No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Civil war erupts between Trump and Republicans

Episode Date: October 2, 2022

Civil war erupts between Trump and RepublicansA civil war between Trump and Republicans spills out into the open. Brian interviews the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes, about Ron Johnson’s record on abortion, Medicare, and Social Security; how Johnson’s used his office to enrich himself; and what it would mean if Barnes was the 52nd Democratic vote in the Senate. And the nominee for Florida’s 27th congressional district, the most flippable seat in Florida, Annette Taddeo, joins to talk about her response to DeSantis’ migrant stunt, how it sat with Latino voters, and the outlook of her race right now.Support Mandela Barnes - https://mandelabarnes.com/Support Annette Taddeo - https://annettetaddeo.com/Shop 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 the civil war in the Republican Party now exploding out into the open. I interviewed the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes, about Ron Johnson's record on abortion, Medicare, and Social Security, and how Johnson's used his office to enrich himself, and what it would mean if Barnes was the 52nd Democratic vote in the Senate. And I'm joined by the nominee for Florida's 27th congressional district, the most flippable seat in Florida, Annette Tadeo, to talk about her response to DeSantis' migrant

stunt, how it sat with Latino voters, and the outlook of her race right now. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. Okay, so, uh, not for nothing, but if I was a Republican right now, I would probably start signaling to the party that it's time to get its shit together. They're, what, five weeks out from a midterm election that history says should be a gimmee, and instead they're stuck with subpar candidates, poor polling, a Senate that looks out of reach and a house that is barely getable. And yet, here's what things are looking like on the right.

Trump just took to truth social with an actually insane. post or truth or whatever it's called. He wrote, is Mitch McConnell approving all of these trillions of dollars worth of Democrat sponsored bills without even the slightest bit of negotiation because he hates Donald J. Trump and he knows I am strongly opposed to them? Or is he doing it because he believes in the fake and highly destructive Green New Deal and is willing to take the country down with him? In any event, either reason is unacceptable. He has a death wish, must immediately seek help and advice from his China-loving wife, Cocoa Chow. So look, I wouldn't normally dedicate in this podcast to a single Trump post,

but obviously something stuck out here. So first off, if you were wondering whether the mago wing of the Republican Party had made its decision on whether or not we would use violence as a political tool, this post pretty much answers that question. Like when Trump says that McConnell has a death wish in all caps to a base of followers

who has already shown that they're perfectly willing to kill people for him, including Republicans, it becomes clear that he is lobbying a threat. Again, no plausible deniability here. What's the guy going to say? Oh, I didn't realize that my supporters would ever resort to violence. Not my pacifistic supporters?

Like, I'm sorry, but you don't get to incite a mob to storm the capital looking to hang your own vice president and then say that another political opponent has a death wish and get to feign ignorance if and when that violence actually presents itself. But by the way, it's worth noting, too, that the only reason that Trump is even a force on the right right now is because McConnell refused to vote to convict him during the Senate trial, effectively ensuring that he would retain power in the GOP, refused to convict him before immediately then standing

up on his soapbox and making an argument as to why he should be convicted. Why? Because back then, during Trump's trial, McConnell wanted to have it both ways. He wanted to placate the MAGA base, which was basically also the majority of the Republican Party, while still signaling to his donor base that the adults were

in charge and that they recognized that an insurrection was a bad thing, and don't worry, we know right from wrong, so keep those checks coming in. But the practice practical effect is that he allowed Trump to retain all of his power since he would remain the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee. And then Trump decided to use that power afforded to him by Mitch McConnell to attack Mitch McConnell. Like, what I can't wrap my head around is how these Republicans don't realize that the loyalty only goes one way. None of you are special. It's not a

matter of if Trump will throw you under the bus. If he doesn't get total fealty, it's a matter of when. And the only thing crazier than Trump throwing his own colleagues under the bus is those people's inability to understand that he will throw them under the bus. And so like I said at the top, at a time when Republicans should be getting their shit together because we've got five weeks to go until midterms and the polling is getting worse for them every single day. Instead, they're embroiled in a power struggle within their own party. And so if you're on the right, your choice here is basically, do you side with the Republicans led by Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott who want to ban abortion nationwide and eliminate your

