Matt Connarton Unleashed 9-25-25 w/Todd Ayer

0:00 Speaker 1: Get command, don't get supremely magxell coming. Hey, welcome everybody,

0:09 Speaker 1: Here we go. It is the podcast version AF, as

0:12 Speaker 1: we call it mcu AF. Matt Connorton unleashed the online

0:17 Speaker 1: only edition of the show today is Thursday's September twenty five,

0:21 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, And joining me, of course, is Todd Air.

0:25 Speaker 2: Hello, Todd, Hey, how are you today? Matt?

0:27 Speaker 1: I say, of course, because I'm used to saying, you know,

0:29 Speaker 1: welcome to Hanging Left. So of course Todd is with me.

0:33 Speaker 1: So if for anyone who's for the uninitiated, if you're

0:36 Speaker 1: not familiar, Todd and I do a podcast together called

0:39 Speaker 1: Hanging Left, but today we were gonna do Jenny and

0:44 Speaker 1: I were going to do Matt Connorton unleashed a live

0:47 Speaker 1: podcast edition with Sarah Sarah Chatzunski, who I know is

0:51 Speaker 1: under the weather, but you and I Todd had a

0:53 Speaker 1: great conversation with Sarah on Hanging Left absolutely a number

0:58 Speaker 1: of weeks ago. And of course you're you're obviously involved

1:01 Speaker 1: in the campaign. Yeah, so it made sense for you

1:04 Speaker 1: to step in in her place today as her voice

1:08 Speaker 1: is not uh uh where it needs to be to

1:11 Speaker 1: do something like.

1:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, it's the being out on the

1:15 Speaker 2: trail and and really you know, being that voice for

1:19 Speaker 2: people that don't have a voice. You know, sometimes you

1:22 Speaker 2: literally lose your voice. It takes a lot out of you. So,

1:25 Speaker 2: you know, we just we have her. Uh you know,

1:28 Speaker 2: she's a little under the weather. So I said to her, hey,

1:31 Speaker 2: you know, take a step back, you know, get your

1:33 Speaker 2: get yourself up and ready to go again so we

1:36 Speaker 2: can be at one hundred percent because she is a

1:38 Speaker 2: human after all.

1:40 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, we're we're getting into that time of year,

1:43 Speaker 1: cold and flu season and all that goes with it.

1:47 Speaker 1: Absolutely so, uh so what can you tell us about

1:50 Speaker 1: how things are going with the campaign? Well, and of

1:52 Speaker 1: course for people who don't know, we should also of

1:55 Speaker 1: course talk about the seat that Sarah is running for

1:58 Speaker 1: and uh you know, kind of give people some background.

2:02 Speaker 2: Sure, So we are running for the what will be

2:06 Speaker 2: the open seat in Congress, which is District one and

2:13 Speaker 2: currently held by Christopher Pappus of uh you know, a

2:16 Speaker 2: Manchester who owns uh The Puritan, and he is going

2:23 Speaker 2: to be moving over to the Senate and our goal

2:26 Speaker 2: is to actually uh you know, partner with him and

2:29 Speaker 2: and be in that role as the congressman, as well

2:32 Speaker 2: as with Senator Maggie Goodlander, who handles the district two.

2:36 Speaker 1: Okay, ye, so uh so why is uh, why is

2:41 Speaker 1: Sarah running for this? What? What is uh? What is

2:43 Speaker 1: the objective here?

2:45 Speaker 2: So? I think you know, the people really have spoken

2:49 Speaker 2: pretty loudly about the fact that they need some real

2:54 Speaker 2: humans in the race, you know, and just to add,

2:59 Speaker 2: you know, some reality and some sort of grounding effects

3:03 Speaker 2: to Congress currently as it is. So you know Sarah's goal.

