Trillbilly Worker's Party - Bonus Episode: A Conversation with State Representative Charles Booker

Episode Date: January 7, 2020

Kentucky state representative Charles Booker is running in the Democratic primary to defeat Mitch McConnell, and he stopped by the cabin to talk about his story and platform. If you like what you hear you can support Charles here: https://bookerforkentucky.com/

and testing testing say your name my name is charles booker okay here with the trail billies that's right yo yo tom yo yo yo yo yo all right yeah we're all good to go so y'all had a good uh drive in and everything oh yeah it was a smooth drive yeah yeah we had a few patches of traffic you know gps struggled a little bit yeah you'll have that out this one yeah time time that's why i thought it best to come pick y'all up because i didn't think y'all would find this well my house isn't on like gps or anything you just be driving in circles yeah yeah you you have to have someone bring you up here that's the magic of the place i guess yeah it's it's beautiful man yeah i mean i've i've been through the area but this is my first time like stopping in yeah

i don't want to leave i saw you uh you posted you said you had family in mccracken county yeah i mean i got a lot of people down in mccracken and actually the past um year and since i've been a legislator i've been down there like four times yeah uh so yeah so we i mean we taking this all over kent Yeah. Where y'all been today? Well, today was, this was our first stop. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. So, everything else happens after this, and we'll hit some stops on the way back to Louisville.

It's a good place to start things out at. Yeah, our first job was get here on time. Yeah. Right. Gosh, well, y'all are batting 1,000 already. Yeah, yeah. Now, so where'd you grow up, Charles? You grew in louisville yeah i grew up in louisville so i grew up in the west end of louisville which is like um it's different than the rest of the city yeah um it's i often tell

folks like if you know all the assumptions of what people expect kentucky to be when they judge us and don't know about us um it's communities like mine yeah and like as I was driving here I was like man this looks like my neighborhood oh yeah yeah yeah I mean I could show you some pictures of just areas in my neighborhood look just like it yeah and so what's is there like a specific sort of industry or something in that neighborhood or there there used to be yeah um you know in in you know when tobacco um was the industry that kept a lot of families um their careers and sustained a lot of folks in our area yeah um jobs have left and haven't come back and so 40203 where i live it's been the

poorest zip code in kentucky for a while. Because of that. So yeah, it probably does look a lot like here then. So yeah, that sounds like the place we know. Yeah. So I'm sure you're familiar with Hal Rogers. You ever heard that name? Yeah. He's been around for a little bit. He is our big sort of villain here.

You know, he's been, I think he's currently the longest serving Republican in Congress. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's definitely up there. Yeah. And he's, yeah, he's been the sort of force we've struggled with, I guess, here for a long time because he's sort of like ruled over Eastern Kentucky with this sort of like iron fist, you know, but he's brought several prisons here.

Like he's a very like law and order type politician, but he's just so old. We've got to have someone to replace him. The Democrats haven't been able to present any kind of alternative to him. Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that's across the board. I feel like not only do we need new energy, new leadership, but we need folks that understand what our situations are, what our struggles, what our aspirations are. See us and don't just like talk at us or assume that they're making the best decision for us, but we're not in the room. And it's almost to me like we've had people in positions of leadership like the congressman and like Mitch McConnell that have sort of built success off of us staying in these places of struggle. And poverty is generational.

And like we've gone without. My parents went without. My grandparents went without. And it appears it's very clear to me that they're fine with that well that's one thing that kind of struck me about your message early on when i was getting to kind of like learn about you a little bit as you tell the story about being seven years old and your family rationed insulin when you got diagnosed with diabetes why don't you speak on that a little bit and also sort of connect that to your uh support for like Medicare for all yeah yeah I appreciate you bringing that up and you know I never thought that I'd be sharing so much of my story but I'm grateful to do it

