No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Republicans' extreme move backfires (Live from Wisconsin!)

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

Republican extremism backfires as their first major House bill slashing IRS funding is DOA in the Senate and White House. I sit down WisDems chair Ben Wikler, Congressman Marc Pocan, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, and other Wisconsin officials as we launch the "One Year To Win" campaign live from Madison, Wisconsin.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.

Hey everybody. So here's the deal. We speak every week about major issues that impact not just national politics, but local politics. So this week, I went local. I headed out to one of, if not the most important states in the country when it comes to how the tyranny of the minority is overwhelming the population with unpopular decisions and legislation, and that's Wisconsin. So I've spoken at length about how we can't just start paying attention in October or November of an election year, that we have to stay involved all year round because the extremist on the right, rely on an uneducated and ignorant population to be able to get away with what they're doing. To make sure that doesn't happen, Wisconsin Democrats, Wisdoms, has officially launched their campaign one year to win, which is exactly what it sounds like, as a campaign centered around taking this next year and making sure they build up volunteers and their donor base and their messaging apparatus so that come November 2024, we're not just ramping up, we are already firing on all

cylinders. And that should be the model for the rest of the country. So I headed out to Madison, in Wisconsin to speak to local officials, state officials, and federal officials for an event that we were calling Justice Defended Live. And we'll get to that event in just a moment, but real quick, while that event kicks off the one year to win campaign, if you want to make a difference right now, then don't forget to vote this week. We've got some incredibly important elections in Virginia, in Kentucky, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. So if you have elections in your state, please get out and vote. Here's Justice Defended Live, hosted by myself and my co-host, Lee McGowan, who you might know was politics girl. We have amazing guests coming up tonight, including Congressman Mark

Pocan. We have the Democratic leader of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Greta Newbauer, the state senator for the 16th Senate District, Melissa Agard, Milwaukee County Executive, David Crowley, your Secretary of State, Sarah Godluski, and the chair of the Wisconsin Democrats, Ben Wickler. And we are so excited to celebrate what you guys have already called. so far this year and also just giving hope to other states that they could end up like Wisconsin and really organize their way into success. And it just shows that when you're engaged and you're proactive and you fight back, you get results. So we are thrilled to be here. And finally, as Ben Wickler

says, we are here to stop the Trump trifecta. That's right. Because we've already caught a glimpse of what life in America would be like under Mitch McConnell, Mike Johnson, and Donald Trump. And frankly, we're not into it. We're not into it, you guys. So, speaking of what the country would look like under the Trump trifecta, Mike Johnson has made his position clear, and it's that the United States isn't even a democracy. It's whatever this is. You know, we don't live in a democracy,

because a democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for dinner. Okay, it's not just majority rule. It's a constitutional republic. And the founders set that up because they followed the biblical admonition on what a civil society is supposed to look like. And so, and so just like Jesus would have done, Mike Johnson has introduced his first major bill, which would cut $15 billion from the IRS to catch wealthy tax sheets.

And I believe Donald Trump referred to that part of the Bible as two Corinthians. Two Corinthians. That's two Corinthians. Here's what Mike Johnson said when he was called out on it. Be careful. Everybody be careful. Were you surprised by the CEO's score, sir? No, surprise at all. Only in Washington when he cuts spending, do they call it up?

First of all, this guy is so smug that even Ted Cruz looks at him, and he's like, dude, come on. Basically how this bill works is the bill that he's talking about here provided $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel, and that was Mike Johnson's words, but only if they're able to strip $14 billion from the IRS, which, as I mentioned before, is funds allocated to catch ultra-wealthy tax sheets. That's how much of an emergency it is, that the only way that it would get out the door is if they can give that gift to the rich donors. But despite Mike Johnson playing dumb, the fact is that the more you funds the IRS, the more revenue is tax revenue you actually bring in. When you don't fund the IRS, that means you bring in less revenue. That means the deficits go up. It's actually very simple. And for any Republicans who want to actually fearmonger about what the IRS does, the IRS has already come out and openly admitted to what they're trying to do at this.

money, which is that they're using it to pursue 1,600 wealthy tax sheets who owe at least $250,000 in back taxes. So unless you are not only, you should applaud this move if you are not only a millionaire, unless you are not only a millionaire, but a millionaire tax sheet, you should applaud this move because, A, we've all paid our taxes. And so why should we allow anybody else who dodges their taxes, much less a millionaire who dodges their taxes? But B, this money comes back to us in the form of revenue for programs that we all use. Yeah. Democrats want you to get what you paid for, and Republicans don't want to pay for anything you get. And I think we see that over and over again, right? I mean, they talk about this 87,000 new

IRS agents. That's not how it works. It is maybe 10,000 extra agents, but then it's the janitorial staff. It replaces people that are retiring. It's the people that put the work from paper into the computers. This is the kind of work we're going to do when we fund the IRS. and it's not so we can go after the little guy. It's not so we can pay more taxes. It's so we have the money and funds to go after the big dogs, the ones with all of their big, huge lawyers, and all of the people that go, it's not worth it.

