The MeidasTouch Podcast - The most FLIPPABLE House Seat in America with Democratic Candidate Will Rollins

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Starting point is 00:00:25 exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. This is Brett Mycelis, co-founder of Midas Touch, and you are listening to The Mighty. One of the things I've been loving about The Mighty recently is that we've been able to highlight the candidates that you need to know about, and today is no different. Today, I am excited to introduce you to Will Rollins, the Democratic candidate running for U.S. Congress in California's 41st Congressional District, possibly the single most flippable district in the United States Congress. MAGA Republican extremist Ken Calvert, who voted against certifying the 2020 election, has had a cushy gig as a member of Congress in a safe red seat for

Starting point is 00:01:11 decades. But due to recent redistricting in California, this once securely safe red seat is now ripe for the taking. And Democrat Will Rollins, a former national security prosecutor, is ready to flip this seat. We sat down with Will for this exclusive interview, and we hope you enjoy. And just a heads up, if you want to watch the video version of this interview, be sure to become a member of our Patreon at patreon.com slash MidasTouch. P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash MidasTouch. It's available right now exclusively for all of our patrons.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Without further ado, our interview with Will Rollins. I'm Ben Micellus from the Midas Touch podcast, joined by my brothers, Brett Micellus and Jordy Micellus. This is The Mighty. And as you know, from listening to The Mighty, we are focusing on very, very critical campaigns across the country. And I want to focus on a congressional race that is vital. And we have with us today the Democratic candidate for the 41st congressional district in California, Will Rollins. Will, welcome to the mighty. Thank you guys for having me. Great to be here.

Starting point is 00:02:32 So Will, just a little bit of background on yourself. You're a former national security prosecutor before leaving that job to run for the 41st Congressional District seat in California. What made you leave that job? And can you tell us a little bit about your background on what kind of cases you prosecuted? For sure. So I was a federal prosecutor in the Central District of California for the last five years, specialized in counterterrorism and counterintelligence cases. Originally wanted to work in national security actually because of September 11th. So junior in high school, walked into my first class of the day, somebody turned on the TV,

Starting point is 00:03:10 saw the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapse and immediately thought about enlisting like a lot of kids who were 16, 17 at that time. But in my case, big problem, a closeted gay kid, hadn't told a soul, didn't want to be outed, but didn't want to give up on serving in national security. So went to Dartmouth, took Arabic, thought about joining the CIA, really sucked at Arabic. That was not going to be my path. Eventually made it to law school, clerked for a couple of judges and got hired to join the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District and got to specialize in national security, which is what I'd always wanted to do since I was a kid. And part of the reason I got into this race is because as rewarding as it was to help the FBI protect this country from the threats we face from Russia, China, Iran, ISIS, Al-Qaeda,

Starting point is 00:04:02 I was hired in 2016. And after that election, those of us in law enforcement saw a huge rise in the threats from domestic extremism. So QAnon, hate crimes against Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, LGBTQ community, and then seeing something like January 6th is really what got me into this race, because while those of us in federal law enforcement were responding to that attack, my opponent, Ken Calvert, was voting to overturn the last election, voting against a commission to even investigate the attack, and then calling for dropping charges even after it became clear that five police officers had died as a result of January 6th. And I didn't

Starting point is 00:04:46 want to look back on my life and say that I didn't step up when the country needed to challenge people like Ken Calvert. I want to talk about California's 41st congressional district. It's been redistricted recently. But before doing that, I want to talk about one of the cases, though, that you prosecuted. And you focused on this in one of your campaign videos. And it related to a case involving the USNS Mercy, a ship that came to our shores of Los Angeles during COVID to treat patients. And someone radicalized here by the MAGA QAnonism tried to crash their boat to derail that ship for providing aid to millions of people in California who needed it. Can you tell us a little bit about that case and how that informed your decision to run? And also, I think a major theme of your case is we need to stop extremism. I just want to go and

Starting point is 00:05:39 be able to go to my Thanksgiving table and just all agree that the earth is round, please. Yes. I mean, and as remarkable as it is, even a basic agreement on something like whether the earth is round in our modern era filled with QAnon conspiracy theories and click bait that's designed to divide and pander to the extremes, those kinds of debates are now happening. And I always said, you know, the old fairness doctrine that the US used pre and post World War Two to try and protect the public's right to be informed wasn't perfect, but it did enable us to agree on basic facts, because we weren't wasting time debating complete nonsense, like whether the moon landing had been faked, or whether the polio vaccine had

