The Adam Friedland Show (Cumtown) - DAVID HOGG Talks Parkland, DNC, Saving the Party

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

JOIN THE FRIEDLAND FAMILY FOUNDATION / PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAdamFriedlandShow/join -- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheAdamFriedlandShow -- Buy our merch!: https://theadamfriedland.show/collections/new -- The Adam Friedland Show - Season Two Episode 14 | David Hogg X: https://x.com/adam_talkshow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theadamfriedlandshow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamfriedlandshowclips YouTube: Subscribe to @TheAdamFriedlandShow here: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAdamFriedlandShow Subscribe to @TAFSClips here: https://www.youtube.com/@tafsclips -- DK Casino: https://casino.draftkings.com/promos LUCY: Lucy.Co/TAFS Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/TAFS

Oh, you just got dumped? How recently? Two months ago. Oh, my God. You're in it right now. You're trying to save the Democrats? I know. I just like throwing challenges on top of challenge.

What albums are you listening to post-breakup? There's a song called Wicked Game. That's very good. Chris Isaac? That's a horny-ass song. And then? What? You're listening to sex songs post-breakup?

Well, you know what the song's actually about, right? It's literally, it's anyways. I feel like I'm watching someone. having sex. We'll see that song. Well. Wonderful little love. That's a great imitation.

Who is you? Hello and welcome to the Adam Freeline show. And as always, I just want to thank our members and our patrons who help support the show, help keep the lights on. If you'd like to support the show, there's a link in the description of this video, or you can click join at the top of the page. For $5 a month, you get every episode before it's released to the public. You get discount codes on our merch.

And if you join at the second or third tier, you'll get your name in the credits of every episode. Also, there's a link to our Patreon in the description if you prefer to support the show through Patreon. My guest this week is former vice chair of the DNC, David Hogg. He first rose to prominence, of course, in 2018 in the wake of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas School shooting when he organized a series of high-profile protests in support of gun control.

More recently, in 2023, he founded Leaders We Deserve PAC to help young progressive candidates get elected to public office. But before we show you the interview, I need to address something. As many of you know, things have changed quite dramatically in my life over the last few months. Law auditory profiles have been published in the New York Times, which is my favorite newspaper,

and The New Yorker, which is a periodical that I've been meeting to check out once I will. It's on my list. You know, the literati are starting to pay attention, but I promise to you, the viewers, I'm never going to change. I'm the same old bitch, okay? On Monday, I finally got the call up to the big leagues, the one I've been waiting for. I was asked to appear as a panelist on the Pears Morgan program.

Now, whenever I get the question, who are your guys? I always say three names. Number one, Bob Dylan, of course. Number two, Martin Luther King, MLK, some people know him as. And number three, of course, is Mr. Pierce Morgan. And I just can't tell you guys how riveting and thrilling I found the conversation on his program to be. Do you want me to have to debate Charlie Kirk, Jimmy Kimmel, on the Battle of Free Speech. He's the CEO of Tim Kast Media, Tim Poole, the man the New Yorker is called The Future of Late Night,

hosted the hugely successful show, The Adam Friedland Show, comedian Adam Friedland. So where do you sit with all this? I am a tell it like it is comedian. There's a lot of kind of empathy being expressed towards Kimmel right now. But where is the empathy for Donald Trump? Certainly, conservative comics like Dennis Miller, Michael Richards, kill Tony. I'll just take the slight sarcasm to your... I'm not. I'm not.

Bob Eager will go down in the media history as Neville Chamberlain in a cashmere sweater minus the dignity. Okay. What do you think of that? People always use Neville Chamberlain as a historical reference. You don't have to prove that no Democrats ever celebrated a cancellation on the right. I agree with you. Thank you. Listen, Bob Eiger jumped up on his desk and started tap dancing when this controversy started because it's...

There's a real visceral reluctance to have people on the right, even engaging in debate. And that's got a chance. Not on the Adam Friedan show. Not on my show. Well, your show is great. I think it's an issue. I think that there's some people on the right. After I recorded the episode, I was a nervous wreck all day.

I was waiting around for the episode to be released, and finally something popped up on this popular social media platform X.com. But what I saw devastated me to no end. Mr. Morgan posted a tweet with a clip to the episode that referred to me as comedian Adam Friedman. To be deliberately attacked by one of my heroes, frankly, has broken me. I found it difficult to get out of it.

I found it difficult to listen to my girlfriend's awesome and interesting and hilarious stories. Perhaps Mr. Morgan is threatened by my recent assent in the political chat show space, or perhaps God forbid, this was a well-orchestrated, deliberate act of anti-Semitism. We don't all look the same. Some of us are good at money. Some of us are good at books. And I happen to be good at neither. So Mr. Morgan, I'd like to invite you to come on my program.

come on my program and to settle this like a man. My name is Adam Dean Friedland. It's the only name I have. I got it from my mother and father. And you'll be seeing a whole lot more of me, Peers. So here's my conversation with David Hogg. And I'll see you again in a minute, one minute. Our next guest is president and co-founder

of leaders we deserve. He first came to national attention in 2018. David Hogg, everyone. You can clap, guys. What's wrong with you, people? Hey, I don't know how you. Very well. Thanks for coming, dude.

Thank you. I love the studio audience. President and co-founder, so you made the other guy be less than you? No, no. You started the club with him. We just have different roles. Coffee, coffee run, Starbucks. That's not it at all.

What does he do? He does a lot more of the internal mechanics, and I'm a lot more front-facing. Dude, that D.C. is awesome, dude. You live there? Yeah, I do. Where in D.C.? I would get into that, but my house has been swatted before in stuff. So I prefer not to talk about that. That's just a thing that people do now. Yeah.

We had Taylor Lorenz. She said her parents get, did they SWAT team? That's horrible, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's just what happens. In Parkland, it happened to my family. You were, you were a junior or senior when the events happened? Is that right? I was a senior. And you're a senior. And just adults were pissed at you. Like, for the rest of your life, adults were pissed at you. Yeah. You became an adult. Yeah. But like I just you kind of like it's strange we had because we had the kid Harry Sisson too Right I just gets he gets yelled at by like dads really I mean like if you look at his comments It's just like it's kind of like you got a you you kids got like a Thunberg kind of treatment where it's like you're very altruistic and then people were like Fuck these baby like you know fuck these kids right and it's a strange like kind of impulse what do you think that was like or what was it like when you first

started experiencing that Honestly, in the beginning, we were so focused after Parthland on just getting change and, like, raising hell to force change to happen, that I wasn't that focused on it. But eventually it did break through more because I remember the first time somebody asked me, like, oh, have you gotten your first death threat and just said that casually to me as a 17-year-old? And I was like, what? Someone gave you a death threat or asked you? No, somebody asked, like, oh, have you started getting them yet? Like, just like, it's an inevitability. And I was like, what are you talking about?

and then I got really kind of paranoid and freaked out about it, of course, because I was 17. And I think the, one of the worst, sorry, one of the really hard things that happened after Parkland, when you're like speaking out after something like that that happened to a lot of the students that spoke out, was we would, for example, do an interview and a TV producer, be like, oh, you kids are so inspiring, can I get a photo with you? And what do you do in a photo at them? You smile most of the time, right? Or that.

And when we smiled in that photo and they would put out those photos, a lot of right wingers would take those photos and say these are the photos, these are the faces that you make when you're standing on the bodies of your dead classmates. Yeah, yeah. And to be told that, like, what? It's such a fucking psychotic world. It's horrible. Yeah, yeah.