We can't afford to go after them. And we leave trillions of dollars on the table a year in unpaid taxes. And that's why we need to fund the IRS, because we need it funded so we can pay for things around the country. They don't want to fund it so that we can't afford to go after their donors, their lobbyists, the people who paid good money to put them in office to do this exact thing. That's right.

You got to love, too, how this is the first major bill from a party that calls themselves fiscally conservative, a bill that adds money to the deficit. And all of that basically puts on full display the fact that Republicans do not care about the deficit. It is as simple as that. This is a thing they say because they think it sounds nice. But the fact is that this is similar, I guess, to the way that this is just something they lean on, like the rest of their historical branding, which is similar to the way that they call it. themselves pro-family values, and yet they line up and walk off the cliff in deference to Donald Trump, who has cheated on all of his wives with porn stars and prostitutes, the same way that they call themselves pro-state's rights, and yet, take for example, when Roe was overturned, the first thing they did is introduce legislation to ban abortion nationwide. It's the same way they call themselves pro-constitution, and yet the modern Republican Party is the first iteration of any party in America that has opted to defy the peaceful transfer of people. power. So on issue after issue, after issue. Well, yeah. I mean, this is the party that calls

themselves small government. And yet they're telling us what we can read, what we can learn, what we can say, who we can love, what we can do with our own bodies. That's not small government. That is big, heavy-handed government. They call themselves the party of life. They're pro-gun. They're pro-war. They're pro-death penalty. You can't say you're fiscally responsible if you just added, what, quarter of the debt, quarter of the debt. Of all debt. Yeah, in the four years of Trump's presidency. So it's just not possible. So we have to stop going with the slogans and watch the actions. That's right.

So they do not care about the deficit in the same way that they didn't care about the deficit. The last time they had full control of government and added $7.8 trillion to the debt. Also, their only legislative accomplishment during the Trump era was a tax cut overwhelmingly favoring millionaires and billionaires that added $1.9 trillion dollars to the debt. So, again, I don't know how many times we need to watch them rack up billions and trillions of dollars exclusively for their rich donors before we stopped buying into this idea. that they're fiscally conservative because nothing they do is fiscally conservative. Absolutely. Mike want to cut the Trump tax cuts before he cuts the IRS.

Obviously, we could go on and on, but this is a live show and we need structure. So we're going to stop News of the Nation, and we're going to go on to the defend justice campaign, which has now, of course, been changed to justice defended because you guys were so successful. And to help us do that, we're going to invite some guests on stage. So please join me in welcoming

Minority Leader of the Wisconsin State Assembly and State Representative for the 66 District, Greta Newbauer. Woo-hoo, Greta! Hi! Have a seat! State Senator for the 16th Senate District, Melissa Agar.

Hi! And the man who knows how to win and built Wisdom operation into the national success it is, your chair of the Wisconsin. Democrats, Ben Wickler. Well, thank you all so much for joining. Yeah, welcome.

It's very much appreciated. Obviously, if you were listening, you know that we're going through some things right now in this country, which is why it is so important that we focus on how to actually win, and nobody kind of exemplifies that better than the Wisconsin Democrats. So let's jump in here.

And this question, floor is open to anybody who wants to jump in. But what is the Defend Justice campaign, and why did you launch it? All right. So this spring, some folks in the room may have voted in a Supreme Court election where we elected Janet Protissowitz in an 11-point landslide. And I want to say, Democratic Senate Leader Melissa Agar, Democratic Assembly Leader Greta Newbauer organized their caucuses, state

legislators to fan out across the state, knock on doors, organize Wisconsin Democrats mobilized for this like it was a presidential election, and it worked. This is at 50-50 Wisconsin, we went on a landslide. And Republicans suddenly experienced democracy.

And they didn't like it. They did not like it. It turns out that there's a side effect to it, which is the winner of the votes gets to win the election. They didn't like that either. No, no, really not something they've tried to avoid that in the state legislature. They have tried to avoid, they remove powers from our governor and a treaty general after they were elected.

They tried to overturn the presidential election. This they could not overturn. But then they had a bright idea, which was to invent an unconstitutional impeachment threat against our state Supreme Court justice, who flipped the majority on the state Supreme Court. So Janet Protesewitz sworn out on August 1st. Immediately, Robin Voss, the speaker of the Wisconsin State. Assembly. It's hard to say his name too much, but he started issuing these threats that if she didn't break her oath of office and recuse herself from any case that would consider whether our legislative maps are unconstitutional, he would impeach her before she could rule.

And there has never been an impeachment like this in America. We talked to impeachment scholars, people who defend Republicans and Democrats and prosecute in impeachment cases. There's never been an attempt to remove a judge to stop them from ruling on a case like they were threatening. And we've never had a successful impeachment in Wisconsin ever. There's one attempt in 1853. They seem really into the 19th century with the abortion ban and the impeachments. So this was their threat. And after it became clear that this was serious, the three of us got on the phone and we needed to launch a campaign to defend justice, to defend our literal justice and the idea of justice.

