No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Republicans humiliate themselves on international stage

Episode Date: June 9, 2024

Republicans humiliate themselves on an international stage with their response to Biden’s D-Day speech. Brian interviews Vice President Kamala Harris about Trump’s conviction, Senate Republicans blocking a vote to guarantee access to contraception, and her reaction to Byron Donalds yearning for the Jim Crow era.Pre-order Shameless: https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/shamelessShop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're going to talk about Republicans humiliating themselves on an international stage with their response to Biden's D-Day speech. And I interview Vice President Kamala Harris about Trump's conviction, Senate Republicans blocking a vote to guarantee access to contraception, and her reaction to Byron Donald's yearning for the Jim Crow era. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening to No Lie. So Republicans have managed to find a way to tell on themselves, but now they're doing it on an international stage.

So here's what happened. This past week was the 80th,000. anniversary of D-Day, when American troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and would eventually defeat Hitler and the Nazi army. Obviously, a momentous occasion and Biden was on hand to mark the occasion with other world leaders, with Macron, Trudeau, Zelensky, but there was one moment in Biden's speech that apparently set Republicans off. We talk about democracy, American democracy. We often talk about the ideals of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. But we don't talk about it's how hard it is.

How many ways we're asked to walk away, how many instincts are to walk away, the most natural instinct is to walk away, to be selfish, to force our will upon others, to seize power, never give up. American democracy asks the hardest of things, to believe that we're part of something bigger than ourselves.

So democracy begins with each of us. And I'll tell you what, Republicans did not like that. Here's one tweet that pretty much embodies the entirety of the criticism on the right. Eric Erickson wrote, I don't think it was appropriate for Biden to turn the remembrance of D-Day into a political attack on his opponent. Now, I want to be clear. Joe Biden did not once utter Donald Trump's name.

He didn't utter the Republican Party's name. The guy basically just railed against fascism, which would seem fitting, by the way, for a speech celebrating D-Day. and Republicans decided that by virtue of attacking fascism, he was attacking them. Like, you've heard the expression, a hit dog will holler? Not for nothing, but if Joe Biden is criticizing fascists and you feel insulted, then that says a hell of a lot more about you than it does about Joe Biden. But low-rent disinformation peddlers aside, I want to zoom out a little bit. And look, I'm not like a rah-rah patriotism guy.

Like, I'll always support the troops and whatnot, but I'm not going to show up draped in an American flag singing the star-spangled banner, right? Which is why it was so moving then to see these veterans virtually all wheelchair bound going back to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where these guys quite literally saved the world. Like, they saved the world. And it crushes me to know that if the same war happened today, I legitimately don't know which side a whole half of our country would be on.

And it makes me sad for the state of the world to see these heroes who landed on the beaches of Normandy 80 years ago. to know that their own country is now teetering on the brink of the very same fascism that these guys defeated all those years ago. But here's my pitch. Like, I know we spend so much time talking about corrupt politicians and crooked judges and a bot Supreme Court and gerrymanders and voter suppression, insurrections, political violence, and it all feels like the whole thing is scientifically engineered to make you throw your hands

in the air, to make you give up, to make you disengage. But don't capitulate to the bad guys. If ever we needed to draw some inspiration, think about those few remaining World War II veterans who are alive today. Think about what they did to beat the fascists. We don't have to parachute into near certain death on the beaches of France, but we do have to fight. We have to recognize our agency here. We have to do our part. And most importantly, we have to accept that the courts aren't going to save us, prosecutors aren't going to save us, lawyers aren't going to save us.