But we actually internalized it. And we told ourselves it wasn't okay to be happy. it wasn't okay to have any amount of joy because of what we went through and it took a long time for us to unlearn that because I think those people knew that What do you mean it wasn't okay to be happy? You were depressed, you mean?

Well, that it wasn't okay to have any amount of joy or ever smile because you would survive to school shooting. Does that make sense? So in the pictures you were frowning, right? Well, in photos. I'm sorry, I'm a stupid guy, sorry. No, no.

What I'm saying is, for example, there's one photo that we took with a producer after an interview that we did with them where the producer was like, oh, you kids are so amazing, like, can I take a photo with you? Naturally, no matter really what you've gone through, you still smile in a photo, even if it's, you know, a few weeks after or whatever. And the Wright would take those photos and say these are the bodies that you're,

these are the faces that you make when you're standing on the bodies. Yeah, and that was like that game, that was like a popular response that you guys were doing. Yeah, and we really internalized it because obviously we have a lot of survivors guilt. We have a lot of PTSD. And for a long time, we told ourselves it wasn't okay. to be happy and you also just had to like become part of the adult world or the mess of the adult world and not only the regular adult world where you're going to the accountancy firm and then you're watching the office after work i can't imagine what it would be like at 17 or 18

to be known i don't know i like how did you handle that like just like uh just the private you know like being a private kid you know what were you doing before that cross country running in case you couldn't tell did you blit you were blazing up No. You didn't blaze. I had, I was a serious athlete. I had to, and my dad was an FBI agent, too, so. Oh my God. As you can imagine. He was a narfko? Yeah. He was a, no. Did he go undercover? He had in the past. So your dad used to have different looks? He'd be like biker one, what, for six months? No, he wasn't a biker. And I can talk about this now because he'd be like, he'd be like ISIS terror cell for six months. Well, no. As you can imagine, a guy who is my father doesn't presumably fit in.

I don't know. I don't, he's an actor. I mean, you can play any role. But, yeah, when he started on the FBI, his job was he was, he would go undercover and dig through different people's trash to help the- He's a hobo. Yeah, he would go undercover and he's a government hobo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So your dad was an FBI agent, your mom's a teacher. Yep. Right? Yep. Do you go to parties? Did I go to parties? Did you hit brew? Not very often. Can you have beers or blunts?

You were just a running kid? I was a pretty big nerd, I would say that much. Student government? Absolutely not, not that big of a nerd. Did you play gaming? I did play a lot of call of duty in modern warfare. And I actually still do play, I still do play a good amount of call of duty on my phone. And it's kind of hilarious because, you know, I'm sure I'm playing with a lot of guys that are playing mobile.

Yeah, that are playing, you know, guys that I'm sure to some extent are to the right of me a lot of the time yeah and I get pretty good and I'll get like first place and I'll get all these likes and like people following me stuff and they'll be like this is great whatever you just got and I'm just the hog exactly and I'm just always laughing because I'm like if only you knew like because I can only imagine how you want to beat them in Nazi zombies yeah you want to cook them in Nazi zombies yeah I played FIFA for a while but it was just kids in like Saudi Arabia there were 11 just beasting like it lose like 111 yeah and yeah it really hurt my feelings and you

didn't lock in I don't have the time Dude, I'm 38. I can't get back into video games. I tried to. I played Red Dead, though. Oh, really? How was that? I didn't, you disappear from the world, right? You're, like, not in the world? It's kind of crazy. I'd like check my phone. I thought it was like 9.45. It would be like 4 a.m. Yeah. It was amazing, though. It was one of the most special experiences of my life. My girlfriend asked if she could play for a second, and then she punched my horse in the face.

And I was like, can you just give it back to me? What are you doing? Right. Let me play Cowboys. Yeah, no, I can't game. So wait, so you were just a nerd. You were good, you were like, were you in clubs or anything? Yeah, so, like, I helped start a drone racing team at my high school. Drone racing?

Yeah, it is as nerdy as you imagine. And the only woman that ever showed up to that was my sister when she had to as a freshman because I had to drive her home. Oh, my God, dude. So there was that, and I was also in TV production. And I think this is-oh, you did AV kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah. So this is, I think this is a really important component. of the story that a lot of people don't know about what happened after Parkland and I think

part of the reason why it went things happened the way that they did after the shooting was our school had a pretty good TV production program and we had a pretty advanced speech and debate program I did speech and debate as well what did you do I did PF and extemp I did it I didn't get me started on the spreading in LD no no that's did you that's did you that policy is spreading well LD does they think that they're gonna think we're some sort of nasty nasty spreading is that you talk really fast. Yeah, it's not like

it's not like, it's not it's not Sharon Stone, okay? Okay, it's where you try to get as much evidence out and he's wrong because it's policy debate. He's lying right now. No, policy does it more. L.D. is philosophical. It's about you to give great speeches and stuff. Regardless there's more spreading. You get too emotional. In L.D. that

can happen than P.F. typically. What's PF? Public form. Oh, you just did government. That's like the government. You know, Robert's Rules of Whatever order. Well, so I don't know how much of that actually has to do with PF, but in terms of Robert's Rules of Order. But the point I was getting at is that I really wanted to be a broadcast journalist when

I was in high school. Like do the news. Do the news. Like I grew up. I kind of wanted to be like a, I didn't know who this person was at the time, but in hindsight. I wanted to be like Mike Wallace, if you're familiar with him. 60 minutes, yeah. Kind of, yeah.

And the thing about Mike Wallace is, like, he would just grill people. And I really wanted to be a journalist that scared the hell out of really powerful people that I saw as corrupt, inept, and some combination of just stupid, generally speaking. So I would start making TV production content about, at a small scale, like in my high school, where we wouldn't have enough Spanish textbooks, but we had to have them for our classes and stuff, so I'd go and talk to the principal. Exactly. And then all of a sudden, we'd have enough Spanish textbooks, right?

Really, it worked. Yeah, I mean, they respond to pressure. This hog is getting too big for his brishes. I guess. And because of being in TV production in speech and debate, I had to argue about guns prior to the shooting. I had to argue about universal background checks.

Your media trained also. To some extent, because of TV production. Yeah. Right? So I knew how to talk on camera and I knew the issues that I needed to talk about. So when we went out there, myself and a lot of my other classmates, we sounded unnaturally good on

camera, unnaturally good at, you know, knowing the policy issues, because our public education actually did its job. But instead, people chose to believe that we worked for the FBI or we worked for some government agency because they find it more believable that we would work for some three-letter agency than the fact that our own education system could actually do its job. Yeah. And that's part of the reason why there were so many conspiracy theories that happened after the shooting. For example, there was a clip where I was... Yeah, they said you were like a crisis act. Right. And they would take clips of me where I was

doing what I learned in TV production where like instinctually sometimes if you want to redo a take or something like you count down from like five right I would do that and people would like see like he's trained and it's like to some extent yeah because the TV production but not because it's a massive conspiracy yeah yeah you don't have to protect you don't have to no but I think that's an important note I think it is but like you don't have to explain yourself you saw kids getting killed at your school and you wanted to talk about it well art so that's another and you were good at talking about it because you're smart well are a lot of our classmates you're saw all kinds of things.