And so on a Wednesday in late August, our Democratic legislative leaders gathered at their caucuses, and I joined them on the steps of the state Capitol announced this massive campaign in front of a bank of TV cameras from across the state, and we launched a massive grassroots pressure campaign to stop Republicans from blowing up the Wisconsin State Constitution and nullifying a landslide election, and it worked.

And that is why, by the way, this is justice defended and not defend justice because you guys won, so thank you, congratulations, and keep on barreling forward. Yeah, I feel like nobody knew what the Republicans were trying to do, and then all of a sudden, everybody was talking about it. Were you surprised at how fast the campaign grew? So certainly we know that Wisconsin is really the road to destruction of democracy, as well as the road to the restoration of democracy,

not just for our neighbors and friends, but for people all across this nation. And in fact, we have friends and family that live in other countries, and they're calling and saying, oh, my gosh, Wisconsin is the key to all of this. So we feel that in our bones here in Wisconsin. And we have seen how quickly the nefarious Republicans can act when they're not getting their way. So we knew that there was going to be some sort of trigger,

and we didn't know exactly what it was going to be, but we were expecting it. And we've got coalitions. we've got passionate people, and we care for one another. So we organized the heck out of it, and here we are. And we are so excited about 2024, because there is an awful lot on the line, and we know that we're going to continue marching with the same passion and conviction to defend democracy. Yes.

So to that point, this idea that you could kind of feel this coming, what is the next thing on the horizon? What are you waiting for in terms of like, what do you expect that Republicans might do. What can we, what can we basically prepare for? I mean, we were all really successful in kind of neutralizing their plan to impeach justice, Janet Protasewitz. What's next? Well, there's always something up the sleeves of Republicans in Wisconsin. We know that they will do everything they can to avoid accountability from the voters of Wisconsin. We have seen that year after year, two rounds of incredibly gerrymandered maps, some of the worst in the country,

if not the worst, where statewide Democrats are winning right around 50% of the votes, and we're getting just about a third of the seats in the legislature. They, of course, fought ballot drop boxes. They took away powers from Governor Evers and Josh Call in the lame duck session, voter ID laws. They will do whatever they can get away with to maintain power. And they know that there is a case going through the state Supreme Court right now on these gerrymandered maps, And we are very hopeful that we will see new fair maps in Wisconsin that actually allow the will of the people to be represented.

And so I have no doubt that it is not done yet. We will hear more from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They will try whatever they can to stop this case from moving forward, to stop new maps from being put into place. There's another impeachment threat that's moving through the legislature right now from Megan Wolfe, administrator at the Wisconsin Elections Commission. it's going to be a wild ride for the remainder of the session. Ben, join in here because I know that we were speaking about another, another threat that might be on the horizon.

So what Greta is referring to is today. Was this today? Yesterday, God. Yesterday, Robin Voss announced that he was going to take this proposal to impeach the top elections administrator in Wisconsin that had been floated by the far right fringe of his far right fringe caucus, which is like a fringe of a fringe. serious fringe here. They proposed to impeach our top elections administrator. And then Robin Voss sort of

brushed it to the side, but then he actually sent it to a committee to start considering it. Now, part of the context for this, he's facing a flood of TV ads from election deniers who are saying that they will recall him or primary challenge him if he doesn't impeach the top elections administrator

in the state. So we are on alert. We're watching where this goes. It seems like this is divided Republicans for now. It doesn't seem like they're united to move forward on it. But if they start getting serious about this, we're going to make this blow up in their face like nothing they have ever seen and they have already

seen a lot. Yeah. By the way, this is a non-partisan election official. Megan Wolfe is not like a Democrat. She's not like on MSNBC, right? This is a nonpartisan election official. But the fact that she is administering elections in a fair, just, and non-partisan way is apparently a bridge too far for them. Well, I think that also shows

you how far we've come as a country. Like, We were talking earlier about that we're all clapping for potentially fair maps. Like that's where we're at. That's our bar. We're like, oh, my God, and it might be fair. They might not be able to completely cheat. You know, like, this is where we're at. And that's why we have to keep pushing.

Because you guys are such a wonderful success story because you look at a state like we're North Carolina. And that's what they wanted to happen here in Wisconsin. They had both of the legislature and the assembly, and they wanted the Supreme Court because that trifecta would allow them to do anything they wanted to do without any repercussions. And you guys came forward and you said, no. And then you brought people together and they said no. And everyone gathered together.

