Wanted: Democratic Leadership with DNC Chair Ken Martin

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

Episode Title: Wanted: Democratic Leadership with DNC Chair Ken Martin
Date: September 25, 2025
Host: Jon Stewart
Guest: Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jon Stewart sits down with Ken Martin, recently appointed Chair of the DNC, to dissect the current state of the Democratic Party. The conversation is wide-ranging and candid, focusing on the party’s leadership vacuum, fractured messaging, the lack of inspirational vision, and the immense challenges of reconnecting with a disenchanted working class. Stewart plays the role of skeptic, pressing Martin on principles vs. platitudes, authenticity vs. strategy, and the party’s ability to drive meaningful change in an era of deep public mistrust and political volatility.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Does the DNC Chair Actually Do?

[06:30 – 08:02]

• Ken Martin clarifies his job: “At the core, the job of any political party chair...is to build infrastructure to actually help us win elections up and down the ballot. Right. And that is very encompassing.”
• He explains that “the party’s role is really simply what are we doing to actually help us win,” pushing back on perceptions that the DNC controls politicians or policy.

2. Leadership Void & Messaging Crisis

[08:08 – 13:58]

• Jon Stewart asks pointedly about the lack of a strong leader and the absence of coherent party messaging:
  • “You sort of have this...Bernie wing...new, maybe Slotkin...the competent governor archetype...How does that come together logistically?”
• Ken Martin responds that the Democratic Party is a big tent:
  • “We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have progressives like me, and then we have leftists. I’ve always believed that you win elections through addition, not subtraction.”
• Stewart critiques this as too consultant-driven and lacking genuine shared purpose, pressing, “What do you...everybody believe in? What’s the principle?”

Notable Quote:

“If you got 100 people in the room right now, 100 Democrats, and ask them what the Democratic Party stood for, you’d get 150 different answers.” — Ken Martin, [13:00]

3. The Failure of Economic Messaging & Status Quo Defense

[13:58 – 23:23]

• Martin admits messaging has splintered, “We tend to message to smaller and smaller parts of our coalition...We say one thing to a rural community, we come into a suburban community and say something different.”
• He insists the party’s common thread must be “an economic message that gives them a sense that we’re fighting for them and their families.”
• Stewart charges the party with defending a broken system:
  • “Democrats are...defending a status quo in terms of everything the government does that the people have decided is utterly broken and corrupt.”

Notable Quote:

“Most working people I know...don’t believe that government’s working for them. Hasn’t worked for them for years. So suddenly the Democratic Party becomes the defender of the status quo. Well, guess what? The status quo is not working for working people.” — Ken Martin, [22:32]

4. Trust Issues, Candidate Recruitment, and the DNC Neutrality Pledge

[23:47 – 36:00]

• Stewart probes the reality of “neutrality” in primaries, referencing controversies involving young progressive leaders like David Hogg and party gatekeeping.
• Martin stresses the DNC’s neutrality pledge:
  • “If you are on the DNC, you have to abide by a neutrality pledge. So if [David Hogg] is in an organization that is promoting primaries for people that already have office, that violates the neutrality pledge.”
• He ties the neutrality rule to lessons from 2016, “In 2016...party leadership putting their thumb on the scale and basically telling all those young supporters of Bernie Sanders to go fuck themselves.”

5. Party Growth, Vision, and the Pitfalls of ‘Big Tent’ Thinking

[36:03 – 44:52]

• Stewart: “You grow your party by inspiring people with a message that resonates with the reality of their lives...and how far away it is from the reality of those that would follow it. That’s the piece that’s missing.”
• Martin retorts, “Primaries are meant to actually make sure that those candidates represent exactly what you’re talking about.”
• They discuss the Republican Party’s ideological discipline vs. Democratic messiness, with Martin championing dissent and coalition-building but Stewart warning about lack of clear vision.

Notable Quote:

“Nothing good in our party happens without new voices pushing our party to evolve on issues.” — Ken Martin, [43:34]

6. Platitudes, Policy, and the Brand Problem

[44:52 – 53:11]

• Stewart: “To say that the Biden administration thought their economy was great...and when we went out to talk to people, it turned out it sucked, is malpractice for the political class of the Democratic Party.”
• Martin: “Brand, message, messenger problem. And we also have a tactics problem...If people don’t know what the hell we’re fighting for...it doesn’t matter.”

7. Authenticity, Mamdani, and Diagnosing Voters’ Real Problems

[53:11 – 58:19]

• Stewart points to Zohran Mamdani’s grassroots NYC win:
  • “He diagnosed a frustration...affordability...He deconstructed that...He was able to identify the crux of the issue...and simply present ideas.”
• Martin echoes, “Authenticity matters. People have a bullshit meter. People can tell...Never separate the life you lead from the words you speak.”
• Both agree diagnosis and actionable solutions matter more than buzzwords or branding.

Notable Quote:

“If you’re not willing to fight like hell in this moment for the things you believe in, do you really believe in them at all?” — Ken Martin, [55:46]

8. Potential Energy vs. Kinetic Energy: The Missed Opportunity

[58:19 – 67:13]

• Stewart laments the party’s inability to channel public energy into action:
  • “To convert that potential energy into kinetic energy is going to dissipate out into the atmosphere if it doesn’t have focus...That’s not where people’s thirst is.”
• Martin agrees there’s been “20 some odd years’ negligence,” with the party only building relationships with voters as elections near.
• He tells a personal story about his Trump-voting, lifelong Democrat father-in-law to illustrate voters’ sense of loss and invisibility.

9. Hope, Nostalgia, and Existential Fears about Democracy

[67:13 – End]

• Stewart and Martin debate whether values like due process and respect for the separation of powers ever truly united America, or if that’s nostalgia.
• Martin warns that the threat to democracy feels real, “So many of those core values...seem to be fundamental to who we are...You have a party who basically could give a shit about due process.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you got 100 people in the room right now, 100 Democrats, and ask them what the Democratic Party stood for, you’d get 150 different answers.” — Ken Martin, [13:00]

• “Democrats are in the position of defending a status quo in terms of everything that the government does that the people have decided is utterly broken and corrupt.” — Jon Stewart, [22:02]

• “At the end of the day, we have to give people something to vote for.” — Ken Martin, [52:08]

• “Authenticity matters. People have a bullshit meter.” — Ken Martin, [53:57]

• “If you’re not willing to fight like hell in this moment for the things you believe in, do you really believe in them at all?” — Ken Martin, [55:46]

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Important Timestamps

• 06:30 – Ken Martin explains DNC Chair’s job
• 13:00 – The problem with Democratic Party identity
• 22:32 – The Party as defender of the status quo
• 30:01 – David Hogg, progressives, and the neutrality pledge
• 36:41 – Stewart on growing the party with inspirational vision
• 52:08 – Giving voters something to vote for (& the “brand” problem)
• 53:56 – The Mamdani example and authentic leadership
• 67:16 – Ken’s father-in-law and the rural-urban divide
• 73:08 – Discussion on the erosion of core democratic values

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Final Analysis & Tone

The episode is both critical and introspective, laced with Stewart’s characteristic mix of skepticism and dark humor. He repeatedly challenges Martin’s institutional answers, seeking assurance that the Democratic Party is not just rearranging tactical furniture but ready to rethink itself from the ground up. Martin is earnest—owning failures, advocating for neutrality, and lifting up grassroots voices—but occasionally slips into “consultant speak,” which Stewart calls out.

The two agree that genuine connection, diagnosis of voters’ problems, and a willingness to fight for meaningful change—rather than just “branding”—are the only ways forward for the Democratic Party in a perilous political era.

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Panel Debrief

[75:03 – 79:44]

• The panel echoes Stewart’s frustrations: “Not only can I see why there’s no message, I can see why there’s no method.”
• They note contradictions in Martin’s answers between rhetoric and reality, especially around neutrality and actual DNC influence.
• There is weariness with the idea that strategy alone (“messaging”) will save the party, instead of offering an affirmative, inspirational cause.

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Conclusion

This episode is essential listening for understanding the self-examination—and self-doubt—at the heart of the Democratic Party in 2025. Stewart and Martin surface hard truths about leaderlessness, the dangers of hollow messaging, and the urgent need to rebuild both brand and substance. The take-home: Without a bold, honest, and actionable vision, the party risks being outflanked by both its own disaffected voters and opponents willing to fill the leadership void.