And our school that I think a lot of people don't understand for context, too, is like, we're an outdoor school. You know, schools in the Northeast... I'm from the West Coast. We had a lot of those. Exactly. So, like, schools in the Northeast,

like, they're all typically under one roof. Like, it's one building. There's like an open courtyard, right? At our school, it's like 13 different buildings. So I was in the building next to where the shooting happened. My classmates and I, like, we heard gunshots echoing between the buildings, but we didn't end up seeing anybody

in terms of the students that I was immediately around die. Yeah. But a lot of our classmates didn't. huge high school, it's 3,300 people when I was attending school. And a janitor kept you, like, saved you from going to wards. So I that's one other thing too

Adam. I have never found that person since. What do you mean? How? He worked at the school. I know. And I, I thought, I found him at like an event, like a long time after the shooting. I have no idea. What the fuck? I know. That's so weird. I know. And I went up to the guy that I thought. Did they fire him? What, like

where did he go? This is bugging me right So what Adam's getting at for further context so that people understand, as the shooting happened, I was exiting my classroom because we initially thought it was like a fire drill or like a potential like active shooter drill or something like that. As we're exiting our classroom, we go to like our evacuation zone and all of a sudden a flood of students start going in the opposite direction of where I'm going. And naturally you start following those students. as we're following those students unbeknownst to us at the time because you don't know if there are multiple shooters you don't know if it's a drill

you don't know you just hear bullets you just hear gunshots and like you don't know what's going on you don't know if there are bombs on campus you don't know anything right and we were instinctually I was instinctually like kind of following the crowd and as we were running I was actually running towards where the fashion building was

where the shooting was happening so it's total chaos and there's some kind of janitor that I've when I went up to the person who I've kind of janitor i think it was a janitor i don't know if it was a teacher you can't be saying it that way some kind of janitor somebody came out that was an adult and said like don't come this way he's a ghost i don't know could have been like a bagger advance could have been wow but they came out and said like don't come this way and as he said that our culinary teacher opened up her classroom

that was like the closest classroom to us and got about in an incredible act of heroism got about 60 or 70 students into a classroom and what felt like the matter of like 30 seconds. Yeah. Where I would spend the rest of the time in lockdown, obviously, after the shooting. And as we're there, you don't know, like, if you're about to die, kids are having panic attacks, kids are trying to be quiet. I'm texting my sister who's 14 years old at the time. She's freaking out, understandably. She was at the school as well. Yeah. She was, thank God, she was on the other side of the school, even though she was a freshman. She was in our TV production class. Yeah. So I ended up interviewing my classmates, not just,

as a way of keeping myself calm because I didn't have anything else like you're on the news kind of like we were like as a student journalist like I took out my phone and started interviewing them in case we did die in the middle of it yeah whoa because like for your parents to see like for whoever to see in case something did happen as a doc there would be a record of like these kids saying like we need to do something about guns oh interesting and it was a way of me keeping myself calm in that moment too because I remember my dad talking about these types of things growing up being an FBI agent about like the necessities staying calm and I interviewed them and I asked them what do you think about like the NRA what do you think about like the fact that we're going through this and everything

and thankfully that day my classmates in my immediate vicinity and I made it out but 17 our our classmates and teachers did it yeah in the building right next door to us yeah and uh did you like post you posted it like while it was happening not while it was happening I ended up I think I ended up this is like eight years ago now on them so it's kind of a blur but i think what i ended up doing was i sent it first to our um i was working for like as like basically something whatever is lower than an intern like basically that for the local paper at the time i was very bad at my job um and i sent it to like my producer yeah person that was there oh like to to go on the to go on the news yeah um yeah fuck i mean i i'm sure that's like a way that you could distract yourself right you know and focus on

something else. Did you ever meet Nicholas Cruz? I mean, had you ever worried, did you know who he was? No. I mean, our school is 3,000 people. It's a big school. I don't remember meeting him ever. And I also... Is it true that Broward County Sheriff's Department, there were like multiple red flags and... Yes. Yeah. Because I don't think people talk about that enough. Well, yeah, that's the crazy thing to me is like you have an instance here where the system has failed in multiple major ways, right? The police were called, I think it was over a dozen times. in the one to two years before the shooting to the shooter's house

about different disturbances that were happening and despite the fact that he couldn't purchase an AR-15 because he was not, or sorry, despite the fact that he could not purchase a handgun because he was not 21 yet, he couldn't illegally purchase that from a federally licensed dealer, he could purchase an AR-15

because he was above the age of 18, which is the logic of the NRA, right? Is that still the law? So, kind of, for the most part, it is. So depressing. The only addition I'll make to that is after the Valde and Buffalo massacres, Congress changed the laws passing the first federal gun law in 30 years, where they expanded background checks for people under the age of 21 attempting to buy guns,

which is nowhere near enough to be clear. But I will note, there have been over, I think it's over 1,500 people that are high-risk individuals that the FBI has documented that previously would have been allowed. to purchase guns like the AR-15 that because of that enhanced background check have since been prevented. Well, which is nowhere near enough to be clear. It's a tough fight. It's a tough fight. Gun control is a tough one.

It is. I mean, I feel like I forgot about it. I feel like it's so chaotic, this, you know, match shootings are also so calm and then just also, yeah, the world has turned into, like, so psycho. It's like, as like a, it seems like it's like from, like, the 1990s or something. Yeah, it seems like it's like from the West Wing. It's numbing, almost. Yeah. And I mean, it must be for you, like, for that to be where you're coming from, like, that's like, you know, must be.

I remember Obama crying on TV. Right. Of course. I remember posting about Sandy Hook when I was in middle school. Yeah. I mean, like, how could this happen? Is this so disturbing? You were middle school for San Diego.

I think I was in middle school, yeah. I think I was in seventh grade. And correct me if I'm wrong, kids in schools now, or like, there's mass shooting training? Is that a thing? Yes. So that's, damn. Yes. God.

It is. It's horrifying. I was just watching American Pie. I was like, by the end of this year, we're all getting laid. It's very simple. Yeah. You're like, you're going to school and like a, you know, fucking in Black Hawk Down or whatever. You know, like, it's like.

It's horrifying. I mean. You should have seen it, dude. It was a great country, man. I was mad at Bush, but that feels quaint at that, at this point now. Yeah. I mean. still lots to be mad about so okay so let's let's talk about like after the fact and we we touched on that earlier

so like one thing i remember from twitter was that like there was also like right there was like a that kid kyle right he was like on the right wing side of like the parkland kids like you guys got politicized for sure right and like you guys became symbols and um what i'll say this what i will say not he's chill now not to interrupt you though i think i this won't make the episode i ran it into him once he came up to me he's like dude i'm not right wing anymore i'm chill what yeah yeah yeah he's like dude i don't give a fuck about that shit anymore dude like he's like i'm just trying to like chill i live in the city okay it's kind of nice right yeah i mean if that was news to you i'm glad i broke what's what's what's crazy to me is that i literally

got a call from him immediately after this shooting to him like like trying to like challenge me to a fight in the cafeteria like guns at dawn i i was like or uh not i don't want to say fit i don't know like and i was like what the hell are you talking about man like we have why was he mad at you immediately after because you did those interviews i think because we were speaking out and seeing what we thought needed to be done right and he obviously didn't agree which like look it's people can have their their differences of opinion yeah and he was speaking out himself adam i you're also kids what i'll say is this much just let you just be optimistic you know like that's what really pissed me off i cut you off but that's what really pissed me off about the

responses like you're like you're supposed to be like let's change the world when you're 17 like that's what you're supposed you're supposed to be dumb enough to believe that change is actually possible yeah sure fine well now they're all Republicans well not all of them we can go to that later on we go to that later sir that's fucking weird to me you know it is fucking weird it's it is extremely weird it's normal that you're like we're gonna we're gonna get together we're to do something like that's that's you're supposed to have that optimism at that age and like there's a you know this might go nowhere okay but I don't know if you remember when there was like that kid Nick Sandman like in DC there's that kid with the MAGA hat and the Native American

oh right and then like it was like that picture was taken and put in all these newspapers and stuff like that like everyone's like wanted to fucking like be like this kid's evil fuck this kid I think that kid actually got paid I think like he sued all these news organizations because what it doesn't matter but there was part of me that was was a little bit like, listen, he's 17 years old. Like, people's opinions change. Like, you know, I'm not, you know, people are allowed to, like, be kids and, like, you know, and change up, you know.