because you know if my work not only as a legislator but over the years I was a director of fish and wildlife I've been able to meet so many folks who were like thank you for speaking up yeah because I deal with that too but yeah yeah i'm a type one you know i don't have the pump yet so i i have long acting short acting pen and you know monthly depending on what my insurance is doing it could easily be a thousand dollars a month yeah and uh you know neither one of my parents graduated high school had to take care of the family um my grandmother too and so you know we never had money and um there were times where you know we'd have to choose between or my mom would choose between a utility or paying for my insulin you know so lights would be cut off sometime sometime water's off you know we never

had heat or air yeah you know we and i know a lot of folks know what that's like. And for me, it was actually over Thanksgiving, the first time that I had to ration my insulin. I ran out, and pharmacy was closed. Couldn't get refilled, and we didn't have money, so we were going to have to wait another week. That was an incredibly dangerous thing. Yeah, and just a year ago, I had almost died. I had diabetic ketoacidosis.

Yeah. It was nothing. I was on the campaign trail, and, you know, this stuff costs a lot of money to do, and I ain't got a lot of money. Right. Because my daughters take whatever I do have. Right. And I was trying to go a couple days, and, man, I almost died, man.

And so I know this is something that a lot of Kentuckians experience. And it was critical to me when I personally understand what it means. But just from the understanding of your human being, your person, you matter. Your life matters. I believe wholeheartedly that health care is a right and that nobody should die because they don't have money in their pocket. I mean, it's as simple as that to me. And then I also understand that if we're healthy, if we have what we need, we can we can launch our businesses. We can be gainfully employed. We can stay at our job because we're healthy enough to do it. You know, we can contribute in the community. We can do all these things that help, you know, our Commonwealth thrive. So investing in people is the right thing to do yeah and you're like i guess you're probably our age right you're in your late 20s or early 30s man i wish i appreciate that you look good hey

that's why thank you my brother i just turned 35 okay well you're pretty you're just a hair bed out of it yeah yeah so you know it's crazy that Mitch McConnell was elected like two weeks after I was born. Yes. Yeah, I'll have to share that because it's just crazy to think that someone could be in office that long and feel good about themselves

when Kentucky is nearly at the bottom in essentially every measurable index that would say that we have a good quality of life. I mean mean it's it's shameful it's inexcusable and nobody should feel good about that uh certainly one of the most powerful people in the country right well it's like we were talking we were talking about this earlier it's um it's almost like their continued success is dependent on the miseration of people rather than you know I don't know giving people the benefits that they need and

helping people actually like you know stay alive and you know thrive and everything what it is is that they actually sort of reign over the state with this I don't know this politics of austerity and and so yeah so like what is your response to that

like what would you be offering in uh sort of as an alternative yeah not that the bar is that damn high and that's why in my launch video I said that I'm not the alternative to Mitch McConnell we are um what I believe we need what I know we need is a movement. Yeah. So you mentioned austerity for me. And this is, you know, it's very populist.

It's understanding that regular folks matter, that our voices matter and that we need to stand up, take our power back. And so that's why this statewide tour is so important to me. That's why this exploratory and saying that from the jump, I want to hear your voice. I'm not doing this without you because we get, we're an afterthought.

We get treated like an afterthought that has to stop. And so I'm offering my story. I'm offering what I've seen, which is Kentuckians from corner to corner that work hard. You know, don't ask for handouts, just bust a bus every day to survive, take care

of their families um and in spite of folks like mcconnell and rogers that and i say it's like exploiting it's exploiting us um they extract from us our labor our resources yeah um rob and lie to us and then at this point at this stage they don't even hide it yeah it's it's the mask yeah it's like well we're gonna we're gonna tell you to your face in the camera that we don't care about you and there's nothing you can do about it well my my response is we can do a whole lot about it yeah you know and i i think that um at what you're seeing all across kentucky is that people are ready um i i think uh trump helped a lot with that be honest with you. I think that he spoke to a lot of people that have been feeling left out and have felt hurt for a long time and identified a reality that the system is broken. It is broken.