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Transcript

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[Jon Stewart]

Foreign hey everybody. It is Wednesday, September 24th. We're taping the weekly show podcast My name is Jon Stewart. We're doing this in the morning and I have to say that now because the the cadence, the speed, the circadian rhythm by which news occurs. I Jimmy Kimmel came back on television last night, delivered I thought just a, a fantastic, heartfelt, but still funny and interesting and just met the moment that he was given in such a beautiful way. And I was so proud to be a practitioner in that same business. And who knows, by today he could have been taken off the air again. We don't really know where this goes. And I think ultimately his point about this isn't about the dopey shows that we do and the things like that. It's about a principle of a government that has basically operated like a monarchy. And Trump has said it even explicitly, which is I don't do business with people I don't like, as though government is purely a business. We are not his business partners. We are not his associates. We are the citizens of a sovereign nation and a constitutional republic that should have representation, whether he likey or no likey. So it's just been, and I don't even feel bad about it because as shitty as he is to all of us, he just walks into the UN and goes, I'm right about everything. And you live in hell holes. And the favorite part is the escalator, which has been so pivotal in the rise. The escalator is his vehicle. It is his triumphant chariot as he comes down from what appeared to be a Barnes and Noble down towards what was the food court where he delivered his first message in 2016. But to have that chariot fail him at the UN and to have to go back to use it at its most primitive form, which is of course, the stair. The stair is the way that it had to go and to blame the UN for subterfuge. And meanwhile they're like, actually, I think you had like a camera dude who tripped up one of the things and that it was a safety alarm and it tripped it up and that, and that's why it stopped. But either way, why get in the way of a, a perfectly good conspiracy about the United nations wanting to force a cankled man to scale the heights of Mount Escalator, find his way into the, the General Assembly. But we're not talking about today. Today is a whole different animal. Today we're going to be discussing things about the Democratic Party which you may or may not know still exists, I believe, on paper. I don't know if it exists in the larger cultural sense, relevance wise, but it is on paper, I believe, still there. And we are going to bring on our guest. He is the chairman of said Democratic Party National Committee, et cetera. So let's get to our guest now and we'll move this thing forward all Right. So we are joined right now by our guest, the. The head. The chairman. Is it Chairman, Ken? Do they call it the chair?

[Ken Martin]

I like to call it chair, but whatever the hell you want to call.

[Jon Stewart]

Me, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Ken Martin. Thank you. Thank you for joining us.

[Ken Martin]

Oh, thanks for having me, John. It's crazy time.

[Jon Stewart]

It's a crazy time. The first thing I want to do again, and this may seem a bit remedial, is just to get a sense of what is your job, what is under the purview of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

[Ken Martin]

Well, I appreciate you asking that because there's a lot of ideas what my job should be, but let me tell you what it really is. At the core, the job of any political party chair of either party, at any level, whether it's the national party, state party, local party, is to build infrastructure to actually help us win elections up and down the ballot. Right. And that is very encompassing, of course. What does infrastructure mean? It means that we are, of course, making sure that we're engaging volunteers in the work of talking to voters, to developing our platform and our message to make sure that we're out there recruiting candidates, we're raising the resources to put organization in place, to actually help id, persuade, mobilize voters, to actually show up on election day and win elections. It's as simple as that. Right. It's much more complicated in terms of the actual pieces of it. But at the core, I think there's a lot of things people think the Democratic Party is, I. E. You know, that we control our elected officials, our candidates, that we control what happens in the US Congress or in state legislatures. No, the party's role is really simply what are we doing to actually help us win.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. But certainly you're not, I mean, I wouldn't think, agnostic on policy. I think they're probably determining, you know, it's. You are the architects and builders to some extent, and I would imagine right now, maybe even with an elevated role because of the lack of an apparent leader of the party.

[Ken Martin]

Well, look, I mean, I would say this. You know, obviously we're out of power and we have.

[Jon Stewart]

That might be the nicest way I think, I've ever heard that put.

[Ken Martin]

Well, yeah, and, you know, the Republicans are sort of at an apex of their political power. But I will say this, that the role right now for me, and then frankly, our leaders throughout the country, and we have many different leaders, is to make sure that we're presenting a coherent and concise message that connects with voters again. And we have a role to play in that, for sure. But it's not our role alone. We're not the sole deciders on what our message is, what our platform is and what we're going to be talking about. But we do work with all of our partners in that conversation, you know, from our governors, mayors.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, I was going to say. So, you know, as you're putting that together, because, you know, one of the things I think you find right now is, you know, you talk about a coherent message, and that's a great phrase that I have not heard Democrats utter in, in quite some time. You sort of have this, you know, there's the Bernie wing, that's got a more populist drive and that's been very active for. For a couple of decades. You've got kind of this new, maybe Slotkin, let's just talk normal, you know, let's say Michigander as much as we possibly can. So that people go, is that really what they call themselves?

[Ken Martin]

Right.

[Jon Stewart]

You know, you've got sort of the competent governor archetype where they roll up the sleeves and. And they curse more and say, we're going to get shit done.

[Ken Martin]

Right.

[Jon Stewart]

How does that come together logistically? You know, and then you've also got maybe on the other side, you've got kind of the Ezra Klein abundance messaging. But if you think about it, in Congress, Chuck Schumer is the leader, Hakeem Jeffries is the leader in the House of Representatives. I don't know, any role that they have in the messaging, they seem almost vestigial.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. At this point, let me just say that I think what you point to is one of the challenges in the Democratic Party for sure is we're a big tent. Right. You know, we're.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, not that big. If you were a big tent, we wouldn't be in this position, would we now?

[Ken Martin]

Well, let me say this in terms of our representation in this party, in terms of elected officials. We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have progressives like me. And then we have the leftists. Right. This sort of new emerging wing of our party. And I've always believed that you win elections through addition, not subtraction. You win by growing your coalition and bringing new voices into the party. What that means, of course, is sometimes that means it's messy. There's debate, there's dissent, there's difference of opinion. That's a good thing for our party. Right. But what it also sometimes means is you have some inconsistency in the message itself, in terms of breaking through. And I will say part of the challenge for a Democratic Party chair, again, is how do we get all of the various wings of our party and all of these various ideas into the same boat, rowing in the same direction, towards the same goal? And part of that is by creating a frame, a message frame that whether you're a leftist Democrat or a conservative Democrat, you can use. Right. And so that when we talk about messaging, we have to also recognize. I'll use Minnesota as an example.

[Jon Stewart]

I'm going to stop you for a second.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, please.

[Jon Stewart]

Because you're. You're. You will take the role of instructor, laying out the steps by which to create a functioning party, and I believe will take the role of doubting Thomas.

[Ken Martin]

Please.

[Jon Stewart]

Perhaps a skeptic.

[Ken Martin]

There's plenty of those out there these days.

[Jon Stewart]

So understood what you are talking about and the way that you are talking about it strikes my ear as a kind of consultant driven, as opposed to. What I'm hearing from you is we have to have a big tent and draw different ideas and create a unified. And what it says to me is, I didn't hear once, like, what do you. What do you everybody believe in? What's the principle? What's the.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah.

[Jon Stewart]

What's the drive?

[Ken Martin]

I'm happy to get into what I think the message should be. And let me say what I think it should be. It's very clear.

[Jon Stewart]

No more about boats, no more about rowing.

[Ken Martin]

No, no. Because I do think it's important to talk about the tactical challenges for the Democratic Party, which is what you were saying. Right. We have all of these different ideas. How do you actually come up with a message? I think the message is very clear. Right. John, we got away in 92. James Carville said this, that it's the economy, stupid. Right. And the reality is, if you got 100 people in the room right now, 100 Democrats, and ask them what the Democratic Party stood for, you'd get 150 different answers. And so I think it's very simple. It's no matter where you're from, no matter where you live, no matter who you love or who you are, you should have an opportunity in this country to get ahead, not just get by. You should have an opportunity to achieve the American dream, to climb the economic ladder and achieve success for your family. Right. That at the core of it is fairly simple. Right. That is who the Democratic Party has been for years, in my opinion. But we've gotten away from that. Right. And I would say we.

[Jon Stewart]

How have you Gotten away from it. What's the problem?

[Ken Martin]

Because one of the things, John, I think what we do is we tend to message to smaller and smaller parts of our coalition. Some people call it identity politics. I actually think it's broader than that. It's also geographic. We say one thing to a rural community. We come into a suburban community and say something different. We come into an urban corn saying something.

[Jon Stewart]

The needs of a rural community are different from an urban community.

[Ken Martin]

Sure, but there should be some, some core sort of thread that connects all of them. Right. And I'll use Minnesota as an example, John.

[Jon Stewart]

Okay.

[Ken Martin]

What connects a corn farmer like my father in law, right, in southern Minnesota with an Iron Ranger up on the Iron Range with Ken?

[Jon Stewart]

I'm not going to know the answer to this.

[Ken Martin]

Well, of course you are, because I.

[Jon Stewart]

Don'T know what connects a corn farmer to an iron. I don't even know what an Iron Ranger is.

[Ken Martin]

Well, let me tell you what it is. It's. It's someone who's mining up on the Iron Range in Minnesota. The large deposit of iron ore in the country is in northern Minnesota. Oh, my God. By the way, with a refugee, a new refugee in the Twin Cities. What is the thing that connects all of them? Well, it's pretty simple. They are very disparate groups for sure, but what connects them is economics. Every one of them has a job. Everyone's working their asses off. All three of those groups are falling behind, feeling left behind, forgotten, dispossessed. And they feel like the Democratic Party and the Republican Party could give a shit about their lives. These are folks that are hard working. Most people, by the way, when we talk about the working class. Yeah, but when we talk about the working class in this country, which is about 70% of Americans that do not have a college degree. These are black, brown and white people who are busting their ass, who are working harder than they ever have before. And they feel like no one cares, that they're unseen and they're forgotten. So I say this because that has to be the core message, an economic message that gives them a sense that we're fighting for them and their families.

