You heard Hakeem Jeffries. He actually seemed a little irritated with you. Primaries are a fact of life. But here's the thing. I'm going to really focus on trying to defeat Republican incumbents. I think it's going to be a hell of a lot harder for us to defeat Republicans [00:00:15] with a 27% approval rating, where we cannot simply go out there and say, look, guys, we're not Donald Trump. Vote for us. Well, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made clear that he is not a fan. He is not supportive of DNC Vice Chair David Hogg's efforts [00:00:31] to primary ineffective Democrats in safe blue districts. Now, this comes after longtime Democratic strategist James Carville called Hogg a contemptible little twerp who should be sued by the DNC over his strategy idea. [00:00:48] Yes. And so who's right? Well, David Hogg is right. Whether we agree with the particular candidates that he backs or not, the idea of having primaries is indisputably the correct one. But what I'm fascinated by is the pushback from the establishment. [00:01:05] I'm fascinated by that, too. But I'm also fascinated by the lack of any questions, any journalist probing David Hogg in regard to what are you specifically looking for in regard to the candidates that would challenge the Democratic incumbents? Is it based on culture war stuff, or is it based on economic stuff? [00:01:26] Yeah. Or both, I don't know, but no one's asking those questions and it's kind of frustrating. Yeah, I have answers to what my reaction would be based on whichever answer David gives. But it's funny because we heard all this talk about, oh, no, the Democratic Party, you know, [00:01:42] they really got to know an accounting after this stunning loss where they lost every swing state, the popular vote. And, you know, I just thought there's like tons of articles in the New York Times and those kind of publications talking about, oh, the Democrats really need populists and a change, etc. But the minute you offer change. [00:01:59] Terrible. Protect incumbents. - Protect establishment. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. So David Hogg reiterated his strategy while appearing on ABC's This Week over the weekend. I want to go to that video and then we'll talk a little bit about Jeffrey's reaction to it and more. [00:02:17] Let's take a look. What I'm trying to do with this effort right now, with the primaries in particular, is do two things at once. One, make sure that we're handling, you know, the the conflicts within our own party productively and seats that do not risk us losing the majority while also making sure that we make Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker of the House by rallying our base [00:02:35] and giving people something to vote for. We cannot just be the party that is against Donald Trump. We have to be a party that doesn't have a 27 or 27% approval rating from our own base. That is not a survivable future. And the way that we change that is making sure that we have some different characters. [00:02:50] We talk in Democratic politics all the time about it's the messaging, it's the messaging, it's the messaging. You can have Shakespeare write the best script in the world. If you have bad actors, it doesn't matter. So I agreed with much of what David Hogg said there in that specific clip, except for one thing, [00:03:05] which is this weird desire to ensure that Hakeem Jeffries gets to serve as speaker of the House, which he hasn't been able to do. He's the House minority leader because the Republicans obviously have the majority in the House at the moment. I don't give a damn about Hakeem Jeffries. And in fact, everything I've seen from Hakeem Jeffries so far [00:03:21] has shown that he's more of the same in regard to corporate Democrats taking Wall Street cash, corporate money. And that money has strings attached that run counter to what the Democratic base wants. So I'm not at all concerned about the future of Hakeem Jeffries career. [00:03:38] And I actually think David Hogg would be on a better path if he didn't care about that either. So it bothers me that he mentioned the importance of Hakeem Jeffries serving as speaker of the House. Yeah, I hear you. I think that he's the vice chair of the DNC. And, and that's another way of saying the Democrats getting control [00:03:55] of the House, which he should definitely should care about. - Yeah. - Just say that. - Just say. - That. Yeah, I agree that's a better way of phrasing it. But I think part of the reason that he phrased it that way is one everybody in Washington talks that way because they love to kiss Power's ass. - Okay. - Not a good sign then. Right. [00:04:10] And then so like and David's not doing that. He's doing a real primary challenges of incumbents. That's a wonderful that's the substance that matters. Right. But that's the kind of lingo that they use and are comfortable with. And he does strategically want to give them some comfort because if he were to say, hey, I'm not interested in Hakeem Jeffries. [00:04:26] - Oh my God, did he come with pitchforks? - Yeah, right. You don't have to say that. You can talk about the importance of Democrats, you know, winning and having majorities in Congress again. And that's fine. But once you tie your name to someone as ineffective in his leadership role as [00:04:44] Hakeem Jeffries, you start to lose people. Now, interestingly, prior