The Keith Edwards Show - they didn't want this out...

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

TEXT ME! 📲 [phone]https://my.community.com/keithedwards👍 SUPPORT THE SHOWhttps://www.edwardswire.com/subscribehttps://www.youtube.com/@keithedwards/joinKeith Edwards is joined by co-founder of The Lincoln Project, and president of JoinTheUnion.us to discuss the current state of the Democratic party, and what's next for the party after midterms. 0:00 My guest today1:00 Welcoming Reed Galen2:21 Reed's political evolution6:50 The current Dem. party9:50 Maintaining status quo11:45 Hasan Piker's power13:30 What the DSA offers15:00 A people-led movement19:00 The populism we need23:15 What voters know 25:40 The next 18 months28:00 What do dems do now? 📡 JOIN THE COMMUNITYSpotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/1chmgsT4aUJPmFlyGXIDGN?si=85d8de8d6def4a0eTwitch → https://www.twitch.tv/keithedwards Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/thekeithedwardsshowInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/keithedwardsTikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@keithedwardsX → http://twitter.com/keithedwardsThreads → https://www.threads.net/@keithedwards🎙️ TALK TO MELeave me a voicemail at: [phone]‬Business: [e-mail] PRODUCERS:Erina R

Who actually gets to decide what the Democratic Party stands for? The people who vote for are the consultants who get paid to run it. Reid Galen knows the world from the inside. He worked for George W. Bush and John McCain before co-founding the Lincoln Project. And he was also my boss when I was a comms director there. And he's been warning Democrats about something he watched happen in his old party. What happens when the people in charge stop listening to their own voters? With Trump in power, Democrats need people who believe the party will actually fight for them.

And who gets to shape that party has everything to do with whether they earn that trust. So how much of the party's caution is about winning elections and how much is about protecting the people already in charge? And how do voters turn their frustration into actual power inside the party? Well, here for that and more is my conversation with Reid Galen. All right, Reid, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. Reed is a former, I don't even know. I don't think you're not a Republican anymore. No, that you're a former Republican.

I don't particularly know where on the spectrum you are anymore. I feel like you've probably, like me, you've had like a, probably a huge shift in like your politics, question mark. Yeah, and I'll say for me, I've definitely became radicalized after the 2024 election because I kind of like I was a good Democratic soldier. I was a good boy. It did everything we needed to do. And then we got fucked. And we listened to them and then I felt like,

you know, the establishment, the establishment doesn't know anything and that we really should be listening to the people. And I think if we listen to the people, we would have been in a completely different position today than we are. So, but yeah, I guess I am curious though. Like what, like where are,

where do you feel you are on the spectrum? In terms of, and to be clear, I feel like these, these, don't, you don't have to define it. Like, I just don't, I think these definitions tend to pigeonhole us, but yeah, I feel like you've become more progressive in the past two, two to four years, right? Yeah, well, first, Keith's great to see. It's been a long, long time. Good to see you. Second, people tell me I'm on some sort of spectrum. I'm not sure.

But I feel like that's also an excuse. I heard a joke that's like, oh, guys who are assholes now just like, don't blame me. the spectrum, which I thought was very funny. So you're right. I mean, I left the Republican Party in 2016 when Trump became the nominee. But you know, somebody asked me the other day, Keith, like, what were you really upset about? And I was upset about the aesthetics. I was upset about the ugliness. You know, he was, I grew up in the Republican Party, as you probably remember, right? So for me, you know, you had every, you know, you had Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. I worked for George W. Bush for many years. I worked for John McCain. I worked for Arnold

Schwarzenegger, right? People who, you know, of that trio, right, George W. Bush would be considered, I guess, the most quote unquote conservative, right? Although by today's standards, he would not be. So I think it was, you know, just, and then I think the history of part of it, too, which is we know what guys like this end up being. But of course, let's be very clear. Like, I left the GOP. I was not a Democrat. I was never, like I made an assumption, like so many of us did, like most of the country did, that Hillary would win, but I wasn't like a huge Hillary fan. I was just like in the context of Trump versus Hillary, like Hillary's the better option, right? There's just, that wasn't a question in my mind.

