The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Rep. Al Green On Disrupting The Joint Session Of Congress, Fighting For Medicaid + More

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Rep. Al Green To Discuss Him Disrupting The Joint Session Of Congress, Fighting For Medicaid. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Wake that ass up early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody. It's D-E-J-N-V Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Lauren LaRosa is here.

We got a special guest in the building. Yes indeed. We have Congressman Al Green. Welcome, brother. Thank you. Thank you, dear brother. Thank you for joining us. How are you feeling? Yeah. Yeah well I'm feeling quite well. Better than I deserve is what I usually say because

candidly I have the gift of life. I didn't earn it and I'm appreciative and I try as best as I can to appreciate the life that I have but the current current events, obviously, are on my mind. And notwithstanding these events, I still say that I'm better than I deserve. You know, I wanna say something, man. A couple of weeks ago, the good brother Michael Eric Dyson reached out and he said,

Congressman Al Green of Texas wants to come on Breakfast Club. And I'm like, all right, for sure. Connect them with the producers and everything else. So this is just divine timing because this was something that was in the making a couple of weeks ago, but then everything transpired this week. At the state of the union.

Yes, sir. What made you even wanna come on a couple of weeks ago? What was on your spirit? I admire the way you conduct your program to be quite honest, but may I just step back a moment and say a kind word about Michael. Absolutely. I think so much of him.

He's one of the great minds of our time. Absolutely. I don't know that he has an equal to be very honest with you. So I'm grateful to him for reaching out on my behalf. But I wanted to come on because I know that you have an audience that may not have had an opportunity to hear some of the things that I think would merit their consideration.

So this would be an opportunity to reach out and see if we can help persons better understand some of what's happening in Congress. And not only do you have one of the greatest R&B singers' names, of the greatest R&B singers name, you got an R&B voice. You don't hear the smooth talking hands. Are you about to do the quiet storm? Wow, I've never been acknowledged in this fashion before. I have had people to say to me, well let me give you this example, I was introduced and it was a

great introduction, one of the best introductions I've ever had and as I was going to speak the gentleman said to me before you finish would you just please sing one song. He knew not that I was. Just give us one one song. But I want to start from back before we get into everything that's going on who is Al Green and what made you wanted to get into serving people? Well, it probably started early in life. When I was a child in elementary school, my teacher, Miss Graham, I believe was her name,

had the class to all assume some office, or run for some office. And I was running for class president. And my theme was go with green and that meant something to me then and it continued. President of student body, president of freshman class in college. Once you get into this it seems to envelop you and you you just don't leave it immediately. So I didn't plan to do this. It sort of consumed me in a sense.

And here I am. So it's not a contrived thing. Now they said you like HBCU so much, you went to three of them. Well, I went to four. FAMU, Howard, and Tuskegee. And I also went to Texas Southern. And Texas Southern.

Yes, sir. I enjoyed undergraduate school. I really did. And by the way, for everybody's edification, I have no undergraduate degree. I was fortunate enough to get into law school. It was just a quirk of circumstance. And so I finished law school

at Thurgood Marshall School of Law. You know you caused some good trouble the other night when you stood up and spoke out at the, is it the State of the Union? No it was a joint session of Congress. Joint session of Congress, when you stood up and spoke out at the joint session of Congress. I think what's getting lost is what you actually said. Thank you. And you said that you have no mandate on Medicare.

No mandate to cut Medicaid. Medicaid. No mandate to cut, literally friends, I had my coat, my cane, and I was about to make my exit because I really didn't want to sit through what I knew the president would do. So as I was about to make my exit, he made this statement about his mandate.

And I said to him, you have no mandate to cut Medicaid. And by the way, I didn't come to say that. I did not. It was spontaneity. It was just something. Spirit movie. Yes, so I said it. And of course the speaker admonished me.

He said that I should take a seat. But at the moment I had to make the point. So I said it again. The speaker admonished me again. And the speaker did his job. He said, well, you've got to be removed. So I was evicted. And by the way, the officers who evicted me were very kind.

