No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Republican Senators announce plan to keep Trump in office

Episode Date: January 3, 2021

Republican Senators announce their plan to keep Trump in office and the Senate runoff in Georgia has finally arrived. Brian interviews former South Carolina Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, who’s been on the campaign trail for Jon Ossoff and Rafael Warnock, about whether the GOP’s opposition to relief checks is having an impact in the race in Georgia and some promising news about turnout.Written by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CAhttps://www.briantylercohen.com/podcast/Visit votesaveamerica.com/georgia or votesaveamerica.com/getmitch to do your part for Georgia's Senate runoffs.See 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 Republican Party's final attempt in Congress to reject the election results, what's at stake in this week's Senate runoff in Georgia, and my interview with former South Carolina Senate candidate Jamie Harrison, who's been on the campaign trail for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, where we talk about whether the GOP's opposition to relief checks is having an impact in the race in Georgia and some really, really promising news about the turnout there. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So we've officially arrived at the U.S.

final stage in the Republican Party's sustained temper tantrum, where, as of this recording, about a dozen Republican senators and 140 Republican lawmakers have announced that they'll vote on January 6th to reject the electors from certain states. The GOP senators released a statement demanding

a 10-day audit of election returns in states that they've arbitrarily decided or disputed. I'm not going to read all of the statement for our own sanity, but here are a few lines that basically form the crux of their argument. They wrote, quote, the 2020 election featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations, and lax enforcement of election law, and other

voting irregularities. Voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed. By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes. And those allegations are not believed just by one individual candidate, and said they are widespread. Polling, tragically, shows that 39% of Americans believe the election was rigged. That belief is held by 67% of Republicans, 17% of debt, and Democrats and 31% of independence. Some members of Congress disagree with that assessment, as do members of the media, but whether or not our elected officials or journalists believe it, that deep distrust of our democratic process will not magically disappear. It should concern

us all, and it poses an ongoing threat to the legitimacy of any subsequent administrations. And they go on to claim that there's precedent for this charade. And that precedent, I kid you not, is from 1877. Really compelling stuff. I don't see how we can just pretend the Hayes-Tilden presidential race never happened. Okay, so the point I want to make from that paragraph is that they cite the statistic that 39% of Americans believe the election was rigged, as if that's proof that the election was rigged. But here's the thing. They believe the election was rigged because Republicans keep saying it was rigged.

The GOP has spent months telling people the election was stolen, and now they're literally citing the fact that people believe them as their evidence. I mean, this is the most obvious scheme. They think that they can manifest this conspiracy theory into reality by pointing to how many people believe the conspiracy theory. That's not proof that anything was rigged. That's proof that the GOP is engaged in a disinformation campaign, and they've brainwashed people into thinking that there was fraud,

despite there being no evidence of fraud. Polling doesn't prove fraud. Proof of fraud proves fraud. And I don't think I need to tell anyone this, but there is no proof of fraud. Not in any of the 60 cases that were taken in court, not according to the DOJ, the DHS. Republican governors and secretaries of state voting systems companies, no one.

So I want to make one thing clear and assuage any fears here. This won't have any material impact on the election. In order for a state's presidential vote to be thrown out, a majority in each chamber has to agree to the objection. Democrats hold the majority in the House, and even though Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate, a number of Republican senators have already come out against the charade. The worst case is that there can be up to two hours of debate to each state's results before members vote. So January 6th will be long and annoying and will have the privilege of watching

the Republican Party devolve yet further down this authoritarian rabbit hole as part of their lunge to the far, far right. But Donald Trump will leave office on January 20th. What this is, in reality, is a bunch of different people all undermining democracy with the ultimate goal of helping themselves. Like Trump's goal is obvious. He's trying to stay in power. Meanwhile, You've got Josh Hawley, who is the first Republican senator to announce that he'd object on January 6th, who's clearly running for president in 2024. Same with Ted Cruz, who's quote-unquote leading the faction of 11 Republican senators to call for an emergency 10-day audit. The rest of them are clearly trying to curry favor with Trump and his base, raise their profiles, whatever.

