Democrats NEED To Focus On “Making Life Better” (w/ Malcom Kenyatta)

Summary

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FYPod: “Democrats NEED To Focus On ‘Making Life Better’”

Guest: Malcolm Kenyatta (PA State Rep. & DNC Vice Chair)
Hosts: Tim Miller (The Bulwark) & Cameron Kasky
Date: September 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features Pennsylvania State Rep. and DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta in a candid, wide-ranging conversation with hosts Tim Miller and Cameron Kasky. Against the backdrop of a Gen-Z shift rightward and political turmoil in the Democratic party, the group dives into Kenyatta’s origin story, recent activism, the pitfalls of performative politics, and what Democrats need to do to genuinely connect with voters—especially in a tumultuous election environment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Malcolm Kenyatta's Background and Political Awakening

[02:20 – 05:33]

• Growing up working poor in Philadelphia profoundly shaped Kenyatta’s political consciousness; his mother’s directive—“If you care so fucking much, why don’t you go do something about it?”—pushed him into civic involvement at age 12.
• Malcolm won an essay contest as a “junior block captain,” igniting his passion for community action and politics.

Notable Quote:

“I was pissed off about it, and I wanted to know who the hell was the manager, who was in charge, who I could complain to. And then I recognized that we are all kind of the manager.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [02:20]

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Kenyatta’s Personal Transformation & “Glow Up”

[06:00 – 09:23]

• After a tough Senate race and health scare, Kenyatta lost 100 pounds by making lifestyle changes, emphasizing that there’s no secret—just “the boring stuff” like diet and exercise.
• He enthusiastically welcomes compliments on his transformation, highlighting the importance of self-care and visibility.

Notable Quote:

“If you think I look hot, please tell me. ... I did it to stay alive and then in appropriate circumstances, you know, to be able to take my shirt off and feel good.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [09:12]

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The Pennsylvania Transit/SEPTA Crisis

[09:33 – 16:55]

• Kenyatta marched over 100 miles to highlight the crisis in SEPTA public transit funding—severely threatened by Republican lawmakers refusing to allocate necessary funds.
• Suburban and rural divides are being politically weaponized; Philly’s transit, used by PA, NJ, and DE residents, faces cuts that will increase fares, slash service, and directly impact daily life.
• Unconventional band-aid solutions (e.g., FanDuel sponsoring special train events) are symptoms of systemic underfunding and government dysfunction.

Notable Quote:

“Right now, I guess we're ... like Tiny Tim with a little bag, hoping that some nice casino magnet will fund our transit for a couple hours. That's where we are in Pennsylvania.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [14:18]

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The Importance and Reality of Activism

[21:13 – 24:44]

• Kenyatta’s walk became a powerful organizing tool, directly engaging Pennsylvanians who felt ignored or alienated by government. It spurred first-time activism and cross-partisan conversations.
• He debunks stereotypes about rural communities: “Racism is certainly everywhere. ... But Pennsylvanians are good fucking people.”

Notable Quote:

“The people, all of us, are more powerful than the people in power. ... The oldest, and one of the most effective tricks in politics is to just get us to all fucking hate each other.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [21:22; 23:02]

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Critique of Democratic Party Messaging & “Woke” Language

[25:06 – 39:07]

• The hosts and Kenyatta debate whether Democratic emphasis on land acknowledgments, affinity groups, and “woke speak” distracts from core issues.
• Kenyatta reframes “diversity” as important distinctions, arguing that economic stability and family security are what truly matter to most Americans.
• He calls out billionaire-funded political manipulation, urging Democrats to focus on “making life better” and not get lost in performative identity politics.

Notable Quotes:

“The Democratic Party's mission ... is three words: Make life better.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [28:45]
“All of those things are important, and we don't need to push them away to be a strong, thriving party that focuses on economics.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [32:19]

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On Party Unity, Primaries, and Supporting Nominees

[50:23 – 56:35]

• Discusses why some Democrats hesitate to endorse progressive candidates like Zoran Mamdani for NYC mayor. Stresses that the Party must support the nominee post-primary, regardless of ideological differences.
• Responds to critiques of outside influences (like AIPAC) in party politics, reiterating the need for transparent, voter-driven nominations.

Notable Quote:

“It can't be blue, no matter who, unless the Democrat you didn't like won. ... When the debate is over, we have to go out and operate as a team. ... When the huddle is over, you go out and you run the fucking play.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [50:57]

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Kenyatta’s Bottom Line: “Make Life Better”

[27:32, 56:55, 58:50]

• Returns repeatedly to the theme that the Democratic Party (and government itself) should be relentlessly focused on policies that tangibly improve lives.
• Warns that billionaire interests and the politics of divisiveness are “noise” meant to distract from real issues.

Notable Quotes:

“Our job is to make life better for folks and to talk about it.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [28:50]
“If Democrats keep the main thing, the main thing, if we focus on how we're going to make life better ... we will not only win elections, but we will allow people to get back to the shit that matters.” — Malcolm Kenyatta [56:55]

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Notable Memorable Moments

• [06:38] Kenyatta explains his “glow up” with humor and directness, demystifying personal health journeys.
• [13:32] Candid discussion of Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass’s outsized political influence and connection to TikTok.
• [20:02] Distinction between “kind” and “nice” in Philly sports culture—a playful but telling moment about local identity.
• [28:45] Kenyatta’s “Make Life Better” mantra becomes a throughline for his approach to politics and public service.
• [46:54] Drawing a lesson from sci-fi TV: “We have to figure out how to be angry with each other and not at each other.”
• [60:05] “We are not a fucking incumbent protection racket. My job is not to protect incumbents. My job is to support Democratic nominees.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Malcolm’s Origin Story & Family: [02:20 – 05:33]
• Personal Transformation (“Glow Up”): [06:00 – 09:23]
• SEPTA/Public Transit Crisis: [09:33 – 16:55]
• Reflections on the DNC & Party Messaging: [25:06 – 32:19]
• On Diversity vs. Distinction: [32:19 – 36:50]
• Dem Party Focus on “Making Life Better”: [27:32, 28:45, 56:55]
• NY Democratic Primary, Party Endorsements: [50:23 – 56:35]
• Final Reflections on Young Leadership and Party’s Future: [57:31 – 61:04]

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Closing Thoughts

Malcolm Kenyatta delivers a message of pragmatic optimism, advocating an unapologetic return to basics: the Democratic Party should make “making life better” its only mission. He offers critiques of both Republicans and his own party, calling for sustained civic engagement and coalition-building. Through anecdotes, humor, and direct challenge, Kenyatta and the hosts model a politics grounded in listening, empathy, and practical results.

Key Takeaway:
If the Democratic Party focuses less on performative gestures and more on building an agenda that makes life tangibly better for all families—regardless of distinctions—it can reclaim its credibility, unity, and win back trust among voters, especially a skeptical, divided youth.

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Transcript

[A]

From the Cascades to PDX to your kitchen. We recycle like we live here. That's why governments, brands, and recycling companies are all joining together to bring change, to make recycling better. As in trusting that your recyclables end up in the right places to be made into new things and having brands help fund the cost of recycling. You can find the Latest [e-mail] Oregon. From Mount Hood to the bin under your desk, Together we can do this.

[B]

I mean, Malcolm, I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position here, and I don't want you to have to say anything.

[C]

I'm about to put him in an uncomfortable position.

[B]

Okay, let me do it first.

