Pod Save America - “Vote Save The Greek.” (LIVE from LA!)

Episode Date: August 19, 2019

The Democratic primary is relatively stable heading into the fall campaign, voters are still trying to define electability, and Stacey Abrams passes on 2020 to focus on protecting the right to vote. Jemele Hill of The Atlantic joins Jon, Jon, Tommy, and Dan on stage at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Amanda Seales joins for a special edition of OK Stop, and Maggie Rogers, Jim James and Best Coast play a round of Pollercoaster Tycoon: Family Feud Edition.

What's up Los Angeles? What's up Los Angeles? Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Jon Favreau. I'm Jemele Hill. I'm Jon Lovett. I'm Tommy Vitor. I'm Dan Pfeiffer. Happy birthday to Jon Lovett.

Thank you. This is what you always wanted for your birthday? Attention. Attention. Thank you, Dan. I thought Lovett would get that. Almost the amount I need to feel happy. All right, let's get to the news.

We are six months out from the Iowa caucuses, and the unofficial Labor Day kickoff of the presidential primary is right around the corner. This is a time when most voters start paying attention, start making up their minds. Here's where the race stands. Joe Biden remains the frontrunner, with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders right behind him. Joe Biden remains the frontrunner, with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders right behind him. Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg right behind them. Cory Booker and Beto O'Rourke right behind them. And another 3,000 or so candidates right behind them. So the race has been largely stable since it began, but we're heading into a fall that includes

more campaigning, more television ads, more, a smaller debate stage, and news this week that the economy may be headed towards an economic downturn or a recession. Dan, you have some people saying it's early, anything can happen, and then you have other people who say, eh, it's actually not that early. Which is closer to the truth about

where this race is right now? How fluid is it? What does history tell us about what we can know about a primary race at the end of August? Which subjective judgment is true, Dan? Yeah. I thought that was a great...

He leaves. That was a great summary of American punditry right there I mean history says that We have a lot can happen before in front of us right at this point in 2008 The leaders in the polls in the Democratic primary was Hillary Clinton by 30 points and in the Republican primary It was Rudy Giuliani by double digits and so a lot Giuliani ended up in. And so a lot can't... Giuliani ended up in greener pastures.

Yeah, yeah. Don't you boo him. Giuliani's in Kiev with a magnifying glass. Just calling into Chris Cuomo repeatedly. So history suggests a lot can change. What I've been really struck by in this race is the point you made, which is that it's been incredibly stable. With the exception of Elizabeth Warren,

it clips in Bernie Sanders for second in the polls. The race has stayed... That's a lot of applause for second place. The polls have stayed basically the same since the beginning. And there's very little undecided vote. So for this to change, the candidates, I think, who are at the bottom of the sort of the middle tier, the ones you mentioned, are gonna have to get to work right now to change the dynamics of the race.

I mean, if you don't, if you're a candidate who doesn't make the debate stage in September where nine candidates, I believe have qualified so far and there's another two or three on the edge, do you think that's it or what? I mean, honestly? Yeah.

Yeah, let's be honest. Yeah, honestly, it would be ideal. It's just us here. A lot of us, yeah. Is anyone listening? Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Tommy, you just spent a few days in Iowa.

Which candidates are... Yeah, cheer for Tommy in Iowa. Cheer for Tommy being in the state of Iowa. A lot of your Instagram followers here tonight. I'm learning a new medium. I thought that was a shout out for Iowa. Which candidates are impressing Iowans right now? And which candidates have the most impressive organizations right now?

So I was there for like four days. I saw Bernie, de Blasio, Pete, Michael Bennett. I hung out with the staffs of Warren, Booker, and Beto. The things that I took away from my trip there was, one, like, in 2016, you were either a Hillary person or a Bernie people, and there was no cross-pollination. It was ultimately like a turnout election, which is weird for the caucuses. This time, everyone's getting a look, and they're going to lots of events. Like, I went to a house party hosted by undecided voters for the Booker campaign. Try to figure out if you would spend an hour of your life doing that on a Wednesday. But the thing that really stuck out to

me was the degree to which the national news narrative was, like, critical this time around. Because when we were in Iowa in 2008 there was you know George W Bush was a thing of the past you could bet on hope you could be excited about your nominee now it's just existential dread about what's coming next so people are everything they talk about is through the prism of electability so um I have to say Warren's field staff was incredibly impressive. If you talk to people who sort of spend more time than I did there, they say that Cory Booker is actually building a good field team. You haven't seen it manifested in the polls yet, but they have some time. Mayor Pete had some huge crowds on a Tuesday at the steak fair.

We walked around, we ate pork chops on a stick, we talked. But you know, look, the story of Iowa is it can ultimately be wide open because of the need for retail politics, but it's just harder this time because you can have a candidate in your living room, but if you don't see them on Maddow the night before, maybe you're not thinking they have a chance. Yeah. Jamel, you wrote a piece in June about how Trump has killed Democratic voters' sense of what's possible. And

this is like what Tommy was talking about. It's about electability. What did you mean by that? And looking at the race today versus when you wrote the piece in June, do you think it's still true? No, I think it's definitely true. And I think Joe Biden, the fact that he's a front runner, speaks to that truth. And I feel like every time I talk about this electability issue, which is very annoying and it's a nuisance, that it is that people feel like I'm unnecessarily banging on Joe Biden. I'm not. But I think when you dig deeper and you talk to people about a lot of the reasons why they support him, it's not because he has the best ideas. It's not because he has the best policies. It's because they look at him as being an old white dude, and who better to beat another old white dude than an old white dude? So it's kind

of... You got to fight fire with fire. Exactly. You know what I mean? So to them, this is Captain America picking up Thor's hammer. Spoiler alert. Sorry. You should have seen the movie. But no, I mean, I think this is what's frustrating for me to watch because I think that part of what can be very invigorating and exhilarating about the political process is energy, is new ideas, is, you know, hearing, you know, from different people and a thought process, a critical thinking process that happens. And I feel like that part of politics has been squelched. And there's been so much focus on how to beat Donald Trump that it has killed the sense of the possible. Right. It's like the reason if the reason you're not going to vote for Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris or Pete Buttigieg or Cory Booker is because your only reason is, well, I don't think they can beat Trump. Then Trump has already won. Yeah. Right. your only reason is, well, I don't think they can beat Trump, then Trump has already won, right?