[Jon Stewart]

But that's, I mean, isn't that Bernie Sanders? Isn't that what he's been saying for.

[Ken Martin]

I think it's Bernie Sanders. I think it's. I think it's Bernie Sanders. I think it's, you know, a whole host of folks from Tim Walls to Josh Shapiro to Wes Moore to, you know, Joe Biden.

[Jon Stewart]

That's what I mean. When, when we, when we say. I guess my point is when you say something that broadly true, it almost becomes meaningless. It becomes this idea of the difficulty I have connecting to that is just the very basicness of it, which is we've got to get back to those kitchen table issues. And again, it's a way of political speak that almost renders it devoid of any connection and meaning because it feels so platitudinous.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, I don't disagree with you. And I just said this last night, John, which is to some folks I was visiting with, that's the frame for our message. And then underneath of that, what we have to do is actually start presenting the specific policy agenda. And one of the things that I think about a lot in 94, I worked on a congressional race. And as you remember, John, what was remarkable about 94 Contract with America, right, Gingrich. That's right. And what was also remarkable in that year is they flipped a 40 year House majority. Neither party, Republicans or Democrats have had long term majorities since then. But the important piece is what you just reflected on.

[Jon Stewart]

All right, guys. These days every headline feels like it's been engineered to make you either furious, terrified, or both. It is. It's honestly maddening. Like you can't even, you can't watch it, you can't read it, you can't deal with it. Well, Ground News is here to help you fight back against the tyranny of reptilian emotion that these other news organizations are trying to hit you with. It's a response to this fear and anger based media. They don't tell you how to think or feel. They aggregate and organize information just to help readers make their own decisions. Ground News provides users reports that easily compare headlines or reports that give a summarized breakdown of the specific differences in reporting across all the spectrum. Spectrums. It's a great resource. Go to groundnews.com stewart and subscribe for 40% off the unlimited access. Vantage subscription brings the price down to about $5 a month. It's ground news.com stewart or scan the QR code on the screen. Well, so, so, so let's go back. One of the reasons that people think the Democratic Party abandoned the working class was the kind of, I guess what they would call, and I hate to use these terminologies, but neoliberalism or the idea of globalization and NAFTA and sending jobs overseas and inviting China into the wto, all these things that were kind of part of, you would think the Clinton era movement of neoliberal economics, a kind of Buying into maybe not explicitly, but supply side economics. Right. Yeah, I, I think you're right and all that. From what I've seen, the people that are building this new Democratic Party, and for those of you, this is a podcast I'm making, the air quote thing I'm doing the new Democratic Party, they seem to be of a piece of that same cadre of, in other words, the leadership that has been tasked with creating this new Democratic Party which understands the pain of. It's the economy, stupid, and feels your pain is made up of the same DNA and atomic structure.

[Ken Martin]

I think that's unfair. I mean, look, sure, that's what I'm here for. There are some John for sure that represent that sort of old way of thinking. I'm the first card carrying union member to be elected DNC chair. I come out of the building trades. My mom was 15 years old when she had me. She raised four kids by herself. And I say that to tell you that I am the working class at the end of the day, you know, when I look at, and I agree with your assessment of where our party started to go wrong in the 90s with these trade deals. Right. You know, as a union member, I will tell you that at the core we've seen union membership and union households declining. And of course as a result, we've seen the middle class shrinking and declining. Right. The wealth inequality in this country is greater than it's ever been. And so we have to get back to those roots. And by that I do not mean through a neoliberal lens, as some in our party approach these policy conversations. But let me say this. We need back to this idea of a frame. We need a frame that's large enough to bring in the leftist Democrats, the progressive Democrats, the centrist and the conservative Democrats. Because I think this is important. I don't subscribe to the idea that there's just one way to be a Democrat. It belies the point, which is for us to win. You can't run the same type of candidate everywhere. You just can't. I'll use Minnesota as an example. The 5th congressional district, which is Minneapolis. Ilhan Omar represents that district. She's a leftist. Right. Right next to her, literally. The next district over is the third district, which was represented by Dean Phillips, who's a business centrist. And then right next to him for years was a guy named Colin Peterson, who is a House Aid Committee chair, a very conservative Blue Dog Democrat. All three of them Democrats. All three of them important for us for the reasons that we're trying to get into power, you can't get shit done.

[Jon Stewart]

Wait, you're not supposed to say you.

[Ken Martin]

Can'T get shit done for people, John, if you actually are in second place, you don't get brownie points for being in the minority.

[Jon Stewart]

I understand that very, very clearly.

[Ken Martin]

Right.

[Jon Stewart]

But again, this all seems to be talking around the reality. So it's. We've got to find a way to appeal to Democrats of all different stripes so that we can get back into power and get done for people. But at the end of the day, what it feels like to me is that the Democrats are in the position of defending a status quo in terms of everything that the government does that the people have decided is utterly broken and corrupt.

[Ken Martin]

I agree with you on that. I'm not doing that. And I'll tell you what I think earlier this year as an example, John, we took the bait on this, right? So Doge comes along and they start making cuts in government. Right. And their argument is very simple. Government sucks. It's not working for you. We're going to blow it up and we're going to make it more efficient. There's massive fraud and abuse. And what is our response? Don't cut government. Government's good. It's working for you. Well, guess what? Most working people I know, most families, like my family, they don't believe that government's working for them. Hasn't worked for them for years. So suddenly the Democratic Party becomes the defender of the status quo. Well, guess what? The status quo is not working for working people. So I think we made. We, the collective. We, as a Democratic Party, made a mistake. Yeah, we believe in government, right. But we gotta fix it. We gotta reform it. We gotta make it work for people.

[Jon Stewart]

So tell me about that. So. So Doge comes out and that's happening. You've just jumped in at DNC at that point. So what is the discussion? Is the problem here that the Democrats only have a way to steer away from the crash, but they don't know what they're driving towards in this moment?

[Ken Martin]

Yes, yes, I agree.

[Jon Stewart]

And I'll give you the example of. Because there is a thirst out there in the country. Like I've never seen it. And you see the energy with a guy like Mamdani in New York City, and you may not like everything that he's doing, but there's a guy who finally harnesses the type of energy and drive.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

That Democrats have been talking about wanting to harness. And the first thing that happens is everybody runs in the other Direction.

[Ken Martin]

Well, that's not true. But some people, a lot of people in the Democrats. I was the first. I was the first person out of the gate to endorse him. And, you know, and I will tell you, John, that. That I think you're absolutely right on memory.

[Jon Stewart]

But you've got Chuck Schumer and. And Hakeem Jeffries, both New York, supposedly the head of the Senate and the head of Congressional Democrats, running in the other direction.

[Ken Martin]

You know what, John? Every morning I say the Serenity Prayer, which is important to me.

[Jon Stewart]

And.

[Ken Martin]

And I say that.

[Jon Stewart]

What.

[Ken Martin]

Let me tell you why. Because there's things. There's things I can't control. You. You asked this question at the very beginning, which I appreciated you asking. What if we. What does the Democratic Party do? Because this is where people think that the chair of the party has control over their elected officials. As if somehow I could call Senator Schumer or Leader Jeffries or any governor and tell them what they should do. It doesn't work that way. So I wanna be very clear.

[Jon Stewart]

That's not the only point. I think that's the point.

[Ken Martin]

The point I'm making about the Serenity Prayer is I can only control what I can control, which is myself. And that from my perspective, I've always said, and I've been very clear on this, it's up to the Democratic primary voters to decide who our nominee is. And once they send us a nominee, we need to fight like hell for whoever they send us. And that's important. Again, for me, I've always. I was the first person after the 2016 election to put forward a superdelegate reform. I authored that. I authored a neutrality pledge to keep party bosses out of putting their thumb on the scale for candidates. Because I believe, as you do. Right. Again, that, you know, there are many different voices in this party and we should not be pushing. Pushing those voices out. We should be bringing them in. But back, Back to your.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, let's just stay on that point for a minute. You know, it is difficult, I'm sure, to, you know, make those calls, even though I would imagine that is kind of it. You may not have control over it, but it does seem like that would be the place to make your case at least, or to advocate. But the second part is even within the areas that are your purview, let's say the Democratic National Committee. You know, David Hogg is a young, vocal. You know, may not like all he does, but he's pushed out. Randy Weingarten, the asks me Union chiefs are pushed out like there. It feels like the Democrats, rather than, you know, the tent got big enough for Liz Cheney, but it doesn't seem big enough for more rebellious, difficult voices.

[Ken Martin]

Here's what I would say before I get into the David and Randy stuff. I started with Paul Wellstone in 1990. I represent, as Paul used to say, the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. I am a progressive, and like David and Randy, I've been fighting in this movement for a long time to change this party. You know, and when I started with Paul, I was a young radical. And like many, you know, I wanted to burn the party down. And one thing he said to me, which has stuck with me, John, is he said, look, no institution can solely change on the outside. Yes, we need to build a grassroots movement of people who are going to push our party to be better. The only way an institution will change is from the inside and get involved and make the party that be the party that you want it to be. I've spent 35 years trying to do that. So, you know, look, I will tell you this. Let me talk about the David piece for a second, because I think it's important to get into this. I really like David, and I support what he's trying to do. Primaries are really important in our party. It's important in democracy. One, it holds elected officials accountable. Two, it brings new ideas and perspectives into the conversation. And three, it's a pathway for new leaders. It's a pathway for young leadership. It's a pathway for, you know, people of color that could never run for office. It's a pathway for a whole group of folks that never would be given a shot, including my first boss, Paul Wellstone. Right. So I say this truly because I support primaries. But what. What that beef was between us, and.