to the segment that David Hogg was on, Hakeem Jeffries was also on ABC's This Week. And, take a look at what he had to say. What's your response to this idea of of targeting your some [00:05:01] of your Democratic incumbents? Well, I look forward to standing behind every single Democratic incumbent, from the most progressive to the most centrist and all points in between. Primaries are a fact of life. But here's the thing. I'm going to really focus on trying to defeat Republican incumbents so we [00:05:21] can take back control of the House of Representatives and begin the process of ending this national nightmare that's being visited upon us by far right extremism. So that's what Jeffries had to say prior to the segment that David Hogg was on in David Hogg segment. [00:05:37] He says, you know, that it's important for Democrats to win, for Hakeem Jeffries to serve as speaker of the House. And so, knowing what Hakeem Jeffries had said earlier, the host of the show basically asked David Hogg, you know, doesn't look like House leadership is on your side on this. [00:05:54] - So let's take a look at that. - You heard Hakeem Jeffries. He actually seemed a little irritated with you or with the effort. He's like, I think we should focus on beating Republicans, not on beating Democrats. I think it's going to be a hell of a lot harder for us to defeat Republicans with a 27% approval rating, where we cannot simply go out there and say, [00:06:11] look, guys, we're not Donald Trump. Vote for us. We need to show people how the way that Democrats fight for democracy is by using democracy to revive the American dream, to help combat the rising costs of health care, of housing, of elder care, of child care and education, [00:06:26] and and making sure that we remember that our young people in particular, they are losing faith in our democracy and people of all ages because they feel like the American Dream does not exist for them anymore. No, that was perfect. That was perfect because he hit on the right issues, right? It wasn't culture war stuff. It was bread and butter issues. [00:06:44] And I love the fact that he pointed out, look, we're not going to beat Republicans when we have this insanely low approval rating from our own voters. And he's absolutely right about that. That's real talk. And that's what we need. We need real talk among the Democratic Party rather than like ass slapping, [00:07:01] which has been the biggest issue in my opinion, when it comes to Democrats. Yeah. So, guys, you're going to hear this talking point nonstop from the Democratic establishment and from almost everyone in mainstream media. Why don't we focus on beating Republicans instead of beating Democrats? But wait a minute. It's a primary. [00:07:19] So you'd beat a Democrat with another Democrat. They say that sentence to make it appear like they would be defeating Democrats so that Republicans can win. It's so purposely misleading. And that's what Jonathan Karl did there. But you're going to see that dozens of times, maybe hundreds of times going [00:07:37] forward, because they don't want to change the Democratic Party at all. And that's their favorite trick in the world. They did it to Nina Turner in Cleveland when she ran for Congress. She said, hey, voting for Biden back in 2020 was like eating a half a bowl of crap. [00:07:52] App. And the second part of that sentence was but voting for Trump is eating a full bowl of crap, right? So she was saying, you got to vote for Biden, even though there's some parts of it that make you uncomfortable. Mainstream media almost every single time left the second half of the sentence out, because they wanted to make it appear that Nina Turner, [00:08:10] in that comment, was supporting Donald Trump, when the whole point of that comment was, you cannot vote for Donald Trump. Right. So they're going to do it again. Anytime anybody challenges a Democratic incumbent. I guess you want Democrats to lose. Well, hey, idiot, why don't you actually stop lying to your audience [00:08:26] and explain what a primary is when it's a Democrat versus another Democrat, and you're trying to pick the best Democrat instead of your buddy who's a corrupt piece of crap, who's ruined the Democratic Party. But you love that, right? If you're a mainstream media. [00:08:41] Well, those guys love money in politics. So. And that money in politics comes to us and we get super rich off of that money in politics. So. Sure. And if you dare challenge the way the Democratic Party is run, you're against Democrats. So if you fall for that BS, you deserve the Democratic Party we have now, which is [00:08:59] in total disarray, in total collapse, because both Democratic establishment figures like Hakeem Jeffries and mainstream media report reporters like Jonathan Karl come out and constantly tell you, you better vote for those Democratic incumbents. [00:09:14] You better do it now. They don't say that, but they frame it in a way that leads you to believe that, right? So why don't you tell the whole truth? And so last thing on that for me, is, guys, you want to pick [00:09:30] the best possible candidate. So primaries are where you rescue the Democratic Party. They're trying to make sure that you don't participate in the primaries so that when you get to the general election, they go, well, I know the Democrat might be a corporate stooge. [00:09:45] And like, the worst piece