No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Manchin sinks Build Back Better, risks Democratic majority

Episode Date: December 26, 2021

Brian talks about the successes and failures of Biden’s first year in office. And FOX LA’s Elex Michaelson joins to discuss Joe Manchin and whether there’s any truth to rumors about him... switching parties, the fate of Build Back Better, and the best, worst and craziest news stories of 2021.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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Today we're going to talk about Biden's first year in office and his successes and failures, and I chat with Fox LA's Alex Michelson about Joe Manchin and whether there's any truth to rumors about him switching parties, the fate of buildback better, and finally we talk about the best and worst stories of 2021. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So this is our last episode of 2021. I wanted to touch on some of the good and the bad from this year and the implications as we head into a midterm year.
Starting point is 00:00:28 I'll start with the bad so that we can end on a high note. So this past week, especially, was a rough one for Democrats. Joe Manchin showed up on Fox News, of all places, and said this. I've always said this, Brett. If I can't go home and explain it to the people of West Virginia, I can't vote for it. And I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I've tried everything humanly possible.
Starting point is 00:00:54 I can't get there. You're done. This is a no. this is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do. And I'm not going to lie, this isn't great for Democrats, for a few reasons. First, Democrats hinged everything on Bill Beck Better Passing. There wasn't even more than five minutes of fanfare when the infrastructure bill passed
Starting point is 00:01:16 because the fate of that bill was tied to the fate of this one. So when that passed, it came and went like a fart in a hurricane because it was just understood that that was really just a breakaway element from the real bill, which was Bill Back Better, meaning that Bill Back Better failing to pass really does make it seem like the entire agenda got sunk. Second, the implications for midterms aren't great. Like, Democrats are not going to sail to victory in 2022
Starting point is 00:01:40 on the American Rescue Plan and a Rhodes Bill passing after spending the last six months talking about lower drug prices and child care and cutting insulin costs in universal pre-K and climate change funding. Like, because we spent so much time on those things, you're just not going to be able to pretend all of a sudden, sudden that they don't matter. That doesn't change the impact of those other pieces of
Starting point is 00:02:01 legislation. They're still massively important, but Bill Buck Better is clearly the centerpiece of the Democratic agenda. And finally, this makes Biden look weak. And look, I understand that it's difficult to get 100% of your party on board with a margin of error of zero. I get that Joe Manchin is a conservative Democrat. I get that he's more beholden to his campaign donors and his own co-company. And so he'd rather pad his own bottom line than help the people of state. I get all of that and how that can make life a living hell for Biden, and it is making life a living hell for Biden. I understand. Trust me. But if this is your entire agenda, then you have no choice. Get it done. The simple fact is that most Americans don't care about the
Starting point is 00:02:39 process. They don't know about the process. They don't have a clue who voted for what. They don't care how it gets past. They just know whether it gets passed. And so knowing that, Biden's not going to get the benefit of the doubt. They're just going to see that he didn't succeed. So if the fate of your entire agenda rests on passing something, then you need to make sure that it passes. Now, granted, there's already talk of Bill Beck Better getting resurrected in 2022 because of all this pushback, right? Like, it's clear the troubled Democrats would be in without this bill passing. And so I'd venture to guess that a big part of the future of the Democratic Party rests on what happens with this bill, with Biden's agenda getting passed. And I think that the good news is that
Starting point is 00:03:18 Democrats finally recognize that. So this is hopefully the kick in the ass they need to ensure that some iteration of this bill passes so that how we feel now isn't how we feel heading into November of 2022. Now, with all of that said, it's not like Democrats didn't accomplish a ton this year, too. Like, I know that we tend to focus on what we didn't get because we want to keep the progress going and we have this rare sliver of unified control of government and that's totally normal, but we'd be crazy to ignore what we did get. We got a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that ensured that every single American has access to a safe, free, life-saving vaccine, that alone during a pandemic is remarkable. And we've got 72% of Americans fully vaccinated. We got a $1 trillion
Starting point is 00:04:01 infrastructure bill. And while we likely won't see the results of that immediately, that's going to impact every community in America, whether your roads are fixed, whether you have new pipes for clean drinking water, whether you now have access to broadband internet. We've got 40 Biden-nominated judges confirmed the most since Reagan. The stock market's at record high. unemployment's at 4.2%. Jobless claims, the lowest since 1969. Child poverty's been cut in half. All of that is massive,