Starting point is 00:06:26 microchips in it or whether it was actually Nixon who beat Kennedy in 1960. And so the case you just alluded to is, I think, an example of how far our information system and infrastructure has drifted into no man's land, where you have an individual who was a train engineer at the port of Los Angeles who was following forums and some of the media out there online that was reporting that COVID was part of a government conspiracy and that U.S. Navy hospital ships, which had been dispatched around the country to try and help ICUs that had become overcrowded as a result of COVID, to deal with that capacity, this person, the defendant in that case, believed that those ships had actually been dispatched as part of a

Starting point is 00:07:18 government takeover. And so he used his job as a train engineer at the Port of Los Angeles, where he saw the Mercy day after day when he came into work after it had been sent to help with those ICU patients. And he decided that he was going to literally derail and tried to derail it right as there was a curve in the track. And he successfully did derail it and made it about 250 yards before the train came to a stop. And the police officer who saw his California Highway Patrol officer who arrived on the scene afterwards, and the defendant immediately started making statements about how important it was that he drew attention to this COVID conspiracy. And, you know, experiences like that, and being somebody who grew up in a family of Republicans and Democrats, and seeing our fellow Americans become so radicalized that they're now targeting our own Navy hospital ships, that they're now targeting the U.S. Capitol for the first time it had been

Starting point is 00:08:33 invaded since the War of 1812, got me thinking about how more candidates need to be coming up with solutions and at least talking about how our country gets back on the same page so we can compromise and have sustained progress for Americans in the 21st century. And it's not just that your opponent in this race, Ken Calvert, is silent on issues like the one we just discussed with the case that you prosecuted. Frankly, it's the rhetoric coming from people like Ken Calvert that are inspiring these extremists. I mean, there was always in our country a small percentage of people who were, you know, basement dwellings spreading these lies.

Starting point is 00:09:22 And we would, as a country, come together and be like, no, that's wrong. Stay in your basement. But now people like Ken Calvert are trumpeting, pun intended, the disinformation out here. And they're the ones actually leading these conspiracies, spreading the big lie, spreading hate and radicalizing people, Americans against other Americans to commit violence. And tell us about the 41st in California, how it was redistricted. And do you think the redistricted 41st is going to support or is supportive of the kind of hate that Ken Calvert spews and the lies that he spews. Tell us about it. Sure. I mean, the good news is the new district is not supportive of that

Starting point is 00:10:13 and he's in the worst political shape of his entire 30 year career in Congress. And he's going to lose in 33 days because of what happened in redistricting. So this used to be a Trump plus seven district. The California Redistricting Commission in January redrew the lines. And what happened in that process is the district, Calvert's old district, lost Marietta and Northern Temecula, which are Trump heavy cities. And it picked up Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, La Quinta, all of which voted for Joe Biden in 2020. And it caused a seven point swing in registration for Democrats. And now we're in a position where Democrats actually outnumber Republicans for the first time in Ken Calvert's career in office. And yeah, and Republicans have lost about a thousand registered

Starting point is 00:11:07 voters over the last eight months. Democrats have gained 2000. And I think that tells you where the electorate's heading as we get into this final stretch of the campaign. And I just want to emphasize that for the people listening to this, for the people watching this, just how winnable this district is. This district is a real chance for Democrats to flip a seat here. And this district can be, it is absolutely crucial for Democrats to take back the house. If you're focused on any district in the country, make it this one right here. I want to talk about, you know, radicalism in general, the QAnon movement, because as a national security prosecutor, you were obviously very focused on these terror threats. And so when you call these QAnon, these acts of violence from

Starting point is 00:11:51 QAnon people, when you refer to it as terrorism, it holds a lot of weight to me. Why is it important that others running for office use those words, call it what it is, and those in the media, why is it important that they call it out for what it is? I think because it recognizes the threat for what it is to the United States. And if you look at the acts of terrorism that have happened in the United States since 2001, domestic terrorism is actually responsible for more fatalities than foreign terrorism or foreign inspired terrorism. And that is a shift that was shocking to me when I got into federal law enforcement and not what I was expecting when I was a junior in high school seeing 9-11 happen. But the truth is that those of us who love this country and care about keeping it safe have to recognize threats from wherever they come.

