← Lunch with Jamie
Lunch with Jamie
Governor JB Pritzker Warns: America May NEVER Regain Global Trust After Trump.
01:11:27
Loading summary
Transcript132 lines
- [00:00]
A
When I have asked people in Europe and in Asia, how long do you think it will take for us to regain the trust of what used to be our most trusted allies? The answers are somewhere between 20 years and never. That is all. Donald Trump is the Republican Party fighting for working families and thinking about lowering their costs and thinking about making their lives easier.
- [00:22]
B
You experience more trauma than most people do before the age of 18.
- [00:26]
A
My mother was a widow at a very young age. She was 39 when my father passed away, and he was 39 when he passed away. We were 7, 11, and 12. And my mother was an alcoholic. She was struggling with this disease. She passed away when I was 17 and when she was 49. Those experiences, you know, impacted me.
- [00:58]
B
Well, I, I'm excited to have you here. I'm excited to be in your city. I'm excited to chat with you.
- [01:03]
A
Great to have you here, really. And, and I, I really mean it. Like, having you here and especially coming to one of the great foodie towns and with great restaurants in this one in particular, you know, American food, that's what you get here at Erie Cafe and frankly, at a whole bunch of great restaurants here. So, yeah, we got to make sure you order a steak and, you know, get a full plate.
- [01:23]
B
Thank you again. Thank you for joining me. Great to be with you, inviting me to your states.
- [01:27]
A
Thank you. Glad to have you.
- [01:28]
B
So this, this is called Lunch with Jamie. We're not having lunch. We are at Erie Cafe, which I'm excited to be here at. But if you were taking me on the Chicago food tour, where would our food tour go?
- [01:40]
A
Well, I want to just skip all the way to the drinks because if you come to Chicago, I always say you got to have a shot of Malort, right? Which is, you know, really just to prove that you're tough enough to be a Chicagoan. And so. But beyond a shot of Milord, I, you know, we have some of the great American food and of course, you know, some of the best restaurants for steak and fish and other things like that. But Also, you know, 77 neighborhoods of Chicago, and we literally are like the United nations, right? You could, you know, Caribbean food, Ukrainian food, Polish food, every kind of Asian. And so I, I guess I, I'd send you to all the American restaurants and at least pick one out for you. And then, of course, you know, you can't, you know, can't help but go to a wiener circle for a hot dog. And then there's, you know, deep dish pizza.
- [02:34]
B
So, I mean, there I am, like, first of all, I'm so excited to be in Chicago. I love this city. Lunch with Jamie usually takes place at my house, you know, at my house at home office. So to be out in the location add so much to it. I know this was. Chicago is known as the second city. However, you know, I don't want to get enough a fight here. As we start out this conversation, my understanding is that was partially due to its population to second to New York, LA has now got a larger population than Chicago. So we may be the second city.
- [03:09]
A
We don't really refer to ourselves as much as the second city. We have second city, the performance art of course. But, but we. More I, we just think we're the best city in the country and, and it's a great city.
- [03:23]
B
Not the Windy City.
- [03:24]
A
It's. It is the. You know, and I, I. Many people don't know. Did you know that the Windy City has nothing to do with the wind?
- [03:30]
B
No idea.
- [03:30]
A
Yeah. The reason it's called the Windy City is the Chicago Tribune published a. Well, an article way back when referring to it as the Windy City because of the politicians at being so windy. So. But anyway, we're, we're. Yeah, it's a great city and what makes it great, honestly. And I. This is not hyperbole. I've lived in other places in the country just, you know, when I was younger and I can say genuinely, we've got the nicest, kindest, you know, decent. More so than almost anywhere else in the. In fact, more so than anywhere else in the country. But I don't want to insult anybody else, but I got to say, the Midwestern hospitality, even in a big city like Chicago, you can feel it.
- [04:10]
B
Right. I got it. I'm a fan of a lot of cities. I'm not going to. I think that everybody in them, I think in our entire country, so amazing with the hospitality. We just saw that the World cup.
- [04:19]
A
Right.
- [04:19]
B
We show that shown very clearly you, you guys here as well. And everywhere, Kansas City to Boston to LA to New York, we showed our hospitality. So I, it's interesting. You are, you've been. This is your. You're going. You finish your second term for the election for your third term, you're governor of one of the most, you know, important, influential states in our country. But you're still not as known nationally, which I guess in some ways makes sense. Right? I mean, that's one of the interesting things about America. Right. There's, you know, why do we know the governors of Illinois and California and New York and All these places, I think more now than ever, governors have come a critical role. But I wanted to start this conversation just learning a little bit about you and a little about you personally and some. Just some fun stuff before we get into the more serious stuff. So you're from Chicago?
- [05:11]
A
Actually, I was born in California, oddly. My parents, both Chicagoans, grandparents, Chicagoans, great grandfather emigrated from Ukraine to Chicago. But my parents started a business long, long ago in California, and so they moved out there. And I was actually born at Stanford Hospital in Northern California and. And ended up here because, frankly, the rest of my family is here. My. Both my parents passed away. I'd mentioned this to you. And. And after college, I went to work on Capitol Hill, and then I went to law school. I had to choose where I wanted to go to law school. I applied. I got into Northwestern Law School here in Chicago, and it's where my whole family is. My uncles, my grandfather, my cousins. So I moved here to Chicago, and I love it here. I. And I. People used to joke about, you know, when I was in school as a kid that I, you know, I. I sounded like I had a Chicago accent because I grew up in a home with two Chicagoans. And so, you know, it was natural for me to move to Chicago. It felt like home.
- [06:15]
B
Well, as somebody whose favorite city of the world is la, and because of that favorite state is California, I'm gonna take you and adopt you as a Californian.
- [06:23]
A
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
- [06:25]
B
I know the US Wants you, but
- [06:27]
A
likewise, we want you here. Thank you. You're an honorary Chicago.
- [06:30]
B
So as you just talked about, you, you experience a lot of. Just more trauma than most people do before the age of 18. You lost your father at a very young age, and then about 10 years later lost your mother. I can't fathom that as somebody who had my parents up until much later in life. Can you walk me through a bit of that time for you? I know you were very young when you lost your father, but that obviously, in many ways shapes the kind of the foundation of who you are. Sure.