They didn't say anything to me that was out of order. They were very kind to me. But it didn't matter to me what the consequences were. And I've shared this with other people. John Lewis and I were friends. And we talked about this notion of peaceful protest. And a part of it is not just getting in the way as he put it. You have to get in the way. You have to be disruptive. People are not going to like you in some, but when you do

this you have to also be prepared to suffer the consequences. So when I did it, I was prepared to suffer the consequences and I'm prepared now. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to like the consequences. You can be prepared to suffer things that you don't agree with I don't agree with what happened, but I was prepared to suffer because Medicaid means so much to so many people one in every five persons with insurance in this country is covered by virtue of Medicaid and If we lose Medicaid, we're going to lose lives. The president, by and through his agents in Congress, has issued a mandate, we passed

legislation, to cut $880 billion from the committee that has jurisdiction over Medicaid. You cannot do that. You cannot do that without cutting into Medicaid. And if you do that, you're gonna hurt a lot of people that I represent. So I'm standing for them because they can't stand for themselves, understanding that they need this healthcare. I'm glad you explained that.

But also, you said something, you said that the speaker was doing his job. So if that's the case, why didn't Democratic speakers do their job and kick out Joe Wilson when he yelled out at Barack Obama, you lied. Why didn't do their job and kick out Marjorie Taylor Greene or Boebert? Like why don't they do their job?

This is why I came to the program, because I would get a question like this. And I really appreciate this question, because it gets to the essence of where we are but a good many of us don't realize it. There is still invidious discrimination. There is invidious discrimination in the House of Representatives. I'm a son of the segregated South. The rights that the Constitution recognized for me, my friends and neighbors denied. I had to sit in the back of the bus, the balcony of the movie,

drink from a colored water fountain, and my relatives who committed some crimes were locked up in the bottom of the jail. I know what invidious discrimination looks like. The Klan burned a cross in my yard. I have, I know what it smells like. I was in filthy waiting rooms and I've been in places where I didn't want to be and I know what it sounds like. I've been called all kinds of ugly names. So I know invidious discrimination. And when the speaker decided that I would be removed and then there was this motion, this resolution to censure me, it became obvious to me that I was not being treated as others were. And candidly speaking, it is invidious discrimination,

harmful discrimination. I don't agree with that, but I was willing to suffer that, because I knew that I had to get that message to the president and put this issue before the public because the public has not grasped what's going to happen if Medicaid is cut. This is not about black people. Most of the people, the plurality, they're Anglos. Black people are a smaller percentage of Medicaid, but this is about people who need health care.

This president is a person who uses his incivility to take advantage of our civility. When I left, I went home and I saw the rest of the event on television and I saw him point to the Democrats and say these people are lunatics. He called the Democratic members of Congress lunatics. Now that is incivility. He will not be punished for that. He's not going to be sanctioned. He's not going to be reprimanded. He's not going to be censured. He does this with impunity. I believe that we have to meet incivility with incivility. I have to be prepared to suffer the consequences, but I'm prepared to meet his incivility that he uses to demean people.

We have to use our incivility to uplift people, and I plan to do that. I understand that, but why wouldn't a Democratic speaker of the House censor those folks? Like why wouldn't she call them out or he called him out when Obama was in office? Why wouldn't Pelosi call him out when Biden was in office? And do to them what they did to you when they disrupted the joint session. Right, my belief is that what they've done to me exceeded what should be done.

And that may be why, because they didn't want to exceed what should be done. That would be my guess. I candidly don't know, but I know that I have been treated differently. And I have accepted that it happened. I don't agree with it. And I think that if you treat everybody else as you should, and then when I show up, you decide to treat me differently, I then protest that and I do that. But I would protest notwithstanding the way they've done it, simply

because I think that at some point, even if nobody stands with you on some issues, they are so important that if nobody stands with you, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all. I agree with you, but I also believe Democrats are cowards. And that's why they didn't call out Marjorie Taylor Greene. That's why they didn't call out Joe Wilson when he did it. And Republicans, that's what happened. What happened the other night, it made a weak party look weaker. You looked strong, and I was sitting there wondering,

well, why is nobody else standing up with that brother? Why is nobody else walking out with that brother? In that moment, to me, it just shows you how cowardly the Democratic Party is. Did you feel that way? I was gonna ask you, did you feel like people should have left with you? Yeah, do you feel like we leave, like, you know,

one leave, we all leave, but together we unite it. Let me give you a proper predicate before I go to this specific point. I'm not a Democrat because I love the notion of being a Democrat. I don't have another option. This is the option that's available to me, the best option available to me.