And I was in a really dark place after he won in 2016 because everything I thought I knew about everything was suddenly shattered, which I think a lot of us still feel. I think the problem to your point at the top is that there are a lot of people who's either imagination is still lacking. and that is either because they're just, they don't have the ability to open that brain or because, as you said, with the establishment, the entrenchment makes it, look, we don't have to win every time. We just have to win enough so that we get to keep our office space, our donors, our position of authority, our place in the green room. You know, if there's a meeting of that group of people that everybody knows I got invited to it, everybody knows I was there. When it gets leaked to political, Go playbook. It says Keith Edwards was in the room, right? Or, you know, I got invited to the salon and Calorama, and I was there. Or as Chris Christie said in Tim Miller's book, like, you got to be part of the game, right? And that becomes, and look, as I said, I grew up in D.C.

You know, my dad was in it. My mom was in it. I went back for the Bush administration. And that is a very powerful force. And I will say that amongst many of my friends from those earlier days, the other part that was really heartbreaking, Keith, was it turned out that in fact, there was never any real belief, at least not amongst Republicans. It was Donald Trump's the leader of the party now. I'm a party guy. How do I ride this train? Okay, yeah, it might not go very far, but, you know, it did. And now I have this great job. And now I'm on the inside. And there's no rules. And let me just say this. When Trump leaves office, fingers crossed, you know, people like, oh, they're going to be, you know, all these people that work for him are going to be cast out. No, they are not. They are not. They are now the Republican establishment, whether you like it or not. They're not going anywhere. And they will tell stories, you know, at the Capitol Grill about, oh, you think you know how crazy it is. There was this one time. And everybody will listen and everybody will be amazed. And the Democrats are like, we're just happy to be here. Right. And so you're one of the few, I think, former Republicans who not only took what you're seeing and, could be honest about it, but you also did something about it too, which I think is just to me, I wish there are more folks like you because I think we would not be the place we are today. But it's also incredibly brave.

I mean, I always try to put myself in position of like if I can't even imagine who this person would be, like I don't even know. Like Federman, I don't know who this person would be. But if this person were to take over the Democratic Party and I would have to try to, get a Republican elected because I thought like I just can't even imagine that. And so for you to have not only to to wake up to that and to completely change political allegiances to try to help the country, I just think is I just I just were sure more folks, folks like you now. One of the reasons why I wanted to bring you on is because there is like this ongoing debate on like the direction

of the Democratic Party. One that I think is interestingly being, very prominently led by people who are former Republicans like yourself. Now, I think, I personally think, hey, everyone should have an opinion. But I think there should be some humility in some folks who have lost, who lost to one party and is now trying to influence another. Now, I think to actually some great success, I think this is a thing that has been not fully explored, is that I think Donald Trump's win, there were a lot of Democrats, or there are now a lot of current Democrats who used to be Republicans who have really shaped the Democratic Party to me in a much more centrist, moderate right-wing position than it used to be. Would you, what would you say about that?

I would agree with you right up until the point where you said it's shaped the Democratic Party into something more centrist. I think that in the context of Trump, you know, Democrats could be seen as, you know, the resistance or whatever. But really, that was never the people in Washington, D.C., right? Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have never been part of the resistance. They were never, their leadership in Congress these last few years has not been one of resistance or opposition, but just the other party. And what I would also say, are you there? Hello?

Yeah, yeah, I'm here. Okay. is that if you look at the social issues that the two parties fight about, and that could be immigration, which is not just a social issue, but it's also a national security issue and an economic issue and a humanity issue. Abortion, you know, LGBT rights, whatever it is, both parties love to fight over those issues. One, because they're motivating for core voters, but two, Keith, they get to do the thing that is most important. to both parties, but I think even more important to the Democratic Party, which is avoidance of any discussion of the economy, how Americans have fallen further and further behind, and how the Democratic Party has been the handmaiden as much as the Republican Party of neoliberal trickle-down,

BS, you know, rising tide lifts all boats, which is really what you're going to still see more of in the coming, you know, Congress and the 2027 run-up, you know, 2020-7 campaign that will, you know, be the run-up to the 2028 Democratic primary. When you have the likes of Rahm Emanuel, right, like, which, like, only the Democratic Party and the mainstream media and the donor class could say, this is a guy who has any legitimate shot at this. But here's the thing. If the establishment thinks it were Rahm Emanuel versus insert Bernie clone, they would do everything they could to make sure Rahm Emanuel was the nominee, because here's the thing.