[Jon Stewart]

This is critical beef. You don't hear Minnesotans talk beef?

[Ken Martin]

Well, sure you do. We got a lot of beef farmers in Minnesota.

[Jon Stewart]

What are you talking about?

[Ken Martin]

But truly, John, listen, in 2016, as I mentioned earlier, I saw the devastating results of party leadership putting their thumb on the scale and basically telling all of those young supporters of Bernie Sanders to go fuck themselves. Right? And as a result, they left the party and they never came back. Whether perceived or real, what ended up happening is we pushed people out of the conversation. And I want to go back to what I said before. One of the reasons I was successful in Minnesota is because we built the type of coalition that brought everyone into the conversation. And so right after that election in 17, I was elected as a vice chair of the DNC to lead all of our state parties. And I pushed the existing officers and our party to put a neutrality pledge in place to say that party leadership cannot get involved in primaries. They have to stay out and let the primary voters make that decision. When I campaigned for this position, I said I wanted to codify that into our charter. And so the difference that both David and I supported each other's positions. He supported neutrality, I supported primaries. But there is no way to reconcile them. He couldn't be an officer while also then having his organization he leads be involved in primaries, which is why he decided to step down. No one pushed him out. Just the opposite. I wanted David to stay in. He's an amazing young leader who has a lot of great ideas and we need his voice and energy in the party. But how do you reconcile those two?

[Jon Stewart]

So you're saying that he had to go because if you are on the dnc, you have to abide by a neutrality pledge. And so if he is involved in an organization that is promoting. Correct. Primaries for people that already have office, that violates the neutrality pledge. But neutrality pledge of whoever wins the primary, you can't get involved in that.

[Ken Martin]

You can't get involved before a primary helping either in comment or a challenge.

[Jon Stewart]

You can only get involved once the primary has.

[Ken Martin]

That's correct. And that's because we want the will of the voters to prevail, not the will of a bunch of party leaders in a back room making decisions on which candidates they think the party should support. It shouldn't work that way. And that is, for me, a direct result of my early days with Wellstone when the whole establishment was against him. Right. And to 2016, watching what happened in that election, I think it's imperative that the party stays out of primaries. Not that primaries shouldn't happen. Primaries should happen. We want them to happen. But people like me should not be involved in putting our thumb on the scale and picking winners and losers. Our job is to be the referee, to make sure there's a level playing field, to call balls and strikes and to not actually be a player. We can't be involved in primaries.

[Jon Stewart]

But that seems, you know, I understand it in theory, but in practice, the idea that the DNC is going to be agnostic when it comes to, you know, in the same way that if you see a candidate that you feel like is going to have a better shot at a primary, but is. Is a crazy person that's not going to be able to survive in a, you know, a regular election once the primary is over. And we've seen that in the Republican Party a lot. They pick kind of the most MAGA person to get in a primary, and then they get in a state election or a larger election and they fall apart. The idea that the DNC or any of those would not take a position on that or would be agnostic based on that pledge doesn't seem realistic or how it operates in practice. You. You are also part of recruiting, of course. You guys go out and you recruit candidates. And this gets to a larger point, and I don't mean to bring this up just from the Democrats, but there is a trust issue that we have right now between the rhetoric of our politics and the reality of our politics. And Kamala Harris's book, I think, has done a real. I know everybody's on it.

[Ken Martin]

I haven't read it yet.

[Jon Stewart]

It does a real service. Maybe not in the way that she had intended or that the political parties will be happy about, but it exposes that the conversation that we all think is happening, happening, but we're told over and over again is not happening. Whether it be when you choose a running mate, are you looking at whether or not they're gay or Jewish or black? To the point of. When you looked at President Biden, did you think he was strong enough to go up against Donald Trump in. In the national election? Again, we were told over and over again how ridiculous those statements were, how crazy that is. That. That. No, I pick the most competent per. I look for the best person possible. What Joe Biden behind the scenes is sometimes during meetings, he'll be solving quadratic equations while we're also doing Medicare. It was all. Yeah, and Ken, that can't hold. And so when we talk about, like, we're neutral and we stay out and here's the rules and this is how we play. Like it's. It really strikes me as a fundamental foundational problem of. Of. Of erosion of trust.

[Freedom From Religion Foundation Representative]

Buying a car in Carvana was so easy, I was able to finance it through them. I just.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Whoa, wait, you mean finance?

[Freedom From Religion Foundation Representative]

Yeah, Finance got pre qualified for a Carvana auto loan, entered my terms and shot from thousands of great car options, all within my budget.

[Ken Martin]

That's cool.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

But financing through Carvana was so easy.

[Freedom From Religion Foundation Representative]

Financed, done. And I get to pick up my car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow.

[Ken Martin]

Financed. Right. That's what they said.

[Freedom From Religion Foundation Representative]

You can spend time trying to pronounce financing, or you can actually finance and buy your car. Today on car finance financing, subject to credit approval, additional terms and conditions may apply.

[Ken Martin]

I don't disagree with you. But the way you build trust is by not thumbing your nose at voters and telling them, guess what? We get to make these decisions and you don't. We, as party leaders, get to decide who the best candidate is. And your voice doesn't matter. You. You and your guy.

[Jon Stewart]

But you guys recruit candidates, funnel money. You do have resources.

[Ken Martin]

Listen, I think the DTrip, the DS, other organizations within the larger ecosystem, of course, are going to support their preferred candidates. What I'm suggesting is party leaders. Our job is to build infrastructures to win a November election. And ultimately to make sure that we're growing our coalition, building our party, bringing voices in and making sure that we honor the will of those voices. You can't be half pregnant. You can't say, oh, yeah, guess what? We honor the will of the voters when it benefits our candidates. And then, of course, when they decide to send us, Mamdani say, well, you know, we're not gonna endorse him. It's why I endorsed him right away. You either believe that in this idea that primary voters matter and that their voices matter, that they're the ones who select our nominee, or you don't. You can't be half pregnant. It's either you do or you don't. And I say this true.

[Jon Stewart]

It feels like building a house without a blueprint. Blueprint. If that makes sense.

[Ken Martin]

Oh, I've got a blueprint. And I. I understand your point you're making, but again, you've got a logistical blueprint.

[Jon Stewart]

But I meant a more fundamental sort of blueprint of principle.

[Ken Martin]

Well, the. The question. The question here again, is how do you grow your party? How do you bring new voices?

[Jon Stewart]

Are you asking me?

[Ken Martin]

Well, no, I'm just.

[Jon Stewart]

I have an idea, but I.

[Ken Martin]

Well, I think it's more. It's certainly rhetorical, but it's. It's the larger. It's the. It's. The larger question here, John, is. Is that's. That's. The goal of the Democratic Party, is to continue to grow and to continue to bring voices in.

[Jon Stewart]

So let me answer your rhetorical question.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, please.

[Jon Stewart]

You grow your party by inspiring people with a message that resonates with the reality of their lives. And you grow your party by understanding the disconnect from the sclerotic, dying infrastructure of the status quo of that party and their ideas and how far away it is from the reality of those that would follow it. Yes, that's the piece that's missing.

[Ken Martin]

Well, but I'm with you on that. And so imagine, by the way, you have a candidate who comes along who's inspiring all those folks. Right. And the party leaders say, well, you know, that's not our candidate. We want someone else.

[Jon Stewart]

He eats with his hand, by God's.

[Ken Martin]

But this is the point, which is primaries are meant to actually make sure that those candidates represent exactly what you're talking about. So when a Mamdani comes along. Right. And then we decide, well, you know, it's not our type of candidate, we might not agree with him on all the issues. And, you know, he's not the type of candidate we want.

[Jon Stewart]

Want.

[Ken Martin]

We're essentially saying to all those primary voters who chose him. Right. And who are excited about him, we don't want you in the party. That's my point here.

[Jon Stewart]

But in the primary, that is exactly what happened. I mean, in the primary, for the most part, the status quo went with Cuomo. I mean, they were saying that, and then he won. And now they have to. To flip it back around in the primary.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, that's right. And you know, and people will play in primaries and candidates and elected officials and others are allowed to do that.

[Jon Stewart]

But you're asking me, how do you grow.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

The party. And I'm saying is you grow the party by recognizing the reality of where your party is at.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

And even when you think about, you know, the Republican Party did a, an autopsy of their loss after Romney. Right, right. And, you know, I, I still remember Sean Hannity on television going, the big problem is we've got to be nicer to Hispanics. You know, we've got to let them know they're welcome here, and we've got to open up our country to Hispanic.

[Ken Martin]

Right.