[C]

Hey, everybody, it's Tim Miller from the Bulwark.

[B]

I'm Cam Kaskey and this is FYpod, where we talk about young people stuff and cool stuff and we have a great time. I'm so excited about today. We are joined by state representative from Pennsylvania, DNC Vice Chair and one of the youngest people in the entire government, Mr. Malcolm Kenyatta. How you doing, man?

[D]

I am. Listen, my legs hate me, but other than that, I'm doing fantastic.

[C]

DNC Vice Chair. That's a controversial position. There's a lot of drama, a lot of Sturman drag around that position. You know, you never know what's going to happen at DNC Vice Chair. You know, people just start, damn, the.

[D]

Only person in history to win twice. So I'll take it.

[C]

All right, we're happy for you. We're happy for you.

[B]

That's pretty cool. Well, I want to talk about that because chair is something that you sit down in and you just walked 108 miles. Like the fucking Proclaimer song. I'm going to be parentheses.500 miles. Everybody give it. Give it a listen. Good Scottish history. But before we talk about Scottish.

[C]

I thought they were Aussie.

[B]

No, they are Scottish. Are you kidding me, Tim?

[D]

They are clearly Scottish.

[C]

How the fuck I don't know the difference between all the limey nonsense. You know, it's all the same.

[B]

First of all, I agree. I like to bunch all of the UK adjacent people together. I think that it streamlines things. But I want to talk about Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania transit policy. Because, Malcolm, what you did to stand up for what's going on with that was so effective because I did not know it was a thing at all. And now I do. But before we get into that, I just kind of want your background, origin story, first date conversation because you're 35 and the Democrats have now twice trusted you to take a leadership position, which is kind of nuts. So, like, how did you get here?

[D]

You know? So I always say, like, my entry into politics is the most uncomplicated part of my. Of my life. I grew up working poor. I was pissed off about it, and I wanted to know who the hell was the manager, who was in charge, who I could complain to. And then I recognized that we are all kind of the manager. My dad was a social worker. My mom was a home health aide. And one day at Temple University, my dad was lucky. This cute little thing named Kelly strolled on in nine months later, here I go. My parents were fricking fantastic people, both of whom I lost by the time I was 27. But they did not see in each other the beauty that I saw in them. My parents fricking hated each other. And so they divorced when I was pretty young. I got my first job at 12 years old washing dishes. And believe me, if they had hung on this business called Patterson's palace, it was a vegan soul food restaurant, like, this would be their moment, like 20, 25.

[B]

But that would absolutely obliterate in Brooklyn right now.

[D]

It would do so well. But in 2002, it was not doing as well, but incredible folks. And they gave me a great little gig just washing dishes. And that gave my mom just a little bit of wiggle room. But I got involved in politics. I was 12 years old. I came home, we were living at the third or fourth place we lived by the time I graduated high school. And I was just pissed, okay, 12, full of every hormone possible, just raging. And my mom had lit a Newport cigarette on the stove, and she's listening to me complain about everything going on in the world. And she said, you know what? If you care so fucking much, why don't you go do something about it? And I was like, oh, okay. I thought you were gonna give me a hug. But she gave me, that's not what I got. And she was like, go talk to the lady down the street. She's the block captain. And lady down the street was like, you know what? Believe it or not, they just started this thing for junior block captains. And I ran, knocked on the doors, all my neighbors, just like I do now. State rep to become a junior block captain. It was the first. First thing I ever did civically. And it blew my mind, right? This idea that, like, I could go do something.

[B]

I'm not familiar with the junior black captain. What is that program?

[D]

Oh, so.

[C]

So Philadelphia has this program, lock Captain Block captain.

[B]

I thought you said black captain. And I was like, oh, like a young.

[D]

Well, I was. I was black while I was doing.

[C]

That, he thought it's like an NAACP program. All right?

[D]

He's right. Black block captain on this. On. On this incredible block, which used to be in my legislative district, by the way. The Philadelphia has this program called Philadelphia Be More Beautiful. And basically what they do are try to get people engaged on their block. And former mayor John street was, like, so invested in this program, he actually had a essay competition that the junior block captains could write about, talking about their journeys. And believe it or not, I won that competition my year as junior black captain. I just want to say.

[C]

What was the essay about? Do you have it right there? Do you have it handy? Could you read it to us?

[D]

I have it upstairs. It exists. It's framed. Okay. I put all my college degrees there on the ground that's up framed, because that's what matters.

[B]

My college degree is underground. I would say six feet underground, because I killed it after one semester, but.

[C]

Okay, so I got another question for you before we get into business, which is we can do a little life advice around here for people. All right. For falling into politics. Politics. I don't know. I'm just in a mood today. All right. I just want to talk about some. I just want to vibe out for a second.

[D]

Yeah, let's do it.

[C]

You've had a. You've had a glow up. Okay. This is true, right?

[D]

So that is accurate.

[C]

This is my perception of your glow up. You know, I follow you on social media. I don't know, Instagram or one of them. And going back, you know, a while back, because you're rising star in the party, and I like to keep my eyes, like, to monitor the rising stars, you know, see what they're doing on social media. And one day about a year or two ago, I guess it probably was, I was scrolling through, and I was like, you know, going. You know, doing the scroll through the stories, you know, not really thinking about things, kind of spacing out, touching the button like you do, and I get to it, and I was like, who's that man? And then I scrolled back to it and then clicked on it. I was like, oh, man, what is going on with Malcolm? So can you. Can you explain what happened?

[D]

Yeah. So. So some folks might remember, some folks maybe have forgotten, but I ran for U.S. senate against. Against John Federman. And after that primary, as you might imagine, I was, you know, pretty, pretty, pretty beat up and tired and And. And sad. And, you know, I wish I had that thing where I was sad. I couldn't eat. Like, I have the opposite. When I'm sad, I'm like, anything in s. In this.

[C]

This.

[D]

This mouth here. And so I was. I was eating, and one day, I was just, like, feeling like crap. And I said, you know, I really need to go to the doctor. I'm just feeling awful. And the doctor came in. The doctor was like, your blood sugar is, like, 325. Something. Like, it was awful. Like, literally, she gave me some insulin. She was like, I can't let you leave at this rate. Like, you could have a stroke or, you know, or a heart attack, just like, the way you were living. And she is no longer my doctor now, but she's this incredible Nigerian doctor, and she's like, listen, I'm gonna either put you on a bunch of medicine or you, like, be better. She's like, whatever you want. I'll write the script, or you can just be better. And so over the last three years, I've lost about £100. Yeah.

[C]

What's your secret for somebody. Anybody out there who's trying to be better than that?

[D]

There is no secret. And I've had folks say, well, you know, Malcolm has taken Ozempic or whatever. That's not what I did. And I total. And if, you know, Serena wants to share part of that deal that she got, listen, sign me up. I would be the poster board for it if I could. Now, it turns out all the things that they tell you to do, like, listen to your doctor, take their advice about your personal circumstances, and then you have to do this thing where you go to the gym all the time, and then you have to eat the stuff that's healthy. It's all that boring stuff.

[C]

It's so much more boring than Maha. It'd be much better if you could just be like, man, all you do. It's just. You do the beef tallow. Okay, well, Ivermectin. Yeah.

[B]

What's the milk that they do that, like, unpasteurized milk?