Starting point is 00:12:45 Right. And that means when you take an oath, when you join the Justice Department or you join the military, you swear to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And there are both foreign terrorists and there are domestic terrorists, and they pose an equally serious threat to our national security. And the data in these last several years has shown that domestic terrorism is right now posing a more significant threat. And so, you know, I think using the language that accurately describes what's happening and the case we just discussed earlier, where somebody targeted a U.S. Navy hospital ship, that is, as defined in federal sentencing law. He was eligible for

Starting point is 00:13:27 a terrorism enhancement in that case because it was a crime of terrorism. And so I think the government actually has a responsibility not only to use the tools that we already have in federal law, but also to expand some of our terrorism statutes so that they cover the kind of conduct that isn't already covered by the statutes that apply to organizations like Al-Qaeda. So if you're a lone wolf, for example, and you prepare an attack on behalf of Al-Qaeda, you can be subject to some federal prosecution for providing material support, for example, to a foreign terrorist organization. But you can't be subject to that early prosecution, given the way that our current domestic terrorism laws are written. And that's a gap that I think all Americans should care about closing.

Starting point is 00:14:14 And in the past, it seemed like, you know, when there were these radical movements, when there were these extremist acts, they would be rightfully condemned by all sides of the aisle. It didn't matter. But now we're seeing these radical movements basically straight up defended by the right wing. And with your expertise in these radical movements, is there a way to de-radicalize people? How do we actually deal with this threat when it seems like one party's power and not only the power of a party, but the power of these major right wing media conglomerates almost seem dependent on this extremism. Discover the magic of Bad MGM Casino, where the excitement is always on deck. Pull up a seat and check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer.

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Starting point is 00:15:54 And our rules have really, it's a radical change in technology. One of the most incredible inventions in the course of human history. I think they'll look back and look at the early 21st century as a complete shift in the way we got our information. And the public hasn't really caught up to the way that we process information using social media, for example, and also the profit motives and incentives for some of these massive media conglomerates. And so what I talk about is basically a framework that I think can help put the country in a position that we're better suited to tackle this kind of divisive disinformation that's making it impossible for the country to govern itself. So modernizing and

Starting point is 00:16:37 revitalizing that fairness doctrine that we were talking about a second ago, so that we're not consuming on cable news all day, every day, Rachel Maddow on one network and Tucker Carlson on another network. There are incentives for the two of them to debate each other or to have at least some response in a forum so that there's more penetration across party lines. And you can't see the same level of one-sided radicalization that I think these profit incentives have unfortunately created for these companies. I think the second thing we can do, provide more transparency in advertising. I always talk about that thread on Reddit,

Starting point is 00:17:15 one of the most popular ones out there that was written entirely by artificial intelligence, just robots saying nasty things to each other back and forth, and then drawing in real Americans to participate in a fabricated debate. And as somebody who worked in counterintelligence, and everybody, I'm sure, knows what happened in 2016 with the Russians interfering in our election and creating fake profiles on Facebook and trying to divide Americans against each other, I think we need to strengthen our disclosure and transparency rules so that Americans know who is responsible for the content that they're consuming and engaging in. And I think the third step is accountability for big tech.

Starting point is 00:17:57 I always say, you know, small business owners can be sued if they put up a sign in their window that says they've got a magic potion that cures cancer, those same rules do not apply to big tech companies because of the immunity that they have, which was a good law as originally intended, I think, in the early 2000s to help these companies develop. But now we know their software is responsible for spreading a ton of disinformation from which these companies are profiting and for which they have zero liability. And so I think that absolutely needs to be updated. I think it's common sense ideas like that, that are making your message resonate across the aisle. I recently saw that you were endorsed by the former Republican leader of the California Assembly, Chad Mays. Why do you

Starting point is 00:18:43 think you're seeing so much support from not only Democrats, but from independents and moderate Republicans? I mean, I think people relate to my story in a lot of ways, which is I've got a split family. I've got Republicans in my family and Democrats, and they relate to that story about being at Thanksgiving and not wanting to get drawn into these debates over whether the earth is flat, right? Or who won the last election. And people like Chad Mays and people like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, I mean, there are a lot of Republicans out there who want their party to recenter itself away from this kind of QAnon driven conspiracy theory. And I think the other aspect of the bipartisan support is this idea that I think is really such a fundamentally American idea, which is we don't have dictators

