The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Struggles to Fix What He Broke | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Episode Date: July 27, 2018President Trump spends a week trying to clean up his own messes, record-high temperatures plague the globe, and N.Y. congressional nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stops by. Learn more about your ad-...choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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July 26, 2018.
From Comedy Central's World News headquarters in New York
This is the Daily Show, everyone. Thank you so much for shooting in. I'm Trevor Noah.
Our guest tonight is the New York congressional candidate who is taking the Democratic
Party by storm. Alexandria, O'Cazio Cortez is here, everybody. So excited. But first, let's catch
up on today's headlines. Swush. Facebook is back in the news.
And I hope Mark Zuckerberg has stocked up on his sad face buttons.
All eyes are on Facebook this morning after the company took a major financial hit Wednesday
to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
Shares of the world's largest social network plunging as much as 24% late Wednesday.
After Facebook missed Wall Street's earnings
expectations, CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself taking a nearly $17 billion hit.
We're investing so much in security that it will significantly impact our profitability.
We're investing so much in probability. We're investing so much in probability.
Like how is that a human being's voice? I'm still sucking out.
Like, I'll bet when Mark Zuckerberg tries to use Siri,
the two of them just get into a feedback loop.
I was like, I didn't quite get that, Mark.
Here are some web results for that.
I didn't quite get that, Mark.
His voice is so weird.
I bet he's never had a normal phone conversation because people think he's not a real human you know he's like hi it's me Mark representative no it's me Mark representative
no it's me Mark so anyway Facebook Facebook shares lost 100 billion dollars
today right which is the largest one day loss in stock market history yeah
and Zuckerberg personally lost 17 billion dollars on his net worth
yeah and you know what I'd feel bad for, but he's still worth like $60 billion.
Yeah, it's kind of like feeling bad for a guy who lost his third penis.
He still has way more penises than most people will ever have.
Moving on to some exciting news that's literally out of this world.
Scientists have finally found liquid water on Mars,
which means human beings might be able to live there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, no, no, wait, wait, not you guys.
No, we're all stuck on this planet.
It's only the billionaires who can afford that trip.
Yeah. In 10 years, Zuckerberg is going to be up on Mars like, ha ha. I'm the most human person on this planet! Ha ha!
Who's laughing now?
Oh, uh, and thanks to Walmart, you don't have to go to Mars to see the future.
Walmart is testing a pilot program with self-driving car company, Waymo.
It shuttles customers to its stores to pick up grocery orders placed online.
Yes.
Walmots is moving into the future by introducing self-driving cars that take you
to the store.
And I'm assuming the next step will be hiring robots to greet you at the door.
Come with me if you want to save.
You know what gets me about this story is that Walmart makes it sound like a huge innovation,
but really they're just trying to trick us into doing what we already used to do, which is go to the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, the store, and the store, the store, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thi, and, and thi, and thi, and to, and to, and to, and to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the, and, and, and, and, and, the, and, and, and, the, and, and, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thri's thrown, thrown, thrown, thi's thrown, thi's thrown, thi's thr-s, thi, is thi, and already used to do, which is go to the store. We don't want to go to the stores anymore. We want stuff sent to us. They're like,
but we have self-driving cars. Yeah, I've already got a self-driving car. It's called Uber, okay?
Yeah. I sit in the back and it drives for me. I don't have some steering wheel at all. Like, you know, this would be like, like, like, like, like, like, like, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, but tho, but tho, but tho, but thi, but tho, but tho, but tho, but tho, but tho, but that, but tho, but tho, but tho, but tho, but tho, but, but, but, but, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but, but th, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but th, but tho, but that, but that, but that, but that, but that, but that, but that, but we have that, but we have that, but we have that, but we have that, but we have like, but we have like, but just get in a box and Amazon ships you to its storage facilities and you pick up your own stuff, yeah. It's called Greg Prime. All
right, that's it for the headlines. Let's move on to our main story. Look, it's no secret
that we have the daily show having been the biggest fans of President Trump. I know, shocking.