And I tell people that I'm a liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, and unafraid. Would I have stood with someone else had they done this? Yes. Absolutely. I would have. And I believe that there are some Democrats who weren't there when he said Lunatic,

I'm sort of pleased that Maxine Waters wasn't there because I'm confident Maxine would have had some choice words for him, words that I wouldn't use. She's a master of scatology. And so I, but I don't begrudge them to be very honest. I think people have to, on some of these questions, do what your conscience dictates. This was a dictate of my conscience, my convictions, and I

said to my friends, vote your conscience when we got to the vote in this case. Vote whatever your convictions are. I'm not trying to sway you one way or another, but I do say to you, and I've said this before, I'm not a Democrat because it was not like a religion for me. I'm there because it's the best choice that I have. If I had another choice, I would opt for that. Now you talk about consequences. Yes, sir. What are the consequences for what you've?

Well, I'm about to suffer double jeopardy. They have censured me, which was to bring me before the House and read the statement that was a statement of censure. But there is now a movement to strip me of my committee assignments. I would call that double jeopardy. I will not agree with it. But I will still say to you, if I could do it again, I would,

knowing that they would do these things, because it's not about me, it's about what Brother Chalamet said, it's about the healthcare. And somewhere along the way we make sacrifices. 60th anniversary, is that what it is, of crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge today? John Lewis and those folk made sacrifices.

John Lewis explained to me he thought he was going to die on that bridge. Some people have to make sacrifices. So if sacrificing a congressional seat is going to help people get healthcare, then that's a good exchange. That's a fair exchange to get that health care for people who need it. If they strip you of your committees though, right, like a person like you who you're not afraid, right? The committees that you're involved in, financial services, homeland security, diversity and inclusion of in housing, community

development, insurance, what does that mean for the people that you're doing so much good for? What effect are we gonna see from that? Well, I would hope that the person who follows will take up the same causes and will do as well as can be done. I don't believe that I'm the only Al Green in the world. Well, I know that.

I was like, maybe I shouldn't have said it that way. There is Mr. Love and Happiness for the good times, but I think that there are other people who can take up this cause and do equally as well or better. I admire brother Jamal Bowman. Oh I love Jam. Yeah, I... Jamal would have stood with you. Yeah, 100%. But as a matter of fact, Jamal wouldn't even have shown up. He wouldn't have even shown up. I was tempted not to as well.

I was. But I went to walk out. I did not go to make the statement. I went to walk out. But when he said he had this mandate, I had to then counteract that because I didn't want people to think that he would have a mandate to cut Medicaid. Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, they are the foundation of what we call the safety net, and we have to protect them.

And with Social Security, somewhere around 2035, we're going to have a shortfall, and we're going to have to do something to make sure that Social Security continues to make its timely payments. I have said we should raise the cap, meaning persons who make more than $176,100, I believe is the cap, let's make them pay into the system too. Right now if you make $176,100, all of your money is taxed for Social Security, 12.4%, 6.2% from you and 6.2% from your employer. Well, I think we have to raise that cap so that we can continue to have these payments. There are some people who have raised the age, and if they raise raise the age black men will become donors. We're donors right now to a certain extent because we don't live as long. Our lifespan is shorter. So raising the age

only then causes some people just pay into it and never benefit from it and it's an investment not an entitlement. So they won't collect on their investment. So I'm for raising that cap. That's important and for Medicare We've got to make sure that we maintain this program Medicaid Medicare Social Security they benefit Americans we have a society where people can walk into places Typical stores be millionaires and nobody mugs you. You know, people who have much can visit places where people who have little and walk away.