And a little bit, yeah, that kid's wearing a mag hat, but it's just like, he's not Donald Trump. Like, he's just a kid that's like, maybe his parents are Republican. Maybe, I mean, it's just like holding kids accountable, like, and you, you experience this yourself is like, it's a little bit like, it's just like the way society. treats younger people nowadays it's just like um it's it's a the world that you guys inherited is terrible like I got my shit was awesome people at SUVs and I mean you had the Iraq war too that was not great we were at P.F. Chang's the hot the hottest girls in my school were the hostesses at P.F. Chang's I go

with my parents and I'd want to throw up because I'm like she's going to find out I have parents and We've all been there. She's going to think I'm a loser, you know? I mean, it's just... Did you ever end up asking her out? No, of course. What do you think?

No. Why do you... That's why I'm doing this. I don't know. I would have been fucking running Halliburton or something if I... Yeah. I don't know. No, no.

Of course not. She was probably dating an adult, you know? I was like, I was in... Why am I holding this? They do not sponsor the show. Sorry. Probably from Jersey, bro. Yeah.

It's a joke. Hoboken water. The shit that I, the shit that we fall for. Going back to the fact that you were kind of a loner, a bit of a loner, prior to this happening. I had friends, to be clear. Who were your friends? Who were my friends? A lot of other speech and debate kids.

Yeah, yeah. Right. So, yes. And there were a couple chicks on the, there were a couple chicks. Well, I tried. I mean, there were, like, girls that were there. Yeah. And we were dominating them with facts and logic.

Yeah, I think the worst of us were. Do you, are you in a relationship? Am I in a relationship? No. No. Have you been in a relationship? Yes. Yes.

In college? Yes. Your first love? Kind of, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a rough one when it ends. Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God. Did you like say, God, why have you forsaken me? Did you do that kind of thing? No, I think sometimes you can fall in love with somebody and fall out of love with them. Oh, my God. You broke up with her. Yeah. Just get ready to get dumped, dude.

Oh, I have to. Trust me. The first dump? Oh, my God. It's brutal. You're just fucking Elliot Smith. It's brutal. I mean, the last one was so bad. No one has ever felt pain like this ever in human history.

Well, I mean, the bottom line is that it was rough enough that it actually got me to start going to the gym more. Oh, you're trying to get jacked. I'm trying. Why? Because she used to beat you up? No. Far from. No.

That would have, no. Two shoes kick. It's just like more than ever. anything, I know that I have a lot of work to do on myself, personally. Yeah, I mean, your childhood is probably stunted, right? A little bit, yeah, it's a little weird. You're like a child actor, kind of. Well, not in the way that those conspiracies talk about, but sure.

Not in a crisis actor, no, but you're like, you're robbed of a childhood, right? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of notoriety and all kinds of weird shit. Like, I couldn't go to parties. You didn't throw up from drinking too much. Like, you know, like. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't go to parties in college when I started as a freshman. Because they'd see you Because people would start filming me

When I was there That's so stressful Yeah And I eventually got over it Once I turned 21 Like I was fine You know drinking and stuff But yeah

Yeah It's I'm a pretty weird person In terms of like All the random shit That I've gone through I wouldn't say Don't put a

Don't hate on your own ass Like weird It's just like You've had a unique road But guess what brother I'm 38 let me let me let me let me let me let me let me tell brother yeah i think so yeah your parents moved to dc the whole family they ended up moving to dc for a time um that is kind of child actor style though

right so i mean our our house got swatted and my sister is really struggling because you went through the shooting as a freshman so the family ended up moving to dc and my sister finished high school up there but dc so you can get in the game right um a little bit no it's just that there was a really good high school for my sister to go to up there um Sidwell? No, it was not Sidwell. It was called Georgetown Day School. All right. And... Jesuit. I don't... Well, it's not actually associated with Georgetown, but you did end up going to Georgetown.

Oh, sweet. Yeah. But... I went to a G.W. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. I was like a D.C. by the end. Yeah, it can be a lot. No, it's just... They're so ugly there. And the people are so... They think they're great. It's crazy. It's like, what's great about you?

It's crazy that you say that, because I had the exact same thought when I first got to New York City this week. I was, like, looking around and I was like, this looks, the people here look so much different from D.C. Like, the adage that D.C. is just Hollywood for ugly, ugly people is 100% true. Why we let those people tell us what to be? I'm sorry. No. I'm sorry. So you think one of the ways you want to change the Democratic Party is you want more like tens.

No, that's not what I'm getting at. We've got to get some more tens in there. No. I think we need some top-tier performers in terms of being able to act. No. No, no, no. No, what we're working on. I mean, Zoron is genuinely, that's a handsome guy.

I mean, there was hot girls for Zoron, right? Well, no, I'm not talking about the guy, Zoron. I don't care about these girls. I'm talking about how great this guy looks. Well, yeah, but he looks phenomenal. He's a handsome, charismatic guy. Yeah. It's like, why wouldn't they want a handsome, charismatic,

good speaker in the party? Well, you know, I think sometimes... Yeah, I think we both do. Yeah. I think it's because he actually represents something, that is real, right? That he is saying what voters had been wanting for a long time,

especially younger people, had been wanting for a long time. Younger men have been wanting for a long time. He got 85% of young men in that election. I've been wanting him for a long time. And, but the thing is, like, he had a clear message, and it wasn't just a bunch of bullshit talking points

who's like, oh, we're going to lower prices. Like, sure, he's on TikTok. But the thing is, Andrew Cuomo could have been on TikTok. He would a lot, The only difference would have been is that he would have lost by even more. Sure. Oh, TikToks would have been fire. The reason why...

I'm doing a dance. Right. Something like that. I'm doing a dance for Israel. Yeah. I'm doing the nay-nay for Israel. Right. The bottom line is when he was on TikTok, he actually said something.

Right. And gave something... Yeah. He gave something for young people to actually believe in. A vision to believe in that. I think a lot of Democrats have not. And then he was also obviously extremely and rightfully so vocally critical of the state of Israel. I think that that was overstated. I think people were like, they made, they made,

it was a, they were being racist to him because he's Muslim. And they wanted to make him into Osama bin Laden. And he's really just a rapper that went to Bowden. What I think is really admirable is despite all of that hatred, he ran a ruthlessly positive campaign, right? Where I would say, like if you look, when Fox News covers him, it's actually hard for them to find photos of him where he's not smiling. Do you know how hard that is at him? Like, it is quite difficult. Really? Yes, because they'll find anything.