3:10 Speaker 2: She does have a strong background in international relations, specifically

3:15 Speaker 2: with the Ukraine. She even helped broker a sixty four

3:18 Speaker 2: billion dollar deal to get the Ukraine the necessary funding

3:23 Speaker 2: to defend themselves as a sovereign state. So you know,

3:27 Speaker 2: her idea basically is that, you know, why not I

3:31 Speaker 2: have all this ability, I have the ability to build bridges,

3:34 Speaker 2: and certainly this is the time to build bridges and

3:36 Speaker 2: not burn them, and so why not work towards you know,

3:40 Speaker 2: and use my connections and the respect I've gotten Washington

3:43 Speaker 2: and internationally and and you know, defend people really and

3:49 Speaker 2: defend this country because we we you know, democracy is

3:52 Speaker 2: definitely it's it's it's it's not so stable, right, now,

3:57 Speaker 2: you know, I mean, we still have it intact, but

4:00 Speaker 2: you know, there are definitely challenges going on right now.

4:02 Speaker 2: So it's important that someone like Sarah comes out right

4:05 Speaker 2: from the start and says, look, you know, democracy is

4:09 Speaker 2: as an experiment. You know, it's a it's a messy

4:12 Speaker 2: experiment at times, but it's something you have to work for. Yeah,

4:17 Speaker 2: you can't take it for granted. And so she's standing

4:19 Speaker 2: up and showing people that, you know, she's basically practicing

4:22 Speaker 2: what she preaches, and she's out there defending democracy. So really,

4:27 Speaker 2: we're in this election and she's in this election. It's

4:30 Speaker 2: really not about us. It's really about everyone, and it's

4:33 Speaker 2: about you know, giving the people a voice again and

4:37 Speaker 2: in an authentic voice. That's important, and people that they

4:40 Speaker 2: can trust that truly have their back. I mean, I

4:43 Speaker 2: think people really want someone that they can trust that

4:45 Speaker 2: has their back, and Sarah we call it like to

4:48 Speaker 2: color Sarah c it's a little easier, but yeah, Sarah,

4:51 Speaker 2: Sarah's that person.

4:54 Speaker 1: I do want to mention for people who are streaming

4:57 Speaker 1: the show live. Obviously most people will get this in

5:00 Speaker 1: the podcast and the podcast feed for Matt connorton Unleashed,

5:02 Speaker 1: which you can find on all your major podcast platforms.

5:05 Speaker 1: But if you do happen to be streaming the show

5:07 Speaker 1: live on late Thursday afternoon early evening on September twenty fifth, uh,

5:12 Speaker 1: feel free to comment in the chat room. We do

5:14 Speaker 1: have the chat room open on your wherever you're watching

5:17 Speaker 1: the show, whether it be on YouTube or Facebook or wherever.

5:21 Speaker 1: We're even on Rumble. Believe it or not, Todd, I

5:23 Speaker 1: actually stream the show to Rumble. I know that that's

5:26 Speaker 1: that might might not be the most receptive audience, but

5:28 Speaker 1: but that's part of why I like to stream the

5:30 Speaker 1: show there and on LinkedIn as well. So yeah, yeah,

5:34 Speaker 1: so I try to try to make it as available

5:37 Speaker 1: as possible or perhaps unavoidable would be a better way

5:40 Speaker 1: of putting it.

5:40 Speaker 2: But well, what's great about you always that I really

5:44 Speaker 2: do appreciate and I'm sure share Sara would share these sentiments.

5:47 Speaker 2: You're really about equity and trying to keep a balance

5:51 Speaker 2: and letting everyone kind of have a voice. Yeah, so,

5:54 Speaker 2: I you know, I think it's important, Like, look, we're

5:57 Speaker 2: not going to fix the things that are happening in

5:58 Speaker 2: this country just remaining in an echo chamber and not

6:02 Speaker 2: listening to the other viable sides. Yeah, and not basically

6:06 Speaker 2: offering anybody that is pro democracy a seat at the table.

6:10 Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's important to to, you know, be

6:14 Speaker 1: very much open to that. So thank you for that.

6:17 Speaker 1: And Sarah is in the chat room and says, appreciate

6:20 Speaker 1: Todd speaking for me today while my voice is m

6:23 Speaker 1: I A. I love my team, Thank you, Sarah.