[Jon Stewart]

And nobody bought it because it was a calculation, it was math, it wasn't anything that resonated with the people that vote with that party. And it left their party ripe for a hostile takeover, which occurred through Donald Trump.

[Ken Martin]

That's right.

[Jon Stewart]

The Democratic Party finds itself in the very same place as the Republican Party.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. I don't disagree. I don't disagree. And the question is, do you want energy in the party or do you want it on the outside? Right. Do you want to grow your party ranks again? I go back to what I said before. Yes. It means it's messy debate and dissent and a wide degree of opinions on any given issue. The Republican Party benefits from the fact that they're very homogenous as a relates to ideology. And so it's easier for them to be more disciplined, easier for them to be More nimble?

[Jon Stewart]

I don't know that that's necessarily the.

[Ken Martin]

Case, but I think it is. I mean, you know, but let me.

[Jon Stewart]

Say this in terms of ideology. Explain that, because I'm not so sure. Especially now where Trump had inroads into the black community and the Hispanic community. And, you know, I would say the Democratic Party has plenty of litmus tests for their candidates. You know, that, you know, I. Does the Republican Party have some pro choice members? It does. Does the Democratic Party have pro life candidates? Probably not.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. Here's what I would say. You know, at the end of the day, there is a. Donald Trump has essentially stifled out any dissent within his party.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, certainly not.

[Ken Martin]

If. If a. If a Republican elected official dare speak out and stand up for their position, they're drummed out of the party. And so I don't think they're.

[Jon Stewart]

But it's not ideological dissent. It's basically, if you like me and you'll do what I say, you're in. Cause he's not ideologically consistent. He's socialist at times, he's corporatist.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, I see that.

[Jon Stewart]

He's all over the map.

[Ken Martin]

But there's no. I guess a larger point I'm trying to make is there's no dissent allowed in that party. There's no debate. There's no difference of opinion. The reality is, is they are a very serious. They are a very small tent as it relates to where they stand on these issues and whether that's true. Because I'm sure you have conversations with Republicans who will tell you things privately. I do, all the time. And they will then publicly essentially kiss his ring, to your point, because they don't want to be drummed out of the party. I think that's what I'm suggesting right now is we are a big tent. We do have different. I mean, you can see it play out in front of your eyes with the debates between the different elected officials in our party on any given issue. But I would say that again, some people fear that. That's not me. It's the thing that helped our Democratic Party grow. Let me share this. It's a little bit of a long story, but 1948, you and I would. I know.

[Jon Stewart]

Wait, what?

[Ken Martin]

Okay, hear me out on this. Cause it's gonna take a little bit.

[Jon Stewart]

We're going Truman.

[Ken Martin]

No. Is that what we're doing? It's gonna take a little bit of a meandering path.

[Jon Stewart]

Hear me out on this.

[Ken Martin]

1948, a young mayor from Minneapolis, he's 34 years old. @ the time, brings a civil rights plan to the national Party Committee. Right. To the dnc, to our platform committee. The platform committee surprisingly votes down a civil rights plank. Votes it down.

[Jon Stewart]

So this young man, by the way, not surprisingly.

[Ken Martin]

Right, Right.

[Jon Stewart]

Go ahead.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. This young mayor brings his minority report to the floor and he starts building support for it. Eventually, it passes. He gets up and gives that famous speech where he says it's time for the Democratic Party to come out of the shadows of states rights and march forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights. Civil rights. That mayor, of course, was Hubert Humphrey. But all the Dixiecrats got up from our party. They walked out. And as a result, our party became the party that was cemented with civil rights. And that was a game changer for sure. 1972 in Miami. Right. The convention there. It was women and feminists who stood up and pushed our party on an equal Rights amendment and abortion rights. 2012. I was proud in Charlotte to be one of the authors of the Marriage Equality Amendment. Right. I say this truly, Jeff, done nothing good in our party. I'm not going to talk about the Republican Party. Nothing good in our party happens without new voices pushing our party to evolve on issues. It doesn't just happen organically through the goodness of elected officials and party leaders coming to their senses on any issue. It takes people pushing. So how shortsighted would it be to me, for me, as the chair of the dnc, to say, you don't.

[Jon Stewart]

What?

[Ken Martin]

I disagree with your position, so you're out. No. The only thing that helps our party grow and evolve is to bring new voices in who will help push our party to be better. And I truly believe that. And yes, it's caused a lot of consternation and pain and argument and all that over the years, but we're better off for it. And back to your earlier point about having a vision, I couldn't agree with you more. The reality is we gotta take it from just the platitudes and have a specific policy prescription. To your point about 94. Right. What Newt Gingrich did, and I didn't agree with anything that he stood for, is this. He gave people a value proposition.

[Jon Stewart]

You vote for us, gave him an infrastructure.

[Ken Martin]

Here's what we're gonna deliver here is a value proposition. The Democrats aren't doing shit to help you. Here's what we're gonna do. So what I have said to other leaders in this party is this. We've gotta move from just the frame, from just the sort of larger vision we have to specific policy that gives people a sense of actually what we would do if they put us back in power.

[Jon Stewart]

Do you have a sense that, you know. You know, it's interesting. Kamala Harris book is called 107 Days.

[Ken Martin]

Yep.

[Jon Stewart]

And the premise of the book is it's just not enough time.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah.

[Jon Stewart]

People didn't know what I wanted to do.

[Ken Martin]

I think that's right.

[Jon Stewart]

But let me. Yeah, let me give the caveat. In a hundred days, Trump has completely transformed the entire nature of how our government operates. Now it's the culmination of a 50 to 60 year plan put in place by, you know, Republican operatives, whether it be through their think tanks or, you know, the Federalist Society or any of those other places. But there's an intentionality to it, that it's creating it. Democrats have been defending a broken status quo for 50 years. 107 days might not be enough time. But that ended in November.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

It's almost a year now. I still don't know what that plan would be, other than Maybe you get $5,000 for a new housing start. To create a document like that that to come up with the ideas of that. It. The thinking to me feels too conventional and institutional. And that institutional thinking doesn't give me hope that there are those changes that are going to be coming to the Democratic Party because, you know, I look at everything as process equals production product. If your process is flawed, your product is going to be.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

Is going to be flawed. And I'm a little concerned about. About process. And back to our original point, which was that's kind of more the purview of where you guys are.

[Ken Martin]

Yep.

[Jon Stewart]

How are you? You seem to understand where you want to go. Do you understand the process by which you want to get there?

[Ken Martin]

Yes, for sure. I mean, look, I mean, we have a brand problem, a message problem, a.

[Jon Stewart]

Mess problem, and, And a policy problem.

[Ken Martin]

Well, that's the message. Right. And so the message problem.

[Jon Stewart]

That's not the message. Well, here's the message is how you sell the policy. But of course, shitty policies, it doesn't matter how you message it.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, that's right. Brand, message, messenger problem. And we also have a tactics problem in terms of message delivery, where we're getting our message out to, etc. You can have the best message with a shitty messenger and it's not going to break through. You could have a great messenger with the right message, but if it's not delivered to where people are getting their information, it doesn't matter. And then the last Thing is, if people are already preconditioned to believe something about the Democratic Party, that is a brand, right? It's also a challenge. I mean, think about this, John, last spring, and it should have been the biggest canary in the coal mine for Democrats. And most people miss this research. There was research that showed for the first time in modern history that the perceptions of the two political parties has changed, that the majority of Americans now believe that the Republican Party best represents the interest of the working class and the poor, and the Democratic Party is a party of the wealthy and the elites. That is a wholesale sea change of where people and what people believed the Democratic Party was fighting for. So they already have in their minds, many parts of our coalition. Working class people believe that the Republican Party best represents their economic future and their chance for success. So if you're already. Your mind's already in that space, to Kamala's point, in 107 days, it's very hard to actually change that. Look, we spent. Many of us in the years leading up to that election spent time talking about Biden's excellent economic record, right? High gdp, low unemployment, a boom in stock market, real job growth and wage growth. For the first time in 30 years, we saw wages increasing. And at a macro level, it was great. But when I was out there trying to sell that, especially to union members and working class people, I know they were like, what kind of planet, what planet do you fucking live on? Because that's not happening in my life. I can barely put groceries on the table. I can't afford my rent. You know, at the end of the day, I can barely afford to take my kids on a vacation, right? This is not. This economy is not working for me. It goes back to this DOGE thing we become.

[Jon Stewart]

But that's what I'm. I think what I'm saying is, you're saying if we, you know, get better messengers and better messages, and I'm saying that is all. All wrapping paper. You know, if you don't have policies that, yes, resonate with them. And that's where I think what we're talking about. So my. My concern is that Donald Trump is a tremendous diagnostician. He is able to look into a place and go, here's the fault line of this issue. Here's where people's complaints are right. To say that the Biden administration thought their economy was great, and when we went out to talk to people, it turned out it sucked, is malpractice for the political class of the Democratic Party.

[Ken Martin]

So I don't disagree with you, I.

[Jon Stewart]

Worry that when I hear the fixes, we got to really think about messaging and messengers and all that without hearing a more prescribed, you know, diagnostic. Right. If you don't have the diagnosis about why that is.

