The Daily Signal - Gov. Scott Walker on What Makes America's Youth Tick

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

Much has been made of grabbing the coveted youth vote. America's future lies in her young people, so theoretically, whoever influences the young now will be in a much better position to steer the country. But politicians often seem to look at young Americans as some sort of alien species. What do they like? What matters to them? How do I get them on my side? Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, now president of Young America's Foundation, argues that young folks aren't that much different than your average voter and mostly have the same concerns. "Young Americans still have to put gas in their car, their moped, or whatever they're driving these days," says Walker, emphasizing that the economic pain hitting older Americans also affects young Americans. "If anything, I think [young Americans are] more libertarian than they are liberal, in the sense that at their core, they just want to live their own lives," he says. When asked whether he thinks Republicans and conservatives can court young Americans who feel betrayed by the Democrats and President Joe Biden, Walker responds: I think there are others who are less about hardcore right- or left-wing ideological viewpoints being upset and more just being upset in general. I do think there's a tremendous opportunity. But it can't just be that we're against Joe Biden.Instead, Walker says, conservatives should make the argument for "a better way forward." The former Wisconsin governor joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" today to discuss what young Americans are looking for in their leaders and how conservatives can best continue to court younger Americans. We also cover these stories: The U.S. announces that an American drone strike Saturday eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Kabul, Afghanistan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives in Taiwan under heavy rhetorical fire from China. President Joe Biden names FEMA regional administrator Robert Fenton as the government's lead on monkeypox. A group of major news outlets sue the Texas Department of Public Safety over public records relating to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, August 3rd. I'm Samantha Rang. And I'm Doug Blair. Much has been made of grabbing the coveted youth vote. America's future lies in her young people, so theoretically, whoever influences the young people now, will be in a much better position to steer the country going forward. But often politicians seem to look at young Americans as some sort of alien species. Former Wisconsin governor and president of Young America's Foundation,

Governor Scott Walker, argues that they really aren't that much different than your average voter and have mostly the same concerns. The former governor joins the show today to discuss what young Americans really are looking for in their leaders and how conservatives can best continue to court younger Americans. But before we get to Doug's conversation with Governor Scott Walker, let's hit today's top news. The leader of terrorist group Al-Qaeda is dead. President Biden announced on Monday that an American drone strike eliminated Iman al-Zwhaari

in Kabul, Afghanistan. Here's some of that announcement from Biden. After relentlessly seeking Zawahiri for years under President Bush, Obama, and Trump, our intelligence community located Zawahiri earlier this year. He had moved to downtown Kabul to reunite with members of his immediate family. After carefully considering a clear and convincing evidence of his location, I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield once and for all. This mission was carefully planned, rigorously minimize the risk of harm to other civilians.

And one week ago, after being advised that the conditions were optimal, I gave the final approval to go get him. And the mission was a success. None of his family members were hurt, and there were no civilian casualties. Al-Zuahari was one of the central plotters of 9-11 and took over al-Qaeda after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. The government of Afghanistan known internally as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and currently controlled by the Taliban condemned the U.S. drone strike. In a tweet, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujah Mujahid said, The security and intelligence agencies of the Islamic Emirate investigated the incident and found that the attack was carried out by American drones. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this attack on any pretext and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived late Tuesday evening in Taiwan local time despite ongoing aggression from the Chinese government. Pelosi tweeted, our delegations visit to Taiwan honors America's unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's vibrant democracy. Our discussions with Taiwan leadership, reaffirm our support for our partner, and promote our shared interests, including advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region. China's communist regime long has considered Taiwan, to be part of China. There was speculation over whether Pelosi would visit Taiwan during her congressional delegations trip to Asia. Pelosi's visit was not on her public itinerary, which includes stops in Singapore, Malaysia,