This one's on us. And the sooner we realize that, the less despairing will feel if and when the Supreme Court pulls one of their stunts. if Trump doesn't get sentenced to prison time or if Republicans are allowed to use a gerrymandered map, price that in, expect the worse. And so if we win on any of those fronts, great, but that's gravy, that's extra. The only thing we should focus on

is what is in our control. And that's what happens at the ballot box. So find one or two or three people, make them your responsibility. It might feel like a small step, but this election is going to be won or lost on the margins, on those small steps. But go into this knowing that we live in a country

that's beaten the fascist before, And that's a reputation that we should have every intention of keeping. Before we get to my interview with the vice president, here's a moment from Biden's speech that I think is worth listening to. I stand here today as the first president to come to point to Hawk when none of those 225 brave men who scale this cliff on D-Day are still alive. None. But I'm here to tell you that with them gone,

the wind we hear coming off this ocean will not fade. It will grow louder as we gather here today. It's not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery on that day, June 6, 1944. It's to listen to the echoes of their voices to hear them because they are summoning us and they're summoning us now. They ask us, what will we do? They're not asking us to scale these cliffs, but they're asking us to stay true to what America stands for. They're not asking us to give or risk our lives, but they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves. They're not asking us to do their job.

They're asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up aggression abroad and at home. to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Here's my interview with the Vice President Kamala Harris. I'm joined now by the Vice President of the United States. Kamala Harris. Thanks so much for joining me. Good to be with you, Brian. Thank you. So, obvious question. You've been a prosecutor. You were a prosecutor for 30 years, almost. Your reaction to the Republican nominee for president being a 34-time convicted felon

and for his party, a party that brands itself, the Law and Order Party, falling over themselves to back him? Well, I mean, let's level set. So six-week trial, 12 jurors of his peers unanimously returned verdicts on 34 felony counts. They reviewed evidence. They reviewed the law. His attorney actively participated in choosing that jury. His defense attorney actively made decisions about which witnesses to call, actively engaged in cross-examining the prosecution's witness. And they returned a verdict. And, you know, I think that when you look at what we've seen as the response from the former president and his allies, I mean, their criticism of a system that is a fair system speaks, I think, badly about how they prioritize the rule of law

in America. You know, the way I break it down is this. I think that. part of what you can attribute to the response that you're getting from him is, you know, cheaters don't like to get caught and they don't like to be held accountable. Switching gears a little bit, Byron Donald's came out recently and kind of perplexingly expressed a kind of nostalgia for the Jim Crow era, notwithstanding the fact that Byron Donald's himself is black, notwithstanding the fact that he's in an interracial marriage. Can you speak on this eagerness to embrace racism that's pervaded the GOP, especially among the unlikeliest of figures. I mean, listen, when I look at just what's happening coming out of

elected officials from Florida, let's just start there. Book bans. You know, now, I mean, the idea in 2024, we have book bans, which have focused on, for example, LGBTQ characters and authors, which are focusing on an attempt to erase, if not rewrite America's history writ large. especially on the issue of race, the origins of slavery, the impact of slavery, and now to have someone perpetuate that kind of approach, which is essentially, again, to attempt to erase or rewrite America's history. It is, I think, inexcusable at the highest level. Donald Trump, too. I mean, this is going all the way up to the top of that party. Donald Trump himself has basically predicated his black outreach by associating people of color with criminality.

Do you think that that's going to be an effective approach as we head toward November? Absolutely not. And it's insulting. Moving over to the issue of Dobbs, of abortion, June 24th is going to mark the two-year anniversary of Dobbs. Republicans just this past week blocked a vote in the Senate to guarantee access to contraception with only Murkowski and Collins crossing over. Can you speak about, I guess, as clearly and definitively as you can, what it would mean for contraception if Trump and Republicans took over? I think that there is, when you look at the blueprint for this, there are a couple things you can understand in terms of who's to blame and what's happening.

You can look at the former Trump's presidency, right? the former president, Trump's, presidency. And when he was presented with the notion of a national ban, said that he would support it and sign it if it came to his desk when he was president. He hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did as he intended,

and he has since bragged about how proud he is of what he did. I also would point to the decision that that court rendered undoing the protections of Roe, taking basic freedoms from the American people. Clarence Thomas, a member of the United States Supreme Court, said the quiet part out loud in that decision, which is that contraception was very much on the table, not to mention Obergefell. So regardless of one's gender, this issue of the taking of a fundamental freedom, the freedom to make decisions about one's own body impacts everyone. And just sit back and think about it again, the notion that in our lifetime, just in the last two years, a basic freedom, literally about house and home, about the freedom to make decisions about your own body has been taken. If that's taken, I would suggest everything is on the table. And for that reason, everyone should be concerned and vigilant about fighting to protect freedoms.