[D]

Unpasteurized milk. I will tell you, as I did this walk, I walked through a lot of, you know, cows that could have given me some unpasteurized milk right from the tap. I did not take them up on it, but, yeah, it was. It was the. You know, it's the best thing I've ever done. And I'll say, before we get into the business, I had some. Some woman who came to my office to, like, lobby for, you know, for like kids or something, after school programs. And as she's leaving, she says, I hope this is like, not rude to say, but like, I think, you know, I like, you've lost like a lot of weight. And I said, first of all, it's not rude to say. That's why I fucking did it. Go tell everybody. Like, please go tell everybody.

[C]

If you think I look hot, please tell me. Okay? Like, there's nothing wrong.

[D]

That's why I did it. To stay alive and then in appropriate circumstances, you know, to be able to take my shirt off and feel good. So there you go.

[C]

We noticed on Instagram it caused, it caused the back button to be pressed by me. 1.

[D]

You know, that's why I'm in this business. I want the back button impressed on my stories.

[C]

That's it. All right, so you walked.

[D]

Why?

[C]

I don't. Why did you walk? I've been getting this story kind of out of like my peripheral. It's like the SEPTA is broken, so people can't go to the Eagles games anymore unless they have tickets. And then it's like the fanduel had to come in and fix it and fund it. Like the funding is so low for public trans that that's like a crisis.

[B]

And wait, wait, fanduel?

[C]

Yeah, the gambling site is paying, is throwing money in so that people can go tailgate at the Eagles games. Via. Via. This is true, right?

[D]

This is true. We're having prizes.

[C]

Explain what the crisis is and then talk about your wallet.

[B]

I truly don't understand it at all. So if you could just start like you're talking to a five year old.

[D]

Yep, yep. So. So it's, it's, it's the most uncomplicated and sad story in the world. In one of the largest metro areas in the entire country, Republicans are actively and willfully dismantling public transit. You know, I was just in Texas yesterday because I'm a maniac. After walking 105 miles next morning, I got on a plane to go headline a fundraiser in Texas and then I got back on a plane to come home to do some fun stuff that we're going to do outside the game. We have some great signs that folks are going to be holding, reminding people who defunded SEPTA and what's going on in this moment. But, but long story short, I mentioned Texas because you remember the Texas Democrats who fled their state to try to do what they could to draw attention to and push back against the gerrymandering happened in their state. We sort of have the reverse thing, where Republican senators in my state fled our state Capitol, refusing to do their job because they did not want to fund mass transit, not just in Philadelphia, but across Pennsylvania. Philadelphia is obviously the focus of this. And SEPTA stands for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Agency. So is the focus. They are in a deep financial hole and had made clear to the legislature over a number of years that if we do not increase funding, if we do not change the way we're funding mass transit, that they were going to have to make dramatic cuts, that they were going to end up cutting service by about 45%, that they were going to raise fares by 20%. And I say to folks who don't pay attention to septa, SEPTA actually doesn't just serve Pennsylvania. SEPTA actually serves tens of thousands of riders from New Jersey every single day. Tens of thousands of riders from Delaware. So if you're in Delaware and you need to get to Philadelphia airport, you're taking septa.

[C]

Let's just jack up the prices on them. Can't we make Delaware cover the bill for this?

[D]

Listen, we want everybody to have some skin in the game, but unfortunately, what ended up happening is Republicans basically just left. They've only been in session 27 days. Since today, House Democrats have passed five bipartisan bills. The House is the only chamber we control for the first time in, like, 32 years. And since we've been in control, like, 93% of the bills we've passed have been bipartisan. And I say to people, it's not because Democrats are walking away from our values, because we're not putting bills on the floor that are about raising minimum wage or paid family leave or funding mass transit or trying to legalize cannabis. It's just that there's been a game in Harrisburg and a game played in Washington where if you don't want to vote on something, if you're in control, you just get to not put it on the floor. So nobody has to be on the record on where they stand. House Democrats have put good bills on the floor. And we've had a number of Republicans, particularly in the suburban areas, who have voted for this legislation. And they voted with us multiple times. Those bills have then gone on to the Senate, where the Senate does not even take up the bills. And on the day that SEPTA began cutting service, which so happened to be the day that school started, the leader of the Republican Senate was out shooting play targets with the wealthiest people in Pennsylvania. One of the biggest donors for Republicans in Pennsylvania is also Donald Trump's biggest donor. Jeffrey Yass, you may know him. He's a big owner.

[C]

He's a TikTok guy. Yeah, yeah.

[D]

He's Pennsylvania's wealthiest guy. He funds this organization called the Commonwealth Foundation. Republicans in Pennsylvania, you don't have to raise money at all because we have no campaign finance limits. I've been trying to change that for a while. So these folks are doing this thing where they're running ads for the Republicans in the suburbs, where this is a major issue, saying they funded septa, and then they're running ads in other areas for the folks who don't want to fund septa, saying they stood up to Philadelphia and they're not funding septa. And so right now, we have no budget, a huge budget impasse. We have no funding for mass transit. And right now, I guess we're, you know, like Tiny Tim with a little bag, hoping that, you know, some. Some nice casino magnet will fund our transit for a couple hours. That's where we are in Pennsylvania.

[B]

Is there anything sh. Can do about this or. His hands tied?

[D]

So there's nothing he can do, you know, unilaterally. He was able to last year, because of the Biden administration, sign off to flex some dollars that were going to be used for highway projects to stave off what happened this year in terms of SEPTA cutting services. You might imagine that the Trump administration does not want to sign off on him doing that. Sean Duffy, I don't think, has a lot of interest in helping us to do that. And so instead. Well, I got some good news.

[C]

I saw some news today. Sean Duffy has two mortgages, just like Lisa Cook. You know how they're trying to get rid of Lisa Cook from the Fed board because she has two prime horses? Sean Duffy also has that.

[D]

I wonder if he'll be fired.

[C]

I wonder if he'll be fired. We might get a new transportation secretary. So they say, you never know. Hope springs eternal.

[D]

Anyway, was he on Real World or Road Rules?

[C]

I think both.

[D]

He was on both. Okay. I was like, maybe we can get one from the. From the other show. But that's. But that's. That's where we are right now. And this is a prime example of Republicans dismantling not only the social safety net, but dismantling government. And because of the big, awful bill, so much of it is hypothetical. Right. Because they've pushed the cuts to 2026, 2027. I've been saying, if the country wants to understand what Republicans mean about cutting government, Pennsylvania is the place you want to look, because they're doing it right now.

[C]

Cameron, close your ears for one second. Close your ears. Okay, Malcolm, So he asked you about Shapiro and what he could do. What do you think about Shapiro? How's he doing?

[D]

I like Josh. I've known Josh for a long time. And Josh put forward over 200 days ago a budget that would have funded mass transit. He came out in support of legalizing cannabis, which is one of the revenue streams that House Democrats have said could help to fund mass transit in a recurring way. They have just said no across the board. And it's so frustrating because we have worked, as I've said, very hard in the House. We only have the majority by one vote. Okay. Like, we call it all the time a humble majority. We all the time get Republicans to vote for our stuff. I mean, you know, believe it or not, I mean, as a progressive Democrat.

[C]

I get some unnamed. We don't name who they are. Like, there's some lefties out there that. I think he's kind of a dweeb and don't really like him. They give him a lot. They give him some. Like, what. What do you. What do you say to that?

[D]

Listen, the. The. The only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing and be nothing. So, you know, a lot of people think I'm a dweeb. I don't know.

[C]

I don't.