It's not about whether or not you have the White House or not, although they'd love to have that. It's about maintaining a status quo of economic financialization and ensuring that their friends in Midtown and downtown Manhattan and Silicon Valley are squared away. that the money train can continue so that the gravy train can continue so that the self-regulation can continue. And I know I sound crazy compared to where I might have otherwise been. But if you look at it, Jamie Diamond, who's the head of J.P. Morgan, just had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last week. He said, we need a strong military. We need to make sure that free trade continues and that the American dream is free. Or, you know, is available. Well, our military is and we spend a lot of money on it to little effect near as I can tell.

What has, you know, global trade is has made things cheaper, but it's also hollowed out the American workforce. And of course, the American Dreamkeith comes third, which according to it, Wall Street Journal Nork survey about this time last year, 70% of Americans say either doesn't exist or never existed to begin with. And so if you're facing all of that and you're a Democrat, you know, who wants to be president. And you're saying, wow, I think we just need to learn how to talk to voters differently.

We need to use different words as opposed to where I think, you know, when we were, when we were at the Lincoln Project, the one thing I would tell our Democratic friends that they just didn't understand is like, no, see, we come from a place of belief, which is this man should not be president anymore. That was the only thing you had to agree on, right? that was it with this democratic party with this establishment the only thing they agree on is we should be in charge and you should not be yes and here i wasn't going to bring up this point but i i do think this is what was happening with hasan piker because uh hasan showed that there can be power in other places and i think i don't know if this was intentional or if this was just intuitive, but not only did Republicans pounce, but the Democratic establishment did too. And I think not only like from the elected side, but from the consultant class too, because I do think to your point that I don't know if I would take it as far as that I think

like Democratic consultants would rather us lose to Republicans just so that they can at proximity need power i don't know if i would go that far like i do think we all want to ultimately win regardless of who it is that's how i feel i could be wrong but i think when they see that someone has the power to influence not only attention but votes it gets very scary for them and i think that's why when has son started to rise up uh and he was showing that he has real political clout and electoral clout that everyone pounced because they're like, no, no, no, no, you don't get to decide. We ultimately decide. Now, a lot of people have fallen in line with like Abdul al-Sayed, but they made him bend the need to by trying to like, trying to tell him who he can and cannot have support from.

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's interesting you bring that up. So, and this goes along. with the Democratic Socialists of America and all of the the real energy on what I I don't even know if I'd call it the far left Keith is opposed to the angry left or the really frustrated left which is Hassan Piker Sayyad the DSA you know I'm not sure that any everybody that voted for them or a say I'm a lot Keros in Denver right voted for them

because they were parts of the Democratic Socialists of America I don't think they did what they were voting for was, I'm sick of these people. What's my alternative? Which sounds a lot like what? Donald Trump, right? I don't care who you are. So long as you're not them. Even Graham Platner before his glorious implosion, right?

He was picking up people who were like, I don't care how ugly he is. At least he's not the Janet Mills backed by Chuck Schumer person, right? That was the gen. And the more they attacked him, the more, the Mainers who were really digging him got behind him because, again, he may not be perfect, but he's our imperfect guy, not your imperfect guy. Let me just say one thing about consultants. As you know, consulting is a real job, and it can be very lucrative. If you are the leader of a super PAC who spent $900 million in 2024 and lost, and you still have a job or someone still takes you seriously,

like you know everything you need to know about the democratic consultant class right right um right if you make the same shitty ads cycle in and cycle out and you still take 15% off the top of eight or nine different house races and a couple of senate races and a couple of gubernatorial races and you know you're you're staring down the barrel of a 25% win rate right like it tells you everything you need to know because there's no sanction for losing right um except that you're not you know, your person's not an office. And of course, if your person is in office, you know, you got a client for several years or whatever it is. So, but I digress. So, you know, the other part about the Piker thing, and I look, I don't, I'm not a, I don't live on Twitch.