For instance, we've even regularly reminded our audience
that Donald Trump is sexually attracted to his daughter.
Don't forget, Donald Trump wants to bang his daughter.
But we've stopped doing that.
Because you see, this morning I realized that I have become a trump-trumpeter.
Yeah, which had blinded me to how much good Trump actually is for this country.
And I know I haven't lost my mind.
I've opened it.
I've seen that Donald Trump is fixing America's problems.
Every day this week, he's done something great.
Yeah, it started on Tuesday when he saved the farming industry.
The Trump administration is giving $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers hurt by tariffs.
A new temporary $12 billion program is set to launch around Labor Day,
meant to offset the estimated $11 billion in losses farmers face.
The goal of this one-time aid package to tie farmers over until the U.S. can negotiate better trade deals with other countries.
The farmers will be the biggest beneficiary.
Watch, we're opening up markets.
You watch what's going to have.
Just be a little patient.
Yes!
Donald Trump saving the farmers, baby.
Oh, in side note, Mr. President, you don't need to tell farmers to be patient.
These people wait six months for a carrot to grow. I think they got the patience on lock. They know how to be patient.
You're like, you guys need to be patient. No, no, they got that. Don't worry. But
still great job, Mr. President. You saved farmers from the effects of the trade war, which by the way I don't even know. told their war-I I I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be. to to be. to be. to be I to be I to be to be to be I to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be. to be patient. to be patient. toe. toe. their. their. their. tode. their. toda. their. toda. their. their. their their toe. toe. toe. toe. their toe. point is, Trump is fixing problems. And that was just on Taco
Tuesday. On Weena Wednesday, Trump fixed an even bigger problem.
Together in the Rose Garden, President Trump and European Commission President,
Jean-Claude Juncker, announced a wide-ranging agreement meant to stave off further trade hostilities
between the US and Europe. If we team up, we can make our planet a better, more secure
and more prosperous place.
This man is a visionary.
Can you imagine a world where one day America and Europe can work together?
Can you imagine?
That is insane!
That would be like peanut butter and jelly in the same sandwich!
Europe and America? Who ever thought we'd see something like this in our lifetimes? I mean, you realize just two and a half weeks ago, a th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. This, th. This, th, th, th, th, th, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. something like this in our lifetimes?
I mean, you realize just two and a half weeks ago,
a major world leader declared Europe one of America's biggest enemies,
but who that leader is will be a mystery forever.
So, I mean, we don't know how we got here.
The point is, Trump fixed it, my friends.
Even you haters out there have to be impressed by that turnaround. In fact, I haven't seen something that miraculous since I got an Oreo with twice as much filling
as a regular Ario.
Yeah, and you know, some people said, Trevor, that's just a double-stuffed Ario, but
they're just jealous, okay?
I know what Jesus did for me.
And you know what, if you still don't believe in this great leader's ability to mend what was once broken, then maybe this will open your eyes.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nilsons as a government will meet today's deadline
to reunite all eligible children and parents who were separated at the border.
That's right.
Move over, tie soccer team that takes weird-ass field trips.
Some other kids are being rescued now. Yeah, and it's all thanks to the commander-in-chief.
Bim, bim!
Bin, bee!
This is so amazing, man.
All the migrant children who are torn away from their families
at the border will now be reunited.
Yes, except for the hundreds of kids who won't be reunited. Yeah, but I don't think we should focus on the numbers when we're their think, their, think, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, tho, th, th, th, thin', th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, tho, tho, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, th, th, th, th, th're talking about children. I mean, I believe the children are the future.
You teach them well and something, something, something, something.
And I know, I know there are naysayers out there who'll be like,
oh, but who took these kids away from their parents in the first place?
Who cares?
Who cares?
That only matters if you're trying to prevent that Trump fixed it. He's reunited more families than Moripovitch.
So in one week, President Trump saved the farmers, made peace with Europe, and freed the
children.
And we could spend forever trying to figure out which 45th president hurt the farmers, antagonized
Europe and kidnapped the children to begin with, but again, that's not the point.