Because you're supposed to be voting for people who can help change and better the country, and if you're not doing that, you're part of the problem. And so that's why I wrote about, I don't like to give him credit for much, but unfortunately, I think that's what he's stolen from a lot of people. Yeah. I mean, there's something very real there,

which it's the PTSD for lot of people. I mean, there's something very real there, which is the PTSD for Democrats of losing in 2016, which makes us play not to lose instead of play to win. And that is, in sports and in politics, a terrible strategy. So the New York Times wrote a piece this week about Warren,

about the electability thing, again. If you're sitting in the Warren campaign, what do you do about sort of this electability thing again. If you're sitting in the Warren campaign, what do you do about sort of this electability thing that continues to hang out there? Yeah, no, I think it's a good question. And I actually think it goes to what Jemele is saying, which is, yeah, you can make an electability argument.

I actually believe she started to do that. And there was an argument she made in the last debate, which went, you trust me on all these policy matters. Trust me when I say I can win. You think I'm smart. You think I know what I want to do as president. Trust me that I've thought this all the way through. And I think there's value to that. But really what we're talking about is pain, right? There's so much pain. And I think people are trepidatious about the field. I think they're nervous about who to pick because there's so much trauma from 2016, as Dan said. And I think speaking to electability is really speaking to that deeper sense of hurt that people feel that they don't understand their country. They don't understand how someone like Trump could get close to the White House.

And so we come back to that same question we've been talking about for months, which is who can speak to the fundamental fear and crisis of this moment that goes beyond just economics, that goes beyond just electability, that goes to what kind of country we're going to live in, what's going to happen to our democracy, what we're going to do to attack the political rot, the cultural rot, and the pain that people feel. And I think any candidate currently running in Iowa who finds a way to really

make that their case will do better for it, whether they're trying to beat Joe Biden on electability or trying to, I don't know, eat a pork chop. You know what's weird, funny about that, is like ultimately every Stump Speech feels like a greatest hits album, right? Because you hear it so many times.

But I saw Bernie at the fair and it felt like a throwback album. It was like a TBT, right? Which is interesting because he's consistent, but I do wonder if people are, like if you went and saw Chance and you only played Coloring Book, it'd be a good show, but you'd be like the culture has moved on, like, if you went and saw Chance and you only played coloring book, it'd be a good show.

But you'd be like, the culture has moved on. Like, where are the new hits? Groceries is fine, right? But like, what are you telling me about today? And like, I would worry if I were him a little bit. Yeah. I mean, I think there's also, there's an important, you come along with Tommy on his analogies.

You follow him wherever he goes. If you don't like chance, I can't help you. I think just as a historical reminder is that at this point in 2007, no one thought Barack Obama was electable. I was going to say, we had the same electability problem.

And the thing that changed that was winning the Iowa caucus. Winning elections... Which is what Elizabeth Warren said this week, too. She's like, winning is the best way to alleviate concerns. It's literally the only way to define an indefinable term. It's ridiculous. It's all bullshit until people actually vote. Yeah.

I will say, though, like, in 2007, people were worried about taking a risk on Barack Obama. And they thought that Hillary Clinton was the more electable candidate because she was more experienced. I think people in 2008 were a little bit more willing to take a risk because, like Tommy said, George W. Bush was not going to be president again, and so people had this sense of possibility. You made a really great point in your piece, Jamil, which is for a lot of voters, you talked about especially African-American voters, they're going to be very pragmatic about this choice because Donald Trump winning a second term represents, you know, a real existential threat to our country, to people's

lives. And so I do think that like fear sort of pervades this electorate in a way that it hasn't in a long time. Not just fear, but also dread. I think part of the reason, and this is what I mean about this stolen sense of optimism that is very disappointing to kind of witness is, as you pointed out, if you believe, again, Elizabeth Warren has, and I'm just using her as an example, but if you believe these candidates really have good ideas, but it comes back to everybody thinking deep down in the places they don't want to talk about, oh, we'll never elect a woman. We'll never elect, you know, another black president. We'll never, like, that's, that is what is keeping people back. And I think one of the really sad things about, you know,

oppression and racism and all those other things is that you eventually adopt the mindset of the people who exercise those principles. So black people in many ways are, because Joe Biden carries, you know, the largest black support of any candidate. But part of the thinking of why that is the case is because they also have adopted this thinking that leadership, the only leadership that will be electable in this country is white leadership. And that's kind of sad to see that being stolen from people, not being able to believe that we can have leadership that looks different in this country. If we did it, you know, just literally

a few years ago, why couldn't we do it again? But that's just how deep-seated this pain really is. And I also think it's worth remembering, too, that what electability is, is thinking to yourself, what will other people think? It's what is someone else going to do in that voting booth? It's saying, I want people to judge. I want Cory Booker. I want Kamala Harris. But after what I saw before, based on what I'm seeing now, I don't trust my fellow citizens anymore. I don't trust them anymore because of someone like Donald Trump getting close to the Oval Office., I don't trust my fellow citizens anymore. I don't trust them anymore because of someone like Donald Trump getting close to the Oval Office. And I don't understand how you overcome that mistrust because in some ways it's legitimate.