[D]

You know, I. I think about it, like, not at all. And I go and I kiss my husband, and we watch Netflix and don't think about these people. I'm sure Josh does the same thing.

[C]

Well, no husband, wife, but.

[D]

That's right. That's right. Lori. She's great, so.

[C]

Hey, Karen, welcome back.

[B]

There's something I need to understand a little better here because I'm just so new to this issue. Yeah, What. What is FanDuel doing? Because I hate FanDuel. I have the MLB Pass subscription where I pay $30 a month to watch my baseball games to FanDuel.

[D]

They own it.

[B]

No, no, no. It's MLB. But there are games at least once a week, at least for my team, where you can't watch it on MLB. You have to watch it on FanDuel, so.

[D]

Are you kidding me? Really?

[B]

Because if I'm paying $30 to MLB, I should be able to watch MLB. But FanDuel, who seems to operate in the evil, monopolistic way that something like ESPN does, is getting in my way. And as a FanDuel hater, who wants to watch my Milwaukee brewers, who are, by the way, going up against your Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies tonight, Actually, right now, the game started at 4, 10 Eastern Time. As someone who wants to watch these games, I want more reasons to hate FanDuel because I'm a hater. So what is their involvement in getting in the way of septa?

[D]

So. So SEPTA does these trains. You know, part of the reason Philadelphia is like, so attractive, part of the reason we had the convention, you know, here in 2016, or we're going to have the World cup and all these big events, is because if we make the investments we need to make, Philadelphia is one of the. It's the most walkable city in America based on the people who study this. And where our stadium and our entertainment venues are, there are kind of in this one area, like at the sports complex in South Philly. They're all in this one area. And it's easy transit right there. And those special trains for special events, they basically run trains until everybody gets home. And they do it very quickly. One of the cuts that they made is they were cutting all special services. And so they said, we're not going to run the special trains that we run to get everybody home. The trains are going to stop at the new curfew of 9pm and you have to take Uber, walk, do whatever the hell you're going to do. And so on occasion, you have folks who are doing big events at the sports arena who want to brand the trains, who want to do other things. They say, so we'll cover people's rides so nobody has to pay to get there. We want to cover it. And then they get to market. So I don't love it. For the same reason that you don't like it is we have a bunch of folks who are going to be cheering on the best team in the NFL. That's good. But the bad thing is you're going to have a bunch of folks who are drunk, who are going to possibly want to gamble. That's okay. In moderation, obviously, to be a captive audience to get, you know, pushed. Whatever FanDuel wants to, you know, wants to push to folks. I mean, and that's not great.

[B]

I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position here, and I don't.

[D]

Want you to have to say anything.

[C]

I'm about to put him in an uncomfortable position.

[B]

Okay, let me, let me do it first. Philly sports fans, man, it's tough. You guys, you guys got some, some issues.

[C]

People are mean. People are kind of mean and nasty and not very nice.

[D]

Listen, listen, I, you know, my husband says it this way. People in Philly are kind, but not necessarily always nice, but they are kind.

[B]

Like, the one thing you can get Red Sox fans and Yankees fans, mortal enemies, to agree on is that Philly sports fans are another level. It's another level. Like Miami Dolphins fans. I grew up a Dolphins fan. We never felt greatness, and therefore, none of us were ever truly invested in our team. So when the Patriots came to town and ripped us to shit, we just walked out and we were like, yeah, yeah, fuck Tom Brady, whatever. But Philly, like, it would be war. Like, no, it would be.

[D]

And I actually had on. Before I got on, I had on an Eagle shirt and Eagles hat. And I said, I'm not going to be obnoxious for the. For the pod. So I took it off. But I am. I am. I am an obnoxious Philly sports fan. I make no bones about it. You know, when it starts, I'm an asshole. My shirt is right here.

[C]

Saquon.

[D]

Yeah, I'm all about it.

[C]

You won super bowl here in New Orleans. I didn't buy tickets because I was like. It was. I was like, I don't want to see Philly fans happy. I was like, it was too like that. It's too much money for me to buy, to go in there and watch Philly fans be happy. So I watched the game from my couch. I want to get into. Oh, wait, actually, before we get to DNC business, this walk. So why were you walking across everywhere? Did you learn anything about yourself or others?

[D]

I did, and it was one of the hardest things I've done. It was one of the best things I've done. This impasse has been going on, and at this point, the only thing that's going to break the impasse are people getting involved. Literally. I said this throughout the walk. We did so many Instagram lives. We talked to people across the Commonwealth who are worried about transit. You know, I was delirious and had a bunch of sort of stream of consciousness conversations with folks who were indulging me. But a part of what I said a lot was the people, all of us are more powerful than the people in power. I'm using air quotes for people who won't watch this video. And what I'm so excited about is throughout this walk, you had people reaching out to me saying, malcolm, I'm calling my elected officials for the first time in my life. The easiest, the oldest, and one of the most effective tricks in politics is to just get us to all fucking hate each other. Folks are just so good at it. That has been the argument of Senate Republicans that folks in rural Pennsylvania don't want to subsidize or fund folks in Philadelphia. And so we're holding our ground in defense of rural Pennsylv. I walk through rural Pennsylvania places where people are on my live saying, malcolm, are you sure you're going to be there by yourself? Black guy with locks in this area? And I'm like, hell, yeah. Because the Commonwealth has to work for the common good. And a part of the challenge we have is that folks don't talk to each other. When I was the Democratic nominee for Auditor General statewide. We only have four statewide positions, I was a Democratic nominee for Auditor General. Don't bring it up. Because I did get the most votes of any Democrat to ever run for Auditor general ever. And still. And still was not successful because Donald Trump went and got the most votes of any person to run statewide in Pennsylvania.

[C]

So. So I got some people, some blue. And on people listening will say that was cheating. What do you think about that?

[D]

You know, I've been saying that to my colleagues since I sit on the committee that oversees the elections. And I'm like, you know, I've listened to you guys for. For years talk about how the election is. Is rigged. This would be like, perfect time for me to say the election was rigged, but, you know, it wasn't rigged. And what I did was go around, talk to Pennsylvanians. We walked through corn fields, suburban areas, we walk down trails. And along the way, people on the side of the road, you know, flagging me down to say, hey, I've been seeing your walk on your Instagram Live. Or I've been seeing it, you know, on tv. Do you want water? Are you. Are you good? You know, we're pulling for you in places where we project on to people that. And we certainly project this view that racism is somehow a disease of rural communities. That's not true. That's not true. There's certainly racism discrimination everywhere. But Pennsylvanians are good fucking people. They are good people who actually want government to work. And what I found more than anything, Tim, is so many people who have given up on the system completely who were like, hey, I wasn't even paying attention to this debate because I had already factored in that government wasn't gonna work because you guys don't do shit. Of course it doesn't work, because nobody in government works. And so many people were like, you know what? I'm so happ to see somebody out here actually doing something, putting their body on the line. But, you know, it wasn't just me. So many of my colleagues joined me. So many people joined me every day. I had a couple of people be like, hey, can I walk with you for a mile or two? And folks joined me, and it was very, very special. Supposed to take me five days. Got there in three and a half days.

[B]

Well, I mean, the you from right after the Senate race probably would have gotten there in like 100 days.

[D]

I would have never tried. I would have never tried. I wasn't trying to walk. I was just walking to get something else to eat, man. I would have never tried.

