The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Wes Moore: “Pathways for Work, Wages, and Wealth for All Marylanders”

Episode Date: December 4, 2022

“I’ve been a public servant for my entire life. I just haven’t been a politician.” Maryland’s first Black governor-elect Wes Moore shares why he chose to campaign in areas that had few Democrats, what he believes “patriotism” really means, and how his life experiences influenced him to focus on building pathways for “work, wages, and wealth” for Marylanders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Governor-elect Westmore. Yes, sir. Are you used to that yet? I mean, it's only going to be for a short amount of time, and then it'll be Governor Westmore. Has it sunk in because you ran a campaign in a place where nobody expected a Democrat to be able to win the seats of governor, and yet, here you are, and you've done it.

What does it feel like, let's thiiii know? It feels great because you're right, I mean when we first started this race we started a 1% you know I say that I'm not voting was polling higher than where I was pulling at. Like people were not people here first and I think what we did was we continue to show people we were going to meet people where they were. We're going to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to to to to to to to to to to to the to the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the. I. I. the. the. the. thean. thean. thean. the. their. their. their to go to every part of the state, talk to every part of the state. And that also meant even places where there weren't a lot of Democrats. And people would literally say to me, they're like, you're coming to a lot of places, not a lot of Democrats. And I'm like, yeah, but there's a lot of Marylanders. work and earn it, then the people respond. That is something that many people spoke about in your campaign.

They, it was very apparent very early on that you ran a different race to what many establishment politicians run. You didn't pander to a base, you know, you spoke to the people of Maryland, you didn't make the race national unnecessarily. You spoke to the issues that were actually happening in your states. And I'd love to talk a little that that that that th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho the tho the tho tho tho their tho tho tho tho tho tho tho to to tho tho tho tho their their tho tho thoe tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho. th. thi. th. th. th. thi. thi. the the the thi. the the the the the, the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the the. I thean. I thean. I toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. the. You spoke to the issues that were actually happening in your states and I'd love to talk a little bit about that. You know, I think I'll paraphrase you in that, you said at one point, you don't understand why patriotism is somehow like owned now by Republicans when everyone can be a patriot and everyone can love their country and still want to fix it.

Talk me through how you came to this understanding the military and and whether the up to this contributed to thinking that way? Well, you know, it's while because I would hear people talk about this term of patriotism and I became so bothered by because I'm like, you haven't earned that, right? Where I think about this concept, where my definition of patriotism was when I left my family and I put on the uniform of this country and I served with the 82nd Airborne Division overseas in Afghanistan and I was literally hearing people talk about Patriots whose definition of patriotism was putting on a baseball cap and go and storming the capital and try to take down democracy. And so I think about it in my own life, I come from a family of patriots because I come from a family of

educators. I come from a family of educators. I come from a family of people who have served as engineers and made this country with their hands. I've served from a family of ministers, right? These are patriots. And so I refuse to be lectured, nor should anybody allow anybody to try to bastardize that term of patriotism, because we come from a place where I understand what it means to love your country, even when your country doesn't love it back. Wow. I understand what it means to love your country, even when your country doesn't love it back. But you still love it. Wow. So, for many people, they love the country.

Many people love what they want the country to be, they have the ideas of what they want to do to fix it. You are actually now going to be in that position. At a really interesting time in America. At an interesting time, you know, for for for tha for thi for to thi for thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their their their their, their, their, their, their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thr.. thr. theeeanan. tooomoomorrow, tooomorrow, tooomorrow, tooomorrow, the.e. the. the. You're in a position where you're going to be able to spend money to make ideas a reality, which is not often the case. Talk me through some of your plans. You know, for instance, reading through your life, there are many people who have read your book and they know the story, but for those who don't, you know, and moved to Jamaica. Yes. Your mom left Jamaica and came to the United States.

And so you have a family that is from many different places in the world, you know? Sounds familiar. Ha ha ha ha. And so, you know, it's informed how you see health care because of, you know, how you were when your father died. It's informed how you think about basic services. So let's start with, you know, one of the more basic ideas. Losing your father at such a young age because he couldn't get the health care he needed,

means you are now in a position to change that. What are you planning to change for the people in your states who may be in that same position? You know, I think about where everything that I am and everything we ran on has been influenced by my life. Where my life has been consistently the consequences of broken policies and how it leaves people, how it leaves people behind. So when we talk about leave no one behind, which I learned in the military when I was 17 years old, leave no one behind is not just a mantra.

That is a value statement. And so my earliest memories were watching my father die in front of me when I was three years old because he didn't get the health care that he needed. That one of my earliest memories was when I was 11 years old when I was 11 years old when I was, when I was 11 years old when I was 11 years old when I was 11 years old when I was 11, thrown when I was 11 years old, and by the way, Trevor, this is a woman who went on to earn a master's degree. Wow. So when we're having conversations, so when we're having conversations about inequitable pay between men and women or inequitable pay between people color and non, this is not an academic exercise to me.