It's legitimate. It's a legitimate fear. This is the most important presidential election in history. The New York Times did a piece about these concerns about Elizabeth Warren and someone quoted in a piece said, if it were up to me, I'd vote for Warren. Well, it is up to you. Right. Hey, you're up to you, right? Hey, you're going to the fucking polling booth.

Well, so here's the good news about this. I think Warren and all the candidates, Warren, Kamala, every candidate who's not the frontrunner, who's not Joe Biden, have played it really well because they don't, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, who does talk about electability quite a bit, they don't actually talk about electability a lot. They just show it.

And I think the best thing, the way to overcome electability is to show that you're electable and not tell. And there was polling this week that shows that 57% of Democrats are now saying that Warren can probably beat Trump, and that's up from 14, that's up 14 points since June. And, you know, Biden is still in the lead with 65%, but that number hasn't changed over the

last couple of months. And Warren's actually rising a little bit. And so, you know, she might be doing something right there. I do want to talk about Joe Biden. He's had a relatively light schedule in August. And some allies are reportedly advising his campaign to scale back his appearances in order to reduce his gaffes dan is this smart well it's now the campaign says this is not true we should say but that's what was reported it if there were people who were advising him to do that they should not do that and if those people advising him are telling the press are advising him those are bad advisors but i think to be fair to fair to Joe Biden on two points, we have known Joe Biden a long time.

We have a lot of great personal affection for Joe Biden. We worked with him. The fact that he is making gaffes or making verbal misstatements is not something that is necessarily related to his age. This has been part of his... I'm not being mean about it. He is someone who...

That's funny people will take that as a backhanded compliment, but it's a real one. But that is something he has done for a long time. He has actually, for much of his career, turned that into a political strength as an example of his authenticity and that he speaks off the cuff and not off a teleprompter. But I think that his light schedule has more to do with the fact

that his campaign is dependent on big money fundraisers than online fundraising. He has to leave Iowa to come to LA and San Francisco and New York to raise money because he does not have the grassroots fundraising base of all these other candidates. There's a story in the New York Times which said his five best online fundraising days of this campaign were in his first week.

So Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris to a lesser extent can stay in Iowa and New Hampshire and campaign because they can raise money online. He's got to leave to raise money the old-fashioned way. I mean, he can't even repeat his own website, right? So... But you know what?

That's going to make... That makes online fundraising tough. Here's the thing, though. Like, that's Joe Biden, right? And I think that his campaign has to make him as available as possible to the press, do as many events as possible. Like, the only way out is through for him. You know, like, I think he's got to be out there. make him as available as possible to the press, do as many events as possible.

The only way out is through for him. I think he's gotta be out there, and he's gotta lean into the gaffes, right? This is me, I say things wrong a lot, I screw up, that sort of thing. But you know me, you love me, you know who I am, you know where my heart is. I think he has to be, the more he sort of pulls back

because he's worried about the gaffes, I think the worse it is for him. He's gotta like. It's the same thing with the age, right? Like the best politicians turn their weaknesses into strengths. Right. And his age is right now political weakness, but his experience could be a strength that he can bill it as both that experience is the best way to beat Trump and the best way

to bring stability and security back to this country. The age question is important because it's, I don't think we all talk about it as openly and honestly as we might in the media but i you know i was sitting there across from a like a 70 year old woman who was saying i don't think that i should be president i think i should someone younger than me should do it and i do think that a lot of the questions about gaffes or misstatements or slowing down are proxies for this age question you don't hear that about people who are just a few years younger than him like. Or Bernie who's older.

Bernie Sanders or Warren who does not seem like someone who's 70 years old by any stretch. Well I think it comes down to does he seem too old? That's what we're talking about. Does he seem too old to be president? And the thing is, it's not just about winning the primary, and I don't know, maybe you can win the primary by scaling back events and by trying to minimize gaps by doing less things.

But I don't think, well, whatever the case is, the point is not to win the primary. The point is to win the presidency. And Donald Trump is a, you know, a fearsome adversary. He is going to make, he's going to stand in front of a microphone in front of his audience of fellow Americans for two hours. And he is going to ramble inconsistently and incoherently, and he is going to make lots of vicious negative attacks that are going to blanket across the news. He's going to feed off of that energy, and he's going to do it every day, and he's going to sit on top of an incredibly sophisticated political organization backed by billionaires

and the Republican National Committee. That is going to require somebody who is going to be able to— And the Russians. As if this part of the game wasn't hard enough. And we're going to need somebody who's able to go toe-to-toe with that person every single day, ready to fight him every single day. And so if Biden wants this story to go away, he needs to campaign hard every single day, and he'll have to do it no matter what. I will just say, Lovett, what you just said is the reason for all of us not to?

Completely throw away the idea of electability because what you just did is you made an electability argument against Joe Biden of course And I'm just saying like with there there has become a thing like we shouldn't talk about elected But no it's it the problem is that you it's hard to judge electability, but we're not talking about electability But I'm not saying here, I'm saying these things because I'm talking about what a candidate will or will not do on the campaign trail and what that candidate will face. I'm not trying to put myself in the heads of a swing voter because that's hard to...