But even when they put up photos of him, he's always smiling in them. Do they put frowning pictures of Democrats? Yeah, it's typically like them being upset or, you know, just whatever makes them look the worst way possible. Of course. Or like, looking fat or something. And I, but when I was with Zoran, we went to Washington Square Park together, like, during the camp in the final weeks of the campaign. And look, like, I've worked around lots of young, on different campaigns with younger candidates. and everything like that.

So that's what we do at leaders we deserve. We help to elect young people, state legislatures in Congress and sometimes mayor. And the reason why we do that is because we want young people to actually believe that they can be represented, that are issues, whether it's affordability, or addressing all kinds of things

like the obviously fucked up shit that is happening that Israel is doing right now in the genocide that they are committing against Palestinians. Yeah, but what does that have to do in New York? I think that that's one of the annoying thing is that everyone's like, will you go to Jerusalem? And it's like...

It's so weird. The way it tracked wasn't that it wasn't that. Zoran didn't win because he was speaking out against Israel. He won because people thought, A, he won the Jewish vote. He won because people were like, this is weird. Why are people talking about this? Cuomo, like, used it to attack him. Yep.

And then they tried to, like, present New York City as, like, a anti-Semitic hellscape. When we all live here, and it's like, it's New York City. Like, this, we live in Seinfeld. Like, what do they think? It's not the fucking Warsaw ghetto. So it wasn't like, that was just like an attack on him more so because like he was like a, he'd been part of like activism in the past. But in reality, he, just on a surface level, this is a well articulate, charismatic and young and handsome guy that seemed chill.

Like, and like, uh, the aversion really seems to like, the guys that are like there that are like, I'm gonna just, I'm gonna invest heavy in like the military industrial complex before I appropriate a weapons package. Right. It's bullshit. You know, they just don't want to. That should be fucking illegal. They just don't want to stop like being there like appropriating weapons packages. Yeah, of course not. And like they're like, yeah, there are guys that like have been there for 80 years and they're like make Matt, they're kind of stealing and they're kind of like entrenched in like their position. They're like. They see, like, a young talent, and they're scared. They want to knife him. Yeah, because he is an inherent threat to them because he's calling them out on their bullshit and actually is saying something he believes in. Guys, Draft Kings Casino has your playbook for gaming action

all season long. Play thousands of popular slots for a shot at jackpots. Over $400 million, I assume, has already been awarded. guys new players get 500 spins it's every week new players get 500 spins on huffin more puff why is it funny every it's like hasn't a leave this all in guys new players get 500 spins on huff and more puff over 10 days download the app use the code t a f s and claim your spins after your first dollar wager first five dollar wager mind you get in the game with draft kings Casino, home of the largest jackpot in online casino history.

The crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-777-7 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. 21 and over. Physically president, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, only, void in Ontario.

Eligibility restrictions apply. New customers only. Non-withdrawable casino spins issued as 50 spins per day for 10 days, valid for featured game only, and expire each day after 24 hours. See terms at casino.draftkings.com slash promos. Ends October 5th, 2025 at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time. The problem is, is like, how does a party that when 6% of the people think that what's happening in Gaza is a genocide in the Democratic Party, I believe, is not a genocide.

Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. I was about to say that. Or maybe 6% are in favor of what's happening in Gaza, the Democratic Party. Right. I mean, Biden appropriated those funds. How's the party look like when like basically we're seeing people rounded up by like Gestapo force right now like and we're writing fucking strongly worded letters? We basically invent.

No, it was a tiny program in the DHS and Obama basically just like blew it up. And like how does it look like when deportations under Biden were like pretty much on par with the first term of Trump? Like consistently, the things that matter to the constituents of the Democratic Party are just completely ignored it's really difficult I think a difficult position to be put in

and like the question for you and like we can parlay this into your experience with the yeah vice chair of the DNC is it salvageable is the Democratic Party salvageable an institution that literally wanted to fuck you off for trying to make any changes I mean I think the bottom line is with the way that our government is structured and trust me Adam I like this is not a question I take lightly this is not something that I'm just saying because it's like oh like this is just the way things are just structurally speaking the way our government is set up we're probably always going to have some kind of two-party system in one way shape or form and I know that sounds like a really boring and academic answer I know but what I sorry who's

that your agent no it's sex in the city three it is a it's a state senator you're going to play mister who is it state senator it's a great state senator and you want to hit him up let's Zaynab Mohammed from here New York no they're from Minnesota they actually represent the district that just went through the school shooting unfortunately in Minneapolis so she's calling me about that so I'm not you're the guy that gets a call every shooting God your life sucks well I try to help people I know it's horrible but like it's so you just have to relive your the past over and over again I mean I know that's getting us off track yeah that's that's nobody I'd love

to hear it I mean that the way that I I see this right now, Adam, is the best way to beat them is to actually, to win is to defeat them. And that's what we try to do with leaders we deserve. We're trying to find the best young people, like there's lots of young people who suck. But the bottom line is we, what I saw in the case of somebody like Maxwell Frost in his race. I hired Maxwell from my dorm room right before COVID actually to work at March for our lives. Maxwell then called me a few years later and told me he wanted to run for Congress. He was 24. And he wasn't the best person in that race just because he was young. He was the best person in that race because he had a decade of experience

fighting against gun violence, working for the ACLU, doing all these different forms of activism. And his opponents, his two main opponents were somebody who committed tax fraud while in Congress as a Democrat. And the other was a hedge fund manager who was a Democrat in Congress while being a hedge fund manager at the same time. Maxwell had to Uber Drive from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Yeah. He was homeless. Every night. Yeah. He was, exactly. And there's so many young people like that that have that grit, that have that will,

that have that determination who don't want to support, you know, all kinds of the awful things that we're talking about happening that the party is supporting. Frankly, many times the only good politician is a scared one, specifically one that is scared of losing their job. And if the government is not going to change our gun laws, if they're not going to address what is happening with whether it's what's going on between, Israel or what's happening with the climate crisis or the fact that we have a we are a military welfare state that is feeding a private prison industrial complex through our broken immigration system right now where there is literally a multi-billion dollar incentive to not fix that system

we if our government doesn't change that from the pressure on the outside we'll just outlive who is in government and change who is in government by getting these young people elected that actually do stand for something hopefully and it's not motherfuggers leave though they do some of I don't know how they look like Emperor Palpatine and but that's the crazy thing Adam they'll say like oh my god experience is so important it's it matters so much it's like if experience actually was so important yeah and helped us so much I wouldn't be talking to you right now because we wouldn't be in the crisis that we are in with one of the oldest Congresses we have ever had in Congress right now

do you know how many people are under the edge of 30 there there's max that's it yeah he is the only member of Congress under 30 that's gotta be the wackest hang ever. Absolutely. He's got to chill with these fucking people. Can you imagine how bad the breath is? And that's what we're trying to do with leaders we deserve, is change who is in government by bringing in a substantial amount of funding to get behind them to elect

people, like there's a state senator in Texas who we elected last year by 62 votes. We gave her $300,000 to support her campaign. She doesn't take corporate money. Names Molly Cook. And she defeated a different Democrat who voted not only to armed teachers while in the state legislature, but voted to give them

$25,000 for being armed. Give him a chick and a gun? Yes. That's what he tried to do. And just in the abstract, you said that. I'm like, this kind of, just like, it sounds like... Crazy.