- [07:09]
A
And I, in fact, most of us really are shaped in those earliest years of our lives. Right. How you react to the world, how you interact with people, is defined in many ways by what your very earliest experiences were. And it's one of the reasons that for many, many years I've been involved in early childhood education, early childhood development, because taking kids who live in traumatic circumstances and, you know, communities have been left out and left behind with parents who are challenged and giving Them the right kind of start has been meaningful to me and partly instructed by and informed by my own experience. So I think I was very fortunate. I mean, there's no doubt, even though I lost my father at a very young age, we had resources. My mother was a widow at a very young age. She was 39 when my father passed away, and he was 39 when he passed away. We were 7, 11, and 12, and my brother and sister and I. And my mother was an alcoholic. So it was kind of. She had additional challenges in addition to being the mother of three young children and a widow single mother. You know, she was struggling with this disease. So that was kind of the environment that we had when I was from 7 to 17, was helping my mother deal with her problems, and she trying to get help for her alcoholism. And I will say, as you know, those experiences really shape you. The challenges in your life, in many ways, are the things that shape you most. And so that was, you know, part of how I was shaped as a young kid. She passed away when I was 17 and when she was 49. And of her alcoholism, she never really overcame it. She was in a car accident. It was not her driving, but it was clearly a result of her drinking. And, you know, so I think that those experiences just from those ages, you know, impacted me. And a lot of today, when I think about kids who go through traumatic experiences, I was incredibly fortunate because, again, because we had resources and I had family who really kind of took us in and took care of us. And again, I wasn't even majority age at the time. A lot of people don't have any of that. They don't have the resources, and they can't get help for their parents who are struggling. And, you know, they're. They're just. They. They. They need a little bit of help. And so. So I think about that, and it's informed, I think, a bit of my own sense of how to interact with people. The idea that, you know, a lot of people just need a little bit of empathy and kindness in their lives to help lift them up and stabilize them. And it's what I've tried to do in government. So those are some experiences. And, you know, went off to college and. And. And then worked on Capitol Hill and worked in, you know, in campaigns when I was young, and then decided I wanted to go to law school and came to law school here in Illinois and Northwestern University. And I've loved it.
- [10:36]
B
It's.
- [10:36]
A
I met my wife on Capitol Hill, and she moved here to Chicago. So We've been here ever since.
- [10:42]
B
Thank you for sharing that. You know, but you experienced early on that, you know, you. You had a father who was very successful in business, starting a motel out in Los Angeles and turning that into what we now to know today is the Hyatt hotel chains. Although he passed away not that long after starting it, but 10 to 13 years, like. But by the time he died, there was 26 of them and built this amazing business. But. So you had these resources, but all the resources in the world didn't help keep you from being an orphan at 17.
- [11:14]
A
But again, I would just say that having role models. My mother, even though she was an alcoholic, she was also an activist for LGBTQ rights and for reproductive rights in the 60s and 70s. Think about how hard that was. And civil rights. And we were stuffing envelopes for candidates when I was young, sitting at the dining room table. So I think, you know, I think about her. I think about the success my father as an entrepreneur had, building from one motel to 13 motels, and then, you know, finally, you know, putting it all into one hotel and then it becoming successful and building more. And all of that is kind of a series of experiences for me, anyway, about role models in your life and how important that is. I was young, but I remember a lot about those experiences, and they've impacted me, and it's why I became an entrepreneur later and went into business.
- [12:11]
B
Yeah, you obviously had a firsthand experience to addiction, which is something that almost everybody in our country has either first or second degree of experience with, yet our country does such a horrific job handling it. I saw a great movie that was at Sundance this year called Union county that's about to come out, and it looks at drug court in rural Ohio, and it's amazing movie, all using real people. It's up for a few actors and deals with the opioid crisis primarily. But I'm curious, as someone who dealt so firsthand and had so much trauma from it, you know, what do you think is America getting wrong about, you know, addiction, the stigma related to it and how they're ultimately handling it by criminalizing it? Not criminalizing it. That's a big topic of discussion. So I'm curious what your takes on it.
- [13:02]
A
So you use the word stigma. I think it's exactly the right word to start with, because one of the reasons that we haven't over so many years addressed both addiction and mental health challenges is there's so much stigma around it. And as you know, people that have mental health challenges often are Self medicating. And that's how they end up being an addict. And so I think that's the beginning of the problem. The problem is people aren't willing to share their own experiences about going through either their own mental health or addiction problems or the people around them. And the result of that, when you're feeling like there's a stigma, you don't want anybody to know, is that, guess what, you're not gonna get somebody help. You have a friend or a family member who has an addiction problem, you know, they're embarrassed to deal with it. Maybe you're not you, but, you know, someone is around them, is embarrassed to. To have a relative like that. And, you know, so that's the beginning of the problem. Then, you know, that leads to bad public policy around it because, you know, if people aren't seeking help, then you're not building enough capacity to provide help for people. So those are all things. I think that at least when I think about what my role is in public life, that I think about my mother and I think about, again, people who don't have those resources. And therefore, what is it that we need to be doing? So first is I've been very open and public about the challenges that I think my mother was having. And I mean, we're not spending a lot of time on it, but just, you know, the kids who go through that are dealing with their own trauma. And so we need to address all of those things because that trauma is mental health related. So we've got. So I created, for example, a chief behavioral health officer for the state of Illinois. And we tried to take all the resources around mental health and, you know, dealing with people's addictions and take, you know, an approach to it. Like, we need to provide this, just like we do physical, what people refer to sometimes physical health care. This is health care. So that's kind of the problem we have in this country, in my view, is that in too many places and too often people are unwilling to talk about it and they're unwilling to share the experiences of it. And therefore, people feel alone when they've got the challenges.
- [15:22]
B
Yeah, yeah, 100%. I just want to. I mean, you know, we have a problem conversing in general in society, and we talked about the loneliness epidemic and things. But sharing what's going on with you is such a challenging part of our society. People never want to talk about the issues that are going on. When someone says, you know, how are you doing? Almost everybody. Everybody always fine. I'm fine. It's anybody ever opened the door, it would just help other people tremendously.
- [15:47]
A
That's right. That's right. And I think reaching out and helping somebody, that just needs a little bit of a hand up, you know, and a recognition that like, you're going to be okay, we're going to get you help. There is help available. I think that's, that's a big part of how you overcome the challenges that we have in this country. But we're way behind, frankly. I mean, we, we have so much ground to make up to deal with this problem. And as you've seen out of COVID and other circumstances know, the, the mental health of our teenagers has declined. We need so much help for parents. Indeed, we here in Illinois, we created a law that means that you're. When you enter school each year you get essentially a mental health, behavioral health exam. Now your parents can opt you out of it. But the idea is, you know, so many parents don't even know about mental health or behavioral. They just don't understand it. And so having a professional to evaluate your. Maybe, you know, your child is having, struggling with something, but you don't really know what it is. It'd be very helpful if you could know and also know that there's some resource you could go seek out to help your son or daughter. And so that I think is, is to me it's, you know, we've got ground to make up, but we're trying to do it here in Illinois.
- [17:05]
B
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it's just that, it's just that communication factor. Right. There's so many just being able to talk to each other, talk to a parent, talk to a teacher, talk to a friend. It's really, it's an epidemic in some ways. Right?