The point is, my friends, President Trump can fix any problem just as long as he created it.
We'll be right back.
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It's been said that nice guys finish last.
But is that really true?
I'm Tim Harford, host of the Cautionary Tales podcast, and I'm exploring that very
question.
Join me for my new miniseries on the Art of Fairness.
We'll travel from New York to Tahiti to India on a quest to learn how to succeed without
being a jerk.
We'll examine stories of villains undone by their villainy and monstrous self-devaring egos and will delve
into the extraordinary power of decency. We'll face mutiny on the vast
Pacific Ocean, blaze a trail with a pioneering skyscraper and dare to confront
a formidable empire. The art of fairness on cautionary tales.
Listen on the I-Heart radio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, the weekly show. We're going
to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches.
Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.
Welcome back to the Daily Show.
You know how the past few years people have been saying the world is on fire? Well, it
turns out it actually is.
Global temperatures reached extreme highs this past week, something scientists have
been warning of as part of the effects of climate change. This map from the University of Maine shows
maximum temperatures around the globe yesterday. Look at that map people. Look at
that. We've made the world so hot that it looks like the Earth got its
STD results back and it's got all of them. Why don't you use condoms earth? Why? Because they choke turtles? Oh I get it. And we've the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tree. tree. tree. te. te. te. tea. tea. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the Why? Because they choke turtles? Oh I get it
now, I get it. And we've been hearing about global warming for a while, right?
But when you see the numbers, you'll realize it's no joke.
In Denver, Colorado, the city tied its record all-time high of 105 degrees on June 28th.
A new world record was set in the Middle East last week. Along the coast of Oman, the temperature tem tem tem te temperature te temperature te temperature te temperature te, te, te, te, tode, tode, tode, tode, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, too, tooome, tooome, too, tooome, tooome, tooome, tooom. tooom. tooom. tooom. tooom, tooom, tooom, tooom, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, too, too, too, too, the, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the, the, the, thiiiii. the. the. thiiiiii. thi. too toe. toe coast of Oman, the temperature never dropped below 108.7 degrees over a 24-hour period. And in Glasgow, Scotland, the temperature reached
a record-breaking 89.4 degrees on June 28th. That's more than 20 degrees hotter than its usual
mild summer temperature. Wow, there really is nowhere to escape this heat. Even Scotland is feeling it. And I know, I know that 90 degrees doesn't degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees d-d-d-d-d-de-de-de-de-7-7-7 degrees degrees degrees degrees degrees-a-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7 degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees-e-e-e-e-7 degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th degrees th nowhere to escape this heat. Even Scotland is feeling it.
And I know, I know that 90 degrees doesn't sound that bad, but don't forget, we're talking
about Scottish people here, all right?
Yeah, they're not built for that much sun.
When you have skin that pale, even sunscreen cannot help you.
You put it on and the sunscreen is like, yeah, I can't do everything, man, you gotta do something. I need your skin to do some of the work.
I can't be SPF everything.
This is insane.
And it turns out that climate change doesn't just make weather worse, it's making humans worse.
Climate change poses a huge threat to national security.
This according to a new Pentagon report.
In our defense strategy, we refer to climate change as a threat multiplier because it has the potential to exacerbate many of the challenges we are dealing with today from infectious disease to terrorism.
Yeah, that's right. More climate change means more terrorism. That's insane. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if ISIS starts working this into their recruitment videos.
If you join us, you will die a glorious death against the Western infidels.
Also, we have air conditioning.
ISIS. Terrorism's never been so cool.
Makes you want to join ISIS, right?
Yeah, and the hotter it gets, the worst the world's problems will be.
So no surprise, countries like Japan are doing anything they can to cool things down.
Two years to go until the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
But as the city continues its countdown to the event, there is rising concern
that it'll be too hot to host the biggest sporting event on the planet.
They are doing a few things. They are going to paint the streets white to make the sun bounce back and not heat up
the ground.
You see, now there's a solution.