But the through line is that they're all looking out for themselves, and they're doing it at the expense of our democracy. And, I mean, just think about that for a second. the people jockeying to lead the country on the right are doing so by most loudly trying to destroy its foundation and to think these people ever invoked like the Constitution and the founding fathers and the rule of law when clearly none of those things matter it was only about their own ambition

they're not running to protect the Constitution they're running in spite of it so look I know that there's some people who think that Biden's going to take office and it's just going to snap back to the pre-obama days but if this is the GOP before Biden even takes office. If this is how they're trying to position themselves for 2024 now, do you really think it's going to get better? Do you really think the goal here is bipartisanship?

Like, working to govern for the people? No, it's going to be virtue signaling and bad faith attacks and undermining trust in our systems so that they can hopefully exploit those systems when they run for president. And I know Biden's whole things that he'll come in and get Republicans to work with him. And I mean, look, do I hope that's the case? Absolutely. But my personal opinion is that it's naive to think that these people who are openly, proudly broadcasting their utter contempt for democracy are interested in anything other than selling their own little brands of Trumpism for the next four years so that they themselves can become president. It's not about helping anyone or fixing anything or governing, it is about holding power, period.

And by the way, this is a party-wide phenomenon. The GOP isn't even pretending anymore to stand for anything. Like, I don't think I've been shy about how Democrats have a pretty serious messaging problem, but in the last few months, I don't think you can have a clear indication that while one party is trying to govern, the other party has been solely focused on baseless temper tantrums and fear-mongering about straw men. Like, okay, here's a clip from a debate I had with Tommy Laren a couple weeks ago on Fox LA's political show called The Issue is hosted by my friend Alex Michelson. I think this should explain pretty clearly the difference in both parties' agendas. Georgia runoff, a lot at stake there. It's going to determine control of the Senate. Big picture, what's the biggest difference for the country if there's a Democratic control versus Republican troll?

Brian, quick take to you. Sure. If Democrats control the Senate, guarantee you the first order of business is going to be relief to the American people, stimulus checks, $15 minimum wage, federally decriminalized marijuana, expanded access to health care, which is especially important now with this pandemic, and codifying protections for women's reprimals. productive rights, which I know Tommy supports, even if she advocates for a party that is actively trying to strip her of those rights. Tommy, biggest difference if Republicans stay in control.

If Republicans stay in control that we are able to keep socialism from knocking on our door, I mean, it's still going to be a fight. But at least if we maintain control of the Senate, at least we can keep socialism, push back. So I think I was pretty clear about the fact that what we're fighting for on the left are things that, you know, I believe will have a pretty decisive impact on people's lives. lives. And yet all Tommy could muster with regard to why Republicans should be in charge is, you know, socialism. That's it. It's, it is the same tired fearmongering that we've heard for years. But the reason that Republicans have to scare their voters is because they don't actually

have an agenda that's worth promoting. Like, what are they going to say? Vote for us and we'll give millionaires and billionaires a tax cut. We'll strip women of their reproductive rights. We'll make sure that you don't get relief checks amid the pandemic that we helped exacerbate because we don't believe in science. Of course they can't say that. So, so instead, they'll just fearmonger and warn about socialism and Marxism and communism and migrant caravans and rapists and drugs and wars on Christmas and Christianity. It is demagoguery. Watch an hour of Fox News or OAN or Newsmax and come back and tell me something the GOP stands for that isn't fighting back against imaginary wars with the left that the left didn't even know it was fighting. And nowhere is that more apparent than this Senate runoff in Georgia

because, you know, at the risk of repeating myself, here's what's at stake with the Senate race. Democrats winning these races means $2,000 stimulus checks for all eligible Americans. It means decriminalizing marijuana. It means expanding health care. It means raising the minimum wage. It means protections for voting rights. And it means bold, aggressive climate change protections.

Tangible, impactful changes. And meanwhile, the Republican strategy? Well, here's Kelly Leffler summing up her agenda. The Democrats want to fundamentally change America and the agent of change is my opponent. Radical, liberal, Raphael Warnock. My opponent, radical liberal, Raphael Warnock, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, radical liberal Raphael Warnock, radical liberal Raphael Warnock is their agent of change. That's the whole platform.