In many societies, you have to have armed guards with you. I may have to have one after, you know, what's happened here lately. But you have to have armed guards and you have to be protected. But we have a peaceful society because of the way we treat people in the dawn of life and in the twilight of life. And I'm gonna do what I can to help them. You said your armed security,

is it just you've been receiving threats and stuff? Or like, or everything? Well, I don't want you to think that they started with this, but they've increased. Yes. Crystal can pull up some of those and you can hear them if you'd like, but people, they don't think very much of my mother

and my lineage, and they think that it would be appropriate for me to wear a rope as a necktie. But when you sign on, you don't sign on to have a party or just have a great time, you have to sign on for the times that exist and you have to do what's necessary to make things better for those that you represent. And you just have to accept these things, and we do.

I don't say to you, accept them and not be judicious, not be prudent, judicious not be prudent You've got to be prudent enough to say I want security and not withstanding that things can happen to you But you ought to at least do what you can to protect yourself But dr. King gave us some sage advice He reminds us that a person who hasn't found something worth dying for isn't fit to live You know, so we all have to find something. You know, when you say you told people to vote for their conscience,

and then 10 Democrats voted to censure you, what does that say about their conscience? Well, here again, this is why I'm on your program. I assure you that question would not be put to me as you just put it to me on most other places, and most other venues. I think that it is something that they will have to deal with. I don't want to say to them, here's what your conscious should have dictated. What I want to do is be an example and say, here's what my conscious dictated. What I want to do is be an example and say here's what my conscious dictates and if

you believe that I'm a good example then you can adjust but if you think not then I have to accept you as who you are. I let them deal with their conscious. Consciousness is something that's within us within us and it causes us to have moral imperatives. This was a moral imperative for me. If no one else has the same moral imperative, I let them wrestle with it. I would not feel good about myself had I not done what I did. Do you feel like this presidency changes the landscapes

of presidency from here on out? I don't. You've seen things like executive orders on the first day, the man put a desk on in the middle and was signing and throwing pens out. Does this change the presidency for here on out? I don't know about Ad infinitum, but I do know that for the foreseeable future, there will be others who will try to emulate him. He's growing this crop of many trumps.

But this president is a menace to dignity. To dignity. You fire people in mass. You have no idea as to what their responsibilities are to family members. Maybe there's someone who's sick and they are the breadwinner and they have to take care of this person. Could have a child in college that needs these funds, these emoluments to take care of education. You just don't know and to fire people en masse indicates to me that you just don't respect the humanity and dignity of people that you don't know.

There is no due process associated with this process. Elon Musk becomes the arbiter of due process. A guy with a chainsaw who is worth more than anybody else it seems, who believes that he can make decisions that impact people that he just does not know in an arbitrary and capricious way. I think he's a minister dignity. But he's also a threat to democracy, a threat to democracy because the Supreme Court has led him to believe that he's above the law. He's not in theory, in theory, de jure, de facto, maybe. But in theory, he's not. He's not above the law, but he believes he is. He has an inordinate amount of influence over the House of Representatives and the Senate.

I've seen people who I thought had great principles just cave, as it were, give in to him, or succumb to him, and allow him to cause them to do and say things that I thought I'd never see them do or say. So he has the House, the Senate, and the judiciary, and if he defies court orders, if he defies court orders, at that moment, dear brothers and sister, he will become a dictator, and we will be under a dictatorship. But he's already defied court orders. He's a threat to democracy. and sister, he would become a dictator. And we would be under a dictatorship. He's already defined.

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available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. His appeal appellate process is there when you differ. I'm going to be honest with you, Congressman Al Green. I've called him a threat to democracy quite often, but I'm sick of that talk. And the reason I'm sick of that talk is because Democrats don't ever act like he is.

Even when they were in power, the last four years with Biden, that didn't stop the so-called fascism. So why should we ever believe anything that comes out of Democrats' mouth ever again about any of this? Thank you again for your question, sir. I have said that we should not wait until he becomes a dictator to try to remove him.

Now, I understand that we don't control the House, but that doesn't mean that we can't still bring articles of impeachment, because the courts can't stop him, and he has control of the generals because all of those generals that he appointed have to place fealty to him. If he has control of the generals, the courts can't stop him and the House of Representatives and Republicans won't stop him, then that leaves it to us. There are 435 of us. We each have the authority, the ability to bring articles of impeachment and I'm going to do that. Why? Because I think that you have to go the authority, the ability to bring articles of impeachment. And I'm going to do that.