- [17:19]
A
Yeah. And you're, you know, your physician, let's say, you know, lots of people don't have a physician or healthcare. So that's another issue we've got in this country. But even many people think about rural areas and ex urban areas maybe, and even in the cities, Right. There are doctors who don't know anything about mental health or behavioral health. And so they're not helping you get when you go talk to them about a problem that you might have and they don't know how to deal with it and they don't know anybody who knows how to deal with it. And so you don't get help as a result. So like I said, I mean, there's a lot of ground we've got to cover.
- [17:55]
B
There's a conversation. Whenever you talk about J.D. pritzker, you talk about. Everybody always has to talk about wealth. It comes up, which is part of who you are. You've had success. You had success yourself personally and through your family. But at the same time, those resources didn't stop a lot of this trauma that we talked about. However, one of the things I think is really interesting is that, and I'm curious of the responsibility you feel with your success financially and has that, you know, there's this now this sort of class warfare going on in our country. There's a lot of villainization of, you know, people, you know, this billionaire class. But you've chosen to give back as a big part of your professional life, you know, choosing to be run for governor. There are a lot of other things you could have done. Do you feel part of that? Do you feel that that's really, in some ways, that's what some of your success has led to. It's giving you the opportunity to spend your days, focus on giving back.
- [18:54]
A
I, look, I feel very fortunate because I know there are people who might want to do public service and can't afford to do it because it doesn't pay well and because it, it takes time away that, you know, you might otherwise need for something else in your life. Maybe you got a sick parent or some other challenge. So, yeah, I mean, I certainly, it's been beneficial. There's no doubt about it. You know, a lot of the, what you're describing as, you know, the kind of divide that people feel about wealth in our country is because we frankly have some really bad examples of wealthy people who get all the news. And these are people who couldn't give a darn about other people and who don't give back. And, you know, I would say first among the people, you know, persons that people know, or the president of the United States today, Donald Trump. And. But then it's like, think about the inauguration where the kind of, you know, the leaders in the tech world were just sitting right there, including Elon Musk, who then went on to, you know, put a chainsaw over his head and talk about, you know, cutting government in ways that really have hurt a lot of people in the United States and around the world. And those examples for people, unfortunately, you know, burn in. You feel like, you know, these wealthy people are awful. And, you know, I like to remind people that, you know, that, that it's about your values. It's not about, you know, it's like, what do you do with the resources that you have. And what you do, who are you as a person, and those values really matter. You can have somebody who's middle class or poor, who's. Has bad values, but. Or also you could have people who are wealthy, middle class or poor who are the best people you've ever met. Right. I mean, who are genuinely good people and reaching out, helping. Maybe they don't even have resources, but they're, they're there for you. You know, they'll lift you up when you're down, that kind of thing. And so, so, you know, that I think about that because I know that people start. I remember, you know, when I first ran for governor, there were people saying, well, gee whiz, there's a terrible. We had a billionaire governor, Republican governor of Illinois, who had done a terrible job for the state, and we had a billionaire president, Donald Trump, who was doing a terrible job for the country and taking people's rights away. And so here comes, you know, a billionaire businessman who's a Democrat and a progressive Democrat who's, you know, wanting to be governor. And the people were like, wait a minute, do we really want one of those? And so, you know, I have felt some of that, that, you know, the, the attitude that people have, and I think it's just over time, demonstrating to people who you are. And, and I think that, you know, when. What's the, you know, the expression, you know, when people show you who they are, believe them. I think that unfortunately that's true about, you know, everybody. But take Elon Musk and Donald Trump and, you know, that's the terrible example. And I hope that in my life anyway, and, you know, for my own children, for my family, but also for the state of Illinois, that I demonstrate the kind of values that people would want in their leaders.
- [22:19]
B
Right. Yeah. So I, you know, listen, you, you've shown by the work you've done and the policies you enacted that you're somebody who cares and cares about all people. And the people of Illinois are very lucky to have that. And I don't think that I understand the villainization of wealth, and I think that's because we're seeing this, this income inequality like we haven't seen in, in a very long time in our society. That gets me to the, to the Democratic Party today. There's, there's obviously a sort of the Democratic Socialists of America, the dsa, are getting more and more of a voice still, very small voice, but they're making inroads. And there was a poll recently talking about socialism in our country, and that especially between 18 and 34, now prefer socialism to capitalism. This was just done by a poll by CNBC or Gallup. What is, in your opinion or what's the role that the DSA has, the Democratic Party today?
- [23:22]
A
I don't think dsa, when you say a role, I think people run as Democrats and they have their background and what their beliefs are and run as Democrats. And I would just say that when you look at some of the big names of people who would say they're DSAers and they're running, the things they're running about if they win are typically things that are quite appealing to people in a moment. When you've got a president who's literally taking food out of people's mouths and taking away their health care and you and people can't afford to pay their electric bill or their rent and you have somebody standing in front of you and saying, I'm going to make it easier for you. Right. I'm going to help lower your electric bills or I'm going to, you know, deal with the high cost of groceries because put any label you want on that. But that sounds pretty darned attractive to somebody who's struggling. Right. And, and right now people in the middle class, working class families, as well as the most vulnerable are suffering. So that's kind of the way I think about it. I mean, I'm not a member of the DSA and you know, and there are things that I disagree with, well, lots of things within the Democratic Party, people with different views than I have on varieties of issues. Right. But I think, you know, I like to think back on when Zorani Mamdani won his election in New York City, which lots of people were surprised that he won. But you know, the same night that he won, Mikey Sherrell won the governorship in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger won the governorship of Virginia. And if you looked at the two of them, you would say those are kind of, you know, center left. I don't know if you'd say they're moderates, but you know, they're, they're center left liberal. And Mamdani, you wouldn't say that about. But you know what, they ran on the same things like literally lowering your electricity costs and things like that. So, so that's the way I think about dsa. I mean, they're not going to win if they're not running on the things that really matter to people. And that's, and I think we Democrats, what, what Democrats writ large, share in common. And I'M sure there are people who would disagree with this characterization. But I think, and one of the reasons I became a democr. Because we are the party of working families. We're the ones who stand up and lift people up who need a little bit of help. The most vulnerable, the middle class and working families. That's been our, you know, our DNA as Democrats. We're, you know, we're the party that created Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. These are vital programs for people to survive during the course of their lives who just need a little help. What about the Voting Rights act and the Civil Rights act that, you know, these are all things that are fundamentally Democratic ideas and that's what lots of people rally around. There are lots of other things, but just taking those five things, we should be, you know, we should, we should encourage people who are going to stand up for those things and stand up for the middle class and the working class to run on our behalf. So I don't, you know, I know there's lots of other. You can pick an issue and say, well, gee, I don't like that person and oh, their label is a dsa. I don't like what that person stands for on some other thing. But again, if they get elected, you know, standing up and fighting to make your life easier, it's hard to begrudge the voters to have somebody doing that for them.