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security? or do you side with Donald Trump, whose litmus test is whether you're willing to relitigate the 2020 election and pretend that Hugo Chavez helps rig the election on Joe Biden's behalf? How's that for a choice? Do you want abortion bans or election denialism? Would you rather eat rat poison or arsenic? But here's the important point to remember,

amid all of this bullshit from the right, and that is that in just a few weeks, for the first time in over a decade, Democrats have the opportunity to be on the offensive. For the first time, in over a decade, we have the opportunity to be able to look at politics and have the chance to realize all of the great stuff that's possible instead of just trying to stave off the worst effects

of whatever hellish moves the Republican Party tried to pull that week or that day. We can codify Roe, we can end partisan gerrymandering, we can talk about statehood for D.C., we can ban assault weapons, we can transition to a fully renewable energy economy. For once, we have the chance to actually usher in the future that we've been pushing for. And we're just a few weeks away from being able to do that

if we can hold the House and elect two more senators. That's what's striking here, that on the other side of all this Republican bullshit, the election denialism and abortion bans and punishing doctors and firing teachers and banning books and eliminating Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, on the flip side of all of that is a government that makes the U.S. a leader

in combating climate change in the world and transitions to fully renewable energy. It's making sure that women in every state can choose what they want to do with their own bodies. It's protecting civil rights and making students safe from gun violence and creating a tax code that's just and so much more. We are so close.

We have the numbers, but it's all of our job to make sure that those numbers actually turn out. Next up is my interview with Mandela Barnes. Now we've got the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in the state of Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes. Thank you so much for taking the time. And, of course, thank you so much for taking the time.

I'm really excited to be joining you today. Of course. So you've just announced the Ron against Roe tour. First off, can you speak on Ron Johnson's record on abortion? Well, it's been a terrible record on abortion. It's been dangerous and it's going to continue to put women's lives at risk. Ron Johnson's already shown us who he is. Eight different times he sponsored a federal abortion ban. And he's also a sponsor legislation that bans abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, or if the life of the mother is at risk. We're talking about a person

who celebrated the Dobbs decision, a person who said that if women in the state didn't like the 1849 abortion ban didn't like the laws in their state then they could just move it's a completely callous response from somebody who's elected to represent everybody he certainly does not care about the lives to health and safety of women here in wisconsin well then i guess i should ask like where do the people of wisconsin stand on that issue because ostensibly he would be he would be holding these positions to appeal to somebody so where does where did the majority of wisconsinites stand the majority of wisconsinites stand on the right side of this issue 70 percent of people across the state think that Roe should be the law of the land. And people do not support Ron Johnson's

out of touch extreme position. He's a person, like I said, who will continue to take these stances that are against the will of the people. Now, we have a real opportunity, get rid of Johnson, to expand the majority to codify abortion access, the right to choose in the law once and for all. It's one of the many things that this campaign is about. And Ron Johnson is going to continue to stand against us every step of the way if he gets reelected. But Instead, we can let someone who puts the rights of women first. How has the issue of Roe changed the calculus since you've been campaigning? Have you heard from independents or Republicans or other people that otherwise wouldn't

have come out to support a Democratic candidate? All certainly heard from independence and of her for Republican women who are frustrated they're fed up. I talked to a woman who actually even showed up to a rally one day. And she said that I will be the first Democrat that she's ever voted for because of Ron Johnson's position on abortion. That's great. That's great to hear. So Ron Johnson also made news announcing that all federal spending should be discretionary,

which is Republicans speak for ending Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid by mandating that they have to be renewed every year. And we all know that there is no planet on which Republicans would renew any of these programs. So what's your reaction to these programs being on the chopping block by virtue of what Ron Johnson's saying? Well, it's a part of a longer term strategy that Ron Johnson has cooked up, right? We've seen these things before, efforts to privatize Social Security. And look, people work their entire lives. I think about my own family members, you know, my grandfather, my dad, like my mother, just people who work their entire lie. And they paid into a system. And just like so many