See the stakes at hand and at play in this election in 2024? Because believe, If Donald Trump is president again and a national abortion ban hits his desk, odds on favorite, he signs it. And for all of our friends in California and New York and all these other states that have protected this freedom, don't get too comfortable. Right. A nationwide ban on abortion is a nationwide ban. A nationwide ban on abortion is a nationwide ban on abortion. And contraception, again, Clarence Thomas said that contraception would be seen. There was just a vote in the United States Senate where Republicans, to your point, in the United States Senate, voted to not protect the right to contraception. It's outrageous. It's outrageous. And it should concern all of us. They're basically broadcasting what they're going to do. It's on us to believe them at this point.

You know, Donald Trump specifically kind of enjoys perplexingly this branding as a moderate on this issue. Can you speak about just how conservatively he would rule on the issue of abortion if he became president? Well, you know, there's a saying from Maya Angelou, who famously said, when people tell you who they are the first time, you better listen. He's told us who he is. So let's not fall for the okie-doke. Let's not get distracted. Let's not get gaslighted on this. like, let's just not.

I want to talk about a very tragic story out of Mississippi. There was a 12-year-old girl who was raped. She became pregnant. Her parents weren't sure if she would qualify for the state's exemption to the abortion ban. Even if she was, it's unlikely that any doctor would have performed the procedure given how high the penalties are.

And now, at, you know, 13 years old, seventh grade, she has an eight-month-old child. Can you speak about how commonplace instances, like this would be if, again, Republicans were to take control? I will tell you, you know, that the majority of my career, you've mentioned this, in the beginning of my career, I was a prosecutor. What you may not know is one of the reasons why I became a prosecutor. I had a best friend in high school who I learned was being molested by her stepfather.

And when I learned, I said to her, you have to come and stay with us. I called my mother. My mother said, of course she does, and she came to stay with us. And that's why I decided at a young age, I wanted to do the work that was about, in particular, protecting women and children from violence. So I specialized in my career as a prosecutor, in particular on crimes of violence against women and children, with a particular emphasis on child sexual assault. The notion that any so-called leader would tell someone who experienced a crime of violence, to their body, a violation of their body, that they have no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That's immoral. It's truly immoral. And my heart breaks

when I learned about that story, knowing that that story is sadly not unique necessarily in terms of those kinds of cases happening. And, you know, Brian, I think that we must all agree that one does not have to abandon their faith. You don't have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government should not be telling her what to do with her body.

Right. Right. If you choose, the person will talk with their priests, their rabbi, their pastor, their imam. But it should not be the government telling people what to do. And the harm that has happened in real time since that decision came down two years ago, there are two essential, I think, compelling points about this issue. One, the fact and the notion that such a fundamental right has been taken.

And then what we know we must do, the court took the right. Congress can put it back in place. but the fundamental notion about the taking of freedom. But the second compelling point on this, equally compelling, the harm that has happened every day in America, based on the stories we know, which I know are just a fraction of what's happening every day in America. Imagine, for example, on public policy, I feel so strongly, we can talk in lofty terms about public policy.

One must always ask, how does this affect a real person? So here's the thing. On abortion, the majority of women who get abortions are mothers. In the South, every state except Virginia has an abortion ban. Okay, let's assume there is a mother somewhere in the South who needs abortion care. God help her if she's got paid family leave. God help her if she has affordable child care. God help her if she's got some extra savings to afford a plane or budget.

bus or train ticket. And then imagine what that means. And again, this is what I mean, real life. Like, think about this. So she's got to go to an airport, stand in a TSA line, get on a plane sitting next to a complete stranger or two, because she can't have her best friend with her, because the best friend is taking care of the kids, to go to a city she's never been to get the care she wants and needs to have to go right back and get on that plane because she can't afford to be gone that long. Think about what we're, what we're forcing people to do. The levels of, of harm and the unfairness of this, it's profound. It's profound. It was well said. I want to switch gears a little bit here. Looking at recent Republican primaries,

we've seen 15, 20, 25 percent of voters vote for Nikki Haley. Now, Nikki Haley, is basically just a vehicle for anti-Trump sentiment at this point. I don't think there's some rabid, fanatical Nikki Haley base in the Republican Party. But still, you know, these voters are disgusted enough with Trump to show up at the polls in these primaries and register their dissatisfaction with him. So what's your message to those voters? These Republican-based voters, who, again, are disgusted enough to take time out of their day to cast these ballots against him in their own primary.