I am not a young American. You're not, what, you're not. I know. I wouldn't even know how, look, I wouldn't even know how to find it, right? I guess I could switch into my search bar, but like, I don't know how to find Twitch. That's not where I spend my time. But I think, your instinct is 100% right, which is it was a warning sign to the establishment. Oh, gosh, we're going to work. We can't allow this. And you saw, you know, again, as you said, with Piker, you know, with third way, you know, saying they're going to spend $15 million to go to war with the DSA. The DSA is like 120,000 people who probably, with all due respect, can't organize like a garden party, right? No. Now, I think in specific places, like very, very,

blue districts in New York City, yes, they probably have an outsized influence. But this is, you know, I feel a little bit like they're the libertarians of the left, right? Like they're, they're, they're, there's not a, there's not a broad scope of Americans who are going to be like, yeah, those are my people. Again, I see them for what they are, Keith, which is scaring the hell out of the normies, which I think is an incredibly important job, to be honest with you. But if you're going to spend $15 million to kill the DSA, what you're saying is, we're doing this to them, woe to anyone who thinks they can do similar. Right.

And they've even said that. I mean, I hit third way a lot. I know those guys. In March of this year in Charleston, North Carolina, they said they're going to spend $50 million, $5.0 million to ensure that a candidate of their liking gets the Democratic nomination. Right. And that they, in fact, will not speak to candidates they consider to be of the left. So I assume that's like a Rokana off the top of my head or an AOC. Because it's their world.

And they don't want to give it up. I use this line a lot if you ever, if you ever watch Lord of the Rings. Like the Democratic establishment is like the elves, except they won't get on the goddamn boats and leave. Right. Like their time has come. Their time has passed. But they don't want to leave. They believe that somehow all of this will go back to normal when Donald Trump is gone.

That, you know, that the world will make more sense to them. And that will be fine, except that it's not 1927 and it's not 2013. And those things are never coming back. and, you know, I think that we, the people, as you noted, have a real both opportunity and responsibility, especially if you live in an early primary state, say, South Carolina, or Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada, wherever it is, that when these people come through and they will start probably the Thursday after election day starts showing up, that when Gavin Newsom's telling you what he's going to do for America, that we need to have people in the crowd going,

Governor, here are our expectations, right? Right. We've listened to you for the last 45 years and look where we are. We're not going to do this anymore. Yeah. And this is, yes, and to your point, I do feel like we're in a people-led movement moment, but hopefully becomes a movement. I think it's one that the establishment is trying very hard to reject. I mean, I think you see that with the Rahm Emanuel moment that is coming before us. But I truly don't understand what the problem, the Democratic consultant class and establishment, and let's even say never Trumpers have with like progressive populism. I try to look up every different definition of like what a populace believes in. And how and I don't understand how that doesn't, how that is not the antidote to this moment,

which is saying that there is an elite group of people, billionaires, and corporations who have an outsized influence of power and our politics. And it keeps the people from having any influence on what happens in the country. That sounds, it just sounds like what's happening right now. It is what's happening. And so the solution to that is to not ignore it. It is not to say like, well, no, no, no, no, we just need to, we just need to make things. Everyone just needs to be nice again. And everyone needs to get along. I don't, like, that's not where we are. We have, we've, we've, we've evolved into a place where we have a Supreme Court that does not rule based on the law, rules on outcomes at once. We have a Congress that is

completely beholden to the executive branch at this moment and to donors. And we have a president that is more interested in making money for himself than actually governing. And so the only solution to that, in my opinion, is by getting people elected, who understand that problem and are willing to blow things up to fix it. That's what it sounds like that. I mean, and again, I'm willing to be wrong, but it doesn't. I mean, you think about this. And I'm going to sound down right, like Ron Paul now when I say something like this.

