Today, Explained - Rep. Frost and David Hogg on what Gen Z wants

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

Five years after March for Our Lives, one of the historic protest’s organizers and his historic friend explain why it’s easy to forget how much progress has been made. Plus, Rep. Frost breaks some news about his first proper piece of legislation. This episode was produced by Victoria Chamberlin and Siona Peterous, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram and Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained   Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Today Explained. I'm Sean Ramos for them. And I'm Noelle King. Yesterday, a congressman from Florida and a senator from Connecticut introduced a gun violence prevention bill. That congressman has a long history on gun control issues. Before he moved to D.C., he was March for Our Lives' first ever national organizing director. In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered. Now, five years ago tomorrow, March for Our Lives took over Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. On the show today, Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost and his friend David Hogg, co-founder of March for Our Lives, tell us what their movement has accomplished in five years.

They say it's a long list. And they're going to tell us what's on Gen Z's agenda in Washington. Two Gen Z's will tell two old millennials what's up. Oh no, are we the old millennials? We are. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas.

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Explained. I'm Maxwell Frost, congressman representing Florida's Senate Congressional District. I'm David Hogg, a co-founder of March for Our Lives and a Harvard student. How do you two know each other? When did you meet? Maxwell and I first met, it was actually the day that Bernie Sanders had a heart attack, like the night before. Yeah. And I was actually working for the senator on the road on his advance team. So out of nowhere, my day became completely free due to very unfortunate circumstances. And so I came to the event and I was just kind of there all day.

You guys are in this room together with us today because there's an anniversary this week. How are you feeling right now about this anniversary, the five-year anniversary of the March for Our Lives? Complicated. I wouldn't say that I'm always hopeful by any means, considering what happens every day in this country with this issue. But I also am not entirely pessimistic either, because how could you be when we were a group of high school students that started out five years ago, who many people said would never do anything, would never amount to anything, was just a temporary moment. But now I'm sitting in this room with you all five years later with the first member of Congress from our organization to be elected as the youngest member of Congress. It permeated our culture and it created the conditions where, yes, there were people out registering people to vote, which was important. But even more than that, people were going to register to vote on their own. And that's where you have the staggering numbers that you want in youth vote and vote, right? You want to organize

on the ground, but you want a movement that permeates the culture, bridges the gap between cool and consciousness, and builds an environment where people want to do it because it's the thing to do or it's cool or whatever. And that's really what March for Our Lives did, especially that whole year. Like it was cool to go to the march. I remember going to mine and seeing a ton of people I hadn't seen in a long time. They were like, yeah, I just felt like I had to be here. Like it's the moment. And that's why I always say the way you know the strength of a movement is what they're

doing when no one gives a when it's not in the news, when no one cares, Because when it is in the news and people care, the way you organize the infrastructure you built, that's where it matters. And so that's what we see March for Our Lives doing today is they're building that infrastructure. Because unfortunately, there is a cycle with gun violence, especially in this country. There's a shooting that happens. There's a vigil. There's a press conference. It's in the news for a couple cycles, depending on what it is. And then it seems to die down from the national limelight, but it doesn't die down for the families. It doesn't die down for the communities. It doesn't

die down for the activists and organizers who continue to work year round. What was the objective five years ago? I mean, you have, as you say, millions of young people out in the streets, but at that point, you also need them to do something. What was it you were trying to get out of this moment? I think it was about showing physically how big the support is for this, because we know the vast majority of Americans support things like background checks, support things like red flag laws. But there's a tiny minority that shows up at these state legislatures and other places that make these laws, that is so powerful. And by showing up there physically, I think we did a couple of things. One, it enabled

us to help register voters. Two, it helped set the tone for a generation and a cultural shift in that generation to say, this is who we are. You know, for the most part, like this is what we stand for is making sure that kids are safe in their communities and in their schools. And it's not just about talking about mass shootings and what happened in their schools. And it's not just about talking about mass shootings and what happened in Parkland. And I think the last thing that it helped do in hindsight, I don't know how much of this was us consciously thinking it at the time, but I think one of the most important things the marches have done is offer survivors solidarity and knowing that they're not alone. I think that's one of the really hard things about this is survivors, because of the guilt that they feel,

put so much pressure on themselves that they have to solve this, that it crushes the movement because those people end up not being able to take care of themselves and they end up feeling crushed. When you're there with your friends and your allies though, and you make new friends,

you know that you're not alone and you know that you can have the permission to step back when you need to, to rest. And it's not relying on any single one of us. You know, I think a lot of it was just, we wanted to show that we were mad as hell and get out there and show these elected officials that, like they say in network, I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore. And just raise a lot of passion and righteous indignation for our generation. Yeah, 100%. The direct action, the march was the catalyst for everything that came after it. And