[C]

That's an uplifting Kumbay. I have a couple of other ones we've got to get to. I was like, do I like. You pick your poison or do we decide ourselves?

[D]

You tell me.

[C]

It's our show decided. Well, why don't we do Kumbaya? We do happy talk. There's a DNC meeting lately, recently, you're the vice chair, and there was. There was a few moments that were just a little. You know, I used to be a Republican. Back when you were fat. You know, I've heard that too Hard. All right, so we've all had some transformations, and sometimes the transformation is tough for me. Okay. Sometimes it's tough.

[B]

Tough.

[C]

And one of those is like when I'm watching a DNC meeting and we're doing. We're. We're doing land acknowledgments. We got a fight song. We have a fight song. Yay, dnc. Yay, dnc. Did you see the fight song? Were you there for.

[D]

I don't know about the fight song.

[C]

What's that song, Tim? There was a. There. There was a fight song. It was good. That was passed out, like, with some lyrics.

[D]

No, I don't remember.

[B]

As in fight song by Rachel Platten.

[C]

Like, not fight song by Rachel Platon. That started.

[D]

I don't know anything about that.

[C]

Okay. I don't. You know, the third way we've got our issues with. Put out a memo about all the words they don't like, you know, people should use, like, you know, holding space. Cameron likes to hold space for people.

[B]

Birthing person was one of the bipoc.

[C]

And all that sort of stuff. What do you think about this? Like, does this stuff matter? Do you worry about it? When you're at the meetings, you're like, guys, can we chill with the land acknowledgments? Like, do we have to. Do we have to talk so weird. Like, do you think that's a problem or do you think that people oversee?

[E]

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[F]

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[D]

So there was a lot in there and let me just try to take it sort of one at a time on the land acknowledgement piece. I think there are a lot of people who are making a big hoopla out of something that I think serves an important purpose. I don't believe in this politics of division. You've heard me talk about it and for me it's not Kumbaya. It's about how we get power and how we utilize it to do what I think our ultimate mission is. And I've been saying this so much that I went on FOX and the host said to me, we've heard you say this, move on. But I'm going to keep saying because it's important. I think the Democratic Party's mission and ultimately our message is three words. Make life better. That is our job, to make life better for folks. And I think in doing that, we don't have to leave anybody behind. We don't have to leave our indigenous folks behind. We don't have to leave any region behind. We don't have to leave any group of people behind. And in fact that dilutes the power that we need to build when we're kicking people out. I think as a party we do have to keep what the super bowl award winning Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Sirianni said to the team when we won last year, you keep the main thing, the main thing. And for me, the main thing is very simple. A lot of working class folks who come from communities like mine are getting the shit kicked out of them every single day by a bunch of billionaires that have been able to buy politicians like they're buying NASCAR vehicles and who have spent their time and have utilized their power not only to not make our lives better, but to make our lives fucking miserable. Our job is to make life better for folks and to talk about it. And I have. And unfortunately the news media, which sort of aggregates what happens, does not pick up on the things that I've been saying all across this country and even when I travel abroad to visit our Dems abroad, that our job is set simple to make sure that everybody has one family sustaining job, ideally backed up by a union. That that job affords you the ability to buy or rent a home in a neighborhood that you can afford that is safe. That if you decide to have a family or expand it, that your kids can walk out that front door and go to a fully funded public school where they get a quality education that puts them on a path to either go to a trade school or to a community college or four year degree and then you get to watch them live their lives and retire with a level of dignity and decency, hopefully in the same damn house where you raised them. That is everything. Everything else is noise and nonsense. That's the only reason I'm in public life, it's the only reason I got involved in government, is to make that a reality. And I think we can make that a reality. Obviously to get there, we have to get on the other side of a bunch of assholes who see the job of government as filling their pockets and at dividing us up on the silliest of topics that if we didn't sort of inject into the bloodstream of the American populace, we would not be talking about. We were doing land acknowledgments for a long time. Nobody talked about it until folks started talking about woke this, woke that, woke whatever. All of that is bullshit. What we spent time doing at that meeting, in my view, was engaging with a bunch of new members who just joined the DNC for the first time, helping them get acclimated to what they signed up for and learning each other through our caucuses and through our conversations about what we need to do to do exactly what I say. I didn't run to Be vice chair of this party because I thought everything was going swimmingly. I ran because I thought we had some really important things to fix. And that's what I have to be focused on every single day. In my view.

[C]

I've got one follow up, then I'll let Cameron go. I hear you, man. I agree with everything you said. I guess my question is, doesn't sometimes the focus on some of this other stuff you guys are doing own goal a little bit by like having all of these conversations that, you know, that might unnecessarily divide people? I mean, I was listening to this guy, Richard Reeves recently who's worried about young men and the problem with young men, and he like brought up a DNC website and it was, it was essentially like our affinity groups, I think it was called. It's like Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans and the elderly and, and bipocs and indigenous. And like you go through all the lists and he's like, there's, it's literally you list everybody in the country except white dudes. It's like, what is the point of this? Like, why are you dividing every, like, by having all. Like, we need to have, you know, meetings, you know, where we, we ensure that we have a person from this community and that community there. Like by doing, I'm for diversity. Like, I want, like, you guys have good people at the dnc, but like, sometimes is the emphasis so focused on that stuff that you lose focus on the shit you were just talking about? You know what I mean?

[D]

So let me say it this way. I used to work at the Greater Philly Chamber of Commerce, leading efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion. And a number of years ago, my husband, who was incredibly smart, said something to me that completely blew my mind open. And so I stopped talking about diversity a long time ago. And I use a different word in its place. Distinctions. Our distinctions matter. Me growing up in a work and poor family in North Philadelphia certainly shapes my view of the world and I think has ingrained in me a sense of empathy that we need in more of our elected officials. When you know what it's like to get the crap kicked out of you just because of the lottery of birth, or to have people treat you differently because I decided to marry my husband and to not have my family look the way somebody else says my family should, should look, those distinctions matter. I think the idea of, of diversity and why that language can sometimes be a trap is diverse from what? And I think also we are erasing the distinctions that a lot of white guys Carry white guys are distinct. You are Irish or you are Italian, or you are Polish or you are from a rural community, or you are from an urban community or you are from a suburb. And all of those things are important and we don't need to push them away to be a strong, thriving party that focus on economics. In fact, fact, what politics requires more than anything else is courage. And we need some more people in this moment who have the courage to say in our pursuit to make life better for working people and working families, we are not going to race to the bottom and leave anybody behind. I refuse to do it. We don't have to do it. And I don't think it's a distraction. We can say, hey, don't treat anybody like shit, okay? Full stop. And also make sure people have the economic stability they need to thrive in this country. That in my view, is the greatest country to ever exist. And I know what it means to live in a country where it has not always felt like it's loved me back. But I know that this is our inheritance and our job is to wake up every single day and to make it work. I've said this, and I said it a lot during, during the walk. You know, democracy in America sometimes is like the group project from hell. And the easiest thing to do is to walk away and say, either we'll fail the assignment, I don't care because I'm so frustrated, or we'll let these other people do it and we hope the smart people in the group will carry us. Everybody has something to offer in this moment. And I think we make ourselves a weaker place when folks are too fragile to hear that somebody is from somewhere else. We talk about fragility. I think the fragility is people being afraid of hearing about somebody's story that is different than theirs. But I agree with you on one thing point, and I've said this as DNC Vice Chair. We certainly should have an agenda that touches everybody, that leaves nobody behind. And I think the tip of that spear has to be about how we make people's lives better around the economy and how we put everybody in a position where they have a level of economic stability when the economy is the way that it is. So top heavy. The folks at the top don't want us talking about that structural imbalance. And so instead we're talking about a whole bunch of other nonsense that they know is not important, but they do that because they don't wanna solve our problems. When politicians don't wanna solve your problems, then they have to get you focused on bullshit. I wanna solve people's problems and I am willing to work with anybody to do it. And even as, like an unabashed progressive Democrat, people look at my voting record and see. I get Republicans to vote with me on certain stuff. I vote with Republicans on certain stuff because I fundamentally agree and believe, excuse me, in this group project, sometimes group project from hell. We have to fight just as hard on the stuff we agree on as we do on the stuff we disagree on. And I think right now, as Americans, we have to get those small wins under our belt. We have to believe that our neighbor is not our enemy. And in this moment, we have to look to each other, not turn on each other. First and foremost, we have to do that as a Democratic Party party, and then we have to do that for the country. Because the Democratic Party cannot confidently go into America and say, we're going to bring this country together if we can't bring ourselves together first.