And they said, no, we're fighting back. And we might get potentially fair maps out of it. But you can move forward from there. And you can move forward once you have an organization. And I think that's the thing. You two are on the ground right there in the assembly and the state house. Are you noticing that people are feeling that momentum, that people are behind them now? people are so excited to know that what matters to families in Wisconsin has the potential

of actually crossing the finish line. Similar to you, right? Like what you're saying, oh, potentially fair maps. Do you mean issues that matter to over 80% of the people in Wisconsin might actually turn into law, reproductive freedoms, health care, protecting our air and water, making sure that our schools are funded? These are not partisan issues. These are issues that, even the majority of Republicans agree with, but as Ben has said, the legislators and the Capitol are the most extreme of the extreme. They're even out of touch with what it is that Republican voters want in the state of Wisconsin. And we are oftentimes fielding calls from people across the state of Wisconsin saying, could you just tell us what button we need to push in order

to set things right? We're moving in that direction, right? What we feel in Wisconsin right now for the first time in a really long time after the election of Justice Protazewicz is something called hope. Well, I think we should leave it at hope. I'll tell you that. That's where I'd like to be. Do you have anything before we move on to wisdom? Let's finish with this. I think this is the question the whole country wants to hear the answer to. This one's for Ben. How do we replicate the model of wisdoms in other states? Yes, do tell us. Ben, fix the country. I just got a text message from the Florida Democratic Party chair of a speech from her keynote speech to the dinner at the big Florida Democratic Party event.

And she said, I want to tell you a story about an extreme right Republican governor who won in a battleground state, who immediately worked to lock in power to rig the laws. He helped ensure that Donald Trump won in his state. And then he was floated as a presidential candidate after getting reelected. He was going to be the savior for the Republican Party nationally because of his work to take a purple state and turn it bright red. And then it all completely collapsed. He is out of power. I'm not talking about Florida. I'm talking about Wisconsin and Scott Walker.

What has happened in this state? Because people across our state refuse to give up. Because we all organized. Because we unified as a party. And we set a vision out of actually making politics responsive to regular people. that has made a state that felt like it was falling off a cliff into total red statedom now become a battleground where we have a shot at actually winning a refracted government at some point not too long from now of actually implementing the kinds of reforms

that can make our government and our state and our economy deliver for everyone. So that's the core of the recipe. And right now, if you look across the country, I'm talking to a bunch of other state party chairs. They're extraordinary leaders. We are trying to follow in the footsteps of Lovora Barnes, the chair in Michigan, where they've gone from red total trifecta to a democratic trifecta and passing the whole progressive agenda into law. I'm in touch with Liz Walters in Ohio, who is using the ballot initiative to restore access to abortion, reproductive freedom, as a hook to do statewide grassroots organizing of the kind that we do in Wisconsin so that they can use that to re-elect Sherrod Brown in the Senate next year. Massive fight.

And yes, let's give a round of applause for Sherrod Brown, along with Tammy Baldwin. And in North Carolina, North Carolina, I'm in touch with their amazing chair, Anderson Clayton, who is 25 years old. She was just elected, folks in their state after they lost everything in 2022, they decided we need a new direction. And so she is now working to build that kind of year-round organizing capacity in rural areas as well as in cities and suburbs across generation and gender and geography, race and ethnicity, all of the work that goes into building the kind of coalition that wins here, she's starting to do there. So there are signs of hope across the country. And to me, I mean, all of us in Wisconsin, we have our hands full in Wisconsin,

but it also is tremendously gratifying and exciting to see this idea that you can't just stop after the elections over. You have to go year-round. You can't just do the big-ticket elections. You win the small elections in order to ladder up to the presidential races. All of that is starting to take hold around the country. And I find it incredibly excited. There's reasons for hope, not just here, but across the country.

Awesome. I love that. I also love a 25-year-old running things, because if I had the energy of myself at 25, we get a lot done. Let's welcome our new round of guests here. We have Wisconsin Secretary of State, Sarah Godluski. We have Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. And we have Congressman Mark Pocan. Thank you all so much for joining us.

Your mics are there. You're going to have to use that whiteboard later, Mark. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to make you play a game. Everybody right now is spelled pro-to-say wits. All right, well, I'm going to start with you, Secretary. So listen, the Secretary of State is in charge of the state's elections, running them, security, making sure everything goes smoothly so we can all put.

participate in our democracy. But there's been so much shady and underhanded behavior going on, rejecting the voting rights outright, gerrymandering, obviously. Election vigilanteism is this new thing where we just harass poll workers and voters as they go to the polls. So what do you say to people who are wondering if we can still trust the system? Well, for starters, my office is unique because we do not run elections, but I will tell you, it makes us a really good person to defend democracy because you know what the Republicans are attacking all of these whether they're clerks or election administrators and they're forcing them to just their hands are tied and we have seen firsthand what that looks like here in Wisconsin because the only way that

Republicans believe that they can win is by causing fear and chaos but one thing that I will tell you after traveling the state and talking with clerks and talking with really hard, like working public servants is that they are doing this because they believe in our democracy. They believe that every voice matters and we are standing behind them and Wisconsin's ready for it. Amazing. So Congressman, you just came back from D.C. where obviously a lot of people were held up there voting on an expulsion member for George Santos. Now, the expulsion resolution was predicated on all of the lies that he had told throughout the entirety of his campaign. We knew all of the stuff that he had lied about, you know, dating months back. And yet suddenly,

suddenly there was a lot of urgency and it was led by a bunch of Republicans in the New York delegation. And it happened along the same, at around the same time that all of the Mike Johnson of it all was happening in Congress. So what do you attribute, what do you attribute this move to? do you think it was just a ploy to cover up some other shady stuff that was happening? What do you attribute this sudden urgency to vote to expel George Santos on? Well, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was running ads in other Republicans in New York's districts about not standing up. So they kind of decided they needed to, but they also conveniently announced the timeline for the investigation with the Ethics Committee, which was also to let them off the hook.