- [27:03]
B
But I guess the question is, is, you know, the, from the Democratic Socialist program, as they call it. They. There are certain things that they. That are included in there, right? Which is abolish the Senate Electoral College to defund police budgets annually towards zero to rid of prisons, social ownership of Democratic control of utilities and key industries. Those policies are just, to me are counter to what it means to be an American, to what our society works towards. Capitalism, which is what we've been set up on since founding of our nation. So how do you like, how does that fit inside the Democratic Party?
- [27:48]
A
Well, all I would argue, and I said this a little earlier, is there's not any person I don't think that I agree with in politics more than about, you know, 80%, maybe 85% and that some of the things you said are like, yeah, that's not something I would ever advocate for. But once again, let me ask you, is the Republican Party fighting for working families and thinking about lowering their costs and thinking about making their lives easier? I mean, we're the party that put the child tax credit in here in Illinois and you know, nationally, Joe Biden, and then it was The Republican Party that took away those tax credits. So I'm just one example. So, yeah, I mean, I, there are plenty of people that, when I go into the voting booth and I look down the list, you know, and I think, you know, I don't like the three things that guy stands for, but those seven other things I like. But, you know, and then, then I look at the Republican, right. And I say, well, I agree with maybe one of the 10 things. And so, you know, that's, those are your choices. And so that's all I would say. I, I listen, I'm, I'm, I'm somebody who believes that if you're fighting for people to lift them up, make their lives easier, give them an opportunity to get ahead, that's the right thing to do.
- [29:06]
B
Right? Yeah. You've talked a lot about what being a Democrat, different values you stand for, and that what the party was founded on. I think one of the biggest challenges that Democrats are having today is nobody really understands what they stand for and what the message is. And so I guess my question to you is, I'm from the movie business. So if you were selling me on the 32nd sort of Hollywood trailer of what it means to be a Democrat, why someone should vote for a Democrat today, what, what does it mean to be a Democrat?
- [29:40]
A
Well, I want to just preface my answer by saying that I think that the messaging of the Democratic Party has been wrong. I mean, I really think lately, you know, that the idea that we're telling the story the way it should be told and then delivering on the things that we're talking about, like the national Democratic Party has not been getting this right. And it's very disappointing. So I, you know, I really believe that to convince people to vote for you, you've got to deliver for them. Right. And so, and we Democrats have been talking about universal health care since Harry Truman. Yeah. Do we have it? No. And yet we've had opportunities, but we haven't done it. And I would go, I'll go to something like the minimum wage. We've had the opportunity to raise the minimum wage. We had majorities in 2009 and 10, but we haven't raised the minimum wage since 2006 or 7. It's $7.25. It's now 20, 26, 20 years later, still $7.25. You can't survive on if you have one full time job, $14,000 a year, if you have two of those jobs, which means you have no time and you're exhausted two of those jobs, $28,000, you can't raise a family on that. You could barely survive yourself. So my point is that I think the message of the party and the delivery of what it is that we are about has been wrong. And we've got to repair that before we start going out and saying this is why you should vote for a Democrat. Now I think there's a, an agenda that we should be talking about. That's me personally, I'm not speaking for the party, but I'm a Democrat and I just mentioned two of those things. Raise the minimum. We're putting more money in people's pockets is about affordability. You want to make things more affordable? How about put more money in my pocket? How about if we stand up for people's right to organize a union? How about if we stand up for people's ability to get prescription drugs at a reasonable price here in Illinois? We did that. We made, you know, for $35 a month you can, you know, pay your insulin bill. We capped it. 35 for people who were asthmatic, you know, needed an inhaler, $25 a month. Those are things that really matter in people's lives. We have to deliver those things, we Democrats.
- [32:03]
B
Right.
- [32:04]
A
And I don't, I remember campaigning for governor in 2017, 2018, going to areas of the state, as I do now, but for the first time sometimes. I'd never been to some of the parts of southern Illinois and central Illinois. And you know, and people were, think were voting, had voted for Donald Trump just two years earlier. And why? Because for so many years they had voted for a Democrat or for somebody who said they were going to deliver something and they never did. And here's a guy who's basically saying, I'm going to go blow it up and I'm going to send you the proceeds of blowing it up. People said, I don't know, I've never done that before, I'm going to try that. And I really think that we did our counter to that nationally. The party's counter to that wasn't very strong. And so that's one of the reasons why I think, and this is not a self serving comment, but I'll just say that's one of the reasons that, that I, I think that governors and executives, people who run a state, city, whatever, are best positioned in many ways to carry the mantle of the party. Because you know what, we don't get to just vote for things and then come back home and say, I, you know, didn't get it done. But I voted for it. Please send me back. We actually have to deliver something to people as governors. And so I think that's something we Democrats need to, like, take to heart.
- [33:31]
B
I know we're just new friends, but I'm going to push back on you a little bit. Okay.
- [33:36]
A
You could push back.
- [33:37]
B
I want the 30 second trailer.
- [33:38]
A
Okay.
- [33:39]
B
I. I know. You know, this, this world of politics, the world of politics we live in is very strange.
- [33:44]
A
Right.
- [33:44]
B
Because on the one hand, and I think this is a lot where Democrats get it wrong. Right. Democrats have always been. Are always about how they're going to fix the problem and the policies that are going to fix the problems. And Donald Trump in particular, I'm not even going to call Republicans, is extraordinary at just like, saying crazy things that he has no way of ever accomplishing and usually lies about completely and doesn't mean anything he says. But it's such as you said. Right. They're just these ideas. It's like, great. I like that idea. Right. And you know, in so many ways, not to compare Mondami. That's what Mondami was great about. Right. It's like we're gonna, we're going to make. We're going to make the halal car cheaper and we're going to make buses free and we're going to increase rent control. It's like, oh, that sounds great.
- [34:28]
A
That sounds.
- [34:30]
B
Why should I be a Democrat? 30 seconds. Why should I be a Democrat?
- [34:33]
A
You're right. I gave you longer sentences than I should have. Are you ready? I'm ready. We should put more money in your pocket, raise the minimum wage. Right. To order. House. Everybody should have a doctor in this country. We Democrats are for that, by the way. The contrast is really important. They're not for that. On the other side of the aisle, we're the ones who want to lower the cost of your pharmaceutical medications. They're raising those things. We're a party that wants comprehensive immigration reform where we've got a secure border and we've got immigration policy that allows us to bring people into this country because it's one of our great advantages. So those are four big issues that I think we Democrats ought to be running on. There are lots of other things creating opportunity for people to start a business. I think that's, that's a fundamentally Democratic idea. You know that. That's like the little guy being able to get ahead. That's who we are.