Why? Because I think that you have to go on the record, even when you can't make the change. But he's been impeached twice already, and that didn't stop nothing. It didn't stop him. In fact, he was voted back into office with two impeachments and 34 felony convictions.

But that doesn't mean that I should not bring them and make the effort. I've got to do all that I can. I grew up with this belief from parents that when you have done, when you can't do what you need to do as much as you should do, do all you can. Just do all you can. And there's a song that I'm sure many as you should do. Do all you can. Just do all you can. And there's a song that I'm sure many of you've heard. The song has these words, after you've done all that you can, just stand. Just stand. And I stand.

I have a question for you about how people look at the institution of the office of the president. I know you were a part of bringing the articles of impeachment in 2017. You said you're going to do it again. You got the 10 Democrats that Charlemagne just mentioned that voted to send to you. Their direct quotes were basically you needed to learn some decorum and respect the office of the president, right? So to his point, some of that is probably gonna go out

the window, people won't care. How dangerous is it that there are Democrats, or just people in general, that feel like despite what's happening, it's the institution of the president. Why wouldn't they say that about the president? They need to be saying that about the president. Well, look, I concur with you.

I hate you. It's crazy. When people really understand, you realize how scary it is. It ain't even that it's scary. The Democrats are just cowards, man, in every way. I completely agree that they should say that about the president, especially given that he, on national TV, called Democrats. Raging Left lunatics, something like that.

Lunatics. The lunatics gave quotes. Lunatics. But it wasn't about him, it was about you. Yeah, I understand. I would not have said this about them. I would not. I can about them. I would not. I can only say to you,

they have to live with their words, I have to live with mine. How do you feel though? Like, as all as you stand and you fight, and then when you turn your back and you think the people behind you are back there, then you look and you realize that they're not. Well, one slight adjustment. I didn't look to see, and I didn't have that expectation.

Gotcha. I stood because of the people that I represent who cannot be there to stand for themselves. So again, I would do it again. I will suffer the consequences. And if my being evicted can make a difference in the lives of those people who need Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare, I would do it. The state of Texas was accorded $100 billion for Medicaid and rejected it.

Rejected it because at some point the state of Texas would have to pay 10% of that amount that was being paid, and the federal government would pay 90%. Well, there's talk of sending money to states now, rather than having the federal government have its fingerprints on this process. If that happens, a state like Texas will abuse it. Texas doesn't regard poor people with any degree of respect that I would give them. So I have to fight to keep it out of the hands

of the leaders in the state of Texas. And that's what this is about, there's a fight. And I'll do as best as I can. Look, I don't guarantee victory, but I guarantee a fight. Catch your question, did Democrats coordinate any type of real form of resistance the other night or was everybody just doing their own thing? Because we saw the people with their pickleball paddles and you said yours was spurred a moment.

Did anybody have a conversation? Because I know Hakeem Jeffries was trying to get people not to do anything. We meant signs, not pickleball paddles. The signs. No, it was pickleball paddles. I know Hakeem Jeffries was trying to get people not to do any type of disruption, which I thought was beyond cowardly. Was there any conversation amongst y'all?

I am probably what you would call a maverick. I tend to, as I said, I'm a liberated Democrat, I tend to deal with my conscience and my convictions. And I have not been engaged in those kinds of conversations. I think most people have said that Al Green is probably gonna do what he wants, so let's not bother. And they're probably right. So I'll do the best that I can to be as good as I can

and be of service. But I think that in the future, what we're doing now, I think will have an impact. I really do. I think that people will give some thought to how we should behave in the future. And I have suggested that we have to meet incivility with incivility. Ours is for a different cause, theirs is to demean, ours is to uplift.

But I think we have to use incivility. What I did was an act of incivility and when they reprimanded me with the censure, we sang, we shall overcome right there in the well. The speaker tried to gavel us out, but we didn't stop. That was an act of incivility, and it was really a response to the president's incivility. So we have to use incivility. That is another way of saying protest. You know, and we brought up a good question,

and if we ever get another Democrat president, if, right? When we see all of the things that Trump is currently doing and we see, wow, presidents really do have power if they have the political will and courage to use it. I wanna see a Democrat do that. Why can't a Democrat move like that for the good things? Yes, I absolutely agree with you. I'll be quite candid with you. I didn't know. I'm a lawyer.