So it was really to put less pressure on some New York. members and to have him go forward because they need his vote with the very slim majority they have. But I'm guessing at some point before next November, George Santos will probably trade for some prosecution his seat in Congress. He's being investigated at the local, the state, the federal, and I think he's now resolved his international investigations. But that's a lot. And I think he will not last till next November. And that's just George Santos. There's Anthony DeVolder. There's Katara Ravash. There's a lot of different people encompassed in that.

Actually, I wouldn't mind if Katara was serving in Congress. I think that would be a little more colorful. His drag alter ego. So, yes. Executive Crowley, you have a fascinating background and an inspiring background, I think, that really gives credit to the importance of government programs, targeted at lower income people, and how life-changing those programs. can be and putting you in the right direction. So what's your thought on the first action of

the new Republican Speaker of the House, once again, trying to pass legislation that takes care of the very richest Americans instead of looking after the people that could really use the money somewhere else? I mean, this is a direct issue with our, with government right now. We need to be making sure that we are taking care of the people who are on the ground, doing the work right now. We know that there have been so many families struggling, particularly right here in the state of Wisconsin and in my area of Milwaukee County that I represent the most diverse community in the state of Wisconsin. But when you see what is happening, right, we just came off of a, I'm not going to say came off because we're still in the midst of COVID.

But we're still dealing with the ramifications of COVID. We're still dealing with people who are losing their homes, who are being evicted all across this community, still struggling to be able to put food on the table. So to see this new speaker coming out to do more for the rich, lets me know that we have to stand up. And this is one of the reasons why I'm excited to see this audience and all those who are viewing right now, because this is about how do we step up to the plate and make sure that we're doing our part to make sure that government is represented of the people. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And speaking of standing up and being representative of the people, I mean, Sarah, I can't help but notice your shirt, which I don't

know if you've seen her shirt, but like bands off our bodies, right? Like speaking of the people, 50% of this country is currently having their rights ripped from them. I know you've written that, you know, you have less rights now than your mother and your grandmother. So what is your stance on that in Wisconsin, especially since right now the rights are still kind of tenuous? It depends on who the local representative is and who's going to actually bring court cases, you know, which really comes back to voting, you know. Otherwise, you guys are going to live under an abortion law from the 1800s for forever. It depends on how we do it. So what do you think we should be doing right now with this whole abortion ban situation. Well, for starters, something that I keep hearing

as people are like, oh, you know, Sarah, do you think that people are going to still run on abortion? And do they still think it's an important issue or are they over it? And I'm like, as long as I don't have a right, we're not getting over it. And something that was, you know, like I think about the 2023 election with our Supreme Court. I mean, we won by 11 points. And, abortion was the issue that people were talking about. And so my response is I go, you know, Republicans thought that it was bad in 2023. They ain't seen nothing yet because if there is something that everyone should take away from this last election is don't mess with pro-choice Democratic women.

Like, we deliver. And I will also say that, you know, something that I think became really, really clear, too, is that when I travel the state and talk to these women, they just reiterate over and over again. They're like, my voice matters, and I am getting involved. I might not have ever been involved before because it's not just about me, it's about my daughter. Or it's about my granddaughter.

And so I'm going to do everything I can. And in talking with folks, these were folks that were first time that had never been involved before. And so knowing that that's what really, led 2023. I'm excited to know that, you know, folks are still motivated and this topic isn't going to go away. It's certainly not going to go away. And I think the thing of people need to remember, too, is that abortion is not just a women's issue. Like, people talk about kitchen table issues. There's nothing more important than how many people are at your kitchen table,

or if you can afford the people that are sitting at that table. Well, I will never forget. I was in Western Wisconsin knocking on doors and I get to this one door and it was an older gentleman and he opens the door and he's like, who are you here knocking on the door for? And I'm like, well, I'm here knocking for Senator Smith. It was, he was in a tough district and he's like, is he for those women's rights? And I was like, he is sir. He is for women's rights. And he goes, good because I am sick of what's happening. And he's like, enough is enough. And then went on to share with me how in his small town in Arcadia, Wisconsin, he was talking at the coffee shop with his friends about, you know, they've gone too far. And if they can take away rights from

women today, what's next? And so it's not just in Madison or in Milwaukee where these conversations are happening. They're happening with dads, with grandfathers, with uncles, with neighbors that really care about this. If you're a Republican, and you've lost the people who say, are you here about the women's rights? And you've lost those people? Then you've probably jumped the shark. Executive Crowley, what about you? Like, when you're talking to people on the ground, what are the issues that really present themselves? I know we've spoken about the issue of abortion. That's obviously a huge one. But, you know, we do kind of get bogged down into the national politics so often, but what are the issues that are impacting people's lives?