Starting point is 00:04:28 especially given the fact that we are still in the middle of the worst pandemic in history. And aside from the tangible accomplishments, there's also what we were able to avoid by virtue of having a Democrat in office, by virtue of everyone having come out to vote. There was no pretending that COVID wasn't real, no cutting pandemic programs,
Starting point is 00:04:45 no denying the impacts of climate change, no weakening of emission standards, no attacking journalists, no tear-gassing American citizens, no coddling neo-Nazis, no attacks on trans-Americans, no revealing classified information to Russian ambassadors, no tax cuts for billionaires, no destroying our reputation abroad, no government shutdowns, no separating migrant kids from their parents, no pardons for criminals, no trying to get the Georgia's Secretary of State to rig the election, no fomenting violent insurrections at the U.S. Capitol. So if you find yourself less than enthused about Biden's first year in office, just remember
Starting point is 00:05:19 that by virtue of Biden being in office, we staved off some of what would have undoubtedly been more devastating behavior from the right. When you have a party as dangerous as the GOP, there is a lot of benefit in them simply not holding power. And that is just as, if not more important than the forward progress that Democrats were able to make. So look, it's easy to look back
Starting point is 00:05:39 and be disappointed that we didn't get Bill Beck better past, that we still haven't passed voting rights, that Roe is likely to be got in. Trust me, I get it. I won't pretend that I'm not disappointed to. point in sugar-coding it. But to quote, of all people, Joe Biden, don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. We have got two choices in front of us, realistically, two choices. You can choose the Democrats who, yes, are a pain in the ass and often can't figure
Starting point is 00:06:04 out how to get out of their own way, but who are largely trying to expand health care and protect women's reproductive rights and fight climate change. Or you can choose Republicans who are focused on cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires and stripping women of their bodily autonomy and pretending that climate change isn't real. Those are the choices. And I'm not suggesting blind deference to the Democratic Party. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't always, always, always push Democrats to be better. We should.
Starting point is 00:06:28 But we should also try to view this holistically and recognize that while Democrats aren't perfect, they are a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Next up is my interview with Fox LA's Alex Michelson. Today we've got the host of The Issue is podcast. Fox LA's Alex Michelson. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, Brian. Great to see you.
Starting point is 00:06:49 And happy holidays to you. Thank you, you too. Thanks for taking time out of your holidays to sit down with me here. So let's jump right in. The top line of this past week was Joe Manchin going on Fox News Sunday and bailing on the Build Back Better Act. Were you surprised by Manchin's move or was this just the result of a Democratic Party that's been altogether too passive? Well, I was surprised by the way that he executed this move, right?
Starting point is 00:07:14 I mean, I think there are a lot of progressive certainly that thought that Joe Manchin may not be all in on buildback better, but to go on Fox News Sunday a national show to apparently basically give the White House almost no notice and to kind of give Joe Biden a middle finger on national TV like that was kind of surprising and not usually something that happens within one's own party. So that was surprising. The thought, though, in terms of the substance of the negotiations is not that surprising. Joe Manchin has been expressing a lot of this throughout the entire time.
Starting point is 00:07:56 I mean, he's been pretty clear on how much money he wants to spend. He's been pretty clear that he's uncomfortable with a lot of progressive priorities. And it kind of feels like dating when you're trying to get a girl or guy that's out of your league and they're sending you signals they're just not that into you. You just don't want to accept it because you really want it to. work. And for some ways, you know, Joe Manchin's kind of been telling the Democratic Party progressive base, I'm just not that into you. And they just have not been willing or able to accept that. And the sad reality, based off of the numbers for progressives, at least, is that
Starting point is 00:08:31 Joe Manchin has a tremendous amount of leverage, among the most amount of leverage in any legislator has ever had in the history of the United States Senate. And that's still true today. Well, let me ask you a question then. We've spoken about this. at length, do you think that it was a mistake for progressives? I shouldn't even say progressives because this was more like 96% of the Democratic caucus, but for progressives to delink, build back better and the infrastructure package thereby relinquishing all of their leverage. Well, you know, you and I, I think, disagree a little bit on this.