others across this country, expect to see that return, which they should. This isn't some handout. This is a program that people have paid for their entire working lives. And people with their bodies on the line. And nobody, especially Ron Johnson, gets to take that away from them, especially, you know, considering the fact that in the U.S. Senate, he's doubled his wealth. And Rod Johnson is a person who will go to the Senate,

double his own wealth, make his donors even richer, but make life harder for everybody else. That's exactly who he is. And we shouldn't expect anything else. We should definitely shouldn't expect anything more. And it's honestly a shame, right? Yeah, I talk to working people every day. people want to be able to look forward to their retirement.

Ron Johnson wants to even raise the retirement age. One of his suggestions that we should put seniors back to work. I mean, it's irresponsible, if not downright, harmful. And it just, it is, it's a shame. It is a shame. I want to expand on exactly that point. Ron Johnson is one of the wealthiest members in Congress. Can you speak on how this guy has used his office to enrich himself?

And especially to do so. to do so in a state where he can prey on the financial fears of working class folks. Let's talk about the 2017 tax bill. He was initially a no vote on it, so he was able to secure or orchestrate $215 million in tax deductions for his two biggest donors. This is a tax plan that benefited his company, and it benefited him personally. And working people continue to get left in the dust by out-of-touch self-serving politicians. He's also been against Medicare and negotiating prescription drug costs because he said it may hurt the profits of his big pharma donors. He voted against cap and the cost insulin. This is a person who's voted to repeal

the Affordable Care Act, you know, and signaling that he'd do it again if given the opportunity to. So not only is Ron Johnson making himself richer, not only is he making himself more wealthy, he's doing that at the expense of hardworking people in this state and in this country. Now, the NRC is campaigning against you using words like dangerous and different. There have been mailers that, of course, have used the tactic of darkening your skin. What's your reaction to these racist attacks? And what do you think it says about Republicans, about Ron Johnson, that this is what they have to resort to?

Well, what it says about Ron Johnson in his campaign is that they don't have anything to talk about in terms of his record. It has been an abysmal failure for working class people in Wisconsin. He's continued to leave us behind every step of the way. There isn't a bunch of positive Ron Johnson ass on TV in people's mailboxes or on social media because there is no record for Ron Johnson to run on. His biggest achievement, as I mentioned before in the U.S. Senate was the 2017 tax bill that benefited his wealthiest donors, his own company and himself personally, on the backs

of working class Americans. Now, with that being said, All they can do is lie. All they can do is create diversions and distractions. They can only try to distort my record in an effort to paint me as somebody that's unfavorable as Ron Johnson. But we've been doing the hard work that Ryan Johnson has refused to do when it came to support in our small businesses during their most difficult time. When it came to support in our small family farmers, when it came to our Main Street bounceback program to help revitalize main streets in communities all across Wisconsin, that's the work Ron Johnson. That's the work Ron Johnson.

has been absent for. But we're going to continue to push ahead. We're going to talk about the things that we have done. And we're still going to hold Ron Johnson accountable because there's no amount of lies that Ron Johnson can concoct that can distract from his actual fail record that can actually distract from his position, his extreme out-of-touch position on abortion and his selling out of working class people. That's actually a great segue into my next question, which is what is your platform? What are you focusing on in this race? Well, this is a about rebuild the middle class. I'm here because of the opportunities of American manufacturing

and the strength of American labor unions. My granddad moved to Milwaukee after his service in World War II, got a job as a union steel worker, walked in a factory one day, walked out 35 years later. My dad followed in his footsteps, third shift on an assembly line. My mother was a public school teacher for 30 years. They were both very active union members.