If it tells you like where to your point about the spectrum, I don't know where I am. I don't either. I feel like I'm in one of those magic bold things, right? I'm just all spun around. Is that you mentioned the Supreme Court, nine people who serve for life on account. to anyone. You have the Federal Reserve, which I think is what, 12 or 13 people, who are nominated by the president and approved by the United States Senate, but otherwise unaccountable. So you have a group of about 25 people who are completely unaccountable to the voters of the

United States who make decisions about our everyday life. Right? I mean, if you think about this, And I'm now taking my crash course in macroeconomics is the only way practically, and this is how it goes, that when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the reason they're doing that, Keith, is to make borrowing for businesses more expensive so that they stop hiring people or they have to fire people because they can't afford to have them so that said people stop spending money. Like, that's crazy town. and that's what we've been doing for 80 years. So you're telling me that's the alternative. Like that's the plan. When things are going well, we can't have them go too well. So we're going to put people out of work because that's the only way to slow down the economy.

So they can't spend as much. And nowadays, spending as much is not like everybody, look, everybody's got a flat screen television. How many more flat screen televisions do you need? Everybody's got a cell phone, right? everybody's got whatever gadget that like was a whiz bang and oh my gosh like it used to cost a thousand dollars and now it cost fifty dollars like okay but i still can't like i still got to put groceries on a credit card at 26 percent interest right and i you know i'm i'm i'm i'm 30 i'd like to have a family and buy a house all right you better get ready to wait a decade

if you're lucky and so to me to back to your point about where the american people are vis-a-vis the elite, the elite doesn't care. And you're not going to convince me otherwise. And so when you see all of these, you know, they're all based in DC, think tanks that are center left or whatever, saying, we just need to figure out how to talk to Americans differently. We need to talk to them in a way that they understand. First, it's, again, you're completely absolving yourself of having to believe in anything because you're just allowing machines to do the work for you, which, of course, we've seen now does not work. Secondly, you're making an assumption that the American people are too stupid to know what it is.

Yes. Yes. It's so offensive. If you just talk to them differently, they'll buy your bullshit, which they will not. Right. Yes. I mean, like, I come from working class, Michigan. My mom and my mom, you know, my mom was in a trailer.

My dad doesn't own a home. and they're not stupid. I think people in D.C. think they're stupid. They know what's going on. Of course they do. And so much of- They get up to that reality every morning. Every day.

And it's only getting worse, by the way. It hasn't gotten better. It's only getting worse. And Donald Trump has made it even more expensive when he was supposed to make it cheaper. So they understand what's going. So that's the thing is like, I do think if we presented people with real options, but again, like the power, the power structure is such that in order to run for president, you need a shit ton of money. And we're going to get that from?

Well, talking to, you know, by talking to donors who are like Rama Man. But look, this is this is what we saw, though, in 2016 and again in 20. I mean, in 20 is a little bit different. but like Sanders, remember, when Sanders launched his campaign against Hillary in 2015, I think he did it standing like next to a tree on the law of the Capitol, right? Nobody knew who this guy was and nobody was like, oh, my God, like, I need Bernie Sanders in my life. But then what happened? The entire establishment of the Democratic Party needed to do, they needed to pull every lever they could to keep him at bay and keep him from winning.

And then they had to do it again in 20 pre-COVID because they're, like, well, shit, we're going to get, we're going to get Sanders or we're going to get Warren, and we can't have that. So what do they do? Everybody collapses behind Joe Biden, right? Now, of course, Keith, you and I were in the trenches, you know, for many, many days in a row. COVID doesn't happen. Donald Trump gets reelected. Right? Yes. Period. Absolutely. Yep. And so, you know, 2020 is really an aberration. in 2024, again in aberration because of the insanity of, you know, Biden only said he's going to serve one term and then he doesn't and then the whole thing. And so now here, let's look forward,

you know, a couple of, you know, into two years from now, right? This next 24 months and why I think this is so important. And I really say even the next 15 to 18 months, why this is so important is this is going to be probably the last time until you and I are older and, well, I'm older and even grayer than I am, that we're going to have a completely open playing field, politically, ideologically, maybe not economically, but the ideas of what a different economy could look like, right? It's a blank slate. And I think that if we're going to leave it to the Nieratandans and the Sarah Longwells and the third ways of the world, then yes, they might get a Democrat elected in 2028. And let me tell you, like, I would help that person get elected because the alternative of a