6:26 Speaker 2: This is this is this is kind of reversal. Right,

6:30 Speaker 2: my voice was the one that was challenged for god

6:32 Speaker 2: knows how long.

6:33 Speaker 1: So we should talk about you and again, listeners of

6:37 Speaker 1: the Hanging Left podcast obviously are already very familiar with you, Todd.

6:40 Speaker 1: But for for people who are not familiar with that

6:43 Speaker 1: show who might not know you, what is what is

6:46 Speaker 1: your role in the campaign and and how did you

6:49 Speaker 1: how did this come about? Where where you're working with Sarah?

6:53 Speaker 2: Sure, Matt, No, that's a good question. So basically I

6:56 Speaker 2: am her political director. Not basically I am her political director.

6:59 Speaker 2: So what that kind of means is it's kind of

7:01 Speaker 2: taken on, you know, it's an organic position, so it

7:04 Speaker 2: kind of takes on things that they need it. But

7:07 Speaker 2: within the field area anyway, I'm her right hand person.

7:10 Speaker 2: Also I helped manage the field team and ultimately will

7:15 Speaker 2: help her manage with the field team as sorry as

7:20 Speaker 2: the field team, we will all help manage the hopefully

7:23 Speaker 2: the army of volunteers that we acquire. Hopefully, though, I

7:25 Speaker 2: mean a lot of people seem to already be interested.

7:28 Speaker 2: It's just a matter of getting that aspect of the

7:30 Speaker 2: campaign up and running.

7:32 Speaker 1: So as you do this, uh, what what are you

7:34 Speaker 1: seeing out there on the on the campaign trail? I mean,

7:37 Speaker 1: you know, when when you're able to obviously you know,

7:40 Speaker 1: cold and flu season has already started. But but but

7:44 Speaker 1: thatt aside, I mean what and by the way, this

7:46 Speaker 1: might this might contribute to people being sick because obviously

7:49 Speaker 1: campaigning is hard work, right for sure, probably nobody, nobody

7:52 Speaker 1: involved in this endeavor, including Sarah herself. I'm sure is

7:56 Speaker 1: is getting enough rest and that's that just comes with it, right,

7:59 Speaker 1: But but it's also worth it, of course to make

8:01 Speaker 1: that sacrifice. But but what's it been like so far?

8:05 Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's it's it's a lot of work, absolutely,

8:11 Speaker 2: And why I you know, am definitely focused on this

8:15 Speaker 2: is because I guess I feel like, you know, all

8:19 Speaker 2: of us have roles to play really in the world

8:21 Speaker 2: in general. But I think that if you've been given

8:24 Speaker 2: a gift, whether that's the gift of the ability to speak,

8:29 Speaker 2: the ability to create coalitions and to help mobilize people,

8:34 Speaker 2: and you've been given and you have charisma, and you

8:37 Speaker 2: have the and also you happen to have contacts and

8:42 Speaker 2: the ears of people that very few people have, the

8:44 Speaker 2: ears of I almost think it's it's imperative and you're

8:48 Speaker 2: compelled to do what it takes in this moment to

8:52 Speaker 2: do what you can to protect this country. I mean,

8:55 Speaker 2: I would almost feel guilty if I hadn't joined the campaign.

8:59 Speaker 2: And the thing about Sarah is that we have the

9:02 Speaker 2: same philosophy, right, and that's that basically we understand the

9:07 Speaker 2: importance of having a universal vision which sort of takes

9:13 Speaker 2: into account the people as well as the establishment as

9:18 Speaker 2: well as like the you know, both the the very

9:22 Speaker 2: left side of the establishment all the way to the

9:25 Speaker 2: more center side and even you know, some more pragmatic

9:30 Speaker 2: conservatives and hold more of like ideally like like a

9:38 Speaker 2: the conversation circle and and you know gets you know,

9:41 Speaker 2: sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, but just be out there and