[B]

Yeah, my thing with the woke speak stuff is just. I'm like, I don't fucking care. Like, when I see that there's a land acknowledgment, I'm like, all right, they're doing a land acknowledgement for me. It's not what Democrats are saying, it's what they're not saying. Like, everybody's pissing their pants about saying birthing person, which I. I get characterized as this woke live. I'm not going to say bir person. It sounds goofy as fuck, but there is language I use where it sounds very woke, because that's just how I was programmed. But I don't fucking care. I don't care how Democrats say stuff. I care what they're talking about. And it's like the entire party has forgotten that we have an administration right now that's run by eight crypto billionaires who are having Donald Trump actually do a crypto scam while he's in office. I don't know the last time I heard anyone talking about the literal crypto scam that Trump did in office.

[D]

I don't want a billion dollars or whatever he's. He's raised, raised, you know, something insane like that.

[B]

I don't hear a lot of Democrats talking about things like techno feudalism and the idea that Peter Thiel and the Project 2025 guys are not only trying to dismantle democracy, they are just outright saying it. And I think that some Democrats will get caught up in this virtue signaling identity politics, so they can sound like they are in line with the Party's interests. But right now it's like, no democracy is on the line. Which is not something that's so tired to say at this point that it's almost cringe. But like there's. There's like 12 billionaires right now who are trying to make it so the job market disappears. The proletariat is not educated. They want the education system to fall apart. So everybody's job is Uber eats.

[C]

And it's like, well, not Uber eats anymore, man. That'll be. Melania was talking today about the first generation humanoids that are going to be doing the Uber eats. So be got to be something, something else.

[D]

I didn't even. I didn't. I've not heard from Melania in forever, so thank you.

[B]

It's like the White House is being run by somebody who works completely at the behest of people who want every single job to be done by robots that suck up fresh water from black communities and poison them. And I'm like, so you can say woke words all you want, but like, there is a straight up evil organization of Republican puppet masters and tech billionaires and people like Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel who's injecting himself with Twinkie blood.

[D]

And Cam, you were spot. You're spot on. And I think it's such bullshit. Everybody has an identity. It just often seems that when we talk about certain identities, those are the problem. But the solution for all of us is to recognize that people's main identity is being a member of their family. Family, that's folks main identity, being a brother, a sister, a parent, a spouse. And you know, when government is not corrupted beyond recognition, when government actually works, when it really fucking works for working people and working family, do you know what you get to do? Do you know what you get to do to not think about this shit and to live your life to be with the people that you love. That's the point I keep making about transit. Right? We've had this argument as Democrats and it is an appropriate argument that like shutting down transit, we'll just stick with this example. It keeps people from getting to school and getting to work. And there's been great research that's come out, great reporting on this, that it has kept people from getting to school and getting to work. That's important. But more importantly, Republicans and transgenders on this issue right now is keeping people from enjoying the parts of life that make life worth living. When you are stuck in traffic because there's 275,000 more cars on the Road, it means you're late to making dinner for that kid that you love more than anything else in the world. Tim's a parent and you know it. Coming home and looking in their face. Nothing else matters in that moment.

[C]

Look it, after this. Baby, we're doing fish tacos tonight.

[D]

See, that's what you're doing. And who the fuck wants to be in the car beeping at some other person instead of making fish tacos with their kids? That's what folks want to do. And as a Democrat, what I wanna do is to make you think about politics as little as possible, because it is operating and functioning at a high level. But the only way we're gonna get to the that is that more people get involved in this group project. You know, you cannot leave politicians alone. Politicians need to be fucking supervised. And they can only be supervised by the people paying attention, listening to your. To your podcast, getting educated about what's going on. And I have to say, Noah Goshel, who works for me on my staff, he listens to this every single day. And he said if I say his name on this podcast, he'll freak out. So, Noah, there you go. Freak out. There you go. And so, you know, I think that that's what we have to do. And that's how I try to think about politics and talk about it. It really is about getting to a place where you can spend more of your life with the people you love and less time watching people on TV fucking yell @ each other.

[C]

There's no bisexual. Cameron's drawing. Drawing a big audience of bisexuality. We don't have to. We don't have to out him on the show. I just. I was just.

[D]

No, no, no. Has an incredible girlfriend who will punch him in the.

[C]

No. What up, Noah's girlfriend? Anyway, I'm just saying we're drawing on. Okay, no one might get mad at me, though.

[B]

By the way, speaking of bisexual fans, somebody came up to me, seems like they were a bisexual, and said they were a fan of the show. And it was while I was on a phone call. It was right next to the subway, so I was being really loud. And my friend was telling me that she finally hooked up with another woman, which is something she had been really interested in for a while. And I said something that Tim said at a Bulwark Live show in June, and I said it loud because I wanted to be heard with the train nearby. I was like, so, did you guys do scissoring? And then somebody comes up to me, which Tim said by the Way at the Free Andre fundraiser.

[D]

And was this one. Tim was on Dan Savage. Tim, I saw you on Dan Savage.

[C]

I was. I like talking about scissoring. I went to a lesbian brunch the other day. I brought up scissoring. It's. It's interesting. That's an interesting thing. It's just so foreign to me.

[D]

See, when I talk about it, I talk about cutting turf. You know what I mean? To knock on doors.

[C]

You mean I don't. To want. Cameron, what were you saying?

[B]

No, I was just going to say, like, at first I was like, oh, it must be so disappointing to this fan that they hear me talking about cizorite. And I was like, no, this must actually be them being like, oh, no. Okay, so they're actually like that.

[C]

They're actually like that.

[B]

And that's what would happen if somebody read Tim and my private text with each other. They'd be like, okay, yeah, they are what they tell us they are.

[C]

But anyway, just like in our private text, we're doing a hard turn from inappropriate sex talk to making fun of politicians we don't like. And this one might be awkward for you, Malcolm, because you ran against him and it's in your state.

[D]

What.

[C]

What's. And he's in your party still. You're the vice chair. What's going on with John Federen? I don't like the guy. I'm not sure that he's. I'm not. I'm not sure that, you know, that we're. He's really 100% with us, I guess is a concern I have. You know, I just think it's important as a senator that we know that somebody's like, really got all their faculties. And we've had a couple of those lately with other. You know, Dianne Feinstein was in there a little bit past when she had all our faculties. I'm concerned for his health. You know, I don't want to, but. But, you know, he's got a job to do and I'm a little worried about it. What do you think's going on with that guy?