[Ken Martin]

Absolutely.

[Jon Stewart]

Why is it that government. Government policies are not connecting? Is it because the bureaucratic landmines make it so that we can't build WI fi in rural areas? Is it because our tax dollars will reflexively defend, you know, foreign programs or things that are going to be cut without realizing, you know, people are not feeling the effects of their taxes?

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. I mean, I think it's all of that. And the reality is. Look, John, I fired all those consultants. I fired every single one of them.

[Jon Stewart]

So that's why unemployment is ticking.

[Ken Martin]

There you go.

[Jon Stewart]

No, because that's a large group.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah. Let me tell you, I'm not interested. I mean, let me give you an example. Last year, we spent. The campaign. Spent a billion dollars on broadcast TV. Overall, there was $10 billion. $1 billion. Just the campaign. The.

[Jon Stewart]

In 107 days.

[Ken Martin]

Well, you know, over that time, you know.

[Jon Stewart]

107 days.

[Ken Martin]

Right, right. But let me just say this. Well, Kamala's campaign and Biden's campaign combined. A billion dollars on broadcast tv. Here's a reality on this. I'm in my, you know, mid-50s. I still read.

[Jon Stewart]

I tell you, you look fantastic.

[Ken Martin]

Thank you. Here's the deal. My, you know, I still read a hard copy of a newspaper. My boys think I'm a nut. Cause I can get it on my phone. Right. But the one thing my wife and I don't do, John, is I don't watch broadcast TV anymore. In fact, I don't know many people my age that do. I mean, maybe when I'm.

[Jon Stewart]

Does that include cable? Basic cable?

[Ken Martin]

No, I don't watch cable anymore. I'm all on screaming. I know. I'm sorry, John. But the point is this. The reality is our tactics. It's a huge problem as well. But underlying all of this is what you said. If people don't know what the hell we're fighting for and what. What specifically we would do to improve their lives, it doesn't matter. We can fix the tactics. We can find the best messengers. We could fix our brand. At the end of the day, we have to give people something to vote for. And I will say this. What is the lesson from Mamdani? And it's not ideological. People seem to think, well, the big lesson here is you need to run to the left. No, the lesson here, whether you're in a very conservative district or a very left leaning district is very similar to simple one. Authenticity matters. People have a bullshit meter. People can tell. You know, my old boss, Paul Wellstone used to say you should never separate the life you lead from the words you speak. The reality is there's too many politicians who do that. And at the end of the day, people can smell through it. When you're talking about just platitudes, right to your point, people can smell through it. Don't just tell me what I want to hear. I need to see you actually show me what you're going to do and then deliver on it. And I want to come back on the delivering piece in a moment.

[Jon Stewart]

But I to want. Can I just. Very quickly, you know, again, authenticity is the new buzzword.

[Ken Martin]

It's.

[Jon Stewart]

The new strategy is authenticity. But it's still a strategy. What I think connected with Mamdani is he diagnosed a frustration within the population of New York City. He understood that the real tenuousness of New York City is affordability that people that the city itself has become. And he. It wasn't the authenticity of and I'll eat with my hands and I'll do that and I'll go out to the San Geneiro and act like a real dude. It was how in God's name is a plate of food from a cart? $12 or $15.

[Ken Martin]

That's right.

[Jon Stewart]

And he deconstructed that. He was able to identify the, the, the crux of the issue. You and very simply present some ideas that might be able to battle that it's simpler than authenticity and the messenger and the metrics.

[Ken Martin]

Well, I do think it's simpler than that because at the end of the day, right, we could have plenty of people who are saying the exact same thing, who aren't believed by voters. At the end of the day, this is where the authenticity matters. It's not just saying something.

[Jon Stewart]

Well, you have to believe it, certainly.

[Ken Martin]

But that's the point. The reason we've lost trust is because people don't believe that we actually believe the shit we're selling them that we're saying. We're telling them what they want to hear.

[Jon Stewart]

To my, to my point in the book, when she says, I didn't go with Pete Buttigieg because he's gay and that'd be too far. And you're like, oh my God, it's actually reverse affirmative action. Well, it's like, what?

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, but I think the point here is that, that you have to be an authentic Incredible. Messenger. And it's not. Authenticity. Yes, that's the new buzzword. But now you got people. You know, it's the same thing with, you know, people want to show strength. Right?

[Jon Stewart]

And so now, you know, now everybody curses now.

[Ken Martin]

Well, right.

[Jon Stewart]

By the way, a trend that I.

[Ken Martin]

Was on for 20 years.

[Jon Stewart]

Now everyone is my own horn.

[Ken Martin]

Right? Right. But everyone's cursing. Everyone's getting up, giving these fiery speeches. You know, you got male elected officials growing beards because they want to show strength and masculinity. It's bullshit. Strength. It's action. It's action and it's authenticity. Do you really, really believe the shit you're selling? Because let me ask you a question, and this is a question I pose to Democrats all the time.

[Jon Stewart]

Is this another rhetorical one or can I answer?

[Ken Martin]

Nope, nope. It's a question for your viewers. If you're not willing to fight like hell in this moment for the things you believe in, do you really believe in them at all? Because the greatest divide right now in our party, John, is not ideological. The greatest divide in our party is between people who are using every lever of power they have to actually fight back in this moment and stand up and fight for what they believe in and those who are sitting on the sidelines. But let me get back to the two other points that I think were important.

[Jon Stewart]

I want to answer to that as well.

[Ken Martin]

Okay. To Mamdani, right, It was not just authenticity. He also campaigned for something to the point we were making earlier. He didn't just run against the establishment, against his opponents. He gave people a value proposition. He said, here's my plan. Here's what I would do if I was elected. Right? And it was focused on affordability. And the last thing that I think is important is he was ubiquitous in the sense that he campaigned everywhere, in person, throughout New York. You couldn't walk throughout New York without running into his campaign in some way. And that was true in terms of his online presence. To your point about being on a halal food podcast, I watched that food podcast, had like 25 to 50 people. If he had been listening to his consultants, they would say, oh, don't go on that podcast. There's far few people listening. The point is, is be ubiquitous. Be everywhere. Don't discriminate. Talk to every single voter and give them a sense of what you're standing for. And do it in a way that's real. Just be yourself. Just be honest. Be transparent. Be vulnerable. Put yourself out there. Don't try to wordsmith. Don't do one of these A finger in the wind politician. You know, long before there was a Bernie Sanders there was a Paul Wellstone who was the OG progressive voice in the Senate. And the reason people liked Paul is not because they agreed with him 100% of the time, but they knew that he had a core set of convict that he was willing to stand up and fight for come hell or high water. That's authenticity. That's what Mamdani had. You cannot fake authenticity. It's either real or it's not. And people have a bullshit meter and they can see that it's pro Savings days at Lowe's. Get up to 35% off select major appliances and save an additional $1,000 when you buy four select LG major appliances plus get a free Dewalt 20 volt max 5amp hour battery when you buy a select Dewalt 20 volt max tool. Get the job done for less. At Lowes we help you Save valid through 926. Selection varies by location while supplies last. See associate or lowe's.com for more details and qualifying items.

[Jon Stewart]

If you thought goldenly breaded McDonald's chicken couldn't get more golden, think Golder because new sweet and smoky special edition Gold sauce is here made for your chicken favorites and participate in McDonald's for a limited time. I want to talk a little bit about this other thing that's sort of boiling up, which is we've got to fight, we've got to stand up and fight and people, you got to fight like hell. And I I believe this is a moment that's going to take effort and energy and and anything that I've ever seen done in Washington that I thought was of good value was a protracted battle. What I'm seeing a lot from the Democratic Party is you got to stand up and fight. But I'm not seeing a lot of directional energy to that regard. I'm seeing some theater. I'm seeing a variety of I'm not seeing a coherent effort effort. The thing about the energy right right now out in the country is maybe the most vast reserve of potential energy that I can recall seeing maybe since and I was very young and so I probably don't have a great understanding of it. But as the Vietnam War was winding down, there was a feeling in the country, a vast potential energy of a new way to move forward. And I'm seeing a lot of that now and I'm seeing the urgings of a party. The issue that I'm seeing is to convert that Potential energy into kinetic energy is going to dissipate out into the atmosphere if it doesn't have a focus, if it doesn't have a parabolic way of creating heat and light. Because it's not enough to say, you've got to go to these town halls and stand up and yell like, that's not where people's thirst is.

[Ken Martin]

That's right.

[Jon Stewart]

They want to convert that potential energy to kinetic energy to start. They want to start understanding that the politician that wants to lead them knows what's wrong with the system that they're seeking, seeking to fix.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

And I have not seen a great deal of that. And isn't that job one that will help be the stepping stone for all those other things that you talk about that are so necessary? Right. Everything you're talking about is necessary to create a sustained movement of change in that direction.

[Ken Martin]

Yes. The short answer is yes.

[Jon Stewart]

Have we missed that? Oh, you know, what we forgot to do is build the front steps.