I'm very passionate about this because I'm a musician. I come from like music and event world. And I truly believe that events play a critical role in movements and culture, everything. And that's what you saw March for Our Lives. It was a visual representation. It was a feeling when you were there. It was a feeling of not being there and seeing it online. And all of that culminated to a place where you had the highest youth voter turnout in the history of our midterms in 2018. And you have something else. March for Our Lives sent me and Sean this very tantalizing fact about the movement a couple of days ago, which is that this movement has won the passage of 250 plus gun laws since it began. That's an extraordinary number. What are those laws? Like, where would we see them out in the

wild? Immediately after what happened in Parkland, we had many adults coming to us and saying, you know, it's great you guys care, but your kids, this is Florida, you're not going to change anything. But one of the laws that we did pass after Parkland was the thing called an extremist protection order or red flag law that enables you to disarm somebody that is a risk to themselves or others. And an instance where this was actually used was for my own mom, where somebody threatened to kill my mom and sent her a death threat that said F with the NRA and you'll be DOA. We used the law that we passed after Parkland to disarm that individual that lived, I think, only like 20 minutes away from us. And that law has now been used, at least last I checked,

I think it was around 9,000 times. And that was like last year. So it's probably even more. So it's been used that many times. And, you know, there's a lot of people, the detractors out there say, well, you know, gun laws don't work. But the reality is no law is perfect. I will fully admit that. But, you know, that law may have helped prevent me from having to bury my own mom. How do you go about taking credit for 250 laws when, you know, there's been movements that have popped up after other mass shootings? So when there's been this pre-existing movement for decades? I would say that we were part of it in helping to reignite a movement that was already there before us in the first place, especially movement pioneered by Black women in places like

Jamaica, Queens, and New York City, like Erica Fort. Before I was 30 years old, I was involved in over 20 mass shootings. The only thing they weren't called mass shootings then. They were just called shootings in the hood. I think that's part of the change that March for Our Lives, I would like to think, helped brought, which is that from really the beginning, when we started this work, it was about making sure it's not just about Parkland. It's not just about Sandy Hook or any community that goes through just mass shootings. It's about communities that go through all forms of gun violence and not speaking for them,

but making sure that people understand that they always have been in this conversation and they have to be part of the conversation. And it can't just be about how do we stop gun violence inside of schools. I was out there five years ago in D.C. and I don't think I've ever felt such a palpable potential for change

at a protest like that. And the list of accomplishments is long, but paradoxically, so is the list of mass shootings every year, already this year. How do you think of these two lists alongside each other? It is depressing. I will admit that, obviously. It is very hard and depressing to know that these things are continuing to happen. But I think it also highlights the need for urgent federal action, not just in the form of President Biden taking as many actions as he can as an executive to enforce gun laws better, to make sure that ATF and other agencies have the resources that they need to enforce the laws that we have on the books better. I mean, ATF is basically the size of my high school in terms of the number of people that work there. And Representative Frost, I hear that you're getting ready to

introduce your first piece of legislation. You're smiling, you're drumming. Can you tell us what's in it? Yeah. So we're releasing a piece of legislation that's bicameral, introduced in both the Senate and the House with Senator Chris Murphy, who I've known for a long time from my work going to the Sandy Hook vigils and everything. And this is a piece of legislation that's pretty simple. What it does is it creates a federal office of gun violence prevention. And this is really important for many different reasons. Number one, the federal government does not have a coordinated approach to ending gun violence. And so what this would do is have a coordinating office department that works with DHS, ATF, HHS, all these different agencies to provide a coordinated response to ending gun violence that's both preventative and reactionary and looks at the root causes and provides data for members of Congress. So that way, you know, most of the data and research that comes from this issue does not come from our government. It comes from outside organizations, third party organizations, nonprofits, and that's important work. But for an issue that takes 100 lives a day,

for an issue where in this country right now, if you are under the age of 18, and you were to die, God forbid, the most likely reason would be because you were shot to death. In this country right now, the leading cause of death for children is gun violence. And so this would be a federal coordinated approach to ending gun violence, looking at the causes, providing real data after these horrible situations happen. So that way, members of Congress, state legislatures, municipal governments have real data from the government. So that way they can act upon it. Do you have any idea how this is going to land? I think we have a really good opportunity to get this done, whether it's through Congress or through executive action,

because the president can also create the office himself, but Congress can also do it. And so we're hoping that one of the two will end up happening, but I'll tell you I've had conversations with people from many different districts across the country, people from very rural areas to very urban areas, and folks think this is a really good idea, right? This isn't about policy as it is about having an entity that is there, that is working for the people to end gun violence. And it also shows that the federal government is serious about

ending this issue. Have you had a conversation with the president yet about it? We've been talking with the president about it for a few years. The movement has been. And so really, this isn't like an idea I just woke up and had. This has really been an ask from the movement for many years now. And so, you know, we're hoping that, you know, this is a next step, right, in getting an Office of Gun Violence Prevention. That was Maxwell Frost and David Hogg, the formers, the youngest representative in Congress, the ladders, a founder of March for Our Lives, and a senior at Harvard.