Starting point is 00:19:32 and kings in the United States. We fought a revolution to overthrow a king. So now when you see a massive segment of one of our major political parties essentially debasing themselves all in service of one person. I think it just frustrates people regardless of party lines because it is un-American. And I'm seeing more and more people across the aisle and independents in my district too, who are really resonating with a campaign that's built on standing up for the rule of law and our constitution. So we can get back to having constructive center left center, right debates about, you know, climate change or tax policy or regulation, not these destructive debates that our enemies

Starting point is 00:20:19 like Russia and China want us to be having about whether Donald Trump should be the king of the United States. Yeah, that's what we always say. It's like, let's argue about tax policy. I'll tell you why I think tax policy sucks. But if we're not even arguing in the same plane of reality, then we can't even have the conversation, which is what makes it so tough. Let's nail down on some of the issues, because I think it's important that our listeners kind of know where you stand. And these could be quick answers. But first one, like you get into Congress, would you be a vote to codify Roe v. Wade into law? Yes, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Same sex marriage. Do you make same sex marriage legal in federal law? Ensure that same sex couples have equal rights when it comes to adoption, tax benefits, et cetera? Yes. And sorry for the siren behind me, but yes, absolutely would support that, especially because I've been with my partner for 11 years and we've been so lazy and cheap that we haven't yet gotten married. So I don't want to see that before we can do it. So absolutely. Yeah. I mean, and when it comes down to it, that's just an issue about freedom also. That's an issue that all Americans should be able to get behind. It's it's freedom. You were also I noticed you were endorsed by the Brady Pack. There are their organization. That's goal is to end gun violence and take on the gun industry lobby. What are some of your solutions to the gun violence epidemic that we've been seeing in the country. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the most promising out there that I've actually talked to NRA members about and Republicans about that they get behind in at least the ordinary ones, the ordinary line voters in the Republican Party, federal red flag law. And that was proposed

Starting point is 00:21:58 in the bipartisan bill over the summer, unfortunately, didn't make it into the final version. But the reason that is so crucial is because you have states where there aren't red flag laws like Texas, where you got people who threatened to shoot up a school who can walk into a gun store and buy that the FBI or the ATF, federal law enforcement can help support local law enforcement in a lot of these states where we've seen horrific threats made or people who have made, had run-ins with law enforcement in the past, which included the Texas shooter, also included the Buffalo shooter, having a federal backstop to that so that law enforcement can go out there and take guns away or get a no sale order for people who pose a threat to our communities. I think there's a lot of room actually for some bipartisan compromise on that in the next Congress.

Starting point is 00:22:57 And I think, of course, strengthening background checks still needs to happen. We've got to try and cap those magazines so that people have to reload. That's how 40, 50 people don't end up dead when people have to reload. I mean, those are really common sense rules that 90% of the American public supports. And I think really just like all of those issues you just mentioned, my opponent couldn't be, the contrast really could not be clear. I'm running against a guy who gets more money from the NRA than almost any other member of Congress in California who's voted against essentially every piece of gun safety legislation to ever move through Congress. Somebody who's voted to allow child predators to

Starting point is 00:23:37 sue to prevent their victims from getting an abortion, voted for a national abortion ban in 95, voted against the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill to prevent gay kids from being targeted. I mean, so it's a really powerful contrast that I think is going to end up carrying us to victory in November because most voters in our district just do not stand for that kind of extremism. Now, the contrast surely could not be clearer. On a much, much, much lighter note, your bio says former national security prosecutor, SoCal born and raised, running for Congress to kick out extremist Ken Calvert to save our democracy, string cheese fan. What are we talking about with the string cheese here? We talking Palio, Sorgento, store brand. What's going on with the string cheese?

Starting point is 00:24:21 Well, it honestly depends on the monthly budget, because as you know, the price of string cheese can vary greatly and we can't always afford the top shelf string cheese. And I often get into a lot of fights with my five-year-old nephew and three-year-old niece over who gets the last of the string cheese, especially at my mom's house when we're visiting family. So, you know, it's, I, I usually, if, you know, I think of myself as magnanimous enough to let the kids get the first pass at the string cheese, but I am definitely eating too much dairy. So you're talking to three string cheese lovers here. So you peel the cheese back or do you just buy into it or do you get it? What's the way, what's the protocol there? I peel, I peel because I want it to last longer, you know, but there have been times if you've