Painting the streets white.
Although that might cause more problems because now the road will cause so much glare
that you can't see when you drive so they'll have to fix the glare by covering the road with giant sunglasses, right? Yeah, but then now the road has glass all over it so Japan will have to invent
hover cars so that they don't break the glass. But then the hover cars will just
crash into birds and all that squawking is gonna wake up Godzilla and then he'll
come on to land and he'll see that the Olympics are in Tokyo and he'll be like, oh no, this is for humans only. And Godzilla will be like, oh, you're discriminating against me. And then Japan will have a nasty lawsuit on its hands and it'll be really horrible.
I might have smoked some weed before I started this story.
The point is though, there's a solution.
And look, at least Japan is trying to fix the problem.
I think we should be trying to, okay? So before the weed the weed the weed the weed we the weed we we we we we we. Number one, the color white reflects sunlight away from the earth, right? So from now on, when
the sun is at its hottest, all the white people, you go outside, all the white
people, you go outside, all right? You go outside, and then you can tell us how it
went, all right, yeah. Here's another idea. Sea levels are rising, we we got to stop that. So, so so so so, so, so, so, so, so so, so, so, so, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th. So, so th so th so, so th so, so from th so from th so from th so from tho, so from th, so from th, so from th, so from th, so from th, so from, so from, so from th, so from, so from, so from, so from, so from, so from, so from, so from, so from, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so th, so the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi, so thi, so from the, so from the the the the the the thea thea thea thea thean, so the, so thi, so thi, tell us how it went. All right, yeah. Here's another idea.
Here's another idea.
Sea levels are rising.
We've got to stop that.
So one day a year, everyone on earth, we go to the beach and we just drink a giant
cup of seawater, right?
And don't tell me it's gross.
If people can drink cumbuchahahs, thiol-o, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, to to to to to too, too, thi, too, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr-s, thr-s, thr-s, throwns, thi, thr-s, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the thr-s, thr-s, thr-s, thr-s, thr-s the icebergs from melting. My solution, we give every iceberg a desk job, right?
Because American officers always have the air conditioning on way too high, nothing can
melt in there.
Even the iceberg would be like, oh, does anyone have a jacket I can borrow, please?
I'm freezing my nuts off in here.
Yeah, these are some solutions.
Oh, here's another thing we could do. We could also try and regulate the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thuuicicicicicicicicicuicuicuicuicuicuicuicuicu, thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes thoes a thoes a thioc. thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes a thoes always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always always th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A th. A the. A the a the a the a the a the a the a the a the a the a thea. A thea. A thea. A thea. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A. Yeah, these are some solutions. Oh, here's another thing we could do.
We could also try and regulate global carbon emissions
and accept some economic pain in the short term
to protect the future of our planet in the long term.
No, you know what, that's crazy.
Just grab a cup and I'll see you guys at the beach.
We'll be right back.
Welcome back to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is the 28-year-old progressive activist who defeated a 10-term congressman in the Democratic primary for New York's 14th Congressional
District. Please welcome House Democratic nominee Alexandria-Cazio Cortel. Wow. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Congratulations on being the dream of half the country and a nightmare of another half.
I'll take it.
You seem like you have been taking it.
The term democratic socialist has never felt like it has more weight to it than now.
We hear your name on the news every single day.
When you use that term, what do you want people to understand by it?
Well, I think what I want people to understand is that we live in a society that is capable.
We are capable of ensuring that we have basic frameworks where people can be covered by health
insurance, can send their kids to college, where we can pursue a very bold action on climate
change and save our future, and that it is part of a moral and ethical economy, and that we can
legislate from that value and where it is possible, I believe we are morally obliged to pursue it.
Right.
Now, when you speak about that, it seems like a logical idea for a politician to have in America.
The way you are framed, is oftentimes the crazy socialist who wants to turn America into Venezuela and into Cuba.
Now what I find interesting is, you know, when I think of ideas of socialism,
I go, okay, there's maybe Venezuela and there's Cuba, and then I go, but then there's also Norway and Denmark.