- [35:28]
B
Yeah, Love that. I'm sold. I was a Democrat, but you got, you got, you got me more Yeah, I mean, I think. I guess that's part of the question. Right. The Republicans have been really good about this recently. They say, well, stay on message. They all say kind of the sum version of the same thing, which is the. Comes down from the. From King Trump. And is it. Is it the message, or is it the. Or is it the messengers? Like, what. What is it in your mind?
- [35:56]
A
Well, you know, it's a combination of those things, because you got to be able to deliver the message. But it matters who the messenger is. I think character matters, and I think more so than ever before, I think people are seeing that when the President of the United States has no character, when the, you know, the person that holds the office has no moral core and really doesn't believe much of what he says himself and is a narcissist, fundamentally, I think people want the opposite of that now. I mean, people really are looking for, like, could you just tell me the truth? Could you just stand up and be the, you know, a role model in some fashion for my kids, for our country? And so I think that's a. I think the messenger matters, but message, and we talked about some of those things. Message matters, too. What are you going to do for me? How are you going to deliver? And I think we're poised to rebuild the Democratic Party around that.
- [36:57]
B
I heard you say a quote, something along the lines of, the Democrats need to stop waging a conventional political fight and become street fighters. What did you mean by that?
- [37:05]
A
What I meant was that. And of course, the Republicans tried to misconstrue all that to make it something like physical violence. That's not at all. My point was that, you know, Republicans have kind of thrown all the rules out the window, and they're just doing whatever it is that they think will make them win, so they don't follow any rules. I'm just saying that we tend to be, on the Democratic side, such institutionalists that we're unwilling to contemplate that things maybe could be different. And we could articulate ways to do that by changing the institutions, you know, the things that Donald Trump's thrown out the window, even the Doge, you know, the cuts and so many things that I think have mattered, you know, in previous years. When we think about what should we do in response to that, it's not rebuild the way it was. Some of it wasn't working. Some of it was. It was what people could figure out to do at the time. We're smarter now. We have more capability as a country. We have better technology, etc. We can do a better job and more efficiently to deliver healthcare, for example. And so I want us to, you know, to be a party that's thinking now about rebuilding, but not what we had before, but along the ideals that we believe.
- [38:22]
B
I know you're a big sports fan. Go Bears.
- [38:25]
A
Yeah, go Bear.
- [38:27]
B
I'm not. I'm not going to sit here talking about if the Bears are moving, which I know is the top of everybody's mind. We don't know the answer. Correct.
- [38:36]
A
That has not been decided yet.
- [38:38]
B
All right, well, I'm hoping for you guys I do not move because that would be very sad. But I want to give you a task. You're the GM of Team Democrats right now, and it's the draft. And I want you to give me, as I'm the owner of the team, I want you to give me a little scouter report on a couple of different people in your party right now, something quick and short.
- [39:03]
A
Okay.
- [39:04]
B
Because I am really excited about the Democratic bench that we have going on right now. I think we have some of the most exciting people that we've had in decades. And, you know, a lot of these people. And I'm curious. So Wesmore, he's terrific.
- [39:20]
A
I mean, just a great person. We're good friends, and I think he's delivering for the people of Maryland. But, you know, he's somebody who represents, I think, you know, service to country. And I think that's my shorthand on him.
- [39:36]
B
Andy Bashir.
- [39:38]
A
Andy is somebody who's overcome all the odds. I mean, in a state that's basically like deep red, here's a guy who won elections twice, you know, against all the odds, and it's because I think, you know, character and. And he's somebody that doesn't. He's not about tooting his own horn all the time. He's about, you know, what do I do to deliver for people, whether they're Republicans or Democrats. Josh Shapiro, he's also a friend. You know, we got elected around the same day, I guess, two years after I did. He was elected
- [40:13]
B
four years.
- [40:14]
A
Sorry, four years after I was. Josh is a. Is a serious. He was attorney general. He's a very serious public servant. You know, I think he's a real player. And he, you know, he represents a swing state that we Democrats need to win. Governor Whitmer, she also is a friend. We got elected exactly the same time. In fact, we were at the White House together as governors elect when Donald Trump invited the governor's electricity. And we've been friends really ever since we went through Covid together and have dealt with so many challenges. She's a unique, I think a unique figure that has brought Michigan around from being a kind of a red leaning, maybe pure red state to being purple and maybe even blue.
- [40:59]
B
I know you're not going to sit here and tell me if you're with president because you're running for governor of Illinois, but one of the things that's interesting with Democratic Party right now is that we don't really have, there isn't really a leader of Democratic Party per se in my opinion. You know, it could be Ken Martin, right? I mean that's, it could be. You could be Gavin Newsom. A, is that fair to say there isn't really sort of a standard bearer on the Democratic Democratic Party right now. And, or, and B, or B, is, is there somebody that I'm not thinking of?
- [41:31]
A
Well, whenever you don't have the presidency, there isn't a single person to focus on. It's not the chair of the party. It's not the majority leader of the Senate or the, you know, speaker of the House or the, or the minority leader of either House. And so yeah, there's not a single person for sure. But you know, you said something earlier that's absolutely true. Which is the bench. And I'll forget about presidential candidates for a second. The bench of leaders in the Democratic Party is really quite impressive and again, people who have delivered. And so I think we're poised again to sort of, and again we have to rebuild in the Democratic Party. So we're poised to get back on track and be better than we were before because we've got this great bench of leaders.
- [42:19]
B
In theory, Donald Trump was going to be out of office in two years. I'm not conspiracy theorist, so I don't believe he's running for a third term. Who do you see as being the sort of next in line Republican Party? I was having a conversation with Jim Vande Hei from Axios. This was two years ago. And he said if Donald Trump stepped away today, it wouldn't be Marco Rubio, it wouldn't be J.D. bannon. He took Carlson. Now that was two years ago. Tucker's roles changed maybe a bit. But in your mind the Republican Party, you know, where do you see it going? Who do you, who do you see potentially being the leader of that party going forward?
- [43:04]
A
Well, Donald Trump doesn't want any of them to be a leader. Let's start with that. So if you assume as is true that he's quite popular among Republicans. He really doesn't want anybody to sort of take his place as the leader because he wants to be the only one. Right. That's his narcissism speaking. So if you assume that, think about the splintering that's happening within the Republican Party. What's happened to, you know, the podcast crew that all was behind alternates, somebody, you know, Megan Kelly and, you know, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson and others. Right. The party is really, you know, quite fractured, and I don't think that they can coalesce around a single person. I really don't. I think that Marco Rubio is somebody who wasn't an original Trumper. He ran against Trump, he said terrible things about Trump, and then he sold out, became a Trumper. You know, you've got J.D. vance, who was like begging to be the vice president of the United States States and doing anything. He still has done anything to please dear leader. And so, you know, these are just like two examples. And lots of people, you know, think that in the Republican Party, you know, they think that J.D. vance is somebody who hasn't stood with Trump, let's say, on the Iran war or something else, although he's been there every time. And, you know, but. So there isn't a leader of the Republican Party. And I don't think there is easily somebody to identify. They're not going back. Let me be clear. I don't think they're going back to someday when, you know, Bob Dole or Jack Kemp or, you know, some, you know, leader of the past or somebody who's more rational is going to now be the standard bearer of the Republican Party. They can't do that anymore. And if they do, they're going to lose a bunch of people that they took out of people who had never voted before for and became Trumpers. They're all going to go away. I think they're in a real world of hurt. Yeah.