Vote for us because, um, those guys are radicals. Right. The Democrats are radicals. Not the party currently lining up behind a coup to keep a president in office despite losing the last election by 7 million votes and an electoral college margin of 306 to 2.32. No, that party's totally fine. It's the party that's trying to make sure people have health care during a pandemic that's radical. Got it. So I think that's a good time to segue to my interview with former South Carolina Senate candidate Jamie Harrison,

who's been on the campaign trail for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia and who can speak firsthand about whether this messaging is finally coming through ahead of Tuesday's election and what turnout is looking like so far. So here's Jamie Harrison. All right, today we have former Senate candidate in South Carolina and surrogate for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia. Thanks so much for coming on. Thank you so much for having me.

I guess before we begin, tell us a little bit about what you've been doing in Georgia. Yeah, you know, shortly after my election, I decided to dust myself off and get back on the bike and launched a new pack called the Dirt Road Pack, which is focused on going to communities and areas and states like Georgia, and Georgia's very similar to South Carolina that have been neglected for, you know, the past decade or so, and really need some investment. And so our first initiative was to help out my two friends, Raphael Warnock and John Alsoft. we have raised almost a million dollars to benefit their campaigns, and we're working with

some of the small grassroots groups as well, and so we're doing everything that we possibly can. You know, I have some personal affinity for Georgia because that's where my mom lives, my sister's there, my niece and nephew are there, many aunts and uncles are also in Georgia, and so they're our next door neighbor to the west, and I'm going to try to do everything I possibly can to make sure that John and Raphael are successful because it helps not only Georgia, but it helps America. So as of this recording, we are in the middle of these negotiations for the Senate to pass any semblance of adequate relief. It basically took 10 months and all we got was $600 and we're still pushing for $2,000 right now. So based on your experience in Georgia,

is this having any impact on the race? Oh, it is. Listen, you have Purdue who was vehemently, opposed to any checks. And now all of a sudden, he and Kelly Leffler are now saying they support $2,000 relief. And that only, that type of sea change means one or two things. And the thing that it means to me is they are feeling the heat right now in Georgia from Democrats, Republicans, and independents who are struggling right now dealing with the COVID. And they need that relief, particularly in this holiday season. And so it's about time that Leffler and Purdue actually start to do something that benefits their constituents instead of their own stock portfolio. Right.

And I think what's especially ironic, too, is that they only came out in support of these $2,000 checks once it was assured, basically, that McConnell wouldn't even allow the bill to come onto the Senate for a vote. Right. That's exactly right. Because, listen, I worked on Capitol Hill. I worked in the highest rungs of leadership in the House. I ran the whip operation for House Democrats. I know what happens, you know, in terms of the negotiations. One of the top priorities for leaders in both the House and the Senate are their vulnerable members.

And right now, there are no two members more vulnerable in the United States Senate than Purdue and Leffler. And so that means Mitch McConnell will move heaven and earth, and he's already moving millions of dollars. is right now into Georgia in order to benefit him. So if they went to Mitch McConnell and said to him, we really need this done, he would do it. But they aren't genuinely going to him because they don't care. All they want is to remain in power. I don't know how much of a clear indication you can get than this.

This is Mitch McConnell proving that so long as he's a majority leader, Americans won't see relief. And at a time when that relief is so desperately needed, he's basically doing Democrats' job for them. Oh, that's exactly right. Right. I can tell everybody, and particularly folks in Georgia, because those are the most important people in this country right now, all you voters in Georgia, you're the most important. Listen, Mitch McConnell will stand in, his mama could draft the bill that he did not like, and he would not let it pass. And it just shows that this guy does not care about anybody other than the special interests that butter his bread.