Do you think there's a branding, disconnect in America between some of these policy ideas, between generations maybe? Well, between generations, I absolutely think so.
I think us as millennials, we grew up in a time, we grew, we came of age in a time of 9-11
happened in middle school, the financial crisis happened in college.
We have never really known or grown up in a time of true economic prosperity in the United States. We came of age in a time of hyper concentration of wealth
with the very tip-top of people in the country and the world.
And so for us to have access, we also grew up seeing our peers in other countries,
like in the UK and Canada with single payer health care systems.
We grew up with peers being able to go to college without you know graduating with a mortgage's worth of debt and we
we know that economically there's a better way because it has already been
done. Right. When when you get spoken about and this has been interesting
it's been a conversation that I haven't just heard from Republicans which
you would expect but I've noticed some establishment Democrats
who have come out and said,
oh, I've seen the young lady, Ocasio Cortez, say the thing she says,
but it's a little unrealistic.
You know, she has to be a bit more realistic to move things forward.
Do you think that when you move into Congress, if you were to win that seat,
would you be in a position where you would have to augment your views or do you think that you would come to an impasse with other Democrats? Well I
think I often say in terms of my style I'm very idealistic and optimistic about
my values and my goals and where I think we should head. But I'm very pragmatic in
how we head there. And so I think that I'm willing to work with folks
in the direction that I think we need to head.
And so I'm not a take no prisoners kind of person
as much as Fox News and all these folks want me to want to portray me as.
But I think it's about getting to where we need to be, you know,
and that may mean some spirited conversation within the party, but that doesn't
mean we can't.
I really do believe that we have a much longer path to travel together than one that, than
before we travel apart.
When you look at ideas you have, like supporting a minimum wage, you are very pro the
idea of people earning enough to make a living, right?
Yeah, shocking.
Crazy ideas. But then the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th then then then then the the the tho thoes thi thi, thi, thoes thoes that's that's that's that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I that's, I I I I I I I I I I I I that's, I I that's, I is is that's, I that's, thin. I'll thin. I'll thin. I'll thin, thoes, thoes, thooooooooooes. I'm thoooooes.a. I'm thoooes. I'm thoooes. I'm thoes. I'm then there are those who say look I agree with you
But how do you pay for this? How do you make it economically feasible?
There there are some who argue and say I hear what you're saying miss Cortez and I'm with you
But a $15 minimum wage may stifle economic growth well first we see for example studies in the city of Seattle that have implemented 15 dollar minimum wage
Show that that that is not the case. Secondly, one of the biggest problems that we have
is 200 million Americans make less than $20,000 a year. That's 40% of this
country and how can we have an economy that grows, how can we build wealth as an
economy if a large plurality of Americans are too
poor to participate in it.
Raising the minimum wage to a living wage will expand our economy.
It will create wealth in our economy and it will increase economic activity in this country.
So for those that say it's unrealistic, this, that and the other, it comes back to money
and politics. Who's financing your campaign? And are the folks financing your campaign, are the private-in the private the private the private th-in th-in th-in th-in th-o-o-o-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up-a-up-a-up-up-a-up-a-a-a-up-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-i-a-a-i-a-i. th-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the other, it comes back to money and politics. Who's financing your campaign?
And are the folks financing your campaign, or the private equity groups financing your campaign?
It's not a coincidence that they profit off of low wages.
Do you worry that when you get into the halls of Congress, that you may become infected
by that money? And the reason I ask this is because I've seen many politicians who start out with beautiful ideals and once they get into the
machine they'll tell you that from the inside it's so different you have to
get money from big corporations and you have to start working with
business. Do you worry that maybe your ideals will be met with
reality once you get to to the Capitol? Well I think that what makes our campaign and my candidacy a
little different is that I have taken a public pledge not to accept any
corporate pack money whatsoever.
