No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Kevin McCarthy pulls desperate stunt on House floor

Episode Date: November 21, 2021

There are some major moves forward for the Build Back Better Act, along with a desperate stunt pulled by Kevin McCarthy. Brian interviews Beto O’Rourke about his bid for governor of Texas, and his message for Greg Abbott over how he’s dealt with the power grid and the issue of abortion. And FOX LA host Elex Michaelson joins to discuss how Democrats should sell the BBB Act and how to bring some Biden voters back into the fold.Donate to the "Don't Be A Mitch" fund: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dontbeamitchShop 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 some major moves forward for the Billback Better Act and a desperate stunt pulled by Kevin McCarthy. I interview Beto O'Rourke about his bid for Governor of Texas and his message for Greg Abbott over how he's dealt with the power grid and the issue of abortion. And I'm joined by Fox LA host Alex Michelson to discuss how Democrats should sell Billback Better and how to bring some Biden voters back into the fold. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen and you're listening to No Lie. Okay, what a week.

Just days after Democrats passed the infrastructure. package, House Democrats have also passed the bill back Better Act by a vote of 220 to 2.13. And first and foremost, because our issue is that Democrats are incapable of selling their own achievements, here's what's in the bill. It extends the child tax credit for another year, meaning $300 per child. It'll also be fully refundable for the lowest income families, meaning even those who don't earn enough to file a tax return can qualify for the credit. Child care will be capped at no more than 7% of a family's income and will cover about 20 million kids. Universal and free pre-K for three and four-year-olds. Four weeks of paid leave, $550 billion in

climate investments, the biggest in history, primarily in the form of tax credits, an expansion of Medicaid and reducing ACA premiums, which are expected to lower the plans by $600 per year on average. Medicare will cover hearing benefits. Seniors out-of-pocket drug expenses will be capped $2,000 a year, plus money for affordable housing, elder care, free school meals, Pell Grants. So I know that Republicans are trying to brand this as some scary, massive communist spending bill, but what the bill is is relief for regular Americans. It's just a mix of wildly popular provisions that help mostly working class people in this country. And most importantly, it is paid for. The last major hurdle among moderate Democrats in the House was the

Congressional Budget Office or CBO score, which would determine how much the bill would cost. And the CBO found that the cost of the Bill Back Better Act would be $367 billion. That would be offset by tax enforcement, meaning funding the IRS, which the Treasury Department estimated to bring in $480 billion, meaning that the bill would result in a net reduction of the deficit by $113 billion. So not only is it paid for, we'll actually see some relief on the debt as far as this bill's concerned. And granted, this thing still has to make it through the Senate so it remains to be seen what stays

and what goes, but that still doesn't mean we shouldn't take every opportunity to make sure people are as familiar as possible with the bill for two reasons. First, most of the stuff will stay until the end, so we might as well get familiar with it anyway. And that's because, secondly, not selling it will create a messaging vacuum that Republicans will happily fill with lies. Remember, when the ACA passed, the GOP promised it would lead to death panels. Death panels. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, like, I'm pretty sure my last visits to the hospital wasn't six dudes in robes sitting on a bench deciding if I live or die. So it's our responsibility to not make the same mistakes of the past and make sure that we own the

messaging on what will be the most transformative piece of legislation in our lifetimes. And with that said, as far as the opposition's concerned, of course Republicans are already trying to frame this as some huge burden for the deficit because, you know, the second a Democrat takes office, suddenly the same party that added $7.8 trillion to the debt becomes deficit hawks again. Fox business actually published an article with this title. CBO, Biden's spending bill will add $367 billion to the deficit, not counting IRS tax enforcement plan. Not counting IRS tax enforcement, meaning cost will be high if you don't offset it with the revenue.

Like, yeah, if you take away the revenue parts, then the bill will only add to the deficit. If you were only to count your expenses and leave out your income, then your personal finances look pretty shitty. Fox is trying to say that if you don't count the part with the bill pays for itself, then the bill won't pay for itself. Some real top-notch business news there from Fox. business. Now, beyond that, the bill's passage was momentarily derailed by Kevin McCarthy, who wanted his Mr. Smith goes to Washington moment, where he took the floor and spoke for over

eight hours all in service of the noble pursuit of stopping a bill that would lower the cost of insulin and child care for Americans. I know some people throw the word hero around, but Kevin McCarthy talking for over eight hours to block seniors from getting hearing aids might just be his most principled venture yet. Here's like 15 seconds of McCarthy rambling that should pretty much tell you how the rest of his eight and a half hour speech win. You're celebrating it

when inflation is at a 31% height, gas prices, Thanksgiving, a border that in a few months breaks every record of the last three years combined. Just errant synapses firing in his brain. This is like if the Facebook comment section of a Fox News article came to life.