- [45:02]
B
Yeah. I mean, it seems like you're seeing a big rift and you have the Trump family, which, who knows what their role is going to be. It's going to be very interesting to see how that plays out. I want to switch to Israel, the Middle East. That's an issue that has divided Democratic Party in ways that I haven't seen in decades, if ever, is there as a Democrat today, you know, how do you. Do you think you can get elected with strong ties to Israel and with this sort of unconditional support from Israel that we've had for decades?
- [45:43]
A
Yeah, I don't think that somebody who's standing up and saying Israel's doing it all right is somebody who should be elected, to be honest, because Israel isn't doing it right. And so, no, I, I also want to point out, you said it's dividing the Democratic Party. It's dividing the Republican Party, too. And so I will say that I, I think that the right position, the one that I think is where our nation should be going on this topic is, look, if you believe, as I do, that Israel was created and was recognized by the United States in 1948, became an independent country because there needed to be sanctuary, a safe, secure place for Jews in the Middle east and subsequently Jews from around the world. You also, if that's what our values are about, protecting people, we should be standing up and helping to create a Palestinian state that is a safe and secure sanctuary for innocent Palestinians. Not for Hamas, not for Hezbollah, those are terrorist organizations. But literally for the millions of innocent Palestinians who have never had their rights given to them or protected, it's time for them to have a state. And Israel should be, you know, we, as the United States, we should be telling Israel we want you and need you to be engaged in the creation of that Palestinian state. You have to be part of the humanitarian aid that gets provided to them and that we will be, you know, a guarantor of the creation of that state. And both of them need to be peaceful. It's the only way you're going to get peace. That Middle East. It's the only way. So I think that's the right position. You know, there are people who disagree with me. That's fine. I mean, that's just, I'm telling you what I think.
- [47:41]
B
Right. You've, I mean, it's interesting, right? As a governor, you're not voting on policy that relates to, you know, sending arms to Israel.
- [47:48]
A
No, I joke about, you know, there's no foreign policy as governor of Illinois other than whether you're going to build a wall to keep the Hoosiers out. Right?
- [47:55]
B
Exactly.
- [47:56]
A
And I've got friends who are Hoosiers. I don't really want to keep them out, but.
- [47:59]
B
Okay, that's nice to you. But obviously, people, and this is what we talked about earlier, sort of. I think you're, you know, you're getting elected, you know, mayor of, you know, whether it's Los Angeles or Chicago or New York. And I want to hear your opinion on Israel. And it's, you know, it's. I don't know how we sort of got to that place, but that's where we are. Your, your Chicago local friend, Rahm Emanuel was over in Israel recently giving a very provocative story speech. You talked about this 23 state solution. You know, do you, do you. Are there practical and tangible things that you think that the government should be doing now to actually sort of actually get towards that in, over in the Middle east and Israel?
- [48:45]
A
Oh, sure. Well, the first thing that we ought to be doing is not sending, you know, Witkoff and Jared Kushner to negotiate peace. You know, that these are the wrong people to do it. They have self interest engaged in this. They're clearly not the, you know, they, they can't bring Israel to the table. They're conflicted. So we've got to start with, we've got to use our influence to make sure that we've got Israel today. By the way, we need peace with Iran. We, we have to end that war. They've been, you know, decimated to a large degree. They're, yes, they've still got some drones and they're still able to do a few things. But the reality is that the purpose of going to war originally was said to be decimating their nuclear capability. I think that everybody understands that has happened. So here we are, though, paying the price for Donald Trump's really not understanding the Middle East. There's a reason why there was not war with Iran for 47 years and why this government in Iran stayed as it was for 47 years. There are reasons for that. You know, the Strait of Hormuz, the challenge of Iran, and the people of Iran, who mostly individually are pro Western, but not the government there. So all I'm saying is that we do need to exercise both soft power and diplomatic mission to bring the parties together in order to make peace, not just about Iran, but also around the Palestinian state that we need to create.
- [50:23]
B
Right. One more question in Israel and more simply, being a Jew in America today, you know, I'm a reformed Jew. Bar mitzvah, it's important to me, but it's not the only, it's not the only thing. But this post October 7th has sort of seen, I've seen a rift like I never knew and could have existed in the Jewish community. And I was a little bit unaware of. And at the same time, the anti Semitism we've seen on the rise since then, just horrific, awful and devastating. As a Jewish man, how do you navigate those conversations that come up when people are talking about Israel within genocide today? And when you're at, if you're at temple or if you're in the streets, like, what. How do you sort of, you have a very measured approach on this and seems very thoughtful, rational, and human rights oriented. How do you have that conversation with two sort of extreme people who are Jewish or not Jewish?
- [51:32]
A
You're talking about between Jews and anti Semites, for example, I mean, or even
- [51:37]
B
specifically Jews and who. We now have Jews in our country who, you know, have extreme different beliefs on, you know, Israel committing genocide or not committing genocide. And it's split or split the Jewish people in many ways.
- [51:49]
A
Well, I told you my views about the Middle east. And also I would just add to that that one of the reasons that we're experiencing so much anti Semitism in the world. Well, first of all, it's been around for thousands of years, so it's there lurking somehow in the shadows for many years. But, but also because Netanyahu has been a disaster as a leader of Israel and as a representative of Jews, to the extent he could claim that being the leader of Israel, he's been a disaster. And, and I think, unfortunately, it's, you know, he, he was elected in Israel, and we value democracy in the world, and he was an elected leader. By the way, we elected Donald Trump. So countries make mistakes. So one of the big challenges is how do we pull, having experienced what Netanyahu has done to cause a rise in anti Semitism across the world, or at least to stoke the flames of it. You know, I think my view is that there's nothing we can do about replacing Netanyahu. That's the people of Israel are going to make that decision. But we do have to react to what he has done. And I think that, again, I remember a time when, you know, for many, many, many years, just being a Jew and having a state of Israel out there, when, you know, you would see on television some disaster would occur in the world, in Asia and Africa someplace, and nations would come together to try to provide, you know, some relief. You know, like the, like the earthquake in Venezuela, for example. Right. Nations would come together to try private. And there would be little Israel, little tiny Israel with like three tents and 28 experts. Right. And they would be there helping. There are no Jews that live in the country that they're helping in. They're just there carrying out what I would say are the values of social justice that I grew up with, being a Jew. And that, it seems to me, is lost right now, that Israel hasn't been doing those things. It's been doing what appear to be the opposite. And that is very Disappointing. It's more than disappointing. I don't feel proud. I used to feel proud. I used to be able to. Even with anti Semite saying whatever they were saying, there they are, right? That streak of belief in social justice is being carried out on an international scale by a little tiny country. And we're a little tiny demographic, by the way, Jews in the world. But there they were. And so I think that's, in many ways, I think that's how we recover is, you know, carrying out those beliefs about social justice on an international scale. And I think it's going to take a change in the, you know, in the government of Israel. But also it means that Jews around the world need to step up and, you know, and try to express those values in a louder way.