of crap who can't even talk, but, oh, the boogeyman is on the other side. You got to vote for the corporate guy. - The boogie man is on the other. - Side in every election now. Yeah. So look, and to your question earlier, Anna, about, hey, what's like what kind of candidates is David Hogg supporting? [00:10:01] Honestly, I don't care. Here's why I don't care. Everyone in the Democratic Party should plant their flag. So later in the week I'm going to plant a flag. And I love that David Hogg is planting a flag. And if he's clear about it, let's say, and David doesn't seem like he's going in this direction, but let's say someone else is right and they say, you know what? [00:10:19] I want nothing but cultural warriors. And we should prioritize the identity politics and culture wars at the top. Good run. No problem. How is that different from the Democratic Party right now? No. It's okay. My point is, whether you're or you're a corporate goon and you say, I'm so proud. [00:10:35] I took $1.2 million from private equity, as Jefferies just did. Right. And I love private equity. Plant your flag, brother. Plant your flag. Everybody plant their flags. And then let's have a primary. And let's figure out who the Democratic Voters want, okay? [00:10:52] They will know what the Democratic Party is about. - So don't come crying to me about, oh. - No, we can't. That person shouldn't run and that person shouldn't run. No, let's all run and let's see who who the voters want. Easiest thing in the whole world. The only one telling you not to do that are the ones who don't want a better [00:11:07] Democratic Party, who want a Democratic party who served corporate donors loyally. So, you know, you talk about Jonathan Karl, his line of questions and some of the tricks that get played in the press to discourage or, yeah, to discourage primary challengers to Democratic incumbents. [00:11:25] Well, there's another trick that gets played. And, I've subtly pushed back on it in the past, but I'm going to push back against it even more aggressively moving forward. And here's what I'm talking about. What David is trying to do is to not just help to re-energize the party, [00:11:41] but to help rebrand the Democratic Party. My position is that many of these so-called safe blue seats and I can get in trouble. Many of them are seats that women and minorities finally had an opportunity to come and sit in, because there were no seats at the table for us. So before you start wiping, clean the menu and the plates [00:11:59] and the seats, be very careful. I don't care. I don't care if they're black. I don't care if they're women. I don't care if those seats were, you know, filled with old white men for decades and decades. And then for the first time in decades and decades, a woman was able to win that seat, I don't care. [00:12:16] Are they effective at their job or not? And if they're effective, they shouldn't be concerned about a primary challenger. If they're ineffective, they will be concerned. And if they're ineffective, they should be primaried regardless of their race or their gender. [00:12:33] And you know who agrees with you? - Oh come on. - You know who agrees with you? Donna Brazile agrees with you. - Does. - She? Okay. Here's why. Hold on, hold on. Let me explain why. Because when AOC and Ayanna Pressley were running against white men who were Democratic incumbents and serve corporate donors. [00:12:50] All of a sudden, nobody cared about women or black people or Latinos or anything, right? You have to support the white men, the white men who are the wonderful incumbents of the Democratic Party. Now all of a sudden, you got people who might challenge incumbents, and some of them are black or or women or something. [00:13:06] And all of a sudden they found a way to care about black people and women. Yeah. All of a sudden they're like, oh my God, I'm so worried that this is going to take things away from minorities. Yeah. You weren't worried when Cori Bush was being primaried. You weren't worried when Jamaal Bowman was being primaried. [00:13:23] You weren't worried. In fact, you were worried about minority women winning the races against Joe Crowley, your beloved Joe Crowley, who was in Democratic leadership. So please spare me your nonsense. Hypocrisy. [00:13:39] I'm so sick of their lies. And you know, guys, if you're a minority like I am, you should be extra mad at that BS. Because what they're using you as is a human shield. So. Oh, Hakeem Jeffries does the bidding of every corporate donor. [00:13:56] You remember what he did right after the election, he went to Silicon Valley to beg the tech billionaires for money and say, oh, what? What can we do for you? Right. But if you criticize Hakeem Jeffries human shield, he's black. You can't criticize him. You're racist. You're racist. No, no, I can watch me. I can criticize anyone I like. [00:14:14] You know who I criticize, even though they were a Turkish American, just like me was Doctor Oz. Now, that might have been a mistake because he was running against Fetterman. Okay. Fetterman turned out to be a disaster. But did I sit here and go? No. You have to support Doctor Oz because he's a Turkish American. [00:14:31] Who cares? Who cares? Okay. Is he the right candidate or is he not the right candidate? Period. And everything else is nothing but corporate excuses. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.