Okay, I'm being candid with you. This is a candid program by the way. I did not realize that a president had so few guardrails. Donald Trump, Donald Trump has pulled the cover back, you know, he's lifted the blinds, the shades, and we now see that a president has very few obstacles to prevent him from, or her, prevent them from doing whatever they wanna do. That's right. Very few.

This president has decided that he will use executive orders as opposed to using Congress. And he's issuing executive orders in areas that we've never seen a president give us these executive orders, issue these executive orders. He has demonstrated to us that it is more about the will to do things than the way. The way is there. The question is, do you have the will? And my answer to you, dear brother, is yes.

I would hope that a democratic president would use this authority, not for the purpose that he's using it. He seems to think that the very wealthy, the plutocrats, need more to do more, and that the poor among us can do more with less. Poor can do more with less. The wealthy need more to do more. I would hope that a Democratic president would have a better view of what the needs of society are and try to help uplift people who are living in the streets of life,

not to the detriment of those who live in the streets. There's enough for all of us, but to the detriment of those who live in the streets, there's enough for all of us, but let's look after those who live in the streets, and there are good many who are not getting any help at all. Don't you admire that, Donoway? Don't you admire the fact that he is willing to do whatever he wants to do for his base? Well, I...

Because that's what we, anybody who supported Democrats, that's all we ever want. Do something for the base. Keep your promises. Yes. He keeps his. Yeah, well, Brother Charlemagne, may I just give you this predicate before I get to your question?

We've made promises. People have said that black men, as you know, were one of the reasons. And that, in a sense, black people in general voted for Trump and that hurt us. And they're saying that members of other communities, the labor community, didn't vote as they should have. Well, we made promises, and you mentioned it. We said, give us the House, the Senate, and the presidency,

and we'll pass Voting Rights Act, John Lewis Voting Rights. We'll pass George Floyd Justice and Policing. We will raise the minimum wage. We will, for the labor folk, pass the PRO Act, Protect the Right to Organize Act. For the members of the LGBTQ plus community, we would pass the Equality Act. Well, we had the House, the Senate, and the presidency,

and we didn't do it. That's your point, that's your point. We didn't do it. But here's to add to your point. When Republicans had the House, the Senate, and the presidency, and they didn't have enough votes to bring us to cloture, cloture's where you get 60 votes, so you pass something with 51 votes. When they couldn't get to clot you get 60 votes, so you pass something with 51 votes.

When they couldn't get to Clocher with 60 votes, they said, fine. They made the following motion, not in these exact words, when there was a federal judgeship up. They said, we believe that we should pass this judgeship on with 51 votes. And the chair overruled that and said, no, you've got to have 60. And I remember the person making this motion, asking this, said, I appeal the ruling of the chair. Now, when you appeal the ruling of the chair, you only have to have 51 votes.

So the 51 votes then allowed them to take up the issue of placing this person on the Supreme Court with 51 votes as opposed to 60. We did a similar thing with John Lewis voting rights, Mr. Schumer did, and when we took our votes, we had 48 Democrats to vote with us, two did not. Manchin and Sinema did not. If they had, then Vice President Harris would have come over and been the 50. So we could have passed George Floyd, Justice and Policing, we could have passed John Lewis voting rights, all of the things that I've said. And no Democrat ever threw Manchin and Sinema under the bus. I never understood that.

He mentioned it like a minute, he'd be giving y'all hell. You know, y'all give him a speech now. But you gave it, some of the language you used, my mother would have loved this program, but she was a master of scatology. But so they didn't pressure them. Like they pressure us, you know, like they treat me in a sense. Okay, they didn't pressure them. But here is what happened.

And I'm getting to your question. Here's what happened. There are two political banks in this country. There is the Republican political bank and the Democratic political bank. Now, there's some smaller institutions. If you put your energy and effort, your deposits, if you will, into the Democratic bank, you expect your return to come from the Democratic bank. If the Republican bank does something for you, you're not going to reject that, but you put your deposits in the Democratic bank.