I don't need a white paper to explain this. I've seen this. And so when we say that are my entire platform, that what we're going to do is build pathways for work, wages, to work to work tha th. when we talk about work, it means having an education system that's teaching our students how not just to be employees, but how to be employers. When you're talking about wages, it means making sure the people are getting paid a fair wage because gone should be the days when we have people who are working jobs and in some cases multiple jobs and still living at or below a poverty line. And th, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and th, and to to to to to to to to to to to be to to be to be to be to be to be to be, to to to to to to to to to to to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, and, to be, to be, and, and, and, to be, and, and, and the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi, the the, the thea, the the the the thean, the toea, toea, toea, toe, toe, toe and then making sure we're focusing on wealth and that's simply the idea that you should own more than you owe and that means doing things like

being able to address unfair appraisal values in historically red line neighborhoods because housing is one of the greatest ways to to the the in our society and it means giving a chance for people to have a sense of ownership increasing liquidity to our small businesses our minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, really creating a platform and a pathway for people to pass something on to your children besides debt. So this is about work, wages and wealth. It's a total toss. You know you you seem like you're up for the job job to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the to the to the to the to to to to the to to to to to their their to to to to to to to to to toeck. to work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w. to to to to work wa. the the the the the the the to work, the to work, the to work, to work, to work, to work, wa. to work, wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-s. their their their work, total task. You seem like you're up for the job, you really motivate and you know what you want to do about it.

Let's talk a little bit about being handcuffed when you are 11 years old. It means that you have a view of the quote unquote justice system that is particularly unjust. You can see how it can go wrong so fast. However, in America, I've noticed a really interesting trend whereby it is almost impossible to criticize constructively a police force without being labeled as being anti-police. And then people say you're anti-law and order, you don't want anything to happen. When ironically, many police, men and women will complain about their unions and the jobs they do,

they do, etc. How do you find that balance then between saying to the people of your states in Maryland, my job is to keep you safe, my job is to address what is happening on the ground that leads to crime, but at the same time, my job is to repair a police force that has lost trust in many communities and lost trust in the public in general. You know, and I thost think I think I thus think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I think I thinks I thinks I thi thi thi thi thi thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus their thus their their their their their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is their is thus is thus is thus is thu. thu. thu. thu. thi is thi. thi. thi. thi thi thi thi to throoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, our campaign was endorsed by both Progressive Maryland and the police union. And people say, how in the world did you pull that one off? Because basically it's the idea is this, is that I was offering the same thing to both sides, a seat at the table. That if we are going to actually address these issues, we have to make sure that we have to have a police force that is going to move with appropriate intensity and absolute integrity and full accountability.

But we need to have the police force at the table to be able to make sure that happens. That we have to make sure that yes, we have to get violent offenders off of our streets and out of our communities because no child, no child should have to have to come in a neighborhood these illegal guns out of our neighborhoods. But it also means... But we also have to be very clear on this too. You're not going to arrest your way out of this. And you're not going to militarize your way out of this. And I do think about it from the context where at 11 years old, I felt handcuffs my wrist. And if someone would have said to

that 11 year old kid, you know, one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to. I would have never believed them. So we've got to make sure we're investing our kids and when we say things like that, that they actually believe us because if a kid thinks that you don't care, they don't care what you think. And so we've got to make sure we're coming up with pathways, true pathways for all of our children to understand that the future of our society it isn't real real th. th. th. th. th th th th th th the th th the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theat the the the the the the the the a the a the a the a the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to to to thean to to thean to thean thean thean thean thean thean thean the an the th society it isn't real unless they're a part of it. I would love to know from you as somebody who's coming into politics. You know, you see so many politicians come in with really clear ideas of what they want to do and how they want to be. And very quickly they get slowed down in the sludge that is politics, whether it be, you know, outside money, big you know, organizations, DNC, RNC, whatever it may be.

You see them slowing down and then they care more about being re-elected than doing the job that they were elected to do. So, so, I would start with this. In the most honest way, what would you say is the biggest challenge that you will have to face that people don't understand how challenging it is because oftentimes politicians will say we have to fix this we have to fix this we have to fix it we have to fix it but I think will be interesting for politicians to say this part here is going to be extremely difficult to fix because of X, Y, Z or Z as you'd say here. Like like like genuinely when you say what would you say is the toughest issue facing Maryland right now? I still think it comes back to economics because I still

think people feel a very real sense of an ease and economic uncertainty about where things are. But I think that what we've got to do is first of all we have to let people know and make sure they can believe that we can actually get this done. Really important. It's really important, right. And then also put the concrete plans in place about the things we're going to have to do to be able to address that. And it means things like when we say we are going to invest to get people back to work, it means we have to be able to do that, in job re-training. Where right, you economy, right?

So being able to put together the concrete practical plans in order to do that. It means being able to start earlier. And again, as a leader, I am data-driven and heart-led. And again, as a leader, I am data-a-dran't-inininininin. But data matters and I don't move without data and I know this is that 80% of brain development happens in a child by the time that child is five years old So why we have children starting school of five makes absolutely no sense We have to make sure we have pre-k for every single child in meet in the state of Maryland And so it really is saying we know what works and again I have been a public servant right? But I've had a chance, I've led soldiers in combat, I led a successful small business helping first generation

students go to and through college, and then I had a chance to lead one the largest poverty fighting organizations in this country. I know what works. the question is, can we derive a political will, and the political focus and the political focus and the political focus and political and the, and political and political and political and political and political and political and political and to to to to the political focus and intentionality to actually bring these things to scale. And that's where I think we had a unique value proposition that allow the people of Maryland to say, let's go and let's go win this decade. If there's one thing, even your worst attractors cannot argue is that you are not focused

and you're not driven. You genuinely are. Thank you so much for joining Coming in that question everybody. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central. And stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.