9:45 Speaker 2: open and let people know that, you know, to me,

9:51 Speaker 2: I don't know. I couldn't really do anything else in

9:52 Speaker 2: the moment. Honestly, I think that like I do happen,

9:55 Speaker 2: oh and so to I guess take a deeper dive

9:58 Speaker 2: into that. Myself, my colleague Jason who's her scheduler, as

10:04 Speaker 2: well as a member of the field staff, and then

10:07 Speaker 2: Andrew who is also field staff and our photographer as

10:11 Speaker 2: well as now myself and Andrew are now running the

10:13 Speaker 2: social media part of it. You know, all of us

10:17 Speaker 2: and even Sarah herself, we come from an activism world.

10:20 Speaker 2: We come from a activist world. We come from a

10:24 Speaker 2: nonprofit world. We come from you know, amongst the people,

10:28 Speaker 2: but some of us, and specifically myself and Sarah, we

10:32 Speaker 2: also have been lucky enough and have the privilege of

10:37 Speaker 2: knowing some people that call the shots. So I think

10:41 Speaker 2: that what the people want right now is people that

10:44 Speaker 2: are fighting for them and are having an honest conversation

10:49 Speaker 2: with the people and the establishment and not shunning them

10:52 Speaker 2: and not beating them up, because I don't think that's

10:54 Speaker 2: going to get us anywhere, but definitely holding them to

10:56 Speaker 2: accountability and saying you know, good enough isn't good enough,

11:00 Speaker 2: and especially when you know the threats we're facing right

11:04 Speaker 2: now are internal and serious and this is not time

11:08 Speaker 2: to like, you know, take your foot off the pedal.

11:11 Speaker 2: I mean, you really got to hit it hard.

11:13 Speaker 1: Well, how hard is that to navigate? I mean maybe

11:15 Speaker 1: this is getting a little inside baseball, but but like you,

11:19 Speaker 1: like you said, I mean as far as because yeah,

11:22 Speaker 1: you kind of have to fight. It's almost like in

11:24 Speaker 1: my mind, and again I'm speaking from the perspective of

11:29 Speaker 1: I've only ever had a lot of opinions and done

11:32 Speaker 1: a lot of bloviating and commenting on politics. I've never

11:34 Speaker 1: worked for a campaign. I've certainly never run for office.

11:38 Speaker 1: So I'm very much asking this question from the outside

11:42 Speaker 1: because I am on the outside in that sense. But

11:45 Speaker 1: you're you kind of it's almost like if this were

11:47 Speaker 1: a war, you'd be fighting on two fronts, right, because

11:51 Speaker 1: you've got ultimately, you know, you're you're fighting for democracy, right,

11:55 Speaker 1: and you're you're fighting against the fascism that we're seeing

11:57 Speaker 1: in all of that, right. So so you've got that fight.

12:00 Speaker 1: But before you even get to that fight, you've also

12:03 Speaker 1: got the fight of how do you break through when

12:06 Speaker 1: the establishment of the Democratic Party has such a hold

12:10 Speaker 1: on everything you know, and they you know, everyone loves

12:14 Speaker 1: an underdog, except for those who are directly threatened by

12:16 Speaker 1: the underdog.

12:17 Speaker 2: Right, although you know, that's an interesting point you bring up,

12:21 Speaker 2: and I think that there's a little bit of a

12:24 Speaker 2: confusion there. You know, it's it's not the time for

12:28 Speaker 2: us to be divided, and so I think that because

12:33 Speaker 2: some of us are I guess lucky or maybe unlucky

12:36 Speaker 2: depending on your perspective to have the ears of both

12:39 Speaker 2: the centrist establishment as well as the very left progressive.

12:44 Speaker 2: You know, that allows us to rally the people, but honestly,

12:48 Speaker 2: we're not. I don't see it as like fighting two fronts.

12:52 Speaker 2: I see it as giving people permission to stand up.