Starting point is 00:09:04 I think that they ended up getting the worst of both worlds the way they did it. Yeah, I agree with that. If you are going to decouple, right? And if you're going to do infrastructure on its own, the smarter strategy would have been to pass infrastructure five months ago right after it passed in the Senate, take it right to the House, pass it, roll on the momentum, have a big bipartisan signing party at the White House, make Joe Biden look like he's getting a lot done. First, he got the rescue plan done, which was historic. Now he's doing the infrastructure plan, which is historic. He looks like a big, strong,
Starting point is 00:09:42 amazing, you know, FDR, LBJ kind of president, and then you use that momentum to try to negotiate build back better and get the most of it that you can. That's one scenario. The other scenario is that you have no faith in Joe Manchin and then you keep the two things coupled until you get a vote on both of them at the same time and you've secured his vote and it's all done. That's another scenario. They did neither. They tried to do the second scenario, But languish, couldn't get it done, lost in Virginia, and said basically in the middle of the night on a Friday, let's pass this thing, whatever. And so they didn't get points on either front. Right.
Starting point is 00:10:24 They didn't get points for infrastructure. And Build Back Butter right now looks dead. I mean, it may not be dead. My guess is something ends up passing, but certainly not what, you know, the squad was looking for. Well, to that point, do you think that Build Back Better will ultimately pass? And if so, what would that bill look like? I think it looks like, I mean, if you need Joe Manchin to pass it, listen to what Joe Manchin is saying, and that's probably what the bill looks like, right?
Starting point is 00:10:54 It is picking, you know, two or three of the top priorities and the 150 priorities they have right now and build back better. And instead of, you know, paying for them for two or three years so that every interest group and the Democratic Party is happy, you pick a few priorities and pay for them for me. many years and that's what it is. So what does that look like? Does that look like some sort of child care? Does it look like the child tax credit? From all the reporting, it seems like Joe Manchin is not particularly a fan of the child tax credit. You know, the crazy thing about that is that he's created this arbitrary rule where everything has to last for 10 years, which had
Starting point is 00:11:34 never existed before. And it's because, you know, the reason the rationale he gives is that, well, as if we're really going to just let the child tax credit go for a year or two years and then let it lapse, as if we're really going to do that. And yet, meanwhile, by virtue of allowing the bill by Better Act to fail, the child tax credit has lapsed. So, like, actually disproving the exact point that he was trying to make. The child tax credit as of December 15th is no longer, they're no longer sending payments out. So yes, Congress does have agency in this. And if they don't pass something, it's not just a given that these provisions are automatically going to get renewed after one or two years.
Starting point is 00:12:15 Yes, exactly. Well, let's take a very generous spin for the Democratic Party. It is possible that if they end up passing something, they end up with better legislation that's easier to sell to the American people in the end. Possibly. It might not happen. But here's what I mean. Build back better because the two parties are so different in the way that they operate, right?
Starting point is 00:12:36 Republicans tend to fall in line. They like to follow the leader. And they're kind of looking for big picture stuff, not as focused on the policy weeds. Democrats don't as much like to fall in line, don't as much like to follow the leader. A lot of interest groups, a lot of different minority groups, a lot of factions that want their piece of the pie. And so the legislation when you got Democrats is different than legislation when you get Republicans. It's easier to sell, we're cutting your taxes. easy message, right? Build back better doesn't make that much sense. What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:13:11 What does that mean to me? If I'm, to Joe Manchin's point, if I'm struggling right now with concerned about COVID and wondering what's going to happen, are my kids' school's going to get shut down again? Are we headed to another lockdown? Are we over this? Am I going to lose my job in a vaccine mandate? You know, why are things more expensive? You know, how can government make my life a little bit easier? Like what in that plan is going to specifically, specifically help for that. There are things in that plan that do cut costs. But if they can focus on two or three of those things that are really important, that makes sense, like, for example, if it was the child tax credit, which it doesn't seem like it will be, that's pretty easy
Starting point is 00:13:50 politics. We're going to give you $300 a month every month that goes directly into your bank account. Like, people can get that on a deeper, more personal level than they do roads and bridges in a few years. Right? I mean, it's good politics. So, you know, the Democrats maybe need to think about pivoting and changing the messaging to make this really hit on what people are focused on right now, which are rising costs and the way that build back better, or whatever you want to call it next, will help cut costs
Starting point is 00:14:23 for American family. So I do want to pivot back to mention because you brought him up. You know, on one hand, if Democrats push too hard, they risk mansion switching parties. On the other hand, look at what not pushing has gotten us, basically giving him license to walk all over Democrats and sink, build back better anyway. So if you were advising the Democratic Party, what's the move here? How do you bridge the gap? Listen to him.