And when we're back, these two members of Gen Z are going to tell us how they feel about the 80-year-old silent generation president. Is he that old? He is. Wait, did you? You wrote that he's 80. Silent generation, I forgot. Oh, my God. Support for Today Explained comes from Ramp.

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congressional asmr yes brought to you by Congressional Breathing. Regrettably, we are already talking about the 2024 presidential election in this country. Oh, no. You two both represent a certain cohort that we're interested in on this show. What else is on Gen Z's agenda? This is an interesting question. I get asked a lot. And I wonder why. No, no.

I don't think Gen Z cares about different values or issues than other Americans, right? You know, if you were to ask people of past generations about moments that were defining for their generation, no matter who they are, you hear about the moon landing, post 9-11, where the country came together. For our generation, you ask them, you're going to hear Parkland, Pulse, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, death, death, death, trauma. It really changes the way a generation thinks about the issues and the impatience it brings, because we want, we're kind of confused, like, why are we still dealing with these issues? And we want to be a part of the solution. We're not here to play the blame game. But I think it's, you know, I think that changes the way we look at the issues. And so what does Gen Z care about? I mean, I think we care about the existential

climate crisis, right, that we're seeing the effects of. We care about ending gun violence, because we see that young people are really at the front lines of this issue a lot of the time, especially when it comes to, yes, mass shootings, but also, unfortunately, what many folks call daily gun violence. That's in a lot of our communities, especially black and brown communities that stem from underinvestment in our communities, poverty and economic status of a lot of our people. And then you get to another issue when we talk about wages, health care, the standard of living. You know, I think the age of the single-issue voter is kind of dying because young people really see things holistically. They really care about everything because they know everything is connected. And we also know from the polling that March for Our Lives has done and other organizations outside of us have done that gun violence is a leading issue for what animates us and makes us go out and vote for candidates. And it wasn't just in 2018 that we saw record youth voter turnout.

And mind you, it wasn't 50-50 like it was for Bush and Gore for 18 to 29-year-olds. It was very clearly in one direction, which I think is so important to highlight here. In the 2022 election, in your average congressional election, it was over plus 20 points for progressives for the 18 to 29-year-old demographic. That means that we aren't canceling out our votes like we used to. We are very clearly voting for candidates that care about the issues that we care about. In order to enact the agenda that you are talking about, a Democrat needs to be president of this country. Right now, two of the biggest threats to that happening in 2024 come from your home state, right? Former President Donald Trump, the free state of Florida, former President Donald Trump, a new emigre to your state

and Governor Ron DeSantis, who Maxwell, you have accused of engaging in fascism. I'm just defining. Number one, I think Ron DeSantis is the greatest threat to our democracy in this country right now. Bigger than Trump. Oh yeah, way bigger than Trump. I think DeSantis is worse than Trump. The reason why is I just encourage people to look at what's going on in Florida right now. And I know a lot of it's, I've been thinking about why it hasn't been cutting nationally. I think it's because people just chalk it up to that's Florida.

You know, it's just a bunch of stuff going, you know, it's just Florida. It's messed up. And then you see the memes and everything. But it's just Florida. It's messed up. And then you see the memes and everything. But it's real. Right. I mean, this governor took New College of Florida, small liberal arts college, less than a thousand students because it's more of a liberal arts college. You know, they don't wear shoes. Right. It's a it's a beautiful campus. It's a great place. He wants to make an example of them. And so he's abused his power as governor, completely took out the board of trustees, put a bunch of conservative lapdogs on it. They fired the president of the university, installed a new interim president who's the former Republican

speaker of the house, who's not qualified to be the president of the university, and changed the salary from $200,000 to $699,000 a year. And then the state allocated $15 million in like a few days to this university for institutional changes, which they're going to use to make it more of a conservative university market to a lot more conservative areas to change the demographics of the demographic of the students. I say that to say that is not something that governors do. He's using his power to close down businesses, attack teachers. I can't tell say that is not something that governors do. He's using his power to close down businesses, attack teachers. I can't tell you the amount of teachers and folks I've spoken to in my district who are scared. There's this atmosphere of fear, and not just in Orlando,