- [55:03]
B
Right. We've talked a handful about all of the awful things that Donald Trump has done. We need hours to go through the whole list. You just mentioned Iran. We have, we talked a little about immigration, Doge and cutting usaid. Is there one thing at this moment that you think you could point to that is the, it's sort of the thing you feel like may leave the, the mark that's sort of the most challenging to kind of come back from when it comes to Donald Trump.
- [55:35]
A
I mean, there are a lot of things. So we've got, we don't have enough time. But I'll tell you one that I really think about a lot, which is our relationships out in the world with our allies and also with countries that are not our allies, but not necessarily our enemies, have changed radically just in the years that Donald Trump has been president. And when I have asked people in Europe and in Asia, some of them American expats, but others, how long do you think it will take for us to regain the trust of what used to be our most trusted allies? Right. Of England, of Germany, of France and Japan and so on, just to regain their trust and restore the United States leadership role in the world. How long do you think, and I mean, the answers that I get, and these are not from, you know, left wing, whatever, haters or anything, but they say, you know, the answers are somewhere between 20 years and never. That to me is enormously damaging and the future of this country, of our economy, as well as our leadership in the world, you know, we're a superpower. You can't be a superpower. And all you do in the world is express yourself with your military. And getting rid of USAID is getting rid of a whole bunch of tools that are good for the world. They're also soft power in a way because we're bringing cures to diseases. We're helping people develop crops that they never could have grown on their own with a usaid. And that's all gone. And so that's, you know, the damage to our reputation now what happens is people, you know, when they need help in the world or when they're looking for an ally, they're going to some of our enemies, or at least our competitors, China. And so that's, I mean, that damage is going to take a long time to repair. And that is all Donald Trump.
- [57:43]
B
Yeah. And it's someone from coming from Hollywood. You know, soft power is, you know, why America's been number one around the world for so many years, you know, and, you know, our business and decimated, you know, the federal government has not been supportive. State governments have tried but are having a tough time and we need to invest back in that business. But, you know, I think it's interesting you, you get to usaid. I mean, that's the easy one, right? Because it's, I think there was a 25, $30 billion budget for USAID when it was cut. I mean, to think that they, they focused on that, something that would just ultimately all around the world, help with saving lives.
- [58:18]
A
And what did they do with the money? They gave it to people who don't need it.
- [58:21]
B
Right? Yeah.
- [58:22]
A
You know, I mean, literally, the, the tech bros, you know, sitting behind him at his inauguration and you know, people who are, you know, the wealthiest people in the world in the country, they're the ones who got the money that went to usaid, which was kind of,
- [58:37]
B
you know, I worry Iran winds up being the thing that is the worst of the worst because right now that they can control the Strait of Hormuz there, ultimately Iran's economy is going to be increased. You know, you built up to a place where it was irrelevant. Now it's going to have a stranglehold. That is, that is very scary. And I don't know how he gets out of this. The methods created. You said to Trump time and time again, immigration is one area that we talk a little bit about. Listen, the illegal immigration has been slowed by Donald Trump. It's very clear he went about it in a completely inhumane way that led to the loss of life of innocent people. What do you think? Just as one thing, what is the right immigration policy in America?
- [59:30]
A
Secure borders and an immigration policy that allows us to, to bring people into this country vetted, you know, but people of all types with a Variety of focus areas. Right. We need farm workers, for example, but we also need scientists. And we want people to come to our schools in the United States and learn our ways and stay. And these are all things that over the years, you know, we've been very good at, and now it's all decimated. But we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform. I'll give you an example of, I think, at least one way to do that, and that's. There was a bill that passed in 2013 in the Senate, you may remember, the Gang of Eight, you know, was what the senators were called for. Democrats, four Republicans who got together, you know, Lindsey Graham was one of them, Dick Durbin was one of them, you know, and so on. And they got together and put together a policy that passed the Senate with 68 votes. I mean, nothing passes. The Senate was very little. 68 votes, and then the House wouldn't vote on it. And it never went anywhere. We have a blueprint. Does it need to have the dials turned a little bit here or there on that? Yes, we need to make some edits to it in amendments. But, but, but fundamentally, we have it right there. We need to be the party that's saying we need secure borders. I, I think that part of what, what Joe Biden did was just wrong. He took away a lot of the things that already existed. They existed under Obama, they existed under George W. Bush, they existed under Bill Clinton and so on. And, and that was just a mistake, in my view. And by the way, Donald Trump made very. He made no changes to any of those policies, really, when he was in his first term.
- [61:16]
B
Right.
- [61:17]
A
So it's not like Donald Trump's some, you know, hero of ending, you know, the, you know, people illegally crossing the border. That is, it's a, you know, I look back and I think there were a lot of mistakes that got made. And by the way, I was very public in my criticism of some of the things that Joe Biden was doing about immigration because you remember the migrants who were being sent to Chicago on buses by Greg Abbott, and these folks, I mean, these are folks who had, they had no jacket, they had no shoes or they had sandals, and, you know, they're unprepared for Chicago winter, and they were being, you know, put onto buses and sent here. And we had to react. No help from the federal government, really, almost no. And, and I, you know, said very publicly, here are some ways that, you know, we could change things to, to fix this problem. And unfortunately, it didn't happen. And I have a Lot of respect for Joe Biden just as a, as a, you know, person who serve this country honorably. But I think some mistakes were made.
- [62:20]
B
You've done a lot of great things in the state of Illinois. We unfortunately don't have time to go over all of them, but I would love if you could sort of as concisely as possible, talk about a couple of really interesting things that you've done. One thing in particular in relation to social media, you just recently, after the tax. Could you tell me a little bit about that?