When like Jason Bourne opens like a box and he's got eight passports and there's $25,000 in a gun. It's like he's a teacher now. The teacher would be like, oh, it's like Jason Bourne. Guys, Lucy is 100% pure nicotine, always tobacco-free. Lucy Breakers are nicotine pouches with an extra little surprise. little surprise. Each pouch holds a capsule that can be broken and to release extra flavor and high duration Hadration say yourself up with a subscription and have Lucy delivered straight to your door. I like the minty one

I like the strongest strength because I'm fricking addicted to these things and when you throw in your Lucy I throw it in I throw it in I throw it in immediately. That's where I put it in immediately just the tip tip Let's level up your nicotine routine with Lucy. You go to lucy.com slash T-A-F-S and use the promo code T-A-F-S to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind. I like, I love returning things. Again, but I wouldn't consider returning a Lucy.

Again, that's lucy. dot co and use code TAFS to get 20% off and here comes the fine print Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified warning this product contains nicotine nicotine is an addictive chemical guys most people can't name all their financial accounts I have found 401k is under the bed I've got letters to my parents and my parents throw it straight in the garbage, which I'm pretty sure if you're a member of law enforcement is a crime.

There's a lack of awareness that leads to leaving money on the table. And there's a way to feel organized and confident with your finances. And what that is, is Monarch Money. And all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. And right now, just for our listeners, Monarch is offering 50% off your first year.

Your first year. When I used Monarch, I learned some surprising things about my finances. And I don't want to go into it, but you know who you are, and I will never forgive you. I wasn't saving as much as I thought. I noticed insufficient investment allocation. I discovered forgotten 401ks for past jobs, and I realized how much money that they were worth. were worth. So understanding how much cash is sitting idle or realizing how stressful and time consuming juggling more than one finance app is led me to Monarch money. And if you haven't

tried it, guys, you got to. You got to maximize your investments. You've got to increase your savings rate. You got to easily review finances with your partner who's got big naturals and or financial advisor who also has big naturals and you're what okay I said okay guys what you have to we're all adults let's be adults okay and what adults do is that they maximize investments they increase their savings rate they easily review finances with their partners or some would say girlfriend or boyfriend and or a financial advisor keeping a clear view of their financial health. So week to week and long term, et cetera. Guys, Monarch money is built for people with busy

lives. If you have put off organizing your finances, Monarch money is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting. All your accounts are linked in minutes and you get clear data visuals, smart categorization of your spending and the real control over your money, which I like. I like control. We promise you'll never need a spreadsheet again. So here's where we come in. You don't let your financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use code TAFS at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with the code TAFS. Please enjoy it. Go. Go. Go. that I'm getting at is that when it comes down to it, we can have a party that fights just

as hard as Republicans, but I do have to say, we are playing on an uneven playing field right now where they have taken over the courts, where when Biden did try to do a lot of really progressive things, all of a sudden, injunctions were issued, and we couldn't do anything, right? Trump comes into power, and then the Supreme Court is like, actually, those injunctions, they don't really matter anymore when they're done against Donald Trump. So it is to say we absolutely do need to do better as a party and we have to get better at fighting, but there are increasingly structural factors that make it way harder for us to fight back. And we need to address those at the same time.

And it's hard. It is incredibly fucking hard. It is incredibly fucking depressing. And it's hard to do this work. Some of them do, certainly. But I'm fine with it. You think what's your approval rating in Democrat D.C.? Probably 3%.

Jesus Christ, bro. Yeah. But you're going to cook them? I think I'm going to outlive them because I'm 25. You don't smoke sick? No. But stress is a killer.

You're mad stress, I can tell you. No, I'm going to the gym. Yeah, but you're stressed. I'm stressed, but it's a productive stress. Yeah, right? You meditate? I have, yeah. You have?

Yeah. I don't have the patience. I don't meditate as much. I get a lot of my meditation through running to some extent. Do you watch movies? Yes, I've been watching. One of the movies I've been watching a lot since the breakup is Goodwill Hunting.

actually. How many, because how about them apples? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because you were a janitor when you were there? Hilarious. Yeah, I know it's ironic that Hilarious is you cooked my ass. Are you guys friends? Oh, you dumped her? You fell out of love with her? No, I was dumped.

You got dumped, but you said you fell out of love with her. Well, no, that's a different girl. Oh, you just got dumped? Oh, yeah. How recently? Oh, like two months ago or so. Oh my God, you're in it right now, and you're trying to save the Democrats? I know. I just like throwing challenges on top of challenges. Oh my God, what are you doing? But I guess it's like you doing the interviews

in the middle of the thing. You're saving the Democrats in the middle of this hell. Adam, I don't know if I'm necessarily saving the Democrats. I'm trying to do my part. Well, you're being a net positive. I'm trying to fucking help, man. This shit sucks. And I'm what albums are you listening to post break up? What albums am I listening to? Can I give you a playlist that I have called pain? Oh, yes. I have a playlist from Dude, I have one that's even... Bro, that you're just called pain.

I have one that is... Never mind. What? Just tell me, bro. I have one that's even more depressing and cringe than that. Everyone's calling you a fucking 75-year-old Soros-funded actor. Tell them about the songs you're listening to. Okay, okay, okay.

Fine, okay, fine, fine. Be a human being! I've been listening to... There's a song called Wicked Game. That's very good. Chris Isaac? That's a horny-ass song. And then?

You're listening to sex songs post-breakup? Well, you know what the song's actually about, right? Have you listened to the lyrics? No, it's, I feel like some guys. It's literally, it's, like, I'm watching someone having sex. Okay, that song. Well. That's a great imitation.

Have you seen the video? They're like on the beach. Oh, are they? Yeah. Well, I probably should. Sexy. Go watch the video. The song for me.

Yeah, stop listening that song. They're better, I'll let me play you some. Okay. I'll play you some songs. Do you know, have you ever heard, let me see. Do you want me to pull out the... Yeah, let me see your Spotify post-breakup, dude. Was she in politics?

Kind of. You can't date someone in the game, dude. Well, she wasn't officially in politics. What was she doing? She did a lot of advocacy-related work, but not. Yeah, you can't do somebody in Hollywood, too. No. So I've been...

Can I give you a little note? Please. This is so lovely. This is so adorable. Like, when you're saying that I was good at talking on the news, before like and that's why I was good at doing the advocacy you don't have to explain that to these fucking what what is it fucking to these fucking losers they are that I'll say that much it sounds like you are 45 year old Soros funded actor just say like listen dude some kids got

killed in my school I'm trying to fucking mad I like it's not that fucking complicated you just just be like fuck you you fucking pig yeah all right I feel like you're getting tough I'm gonna I'm gonna train you up yeah we have you we should hit the gym together out i'm not going to the gym dude i have a girlfriend well if that changes then you can come to the gym i don't get fashion muscles dude have you heard walk on by walk on by isa case put that on the playlist okay put on uh uh i fall to pieces uh patsy klein standing in the doorway bob dillon oh that's a good one you know from is that's my favorite dillon record really yeah yeah yeah time out of mind you know what one of my crying roy orbson oh

You still have this playlist. Yeah, I mean, it's, I had Apple Music. Chelsea Hotel 2. Nice. Leonard Cohen? Leonard Cohen. You want to hear this? This is a funny line.

Wait, you got to hear this one part. So paint us the setting, Adam. Where are you? You're crying, listening to this, presumably. Where are you? Where was I? I was in bed. Damn.