And by the way, not that McCarthy is a serious person to begin with, but you got to love McCarthy wailing about inflation while filibustering a bill that 17 Nobel Prize-winning economist said would help ease inflation. So, yeah, we couldn't possibly allow a bill that would help reduce inflation pass because of worries about inflation. Totally checks out. Now, with all of that said, just one last note here.

I know politics now doesn't have the same draw that it did when Trump was president and, you know, the entirety of politics was a car crash we couldn't look away from. But we did a shit ton of work to get him out of office, and it's going to require a shit ton more to keep him and his influence out of office. And this, right here, this part, where we pass legislation and we have to let people know that their vote was worth it, that their lives will be better because of it, that government can work. This is what will determine what happens in 2022.

We don't even have to guess what happens if we don't do the work, because we already know. I mentioned this earlier. When Democrats passed the ACA, which at that time was arguably the most transformative legislation of our lifetimes, Republicans seized on the messaging vacuum and decimated Democrats in the midterms. That's what's at stake. And so our approach moving forward obviously has to be multi-pronged. We have to be able to touter accomplishments and push back on the inevitable barrage of cultural

war bullshit. But what we can't do is allow there to be a vacuum that Republicans will fill with disinformation. Because if we leave an opening the size of an inch, they will be. wrestle that her way in and throw an ungodly amount of shit against the wall to see what sticks. And I can promise you that instead of the midterms being about universal pre-K and lower drug prices and affordable child care and the biggest climate change investment in history, it'll be about some iteration of, you know, critical race theory or Marxism or migrant caravans or whatever else they can latch their jaws onto. We do this, we pass bill back better,

and then we spend the next 350 days making sure that every American knows that those new roads, the Democrats. That fast internet, Democrats. Lower insulin prices. Democrats. Child care, Democrats. Pre-K, Democrats. ACA subsidies, Democrats. $300 child tax credit check? Democrats. The same way that Trump seared his slogans into our brains, only this won't be blatant xenophobia. It won't be empty promises about a half-built wall that Mexico didn't pay for. It'll be stuff that makes your life better, because that's the fundamental difference. Their slogans are there to scare you. Hours are there to show you that government can work for you. It is fear versus hope.

We've got the better agenda. We've got the better politics. We've got the better message. We just need to make sure that people hear it. Next step is my interview with Beto O'Rourke. Today we've got the candidate for governor of Texas. Beto O'Rourke, thanks so much for coming back on. Hey, Brian, it's great to be with you.

Thanks for having. So you're out there talking to Texans more than any politician I think I've ever seen. what's resonating with them? Like, what are the issues that you're running on in your Texas governor bid? Well, certainly the issues and the policies matter to people. But more than that, there is this, as you probably know, there's this fierce pride in Texas about who we are and what the state represents to the rest of the country

and the rest of the world. And we want to get back to the really big things that we've always been known for, these really big dreams, these outsized accomplishments, this ambitious aspirational vision. Right now in Texas, as you probably know, we can't keep the lights on. We had a power grid failure earlier this year that knocked about $5 million into complete darkness, in some cases for days, killed hundreds of people, including, unfortunately, an 11-year-old boy who literally froze to death in his bed

because in the energy capital of North America, we could not keep the power going for him or his family. It's that level of incompetence and then the kind of extremism that you see in this abortion ban that sets a $10,000 bounty on the head of any woman who seeks to make her own reproductive health care decisions. It's gun laws that allow anyone to carry a loaded firearm in public without a background check, without any training whatsoever, despite the fact that we have four of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history here in Texas just in the last five years. It's these transgender bathroom bands and trying to decide which middle school girl can play, which sports versus the really big things that we want to be doing. And most people, as I listen to them, want us to be

focused on the things that are most important to them in their lives. So what kind of jobs are we creating in Texas. Are we going to seize the lead in the energy revolution is taking place globally right now? I'm transmitting right now from Houston, Texas. This is the capital of the oil and gas industry for much of the rest of the world, which is wonderful. Can we build on that and make this the capital of the hydrogen industry, geothermal, solar, wind? Can we have the best public schools in america here in texas and pay our texas teachers what they're worse so brian the average teacher in texas makes about ten thousand dollars less than the average u.s teacher so most teachers in texas are working a second or a third job even yeah just to make ends meet and it just

doesn't work and then one one last idea is and this is um you know this makes so much common sense It's really hard for most of us to understand why it hasn't happened. Expand Medicaid and take yes for an answer to the federal government who will pay 95 cents on the dollar. It would bring tens of billions into Texas. We could hire more positions, keep more of these rural hospitals open. 24 rural hospitals have closed on Greg Abbott's watch, and we could reduce the property tax burden for homeowners. We don't have an income tax in Texas. It's sales tax and property.