but across the entire state because of what he's doing. And he's effective in doing it. And he's just trying things. And if it gets ruled unconstitutional, he tries something different. Imagine if someone like that had the federal government. What does it say to you guys that this individual you define as a fascist is exceedingly popular? That a lot of old people are moving to Florida. That's what it says to me. Yeah. And also, though, like, yeah, when you say popular, I mean, numbers wise, what are you talking about in the state of Florida? Right. And we have to also realize that a lot of these polls poll likely voters are not the entire population of a state. I'm not saying, oh, no, he's not super popular in the state of Florida. But there's a difference, again, between policy and politics. And when you have enough money, and you know, when there's

voids and democratic organizing in a state, you're able to shift the narrative, even though most people would hear open care, most people would hear about the permalist carry and over 70% of Floridian say, No, that's a stupid idea. We don't want that. But then a lot of the same people would say, Yes, I want to vote for DeSantis. It's because he's effective at separating those two things. And what's happening is Republicans are doubling down on their efforts to fuel voter suppression, to change who can vote, to change who the voters are instead of changing their policies. And it's going to backfire on them eventually when those demographics that they're relying on die out because they are inherently older and our generation comes in to start replacing them.

But Joe Biden does not represent, per se, your generation. If Joe Biden runs again, this is a man who's in his 80s, right? We're talking about age. We're talking about young progressives. Joe Biden is not a young progressive. And young progressives have argued he's not even that progressive. We're looking at a situation in which potentially the Democratic nominee is in his 80s. You are both in your 20s. Should Joe Biden run again or is it time for someone new, someone younger? I always have the same answer to this because I truly believe this. Look, if the president wants to run again, which it seems like he does, I'm going to support him. You know, when we talk about the word, like, what is progressive?

I don't know. You know, everyone has a different definition. You know what I mean? But, like, the president is the most progressive president we've had probably since FDR. Do I agree with him on everything? No. Like I just said, I worked for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Right.

You know, I, you know, definitely to the left of the president. But I'm very pleasantly surprised. And when you talk with folks, a lot of people agree, agree with that. You know, you look at the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, the most money our country has ever dedicated to fighting the climate crisis. Is it enough? No. No, it's not.

You probably just seen the new report that has even more staggering and alarming numbers that we have to cut emissions immediately so that way we can have a livable planet for future generations and for ourselves. But the president on gun violence, he just took this executive action on gun violence. He signed until all the safer communities act, bipartisan safer communities act. Is it everything that we need in gun violence? No, but it's going to save lives. And behind every number, there's a human, there's a person. And so every bit of legislation that we can get, we're going to take. But you look at something like Build Back Better, the fact that the president put that forward, you know, free universal tuition, free two-year college for all of our people, free child care for all of our people, like everything that was in Build Back Better, really, I think if we would have passed it, Democrats would still have the House

right now. And so I think we've seen a president that's really surprised me as a young progressive. Do we agree on everything? No, but I'll support him. But do you think he could be pushing harder when you see President Biden approving new oil drilling in Alaska? Do you feel like you can come out and speak out against him? Or is the race in 2024 too fragile to risk speaking ill of the sitting president? Yeah, I mean, I think everything's a bit of a balance. I mean, I spoke out against the Willow Project. You know, a lot of times in life, you have to hold multiple truths, especially in politics. The president who signed the law, the most money ever going to

defeating the climate crisis, also approved a drilling project, which is, you know, going to be really bad for our environment. Both things are true at the same time in our reality. And it's just something we have to hold. And now we figure out how do we move forward? Does it mean we don't work to hold them accountable? No, it does not mean that. Again, I talked about it. And I talked about the fact that part of the reason Gen Z turned out is because of the president's, you know, bold vision on the climate crisis and ending it. And so I was honest about that. But that's not to the detriment of 2024. It's to help us. Because in order for us to win, we're going to continue to, you know, we need to turn out young people. And the way you

turn out young people, and really any, you know, marginalized community that never votes, is by showing them that government works for them, by legislating in a way and fighting for them that government works for them by legislating in a way and fighting for them that shows them that, wow, my vote actually matters. I think there's two ways that you can look at this. You can either look at it at what's going on in Florida as, oh my gosh, everything's turning back and we're losing, which is what they want us to believe, that there is absolutely nothing that we as a people can do to stand up for the founding principles of our country that, granted, the men who talked about them

were very, very, very deeply flawed. But nonetheless, I still think that most of us agree on those principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It means that all of us can succeed together because we all know and care about each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans that want a better future for all of us can succeed together because we all know and care about each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans that want a better future for all of us because we know the best is ahead and not behind us. David Hogg there. He co-founded March for Our Lives.

And Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress and a drummer. Today's show was produced by Siona Petros and Victoria Chamberlain. It was fact-checked by Laura Bullard, mixed by Paul Robert Mounsey, and edited by Amina Alsadi. Noelle, great to hang with you. You want to do it again sometime? Sure, yeah, let's do it again. you