Okay, you didn't just hear this, dude. brave and so sweet wait okay okay do you know who that song he's singing about is it's funny no you know who it's about it's about Janice Joplin she's about she's about she's about she's about her sucking his dick at the Chelsea Hotel And then he wrote the most beautiful song ever. We don't have to put that in the episode. We need you to save the Democrats. Can we go in, because I think we alluded to it,

but I think it's important for you to get this out. About what happened to the DNC. About you, yeah, running for the vice chair of the DNC. Yeah, man. And then your experience and then, you know, where that leaves us right now. Totally. Yeah, I mean, like, the bottom line is that I wanted to, I was, as part of the campaign, when I was on,

there's this thing called the National Finance Committee, which is basically for all the people who, like, raise... I didn't know it existed until, like, the election because I was helping them raise money, and I won it, because we obviously needed to strengthen gun laws and everything like that, and had to defeat Donald Trump. And... They crushed that one.

Totally. Yeah. God. They ran Mr. McGoo for a little bit. God. And then we... I heard behind closed doors, he's, like, actually, like, he's, like, Neil deGrasse.

Who? of the former president Joseph Robinette Dude, when I met with him He was fucking on it I'll say that much Like I talked to him for an hour Why did you do that?

Why was it like that? Because the sun went down Dude, I mean it could have been People It was like a year and a half Before the election For America, dude America looked like crap

Well I mean Dude we said during the whole world Is gonna see this And it's gonna be They're gonna be laughing at us The reason why I ended up running for vice chair Was because I got tired of just saying To people like

Hey we're losing young people we need to do something about this and then getting texts back from the fucking consultants on the campaign being like here you go saying this stupid shit again and then we saw what happened right and it's not to say like I have the full answer on how to win back young people I don't but I know enough to know that this is not the right fucking answer right and so you were elected though as a vice chair I'm getting to that okay yeah so I decided to run for it not because I was like oh yeah like I'm going to win this thing I ran for it because I wanted to be on stage in the most like insular proof of Democrats possible to say to them to their faces not what they wanted to hear but what they needed to hear so that when they asked why did we why did we lose the election i could say why do we lose the election because we heard from voters more than anything two things joe biden is too old and prices are too high and with the power of two billion dollars behind us we said no he's not then yes he is and no we're not going to have a primary yeah and then when we heard that prices were too high we said, no, look at the stock market, look at this, look at that, you're wrong.

If you tell voters not to believe their goddamn eyeballs or wallets and you don't provide them a vision other than like, let's just keep everything the same, you were going to lose them. And that's why they didn't say like women lost abortion because of Trump. And part of what I... It's a pretty simple one to say. Like, it's half of the people. Right. And so I ran for the position and I called, you have to call the 450 or so D&C members basically

nonstop for like two or three months. oh god to earn their support sucks it's not great um and as I was doing that um I ended up getting enough votes

in order to win and the election happened but the challenge that ended up happening who are these people by the way DNC members so it's people that are like you're there's state chapter they're kind of they're so 75 of them are appointed by the chair of the DNC

so like it's just whoever the chair wants them to be and then they're I'm bored already I know I know hey you ask not me And then a bunch of them are like party activists, state party chairs, vice chairs, et cetera. And when I ran for the position, I read the bylaws. And the bylaws of the DNC, 10 out of 10 do not recommend reading, unless you want to fall asleep, are they say that you can't be involved in primaries for president, but they say nothing about being involved for primaries in general, right?

And then, because I was thinking of myself because I was running leaders we deserve, a pack and super pack that does get involved in democratic primaries i talked about our work in primaries when i was running because you do all these different town halls and things like that and i also looked back at people who had been vice chairs before like gretchen whitmer and tammy duckworth who have i like grech who have packs yeah that were vice chairs and gave two people from their packs while being vice chairs so in that position adam when nobody asks you about like well you have a pack how is this going to work or anything like that and it's not in the bylaws and there's precedent for this,

you think that you would think that it's going to be fine. So they made, right? I was so stupid, dude. They said you were breaking the rules? So, no. But they tried to make up a rule that you were breaking up? So what ended up happening was at our first D&C meeting. Ken Martin, Ken Martin hands out, like they hand out this pledge,

this neutrality pledge to say you are not going to be involved in any primaries at all, in any way, shape, or form. That is not in the bylaws. And I said to them, I cannot sign this because we do get involved in primaries with leaders we deserve. My job is I run a PAC and Super PAC that helps elect young Democrats, young progressive Democrats that are running for state legislature and Congress and mayors sometimes. And I told them, look, I'm fine with not being involved in presidential primary because that is what the DNC really manages, more than anything, is the presidential primary. And I was given the option that I could either not do this work because we announced this effort to spend millions of dollars challenging incumbent Democrats that we feel like are failing to meet the moment in safer seats that don't risk us losing the house at all. And they said, look, you have basically two options here.

You can either keep your job because the vice chair role is completely voluntary, completely. It's a volunteer role. You can either keep your job running leaders we deserve and not be a vice chair and be a vice chair and be. involved in whatever primaries you want or you can keep you can remain a vice chair effectively but you can't do anything regarding primaries at all you can't fundraise you can't work on them so that would mean I would just have to collect a check for 18 months basically doing nothing for leaders we deserve and not be able to fundraise for it so that I could have some basically bullshit ceremonial

role at the D&C but like that's not why they got you out and right well so what what they ended up saying what they came up with so what they got you out because that you wanted to get establishment people out well what they ended up coming up with what they said was and i'm i'm very sorry for how boring this is because it's it's like it's been sick dude it's been like it's been a ride it's like top gun maverick honestly it's like it's like the trilogy it's the final component right what trilogy uh of it's the third top gun that there's that's how exciting this i know there's been a second one this is the third one because that's how excited anyways yeah yeah

I'm moving on. All right. What happens in the third? So what ended up happening here? Yeah. What ended up happening here was they would have to change the bylaws in order to say nobody can be involved in primaries at all and then to remove me, they would need a two-thirds vote to do that.

So in that position, what they ended up doing was saying actually there was a procedural issue with the election and we're going to redo the election because of our gender balance rule at the DNC. What the fuck are you talking about? That, yes. They just didn't like you because you wanted to private. I'm telling, I'm giving you the reason that they gave me. Yeah, but that reason is bullshit.

But then, let me finish this Adam and then we'll get to that because I agree with you. We end up deciding to redo the election. And as that happens, all this stuff with ISIS going down in L.A. And the Marines and all that crazy shit. And I think to myself, this is fucking insane. This is not what we need to be focused on right now. You know, I got into this position to try. to help us play some role in helping to win back young people.

They're going to make it hell for me. Right. Yeah. And I'm not here to have some bullshit title that actually I can't do basically anything in because they just want, they don't want young people. They want fucking young sycophants that want young people who only believe what older people want young people to believe instead of what young people actually believe in what they need, right?

Which is not a politics of the pragmatic in this crazy bullshit that we've got caught up in where it's like we're going to keep just writing strongly worded letters to fashion. And hope that somehow they get buried under a mountain of those strongly worded letters by November and that's our win. Yes, yes Like not not true right like please stop with your fascism and it's like fucking Jesus Christ Stop right and spray perfume on it basically yeah I'm sure they do and I'm sure they give it a kiss and send it off Right they wrote it right in a jail pen it's insane though to act like this is the best that we can do as a party And if I have to choose between a ceremonial role and being to do something and do what I can to help bring in a generation that for most of our lives has never actually

had a real sense of hope in our lives because we haven't really seen somebody who we feel like actually is fighting for what we need just to survive instead of being like actually we know you're underwater right now what if you were nine feet underwater instead of being 10 feet underwater and it's like fuck you i actually want my head above water god forbid and what it's going to take is electing people who actually believe in something and have a spine to stand for a politics of what we actually need instead of just a bunch of bullshit talking points and fucking strongly worded letters.