And those jobs were the ticket to the middle class for them. But unfortunately, those tickets to the middle class are in short supply. It's more difficult for people, especially in my age group to get ahead. There is a real lack of opportunity that's led to some devastating consequences in urban centers like Milwaukee, but also more rural communities that have been experiencing overdose deaths at an alarming rate with no chance to slowing down. It's because of the desperation that comes as a result of opportunity leaving communities. Okay, so we wake up. It's November 9th. You're the 52nd Democrat elected to the Senate.

we're able to hold the House. What could the people of Wisconsin expect now out of the Senate? Well, the people from Wisconsin can expect the vote to end the filibuster and finally get to work for working people, expanding the right to choose and protecting abortion access across this country, also bringing back good paying manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that Ron Johnson doesn't mind if they leave the state of Wisconsin or even leave this country for that matter. And you can also expect someone who's going to vote to support our democracy. I'm telling me, when it comes to the 51st or 52nd vote, somebody needs to tell John Fetterman, he's going to have to wait in line because he'll have to be number 52.

And I do, you know, I do think about the opportunities we actually have, right? Like 50 years of precedent was overturned with the Dobbs decision. Again, we can codify the right to choose and abortion access into law once and for all, codifying row, right? This is something that has been fundamentally, this is, this is something. shows a fundamental flaw in a totally broken system that Ron Johnson has been more than happy to participate in. What would you say to a voter who's on the fence about voting for you?

What have you found since you've been on the campaign trail, since you found these voters who may never have voted for a Democrat before, may not be interested in turning out? What do you say to those people? Well, this is about opportunity. This is about coming back around, making sure that people's quality of life is at a certain standard that Ron Johnson refuses to take us to. wage hasn't gone up since 2009, right? Wisconsin still has the federal minimum wage of 725. This is a real problem and it limits folks mobility. People my age group can't even buy a house.

College is unaffordable. Other opportunities to get into the workforce are not the same as they were. Well, my granddad moved to Wisconsin after World War II. And at the same time, you have people like Ryan Johnson who say that we have enough jobs in Wisconsin, which cannot be further from reality. All right. Let's finish off with this. A little bit of a lightning round just to, I guess, you know, lighten things up. What do you do for fun when you're not campaigning? As much fun as I'm sure campaigning is. Yeah, I try to get a run in every now and then. That's what's keeping me, keeping me going all this time. What are your guilty pleasures? I, like, my appetite is wild, man. Like, my sweet tooth is out of control.

Yeah. I can not tell you. It is so bad. And what was your best day on the campaign? trail. My best day on the campaign trail was it had to be primary election night. There was just so much energy. We had a really great party. I saw a lot of friends I haven't seen in years. And it was just, it was a great time. Okay, Mandela, how can we help? So if anybody that wants to help, you can go to mandela Barnes.com. Please, please check in there 39 days ago. The reality is this is the only competitive Senate race where Republicans are outspending Democrats. We're getting outspent two to one on television right now. And the race is still incredibly close.

A couple polls came out a couple weeks ago. One had me down a point. One will have me up a point. Another one has us in a dead heating. With that being said, we need every dime of support that we can get to close this gap. We can win this race, but it's only going to happen if we have the resources to get our message out there to help us spread it far wide. Great. Well, we'll put that link in the post description and the show notes.

Thank you for such an inspiring candidacy. I know the entire nation is super excited about. your campaign. So thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Of course. Thank you for being here. Now we've got the Democratic nominee for Florida's 27th congressional district and one of the most flippable districts in the entire country, Annette Todayo. Thanks for coming back on. Thank you. I'm delighted to be back with you. So first off, how are you with the hurricane happening right now? Are all of your friends and family okay? Yes, we are fine. Miami was spared. the brunt of it, but obviously we are very concerned about everyone else and throughout the state,

not just on the West Coast, but also now in Orlando as well. I went through, you know, I mean, my parents' home was completely destroyed during Hurricane Andrew. So this is actually something very personal to me, and I know how tough it is to go, not, you know, not to go through it, but also the rebuilding, all of the, damage that we will be seen in the next few days. It's really awful. And actually, the insurance crisis that Florida has had for many, many years, it's been one of the fights I've had at the Florida legislature. And I am sure the lack of action by the Republicans is going to come to fruition now when people start realizing what a mess we will be in after this storm.