South Korea, and Japan. Following her arrival in the capital city of Taipei, Chinese state media commentator Hu-she-Shin tweeted, Pelosi has landed in Taiwan opening an era of high-intensity competition between China and U.S. over Taiwan Street. Taiwan is close to Chinese. Mainland and Beijing has sufficient cards at hand. We will play them one by one confidently. He also said China's People's Liberation Army is announcing a series of actions.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Monday that the United States does not support Taiwan independence and that there was no reason for the U.S. and China to come to blows. President Biden has named FEMA Regional Administrator Robert Fenton as the government lead on Monkeypox. Fenton will be the White House's National Monkey Pox Response Coordinator alongside Dimitri Descalakis. Daskalakis is currently director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of HIV Prevention and will serve as deputy coordinator for monkeypox response. In a statement announcing the pair's new roles, the White House said that they will lead the administration's strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak,

including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations, and treatments. Dr. Anthony Fauci added, Bob Fenton and Dr. Daskalakis are proven effective leaders that will lead a whole of government effort to implement President Biden's comprehensive monkeypox response strategy with the urgency that this outbreak warrants. Three states, New York, California, and Illinois have declared a state of emergency over monkeypox,

which health officials currently say is contracted primarily by gay men. It has been nearly three months since the massacre of 19 children at an elementary school in Uvaldi, Texas, and many questions remain unanswered. CNN reports that a group of major news organizations has sued the Texas Department of Public Safety over public records relating to the school shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead and wounded 17 other children. ABC, CNN, NBC, and the Wall Street Journal are some of the major news outlets that are part of the lawsuit, which was filed in Austin under the Texas Public Information Act, according to CNN. Laura Lee Prather, a First Amendment lawyer at Haynes Boone, who represents the plaintiffs, said,

the Texas Department of Public Safety has offered inconsistent accounts of how law enforcement responded to the Uvaldi tragedy, and its lack of transparency has stirred suspicion and frustration in a community that, is still struggling with grief and shock. That's all for headlines. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Governor Scott Walker, as we discuss young Americans. As I approached the walkway from around the back of the building, they had taken crow bars to almost all of our windows, two of our doors, and just shattered all of the glass. That's the voice of Susan Campbell, Executive Director of Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center.

In the early hours after Roe v. Wade was overturned, v. Wendell's smash windows and spray-painted threatening messages outside the center. I'm Virginia Allen. Next week, we're releasing a documentary about what happened to the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center, and we take a deep dive into the violence and attacks against other pregnancy centers across the country. Stay tuned and make sure you're subscribed to the Daily Signal's YouTube channel to watch this documentary, and other videos from The Daily Signal. My guest today is Scott Walker, former Wisconsin Governor and President of Young Americans Foundation. Governor, welcome to the show. Great to be with you.

The common knowledge seems to be that young Americans are more interested in the policies of the left, that they go with the Democrats, they go with the left on pretty much everything. But it looks like President Biden is currently hemorrhaging support amongst younger Americans. Why do you think that is? What's the kind of the cause? Well, I think it's not unlike most Americans. You just failed. He's not up for the job. People can see that. You know, young Americans still have to put gas in their car, their moped, however, they're driving these days. I think they see a lot of failed promises. I think they see a lot of confusion. But I think it goes beyond just that. I mean, Biden is the most obvious. It's easiest to be, even for some of the bold promises that some students on the left or young people on the left thought of he just hasn't achieved those. I think they're particularly frustrated thinking, hey, wait, the House, the Senate, the White House are all the same party. And yet you're making a excuses for these things. It doesn't make any sense. But I think the larger context is, at least what we find on college campuses, in particular, and younger, is that most students aren't liberals.

Be clear, most students are conservative. Most students are just kind of living their lives. They're not unlike most Americans. They're not hard one way or the other. But particularly on campuses, I think where many in the national media confuse things is they hear this maybe 15, 20 percent on campus who are really radical. over the top in your face all the time and they assume that's how most students feel and I think in turn in some ways that that doesn't just it's not just skewing the media it's also skewing people

in that Generation Z because they think because that's all they hear well maybe I am supposed to be that way instead of realizing there are other ideas out there so that's where we come in with Young America's Foundation and other groups like us that we partner with to say no the more

we get the truth out the more Not only do we expose people to these ideas, but we in turn, particularly these conferences, the number one thing I hear young people saying, I had no idea how other people thought like I did. And it's because cancel culture really is real because they don't want to win a fair fight. They want to just dominate everything and make anyone who has even an ounce of a right of center thought feel intimidated for me to bring it up. Right. It's almost like from what you're saying that most young people aren't these like aliens that we need to figure out. if they're just Americans like everybody else who happen to be under the age of 30?

If anything, I think they're more libertarian than they are liberal in the sense that at their core, they just want to live their own lives. They don't want a lot of people, and certainly with their parents in a certain phase in life, but just in general, you know, you talk to people about that thing. Good example, we do extensive polling, you know, college and high school age students, not just our students, but the general population to kind of get a sense of where do we need to hone our message in. And, you know, an obvious one, we ask about student loan debt. do you want the federal government to take right part of that off?