taxes, bringing that Medicaid money in, gets people the care they need, helps our communities, and reduces taxes. So there are some big things that we can do, but we got to get past the extremism and the incompetence of avid. That's what I'm hearing people. That's why we're running this campaign. And we're going everywhere to make sure we listen to and bring everyone in. So we're on day six of the campaign. And we've covered, I'm looking over at the odometer, we're at 1,393.5 miles so far and going. Well, I want to dig into one of those issues specifically, and that is the electricity grid failing. That was after, you know, a terrible freeze that basically wreaked havoc on Texas.

Greg Abbott's now allowing the electricity providers to opt out of winterizing the grid by basically filling out a one-page forum. and check a box and pay 150 bucks. Like, that fee of $150 was written into the legislation and signed into law by these Republicans. I'm sorry, but what the fuck? How is that a response to five million people losing power and 700 people dying? What you just described explains just about everything.

Because I mentioned, here is this energy rich, energy proud state that fiercely guards independent, so independent that we're not part of the rest of the electrical grid in the United States of America because we're Texas and we got this. And not only are we not requiring, not only have we not require, you know, the gas supply companies or the rest of the power bridge to weatherize their equipment and infrastructure after electricity grid failures in 2011 and 2014, despite repeated warnings after the fact. But now after this epic tragedy and failure on the part of our government,

this wasn't Mother Nature, it wasn't an act of God, it was the incompetence of man, specifically the man in the highest position of public trust in the state. Despite all of that, now knowing what we do, there was not a single requirement made of those who were responsible for the blackouts, the devastation, and the death. And as you point out, the gas supply CEOs could for $150 opt out of doing anything meaningful to protect the rest of us. What we should be doing is asking them to weatherize, for example, their wellheads, you know, maybe $20,000 to $30,000 per wellhead, one to three percent of the cost of doing that.

Maybe that's a lot of money. Maybe that's not a lot of money. But it pales in comparison to the tens of billions of dollars that the blackout cost, state, not to mention what is immeasurable, which is the loss of life. And here's the kicker. Within a month of the February blackouts here in Texas, Kelsey Warren, whose company made $2.4 billion in February on this tragedy. As people are suffering and dying, his company makes $2.4 billion. He turns around and writes, Greg Abbott, a $1 million campaign contribution check. So if you're looking for an answer, you have found it.

He is our governor, beholden to his campaign contributors. And that is why he's doing nothing for the people of Texas. And to add insult to injury, every single one of us in this state will be paying a surcharge on our electricity bills for at least the next decade of 15%. That is the Abbott tax on Texas. And it's going to be a monthly reminder of the cost and consequence of this guy being in power. Now, to bring up another issue, abortions in Texas have declined by about half since the abortion ban that Greg Abbott signed into law took effect. If you win as governor, what would you have in your power to restore some of the rights

of women in Texas? Like, I know that there are limitations, but what would you be able to do? Yeah, you know, this abortion ban, this provision that encourages bounty hunters and vigilanteism against Texas women in a state, Brian, that is already the epicenter of a maternal mortality crisis in the United States of America is one of, if not the most dangerous, radical extremist fringe laws that I've ever seen in Texas and maybe nationally. So at a minimum, we must repeal that. That's a no-brainer.

But we've got to go beyond that because part of the reason that we became the maternal mortality epicenter for so much of this country and frankly the developed world is because of the consistent erosion of women's rights in the state of Texas to make their own decisions for their own health care and their own future, to even be able to see a doctor or get a cervical cancer screening. There have been laws passed over the last 10 years that have closed down prior to this one, more than a quarter of our reproductive care and family planning clinics. So that's taken a terrific toll, a terrible toll on Texas women. So we have to correct that and then we've got to do things like i mentioned expanding medicate earlier just

ensure that the millions of texans who cannot get care can finally see a doctor and be well enough to pursue their potential and certainly make their own decisions about their own bodies it comes back to a question of trust gregg abbott doesn't trust texas doesn't trust texas women you've got to trust one another again and we certainly must trust women in this state to decide their future yeah which is especially ironic coming from the party of personal freedom. So when you ran for president, you'd mentioned taking AR-15s, and this was in the aftermath of a tragic shooting in El Paso, Walmart, that left 23 people dead.