And we are now starting to see a movement in Congress. I think there's about eight members of
Congress. I believe they're all Democrats that have accepted that pledge, but I actually think I may be one of the only ones that actually got to the to the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the public I the public I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I the public I the public I the public the public the public the public the public the public the public the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the public. I have. I have I have I have I have I have I have I have I to. I Congress. I believe they're all Democrats that have accepted that pledge,
but I actually think I may be one of the only ones
that actually got elected for the first time on that.
Many folks got elected with some corporate money
and then they swore it off after.
But I think I'm one of the first to get elected right out of the gate
without any corporate pack money, which gives me, I believe, a very large degree of independence. I am a little, you know, I'm a little afraid,
because I know that the culture of Congress is one that I think the majority of Americans are just exasperated with.
Right, right, right.
And to a certain extent, you have to be kind of an emissary in that there are ways that you get things done.
And there's the implication that you need to get committee assignments by purchasing them through
fundraising and all of that and I think it's one of those things where you know
I think first of all I got elected on not taking corporate pack money and I
have absolutely no intention of changing that whatsoever and so it's
really just about learning to navigate that space with that foundation. You've seen some some some some some some some some some some some some some some some some the older the older the old the old the old the old the old the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi thi thi th. th. th. th. th. th. the, thi the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thin, thin, the. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm thean. I'm that foundation. You've seen some of the older politicians and more establishment politicians within the Democratic Party saying,
I like what Alexandria Cortez is all about, but she's scaring away Midwestern voters.
She needs to temper her message because that's going to lose her the support of Midwestern voters,
which is weird because you're not, first of all representing them. No. But also, how do you respond to that that that that that that that that that that that th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the idea thi their their their their their their their their thi thi thi thi their their their thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. thi th. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the. theat. theat. theat. theat. theat. theat. theat. theat. theatea. the. the. their, ern voters, which is weird because you're not, first of all, representing them.
No.
But also, how do you respond to that idea that you are in fact creating an unappealing
view of what the Democratic Party is?
So earlier this week or last week, a few days ago, everything's a blur. I don't even, what
is time?
But I was in Kansas.
And I intentionally went with Senator Sanders actually in an extremely
deep red district, the district that the Koch brothers live in.
It was a Republican plus 20 district and a non-corporate candidate, progressive candidate campaigned
in that district and turned it to R plus 6.
He shaved 14 points off of the Republican Advantage in that district.
This was a district that everybody gave up on.
They said this is too bad, like too far gone.
He went in there anyway and he cut 14 points off of the Republican lead and we went in
there and on 1 p.m. on a Friday in the middle of the work day, we turned out 4,000 to 5,000 people
in the middle of Wichita for a rally.
And I think what we need to remember is that it was the Midwest that was the source of
the progressive movement originally in the United States of America.
It was workers in Indiana, in Michigan, in Kansas that bought into the New Deal, that organized, that unionized their labor, that got a 40-hour work week and a two-day weekend. That came from the Midwest.
Right. And I believe that it will come from the Midwest again. When...
When you look at the power of labels, I mean, in politics you understand how powerful a label can be, you know, that's attached to your
name or an idea.
Do you ever consider taking a socialist out of your label?
And I asked this as an argument that I saw where it was an interesting idea where someone
said, millennials and this generation haven't been indoctrinated in the same way against
socialism as the older generation has. And so then I thought I was like, I wonder if
Alexander Cortez would say, no, I don't mind not being called a socialist,
but these are still my platform ideas, or do you feel like you should be able to run
on the platform and say you are who you are? Which one would you prefer to go?
Well, I think my strength is that I am honest and I am authentic. And I think that even Republicans write letters
to our campaign saying thank you.
And one of the reasons they do that,
A, is because getting money out of politics
is a bipartisan and postpartisan issue.
Everybody recognizes it as a problem.
But then B, I think people appreciate that I am honest, and that I'm not trying to not be who I am in order to get you to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like to like you to like to like you to like to like to like you to like you to like to like to like you to like to like you to like you to like you to like you to like you to like to like to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the.e.e.e. the the the the the the the the the the toe.eck.eck. toeck. toeck. toeck and that I'm not trying to not be who I am
in order to get you to like me.