Of course, not surprisingly, young people, particularly in college. Yeah, sure, that sounds great. But then you ask a follow-up question and you say, do you think people who never went to college should have to pay for your student loan day? And a majority say, no, that's not fair. So it's interesting to me, what it shows is if you talk about two things. Authenticity, I think, is a driving force and fairness. And I think the more we can talk to young people with stories and ways that relate to their circumstances, to their reality, that applies that authenticity.

I've heard that even asking the last few days at this conference, what speakers the students like the most. Overwhelmingly, it was people who were, it was more about the Q&A even than it was their lecture because they knew it wasn't scripted. The fairness part, I think, for years, you know, we've conceded that to the left. You know, even Joe Biden's, oh, you know, the wealthy should pay their fair share, to which I always push back and said, great, let's do a flat tax. If I make 10 times more than you, I pay 10 times more. But that's not what they want. They want more taxes. They don't want fairness.

And so we should call them out every single way and make the larger argument that fairness is, why is it fair that the government's doing all these things to us? And I think young people, once you start turning that around, get the upper hand on fairness and speak in ways that are authentic, we have a real shot. I'm glad you mentioned that some of the students are giving their responses to what they like here because I am curious, what is something that the young Americans here have been responding to? What has been reverberating in sort of their experiences? Well, clearly, I was surprised actually, and I love Mike Pence, so don't take this wrong, but last year he spoke, gave very much a stump speech, and people reacted to that.

In fact, they said the speech they didn't care for as much as they liked the Q&A he took, and they thought that was authentic. This year I was interested because instead of talking about what he did with President Trump, he talked about this new agenda, he calls a freedom agenda, and students like that because it was forward-thinking, it was visionary. So that's just a good example, not just a speaker, but the difference between one-year's conference versus another. Others, like a Betsy DeVos, who's not a, you know, she's not giving a speech where everybody's standing on their feet the whole time, but they loved it. I did a sit-down with her in Q&A, and people loved that because it

was clear. I didn't have a script to read off of. These were just questions about her experience, about her book. We took questions from the crowd. I think the more students get a chance to interact. We had a military veteran who came and talked about his passion for America. I think I heard that all last night, how compelling it was. And even something like Ben Carson last night. Ben Carson was just really a fan favorite, even though unconventional to a conference, you know, it wasn't filled with standing ovations the whole time. It was really a lot of people on the edge of their seats leaning in, obviously part of it's because he's got a quiet demeanor, but really trying to, you know, pull out every bit of wisdom that he was sharing and students just loved it. And that's,

you know, that's just a few days in. Right. One of those things that we kind of discussed at the top was the Biden administration is hemorrhaging dog support. Are those people that we feel like we can sort of bring into the fold and say, well, you're not happy with the Biden administration, you might not just be happy with the Democratic Party overall? I think it's a combination. I think there's going to be some on the hard left they're hemorrhaging just because they feel like they haven't fulfilled their promises. And I don't know that they'll ever, that hard group will ever be conservatives. They may be more like Stein voters were in 2016 where they go find somebody else, which for me is just fine. You know, that's a vote for back then and vote where Jill Stein was a

vote for Donald Trump effectively. But I do think there are others who are less about hardcore, right, or left-wing ideological viewpoints being upset and more just being upset in general, I do think there's a tremendous opportunity. But it can't just be that we're against your bite. It's got to be, again, that's part of the reason why I think the former vice president's speech, interestingly, was very appealing because it offered a view of the future. And not just as a campaign, but ideas that we should be pushing. I think that's why our students, even though it was long before most of them were even born,

have loved historically at other events hearing or seeing on YouTube speeches that Ronald Reagan gave because so many of his speeches were timeless. Even the 1964 time for choosing, which is before I was even born, is still other than a few comments about Barry Goldwater, you can listen to that speech today, and it would be just as relevant now as it was back then because it was about ideas. It wasn't about a bill or a specific item. And so that's where I think with the young people, many of whom are frustrated with the current president, Joe Biden, making the case.

that we've got a better way forward. Now, something that is kind of occurring to me, as you mentioned that, is that when Reagan was president, and at least Reagan's sort of mentality, but America was that this was a great place. It doesn't seem like there's that same mentality in the country nowadays, that people are kind of down on the country and down on the prospects. Are we seeing that young people are sort of going along with that mentality that America is kind of a down place to be right now?