- [62:39]
A
Yeah. It's a fee on the social media companies. Remember, they're coming to, you know, they're everywhere in the United States and around the world. But they, they had, they take millions of people in the United States and their interactions on social media and they monetize it for their benefit. But in the meantime, people's mental health is suffering as a result. Teenagers often, but lots of other people, and they've divided the country in many ways and, and, and had a deleterious effect on education too, as a result of what they're doing. So what I did was say, look, we don't get any benefit from these social media companies. They get all the benefit from the people of Illinois. Why can't they help pay for some of the damage that they're doing if we can't stop them from damaging us? What if we could help have them pay for, you know, for example, education, mental health care. And so I just asked them to pay a fee based on the number of users that they have, the different platforms. Right. Whether it's Facebook or X or Instagram and so on. So that's been an important thing. I think. We also just passed the most secure AI bill, one that really focuses on protecting people from the most damaging things about AI and the algorithms that AI is built on and with, for example, third party audit of the algorithm and also forcing the companies to have a plan for what happens if it all goes wrong. So it's not like they can't turn it off or deal with it. There's a real plan to do that. So there's a lot, those are just examples in the digital space, but there's a whole lot of things like, you know, eliminating the grocery tax, like putting in place a child tax credit that puts as much as $600 back in people's pockets and the earned income tax credit for the poorest of people who live in Illinois and putting some money in their pockets. I mean, those are all things that, you know, I believe in and, and Raising the minimum wage from $7 from $8.25 in Illinois to $15 an hour, which still isn't enough for people to live on, but it's a whole lot better than it used to be. So those are just examples. And again, my focus has been really centered around working families. What do they need? What are they suffering from? How do we alleviate their pain?
- [65:05]
B
That was the handful of things you've gotten in there, which is great. And I think the people of Illinois are very lucky to have you. So I appreciate that. Before we finish up, I'd like to just do some fun stuff with you, go through a few questions. But more personal, did you play any high school sports?
- [65:22]
A
I did. I wasn't a particularly great athlete, but I was mostly playing intramural sports. So I played soccer. I'm a tennis player. So those are a couple.
- [65:30]
B
What was your thing in high school?
- [65:32]
A
Well, I, I would say I, I, you know, I was a football player before I went to high school and wasn't good enough to be on any of the varsity or junior varsity for sure. But I do love football. I love watching it and I love playing it.
- [65:45]
B
Got it.
- [65:46]
A
Okay.
- [65:47]
B
What was the first paying job you ever had?
- [65:49]
A
It's a good question. Aside from, like my parents giving me a couple of bucks for doing something, you know, when I was legal to work, right, which was about 14, I went to my first job. My first job was working at a motel. It was our, our family's motel. And I remember vividly this job. First of all, it was my job was, it was a motel, one story motel. So my job was to go pick up the dirty sheets in each of the buildings and then pile them up into a golf cart, take them to the laundry, and then load them into a big and enormous industrial laundry machine and then move them to the dryer. That job, which was dirty and hard and everything, I remember the very first day when I was heading out the door. Never, never done anything like that. I was going to get on the bus, go, go to my job. My mother said to me, now remember, you have to work twice as hard as the guy next to you because you didn't earn this job. And he did. And I will not forget that. And it's something, you know, talked about my mother and her character and what she believed in. But I will never forget that. I work really hard at the jobs that I have and I recognize how privileged I am. And so that, that was my first job. And I did a couple other jobs at motels and I Also, so worked at a hospital for a little bit and so, yeah.
- [67:12]
B
What'd you want to be when you grew up at that time?
- [67:14]
A
Gosh, I, you know, I, I really. My father had passed away, so. So I kind of, at the time I thought, gosh, I want to, you know, be my father. I want to do what my father did. You know, it's like, I want to go be an entrepreneur. I also, you know, really love public service and the idea of it and had met a bunch of elected officials because of my parents. So I think those things were. And by the way, I end up doing both those things.
- [67:37]
B
What's one skill we might be most surprised that you have?
- [67:41]
A
Oh, boy, that's. I guess I can sing.
- [67:45]
B
Oh, wow.
- [67:45]
A
I mean, you know, I'm not, not. I'm, you know, I'm no Bruce Springsteen or anything, but. But yeah, I can sing.
- [67:52]
B
Do you have a favorite musician or band?
- [67:54]
A
Well, Bruce Springs is one of them. My very, very favorite in the whole world is, is James Taylor. I grew up listening to James Taylor. My mother played it all the time and then I just, you know, fell in love with it. I, I'm, I, I'll go to James Taylor concert at A Drop of a Hat finals.
- [68:10]
B
Just one word answer. Do you like to text or call?
- [68:14]
A
Text. I prefer text.
- [68:16]
B
Okay.
- [68:17]
A
Yeah, it's. I don't have time for. God golly.
- [68:20]
B
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
- [68:22]
A
Very early, yeah. In fact, my, my staff hates it because I start texting them at 4:30 in the morning.
- [68:27]
B
Yeah. Do sweet or savory sweet podcasts or music?
- [68:32]
A
Music, Yeah, I do both, but, but music. Yeah. Every morning I walk on the lakefront or somewhere else in, in Chicago and I, you know, I've got my AirPods in and, and, and I've got music on. But then I'll throw a podcast, usually a news podcast, on in the middle.
- [68:49]
B
I love it. Last thing, when this marathon is over for you, after your governor or your next chapter, whatever chapter that is, and you decide to step away from public life, what's the one thing you want to look back on and know that you fixed?
- [69:04]
A
That's a great question. I'll try to give you a brief answer. But Illinois was in a world of hurt when I took over. We had had 21 credit downgrades in a row in this state for 25 years before we hadn't balanced the budget. We had $17 billion run paid bills when I took over. We've repaired a lot of that. 10 credit upgrades paid off all that debt and balanced the budget and so on. I think the fiscal health of the state, you know, fixing the pension system, which used to be 39% funded, now it's 50% funded and headed in the right direction. That's a big deal. And I know that sounds really boring, but if you live in Illinois, you really saw things heading off a cliff. And so I feel very proud of having kind of pulled us back and turned us in the right direction. It's a big battleship that needed to be turned in the right direction. So. So that's one thing, and then I think the other is, you know, I've tried to make sure that we're building an economy that is. Will grow at a much higher rate than has been. So an example of that is that, you know, we've really become the quantum capital of the country. Here in Chicago, we built a quantum campus. University of Chicago, University of Illinois, our great institutions, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab and so on. But this allows us the opportunity to maybe be the Silicon Valley of quantum. And I think it would be great, you know, if 20 years from now we could look at it and say it really has transformed our economy.
- [70:37]
B
Great. Governor, thank you so much for your time. I can't wait to come back and get a food tour.
- [70:43]
A
I'm pretty good at the food tours, so looking forward to helping you.
- [70:47]
B
I'll give you a food tour when you come to la. I love it. So good luck with everything. Got a lot on your plate. Look forward to seeing you again in person.
- [70:55]
A
Thanks, Jamie.
- [70:56]
B
Me too.
- [70:56]
A
Appreciate it.
- [70:59]
B
Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of Lunch with Jamie. As always, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter@jamieslist.com for my thoughts on all things food, pop culture, politics and more. And remember to join these online conversations and ask my guests questions in real time. Sign ups become a paid subscriber. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Audible and be sure to leave a review. Thanks and see you next time.