Yeah, I do remember I had friends who were involved when Hurricane Sandy hit, and I was living up in New Jersey at the time. And it was just crushing to see what people could lose so quickly. So I hope that everybody gets the help that they need. With that said, let's switch over to some political news here. Florida obviously made national news about a week back when Ron DeSantis shipped 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard as part of a political stunt. Now, he was clearly doing this to get his five-minute cable hit on

Fox and that stuff works with the base, but there was reporting that the stunt did backfire with one key voting block, which is Latinos. One commentator even likened it to Fidel Castro relocating Cubans in the 1960s. From your experience, how was that stunt received? Terribally, and I can tell you that it, we had a precursor of this plane load precursor two weeks before that most people are not aware of, which is the lieutenant governor went on Spanish radio and was caught saying that they were about to fill buses, busloads of Cubans, and taking them to Delaware. Of course, Delaware being the state that President Biden comes from. So it was all political to begin with. But for me, this was nothing new because in the Florida

legislature, I was actually the one sitting in the Florida Senate in a committee that started the questioning because I found it at the back of the bill. You put things on the back of the budget to hide that are just little things that, of course, this was a huge, a historic, historically big budget. But having said that, there was a request from the governor's mansion for $8 million originally. He ended up getting 12, but I was the one that immediately noticed the words illegal and alien in anything. And my antennas go up. I started asking questions, what is this for? What are you going to do? Who are you going to take? How are you going to take them? All the questions are on the record, both in committee and then on the floor. And then after that, a bill came

about, which is a lot of people are not aware. There was a bill that was passed to accompany the budget requests. And that bill specifically, I fought and I was the leading person fighting it because I said, okay, so you want to do this. You want to transport immigrants who you claim are undocumented to other states. But, you know, where does the money come from? And of course, I was the one that found out that it was coming from COVID money. This is interest earned on the money that the state received to help people through COVID, and instead of actually using it to help people, they held onto it, earned interest, and then they're using this for this now to pay for this. But I'll go further. There were also amendments that I attached to ensure that we would not end up

sending people who are fleeing communism, because Republicans love, especially in my district, which is 75% Hispanic. It's in Miami. They love to talk about freedom in Cuba and Nicaragua, Venezuela. And here we are. First, they were saying that they were going to take Cuban Americans by bus to Delaware. And then they had to go to Texas to try to find a plane load full of who? Venezuelans are fleeing communism in the Maduro regime.

So my amendment was to protect anyone fleeing communism and put these Republicans, you know, that claim to care so much, so much so that this year there was a bill that was passed that was signed that said that we are going to celebrate victims of communism day. and the day they picked was November 7th, the day before the election. If that's not politicking on the pain and suffering of people fleeing communism, I don't know what is. And guess what? My opponent for Congress and Maria Liddah Salazar, totally silent, claims to be all about fighting communism. She has not said a word about the buses full of Cuban. She has not said a word about the plain foot of Venezuelans. This is completely unacceptable and this is the fakenness.

the fake outrage against communism that they claim, but they really want it to continue because that's how they stay in power. Right, right, right, against people having to endure the horrors of communism until it's time to actually help people not enter the horrors of communism. You know, just digging into this a little bit more, admittedly, I'm a little ignorant on this topic. But as far as I've been told and read, even some immigrants and some Cubans who are now citizens are opposed to immigration. But do you think that a stunt like this, where DeSantis just completely undermines the very humanity of these people, do you think that's enough to push even those Cubans, even those people who'd normally be anti-immigrant away from

DeSantis? Some, yes. And I will tell you that, obviously, there is a percentage of the Republican party that is extremely Trumpian. Right. And they just eat it up. Yeah. The hatefulness, the nastiness, the forgetting where they came from, including again, Maria Diva Salazar, Marco Rubio, you name it, the lieutenant governor. These people, their parents came fleeing and were given the status of someone who was a refugee. And I came when I was 17 after my father was kidnapped by the FARC, which is a Marxist terrorist group that was funded by the Cuban regime. So all of us have our stories, all of us in our community know how difficult this is and to behave this way and to treat kids and parents, you know, as though they are second-class citizens, as though they are not in a situation that is so.