You're saying who could actually be on stage next to Donald Trump. Yeah. Yeah, and the important part of that is you can judge, you can make a decision, a theory of the case about what the best candidate qualities are to take on Trump. But to do that, you have to widen the aperture because the problem with electability is you put it yourself in the minds of people and all the pundits put themselves in the minds of white people in the Midwest. And we don't ever ask the question in the terms of younger voters or voters of color or non-voters all over this country.

Or, I don't know, there are black people who actually live in the Midwest. Right. all over this country. Or, I don't know, there are black people who actually live in the Midwest. Right. That is actually a thing. You know, who knew? I will say this, though.

I do think part of, if I may make a sports analogy here. Please don't. Please don't. Love it or stale. Look. So Joe Biden feels a little bit like what has happened in college basketball when you have a player, unlike the rest of them, that like, you know, the really good players leave after one year. One and done, right?

But if you're a senior or you're a junior, you give them more time to pick apart your game. And unfortunately, Joe Biden has been in politics, you know, since the horse and buggy. And so because of that, he was unfortunately a politician during some times where there was racial segregation. There was issues that look much differently now than they did then. And he's on the record for some stuff. And these gaffes would be way easy to minimize if Joe Biden just learned two words, I'm sorry. That's all he has to do. Like we realized that it was a different time that most of us are smart enough to understand that part of it, but he is still doubling down on dumb things. And that's, what's getting him in trouble. It's not the age. Okay. Because again,

he's in a race with Bernie Sanders. I mean, Donald Trump's 3000 years old. I mean, it's not that part of it that should actually work for you. It's just his lack of accountability for when he was, for earlier in his year as a politician that to me is really undercutting him in this primary season. Okay, we will be back with more news right after a game. game. Now it's time for OK Stop. We'll roll a clip. The panel can say OK Stop at any point to comment. And to help us play, she's a writer, comedian, actress, and host of NBC's Bring the Funny.

Please welcome back Amanda Seals. Over there. Oh, yeah. Hey, Jamerrill. Welcome to the track suit. Thank you. We love the track suit. And I didn't hear a gay lilt in that voice, but I'm assuming it was there.

Have you ever been to a concert for a band you really don't like, but everyone at the concert is huge fans of the band, so when they play a song you think is awful, the crowd goes nuts, and you look around and say, how are we so different? How do you like this? What is music? Why do we like it? Why do rhymes feel good? Does anything feel good? What is pleasure? Anyway, Donald Trump had a rally on Thursday, and boy, did some of his fans love it. Let's roll the clip. It's a big decision. Do we give up the greatest theme, phrase, logo, whatever you want to call it in the history of politics, risky, for a brand new one? Because make America great again, we're really sort of there, and we have a little time left. Okay, stop.

Yeah, we're there. We got it. We're there. Mission accomplished. Good job. Mission accomplished. What job. Mission accomplished. What the fuck was that? What was the whistling? Was he calling a cab? What the fuck was that?

Risky. Risky. Risky. I know you like me, and this room is a love fest. Stop. Stop. Hey, time out. is a love fest. I know that. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

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Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. I just have sounds like when I watch this it just makes me want to be like Like I don't have a lot because I'm just meeting him at his energy and his energy Lacks anything of intellect, but he's actually right about that and that's what screws me. That's what freaks me out

He's actually right about that. They love this fool. They fucking love him Why They fucking love him Why? But you have no choice but to vote for me Because you're 401ks Down the tubes Everything's gonna be down the tubes Okay, stop, stop, stop, stop Your campaign pitch cannot be Shit is fucked up

And I fucked it up But still vote for me Because I'm all you got Like, who does that? I thought the same thing I was like I don't get like if there's a recession before the election that that's your fault but they're still like yeah that's like you're that's like a guy telling you or a significant other or wherever romantic relationship say you know what I ain shit. I'll cheat on you. I won't do shit for you, but you ain't got

no other choice. Come with me. At least I'm honest. I want you to know that I appreciate that you decided to de-gender that, but I think it was gendered. I'm sorry. I tried. In a good way. Only a man would say that.

So I thought it was fine. You're right. Whether you love me or hate me, you gotta vote for me. Okay, stop. Okay. Chilling. So, I feel quite validated by that. Let me tell you why. Not in a

personal way. No. But, we've talked about this a few times. That has been his That was supposed to be his under message, right? Which is, listen, I'm terrible. I'm disgusting. But the economy is doing okay. Things are pretty good. Don't mess with something that's working.

So it's interesting to see him get fully explicit. Basically just saying. But it's a weird thing to say in a week where there's news that we may be headed into a recession. But that's why he's doing it. Here's the thing. You're missing. He watches Fox. Oh, yeah.

That's true. He doesn't know. Dow finally hit 36,000 on Fox yesterday. The Monopoly man's throwing cannons. Everybody won a beauty contest on Fox. Oh, yeah. Before the election, our factories were closing. Hey, who knows it better than you?

You're like central casting for the closing of factories. Okay, stop! What does that mean? What? First of all, it's such a specific reference. This is such a SAG-AFTRA reference. His audience, there's a hush that happens because there was science. People were like, central casting, what is he?

I'm not really. He's so out of touch, but yet in touch with the fact that, like, he can just say whatever. He's just pulling his dick out. And they're like, can I suck it? Like, it's. But, but, but, this is my problem with Democrats. Because. What we do.

Nothing. That's my problem. None of our Democrats are willing to pull their dick out. And I'm saying, if it's not a dick, like, pull out a titty. But I just, I need to see. I think you're forgetting the Clinton administration. Touche. But that's exactly how he won.