J.D. Vance or Rutan Marco Rubio is not acceptable. But I say this. My fear is that that is a one-time deal and that between a census reapportionment and an electoral college that's going to move very heavily to the south and east, that we're going to get something much worse in 2032, because the only thing is scarier than, you know, Republicans messaging while they're in office is Republicans messaging when they're not in office because they're really, really good at it. And so when I see, you know, Hakeem Jeffries, I think had a statement yesterday or the day before said that basically tempering expectations. So long as Donald Trump's in the White House, there's only so much we can do. Like, what are you doing, man? Right. And so like, I mean, that's

capitulating already. But you know what they're, you know, I guarantee you what they will at least try and get done, Keith, that that the AI guys will get their regulation. The AI guys will get their deal, right? Crypto guys will probably get their deal. And people will be like, oh, it'll be fine. This is really good for the country. And everybody's going to be like, no, it's not. And they just can't help themselves. And I think it goes back to what you said about Michigan. And I, you know, I was, I spent some times in some pretty rough neighborhoods in Grand Rapids. I never, I've never met an uninformed voter, Keith. I have met a disengaged voter. I've met an apathetic voter. Everybody knows what's going on, you know, black guy in Grand Rapids like, doesn't make a difference. They're the same

side, you know, it's two sides of the same coin. Look at my house. My house hasn't changed in 20 years. You think it's going to change because of this election? It's not. Right. Right. And that is where, you know, and I've said this before, where it breaks my heart to say that if you are talking to folks for whom life is a day-to-day exercise with, you must protect democracy, I can see why I got so many doors slammed in my face or why so many I got so many snorts like oh must be nice for you mr. white guy in this neighborhood and your you know your t-shirt that says protect democracy right what is it done for me you know what is it done for me and and I think that we we have to understand that if the democratic party is going to continue to be the party of status quo uh that we're either

going to lose in two years or we'll get lucky in two years and then we're going to get something much much worse in 2032. But I think that here, and here's the other part, and none of us should fall prey to this. This is not the right time for these arguments. We shouldn't have these arguments. Well, you know, Syed won in Michigan, but he didn't win as much as Jocelyn Benson did, right? All of the slicing and dicing of excuses should come. And here's what we should do, Keith, as we learned in our time together, they are weak and they are brittle and they really don't like to fight. So why do they bring money? and why do they bring the media? Because they're blunt objects.

They don't have nuance. They don't have ideas. And if pushed, they will either push back with money and anger or they will run because that's what they do. Well, yes, your lips to gods. I mean, Abdul is going to win. He's going to win. Who cares by how much? Who cares?

Alyssa Slotkin won by fucking 10,000 votes. You know what I mean? And she's like, she was a second coming. So give me a break. but I just want to say I want to say this point too because I've been saying it a lot is we are probably going to have a huge win

if there's no shenanigans on the Trump side and the establishment is going to take all the wrong lessons from that. They're going to say we're right we don't change anything. Everything is great and that's not the case. And so it is just imperative

on everyone who is watching and listening right now that you understand that we're in a fight for the direction of the party. It started this year, and it's not going to end in 28. It's really just going to be a continuation of this. And let me just say this, because I know you've got to run, and I've got to run, too, Keith. It's like, be a happy warrior, right?

Like, that's the thing they hate the most. They want you, they want you critical. They want you bitter because that says, look, these people, you can't talk to these people, right? Whereas like, no, look, I've known you for a long time. I know exactly what you are. We came from the same place. You can't pretend I don't know who and what you are. Like, and I'm going to call you out.

I'm going to call you out with a smile on my face. Because I know that there are more people who, way more people out in the country that agree with me than agree with you. Yes. Well, we'll end with that. More people agree with Reed Galen than agree with near Tandon. Well, that's, I mean, that's, thanks for the low bar, man. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, man.

Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for watching. We're live every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern, and we have new videos daily. Now, if you want a little bit more, click below and hit join to become a member of our community for even more exclusive content. Just click join below. Follow us. We are everywhere. We're on threads, Instagram, TikTok, X, Blue Sky.

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