That's what we're doing it, leaders we deserve. It seems almost as if sometimes like the incentive of the Democratic Party is not necessarily to win election. Hell no. It's to protect their own power, Adam. So if that's your focus, right? Like

that runs you know, that like puts you in opposition to them. So like most likely like, I mean, in you, like, yeah, they used some procedural bullshit about like you being involved. You wanted to fucking primary people that were like part of the problem and then they wanted, Ken Martin wanted you out, right? Right? And then he was like, you could either work with your organization or be the code, the co-chair of the Democratic DNC.

One of five vice chair. Which is like, honestly, what fuck would you get done there? Right. And it's like even the smallest things that I brought up, I could tell that we were not going to make progress on. And I, I also brought up in closed-door meetings at the DNC, I said, look, when we're talking about young voters, because, of course, like, we're doing our whole, like, they called an after-action report because it's not an autopsy, because we're not dead yet. So boring. When they're doing that, what I brought up is, like, guys, if you're going to talk about young voters, I know you don't want to talk about this, you have to talk about Gaza.

You do. Because they're, like, Democrats don't support, like, what's happening in Gaza. Exactly. But the thing is, inside of D.C., they don't want to deal with that because, you know, in almost all the conversations that I hear from different organizations about congressional campaigns, you know what the three things I hear most are? You hear it health care, Gaza, inflation? No, in terms of like how groups inside of D.C. decide who to support?

Israel. That's one of them. Fentanol. Support for fentanyl. And then, yeah, just doing like, oh, yeah, like go to a satanic blood ritual event. Yeah, and you forgot obviously all the other stuff. on top of that. But, no, what they actually do...

Kissing Netanyahu's on the lips. Right. Yeah. Gossiping about Zoron. Who's going to be the congressional representative for Israel, right?

And it's just a constant competition for that. Fetterman. I mean, it's a tough competition. You're a big boy, that guy. But the thing I'm getting out of it is in D.C., the three questions I hear most often

from different groups that get involved in these campaigns is not like, oh, like, is the candidate actually charismatic enough to like win? How are they polling? Right? Like, things you

would typically think about, it is depressingly, it is extremely depressing how much actual conversation there is about democracy. Because the three questions that get asked most is, what is APAC doing in this race, what is crypto doing in this race, and what was their last quarter's fundraising and how much cash do they have on hand? Yeah. That's all of it. So you guys need to get as much money. We do. Yeah. We need to get money because we don't take money. I, like, there was somebody who called me after we supported Zoron, and he's like, I was going to give you this substantial amount of money that he had pledged previously. And he's like, I'm not doing that anymore.

Why? Because you guys supported Zoran and I don't agree with him on Israel. But because we have so many small dollar donors, I got to say, look, man, like, that's you. We're going to continue doing this work because we're supported by 220,000 individual people around the country who support us because our candidates, they don't take corporate money, we don't take corporate money, and we have to make sure that we have the independence to be able to actually create the change that we need. And it's fucking hard.

It's incredibly hard. But what I need from people that are listening to this, if they take nothing, nothing else is to consider running for office because this is not I mean honestly some of them could because I'll tell you this much these guys in DC are not actually that fucking smart yeah you can out with them run they run for the Xbox party okay but the bottom line is I don't think any single person is coming to save us I don't think I can save us I don't think you can save us I don't think any single person can't right but I mean maybe you can at them I don't

know but I think all of us as a generation things are incredibly fucked Right? We know that. And it's easy to talk about, oh, this is all the fucked up shit that's happening. This is how wrong it is. We have to figure out how in the future, for the next generation, does this conversation not just continue happening over and over again? Because we became the leaders that we needed, but had far too few of growing up. People who actually stand for something and create real change instead of becoming younger versions of who currently is there and is 80 or 70 years old. I think we'll end on that.

Like, what are the major points that you're going to push for your candidates in the midterms as a litmus test for their election? Well, for one, it's obviously, for me, it's not taking corporate money, it's being good on guns. It's also making sure that they have a stance that is actually in line with the American people and voters of what they want to happen with the situation that's going on with Israel, right? And actually saying, you know, maybe we shouldn't be giving billions of dollars to a country that says like, oh, no, No, there's not a famine that we're complicit in and fucking starving people and slapping them on the goddamn wrist and acting like there isn't anything that we could do. It's just ridiculous that we are getting pushed around by them when we're the very people that are arming them in the first place. If the United States wanted to, they could stop this, absolutely, and it's fucking bullshit. It is total bullshit.

And we have to get better people elected in the first place. And the thing that we need to ask ourselves is how do we make sure as a generation that we do not replicate the spinelessness that got us here? and build the power that we need to actually achieve what we want. Because in politics, unfortunately, you can only get, you know, if you want 100% of what you want, you need 100% of the power. You can't do that in a democracy. You can get 90%, potentially, 80%. We have to figure out how to get to that 80%.

And instead of just saying, like, well, like, this is the right thing to happen. Yeah, it is the right fucking thing to happen. Or this is the wrong thing to happen. We need to change that. Regardless of whether it's the NRA, APAC, or these other groups, we need to be able to take them on. But we need to build the real power on the left. to ensure that we are voting in line with what the American people want

and what Democrats, actual Democrats, not the idiots in D.C. that want to just say like, oh, this is what they really believe in, what Democrats and young people actually believe in. Because we saw that in Zeran's race and the power of it, right? He was not supposed to win that race. If it was a traditional electorate, he would not have won. But because he said what he actually believed in, regardless of whether or not somebody agrees with him,

at least you fucking know what he believes in. Yeah. Right? Cuomo started to change the stance more after the primary and all kinds of issues because he's just trying to get elected and he's spineless. We need people with actual spines and they need the power. And talent too. And the talent.

You can have a guy with the spy that's just like annoying. Right. Like you need a guy that's like, Zoron gives good speeches and he's like, he's charismatic. Yeah. He's like a normal thing, right? I mean, yeah. Not to tell you how to do your job, brother.

No, it's real. That's what we're trying to do. I got to send you this playlist. You absolutely do. You're in the, you're in a dark one right now. I mean. How much time are you spending? spending in bed not enough the bed is oh not enough because i'm going to the gym a lot you're going

in gym mode yeah oh you're he's going to be red pill like two two months no no he is he's going listen yeah he's going to be tape he's going to be he's going to take he's going to be tape mode no no or you know what you could do instead i go to the gym moves to new york city dude i seriously thought about it skinny skinny you don't have to go to the gym at all girls love it i mean it's a hack what it is it's women are brainwashed by the film annie hall into thinking it's acceptable Dude, it was... To, like, date a rumple still-skinned kind of guy. It's been great for a while, but I think it's starting to change, and I need to change with the times, too.

I can't look like I'm one cigarette away from death anymore. Dude, I don't know. I'm going to see you talking about high-value men pretty soon. I'm going to see you. Thanks a lot, me. Yeah, thanks so much. Good luck. Give it up for you.

You had fun? Yeah. Thank you. No.