Now you're running for governor in Texas. It's obviously a different electorate. What's your position on this now and how have you been able to reconcile your stance during the general into now during your gubernatorial run? Yeah, I'm glad yes, there's nothing in my mind to reconcile because the truth is the truth and most Texans can probably agree that we don't want to see our family members, our friends, our neighbors shot up by weapons of war.

That AR-15, that AK-47 was originally designed for one sole purpose, and that is killing people as effectively, as efficiently, as quickly as possible. And that's exactly what it does. And we know that all too well in El Paso, but they know it suddenly. Springs. They know it in Santa Fe High School. They know it in Midland Odessa. They know it across the state and across this country, unfortunately. And so let's do the right thing. And let's make sure that we no longer have to worry about that. And let's also make sure that we protect the Second Amendment right to possess a firearm or hunting for self-defense, for sport, for collection,

for whatever reason. And that's something that we understand here in Texas. Most of of us are gun owners. Most of us grew up in homes where we were taught the responsibility of owning and using a firearm. That was certainly my case growing up. And so I think we can get this right here in Texas. But what we don't want are these radical gun laws signed by our governor that allow what is called permitless carry, which is literally, Brian, you could walk out of your house here in Texas with a loaded firearm. No background check. No training whatsoever. And you could carry it almost anywhere that you please. And it's why so many in law enforcement begged the governor not to sign this because it increases the chances that

they're going to get shot. It decreases their ability to protect and serve the public, the community with whom they live. And in Texas, women are 24% more likely to be shot by an intimate partner than in any other state. And in Texas, women are 24% more likely to be shot by an intimate partner than in any other state and in texas get this there were 35 000 licenses to carry a firearm back when you had to get a license which you no longer do 35 licenses to carry a firearm that were either rejected or revoked by law enforcement because they felt that someone was too much of a danger to themselves too much of a danger to the community to have that gun so now any one of those people can carry that gun in public and the tens of thousands more we imagine who knew better than to even a

apply for a license to carry back when you still needed to have one because they would have never passed a background check. So this certainly makes it much more dangerous to live in the state of Texas. And your number one job's governor is to keep the people of your state safe. And whether it's the grid, whether it's this abortion ban with the vigilante bounties being paid out, whether it's the 72,000 killed by Greg Abbott's incompetence in the face of COVID, or whether it's this gun law, Greg Abbott is making Texas less safe. And so these are the challenges that we have right now. But this is how we meet them.

We go everywhere, bring everyone in, write nobody off, and take no one for granted, and make sure that we all understand the stakes of this election and then get after it over the next year, making sure that we win it. Now, the conditions when you last ran in Texas for the Senate were pretty phenomenal for Democrats, you know, between Trump and the Republican attempts at undoing Obamacare, Democrats were beyond enthusiastic. Right now, the conditions are obviously a little bit different. You know, Biden's approval rating is below 40 percent, and the party in power usually loses that power anyway. So how do you plan on winning in an environment that's less favorable to

Democrats in 2022? It's interesting. I'm not probably sophisticated enough to do the calculus on, you know, what the velocity of the headwinds are from having a Democrat in White House and this being the first midterm and everything that's happened in the rest of the country this year and, you know, where we are in polling and other factors and dynamics. And so I just keep my focus on Texas and travel to the state and try to bring people together and turn people out. And what I've seen, again, we are on day six of this campaign. What I've seen in San Antonio, even in Pancas, Texas, which Donald Trump won't by 69 percent, Laredo, MacAllen, Edford, Brownsville, Corpus Christi. Last night in Houston, where we joined about 2,000 people on day five of the campaign who've all committed themselves to doing whatever it takes to win this thing.

I feel really good about our chances. And there's no poll that we could probably confirm this. There's no political scientist who would verify it. There's no consultant who would say that we have this in the bag. And I certainly don't think that we have it in the bag. But this is wholly possible. Yes, because of Greg Abbott's incompetence and cruelty and extremism, for sure, that creates an opening. But also because people in Texas want to do the big things again.

And they're really excited about that. And what we are talking about in this campaign when it comes to jobs, when it comes to schools, when it comes to Medicaid expansion, those aren't Democratic or Republican issues. They're not rural or urban. They're all of us. And it really seems to be connecting with so many people across this state right now. So I can only control what I can control, right? I can't control Biden or the national electorate or any other dynamic in this.