painful for them that they're willing to risk their lives through the Central American jungle to come here. So many of them are dying trying to come here and to behave this way and to use them as political pawns is completely unacceptable. And I will tell you furthermore, now with the hurricane and people realizing all of the help that we need, all of the costs, all of this, people are saying, hey, maybe that $12 million should have been used to help people paid for the insurance costs that has gone up so high because, again, we haven't resolved the issue. We haven't, you know, Republicans don't like to talk about climate change and how these storms have gotten stronger and stronger because of it. So there is so much

of this that is going through people's minds, but specifically Hispanics in Miami are the ones that, you know, that are that are not extreme are definitely waking up and saying, what is this? Yeah. Yeah. I think that point that you made is a great one that all of this money is spent on such naked, brazen political posturing when now just one week later, when people could have actually used those funds to help them when they've lost everything, well, that money's gone because it's been reallocated to a bunch of bullshit political stunts. You know, you brought up your background. Has it been more difficult for Republican? to kind of paint you as they would normally paint Democrats,

given a background that's basically predicated in its opposition to a Marxist regime? Absolutely. It's been very tough for them. That's how I get to represent a district in the state Senate, where I made history as the first Hispanic Latino Democrat that made it to the Florida Senate in our history in 2017, got reelected. I also was the first Jewish Latina in Florida. history in the Florida legislature, and we're going to make history again. I will be the first Jewish Latina in Congress. But more importantly, all of us know that this is an issue that has

been used against us over and over. And I am someone that has always believed in fighting back and not taking it. I am the small business owner. I'm the one who meets a payroll every single week. I am the one who knows what people are going through and how tough it has been for us small business owners to make it through these tough years. And it is not the policies of the Republicans taking us backwards. It is those of us who are trying to find solutions. When I'm running against somebody that voted against the price gouging of the gas, when we need it at most. When I'm running against somebody who, wouldn't even vote to put more baby formula on the shelves, who voted against the reduction or the cap on insulin, a bill that I at the state legislature has co-sponsored every single year.

These are the issues that are affecting us, including, by the way, she voted against the infrastructure that helps us not get flooded with every storm. It's not just a storm. It's any rain, anything. So I am running against someone that is completely against our community, whether it is on immigration, whether it is on fleeing communism, whether it is on our democracy. And January 6th, she voted against. So these are the things we're running against. And I am going straight out and saying, you know what, you're the one taking our freedoms away.

My commercial, we're up on TV. We have been up. This is our second week. and my commercial very clearly tells my story and says, I'll be damned if we're going to stand here and let you take away our freedom to choose, take away our freedom to go to school like my daughter and not deal with the terrorism that they're having to deal with because they are concerned for their safety. And, of course, the freedom for us to have the democracy we hold so dear,

which is the transition of power and being able to vote and then elect our own leaders. Just one more point of irony where the same people who are condemning communism are the same ones right here at home trying to ban abortions, ban books,

ban the acknowledgement of the existence of LGBT Americans, ban drop boxes and polling places, you know, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. And so it's just this cognitive dissonance that's always managed to be pretty convenient for them. That's not freedom. That's not freedom.

What issues are Hispanic voters or Latino voters most focused on? Because again, like throughout the rest of the country, it's kind of this like elusive, elusive thing. And people had assumed in the past that it's solely the issue of immigration. And then there's been this reckoning that it's economic issues. So since you've been on the campaign trail, what issues have you seen that Latino voters since I believe that makes up about 75% of your district, what are they most focused on? Well, look, we do live in the area of Miami, which is right now the most expensive place

to live in the country, more expensive than New York or L.A. Yeah. That's how bad it has gotten here. And part of it is because we've got 20 years of Republicans and policies that have not invested in affordable housing, have not invested in workforce housing, have not invested in fixing the insurance crisis, which raises prices, have not invested in infrastructure so that we can actually get around this town and have the transportation that we deserve. So there are so many reasons why people are concerned about that. But they are also concerned. And again, I am a small business

owner and somebody that understands, but also their top of mind is the freedom to choose and women's rights. Because even in the Hispanic community, we do not like the government, the government telling us what to do. The government and politicians making decisions that are very difficult decisions and should be made between a woman and her doctor and her family. And that is a key issue that has popped up. And of course, safety, gun safety and the fact that I am running against somebody who does not believe that we should ban assault weapons. I've been a sponsor of this. I am the daughter of a military man who fought the Nazis in World War II fought in Korea. He was in the U.S. Air Force. And I can tell you, he taught me early on how to shoot a gun.