But then on the back end of that, he was screwing folks. Yeah. And lying to people and sort of using our pain against us. And I think you're seeing a lot of people say, wait a minute, this stuff ain't right. And I think that's why Matt Bevin's gone. Because it was bigger than party. That was a bipartisan statement. Well, let me do a little aside here because it's one thing that we've been doing sort of the last couple weeks

is trying to make sense of that victory and how that swung, particularly like how even people in northern Kentucky, which which is typically strong republican went against bevin what's your what's your take about the gubernatorial election i i think if you're that much of an asshole you get what's coming to you and you know i think when it comes to politics um and i say this on on democrats side that what we haven't seen in a long time is folks that have the courage to speak the truth and to sit down with people from different parts of Kentucky that may see things differently and treat them like human beings. I know in my neighborhood, we get that all the time. People assume that we're a certain type of way, never listen to us, discount us. And folks are tired of that. So they're tired of the BS.

And I think what it showed with Bevan in particular is that, you know, people are like, man, we don't want to get treated like that no more. And I think the reason that you didn't see it translated in some of the other races is that he made such a point to degrade everybody. Yeah. So he made it so obvious right um but i think it did help expose that you know if we had folks that had the courage to speak truth and treat people like you love them treat them like they matter uh that they'll respond to it um because i mean at the end of the day i think we all just want to we want to live our lives we don't want the government robbing us uh or treating us like criminals and um we want to feel like our government is accountable to us because we're paying for the damn thing right you know and i so i got a lot of hope out of that but i also was like man we got a lot of work to do yeah well so i guess there's some similarities between, I guess, like the governor's race and a Senate race in the sense that you're going after the same electorate, but you're doing two different jobs.

So, you know, there is things you could do as a governor to help people. You know, what would you do in the Senate other than Medicare for all? You talked about the Green New Deal. than medicare for all you talked about the green new deal like where we live um you know coal mining it's not as big of an issue as it once was but it's still this thing where you have to sort of patch together some sort of coalition to talk about it in a productive way yeah um what's your take on the green new deal why do you support it and what do we need it yeah i appreciate you asking that question because like for me like before you have a conversation on any issue, you got to know who you're talking to. And that's why a lot in my message, I'm saying we got to stand together and fight back because we're done being disrespected.

And so what you've seen, particularly at the national level with conversations like the Green New Deal, is there's a lot of back and forth and we not in the room. is there's a lot of back and forth and we not in the room it's like man you're talking about us i know you are uh and you're assuming some things about us but we not in the room um and so i want to take issues like that head on because we gotta break through the politics yeah and and for me first and foremost it's about respecting folks in their livelihood and knowing that this isn't about um us you know doing harmful things to the environment and being reckless with our futures these are folks livelihoods um this is what they do to take care of their families and for a long time it has been what kept the lights on for our commonwealth and we know those jobs are leaving but what you don't do is come in and say hey i got the solution i'm not gonna listen to you i

don't need to hear what you have to think if you don't agree you're terrible i got the solution you can't do that um and it doesn't matter what the issue is if you come at folks and prepare to disrespect them like that you're not going to build support and i think you're right you have to build a coalition and for me on the issue like the green new deal is telling my story and sharing why i even want to talk about it yeah it's like in uh my community in west end louisville like there's um because of we had a lot of chemical plants there's a part of the city called rubber town right yeah rubber town i hear like that's always sort of like when people are talking about like environmental racism they point to rubber town as kind of gram zero for a lot of the horrible things that's... And you know, it's funny,

growing up, you don't think anything about it. You know, like, if you're in that part of town, like, you just hold your nose, you don't even think anything about it. Same thing here when we see orange streams or whatever, it just kind of gets normalized. It's just sort of what it is, you know, if the water don't look quite right, it's supposed to be that way. Which is absurd

when you do it. It's criminal, and it's not right and for folks who you know are just trying to do good just trying to take care of their families and this is the only opportunity they have it's the only opportunity their parents had only opportunity their grandparents had