You know, I'm here, this is what it's about,
Medicare for All, tuition free public college,
a green new deal.
That is what I campaigned as.
And that is that I think it's also important to say that,
this socialist label is something that I think the media cares more
about because I don't knock on a person's door and is like hey let me tell
you about socialism like that's yeah that wouldn't that's not how I campaign
yeah that's like you Jehovah's Witnesses that's right exactly
yeah exactly yeah exactly yeah exactly and I also think that I don't knock
on a person's door and say,
hey, let me tell you about being a Democrat.
No, I don't say that.
I speak to people's needs.
And, you know, if Fox News and if media want to continue using this word,
they're going to use the word, I think by me saying, oh, no, I'm not, this, that, and the other, it just becomes a distraction. We're here to talk about wages. We're here to talk about education.
We're here to talk about saving our planet.
We're here to talk about a carbon tax.
We're here about, we're here to talk about people paying their fair share.
And we're here to talk about, frankly.
Right.
Right. Before I let you go, then that is one of the key things that I want to speak to you
about then is those ideas I think most people would agree on, especially if they don't
know the label that they're attached to, you know.
But then the pragmatic side of it comes in, as you said.
How do you pay for these?
You know, you always see people coming in with economic arguments. And they say, look, the the, th, the, th, the, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thee, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, I I tho, I tho, I tho, I I tho, I tho, I I I th.. And, I I I I th... And, I I I I th. And, I I I th. And, I th. And, I th. And, I thi, I thee, thi, thee, thee, thee, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thooooooooooooooooooooooo. And, than, than, thin, thoooooo. And, thee, they say, look, these numbers don't really add up. You know, in order to get health care for everybody, this is what it would cost.
That's going to be troubling. Even if you reverse the Republican tax deal,
that's only going to make up 5% of what we need to pay for Medicare for all. You know,
how do you pay for education for all, how do you pay for all of these ideas? So, excellent question. And in fact, there's a lot of back-of-the-envelop stuff based on our values.
So for example, I sat down with a Nobel Prize economist last week.
I can't think I can say that.
It's really weird.
But one of the things that we saw is if people pay their fair share. If corporations and the ultra-wealthy, for example, as Warren Buffett likes to say, if he paid as the the the the the the their, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tha, tha, thi. thoom is the, the, is thoom is thoom is is thoom is is is thoombseck is is thoombseck is thoombea, thoes, the is the is the is the, the, the, the, the, is is is is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is the, is toe, is a toea, is a toea.ea.ea.eaughea, isa, isa, isa, isa.ea.ea.ea.eaughea, isa, is example, as Warren Buffett likes to say,
if he paid as much as his secretary paid, 15%, if he paid a 15% tax rate,
if corporations paid, if we reversed the tax bill, but when raised our corporate tax rate to 28%,
which is not even as high as it was before, if we do those two things and also close some of those loopholes, that's $2 trillion right
there.
That's $2 trillion in 10 years.
And it's one of the wide estimates is that it's going to take $3 to $4 trillion to transition
us to 100 tax bill.
They weren't no, like, they weren't paying that before the Trump tax bill.
If we get people to pay their fair share, that's $2 trillion in 10 years.
Now if we implement a carbon tax on top of that so that we can transition and financially incentivize people away from fossil fuels, if we implement a carbon tax that's additional amount of a large amount of revenue that we can have. And then the
last key, which is extremely extremely important, is reprioritization. Just
last year we gave the military a 700 billion dollar budget increase, which they
didn't even ask for. They're like, we don't want another fighter jet.
Like, they're like, don't give us another nuclear bomb.
They didn't even ask for it, and we gave it to them.
And so a lot of what we need to do is reprioritize what we want to accomplish as a nation.
And really what this is about is saying health care is important enough for us to put first.
Education is important enough for us to put first.
And that is a decision that requires political and moral courage from both parts of the aisle.
Period.
Thank you so much for being on the show.
Alexandria, Acazio Cortes, everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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