Because playing saxophone on the Arsenio Hall show Is pulling your dick and balls out Okay But my point is that He's so extreme And if you want drastic change You have to create drastic change You have to do something drastic

And none of our Democrats that are currently out here Are drastic They're simply just like bland They're unseasoned chicken Go on. Grants are now the party of high taxes, high crime, open borders, late term abortion and socialism. The Republican Party is the party of freedom. We are the party of the American worker, the American family and the American green.

Okay, stop. Who is this brown person? I know. I was thinking it. Hey, Amanda, I'm convinced. Amanda, I'm convinced that's a hostage. That's a hostage. I'm like blink twice, go to the light, my man. You know how he got there? Central casting. You know what I'm saying? That dude is not breathing. I know he's not. He's not breathing. I think he's actually holding up today's

newspaper. That's weird. That guy's got a serious weight problem. Go home. Stop. Stop. Stop. I know his misshapen, ill-fit, awkwardly built ass ain't calling somebody else out.

And it was a Trump supporter. Yeah, he called the person the next day because it was a fucking Trump supporter. He's like, listen, you fat piece of shit. I didn't know you liked me. It's only wrong if you like me. This is the same dude putting ketchup on steaks, right? Okay.

He cannot talk about anybody's appearance. He looks like a piece of pizza with the cheese off. What do you think Trump sees when he looks in the mirror? Oh, my God. Not his penis. Do you guys ever worry that okay stop is a little lowest common denominator? Yes. Because I do not.

I am not worried about it at all. And that's okay stop. Amanda Seals, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Back to you, John. Oh, my God.

All right. Oh, boy. Sounds good. All right. Let's talk about some news that was made this week by one of our favorite Democrats in all of politics, Stacey Abrams. So, the former Georgia candidate for governor announced that she will pass on the 2020 presidential race in order to focus all of her efforts on Fair Fight 2020, an organization that she founded to fight voter suppression and expand democracy. Abrams told the New York Times, quote, there are only two things stopping us in 2020, that people have a reason to vote and that they have a right to vote. I've decided to leave it

to a whole bunch of other people to make sure that they have a reason to vote. Tommy, what do you think of Abrams' decision? Is focusing on voter suppression potentially more impactful than either running for president or running for Senate in Georgia, which she also passed on? Good question. Well, I mean, look, I think entering the presidential campaign right now would be a very bad idea for literally anyone, even someone as talented as Stacey Abrams, because you just need time to build an organization, raise money, do all the things you need to do. A lot of us would love to see her be a United States senator, but she said she didn't want the job, so that's totally fine. Now, I think the key point is that she would be governor if not

for voter suppression, right? And so the fact that someone as savvy and smart and amazing as her is going to run an organization that could try to prevent voter suppression around the country is enormously important for almost everyone running in every state. So, you know, the only thing that I have been thinking about is, like, she said she wants to raise $5 million. Like, why not $10? Why not $15? Everyone in this theater right now could help her build the biggest organization we've ever seen so yeah yeah

i think it's an incredibly important job and i'm glad she's taking it on yeah and i should just say so um abrams organization is it's basically going to provide technical and financial assistance to democratic voter operations in 20 states uh it's said, it's going to cost $4 to $5 million. They're going to help fix inaccurate voter rolls, address shortages of voting machines and provisional ballots, formalize rules around counting absentee ballots. They're even going to help make sure that communities of color are participating in the census. So they're working on everything all over the country, which is really great. Dan, what can Democrats learn from the campaign and the organization that Stacey Abrams built in Georgia?

Because we often talk about how it's really hard to persuade some Obama-Trump voter in the Midwest, but it's going to be a lot easier to actually go out and register voters and expand the electorate. And Stacey Abrams actually did expand the electorate in Georgia. So what can Democrats learn from that? I think the lessons of Stacey Abrams' campaign, other than running against a corrupt, crooked secretary of state with access to the voter rolls, is that you start organizing very, very early. You go everywhere. You talk to everyone. There is no pocket of unregistered or unlikely voters that is too small for you to talk to. Stacey Abrams didn't, like the bulk of the Democratic vote in Georgia is in Cobb County, is Atlanta.

But she did more than that. The reason she got more votes than any Democrat in history was she campaigned everywhere. Everywhere where there was any chance she could get any small handful of votes, she was there, she had an organization getting those people. And I think what she's doing is so important

because in Washington, there are skyscrapers full of Republicans whose only job is to fuck up our democracy. And it is nice that we finally have one person in the Democratic Party who is taking it upon herself to recognize that all the things we talk about, universal healthcare, free college, naming a fucking post office,

none of those things will happen unless we fix our democracy. And that starts in 2020. So, Jamel, one of Stacey Abrams' achievements in Georgia was turning out a record number of black voters. So she changed the electorate. So you used to try to – Democrats basically assumed they would have the black vote, and then they would try to get moderate white voters, and that's basically the path in Georgia.

Stacey Abrams changed that. She tried to basically expand the electorate, boost black turnout as much as possible, and then she also campaigned in rural areas with plenty of poorer white people. So in the 2016 election, black turnout declined for the first time in 20 years. A lot of this had to do with voter suppression. Some of it had to do with the fact that Barack Obama wasn't on the ballot for the first time in eight years. What do you think that the Democratic presidential candidates and the party itself has to do in 2020 to match basically what Abrams did in Georgia all over the country? Well, I mean, here's the thing. I think her strategy is sound in the sense of she's not, I mean, while I think flipping voters who may have

gone another direction is part of it, but I don't think she emphasized that as much as maybe other candidates might have. I mean, there's a lot of energy, a lot of conversation in this Democratic field about flipping that Trump voter. Well, sometimes you can't negotiate with terrorists, right? So the best way to combat that is to get more people to vote. And a lot of it was just appearing, as you said, appearing in places where people weren't used to having that one-on-one interaction with people, registering and empowering voters who didn't really feel like they were a

part of the political process. I mean, I can't speak for all black people, but I will for the purposes of this stage. The choice that most black people made was, okay, I may not be feeling Hillary, but I'm not voting for a racist, so I'm staying home. So you have to get the people who decided to stay home to come out, and what is it that will energize them? What is it that will inspire them? And a lot of what they will be inspired by is feeling some level of connectivity and hope within the candidate, and she tapped into that. And, you know, there's a lot of research that shows that young, I mean, millennial voters, especially black millennial voters could be our untapped resource.