you gotta acknowledge that and you gotta respect that and I think when you do like I was down in Harlan County I was talking to some of the minors on the tracks when protesting Black Jewel that and you got to respect that um and i think when you do like i was down in harland county i was talking to some of the miners on the tracks when protesting black jewel yeah um and i share this is that um when i walked up had a couple miners were like man charles i appreciate you fighting for solar energy because we'd love to do something else because we knew these jobs was leaving yeah but this is all we got you know and i think understanding that and saying well let's do

this thing together um so let's let's build our that and saying, well, let's do this thing together. So let's let's build our own Green New Deal. Let's let's take this thing on. It is about our future. I've seen it throughout history. I know it's possible. We just have to have people with the courage to to have tough conversations and meet people where they at. Yeah. I'm glad you said it, because that because that is not lost on these guys. Ever since 2016, you've seen this never-ending stream of the beleaguered coal miners

betting big on Trump because Trump's going to bring coal back and all that stuff, and that's just what people think. It's just Eastern Kentucky is just full of these guys that are just diehard leaning into that.

Well, that's the story. Yeah, that's the story of the black jewel the whole scenario really is an industry in decline you know what i mean it's right it was this it was almost sort of like a riot over scarcity than it was uh sort of traditional labor strike or something and so when you look at it from that angle, that really shows the necessity of a Green New Deal. Yeah. Because, I don't know, we're running out of fossil fuels, in this state anyways. Yeah.

But not more than that, it's killing us. Right. And it's killing the globe. Yeah. There's that. And I thank people already. Yeah. And, you know, like I said, those minds were out there with their family.

Kids were on the track. Yeah. You those those minds were out there with their family uh kids were on the track yeah you know as i was sitting with them and you know for them it wasn't about politics you know it's like man this is what we got and so you know your big company you know yeah and the broader broader conversation is about well how are we getting screwed by these big corporations first of all but you know for folks that are just trying to survive they they're not trying to analyze all that what they're seeing is their job shutting down yeah leaving them high and dry and they try and take this last bit of coal out and say screw you and so they're like well now we're gonna stand on the tracks and block it if you think you're gonna rob us and so that's the opportunity because it doesn't have to be about politics when folks realize this is touching them personally and if we speak to that and then say well let's do this thing together then i believe wholeheartedly we can build a movement um and then mitch mcconnell being gone

it's just a yeah you know it's just icing on the cake yeah right well i'll tell you one thing those guys hate mitch mcconnell like a lot of people in this is a consensus man like those can't stand no they really can't so this guy's polling at 18 or something like that it's just something abysmal it's probably generous too and yeah and he's been in power for 40 years like let's talk about that for a second like what's the calculus that keeps a guy like mitch mcconnell in power like we know we have voter disenfranchisement huge in Kentucky, particularly with felons, voting rights, and all that kind of stuff. But what else is at play that you can see that sort of keeps just the worst but also just the most deeply unpopular people in power?

Yeah, I think if you make people believe that there's no hope and that this is all there is, that there's no hope and that this is all there is um then you have a great chance of just keeping keeping power because we haven't realized that we should be taking it back and i think because he's been in so long and he has strategically put himself in a lot of institutions um you know so he's used money over the years, not necessarily to help make us any healthier or have gainful lives, be able to own, stay in business, keep our jobs, but he's been able to do these projects over the years

to weave himself into, like, the infrastructure. Yeah. So, like, in Louisville, for instance, you know, his name's all over UofL. Yeah. And so he's been able to do that across Kentucky. And so a lot of this for me is like we've almost been like the sleeping giant. And this little weak guy has been able to take advantage of keeping us thinking that he has all the power and not us.