Well, ironically, Reagan's last speech from the Oval Office warned about this very subject, And if we didn't teach more about American history and shared civic rituals, we'd have troubles. And his warning was prophetic. Having said that, I go back to my initial point about how not every student on campus is a left-wing nut, that the left-wing nuts get the most attention. I think that's true with young people and Americans in general that most people, in fact, I go back to even in some of the polling we do. Disturbing trends in terms of openness towards socialism, even communism in some regard.

That's very dangerous and very scary. Same breath, though, some of those same polls say, do you believe that someone, no matter who they are, no matter what their background, can succeed in America if they work hard? And they say yes. Then, actually, interesting caveat, we did a follow-up and said, do you believe it's someone who comes from another country if they come here legally and work hard can succeed?

Overrelingly said, yes. What that tells me is they may not call it the American dream, They may not use the same verbiage we do, but fundamentally, they still believe in some of those core principles. Have they been tainted by 1619 and Black Lives Matter and critical race theory? Absolutely. But we've got to remind them over and over again, not that we're making apologies for things like slavery, quite the contrast. We're saying that slavery was evil and awful, but that America's not defined by that. unlike other places in the world where slavery still exists today, we overcame that more than a century and a half ago.

And it was because of our founding principles, because of that the American promise defined in the Declaration of Independence, even if now our founders fully lived up to that promise in their own personal lives, that doesn't diminish the fact that the idea that we're all created equal, that God, not the government, gives us fundamental rights, not the least of which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that we continue to move closer and closer to become a more perfect nation, that those are fundamental truths and key parts of what really does truly make America great.

Governor, this convention has been going on for a few days now, and I'm assuming you've had the opportunity to walk around, sort of talk with some students and see what their thoughts are. What are they saying are some of the most pressing issues facing the country? Is it the economic stuff like we're seeing with inflation, or are there other topics that maybe aren't registering with other Americans that specifically registered with this demographic. Well, I think like every age group, they're concerned about the economy,

particularly about the impact of prices. They don't say inflation. They talk about gas. And that's something that, you know, unless you live a block from your school, anybody, everybody in this country has got to go anywhere, unless you've got an electric car, which probably is not a lot of students because they're mostly a pretty pricey. So without a doubt they're talking about that. But a couple of key things I think you hear from students more than you hear from the general

excuse me, the general population. One, just free speech in general. There's an understandably so tremendous concern about not just the traditional idea of bringing a speaker in. That in of itself is a majorly challenge on most of these campuses, including sadly even some government-run institutions

where it's clearly a violation of free speech rights. But just the idea of being able to speak your mind in the classroom, speak your mind on campus, even to a student be able to speaking, even on your own social media without being really viciously and sometimes even physically attacked and targeted. That is a very real concern among students here as I hear from other students across the country. So I think you hear that, you hear concerns about, and hopefully it won't happen, although who knows about schools being closed down in the last few years and campuses, people feeling like they were shortchanged. they didn't get their full investment, their education.

Certainly hear that. And then gender and race issues, this feeling that, which is interesting. Because I think most students here, and you see a diverse group. You know, we'd love to have even more over time, but you see a diverse group of people, not only race, but ethnicity and backgrounds, but this feeling like this pressure, they say over and over again on campus that things are being divided by race, Ironically, some of the same things my grandparents fought against in terms of division by race in the 40s and 50s are now coming back, but not the way they used to. I mean, who would have thought that BLM and white supremacist when in some ways be aligned in terms of separating people by race?

But that's sadly what you see all over, but particularly in college campuses. And then gender. This idea, I mean, even the stuff about the. People say, yeah, you know, I get penal. I have to go to counseling if I don't say my pronouns at the beginning of the introduction to class. Really ridiculous stuff out there. And I think what it really hits home

is with a lot of the young women talking about competing in sports. Maybe even if they're not, you know, Division I, they're not competing in college, but many of them will say, hey, I swam, I ran track in track, I did these things. And I just feel like all that stuff I worked hard on just seems to be slipping away because of these campuses, the NCAA and Ivy leagues and others, allowing people who were born biologically as a man to compete as a woman.

Right. It sounds like from what you're saying is that they're concerned with a mix of kitchen table issues like not being able to afford gas, the rising price of housing rent and such, but also in the combination of cultural war issues that seem to be focusing on that. I wonder if you think that a party going forward or a political movement, going forward should be focusing on one or the other, or if they should be trying to combine those two things together. Oh, I think you have to combine it.