And so for those things that we can control for, I feel really, really good. Thanks to the generosity of the people of this state, even though. beyond our borders in California and other parts of the country. We raised in the first 24 hours, I think, more than any gubernatorial campaign, certainly in Texas history, maybe in U.S. history. And that is a reflection, not of me and not of my political party, but of the intense interest in doing better in Texas. And so that may be an early indication of just how possible this is. Well, you know, speaking of the electorate, you've been kicking ass with powered by people to register new voters. So what does the Texas electorate look like since that organization

and other organizations began ramping up their ground games to register new voters in the state? Yeah, there are, as you and I have discussed, millions of Texas. In fact, in 227 million plus Texans who are eligible to vote, but didn't cast a ballot. In some cases, in millions of cases, they were not registered and so we're working to get them registered in other cases they were registered and either because of the voter suppression efforts had an obstacle in their way that wouldn't allow them to cast a ballot or it just didn't feel like any of the candidates gave them a reason to vote so we are addressing all of that and as you mentioned powered by people which your viewers have been so generous in supporting powered by people volunteers in

Texas have registered more than 260,000 voters, which is a lot but is insufficient to the millions out there that we still need to get. So they're still going to be working over the course of this next year to make sure that we try to sign everybody up, get them on the rolls and stay in touch with them so they actually turn out in 2022. My job as a candidate, our job as a campaign, is to give them that reason to vote, to say not just how badly Greg Abbott has done, but what the great things are that we are going to do together. And both of those things need to be true. And voters need to hear both of those things from me, from our volunteers,

anyone who's knocking on a door or calling in a phone bank on our behalf. So powered by people, Annie's List, the Texas organizing project, Jolt, the Texas Democratic Party. There are so many partners. And I've named six out of probably 600 here in the state of Texas, who are cranking right now and absolutely getting after it. And that's also encouraging. And when you come visit us in Texas,

I'll introduce you to some of them. But these are the grassroots partners and allies who are not working solely for this one election or cycle, but they've been in these communities year in and year out, in some cases for more than a decade. And it's not too unlike what you saw happen in Georgia over the past 10 years, the conversion of a state not so much from red to blue but from non-voting to voting that's what we are going to see in texas we ranked i think in the last election 46 in voter turnout in united states of america the hardest state in which to cast a ballot in in all of the united states we're going to make sure we do everything we can to overcome that and the help that you your viewers others have provided means the the the world of difference that we need right now so i just want to say thank you for

as well thanks well so what's the what's the best way for us to help you i know that there are obviously those voter registration organizations and we've been you know doing everything we can to support those not just in texas but everywhere i know like like you just said you know uh Georgia is a case study and how successful that is but what's the best way to help you on your run yep for those who are interested in being part of this come to betto for texas.com you can sign up for a volunteer shift, really wherever you are. We'll put you on the phones or on a texting shift. Obviously, if you're in Texas, we want you knocking on doors with us. We just started a letter writing campaign that is going gangbusters in the first six days of this effort. It turns out

people really want to write letters, which is awesome. And I can only imagine what it feels like for those who receive a handwritten personal human to human letter, which is such a rare thing on the planet today so you can sign up for a volunteer ship you can also contribute money to the campaign and make sure that we have the resources to get to these 254 counties and reach those who will decide the outcome of this election but whatever form that help comes in even if you're just going to say a prayer for us tonight before you go to bed um thank you because it is so encouraging for us here on the ground and in texas where the stakes could not be any higher and the election could not be any more important.

And so I'm super grateful to you all. I'm grateful to have the chance to be able to talk with you. Well, we'll leave it there. Beto O'Rourke, thank you so much. Keep kicking ass. And we'll be with you as you keep on crisscrossing the state. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Have a good one. Thanks again to Beto O'Rourke. Now we've got my friend Alex Michelson, host of Fox L.A.'s, The issue is. Thanks so much for coming back on. Ryan, wouldn't miss it. Great to be back. So we've just gotten over a major hurdle with the Bill Back Better Act passing the House. Now, assuming that the bill does ultimately become law, will it matter, politically speaking?

Like, Democrats had passed a monumentally popular piece of legislation with the American Rescue Plan a few months ago. It was supported by, like, 70% of voters. And now, five minutes later, Joe Biden's approval rating is in the high 30s. So is there a reason to believe that, you know, in these polarized times that we can just rely on passing legislation? Well, the answer is maybe. Nice solid answer there. I think the most important thing in most elections are the conditions on the ground at that moment that affects people's lives in the biggest way. So what is the issue right now that is affecting most voters' lives in the most important way is the cost of stuff?