And, you know, I watched the movie 300. Know how much you all follow that with the Spartans? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And you know how they Leon movie 300 know how much y'all follow that with the spartans oh yeah oh yeah and you know how they uh leonidas threw the spear and folks didn't think that uh the god king could bleed yeah and once that nose ring came out and he started bleeding they're like oh oh we got something yeah you got something yeah and so i think for me even just saying that i'm exploring this was like wait a minute y'all we can do this we can really do this and like i said and i think this is something that um folks regardless of what the party where they from how much money they got in their pocket you know what they look like are going to be able to rally around because they'll

know it's for them yeah well that brings us to a good sort of next point, which is, so we got Mitch and we sort of know the problems with Mitch. But the next sort of, this is the thing that we spend a lot of time talking about on the show, is the Kentucky Democratic Party. So, like, what differentiates you, I guess, from McGrath? Because we aren't big fans of McGrath, as anybody would tell you. We understand you're running for office. You could be a little more ecumenical. You're in a race with it though you know and so it's like what what what differentiates you from her um in the sense to like why are you a better choice than she is yeah well you know if if you've uh followed me at all in the state legislature uh you can sort

of get the impression of what type of energy and why I'm stepping up. And I've been very transparent how I show up. I tell my story. You know, I don't hold back. I can't afford to BS because we dying. So, you know, for me, I think what makes me unique and not even in just this race, but in particular um one as a young black man that is you know works across Kentucky um and has built these types of relationships where I can stand up and speak on issues like structural racism um but also make it clear that man I love you no matter where you're from what you believe I, I got your back. That type of, you know, just honest moral clarity on who we are as Kentuckians. Yeah.

It's something that I personally feel has been missing for a long time. Certainly, you know, most of my lifetime. And I think on the Democratic Party side, you know, a lot of folks are pissed off because they feel like, well, we're playing games or we're just. pissed off because they feel like well we're playing games or we're just so we talked about how rogers and mcconnell you know have stacked power up for so long and you know it's about big money to them and it's like we have started playing by that playbook and thinking that the only way you change things is to get a lot of big outside money and just tell people what you think they want to hear and folks are tired of that yeah i mean we know we know bs from you know from up the hill man like we look keep that over there

don't don't don't do that uh we can't afford it anymore and you know i think about um i mentioned my story of nearly dying but you know past couple years i've had uh family members have been murdered um two this year and you know out for me it's like well we can't afford to wait yeah we can't afford to just let the political power to be just finally decide to care about us yeah and so for me it's not really about what's wrong with anyone else that could consider running for this. It's really about, um, who can best represent, um, the voices of Kentuckians. And,

um, I'm humbled by the journey I've been on. I'm humbled to be in the state legislature. Um, I'm humbled as hell to have been a director of fish and wildlife and all these different things I've been able to do and see how brilliant Kentuckians are. I feel like it gives me a responsibility and so that's why i considered this and it wasn't really a slight to anyone else but just saying

that man this is our time yeah and we can't play the games anymore yeah that's a good answer basically what you're saying is what you said in the video i mean it's it's us not me and i think that that's a unique message in this race that i've seen you know i haven't seen that for many of the other candidates yeah let's talk about that video because i've had i've even had like diehard amy mcgrath people be really impressed by that when you wrote that out how'd that come together man i when i watch it now it's like wow um and it really is just me telling my story. You know, you see my mom, my girls, my wife's in the video. This has really been and I say humbled is the word I have. But it's been my work over the past 10 years.

I've been using my testimony, my story, both my parents and ministers to shed light on things that a lot of folks are weighed down by that don't feel like their voice matters uh that's why i went into law and it's why i started working in government because i was like man you know y'all make decisions about us but you don't hear us you know yeah and and so the video was really trying to capture the energy of i need you to understand like for this to even make sense because we know how much money he has. We know how much power it in terms of control over like the institutions that he has. That the only way that will change is if we collectively as Kentuckians realize that we can do it together. And so I wanted that message to like drive home.

and so I wanted that message to like drive home and you know I mentioned how my mom would tell me that were more than conquerors you know just growing up in church now we're church boys yeah you know just fake the size of a mustard seed you know so it was it was incredible to see that come together and in the video in such a powerful way and I'll tell you I feel like I know this is bigger than me I think it is bigger than me. I think it's bigger than any one person. And I'm grateful to be a part of it. And it doesn't really matter for me what position I'm in.