also taught me the importance that guns of war belong in wars, not in our streets, not our kids' schools or at the grocery store or at the movies. And that's what we're fighting against. And people have that as a top of mind because remember, we are very close to Parkland and we, all of us have been through it. And it's a big, big concern in our community. Let's switch over to another major issue. And that's obviously the issue of these Republican abortion bans that are being passed across the country. I believe it was in Ohio just this past week. It was reported that another child, another 10-year-old, had to flee that state for

reproductive care. Obviously, if Republicans have their way, they'll be able to enact this nationwide abortion ban. How has Roe and reproductive rights, the fight over reproductive rights more broadly, how has that changed the calculus in your district? A lot, because, again, it's government intrusion in our life. lives. It is something that many voters never thought would happen. I mean, there was always this fight and the political fight, but to actually have it overthrown and to not have it be the

law, the land. It has become front and center. And there couldn't be a bigger difference between me who wants to codify Roe v. Wade and would vote to codify it. And my opponent who, again, I'm waiting for her to say something, which means she's supportive of the fact that they want to actually do the opposite and make it the law of the land to completely outlaw the termination of a pregnancy. And I tell you, as a mom who worked, very, very hard to have my daughter and had to go through a lot. So many of us have had the experiences that they are trying to put our lives in danger. I had an ectopic pregnancy and I remember how horrible it was when you are so excited because you want a baby so badly and then you

find out it is not going to be. But not only that, your life is in danger now. And you're You've got to hurry and go to the hospital and you've got to do this because it's already very much way past the time of safety and all of these things. And now you have to go to the government and politicians to actually allow you to save your own life when you don't even have a viable child within you. You don't even have something that will eventually become a baby. these are the things that are very, very frustrating and to be seen these cases of little girls who are raped, who physically, if you speak to any doctor, physically, it is extremely dangerous for any woman to carry a pregnancy, let alone a 10-year-old or any child who physically is not, their body is not developed enough to carry a baby to term and so many complications.

I just think it's awful that they would go this far and that the government is going to dictate to a child after they've been raped or a situation of incest, that they have to carry the pregnancy to term. I think it's such a good point, too, that you make in terms of when these pregnancies have to be terminated because of issues that are beyond their control, because of health complications, A lot of these women want to have these babies and Republicans paint them that it's just some off-the-cuff decision that just some liberal woman just decides, eh, you know what, I'm not going to have a baby, I'm going to have an abortion say, why the hell not? they don't go to Starbucks right after, you know, but it's it's not that. And these are crushing decisions. These are personal decisions. And these are decisions where her own life might be at risk. And so I think there's just this major disconnect, this major gap between what the Republicans are saying is happening and the reality of these situations, which are traumatic and not at all how they're painting them to be. Yeah, no. And let me add with regards to the new report of a 10-year-old

who had to leave the state, my opponent voted against the ability to travel to another state. And that, again, that's not freedom. That is the government telling you you cannot travel outside of your state. Because your state decides to have lost something. Now you can't go to another state and have a medical procedure, a private. horrible decision for most people. I mean, this is just, to me, it's appalling that this woman, Ms. Salazar, who I'm running against,

would think it's okay to take away that freedom from women. Right. Not only is it such an egregious restriction of freedom. I mean, preventing our freedom to move about freely in this country, not only is that bad enough, but she's basically saying that, in effect, when a 10-year-old rape victim is trying to terminate her pregnancy to save her own life or to preserve, you know, the rest of her life, that that 10-year-old baby has to be subjected