Starting point is 00:25:08 been at a bar, you know, and you're at, you're coming home at 11 and I have been known to occasionally. Totally respectable in those instances. I'm sure you didn't know that that's, this is where this is where this interview is going. You had no idea. While we're keeping it light over here, I was doing some more research into your background. Is it true that you worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger? Yes. That was my first job out of college, even though I've been a lifelong Democrat. I thought about, I was going to go work at a consulting firm in New York and got a call very soon before graduating that there was an opening in his administration to work for his chief of staff and jumped at it because it just seemed like it would be a fun job. And it was a very fun job. How do you say no to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Starting point is 00:25:49 Yeah. I mean, he's people are what I loved about him is he hired a bipartisan staff and he actually enjoyed the kind of constructive disagreements that we were talking about, I think, earlier in the podcast. It's like he didn't mind having Republicans and Democrats on the team who would try to just argue over the best policy plan forward. And I think that made him a better governor for it, because even if you don't always agree, you've got a leader who wants to hear from both sides. It's not that long ago, but it feels like it was a completely different Republican Party. Well, now going back to this current Republican Party, and well, your opponent, I don't think we really dove into this enough. Your opponent is staunchly

Starting point is 00:26:30 anti-LGTBQ. Is that correct? Oh, yeah. And I mean, it goes back to his first campaign in the 90s, where he ran against now Congressman Mark Takano. And he thought as a political strategy would be a good idea to out Mark Takano before Takano was out to his family. And so sent homophobic mailers across the district, you know, and then his career from there has been about pandering to far right radicals who don't believe in equality. And so whether it was, you know, that vote in 2009 on the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill, whether it was voting against same sex marriage, which he has done in the 90s, he's joined law schools to crack down on gay rights. I mean, to me, the most astonishing thing is that 16 months ago, this guy voted to allow landlords to kick people out of their homes for being gay and

Starting point is 00:27:25 to allow employers to fire people for being gay. So it's not somebody who has had any credible change in his mentality, even though he's now finding himself in a district where most of the voters completely loathe that kind of an extreme right wing position on gay rights. That is absolutely despicable. And I can't wait for you to give him the boot here in about 30 days or whatnot. So the last thing I have for you, you know, what are some issues that the media might often overlook, you know, being in California's 41st that you want to shed some light on if you know, you have the time now to talk to what your constituents, you know, really are invested in for

Starting point is 00:28:05 this upcoming election? Yeah. I mean, so the Salton Sea actually is something that I think the national and sort of more California-centric press hasn't really spent enough time talking about. And even though the Salton Sea isn't in my congressional district, it relates to a lot of different aspects about climate and the economy in California 41, because it's close. And the Salton Sea, you know, for people who don't know what's happening there, it's, you know, unfortunately, the water level has been declining with historic droughts in California, and it's creating a lot of dust that's causing immediate health concerns for low-income Latino neighborhoods near the Salton Sea. And it's also having the

Starting point is 00:28:45 potential to create dust clouds that can cause health issues for the entire Coachella Valley. And unfortunately, there just hasn't been enough federal investment in fixing that problem. And the reason that I'm optimistic now is I think with three members of Congress from the Democratic Party in Riverside County, which will happen when I win on November 8th, I think we can do a lot of lobbying to get those environmental impacts remedied. And also it happens to be one of the largest lithium ion deposits on earth. And so enormous potential to power a clean tech economy in the 21st century to create high paying manufacturing jobs in the Coachella Valley, and to really just help America export and lead in the 21st century to create high-paying manufacturing jobs in the Coachella Valley and to really just help America export and lead in the climate economy in this century. And so excited to be a part of the team that works on that.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Will Rollins, thank you so much for joining us on this podcast. Hey, people want to support the campaign. Where can they go? WillRollinsForCongress.com. WillRollinsForCongress.com. WillRollinsForCongress.com. Will Rollins running the Democratic candidate for California's 41st congressional district. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for having me. Thank you, Will. And thank you for listening to this episode of The Mighty. If you can, be sure to check out Willrollinsforcongress.com

Starting point is 00:30:05 and support Will's campaign. With just a few weeks till midterms, we need all hands on deck to protect our democracy. As a reminder, you can support our independent media network and get exclusive bonus content, such as the video version of this interview,

Starting point is 00:30:22 by joining us on Patreon at patreon.com slash MidasTouch. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash MidasTouch. Thanks for listening and shout out to the Midas Mighty.

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The MeidasTouch Podcast - The most FLIPPABLE House Seat in America with Democratic Candidate Will Rollins

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