We need to win this seat. But this is my life's work. You know, this fight, the stories I tell, it's no game. And I think people can tell. And they're like, thank goodness. I appreciate that. So even if we don't agree on all the facts on a policy we know you got our back and and we'll work with you yeah well the conditions are ripe uh as you were pointing out earlier mcconnell's approval ratings but another thing people should keep in mind going

into this is that this is the first time since 2008 that McConnell will be on a presidential ballot. And so... Yeah, he's particularly vulnerable I feel like. Because a lot has changed in 11 years. Man, it feels like dog years.

That's right. Yeah, that's a Senate... One Senate term is a dog years yeah pretty much um so yeah so it's important to keep in mind that he really is vulnerable in some ways and so um i like i like the sort of distinction though between you have this guy who um is just this as i think as you pointed out in the video since he's taken office he's become like a millionaire yeah his wife is very powerful person too mm-hmm she used to run IMSA I believe or she used to run

the Department of Labor Labor right under George Bush yep you know directly responsible for all kinds of environmental harm here in eastern Kentucky. Particularly Martin County. And so, yeah, he's not very popular around here. But then we have you, who, as you've shown, you've come close to death. Multiple times. I highly doubt McConnell has had any kind of scarcity or, or, uh,

I don't know, privation in his life. You know what I mean? Any kind of, um, need or want or anything like that. Yeah. And so,

um, so I, I don't know. I just think it's important to draw that distinction. Cause as you were saying, like when you're talking to poor and working people, they know that you're for real, you know what I mean?

And they know when you're just sort of selling them a bag of goods and so i think it's it's good you know the answer you were given earlier like this your testimony in which you know what it's like uh is is good i think a good message to keep running on yeah well i promise i will that's that's my words all i got and and like the listening to it why it's so important is that I'm actually going to listen yeah and what I want to do with this process like we started yesterday in Covington we're going to do it uh do it here and um we're going to be crisscrossing Kentucky the next three weeks is really elevate the voices of the folks that have been largely ignored and we're going to build our platform off of that.

So I'm not coming in saying, Hey, I got all the answers. Let me tell you why you need to follow me. I'm coming in saying, what do you want to see happen? And let's build our platform off of that. Yeah.

Um, and it just really just comes from like organizing in the community. When you're trying to build coalitions, you got to build relationships. And, um and I think that contrast is gonna be incredible with someone that has no interest

in remotely hearing what we think in Kentucky I mean whether he could even find it on a map you know I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't what was the video that came out like I guess it was in the 90's where he was talking about like campaigning in Kentucky and how

he gets nothing out of it McConnell yeah I forget what it was now I mean he's been running on more or less the same thing for 20 30 years at this point and it's just the politics and nihilism I think that that's your sort of more hopeful thing is a good

contrast to that because it's just dark. You know, McConnell's lane is just dark. Yeah, it is. So it's like a balance of you got to realize it's bigger than him, but you also got to fight back. And I think that's what, you know, a lot of us have been pissed off about. It's like it doesn't feel like we're fighting anymore. We're just letting this stuff happen.

And, you know, we're going to fight. Yeah. You know, that's what i've i learned how to survive um and you know it takes someone that has the courage to take a stand and fight back but to know why you're fighting yeah so i want to make it clear that i'm fighting back because i love you because it's my family like this is personal to me um and then while we lighten them up uh we're also making it clear that man it's my family like this is personal to me um and then while we lighten them up uh we're also making it clear that man it's not even really about you like you've been hurting us for too long but the reason you got to go is because we need more right we got we deserve more we deserve to be protected and and uh secure and have a government that's not robbing us anymore

we deserve that and that to me i think is the big part because it's bigger than any one office. And as far as local leadership, state-level leadership, we need folks in those offices that see this, that have those types of understanding about how important we are. And so I'm hoping that this can spark that. Yeah. And there's a lot at stake at this one. I mean, let's make no mistake about it. Mitch McConnell is the only reason Republican policies have any purchase.