Starting point is 00:14:48 Work with him. I mean, I don't think pushing him out of the party. Who wins if he's pushed out of the party? Mitch McConnell. What's the win there? Mitch McConnell, the Senate. majority leader, Democrats lose every single chairmanship of every committee. They don't get his vote on stuff that they really need. I mean, Joe Manchin certainly is not Bernie Sanders in
Starting point is 00:15:11 terms of voting, but he's also not Mitch McConnell. I mean, Joe Manchin voted against Amy Coney Barrett. He voted to impeach Donald Trump. I mean, he has taken votes. Voted for the American Rescue Plan. I mean, he's taken votes that have been meaningful for Democratic priorities. And he's in a state that Donald Trump won by 40 points. So, you know, pushing him out doesn't make sense. Although I don't think he's leaving. I mean, I think this argument that he's going to become a Republican doesn't make sense based off of politics, which a lot of is based off of leverage.
Starting point is 00:15:46 So what's Joe Manchin's leverage if he becomes the 51st senator for the Republicans? They're not going to need them for much of anything. Plus, he's got to go into a West Virginia Republican president. primary as somebody who voted to impeach Donald Trump, somebody who voted against any Coney Barrett, all of those things, voted for the rescue plan. He might not even win that Republican primary. And he will be far less powerful in that situation. So, I mean, is there a chance that he becomes an independent who caucuses with the Democrats? Sure. But if that happens, that really doesn't change almost anything, just like Bernie Sanders hasn't been a Democrat all these
Starting point is 00:16:26 years. Yeah. Well, bigger picture, do you think this this year was a success or a failure for both the Democrats and the Republicans? Well, I think in a lot of ways it was a failure for America because we end up at the end of the year, still battling COVID and still with so much division. I mean, there was, I think, hope that Joe Biden would come in and, you know, improve the soul of the country, which is what he wanted to do. And in a lot of ways, You know, our institutions have been strengthened. There is more truth in the conversation and the heat from the White House has been taken down. The temperature has been taken down and all that, I think, is good for democracy. But strategically, at the end of this year, Joe Biden and Kamala
Starting point is 00:17:15 Harris are in a much worse position than they were a year ago. Democrats' chance for winning the House in the Senate is worse than it was a year ago. And Republicans for their perspective are in a stronger position than they were a year ago. Who do you think were the biggest winners and losers in politics this year? If you had to pick individual people, specific people? I think the biggest winner in politics this year was Eric Adams of New York, who has taken a different approach, you know, and could potentially be the future of the Democratic Party mixing a lot of things
Starting point is 00:17:50 and could be a model in terms of ways to talk about crime, ways to talk about Black Lives Matter, ways to talk about progressivism in a sort of different way, and I think he's a potential future star. And I think the biggest loser of the year was Kamala Harris, who came into this year, you know, riding high as our country's first female vice president, but has had a lot of challenges with the staff, does not have a clear issue that she's had a win on. and it does not look like a, she looks weak right now to the point where if Joe Biden doesn't run and we were in the situation we're in right now, there would most likely be significant figures that would emerge to challenge her. She does not look like a clear heir apparent
Starting point is 00:18:43 who will have an easy glide path to the nomination. Building on exactly that, and I kind of hate this question because, you know, it doesn't really make a difference what we say, but But who do you think is going to be the heir apparent in the Democratic Party? Who do you think that we have rising in the ranks that would take over after Joe Biden, whether it's in 2024 or 2028? Who do you think next up? The fact that there isn't an answer to that question is bad for Democrats. I don't know who the clear favorite is.