Well, absolutely. You know, being a representative of one of the largest communities in the state of Wisconsin, you know, one of the biggest issues that we're facing right now is actually mental health, an issue that we don't have a real dialogue about. We still need that parity. We still need to make sure that communities all across this state, all across this nation, have access to mental health services, especially when we've seen how the opioid epidemic has decimated many communities across the country. And so for me, we've been hearing folks on the ground really talking about the need for more investments, the need to really invest in the social determinants of health.

And that's when we're talking about education, making sure that people have access to a quality education, investing in transportation so people can go to work on an everyday basis. But more importantly, making sure they have access to family supporting wages right here in their own communities. And so people on the ground, they understand what is happening at the national level, but they need to make sure that local municipalities, people at the state and federal level, understand how they're hurting on the ground. And that's how we're stepping up, and that's how we're making investments. But I will tell you, people are paying attention.

They are looking at the national election, looking at what's happening statewide, to figure out how they can get involved. And it's up to us as community and elected leaders to make sure that we're rallying up the troops to get ready. ready for a year from that. Perfectly put. Okay. So, Congressman, we have, as I mentioned before, a new speaker of the House who has said that the fall of Rome happened because they condoned gay people. We've unearthed records that show how Mike Johnson fought to send young teenagers to

conversion therapy camps in order to turn them straight. He said teenagers could become former homosexuals, and he said being gay was a choice. his wife just took down her website. It was an anti-gay Christian counseling services website. He himself tried to force kids into gay conversion therapy camps. What is your response to the GOP's elevation of Mike Johnson, someone who denies the very existence of the LGBT community? Well, at least they're doing truth in advertising, right?

That's the Republican caucus. You now have the face of it. We also call him Jim Jordan with a jacket, you know, because he's the same. He is a composite of the Republican caucus. If you took every member together, you would get someone who looks as generic as he is, with a name as generic as he is, with policies as awful as he advocates for. And what you forgot, he also thought homosexuality should be criminalized.

You should actually go to jail for being gay. So we're trying to see how he's going to govern. We know that he introduced the don't say gay law that you see down in Florida. He introduced that at the federal level. But he also thinks that abortion should be complete. no exceptions banned nationwide, and he was one of the major architects of the overturning state electoral college votes, which in Wisconsin, we know all too well because our dumb senator, our senator, I'm sorry, Ron Johnson was one of the people trying to give those

fake electors to the vice president. We only did it for like five minutes. Yeah, it doesn't count then, right? It's totally safe. There's a five-minute rule when you're doing crime. Yes. So we're going to, he will be, I think, helpful in that, you know, Kevin McCarthy was kind of like valueless, right?

He was flavorless jello, whatever he was next to you. He tasted like. This guy, we know what he tastes like. He's a rabid, conservative. He's a Christian nationalist. He's a lot of things that should make people around the country pretty scared. And I think at least by having him be that face, It does help us to talk about all Republicans.

And in Wisconsin, you know, we've got a number of them we're trying to beat. Yeah, he was unanimously elected by his party. They all own him. They all own the fascism that he's going to espouse. This one is for everybody here. So you all have obviously very diverse jobs. What is one win from your jobs that you're especially proud of? And we'll start with you.

Well, I'm relatively new to my job, as some people might have heard. And so being kind of the new kid on the block and looking at kind of our big accomplishments, for me, it's we stop Scott Walker's power grab and saving the State Treasurer's Office. And, you know, he was trying to get rid of an important check and balance because that's how they believe

is like consolidating power. And they're trying to do it again with this office, the Secretary of State. They're like, what can we take away? How can we take more away from the people of Wisconsin? And in this role, we're just not going to let them do it. that. You know, okay, so when it comes down to a win, it's hard to pick one, right, but just

recently over the summer, working with Democrats, Republicans, as well as the Governor Evers, we were able to get a 0.4% local option sales tax pass for Milwaukee County. And that was huge, not just for us, but it also increased shared revenue for local communities all across the state. Just to put that in perspective, we were facing about a $30 to $40 million annual deficit year after year. So we were going to have to cut many of our programs and services that so many people rely on. But because of this 0.4% sales tax, we've reduced our structural deficit from $100 million five years from now to about $25 million five years from now. So it's some great work happening to get Milwaukee County really excited about it.

So for us would be Joe Biden winning, not just Wisconsin, but becoming president with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House. Because in that last session, we got ourselves out of COVID. We got shots into people's arms and people into jobs and checks into pockets. We invested in infrastructure for presidents, Democrats and Republicans talked about it. Joe Biden and the Democrats got it done. So we're fixing roads and bridges and water delivery systems, broadband, 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations. Then we passed a bill, Chips and Science Act, so we're making things here in the United States again. So computer chips in particular, but we only make about 12% of the chips we use.