[E]

We all know that feeling. You finally managed to get away on vacation and the worrying starts. Will that bogus beware of dogs sign keep your home safe? What about that fake camera you set up? And will someone finally find your old hide and key rock? That's where ADT comes in, all that stuff. It's safe. Ish. It seems fine when you don't really think about it about it, but, you know, it truly doesn't work. Instead, ADT provides security solutions that keep you actually safe, giving you real peace of mind. Because vacation is supposed to be, you know, relaxing. Don't settle for Safe ish. Visit ADT.com today to learn more.

[F]

When you bundle renters and auto with progressive, you can save while protecting your most valuable possessions, like your priceless vinyl collection. Sure, you sleep on a futon because the money most people would have spent on a bed you spent on more records. But forget the fact that you can stream just about any song ever created for a few dollars a month. No, no, you need to listen to music in the most difficult way possible. So go ahead and get progressive so you can save while protecting the things that matter to you. Progressive Cavalcy Insurance Company and affiliates and other insurers not available in all statistic situations.

[D]

Listen, I'll say this, and it's and it's not a dodge, right? John and his family and his doctors know more about his health than I do. And I can't even, you know, hazard, hazard to guess. But, but in terms of, of John's votes and other things like that, obviously I ran against them because we would have voted differently on a variety of different issues. But in this moment, we need as many people as possible who are willing to be a check on this administration, which Cam, you said it. And kind of are at a point where people gloss over, but piece by piece, they are dismantling everything the American Project is about. And I've said this because Donald Trump loves to talk about how much he loves America. Donald Trump does not like America that much. He does not like what makes America America. I think I would say that Donald Trump actually does not love America. He hates the rule of law. He hates our Constitution. He hates that there are multiple branches of government. He hates that the voters get to choose and decide. He hates that we have independent agencies where they're supposed to be experts executing whether it's our fiscal policy and the Fed or whether it's our health policy at the cdc. He hates what actually makes America great. But he was so effective at engaging in what you've heard me say, the most effective tool. And there's a reason people go back to it. If you can get people to just fucking hate each other, then none of us are focusing on the fact that across this country, many of us will never hit that billion dollar jackpot. We'll never be a part of the group of the 17 billionaires that you talked about, Cam. And all of us are gonna be figuring it out every single Day. How do we pay our rent? How do we pay mortgage? How do we figure it out? And we need to. We need to do what? I often make this joke, so. So, you know, my husband likes sci fi. I'm not a big sci fi person, but if I want to live and sit in my fucking living room, I have to listen to his shows. So he was watching a show called Silo that some people listening will know.

[C]

I do like Silo.

[D]

You like Silo?

[C]

It's kind of barely sci fi.

[D]

I'm like, I don't like Silo, but I'm listening to Silo, and one of the main characters says something that I love. And I said, babe, thanks for having this on, because I'm going to put it in every speech that I. She said, we have to figure out how to be angry with each other and not at each other. And the anti oligarchic, fascist, pro American movement in this country who has a bunch of different ideas on domestic policy, has to figure out how to be angry with each other and not at each other, or there will not be a country that we will salvage. I think right now everything is about.

[C]

Stopping talking about, hug John Fetterman right now. We need to be angry with John. We gotta hug him. You're right. Yeah. Can we give him a. Should we. Can we give him a group hug? Cam, what do you think? Should we be welcoming?

[D]

I'm not known to be hugging.

[B]

Yell at teachers. Like the report that came out where his staffers basically were like, yeah, he got really, really mad meeting with teachers and lost his temper at them and started screaming and that there are meetings he's in where he's screaming. Like, if everybody's. So why does everybody hate me? Why is everybody so mad? I'm like, dude, you got to keep your shit together. Like, I'm so.

[C]

You don't want to hug him? You're not a big toucher, though. Maybe me and Malcolm can hug him.

[B]

It's not even the hug thing.

[D]

I think John's a big hugger. I think ultimately it's what I said before that all politicians, I don't care what party folks got to be supervised. And the way we supervise them is by the people staying engaged, paying attention to what the hell is going on. I say to folks, you know, voting is just one part of a healthy civic diet. One of the most important things you can do is just pay attention to what's happening. Because when politicians think you aren't paying attention, that's where they do their best work. And by best work, I mean that's where they make our lives worse. If we're paying attention and we are watching them and they know we're watching them, that's when sometimes slowly, sometimes kicking and screaming, they can do things that make our lives better. I know that that's what we're trying to do. As a Democratic Party, I only got here seven months ago, and I say to folks, you know, give this party a chance to change. Don't hold us in stasis. Don't tell me about what the party was in 2008. I wasn't there in 2008. That was the first year I could vote. Had nothing to do with that. All we can do, control is what we do next. And what I hope we do next is be a party that spends every single day focused on those three words, how we make life better for working people and working families.

[C]

Cameron, you got any other hot button issues for him? I got one more, but I feel like, you know, I feel like. I don't know, I've been butting you out.

[B]

My buttons are so temperate right now. I have like 70 degree buttons.

[C]

You got no buttons. All right, well, here it is. I don't know why I'm the one to do this since, as mentioned, I'm a lover of capitalism and was a Republican two seconds ago and don't like holding space for anyone, but somehow I've been the person that has been thrust upon to defend the honor of Zoran Mandani, socialist, running for mayor of New York York. I had Hakeem on a couple weeks ago. He hasn't endorsed Elrond yet. I'm like, what is. I mean, Trump is simultaneously trying to, like, help engineer an Andrew Cuomo victory, which is so weird because he's like the worst of the fucking Democratic governors, even when he was a Democrat in good sense. Like, what is the. And Eric Adams, you know, is Cameron's favorite, is it might get a job now in hud. And then you got the guy with the beret and the cap. Like, there's. It's kind of an obvious choice. And so what's the. Why are all these people. Why do you think there's so many Democrats that are so hesitant on this?

[D]

Listen, one of the things I've recognized in life is I have to control the stuff that I can control. And this is what I can say. Ken Martin, who's the chair of our party, I think, was one of the first people within, you know, minutes of Doran clinching that when, you know, Tweeted out a statement in support of him. The Democratic Party, you know what we control. And I know when I say the Democratic Party, people always find somebody who's registered as a Democrat and say, well, what about them The Democratic Party does not like. We're not on a group text where, you know, we get where Ken Martin or Malcolm Kenyatta sends out orders to our congressional leaders and say, you shall vote this way. You know, people are elected in their own right to represent their districts, and they're gonna do what they feel like they need to do in their districts. But the Democratic Party is clear about one thing. We don't pick our nominees, but we support our nominees. And to me, it's not hard. Zoran ran a campaign that we need to study and learn from and continue as folks across New York have been to be inspired by. I'm certainly gonna do everything in my power, everything that he thinks helps and doesn't hurt, to help him become the next mayor of New York and to be the best mayor of New York that he can be for the great people of New York. This is not complicated. And I will say this. As vice chair of the party, it can't be blue, no matter who, unless the Democrat you didn't like won. The purpose of primaries is to have a family debate. When the debate is over, we have to go out and operate as a team. As you know, I'm an obnoxious Philadelphia Eagles sports fan. When the huddle is over, you go out and you run the fucking play. This is not the time to say, well, this person shouldn't have been on the team, or this person shouldn't have been on the play, or the scheme is not right. That's not where we do it. And so Ken Martin, who's the chair of this party, has been crystal clear where he's at. This Democratic Party has been crystal clear where we're going to be at. And we're supporting him. We're supporting Mike Sherrill in New Jersey. We're supporting Abigail Spamberger in Virginia.