I mean, Andrew Breitberg said years ago, you know, that politics is downstream from culture. So, and it's one of the things I think as much as I didn't always talk or tweet the way that President Trump did, one thing I really did appreciate was that I think he had a sense. Sometimes the media would even mock him about, you know, talking about how long a washing machine takes or a light bulb or other things like that. But you realize even in those things. Those are real things that real people go, yeah, what's up with that?

They're not some policy white paper coming out of think tanks in D.C. or politicians in our nation's capital. And so I think there's a key that there's a combination. In fact, I think in some ways it is important to be a common. You can't overplay one or the other. You can't just talk about culture and ignore the reality that people are hurting, that the economy is only getting worse, that we saw in the late 70s with stagnation, whereas not only, inflation driving at prices, but the economy going in the tank and the challenges that came with people being out of work and not being able to pay for things, you're seeing more and more

of that here now. At the same time, not only for young people, for parents saying, what do I do? I don't like what's happening. The last two years has opened my eyes to what my school is either teaching or not teaching. I want to do something about it, but I'm not wealthy enough to afford a private school, I don't have the time to homeschool, what options do I have? How do you put parents in charge? How do I deal with these things? How do I push back when my school or some local organization is bringing in drag queen strippers to read and do things that kids? How do I speak up without being branded as a transphobic hater out there? And those are just real issues that people have at all different ages. But I think it compounded.

in college because that's where people are out on their own for the very first time. Yeah, their parents still got their back, but they're not physically there. It's a bigger challenge. And that's why, again, the work we're doing at Young America's Foundation, not just to educate and train, but then to connect them with other students, it's just so important. There's just really power and strength in the connection of other people, your age, and your sorts of situations having your back.

Well, Governor, I think that that's wonderful. And I actually do want to end on that. note. So final question for you is if you are, say, a young person in Washington, D.C. or I'm from Portland, Oregon that's on a college campus in a blue enclave, and you want to affect change, and you recognize that that's really difficult. How do you, one, keep the faith, keep up hope that things, and then actually affect that change? A couple things. I think part of it is uniting with others. My youngest son's 27. He went to University of Wisconsin, which is kind of right there to the left to Berkeley. But he came out stronger. And the part of the key was he was surrounded himself

with other students who shared his values. Not that he was closed off. He got enough of the other side. As people always say, what's your competition? They think it's some group organization on the right. I say it's taxpayer-funded, taxpayer-subsidized professors and classes and that. So he got enough of them left. But to counterbalance that, to keep a reality check, he was involved with things like Yaff and college Republicans and others went a long way and still friends of his own so I think that's helpful

whether it's Yaff or some other group but I also think the other part of what we do in these trainings not just at this conference but materials we give out books that we give out are and I came from before I was governor I was in a very very blue county about two to one Democrat of a Republican and I learned you know I was moderate in tone

but not in action And so part of it was learning how to talk. I would take it a step further on a campus. One of the techniques we encourage students to do is ask questions. Not necessarily full-scale debate, full-scale attack, you yell, I yell, we go back at it, but ask you questions. Well, why is that? Where did you hear that from? What exactly does that mean?

Because what we found is most liberals, it's very much a cookie cutter, a bumper sticker response. You know, the world's going to end if we don't do something about fossil fuels or you're just transphobic. Or they usually go down the line, racist, sexist, transphobic, whatever, and says, why is it? What exactly about that? Or do you think it's fair that someone who's born biologically as a man should now somehow be able to compete against women? And I give you a great example of a contrast with that. You know, one of those interviews that somebody pushed me on, and I said, so is it okay? for a 19-year-old to swim against a 10-year-old? Or is it okay for someone in boxing who

weighs 325 pounds to box in the lightweight class against someone who weighs 120? Well, we have restrictions, not based on our beliefs, but based on the reality of equality, of not equality, but of making sure it's a fair fight or a fair, in this case a race or a challenge. And the more we point things like that out, it doesn't have to be a yelling back and forth, but just asking those questions really has a powerful impact. Right. Well, thank you so much. That was Governor Scott Walker, former Wisconsin Governor and President of Young Americans Foundation. Governor, very much appreciate your time. Good with it.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. If you have not done so already, be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeart Radio. Also, please leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we're back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. The executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kate Trinko.

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