There was why it was hard to get cars during COVID. And then finally, the Inflation Reduction Act that's helping reduce the cost of energy and health care, doing things like capping out-of-pocket expenses for people on Medicare to $2,000. capping insulin at $35 for people who need that on Medicare and a whole lot more. So we actually got more done last session with Joe Biden as president and the Democrats in Congress than every other term I've been in Congress. So that was a pretty big win. And I would add, I would add if I could, we're now at 14 million jobs added.

Democrats also reauthorize the Vance Against Women Act, also passed the PACT Act for Veterans Health Care, also codified Maryland. equality into federal law, and we have the longest stretch of sub-4% unemployment in my lifetime in modern American history. So a lot of big wins here. But before we go, we would love to invite Wisdom's fearless leader, Ben Wickler, back up on the stage to give us his feelings on the road to 24. We're just here for one year out. Come on out, Ben. We've got this one year to make it or break it. And we just want his thoughts on what we can do to make it a success and what needs from us and how we can move forward. So we're, get out of your way, you do your thing.

Thank you. Let's give a giant round of applause to Lee and Brian. We are so grateful that you come to Wisconsin. This is the first live theater event that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has ever done and that they've ever done together and they're doing it with us tonight. We're so, so grateful for your presence, for your energy, for the way you spread the word and activate the whole country. Could we also give a round of applause to the folks? working at tonight's event. The workers here at the Manona Terrace Convention Center to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin staff

who've made this work. Thanks to everyone who traveled from near or far to be in the audience tonight. And also a giant thank you to Leader Newbauer, leader Neubauer, leader Egard, to Secretary of State Gunlouski, to Congressman Pocan, to County Executive Crowley. This has been such a fun night.

And it's at such a critical moment. So we are one year out, And I think Republicans have figured out that Wisconsin is really, really, really important. That sound you hear is the sound of Republicans who have decided to draw a huge red circle around the state of Wisconsin. They put their first presidential primary debate here in Wisconsin. They noticed that we were voting early, an absentee, and that it was working, and they decided that they would try to catch up with early voting. they launched a Bank Your Vote program and a Republican National Committee

announced the pilot state where they would roll out this new strategy would be Wisconsin. They put their national convention in Wisconsin. I know they got the idea from us Democrats and it's a good idea. It didn't quite work out the way we'd expected in 2020, but they put

their national convention here because they know that this state is the gateway to the White House. And make no mistake, the possibility that Trump could win in 2020, is very, very real. I know. It's terrifying to think that after an insurrection,

after an attempt to overturn our system of democracy, after years now of just lying about it constantly and saying that the entire Constitution should be suspended to put him into power, that he could possibly be considered viable at all. But it could very easily go his way. We won by this much in 2020, by six-tenths of one percentage point,

20,682 votes. And they want to steal the next election if they can't win it. So they're coming for our state and it's not just President Trump. They're going to try to defeat Tammy Baldwin. Tammy Baldwin, our dynamite senator, no announced opponent yet.

You can see why they wouldn't want to run against her, but there are two incredibly wealthy Republicans who are currently right now running shadow campaigns. They've hired Ron Johnson staffers. They're crisscrossing the state. They have enough money to sell. self-fund. And because of that, they have taken Ron Johnson's advice, which he's said to the press that he thinks this is the right strategy because it's how he won in 2010. Don't announce

until late in the election year because then no one has time to scrutinize you. They don't have to file personal finance disclosures this year because they haven't announced their campaigns. So we expect them to announce at some point, probably one of them, they'll probably make some kind of deal. But that Senate rate, cannot be taken for granted. And if we don't win Senator Tammy Baldwin's re-election, Republicans have a very clear shot at a U.S. Senate majority. So we have to reelect Tammy Baldwin. And there's the U.S. House where there are two Republicans currently sitting in districts that we could absolutely win in 2024. That's the first congressional district. And that's

Ellen Holly from the Walworth Thames and other Walworth Thames are here. You're part of that. Yes, a whole bunch of Walworth Dem heroes. First congressional district, Paul Ryan's old district is now more competitive than it's been in a very long time. We could flip that seat and Derek Van Orden, the guy we were looking at and trying to figure out which teenagers he hadn't screamed at, which is a smaller list. He's up for reelection too. So the U.S. House majority, the U.S. Senate majority, and the White House depend on Wisconsin in 2024. And there's a risk of a Trump trifecta and there's the possibility of a Democratic trifecta and there's something else that we haven't had in more than a decade, which is a shot to actually achieve

the status of being a democracy by winning state legislative majorities on fair maps in Wisconsin. Our hosts, we're joking that the cheering for the possibility of fair maps is like a very low low bar, but it is revolutionary in our state. There was an international study that called Wisconsin a democracy. democracy desert. It compared Wisconsin, I think, to Bahrain and Syria in terms of the level of representativeness of our government. You might remember the Syrian Civil War from recently. The way Republicans have rigged our state is so obscene that the Princeton gerrymandering project