Right. You're talking about a guy that's padded out the judiciary for generations. Yeah. So we're talking about like when you beat Mitch McConnell is just the start of this. There's a lot to undo. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, first of all, we'll be doing like the whole nation a solid by this.

Yeah. But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of generational work. And that's why I try to make it clear that you can't just tear him down like that's not enough. We need people to realize the urgency of this is really about us. Because once he's gone, we got a whole lot of building to do. But we can do it, though. Yeah. That's a good.

And, you know, I hate to go back to differentiation you know that's a good and i you know i hate to go back to differentiation but that's a good thing because if you look at some of the other campaigns it's like we just want to ditch mitch like that's the end goal and what you're saying is that like that's just as you're as you're saying it's just the icing on the top once you actually get in there we have so much work to do things have gotten gotten so bad that it's good to actually see someone with a vision. So, I mean, I don't know, and we don't have to talk about this if you don't want to, but do you think what you're doing links up with what other people are doing in other races around the country like do you see similarities between your campaign and

maybe like bernie's or or aoc or something like that i mean i what i think is like this um and what i'm speaking of is very specific to kentucky yeah just from you know what i've seen growing up and the people that i've been paying attention to that I've been clearly we've been ignored is that this type of energy is something you're seeing across the country that gives me hope too because it's you know a lot of the challenges we face here in terms of like so many of our families are suffering so many folks are weighed down by poverty and lack of access that that's not just happening in Kentucky and people are pissed off all over the place and so i mean you do see it in in in a campaign like bernie's i i've seen it even in folks that you know may not support those same policy positions

that he would they're talking this type of language yeah and that's important too because i think across the board people are starting to realize all right, we we can't just play them like we used to. Right. And that goes across party lines, too. So I'm I'm hopeful. I mean, we like I said, we got a whole lot of work to do, but I think I can do my part for sure. And then getting rid of him would be a big deed in that work. Yes. for sure and then getting rid of him would be a a big deed in that in that work yes well um well then that brings us to the question of like um mitch has got a lot of resources uh if people wanted to plug resources into your campaign how would they do it yeah man i first

of all i want to reiterate that this won't happen without Kentucky, like without us. Like this is not just me doing it. I don't have a lot of money in my pocket. Be clear about that. I'm still trying to keep the lights on as we speak. But if you believe in this moment and you're like, man, let's take this stand. You can go to Booker4Kentucky.com to sign up to help us with our events, with our listening tour. I have folks that hit me up on social media like, hey, Charles, I want to do an event if you come here.

So we coming. And so anyone that wants to help us get this word out. But then also if you want to contribute so we can physically get across the Commonwealth, just from end to end, you're going to lose a whole day. Sun up to sun down, we putting these mouths in. And so if you want to contribute, you can do it there as well. Yeah. gonna lose a whole day right the sun up the sun down we put these these mouths in and so um if you want to contribute you can do it there as well yeah well i got one more question before we cut you loose charles you said you were the director at fish and wildlife for a while do we have

mountain lions in eastern kentucky or is that just sort of uh something all these old liars so it's you know it's always like you see a shadow and you're like i think i might have seen one so we would we would have conversations when we got spottings uh so what i'll say is just let me know if you do see one okay because i we get the same conversation down in louisville too really yeah what's the animal that everybody says down there it becomes a thing well i mean so you mountain lions yeah yeah um we get that um it's always fun i love when someone calls in when they've spotted an elk yeah well let me let me know if you see one with the folks they'll help you out we'll definitely we'll definitely keep an eye out for you but But, yeah, this is fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thanks for stopping by, Charles. We really appreciate it. Yeah, man, absolutely. If you need a mascot for your campaign, Mountain Lion would be a good one. I think it would be. Put Terrence in Mountain Lion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it would be.

Well, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the cabin that is now famous, CNN famous. Did you see us on CNNnn i heard about it so i'm a part of history right now you're the first person since that ran to sit in that chair that's right yeah besides tom our former city councilman here that's right well thanks so much charles and um we'll see you out there huh absolutely thank you both