Starting point is 00:19:16 I do think that if Stacey Abrams is able to win in Georgia, that will be a tremendous victory for the Democratic Party and will make her an automatic, you know, national figure. I mean, she's got real love and real fans behind her. Whether the country is ready to support a black woman as president, you know, we will see. Let's hope that we are. There are a lot of people that were skeptical about whether we were ready to support a black man. And, of course, the country was. So that, you know, she's somebody.
Starting point is 00:19:50 Obviously, Pete Buttigieg has, you know, wanted to be. president for a long time. And we'll see what happens on that front. We'll see if there are governors that, you know, who have harbored presidential ambitions for years, including- Well, I mean, nobody knows, nobody knows a specific governor from a specific state that we both live in better than- Yeah, Gavin Newsom, of course, who always says that he doesn't want to be president, but every indication from his entire life is that he does. And, you know, there's, and there other, you know, figures, you know, Andy Bashir in Kentucky, like, could there be somebody like that, like in a red state that has sort of a different approach that might be able to win
Starting point is 00:20:28 a broader coalition. Who knows? I mean, do you have a favor? Oh, no. I think that's the same answer here. And to that point, you know, if that is still the case a year from now, I think there'll be tremendous pressure on Joe Biden to run again. If it looks like he is the best hope for the Democratic Party, then, you know, that there will be tremendous pressure. I mean, this week, he was asked by David Muir about the possibility of running against Donald Trump. And he suggested that that would make it more likely for him to run. And I think that's an honest answer. Yeah, look, I don't make predictions. If I was able to predict the future, I think I wouldn't have sold my Netflix stock when it was $85 a share. But if I had to guess,
Starting point is 00:21:14 I would imagine that Joe Biden does run again in 2024. And of course, on the Republican side, would guess as well that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee. Yeah, who knows. But a lot can change in politics in a very short amount of time. I mean, we didn't see the pandemic coming a couple of years ago. And who knows if there was some sort of life-changing event that we're going to experience in the next year that nobody's thinking about right now. Well, I made the mistake of, I was speaking to somebody the other day and I said, well, how
Starting point is 00:21:43 much worse could 2022 be? And then I stopped myself because I think I just doomed us all to, you know, and I'm not. All right, well, I have some fun questions for you, Alex, like the craziest stories you've covered this year. But first, let's take a quick break. Okay, we're back. Now, I thought I'd do a fun little year-end wrap-up. So you've been in the trenches all year. You host the 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, 10 o'clock news.
Starting point is 00:22:11 You host your Friday show, The Issue is. What is the craziest news story that you've covered in 2021? And I want to put these back onto you as well. So I, you know, the story that I've spent more time covering than any other story as the California political guy is, of course, the California recall. But there were two moments that were just really crazy that stand out to me. One, John Cox, this very rich Republican who ran last time, has run for office about 85 different times, decided what he was going to do differently this time was name himself the beast. And to emphasize that point, campaign with an. actual bear, a 1,000 pound bear, which he brought out onto the campaign trail, and he tried
Starting point is 00:22:57 to make a policy speech with a bear roaming around next to him, and then he complained about the fact that the media spent more time focused on the bear than on his policy speech. That was a crazy moment. Another crazy moment from the campaign trail, Caitlin Jenner, everything about that was crazy. She did an interview with us, which was lots of attention in terms of her sort of lack of preparation, which she admitted afterwards. Then we met up with her in Venice, where she wanted to talk about homelessness and tour the area. And her team said that they wanted us to meet up with her before the press conference, away from the rest of the press, and to do a walk and talk with her. I said, are you sure? People aren't going to see this. They're like,
Starting point is 00:23:39 yeah, it'll be fine. So we end up talking to her and turns out that a 6-3 woman in the middle of the street of Venice tracks a little bit of attention. And so then we were just surrounded by press and paparazzi and homeless people and other people. We walked through and walked nearby. And during the midst of this, we walked past the Gold's Gym. And she says, hey, I used to work out here. Hey, guys. It's just like, what is happening?