When the Democratic bank did not give the return on investment, then persons lost their enthusiasm. So I don't blame people who lost their enthusiasm because we didn't honor what we said. If we had the House, the Senate, and the presidency in 2021 and we did not deliver, I see how people could lose enthusiasm. So that's where we were, that's what happened, but my hope is that we're learning a lesson and my hope is that we will be truthful about it. That's the way I see it.

Now there are other people who would blame people who didn't vote for not voting. I understand why people didn't vote. Do you think Hakeem Jeffries is the leader Democrats need in this president moment? I think that, first of all, I think very highly of him. Let me start with this. I have had an opportunity to see his

intellect. I think that he finds himself in a difficult position and he's trying... What's the position in between Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? Well, I find him in the difficult position in that he's trying to get 218 votes so that we will have the opportunity to do some of these things that I've called to your attention and getting 218 votes you're probably not gonna get 218 Al Green but you can get 218 with some people who will do some of the things that I want to see done that would be a benefit and some who won't.

So he's trying to get to 218 votes. But politics not gonna work. Like I think we, I keep saying over and over, I feel like Democrats have tried every political strategy except for courage. And I don't know how politics gets us out of this situation. How do regular traditional politics moving by the rule of the law,

get us out of a situation when you're dealing with people with that much power who don't follow the rule of the law, get us out of a situation when you're dealing with people with that much power who don't follow the rules of the law? Well, I do think you're right about the courage, and here's where it comes into play. When we do get 218 votes, we've got to decide we'll have enough courage to do what has to be done, even if we won't have 218 votes after this. That's the decision that we have to make.

That's the decision Republicans have made. They've decided that they're gonna press their agenda, and if they lose the House and the Senate and the presidency, they will have done as much as they can to advance their agenda at that time. I do think that too often, we tend to want to preserve the power and the process lose the opportunity to make the significant change that ought to be made. So

courage is, you're correct, we've got to use it. Who do you think is a, well it's a two-part question, who do you think is very courageous in the Democratic Party right now and who do you think is the current voice of the Democratic Party? Well I have a, you Well, I have a bias. I work with the honorable Maxine Waters. I've known her for many, many years. I have great respect for her. I serve on the committee under her leadership.

I think that she is a person who voices the things that I concur with. She's a strong leader, she's fierce, and I think that if she had been there when the president said, you're a lunatic, I don't know, she may have, they had to pull her off the podium. But Queen Maxine is a legend, but she's an OG.

And then, you know, the Bible says, old men for council, young men for war, right? Who are the young warriors right now? To me I think Jasmine Crockett, I think AOC, I think Ayanna Presley. I agree with all of those but let me just share this with a little bit of pushback there brother. Her mentality is not old.

Yeah, see vaccine, look I've celebrated my 25th birthday three times I'm not, I'm in my fourth 25th. I still have my ponytail, you know, my beard, but I'm, in age, I'm old, but Maxine is younger than most 25 year olds. She is. Yes, she's an OG, but that's a thank God for an OG. She's that kind of OG.

I just feel like they left you hanging another night, my brother. Absolutely. And I appreciate what you did, you know, because like I keep saying, if something is a threat to democracy, if somebody is a fascist, then people gotta act like it. And when he said that about Medicare,

you stood up and you let everybody know. Like you know, you don't have a mandate to cut Medicare. So that right there shows me the urgency of the situation. Why everybody else didn't have that sense of urgency, I don't have a mandate to cut Medicare. So that right there shows me the urgency of the situation. Why everybody else didn't have that sense of urgency, I don't know. I feel like they left you hanging. Well, thank you for your kind words. And I move forward saying this.

We still have the opportunity to demonstrate the courage that you've called to our attention. We still have the opportunity to demonstrate the courage that you've called to our attention. We still have that opportunity. I believe, as I said, that we have to use incivility. I believe in this. There are times when if you can't have justice, then you have to step across the line of civility and decide that you will not allow others to proceed with injustice.