And you have to figure out beyond just, okay, saying you'll cancel student loan debt. What is the conversation that you can have with black millennials that will inspire them to be a part of the process? Because the other downside of 2016 is that it made people more disillusioned and made them feel particularly with, oh, I don't know, the Russian tampering, as if their votes didn't actually count. So now you add the voter suppression to it.

And so you have to figure out a way to let people know that you are mining this process. And that's why Stacey Abrams, what she's doing is really important. The Republicans played the long game on voter suppression, okay? And Democrats fell asleep at the wheel. There's no question about it. If people know that there is a concerted effort to try to combat that,

I think it will do a lot in regards to connecting with the voters who feel like their vote, quote, doesn't matter. So Trump and the trump campaign apparently already is handing out literature in black barbershops right now they're doing micro targeting on who he's sending to a black barbershop can you imagine who is he sending to the black barbershop i think we should take i'm sorry we should take a moment to just recognize that they are brave yes we don't have to like them, but let's be honest. I need video because I don't believe that for a minute at all.

But go ahead. So they're doing that. They're micro-targeting on Facebook. They're doing all this digital advertising. It doesn't seem like the strategy of the Trump campaign is to win the black vote. They know they can't do that. But it seems like they're going to try to do what they did in 2016, which is basically say, yeah, we know that you don't like Donald Trump, but the Democrat is bad too. Maybe you should just vote for a third party or stay home. How do Democrats deal with

that dynamic? Yeah, I mean, look, so first of all, one thing just to add on Stacey Abrams is the other thing she did is she ran an incredibly progressive and unabashedly progressive race in Georgia that excited a lot of people and gave people a lot of reason to come out and vote for her, to believe in her. She got out there and she organized, but then she gave them a reason. She gave them a reason to be excited and to help. That's his strategy across the board, and it's sophisticated,

and it is to go into every crevice in every community and plant a little seed of doubt, plant a little bit of fear, plant a little bit of hate, plant a little bit of dissatisfaction, and to try to chip away just enough, right? That's part of how he became president, not just by turning out white voters in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan, but also doing his best to, and with the help of a lot of misinformation, antagonize black communities, get just enough people to stay home. That's the strategy. That's it. It's there. And he's going to do it again.

And I think sometimes we allow Trump's lack of sophistication to lull us into a sense of security. And I think some of that was in the coverage of 2016 about how, oh, you know, Jared is this wunderkind, and obviously that's stupid because he's not.

But, you know, Dan talks about this all the time, just how sophisticated an organization that they're putting together. And I think we underestimate it at our peril. They will be everywhere and we need to be everywhere too. And we can't take any reliable Democratic vote for granted because we just have to assume

maybe this is going to be a blowout, but we have to assume it's not, which means it's not just about winning the places where we have people. It's about preventing tiny losses everywhere because we'll win or lose on the margins. I think in the mind of the Trump campaign, in an ideal world,

they would love to shave one or 2% off the African-American vote for the Democratic nominee. That's actually how Bush won in 2004, was over-performing with African-American voters in Ohio. But what he's really doing is, when he campaigns for the black vote, he's not really campaigning, he's really campaigning for the white vote.

It is part of a strategy to show white voters that he is not as racist as we say he is. Now that is undermined every time he opens his mouth, but that is the, like that's the idea on the white board, and I mean the term white board. How do you think that we reach a lot of these voters? Because right now, Dan, you complain about this all the time, Donald Trump is spending an enormous amount of money,

his campaign, on digital ads, on Facebook ads. I remember when we talked to Stacey Abrams and we interviewed her, she was like, the typical strategists in the Democratic Party were telling me in my campaign, oh, you gotta be up on TV, you gotta be up on TV, and what I did is invested a ton of money in organizing and digital strategy. Do you think that Democrats are heading down that path?

Do you think we need to go there faster? This is for you to start screaming about. I think that some campaigns, particularly Kamala Harris' campaign, have thought a lot about this, and that's in part because that is her strategy to win the nomination, right? Like, that is the vote she needs if she's going to overtake Warren or Biden,

whoever else. But we can't wait to have a nominee because we are not going to have a nominee, most likely, until June, under the most ideal scenario, June. And so it should be happening right now. And I think what that is is... A woman here just gasped. Yeah. On a later show, we'll talk about ideal scenario June. And so it should be happening right now. And I think what that is is.

A woman here just gasped. On a later show we'll talk about what the increased odds of a brokered convention, but. Yeah, not tonight. So I think it's twofold, right? It is organizing that is happening in communities right now. It is not waiting for a nominee or a general election.