Starting point is 00:24:08 It was so crazy. What about you? So I was covering something that Tucker Carlson said, some insanity. And he'd mentioned UFOs just as a fleeting thought. And so I did a video, I covered something that he said. And admittedly, I made fun of, you know, what, in some fleeting moment, I made fun of him referencing UFOs. And a lot of people commented and they were like, hey, man, I agreed with you on all your
Starting point is 00:24:34 points, accept the UFO thing. And I'm like, a lot of people are coming at me on the UFO thing, like a lot of people. Almost everybody that comments were like, hey, man, ease up on the UFO stuff. And so I looked into it and I spent, and I got caught in this rabbit hole and I learned about the phoenix lights and i think ufos are real now and so that was the craziest thing for me that's like a whole i mean that turned a lot of things upside down when you don't think that aliens are real and then and then like 30 minutes later you think that aliens are real so that was i think that was like a big thing for me that accidentally happened wow so what was your
Starting point is 00:25:10 favorite news story this year oh there's a lot of them i mean i like you know stories of people overcoming obstacles um the favorite person that i interviewed this year was a guy named uh Adi Barkin, who is living with ALS. I've hosted events for the ALS Golden West chapter for the last 10 years and host the Walk to defeat ALS every year and I'm real involved with that organization. And to meet him, somebody who is a political activist and who has lost his ability to speak using his own voice,
Starting point is 00:25:41 but speaks using his eyeball and other things to type out answers and is one of the most profound and interesting and moving and inspiring people that I've met and to be able to interview him and tell his story was really inspirational. Yeah, and I interviewed Bradley Whitford a few weeks ago, who was the executive producer for Adi Barkin's documentary called Not Going Quietly, and I watched it,
Starting point is 00:26:07 and it was incredibly moving. So if anybody has some free time over the holidays, I would definitely recommend watching that. And of course, watching Bradley in the West Wing, too. Okay. Yes, yes. I would say, you know, along the same lines, I think that for my favorite story, I think my sanity is really kept intact by the dodo watching, you know, those dogs getting rescued,
Starting point is 00:26:30 those videos once a day. I think like that's how I need that. Like the same way that people need a cup of coffee to start their day, I need that just to like get me back to zero because there's a lot of, a lot of toxic shit that we, that we, that we trudge around in. When you said I needed to get back to Sandy, I thought you were going to say weed, but maybe that's... Yes, well, that too. That definitely helps him. Also an advocate for that.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Least favorite story that you've covered this year. Oh, my God. The disinformation and people's just unwillingness to listen to any rationality when it comes to masks or vaccines or anything. I mean, there's such extremism on both sides where the virtue signaling is absurd. You know, there's some Democrats
Starting point is 00:27:16 that seem to be walking around in hazmat suits. afraid of coronavirus, and there's some Republicans that, like, literally go to COVID parties to try to get themselves sick. And, like, come on, people, let's actually follow the science. Let's be rational about this. And let's move on because I'm so sick of this shit. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Mine was the insurrection on January 6th. It was the only time that I felt like history was happening while it was happening. And I don't do a lot of live streams on my YouTube channel, I jumped on that live stream and covered it for the entirety of the day just because I didn't know how else to do it. I couldn't do my regular five-minute summary of it. It wouldn't
Starting point is 00:27:55 do justice to it. And so I kind of watched everything unfold as I was covering it live, which is unusual for me. But I just, you know, I could tell that that was a monumental event. You know, I pride myself on trying to keep my composure while anchoring. And on that day, I was the angriest, I think I've ever been. And spent, I had about 10 minutes, between shows and I wrote a commentary and I watched it back recently and it was about as blistering and as intense as I've ever been on the air because the emotions of that was so palpable. What do you wish would have happened this year? Oh, my, that people would have, you know, come together to try to defeat this thing. It seems like, you know, when we started off
Starting point is 00:28:34 in March 2020, there was, you know, some sense of unity. Let's get through this COVID thing together. And then it just became so political and so acrimonious. And I think that's been bad for everybody. What do you think? I feel like you know, I feel like you could guess what I wish would have happened in politics this year. But that Joe Biden would have been a little stronger and fought back a little more? Well, not exactly. I mean, I mean, yes, absolutely. But the topic I've covered, I think more than anything is the filibuster. I wish Democrats could have eliminated the filibuster, made this a banner year, gotten out of their own way. And granted, there's still time for next