made an index of partisan gerrymanders and the number two partisan, most partisan gerrymandered chamber in the United States is the Wisconsin State Assembly and number one is the Wisconsin State Senate. It's the worst. It's the key to their power. But because we have a state Supreme Court now that actually believes in the Constitution and democracy and freedom and justice,

there's a chance that this could change, which means that not only will we be fighting to prevent catastrophe in this election, we will be fighting for the possibility of democracy, for the chance to actually have a state that represents the people, where, as it says in the Capitol, as fighting Bob LaFal

it said more than a century ago, the will of the people shall be the law of the land. All of that is on the ballot in 2024. So we've got one year, and we know what to do. What to do is organize. In 2017, it was the first year of our statewide organizing program, the first year of our one year to win. We knocked on, I believe, tens of thousands of doors

across the state of Wisconsin. And in 2018, we swept every statewide election for the first time since 1982. in 2019 we had a one year to win organizing moment this is my first fall as chair we crisscrossed the state we knocked on doors of voters throughout our state turned out to be the last big door knocking campaign of that election on the democratic side but we managed to stop republican supermajorities and win the presidential election in the tipping point state for joe biden and kamala harris that was 2020 2021 we organized a one year to win statewide organizing push combining the virtual organizing from 2020, with the in-person organizing from 2018. And again, 2022, for the first time since 1962, we elected, we put in back in the governor's mansion a Democratic governor when there was a Democratic president. We re-elected Governor Evers. We re-elected Attorney General Call. We won the Secretary of State's race and now have Sarah Gadluski in that seat. We won critical races that

ensured that democracy could survive in our state. And now here we are again. This is our fourth one year to win. Tomorrow and Sunday, we have 425 door-to-door campuses launching across the state of Wisconsin. 425 in 58 counties, 115 different municipalities. We will knock on the doors of tens of thousands of people. We'll contact huge numbers of people through phone calls, through relational organizing, through every technique that we've developed. This is how we find our next margin of victory. We're talking to people who may not have been Democrats before, but we're enraged by the attacks on freedom, on the freedom to make your own decisions about your own body,

attacks on the freedom to be part of a democracy. We're talking to new voters. In our state Supreme Court race, 29,000 people voted for the first time in Wisconsin in their lives. It's amazing. Supreme Court races are not normally where people start their journey as voters. but that's the energy that we've got in the state. So we're going to take this weekend, sign up, if you haven't yet, for a volunteer shift

or two or three, in every part of the state, our elected officials will kick off canvases and volunteers will hit the doors and we will talk to those voters and we'll take that energy and all that momentum and build and build until the moment the polls close in November of 24. And then, God help us, maybe before midnight, we'll find out. what happened in the Wisconsin election, and we could be the tipping point state yet again for a second term for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, a third term for Tammy Baldwin, for the end of the terms for for Derek Van Orden and Brian Stile, and for a new day in our state

legislature and a new day for democracy. This is a fight that so many people in this room, so many people in our online audience have been waging year after year in times when it seemed as though Wisconsin had fallen off a cliff, when it seemed like it would never be the Wisconsin that once was a national progressive leader, when it didn't have a prayer of becoming the kind of inclusive democracy that would lift everyone up that everyone deserves to live in, but none of us has seen around here for a long time. But in this moment, the possibility is real. It is up to all of us. If you live in Wisconsin, if you're a friend of Wisconsin who can join a virtual phone bank, you have a superpower in the fight for democracy. Because every minute of our

in this place, in this year, is going to be more valuable in the fight for democracy and freedom than almost any person anywhere has ever had. So let's use it. We've got one year to win. Let's go out there and let's win elections that no one thought possible. Thank you all so much. Let's hand it back to our house. Well, listen, you guys, as Ben said, no one is coming to save us. We are the heroes of this story. We have to believe in democracy. and we have to do the work. And I tell people all the time, not caring about politics

does not mean politics doesn't affect you. It means you can't affect it. So it is essential that we all care about politics because at the end of the day, they're the ones deciding our life. It's in every single part of our lives. And if we want to make a difference, then we have to get out there and do it.

So that's why what I love for you guys are doing in Wisconsin, it makes me so thrilled. I'm telling you, we live in California, and I am so jazzed about Wisconsin. I can't even tell you. You guys give me so much hope. And Wisconsin, by the way, should be a model for the rest of the country, not just because of the success of Wisconsin Democrats,

but because of people like you who are here out a year before the election and an off year and just volunteering and making sure that your voices are heard. So thank you to people who are in this room right now. Thank you to people who are watching the live stream. Thank you to people who are listening on podcasts, watching on YouTube. We appreciate it. That is how we win. We have one year to go.

Let's make it worth it. Thank you, everybody. Thank you guys so much. 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 Brian Tyler Cohen.com for links to all of my other channels.