Because normally that organizing starts in the summer and fall of 2016, or of the presidential election year. But it is also digital advertising because if you think you're going to reach young people, and particularly young people of color, by doing CNN interviews and doing interviews in the New York Times, you have fucking lost your mind. What? Really? Yeah. If you want to speak to old white people who have already made their decision That's a good way of doing that The other thing that we should just know is that there are some state parties that are doing a better job than others And I think that the Wisconsin Democratic Party Understands that they underperform in Milwaukee and that we need to prioritize

Sending much organizers to Milwaukee early and like being those communities early on and not wait till the very end Yeah, just one stat that I think should just both give people hope and make you want to bang your head against the wall Exciting which is Trump Trump won by 70,000 votes across three states like that's what made him president Across the country. There were four million people who voted for Barack Obama 2012 Who didn't vote in 2016. And a lot of studies show that that is a disproportionately large group of people of color, African-Americans and Latinas. And I mean, I think when you think about that population, like there's this feeling, and you see it on Twitter, you see it on cable sometimes, that if Democrats just adopt very

progressive policies, these voters will suddenly say, okay, well, I'm going to go vote now, even though I didn't vote in 2016. And the truth is about these voters is they are more cynical about government and about politics and about the possibility of politics improving their lives than almost anyone. And so I feel like getting these voters out to the polls requires a lot more than just, you know, spending money and taking policy positions. Like, I think it takes real organizing in those communities. Here's the problem I think that Democrats are facing is like all the things that young people like. And by the way, I feel super old by like theorizing on what young people like because that's what old people do.

because that's what old people do. But all the things that young people tend to, that invigorates them about politics are things that the older establishment in the Democratic Party does not like. You know, the reality is that the younger people that they want to vote like AOC a whole lot more than they like Nancy Pelosi. That's just the reality, right?

Because AOC is real and she's authentic. And what they don't get from a lot of these politicians is authenticity. And that's the part that they connect with. And, you know, you're not going to be able to energize people if you're sounding like moms on Facebook. And a lot of these Democrats kind of sound like mom on Facebook, like, oh, okay. Yeah, because they are, right? They're just like, tell me, teach me about that new dance the kids are doing. It's like, no one hear that shit. So I would say if they know, rather than look inauthentic by trying to act cool and speak the lingo of the young voters, I think the digital campaigns are smart, but they also have to tap people that the young people listen to. So if that means in North Carolina, Kamala Harris,

you got to call J. Cole, call J. Cole and ask him to do some campaigning on your behalf if you're in Atlanta. Because that's the other thing that happened with Stacey Abrams. You had Killer Mike, you had a lot of, you had T.I., you had them mobilizing people, young people who listened to them. And they, because they co-signed her, they came out and voted. And so yeah, if that means you gotta have an ad with 21 Savage, do it. I'd love to see that, by the way. We have two politicians in recent years

that have done an unusual job of exciting young voters and non-voters, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders. And they are ideologically very different. And yet you have these two people who manage... In most ways. Yeah, many ways different. Different bagel orders, I assume. Obama orders lox, hold the bagel. Yeah, no bagel.

Seven almonds with lox. But I think what they both have in common is they represented change, and in everything they did in their campaigns, and continuing to do with Bernie and his campaign, is convince you that they mean what they say and that they genuinely represent a movement seeking the kind of change people want. And they do that with authenticity. They back it with their character. They back it with their policies. They back it with their way of speaking about the country.

And I think it's just, you know, we're not doing this in a vacuum. We have examples. We can learn from what people are doing. And the last thing I'd say on this is, and the other similarity between Sanders and Obama is, you know, Sanders' slogan right now is, not me, us, which Barack Obama said all the time, is both of them understood, and I think Elizabeth Warren gets this, I think a lot of the candidates get this right now, is the need to build a movement, right? Is that you have, this election is going to be won, I know this is a cliche, but it is going to be won on the ground in these communities with people knocking on doors. People don't buy television ads as much as they used to anymore.

They want to know what their neighbors are thinking, what their friends are thinking, what people in their communities are thinking. When we get to this election, knocking on doors, talking to your neighbors, talking to your friends, that's going to be the way we win this election. That's going to be it. Alright, when we come back, we'll have a game.

And we're back. I'm standing. Now it's time for a game. Los Angeles. I guess I'm walking over here. My people. We spent a lot of the year on the road, traveling around America, sampling the cheese curds,

partaking in Malort and Franklin's barbecue, discovering how wrong I was about Connecticut pizza. But L.A. is our home. This is where I grab a poached salmon over bamboo rice with Allison Pill and Jules from Euphoria before riding a bird scooter through the McDonald's drive-thru on my way home. Because In-N-Out is bad. We still love you. Do you? Some people mock this city.

But the truth is, L.A. isn't all cocaine and terrible bagels. In fact, this town has always also been home to some of the most politically intelligent folks there are. And by politically intelligent, I mean people who pay like two grand to go to a fundraiser at Elle Fanning's house in Brentwood so you can beg Chastain for Mayor Pete's life rights to make the inevitable limited series on Hulu or, fingers crossed, Quibi. Who was that for? It was for Travis. It was for Travis. But you know what?

Tonight we're going to prove we're not in a bubble. Tonight we're going to show that there's more that unites us and divides us from the snow-covered lakes of Wisconsin to the sunlit concrete tube we call a river in Los Angeles. So let's play Polar Coaster Tycoon Family Feud Edition. And here to help us are some real Hollywood elites. Our musical guests tonight, Jim James, Maggie Rogers, and Bethany and Bob from Best Coast. Come on up, guys. Welcome. Thank you for being here.

Now, we are going to divide into two teams. Best Coast. Oh, Maggie's over here. Jim James. Jim James is over there, too. Jim James. How you doing? Hi.

Hi. Good to see you. Thanks for being here. Hi. Hi. Hi. Good to see you. How are you? All right.