[Ken Martin]

No, I don't think so. I mean, look, this is a rebuilding process right now. And part of the reason I ran is not just as a result of the last election cycle, John. I have seen over 20 some odd years, negligence on the part of the Democratic Party. But let's just take how we campaign as an example, right? To put the messaging stuff aside for a second. We show up three months before an election and have the first conversation with voters. Usually that first conversation is, hey, we need you to do something for our party. We need you to vote for us. Right? So it's a very transactional relationship. Then again, they don't see us for two more years. Same time we come around, we have the same conversation, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. And suddenly people start saying, well, holy shit. The only time I see that Ken guy is when he needs something for me, right? He doesn't really seem to be invested in me, my community, my life. And so you start to lose trust, right? The second piece of this by the. Is delivering, which is we get into power, we make these promises, hey, vote for Democrats. We're gonna actually make a difference in your community. We get into power and then we don't deliver on those promises, right? In a real way that actually moves forward. So the idea of actually presenting a vision of going back again, no one believes the status quo is working for them. Right now we have to present a new vision of government that works for working people again, a new vision of where this Democratic Party is. Cause that old vision, people don't buy it. Clearly, the brand is Broken. But also that old sort of platform and approach to policy is not working, which again requires us to move from the platitudes to the specifics so people know how. Is what you're selling me any different from what you told me for the last 30 years? And my life is still the fucking same.

[Jon Stewart]

Right. So who's involved in that process? Because when you talk about. I'm going to relate this to the only thing I know how to relate to, to which is the, the New York Football Giants, they are also rebuilding, it's been about 10 years now. And they keep talking about we just got to fix the offensive line. But they keep going with the, you know, sort of the status quo of people that, that goes back a little bit to what we talked about earlier. Is the process by which you are doing that flexible enough, open enough, visionary enough.

[Ken Martin]

Yes.

[Jon Stewart]

That you're not just bringing in, in, you know, Neera Tanden and Jake Sullivan and going like, so have at it. You know, are, are, are you, is the, is the institutional thinking being challenged enough to create that step that needs to be created?

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, I mean, look, we're certainly pushing here. I mean, we started right when I came in with a whole branding and narrative project that's outside of policymakers and others are doing up in Congress and throughout the country to really. And this again is very technical, but I think it's important, you know, technical.

[Jon Stewart]

In the sense that like, like digital or.

[Ken Martin]

No. Well, some. No, no, no, no, no. Here's where it's technical, which is, I think the research that we've used to sort of understand public sentiment is really flawed. Quantitative and qualitative research is only as good as the inputs in. And so we're only.

[Jon Stewart]

Come to the deli I go to. You will get the feedback.

[Ken Martin]

This is the point I'm making actually. John, thank you for sharing this because actually Bill Clinton said this in 92, which again hasn't changed, which is we really wanna know how the American people are. Go and sit in a cafe or go to a Friday night football game and listen to parents around you. Right. We don't do that anymore. And by the way, because we're only connecting with voters three months before an election, we're just getting a sliver of the actual public sentiment. And this is why we have a brand problem. At the end of the day, we're not listening anymore. And so much of this is listening. So we are, from a technical standpoint, we're using AI and social listening tools to actually get on a daily basis what's happening out there on social media. But we're also getting out, we're also getting out to the cafes and to the football games or doing ethnographic research.

[Jon Stewart]

For AI listening tools. And it's so fucking simple.

[Ken Martin]

It is simple.

[Jon Stewart]

People have kids, kids and then they have kids and the kids get older and they got to save money for college. And just in the moment where they're spending a ton of money on college, their parents get older and they got to spend money on doing their parents and there's nothing that the government is really providing for them or helping them out with. And the cost of their housing and the education and the elder care and the child care, like, do we really need AI tools to understand that?

[Ken Martin]

No, we don't. I don't. But I think you're, I think you're right.

[Jon Stewart]

It's the trap that people find themselves.

[Ken Martin]

You are absolutely right, John. And this is the issue. You don't need any of that. Right. But the question is, without any of that, you're just sitting in a back room with a bunch of policymakers deciding on things that have no connection to the American people in their lives. So you have to have a sense of.

[Jon Stewart]

They're doing that anyway. Washington D.C. is the most insulated, isolated lobby surrounding. Agree, agree.

[Ken Martin]

That's why I don't spend much time here. I unfortunately live in this God forsaken town now and my family's all back in Minnesota. But I will tell you, in the.

[Jon Stewart]

Eight months I've heard it's very safe now.

[Ken Martin]

Yeah, thank you. Federal troops. But let me just say this, eight months on the job, I've been in 32 states. Elections aren't won in D.C. they're won in the states and they're won by connecting to people. And they're one. By connecting to exactly what you're talking about, the struggles of everyday life. And I will tell you as much as you talked about having very prescriptive policy point, I think that's right. We do have to have a policy agenda, but we also have to zoom out because it's very simple. It's what you said. And I'll share the story of my father in law for a moment because he's a beef cattle farmer in Southern Minnesota and 85 years old and oh wow. Yeah, he voted for.

[Jon Stewart]

And he's still out there doing it.

[Ken Martin]

He's still out there.

[Jon Stewart]

That's not easy, boy.

[Ken Martin]

But I would tell you he has this. He's voted Democrat his whole life. And in 60, 16, 20 and 24, he voted for Trump. And in 16, I said, Dave, why did you vote for Trump? Thinking he'd give me some sort of policy answer on egg policy or what? He told me. And this goes to your point, he said, look, the high school that I went to has closed down and consolidated with another high school, so I no longer have a Friday night football game to go to. The grocery store on Main street has closed, so I got to drive a lot further to eat, just get my groceries. The clinic that was in town has closed. And now my wife, who has Parkinson's disease, I have to drive 100 miles to get her health care, right? The farm that my family's farmed for 135 years, none of my kids, including your wife, want to come home and farm it. And so it was truly. I mean, what you're not hearing there is policy I want you to understand. And what you're hearing is, here's a guy, 85 years old, he shouldn't have a knot of anxiety in the world about his future, because his future is not that long, right? In the sense that he's on the tail end of his life. He should be living carefree at this moment. But he does have a knot of anxiety in his future because his whole identity is being taken away from him. The world around him is changing, and what he feels is no one sees him, no one cares about what's happening in his community. So along comes the biggest conman and snake oil salesman in the world saying, make America great again. And there's people like Dave o' Rourke saying, well, you know what? I do want things to be the way they were. I do want my community to be vibrant and robust. Now, of course, there's nothing that Donald Trump would do or has done that would actually improve Dave o' Rourke's life. Just the opposite. But the point is, is at the end of the day, one thing you said that really resonates with me is it's really simple what people want in life. It's very simple. They just want to be able to get ahead. They want to be able to build a better life for their families. They want to be able to maybe, just maybe, you know, take a vacation, to retire with dignity, to give their kids a shot and an opportunity. It's as simple as that. Yes, there's policies underneath we need to talk about. But when we lose that piece and the policies are disconnected from the struggle, then what the fuck are we doing? That's what I'm talking about.

[Jon Stewart]

And I also think, and all the craziness that goes, I almost think the, the next great successful politician. I think their, their slogan for the election will be it's enough already. Because that's what it, that's what it feels like. And it's, and I do think sometimes the spiral feels inevitable, but I don't think it is. And oddly enough, I remember remain steadfastly optimistic.

[Ken Martin]

That's good.

[Jon Stewart]

Within that. And is that, do you continue to feel that way as well?

[Ken Martin]

I, I'm very optimistic about our chances to win. And I will tell you, I'm, oh.

[Jon Stewart]

Can, no, no, let me tell this close, buddy.

[Ken Martin]

No, no, I'm going to switch to the other piece because just winning without, no, no, this is my point. I, I'm not optimistic that, but winning in 26 and 28 helps us win. And what do I mean by that? If we do it the wrong way again, we're not building trust with voters. If we do it the wrong way again without a very specific policy agenda, we're not building something that transforms people's lives. If we build it in a way that actually doesn't reflect where the American people are at, it's just not going to work. And so I am optimistic that we'll win. I'm not as optimistic as much as I'm trying to change the way we do this, that we can change, to your point, this whole ecosystem in this short time. Here's what I'm pessimistic about. I want to be really clear. I think in this moment right now, there's something bigger at stake here that we didn't even talk about. And I don't want to focus on Trump, but when I was growing up, there were values that united us in this country that were not part of the. And values that united Democrats and Republicans. And you and I could say, well, at least they agree on this right now, those values, like the idea of due process in this country, the rule of law, separation of power, belief in a free and independent press, the idea that we would stand with our allies around the world and protect emerging democracies, those are things that we could always count on, Democrats and Republicans agreeing, agreeing upon, by and large, right?

[Jon Stewart]

By and large. I would say, I would say that's a slightly nostalgic view, but.

[Ken Martin]

Well, listen, do you, in this moment right now, those values, even the freedom of speech, Right.

[Jon Stewart]

I mean, listen, I, I, I will not in any way argue that we are not under a pressurized crucible of unitary executive. Like I haven't seen it is, it's the type of, of governance from a really vindictive and small person creating emergencies that don't exist. I just want to make sure that like there was no past of all Americans could at least agree that there were three separate branches of government and they all had an equal say in our. Like that's never been the real case. And we've always argued back and forth from, from the expansion of rights for different groups, of course, the suppression of rights for different groups like you, we cannot say in a country that had Jim Crow from, you know, you're absolutely right. The decades that we had it that somehow we all agreed on certain values because we didn't.