And we need someone who cares about the American people, particularly those folks right now who are struggling across this country and particularly in the state of Georgia. And as long as he is the majority leader, he will be the grim reaper of legislation, good legislation that helps people in the United States Senate. And we don't need that. We need someone who will work with Biden in order to get things done for all of our people. And Mitch McConnell just doesn't fit that bill. So aside from relief, what issues in particular seem to be resonating with voters in Georgia? Well, I think the three issues that John also has been running on and had a tour across Georgia, health care, jobs, and justice, those are huge issues for people, particularly folks who will support John and Raphael in this election. We know the devastating impact of the coronavirus on our health, but even before the coronavirus,

coronavirus came to our shores. People were struggling in terms of health care. Georgia is one of those states similar to South Carolina that did not expand Medicaid. And as a result, many of their rural hospitals have closed over the past few years, which has a devastating impact on not only Democrats, but Republicans and African Americans and white voters and Hispanic voters on all of these voters living in those communities. We need someone who can go to the United States Senate and work on improving health care. John and Raphael will do that. Jobs.

We see right now that the unemployment is still lingering, and particularly in communities of color. And they are the folks that are unemployed right now. They're on the verge of being evicted from their homes. And so we need senators who understand the impact that this virus has had and it's going to do everything that they possibly can to bring jobs back to these communities. And of course, justice.

Georgia has been in the center of seeing how injustice can impact communities, in particular communities of color. We need to have a Civil Rights Act, a Voting Rights Act. We need to make sure that we're protecting the right to vote, but also protecting the lives of folks as well. And I know that John and Raphael will work on those things so vehemently when they're in the United States Senate. So I'm a data nerd. to talk about some numbers now. Can you speak about the fact that, you know, so many new voters were registered from the general to the runoff? I believe we have 76,000 new voters between the general and the runoff between November and now. And what I'm told, they're overwhelmingly young,

with 56% of them under the age of 35. And most of it, I think disproportionate, these are people of color. And so, you know, that bowls well for John Alsop and. and Raphael Warnock. And the turnout right now that we're seeing in Georgia is just unbelievable. They have broken the record for the most votes in a runoff election. I think it was like 2.1 or 2.2 million. They've gotten over 2.5 million votes thus far. And early vote is still happening. So those numbers are only going to get larger. And that's just a good, good sign for John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. But my warning to all of them, I beat Lindsey Graham, with the early vote here in South Carolina.

I went into Election Day with 150,000 vote lead over Lindsay. You can't just rest your laurels on early vote. You also got to make sure that you turn the vote out on Election Day, and that's as equally as important as getting these votes up on the board as early as you possibly can. Well, at least for these early numbers, I mean, what would you attribute these changes to? Like how are we able to, you know, mobilize another nearly 100,000 voters that weren't mobilized even in November? Yeah.

And, you know, partly in the early vote, I think they're saying that the African Americans in particular, people of color more globally, are turning out at a higher level than they did at the presidential level just in past November. I think part of what you also seen here is they didn't do a lot of canvassing. in Georgia, on the Democratic side, going into the November election. It was the same thing here. We didn't start canvassing until October in South Carolina. That really makes a difference. That's such an important component of how Democrats turn out the vote. It's having people be able to communicate on a personal level with voters.

And they are doing some COVID-safe canvassing right now. And I think that is really helping to make a big difference. Totally. Well, on the messaging front now, are there lessons that we're learning in Georgia that by virtue of getting a second chance to win this election have been different? Like, what's the best way to reach voters that we maybe failed to reach in November? Well, the canvassing part, I go back to that. I think that is really making a key difference.

You're also seeing an investment, and we're doing this also, you know, investing in some of these small grassroots organizations and groups in, many of these rural areas. That's just as important. You know, we want to make sure that we turn out the vote in Atlanta because that's the heart of the Democratic vote. But you got a lot of Democratic vote in these rural counties. And that is also very, very important. Luckily, John and Raphael and the Georgia Democratic Party, along with the efforts that we see from Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight and Black Voters Matter Fund, all these groups are also concentrating their effort on making sure they're on black radio, making sure that they are getting their message out

to gospel stations so that they can get into these areas and communities where it may be much more difficult to canvas. And so having those resources is just crucial to making sure that that outreach takes place. So out of the George Floyd protest came the defund the police movement. And on one hand, that movement was effective enough to lead to a massive spike in registrations for young people and people of color, at the same time, it's been condemned by people representing more white moderate districts. So with media getting nationalized now and the ability to shape our messaging on a local level kind of disappearing, how did Democrats cater to both working class whites in the Rust Belt and young black activists in places

like Georgia and South Carolina knowing that certain messaging that works in one place might actually be counterproductive in another? Well, you know, that's part of the the needle you thread when you have a coalition like we have in a Democratic Party, which is the diversity. I believe that diversity is our greatest strength. But diversity comes with some complications and complexities. Because even on the issue of the defunded police, I can tell you, older African Americans are not very sympathetic to that type of message.

