arkansas. So not quite the same trajectory here. Can you speak on the pretty obvious divergence of the two parties that we're seeing right now? I mean, it's pretty clear that Sarah Sanders and I have profoundly different worldviews. I believe in making sure we give every child of God an opportunity to succeed, the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed.

And I think that starts in our schools. And we've got to make sure we're investing in young people. And just consider this for a moment, Brian. How well do you learn on an empty stomach, right? How well do you do your job on an empty stomach? We can't expect our kids to learn if they're hungry. I think what's important to note is that this is a product of a bipartisan budget that I enacted here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

meaning Republicans and Democrats had to come together to support this. And as a result of that, we invested more money in public education than at any point in our Commonwealth's history. And part of that is providing universal free breakfast to our children. So I believe in investing in our children, adding to their freedoms, not restricting them as apparently they're doing down in Arkansas. Yeah, it also kind of adds to this whole, you know, Republicans have predicated so much of their identity on this, this notion of.

being pro-life and and yet i think it would be pretty tough to argue that uh that you know not offering free breakfast the children who may otherwise not be able to afford it uh is in line with that whole mentality and that whole uh that whole value system of being pro life yeah i mean look it's i don't follow a lot of what they do in arkansas really much of anything they do in arkansas i'm focused here on pennsylvania and here in pennsylvania we we value freedom um we cherish our democracy and we look for opportunities for all. And I think that begins by making sure you invest in all God's children. Well, to that point, going back to PA, when a portion of I-95 collapsed,

despite predictions that it would take months to fix, it was up and running in about 12 days. The U.S. doesn't have a great track record on infrastructure. It's slower here. It's more expensive here. How did you guys rectify that problem in Pennsylvania? And how can that be applied to other states? and even other projects in your own state. Look, we're really proud of what we did here in Pennsylvania,

just to set the table for you. And I know obviously you command a national audience. There may be some people who are not as familiar with 95. This is a major thoroughfare that runs fully up and down the East Coast. This particular section in Philadelphia carried 175,000 cars and trucks every single day. So, Brian, that's folks trying to go to work. truckers trying to get materials to and from a site. It's folks just trying to go on vacation and live their lives.

So this was incredibly disruptive. And we had a tanker truck catch fire and explode underneath the bridge or the overpass. And it sort of buckled one side and the other side completely fell through. And you're correct. The experts told us it would take months to get that reopen. But we weren't willing to wait months because I believe we have the best workers in the nation right here in Pennsylvania. And so what we do, we pushed the bureaucracy to move quicker. We relied on union labor to get this done.

We promoted a sense of leadership and made sure everybody from the carpenter working there to the foreman and everybody in between felt empowered to demonstrate leadership to make decisions. And we pushed an approach of ingenuity on that site. When we were trying to find the right material for fill, instead of using dirt, which would have, for example, been much heavier and taken longer to settle and made the project take longer, we found a recycled glass material just up the road, a place called Delaware County, South of Philadelphia that were able to use that was actually better for the environment, better for the road, and allowed us to move more quickly. That's just one example of the ingenuity we brought to bear. Another example is we had a live stream. 24-7 people could watch the progress of these great union laborers doing their jobs, seeing the progress we were making for them. When rain threatened, Brian, and you know, you can't do a lot of this work when the roadway

gets wet, we reached out to NASCAR and our friends had Pocono Raceway and brought in the jet dryer to keep that road dry so we didn't miss a beat, just examples of, you know, the creative approach we took. So we spent up bureaucracy. We empowered people to make decision. we acted creatively and as a result we reopened i-95 and 12 days they said it couldn't get done we got it done and we got it done on the strength of union labor and the strength of a hardcore gSD approach to governing gSD or the the three letters we live by here in pennsylvania it means

i know there's a family show so i'll just say it means get you know stuff done yeah that's focused on well that seems like a good place to end off so governor spiro thank you for the work that you've done and uh and i appreciate you taking the time Hey, thank you. And congrats on all your success and continue to continue to your important work. We appreciate you. Thanks again to all of my guests. If you enjoyed this episode, please do me a quick favor and rate it. And if you can leave a review, that stuff really makes a difference. And please share it across social media. Word of mouth is the single best way to get new listeners. Okay, that's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, interviews captured and edited for YouTube and Facebook by Nicholas Nicotera and recorded in Los Angeles, California.

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