[Ken Martin]

No, but I think, I think at the core there may have been differences of opinion about what those values are. Now you have a party who basically could give a shit about due process and says as much. They could give a shit about the rule of law. Well, their principle is right, Their principle of power. So I mean, I think that's the challenge right now is, you know, we both have to fight for something, right? And at the same time we have to acknowledge that, you know, when people say to me, right, you know, well, I don't know if there's going to be elections in 26, you know, who knows if this democracy survives that long. I think if people had said that to me four years ago, I would have thought maybe they should be institutionalized. Right. It's not out of the realm of possibility. And I understand people's nervousness and anxiousness because so many of those sort of core values, yes, there were differences, but they seem to be fundamental to who we are. I mean, think about just the attack in the last week on freedom of speech. There's a reason it's the First Amendment, right. It's the most important right in our Constitution. Our Bill of Rights is ability for people to stand up, to speak out, to share their opinions. And that's now under attack. So I say all of this because I think where people's angst and anxiety comes from is not just the fact that the Democratic Party has a piss poor message and isn't necessarily presenting an alternative to what the Republicans are doing. It's also what the Republicans are doing and their anxiety that holy shit, we may not have our democracy anymore.

[Jon Stewart]

Yeah, there is definitely a tenuousness to a lot of the things that we thought were, you know, kind of. It feels a little bit like the hot air balloon where it's just like there's just now the two ropes that are holding it together and you're like, I don't know about those two, but we really appreciate you taking the time. I know you're busy. I know you want to get out of dc. DNC Chair Ken Martin, thanks for joining us today. Really appreciate the conversation.

[Ken Martin]

Thank you, John. Appreciate it.

[Jon Stewart]

Thanks, man. I'm going to tell you guys something. I don't know how to feel. I. I felt like every time I brought up something, he was like, yeah, that's right. Just go back, you know. Yeah, but you don't want to do, like, these consultant driven. I've gotten rid of all the consultants. Consultants. So here's what we're doing. We're going out with the AI and we're looking into the. I'm like, but. But you. I think we just. Didn't we just say, no, it's about authenticity, but it's not authenticity. He diagnosed a problem. He went, no, no, no. Not authenticity, what you just said. It was. I. I felt like I was talking. It was like an improv exercise where I would say something and he would.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Go, yes and no and. And then yes and no and. And yes and yeah.

[Jon Stewart]

How were you experienced? I felt for a second like, am I being gassed? Like, I wasn't sure what was happening.

[Podcast Panelist 2]

No, there was a lot of contradiction just from past statements. And by past, I mean a month ago to today and even within this conversation. So I can totally see why there's no message.

[Jon Stewart]

Not only can I see why there's no message, I can see why there's no method. Yes. I'm not even sure we settled the. On that.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

I mean, I've been told that the Republican Party is this existential threat to democracy, and I happen to agree with that. But whether or not Democratic politicians act on that seems to only come into play when it aligns with their political ambitions. And I'm exhausted by that right now. I would love if we could come up with something to rally around and not just wait for it out.

[Jon Stewart]

Right.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Podcast Panelist 2]

I understand that Ken Martin can't control the candidates, even though he's recruiting people and putting.

[Jon Stewart]

No, no, no. Neutrality. They have a declaration of neutrality.

[Podcast Panelist 2]

I know, but something that did stand out to me is that we didn't discuss the fact that Mamdani partially was so successful because the other Democrats, like Brad Lander, rallied around and made it more about the Democratic Democrats than about individual power. And something that stood out to me in our Pritzker conversation two weeks ago is that when you specifically asked that question of, is individual ambition getting in the way of Democrats working together. And his answer was about how people get elected.

[Jon Stewart]

That was the wildest part to me. By the way. Thank you for, for sort of bringing all that together with past conversations. Because, you know, I don't listen to this podcast. I don't. I don't care. Care for it. But I have to say, I think that's what struck me is you would say, isn't there a principled, inspiring message of change that is step one to building the thing? Absolutely. And that's why we changed our branding. Just none of the statements felt. It all felt discordant to me. And boy, do I have sympathy for the difficulty of what it is and how exhausting it must be. But, wow, is that hard to listen to. Eight months into. And the strategy still seems to be. Historically, the party not in power gained seats in the midterm.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Yeah. Yeah. And when you look at, I mean, the 2012 autopsy, they came out of that with the same diagnosis, I think, that Democrats are having now, which is we have these amazing ideas and it's all really good.

[Jon Stewart]

What kind of awesome.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Except we can't communicate it to the people and we just have to get better at that. And the Republicans were successful in the 2014 midterms. Maybe that's just the way that it goes. But they lost their party and they kind of lost the country. Yeah.

[Podcast Panelist 2]

I'd say the only thing really that's changed in the messaging from from like eight months ago to now is just the passage of the so called big beautiful bill. Like, they're saying we need to highlight how it's going wrong, what's bad with it. That's really the only change I've seen.

[Jon Stewart]

But still, defending the status quo of programs that most people think are broken. Yeah. They somehow devalue even the struggles of their own actual constituents in an effort to appease people. People that, to his point, may be unwinnable, but maybe they're unwinnable. But boy, it would be helpful if, if you had something that you thought was affirmative and not just strategic. Yeah, but fuck, man. But we are. We are back anyway. Brittany, who's. What. What are the questions they want from us? This week?

[Podcast Panelist 1]

They're writing in. First up, since Trump renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War, what would you rename the Department of Justice under Trump?

[Jon Stewart]

Oh, wow. I would say the law firm of Trump, Giuliani and Associates. I would, I would rename it as, as that. Yeah. No, it is when the Department of Justice becomes just a department in the Trump Organization. So however, he would. I would say he'd probably call it like the eighth form floor, you know, oh, you. You got to run to the eighth floor. They'll take care of that stuff for you, and you'll be able to sue whoever it is that you need to sue. So, yeah, there is no Department of Justice. There is merely the legal wing of the Trump Organization. And. And that's how it will remain. Sad.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Wonderful, Wonderful.

[Jon Stewart]

I wish I had a better moniker for. Could be. It could be, actually. Oh, I was going to make a joke about Jewish lawyers, but I do it on Russia. On Russia.

[Ken Martin]

Sean.

[Jon Stewart]

I forgot. I forgot. Go ahead.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

What's the next one, John? Is it time for another rally to restore sanity and. Or fear.

[Jon Stewart]

No, last one didn't take. Take either. And I don't think I can have another day where I up without even realizing that I'm, you know, we had this whole. I've told you guys, with that whole thing planned, you know, Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam's gonna come out and sing Peace Treaties Train. Steven's going to cut him off. Ozzy Osbourne's going to jump in and sing Crazy Train, and then we're going to end it with the OJ Singing Love Train and the whole thing goes off. I mean, we were. We rehearsed it in a trailer that morning. Ozzy Osbourne, literally right before the entire performance started, after we had done all this rehearsing in the trailer. I go up to Ozzy right before and I go, yusuf is going to do Peace Train. Just. It's. Stephen's going to cut off, and then you jump in with Crazy Train, right? And he's like, oh, yeah, I was going to. As I'm walking away, he goes, huh? Who's Stephen? So that was. And then literally, like the next day, Salman Rushdie's on the phone with me going, how can a rally to restore sanity have a singer that wants me dead? And I'm like, wait, what? What the. So there was a whole hullabaloo. So, yeah, not only did I we not restore sanity anywhere, but I lost mine, for God's sakes. But, but, but it's a delight. How can people keep these. These questions coming.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Our Twitter. We are weekly showpod. Instagram threads, TikTok, blue sky. We are weekly show podcast. And you can, like, subscribe and comment on our YouTube channel. The weekly show with Jon Stewart.

[Jon Stewart]

Respect, guys, as always, fabulous, fabulous job. Lead producer Lauren Walker. Producer Brittany Mimedovic. Producer Jillian. Editor and engineer Rob Votolo. Audio editor and engineer Nicole Boyce. Executive producers Chris McShane, Katie Gray. Guys, fantastic job, and we will see you all next week. Bye. Bye. The weekly show with Jon Stewart is a Comedy Central podcast. It's produced by Paramount Audio and Busboy Productions.

[Ken Martin]

Yo, this is important, man. My favorite Lululemon shorts, the ones you got me back in the day, I think they're pace breakers.

[Jon Stewart]

The ones with all the pockets.

[Ken Martin]

Well, I just got back from vacation, and I think I left them in my hotel room. And, dude, I need to replace these shorts. I wear them, like, every day with that Lulu hoodie you got me.

[Freedom From Religion Foundation Representative]

Could you send me the link to.

[Ken Martin]

Where you got them? Thanks, bro.

[Jon Stewart]

Talk soon.

[Podcast Panelist 1]

Looking for your newest Go to's shop, Lululemon's Bestsellers now at lululemon.

[Ken Martin]

Com, Paramount Podcasts.