Yeah, Brian, I think that for the non-Trump Republican voters, we've been very clear. There's room in our campaign. And, you know, frankly, you don't have to look much further than our opposition, the former president, who has pretty much said he doesn't care about those voters. And we've let them know there's room in our campaign. If you care about democracy, if you care about fighting for freedoms, if you care about rule of law, there's room in our party and in our campaign. for that voter. And there is everything about fighting for democracy, rule of law, fundamental freedoms that is really the highest stakes of this election in November. And we welcome folks knowing that we may not agree on everything. But I think some of the biggest stakes of this campaign and this election cycle are the issues that we agree on. Let's finish off with this. The flip side of that is young voters, progressive voters, who may feel unhappy about the way

the things have progressed in Israel and Gaza, with inflation, with housing, whatever the issue is, who want to show up and kind of cast a vote to punish the Biden-Harris administration. What's your message to those people? I mean, listen, I think, you know, I did a college tour last fall, focused on college-aged folks. So it was universities, colleges, but also trade schools. And one of the reasons I did it is because I wanted to make sure that I would be out in the country where young voters are listening to them. And what I heard were a variety of high priority issues that if you look at the contrast, it's clear we stand with them and Trump does not. For example, I'd ask every group of young people, these young leaders, did you ever have to have an active shooter drill between kindergarten and 12th grade?

Almost every hand went up. Well, we support universal background checks. We support an assault weapons ban. We support red flag laws. We have stood up to the gun lobby. Not so much the other guy. In fact, he basically on this issue says, get over. it. Okay. I'm paraphrasing. You look at it on the issue of the climate crisis. He made, it's

reported, a promise to a bunch of potential donors in exchange for a billion dollars. He'll basically give credits to the big oil companies, right, and tamp back against what we've been doing, which is putting in place rules that prioritize addressing the climate crisis. What we've done in terms of a trillion dollars that we're going to have hit the streets of America over the course of the next 10 years to deal with climate adaptation and resilience, building a clean energy economy. These are the issues, the issues that young voters care about during the height of their reproductive years. The highest court just took a constitutional right.

We're the ones fighting to get it back. The other guy is proud of what he did to take that right. And I could go on down the list. So there are certainly some other issues that we need. need to deal with. I mean, part of the second-term agenda starting now is, again, what we've got to do on getting under control of the housing price, both in terms of affordability to be able to buy a house and rent. We've got to get more work done in terms of what we can do around dealing with access to capital. That's work we've been doing, helping people have a leg up and be able

to start, you know, a family, start thinking about buying a home. and not worrying about debt. That's one of the reasons we dealt with student loan debt against great opposition from the other side. So there are a lot of issues, and we've got to get in front of them. But I hear the frustration, and the examples that you are offering in terms of, for example, what's happening in the Middle East,

I hear that, and I know and agree, we have called for this war to end. We have called for a ceasefire and get the hostages out, get aid in. So I understand we're focused on. coming from. Really do. We'll leave it there. Vice President Harris, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you. Thank you, Brian.

Thanks again to Vice President Harris. One quick note, my new book, Shameless, is available now for pre-order. You all know that I don't do branded products. I don't put my content behind a paywall. I never will. But if you're looking to support my work, this is the one time that I'll ask for some support. So if you want to pre-order shameless, click the link in the show notes or check out Brian Tyler Cohen.com slash book. I really appreciate it. Okay, that's it for this episode. Talk to you next week. You've been listening to No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Produced by Sam Graber, music by Wellesie, and interviews edited for YouTube by

Nicholas Nicotera. If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your preferred podcast app and leave a five-star rating and a review. And as always, you can find me at Brian Tyler Cohen on all of my other channels, or you can go to Brian Tyler Cohen.com to learn more.