[C]

Across the board, Cameron, you guys have a couple mutual friends. Is there anybody else you want to talk about before we leave or any other thoughts that you have?

[D]

I'm just grateful to come on and.

[B]

Talk with you guys with the Hakeem Jeffries stuff. One of the things I learned when I was looking at Democrats not endorsing Mamdani was that Cory Booker had given mayoral endorsements many times before in a row, including Mike Bloomberg. But Mike Bloomberg wasn't even a Democrat. He was an independent it. So I started thinking, do you think there are any organizations that operate solely in the interest of right wing nationalist, former government, foreign governments, excuse me, that might be involved with these people who are not endorsing Mamdani? So I did a little bit of research. It took me a long time, scrupulous research. But there's this organization called AI Pack that seems to be giving money to a lot of these politicians who are not endorsing Mamdani. And I have.

[C]

Is that an artificial intelligence group or.

[B]

They might, might be AI Pack. I don't know. I think that, I think it's the Americans for America's interest and putting Americans first and not operating solely in the interest of a military in the Middle East. I'm not sure. But I think that's probably why. I don't think that there's some abstract emotional explanation.

[D]

You know, listen, listen, I don't, I don't jump into anybody's head. But, but that organization that you, that you mentioned, you know, folks can say Malcolm Kenyatta has gotten $00 and be taking any. You know, the point is this. We have to be a party that picks our nominees. I mean, that doesn't pick our nominees, that allows our voters to pick the nominee. You know, we started talking about my election twice as vice chair. And a big part of that conversation was about the party getting out of the business, unequivocally out of the business of there even being a perception that we are trying to put our fingers on the scale and decide for votes and voters. Voters choose the Democratic voters of this party. They are the folks who run this party. They choose, they chose the nominee and they chose him in an overwhelming fashion. He got more votes than any person to run for mayor of New York ever. And a bunch of things can and must be true at the same time, right? We have to continue to call out anti Semitism. We have to condemn statements like globalize the Intifada. We have to do that. We have to at the same time be unequivocal with calling out what's happening right now in Gaza, seeing babies and folks starved to death completely. Man made famine. This war has to come to an end. It has to end. But let me end on the thing that I know we can control as the Democratic Party. What we can control, control is making sure that we leave the choices of who our nominees are to voters. And when voters choose, you don't get to come back on the end and say, well, I have a different view. Voters in Virginia chose Abigail Spamberger Voters in New Jersey chose Mikey Sherrill. All of these, these three people are very, three different individuals, right? Three different backgrounds, three different views of the world, three different states that they want to be focused on. And you know, I'm going to go back to my, my favorite three words, but what, what the, the line that connects them Go birds. Is that I know all. Well, yeah, go birds. That's, those are two of my favorite words. But the line that connects all three is that I know, I am confident that each one of those three, they want to make life better for working people and working families in New York, in New Jersey, in Virginia. And I'm telling you, if Democrats keep the main thing, the main thing, if we focus on how we're going to make life better, people in working families, we will not only win elections, but we will allow people to get back to the shit that matters. And what matters is making those fish tacos or talking to your friends loudly on the platform about interesting conversations. Those are three words are going to.

[C]

Be do gay stuff.

[D]

But anyway, thank you so much.

[C]

You don't get to go. I have one more thing.

[D]

He had a hard stop when we got on.

[C]

He does, but I don't. And I have one more thing really fast because we all, I mean, you're there, you're the vice chair. There, there, there's a second vice chair apparently that's there too. If they met there, they're out there. And, and, and, and there's an ex vice chair that's out there, you know, doing stuff on the outside. I'm just kind of wondering like, you know, Jerry Nadler has left now there's a seat open in New York. Like Cameron is my co host. He's, he's living a New York. You have a former vice chair that's now out there on the outside who thinks younger people should be running for things. Do you have any thoughts on the Caskey Clinton hog primary to replace Nadler? Do you have any other candidates you want to throw in? What do you think about the potential?

[D]

Listen, I feel two different ways about this. I simultaneously hate primaries because family fights are the worst because people know kind of where to hit you and, and it hurts more and it gets more emotional. I said this in Fox News, got all into a tizzy and I'm going to go back to your question, Tim, but I said this. Democrats have been playing checkers. Trump and Republicans are playing Grand Theft Auto, okay? And they've stolen their third vehicle, the fire hydrant, and they're like, you know, doing everything that they can do. And Fox News got into a tizzy about that. But anyway, the point is, as we figure out how to fight back in this moment, certainly a part of that is going to be. Be people who have the fire in the belly to step up and run. And I think a part of the reason you see so many young people stepping up and talking about generational change in this moment is because we understand that it's our lives on the line, right? We're deciding whether or not we're going to be able to drink the water and breathe the air, whether or not we'll be able to start a family, to buy a home and to send our kids to school if we decide to have kids and they not get shot in the damn classroom. So these things are very emotional and personal. We have folks in our party who are incredible and they're going to go out and make that argument. My job as vice chair of the party, and I've said this, the Democratic Party, contrary to popular belief, we are not a fucking incumbent protection racket. My job is not to protect incumbents. My job is to support Democratic nominees. And so out of those names that you listed, if one of them becomes a nominee, I will be in New York very quickly, hopefully on MASH transit, because we fucking funded. But I will be in New York doing everything I can to, you know, to, to help. But, you know, voters in the 12th district, they know who they want to. Who they want to pick. But I will say, Cameron, whether it's you or somebody else, incredibly huge shoes to fill. Congressman Nadler is somebody who I continue to be inspired by, somebody who has been an outsized voice, particularly on the monopolies that have corrupt our government. We talk about capitalism, Tim, but what we have is not even really capitalism. It is a corrupt version of capitalism. There is no real competition when everybody can just gobble up anybody who could challenge them. So there's a lot of work that we need to do, and I hope that that primary, like all primaries, is a robust primary, and when it's over, that folks shake hands, recognize that we have to all be on the same team against autocracy, and then go win elections. But this party, to be un united, we don't have to have unanimity. We don't have to have, you know, Abigail Spanberger be the nominee in every district. We don't have to have Mikey Sherrill be the nominee in every district, or Zoran Mondami be the nominee in every district. People in their communities get to choose. And then we have to make sure we're building the infrastructure for them to go on and win their respective races.

[B]

Cameron, Malcolm, thank you so much. This has been amazing. I just want to issue one clarifying statement. Statement before we wrap up today, which is that I haven't made any announcements of anything. I have said that there are some very, very intelligent people and quite a few of them, I might add, who are asking some very interesting questions about new and cuter than the other competitors leadership. And that is my truth. And I'm not asking for anybody's endorsements. I'm not asking anybody to donate. But there's conversations being had by very smart and successful people and I can't stop those conversations. Conversations. I can just hold space for those truths. Everybody with polar, we're Malcolm, Tim and Cam.

[D]

We had to get holding space in here before it was over. All right, well, thanks for. Thanks for, you know, having some space for me today. I appreciate you guys take care and enjoy those fish tacos, my friend.

[C]

Oh, we're gonna. We're going to.

[D]

Thank you, Cameron.