So the average voter that doesn't watch MSNBC every night or even Fox News channel or listen to this podcast, what do they see? They go to the gas pump and it's way more expensive than it was before to fill up. And then they go to the grocery store and the cost of milk is more. And they're getting their Thanksgiving turkey and the turkey's more expensive. And maybe they ordered some furniture for their house and it isn't coming for months. And those are issues that affect everyday people that aren't that interested in politics. And they say, what's up with that? And they're sick of wearing masks.

And they're sick of this pandemic that they were told you get vaccinated. You can take off the mask. And this all is going to go away in the summer and it's still around. And they're concerned about their kids' school after, you know, a year of pandemic learning. And they wonder what's going to happen next with all that. And all of that are real things that affect people's everyday lives. And so they hear about build back better. And they're like, what the?

fuck is that? What does that even mean? And there's been months of talks about $3 trillion or $2 trillion. It's like, I don't give a shit about that. What I want is to be able to fill up my gas pump or fill up my tank. And so I think sometimes there can be a disconnect. Now, all that being said, if the economy improves and if the inflation goes down, if coronavirus is under control by this time next year, or a few months before this time next year, you know, Democrats have a real shot. And some of these pieces of legislation over time can be very popular. I mean, you look at Obamacare, right, which was passed in 2009, sort of a similar situation when Joe Biden was president. It was a slog. It was not easy to get there. Democrats had a lot more

people in the House and the Senate back then and they barely got over the finish line. It costs them in the next election. Republicans use that as a way to take down Democrats, but you know what? It helped them in 2018. It took a while, but by 2018, most people are like, you know, it's pretty good to be able to be 26 years old and be on your parents' health care. It's pretty good that I don't lose my health care if I have diabetes or a heart condition or something else. By that point, people were used to the law, like the law, and were defending the law. And that, more than any other issue, was the issue that helped Democrats win that election. The problem was it's hard to convince people of all that in just a few months.

Right. Well, I guess somewhere down the line in about a decade, we'll be quite pleased with ourselves in the work that we've done. that the Buttigieg or policy are going to be loving the results of this. Well, so I do want to talk about inflation. I don't want to cast it off because it exists and people are feeling it. And I think that we could fall into a trap of pretending like it doesn't exist, but that'll just make us seem not in touch with people. And that's the whole problem that Republicans are trying to exacerbate in the first place.

But what I would take issue with is the limits that a president has when it comes to, you know, exerting control over gas prices or supply chain issues. Of course. And yet, yelling about how actually this is a supply and demand issue based on pandemic-related transitory factors isn't a great bumper sticker, you know? I've spent a lot of time at the port in the last couple weeks. I was out there this week with the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. The week before, I was out there with the senator from California, Alex Bedia, the port of Los Angeles

and Long Beach account for 40% of everything that comes into the United States. It's amazing to see how it works. And it is such a complicated problem. And really is, in some ways, a sign of the fact that we're doing well as an economy, that there is so much demand and that people want to buy. Also, people are buying in a different way. A lot of people, you know, during the pandemic, didn't go on vacations, didn't go to the movie theaters, didn't get sports tickets.

They have, so as a result, they have extra money. So what are they doing with it? They're buying stuff on Amazon. that's got to come from China. And so we've got 20% more demand right now at the ports than we had pre-pandemic, which is a good sign about our economic strength. The problem is getting all of that through has created a logjam. Now, they're now going to be working 24-7.

They're putting in other implementation of different logistical things there. They think that probably maybe by February or March that jam is going to be broken. you are seeing, even in the last two weeks, 32% of cargo, less cargo now, empty cargo than was there two weeks ago. So they are starting to make progress. And if all that happens, you know, by the time that the election is next year, that would make, that would make a difference and make a dent in it. Is Joe Biden, you know, like he's out there lifting, you know, pallets of goods himself? Yeah. Or pumping your gas. I mean, of course there are limits in the actual substance of all this. what a president can do. But that doesn't mean that every voter realizes the nuances of all this.

And most people, when they see things, they see, okay, my gas is more expensive or, you know, it costs more for me to buy dinner for my family. That's kind of the limit of where they are on that. So I would imagine here that the answer isn't to, you know, try and explain that actually this, this is, you know, factors out of our control. I think at this point, you just accept the fact that most people see the Democrats are in office. And if you have to eat shit because you're in power, then you eat shit and you're in power and you do whatever you can to A, take responsibility,

but B, ameliorate these things, try to make them better, try to do whatever you can to help gas prices, whether it's opening investigations into price gouging or at the ports, whether it's taking steps that Biden and politicians in California have taken to ease some of the log jams there. And you just have to figure out how to get it done and accept the fact that voters, most voters,

aren't going to look into the intricacies of this kind of stuff and just kind of blame the people in power. And so do whatever you can to just make it as good as you can in the best way that you can. Well, I mean, there's two different things, right? There's the substance of actually getting something done. And then there's the politics of making it look like you're trying to get something done. This is something that Donald Trump was an expert at, right? Not necessarily an expert at the doing something, but it was really good at making it look like he was doing something. Right. And so, like, Joe Biden hasn't been to the port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach. He went to one port this week to talk about that on the East Coast.