Don't allow them to proceed with injustice. I remember Miss Beatty saying something, I hope she'll forgive me for calling her out, but she said at a, we were in a meeting of a sort, when are we going to do something bold? Maybe not in these exact words. When are we going to do something bold? Maybe not in these exact words. When are we gonna do what John Lewis did? When are we gonna go and take over the floor of the house? Not in these words, Miss Beatty,

those were not your exact words. But she said that. There's that effect. Yeah, something to that effect. And I'm saying to you that that's where we are. That is incivility, by the way. But we've gotta have that level of incivility. We cannot allow them to proceed without at least knowing

that they're gonna have to walk over us and walk around us. We have to do what John Lewis said, and that is get in the way. So we have to now get in the way. I would hope that we would see this as what we are called to do. You think now is the time to bring people together

and what I mean by that is like, you have a lot of Republicans who voted for Donald Trump and they're going to these, that's one of my favorite things to watch now, those Republican town halls, where they going to those town halls and raising hell. And I was sitting there wondering, I'm like, yo, why didn't Democrats bring some of those people

to that session the other night and let them be in there in their MAGA gear and let them be as disruptive in the chamber as they have been at these town halls? That would have been a stronger message to me. Because we used to hear Democrats complain. You think they would have done that though? Because they're so loyal to each other.

Not at the Republican town hall, they're raising how they losing their jobs. Yeah, but they're amongst their people. I don't know, I just feel like sometimes I feel like one thing that the Republicans do well is even, they're raising how they losing their jobs. You know? Yeah, but they're amongst their people. I don't know, I just feel like, sometimes I feel like one thing that the Republicans do well is even when they're upset, they still, they're so together. But if you got all these protests with these people protesting Donald Trump, protesting Elon Musk,

who actually voted for him, if they get an opportunity to be in a chamber where both of them are there, I think they'd have made some noise. Well, I do agree that we should make some noise, and here's what I would have had us do You remember at one point the Republicans started to say USA USA and

The there was you know order but allowed it to continue I think if I had my brothers in my way when they they do that, we ought to then, because I'm an OG, sing We Shall Overcome. While they're saying USA, USA, we sing We Shall Overcome. I can't do no more singing. And, and, and, well, well, I understand. We're sick of the singing, man. But my point is, at that moment,

we have to meet their message with a message and not allow them to say USA, USA and we say nothing. So we have to have some retort. That is my retort to sing We Shall Overcome. I imagine there are some other songs that might have more of an impact. But my point is that we have to raise our voices when they raise theirs. We cannot let them just have the opportunity to proclaim themselves patriots while we sit silent.

But that's why they missed a moment with you the other night. All of them should have walked out with you in that moment. That would have made a hell of a statement. They should have been just as disre- After they kicked you out, somebody else should have stood up and been just as disruptive. Well, I do think that there will be additional moments.

And you have now sounded the alarm. I think people are paying attention. I would only say I try to lead by example. If you think I'm a good example, then follow my lead. You're a great example, my brother. You believe more than I do. But at least you gave us something to believe in. Well, you're very kind, you're very kind.

And if I may, I don't know whether we're near the end here, but I wanna thank you for bringing a degree of clarity that is not presented in traditional fashions. You have courage, You have courage. You have courage. You say what's on your mind. It's a very difficult thing to do for most people. Most people just are not going to say what's on their minds.

There are many people who had on their minds what I said, and I'm not patting myself on the back, but I know I'm not the only person who thought that. But it takes courage, and you've emphasized this, and I want to let you know this. When Dr. King was at his zenith, when he was at his zenith, there were other great orators. He was not the only great orator.

There were other great intellectuals. But the one thing he had that they didn't or they didn't exhibit was courage. He had the courage to say what others knew and would not say and that was what makes the difference. You've got to have courage. You've got to have guts, intestinal fortitude. As Malcolm said it, you've got to have chitlins. You do. That makes a difference.

Thank you, Congressman. Congressman Al Green, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. Thank you, dear brother. And any time you need to pull up, you are more than invited to come on through. Well, thank Brother Michael Eric Dyson. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, dear brother.

All right, it's Congressman Al Green, it's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up! Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Hey, what's up, y'all? This is Eric Andre. Well, they made a podcast called Bombing about absolutely tanking on stage. I tell gnarly stories and I talk to friends about their worst moments of bombing in all sorts of ways.

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