to give birth to her rapist child, or in some cases, to give birth to her own brother or sister or cousin. I mean, that is just the peak of inhumanity. And I know that they can hide behind this language where it's just like, oh, it's a travel restriction. But in effect, what it is, is telling 10-year-old rape victims that they have to give birth to their rapist child. And that is just like, like I said, the peak of inhumanity. And you and I know that people with resources will find a way. And what ends up happening is, is that, again, the child who's 10 years old, the person who has no resources really needs help. And it is in no capacity to have a child, maybe mentally, maybe economically, I mean, those are the people who will not find a way,

who these kinds of draconian kind of laws are going to affect the most. And most of them are minority women, women who are African-American or Hispanic. And again, representing a majority Hispanic district, the other day I was talking with an elected commissioner in our community who is a lifelong Republican. And she herself told me, this is crazy. She's an older lady and she said, you're not going to tell me that my granddaughter will have to do whatever the government says if she's raped.

I mean, this is the response we are getting from a lot, even Republican women who are saying enough already. What is this? And a lot of parents as well, men who have girls. and who are saying this is, this is insane. Yeah, yeah. So I want to pan out a little bit. This house, the house election coming up is obviously going to be on a razor's edge, this

election cycle. Your race is the closest one in Florida. If yours is the tipping point race, what do you want voters to know in terms of what's at stake? Like, what does a Democratic-controlled house look like versus a Republican-controlled house? It means democracy. It means exactly everything we have. have fled from so many of us.

And that's what we are, we are fighting for a right to choose. We are fighting for a right to succeed, for a right to run your business, for a right to the American dream. But more importantly than all of that, if we cannot make sure that that we don't have a situation just like we did on January 6th, where we saw. us who came here from other countries. When we saw it on TV, we were like, what is this? This is what we are used to seeing in our countries of origin. And to see that on the screen for many of us that were just on the TV watching it or on our phones or computers, we were appalled at what we were seeing

on U.S. soil in the nation's capital. And that is what we are ultimately fighting against. Because look, you can be a Democrat, Republican, independent. But we are a country that always have come together, has been the beacon of hope for the rest of the world, the country that everybody looks up upon and wants to emulate. That is atrocious that we have people like Maria Alvira Salazar, who I'm running against, who thinks it's okay, who actually says that dead people voted in that election, to not have the respect for our country and for the office of being a congressperson representing the people of the 27th district and to say such lies for the purpose of keeping a base happy and someone that they continue to follow, which is Donald Trump,

absolutely not okay. That's what this race means. And control of Congress will possibly come down to this race. And if we lose control of Congress, it's not about Democrats having control. It's about the country being able to move forward because already we are aware of how large the extreme caucus of the Republican Party, the proud boys are already inside the Republican Party of Miami-Dade County where I'm running. And they are in Congress too. And these are the people that are going to tell McCarthy exactly what to do. And they're going to hold him hostage. And so we are talking about going completely backwards as a country. if we do not win this race and keep control of Congress.

Well, with that said, how can we help you campaign? We are on TV with our, with our commercial. We are in the mailboxes, but just found out yesterday, yes, the Republican Party, the committee that McCarthy puts through is actually putting dollars in our race, which means they know, they know that we are in route to winning this seat back, a seat that we know we can win back. And I will tell you, I need your help financially because the end of the quarter is coming up. And this is our last report at the end of this month.

And we are going to have to make sure that we stay on the air, we stay on the doors, we stay in their mailboxes, communicating. because that's how we win. We know we can win this race with once people find out that they have a real fighter of freedom running to represent them. Great. And I'll put the donate link in the post description and the show notes of this episode.

Annette Todayo, thank you so much for taking the time and keep kicking ass on the campaign trial. Thank you. We will. We will. Thanks again to Annette Todayo. To support both of today's guests, check out the donate links in the show notes. One last note, a favor, actually.

If you have any friends or family who you think would enjoy this podcast and enjoy hearing my guests, please suggest this show to them. Word of mouth is the best way to get new listeners, and I would really appreciate it. 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. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app. Feel free to leave a five-star rating and a review, and check out briantylercoen.com for links to all of my other channels.