But, like, that's why Newsom is there, like, at the port, meeting with people, taking pictures, showing you, you know, looking at stuff, signing some executive order that may or may not help. But there is something about a perception of being on the ground and somebody actually, you know, being invested in the issue. Yeah. No, you've got your finger way more on a local pulse than I do. just about everything that covers national. In terms of touching people's lives, once the Build Back Better Act goes into effect, assuming that it makes it out of the graveyard that is the Senate,

do you think that that will bring back some of those disaffected Biden voters? I don't know. I mean, a lot of it is going to be dependent on selling it, right? And making people realize that it does impact people's lives in a real way. I mean, if you're a parent and all of a sudden, you've got childcare, which you couldn't afford before, I mean, is there anything that changes your life more than that?

Yeah. I mean, that is a game changer for the United States workforce and is potentially one of those benefits that we could look back on decades from now in the way that we look at like Medicare or Social Security, like if that actually comes. If you're a parent and you've got your kid and all of a sudden now they can go to pre-K for free, like that's a big thing. If you have child poverty in the United States, that's massive. Right.

So, I mean, the child tax credit. is a huge thing. For those of us that live in states like California and New York and Connecticut and other places, getting rid of salt, which is the state and local tax thing, which I know some progressives were really upset with. But if you're a voter in a state like this state, your taxes could go down like $30,000, $50,000 next year. Like that's a big difference for a lot of people. So there are a lot of aspects of this legislation that really, really impact people's lives. The question is, how quickly is it all going to be implemented? And can you get out of this legislative speak about build back better and filibuster and progressive versus moderate all this

and actually get out into communities and spend time selling it, showing, you know, pictures of parents that are getting this child care help, profiling people, finding different ways on TikTok and on TV ads and on YouTube and on TV news stories and all of the different ways that people communicate, get out there and tell the stories, not through Washington press conferences, but through actual human beings that people can relate to and then have them share those stories to their social networks. That's a great point. And that answers my next question, which is, you know, you do a very good job at staying

above the fray. You know, I know that you consume a ton of media on. both sides of the political spectrum. You've got friends on both sides of the political spectrum. I can attest to that personally. But in terms of recommending how Democrats sell this bill based on what works for Republicans, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head in terms of not only flooding the zone, but doing so in a way that people can understand and speaking to them in their language. Yeah, I mean, Donald Trump is really good at doing this. And so are a lot of the folks in Fox News, right? The idea of coming up with sort of simple,

slogans and repeating them over and over and over and over again every day and in a lot of different platforms in a lot of different places and a slogan that matters to somebody's life. And that sort of thing, the other thing that I think Republicans do effectively and some on the left do this effectively too, which is sort of a less sexy version of politics, is to find somebody to blame for problems. And I think that's a little more uncomfortable for a lot of Democrats who are trying to legislate their way out of problems. And that's something, frankly, they were able to do blaming Trump effectively, like in 2020 and 2018 in the elections. And it's a little harder to do that now when Democrats have control of all of the

branches. Well, especially because our worldviews are different, right? I think Republicans go in with the understanding that government doesn't work. And they're trying to convince people that government is too big, that we should shrink it, that it doesn't work, that it's not effective. And Democrats try to do the complete opposite. And if you're scapegoating somebody, well, you can't scapego to anybody. You have to pass legislation to prove that government or big government, as Republicans would say, doing air quotes there, that it actually can work, that it actually can improve people's lives. And so you can't rely on scapegoating and calling everything communism and socialism and Marxism.

You have to actually do the thing. So, I mean, one is way harder than the other, but. It is. It is a heavier lift. And by the way, just to be factually accurate, the Democrats between the infrastructure bill and now the social spending bill are looking at over $3 trillion of spending this week. This week, that is big government. And look, I know that's a great thing that those are a per piece of money.

And there's some people that think that that's way too bloated and it's ridiculous. But that is about as big a government as we've ever seen. But look, it's been so long that the taxes were paying into the government anyway, actually go to the people who need it. And so we've just gotten this idea that government isn't an effective spender. And it hasn't been because most of our money goes to the military anyway, or tax cuts for the ultra-rich, or just programs that don't actually benefit people, people who need it. And so the issue isn't big government.