And so one of the lessons that I've learned in politics is this. When you are explaining you're losing. And what is very, very important for us to do as a party is to make sure that the messages that we have and that we promote and that we put out there are clear that they're concise and that they go directly to the issues that people are dealing with. John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock want to make sure we tackle this issue of injustice. They want to make sure that people feel safe walking down their streets, interacting with the officers that are committed to protect. and serving their communities. And they're going to work on legislation to make that happen. And they've been clear and they've been concise with that.

And I think we have to continue that effort to make sure that folks, regardless of you're in a majority white suburb or if you are in a majority black community in Atlanta, that you understand what we as a party stand for, what we're fighting for, that we see you, that we hear you, and that when we go to Washington, D.C., we're going to work on your behalf. The one thing that you know that is true is Kelly Lafleur and David Perdue are not working for you. They're working for their stockbroker and making sure that their portfolio is sound. So go with the people who have proven records that they're going to work for the least of these in our society,

but they're going to work for all of us. And that's what we get with Raphael Warnock and John also. On a personal note, Jamie, what's next for you? Who knows, man? And, you know, I am, you know, my name has been mentioned for, as a possibility for the next D&C chair. And if I get the call from the president-elect asking me to do that, I'd be happy to serve in that capacity. But if not, I'm going to continue my effort to rebuilding the Democratic Party across this country in every state, regardless if it's red, purple, or blue. I believe that we need to make sure that we have good candidates that are out there that are running

and that folks understand that we haven't forgotten them, that we're going to fight for them and that we're invested in their well-being and that they and their kids and their family members can live the American dream. Yeah, and I think, you know, the initial reaction with someone like Stacey Abrams was to kind of scoff at the idea that she was going to, you know, pull back the reins and kind of work to do exactly what you were saying in the state of Georgia and now look how important that's become. That's exactly right. Yeah, we definitely can't overlook that. So one last question for you, what's the message for those still on the fence or those still deciding whether to vote at all

in Georgia? Well, I think those folks should really take a look at their centers. Because in essence, this is a referendum on them and the job that they have done. And the question that they have the ass is this. Do you honestly believe that Kelly Leffler and David Perdue are fighting for you? Do you honestly believe that they are working on behalf of your family? Do you honestly believe that they're trying to build a bridge to the future to make sure that your kids have all the resources that they need in order to do well? You have in Georgia right now communities where there is no broadband. You have in Georgia right now communities that have no hospitals. You have in Georgia, Georgia right now, people who are standing or are sitting in their cars for suit lines and all.

And the question is, what is Kelly Leffler and David Perdue doing in order to address that? And the only reason why they are talking about these issues right now, if they talk about them at all, is because they are being pressured to do so by the folks who do care about these issues. And that's John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. So just think about in our time that we need help. the most. We need to make sure that we have centers that are fighting for us, that are in our corner, that are working for us, that we don't have to tell them that we need their help because they are so integrated into our neighborhoods and our communities that they know that we need help.

That's the difference that you get with Raphael Warnock and John also. Well said. All right, Jamie, thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Thanks again to Jamie Harrison. Now, let me just say before I go that If I'm lucky enough to be reaching anyone in the state of Georgia or if anyone listening has friends or family or anyone there who hasn't voted yet, please do your part and reach out and make sure those ballots are cast for us off in Warnock. It's not just about sending a message to the GOP that this authoritarian fever dream has consequences. It's about helping ourselves. And now more than ever, we need it. That's it for this week.

Happy New Year. And here's to hoping that I come to you next time with two more Democratic senators from Georgia. 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.