Starting point is 00:29:11 year, but it's hard not to feel like this year wasn't a missed opportunity. And so I wish we could have, I wish we could have seen the filibuster get eliminated. Well, there is an argument to be made, and I heard recently that Bill Clinton made an argument in 2010 to the Democrats that were on the fence about Obamacare, that in 1994, when they were struggling to pass health care, they ended up not passing it and everybody lost. And he said, if you're going to lose anyways, why not pass it and get the legislative win and help people. And, you know, in some ways, what happened with the Democrats this year was more like 1994. If you're going to lose, why not lose on something that you believe on and take a hill to
Starting point is 00:29:52 die on? And they haven't done that. From your lips to Joe Manchin and Kierston Cinema's years. Let's finish up with this. What are your goals for next year both personally and for the country? to spend personally to try to get a little more balance and be able to take some time away from this stuff because it's amazing how much happy you are sometimes away from this stuff and and for the country I hope that there is a little more listening and a little more realization that we're not that different and there are values that unite us and that we can get back away from some of this meanness and get away from the Civil War. I don't know if that's possible. That's my hope. What about you? Definitely, definitely, definitely what you said, I would echo just to try to get a
Starting point is 00:30:45 little bit better of a work-life balance. I mean, especially, you know, going into January of this year between the insurrection, the impeachment trial, the election theft saga, all of that stuff. I mean, it's hard not to throw yourself in. I mean, I found myself working 14, 15, 16 hours a day. I know in the beginning of the year, I would read a lot of my YouTube comments. And a lot of people, you know, by January would say like, hey, man, you don't look so good. I think you need to take some time off, like make sure you're taking care of yourself. And I'm like, man, everyone's so critical online, just getting up in my business. And it turns out that I had lost 10 pounds.
Starting point is 00:31:27 So, I mean, you don't have 10 pounds to lose. No, I didn't have to, but I did. And so, yeah, I mean, in retrospect, looking back, definitely want to try to take care of myself a little bit better. Another one was to try to reach young people. I've recently launched my show on Snapchat, too. And I think that there's a lot to be said of trying to, you know, spread a factual message to people who are, A, less likely to vote and be less solidified in their positions. Yeah. One of my thing is to get involved, learn how to do TikTok, learn how to do Reddit, learn how to get into some of these other spaces.
Starting point is 00:32:02 and to go where people are. And we've seen that. I just did this year end interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger where he handed out homes to tiny homes to vets in West Los Angeles and worked with his team and sharing it in a lot of different places. And it's amazing to see all the different places where people get their information.
Starting point is 00:32:21 And so I think it's on all of us to try to reach people where they are. That's what Pete Buttigieg's staff, Liz Smith, would say so often and why I think he ended up doing so much better than expected. And I want to try to figure that out too. It's hard. It's complicated. And if anybody wants to give me some advice or follow me in any of those places, feel free. I could use all the help I can get.
Starting point is 00:32:42 Yeah. You and me trying to figure out TikTok will, nothing will make us feel older than this journey we're about to embark upon. And I think for the country, I would like, obviously, to see the Democrats hold the House and expand our Senate majority. And obviously, I'm pushing for that through the Don't be a Mitch fund. Another goal is to continue raising money. I think we're up to $700,000 in the don't be a Mitch fund. So I'd like to hit one and a half million for voter registration groups and a bunch of key swing states. So if you feel like if anybody listening or watching feels like donating, the link to that is in the show notes here. With that said, Alex, thank you again for taking time away from your holidays and Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah, happy New Year. And
Starting point is 00:33:28 and thank you for, you know, all the time that you've given me this past year. Well, I am, my friend. Happy holidays to everybody listening. You got a great platform here. It's been a pleasure to sort of see it grow from the beginning and you've really turned it in something great. So thank you very much for letting me be a small part of it
Starting point is 00:33:45 and my best to you and your family. Thanks again to Alex. And to everyone listening, thank you for giving me a little bit of time each week this past year. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I hope that you all take some time to relax over the holiday, remember that it's okay to do nothing, and come back well-rested in 2022. Okay, Merry Christmas, happy New Year, happy holidays, and I'll be back in January.
Starting point is 00:34:08 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.

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