It's not the amount of money that we're spending. It's where it's going. And so I think now this is a great opportunity to show that when you're paying those taxes, when you're working your ass off and that money that's being taken out of your paycheck, that you've just gotten used to waving goodbye to, that it could actually come back and help you and help your life and go toward lowering drug prices and capping co-pays on insulin and getting your kid into universal pre-K, that is a good thing. And that's something that the government is needed for. That's why the government is there. That's them doing something that we wouldn't

be able to do on an individual basis that would be better implemented at a mass scale, just like every other industrialized nation does it. And so why can't we have that here, too? The conservative argument, though, is there's a lot of examples of government not working well, not being especially efficient in how they spend money, lots of corruption, no-bid contracts, a lot of money and time wasted over, like, union disputes and environmental reports, and the idea that if you look at the way that a private company would build something versus the way that a government builds something, often the private company moves a lot faster and sometimes more efficiently. So there are, you know, the government's track record is certainly mixed.

Yeah, well, you know what? Use that. As far as the Democrats are concerned, use that and do it well enough so that people recognize that government can do some stuff well. And this is their chance to actually prove that to people. So with that said, I want to switch gears here to Kevin McCarthy. I know that you've spoken to him on your show. McCarthy had his, Mr. Smith goes to Washington moment, where he stood on the floor for over

eight hours. Was there an upside for him? Because, I mean, eight hours on the house floor to block a bill that lowers the cost of insulin is, you know, some optics. I don't know if I'd call them good optics, but there's some optics. I think this was a rare situation in Washington where everybody wins. Here's why. Okay, for Kevin McCarthy, he gets to be the crusading hero and conservative media, who's giving a big middle finger to the libs, you know, they get to pull clips of that and use it as him as a warrior. It makes them look like a fighter. Most of these people that are in that party like the idea of a fighter. That's part of why they like Trump in the first place. He looks more like a leader. He's got all the different people behind him for various

clips that they can put back in their district. So for him, he gets a win for his you know, conservative echo chamber. For Democrats, instead of passing this bill in the middle of the night, which would have happened last night, he gave them a giant gift. He's like, here, do it in prime time instead. Then it moved the vote to like right in the morning when everybody can watch and there was like plenty of attention. It got way higher ratings than it would have gotten late at night last night.

So he like gave the Democrats more of a platform, which was great. And so, and he made that for, on their side, he looks like an idiot to their side. And so they get to turn him into a meme and somebody that they can argue against. So everybody won. And the airlines all won with the change fees because all these Congress people were hoping to get out of town last night. They had to change all their flights. So they got extra money for the late change. So I think it ended up helping everybody

because everybody has slightly different agendas here. There you go. Well, Kevin McCarthy, the great unifier that we didn't know we needed. Alex, what are your Thanksgiving plans? I am going to be at home with my family in Venice. I am going to be eating a lot. And my fear is that I'm not going to be able to look as good

as you do on a paddleboard. If anybody wants to have a goal for the new year, Check out Brian Tyler Cohen on Instagram, and you can see him paddleboarding in Hawaii. And it's amazing. It hasn't already been on a cover of Men's Health magazine. Maybe it will be in the new year. What are you going to be doing? I'm actually going out to Palm Springs, celebrate Thanksgiving with a couple friends.

I know every year, I've actually never been to my family's house across the country in New Jersey. So I always go over there for the holidays anyway. So I have never made it over to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, but I'll be there in the holidays. But for this weekend coming up, yeah, it'll be it'll be Palm Springs with some friends. Well, maybe if the salt tax deduction actually goes away if this thing goes through, your parents can buy you a ticket with their tax. That's great. That's exactly.

That's what we'll be doing. We'll be rooting for the stimulus, baby. That's it. Well, Alex, happy Thanksgiving. And, you know, thanks for being a regular guest and taking time away from hosting the 5 o'clock news and the 6 o'clock news and the 7 o'clock news and the 8 o'clock news to talk some politics. That's something I'm grateful for. So thank you again and enjoy the holiday. Thank you.

We don't have an 8 o'clock news, but we do have a 10 o'clock news if anybody wants to tune in in Los Angeles every night. We hope you'll join us. Happy Thanksgiving, Brian. Thanks again to Alex. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Please take some much needed time off. Come back, refresh, because it has been a hell of a year, and we can all use. the break. Okay, talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler

Cohen, produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellsey, 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 Brian Tyler Cohen.com for links to all of my other channels.