We're old pals. All right. Last week, we ran a poll with our friends at Change Research that found that the 2020 So good to see you. Thanks for being here. Hi, hi, hi. Good to see you. How are you? We're old pals. Last week, we ran a poll with our friends at Change Research that found that the 2020 race in Wisconsin is going to be insanely close. There is only a one-point difference right now between Trump and a Democratic candidate. But in the same poll, we also asked for some open-ended, one-word answers from some folks in Wisconsin. And we're going to see how good our players are

at guessing those answers family feud style. Tommy and Jamel, you're on a team with Maggie Rogers and Jim James. Dan and John, you're with Bethany and Bob. Thanks for telling us now. Now I see what happens. Everybody shut up. I'm not a game show host. I do this as a hobby.

All right. What's your job? It's kind of my job. That's weird to realize here. We got him one of those little fin mics. Yeah, a little fin mic. Have your pets spayed and new. Damn it.

Sorry. You beat me. All right. So I'm going to ask a question. We're going to go back and forth trying to guess the answers. At the very end, we'll decide who had the highest ranking answers. You guys ready? Yeah.

All right. All right. We're going to start with Tommy. You guys ready? Yeah. All right. We're going to start with Tommy as the lead of this team. Question one. If Joe Biden were an animal, what type of animal would he be? What do you guys think? Honey bear? Honey badger? Meerkat? Honey bee? Honey badger? Meerkat?

Honey bee? That feels too sophisticated. It's a baboon. Ooh. A baboon? A baboon? You think people haven't seen... I'm in right now.

An otter? An otter. That sounds good. We're going with otter, John. No, it's not Otter. It's Wisconsin, right? You guys are up. Yeah, we talked about it. And?

Dog. Dog. Wow. Way too sophisticated. Back over to Tommy. Give us another guess. Oh, we get to go again? Yeah, family. Fuck man. Okay, um What else I see family fuse only Steve Harvey. Yeah, bear bear bear

They guess bear No, Wisconsin State Animal. Yeah, should we do it? How about badger? Oh. Yeah. OK. Should we do it? Yeah, sure. Sure, sure. How about badger?

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. No, I'm afraid not. Self-hating Wisconsinites. Yeah. You guys won this round, but let's see what the answers were.

At five was cat. Cat. When fucking hyena wins, you're going to owe me. Four was tiger. Fuck. What? Cat. Three was lion.

Oh. These are all boring animals. Two was sloth Little edge little edge on that one. Let's face it and number one was dog All right, whatever right question number two

Which one celebrity who's never been involved in politics would be most likely to impact your vote if they endorsed a candidate? And I will tell you that two of the top answers were none and nobody, so we took those out. John, Dan, Bethany, Bob, kick us off. Celebrity not involved in politics? Are you required by marriage to answer killer sweats? I was going to say Oprah.

Yeah, Oprah. Yeah, Oprah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. John? Oprah. You got it. Nice.

That was a good guess, Oprah. That was a good guess. That was a good guess. That's like Settlers of Catan when there's a really good spot to start on. And it fucks up the whole game. Because it's six, five, nine, and you're like, fuck. That's a lot of wood. You know what I mean? Is this some dorky thing?

Yeah. You guys have to guess still. What do you think? The Rock. The Rock. No, he's been involved in politics. Wait. So is Oprah.

Did you say The Rock or Burak? The Rock. Oh, The Rock. Yeah. I heard Burak. Shut up. Thank you. It's like in politics. Wait. So is Oprah. Did you say The Rock or Burak? The Rock. Oh, The Rock. Yeah. I heard Burak. Shut up. Thank you. It's like The Rock.

Listen. It's like, who hates The Rock? This is rigged. Who is that guy that fucked up at the end of that award show that also hosts Family Feud? Steve Harvey. Yeah. I'm Steve Harvey-ing all over this thing. All right.

We got two. This one's close. This is a tough competition. I would pick Beyonce. Oh, yeah. that's really good yeah that's really good dance dan went with you on this you're okay with this domestically yeah no i am okay we're gonna go with beyonce no what it was wisconsin what do you think? Yeah, I thought she's universal. T-Swift. No. Fuck!

God, man. I'm going to give Maggie, Jim, Tommy, and Jamel one more guess. Just because they got really fucked on the Oprah thing. Because that was just sitting there. Springsteen? Springsteen? Insteen in Wisconsin? That's the most Wisconsin. Come on, Maggie.

Why is that not Wisconsin? It's a collective Jim and Maggie decision. We should have done Giannis. Who should you have done? Giannis? Yeah, that was a good one. No, not on the list. All right.

Five was Ellen. Oh. See, you're like, oh. That's good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, people love the dancing. But if you look at Ellen's eyes, you can tell that she doesn't. Four was Keanu Reeves.

Okay. That's right. That's right, you liberal bubble. John Wick 1, John Wick 2, John Wick 3. Every single one of a hit. How many people on this stage have seen all the John Wick movies? Okay, okay. Wow.

Not really. Always be my maybe. They shoot a dog. I'm not watching that movie. Three was Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Two was Tom Hanks. Oh. Yeah. Just sitting there. Just sitting Johnson. Two was Tom Hanks. Oh. Yeah.

Just sitting there. Just sitting there. I was just sitting there. And number one was, of course, Oprah. So we win. We win. Guys, Bethany, Bob, John, and Dan, you've won the game. That is Polar Coaster Family Feud.

That was fun. I should probably leave the stage But I don't want to Thank you to Amanda Seals Jamel Hill, Jim James, Maggie Rogers And Best Coast Thank you guys Thank you all for coming out Please go to votesaveamerica.com

We have 444 days Until the 2020 election Make all of them count. Thank you. Bye, guys. I don't want to go..