12:56 Speaker 2: And Sarah sees it the same way. I mean, people

12:58 Speaker 2: are just afraid. They're not they're not not wanting to fight. Yeah,

13:02 Speaker 2: I mean there's that people don't know how to People

13:05 Speaker 2: don't know what works and what doesn't work. And if

13:07 Speaker 2: you're a member of the establishment, and I can only

13:10 Speaker 2: speak I think to the New Hampshire establishment, but if

13:14 Speaker 2: you're a member of that establishment, I think we all

13:17 Speaker 2: like no one in New Hampshire. As as Papas said

13:20 Speaker 2: very recently in a speech, we are not a pro

13:23 Speaker 2: dictator state. No, I mean the whole Live for or

13:26 Speaker 2: Die is all about independence. So yeah, right, so you

13:31 Speaker 2: can grab that fire for independence and which just segues

13:36 Speaker 2: very nicely into democracy and and get everybody on the

13:39 Speaker 2: same page, because like, you know, yes, okay, there's the

13:44 Speaker 2: Democrats of the Republicans, but there's also the big D,

13:48 Speaker 2: which is democracy, and that's what we're all fighting for

13:50 Speaker 2: against the other big D, which is dictatorship. You know,

13:53 Speaker 2: that's what we're fighting against. And most people that you know, look,

13:59 Speaker 2: only about thirty percent of this population. And that's so

14:02 Speaker 2: thirty percent will follow him, I would say, once it's

14:05 Speaker 2: all said and done, and then within that thirty percent,

14:08 Speaker 2: conservatively fifteen percent but probably closer to like five percent

14:12 Speaker 2: would benefit from this power grab. You know, a vast

14:17 Speaker 2: majority of even the people following him, he's just lying

14:20 Speaker 2: to them and feeding them their breads and circuses. But

14:22 Speaker 2: the end of the day, his plan is you know,

14:24 Speaker 2: their disposal too to him. Oh so it's just important,

14:28 Speaker 2: you know, Look, we can't flip everyone, right, And it's

14:33 Speaker 2: really it's it's kind of like this. This is how

14:35 Speaker 2: I look at it, and I think it's how Sarah

14:37 Speaker 2: would probably say it too. It just so happens. The

14:41 Speaker 2: Democratic Party right now is the party that's standing up

14:43 Speaker 2: for people. But we support everyone that stands up for people.

14:47 Speaker 2: So at the end of the day, we you know,

14:49 Speaker 2: we welcome open dialogue and a little bit of you know,

14:56 Speaker 2: descent amongst each other in a positive, healthy way. Yeah,

14:59 Speaker 2: that's what democracies about.

15:02 Speaker 1: Sarah did stay in the chow room. It's not the

15:04 Speaker 1: time to be divided either. We are all in this together.

15:07 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think matt were very lucky because

15:11 Speaker 2: New England and definitely New Hampshire it's one of those

15:14 Speaker 2: places that you know, for the longest time prior to

15:18 Speaker 2: pre Maga, I grew up my whole life not knowing

15:22 Speaker 2: people as Democrat or Republican or independent. I mean most

15:25 Speaker 2: people actually call themselves independent. And it wasn't a dirty

15:28 Speaker 2: word either because it didn't necessarily mean like this quase

15:32 Speaker 2: like hiding of like libertarian, which was a quase hiding

15:35 Speaker 2: of mega. It wasn't at.

15:37 Speaker 1: All, especially especially in New Hampshire by the way, as

15:40 Speaker 1: an unusually high number of duties.

15:43 Speaker 2: I mean, people were generally independent and people were generally

15:47 Speaker 2: not wanting to get involved in people's personal business, you know.

15:52 Speaker 2: I mean the arguments typically were just like some variations

15:55 Speaker 2: on fiscal responsibility and that kind of thing, and where

15:58 Speaker 2: do we spend the money? Where don't we spend the money?

15:59 Speaker 2: But you know, I'd never met anyone prior to this

16:04 Speaker 2: current situation that wanted to tear everything down and burn

16:07 Speaker 2: it all down and have some sort of like you know,

16:11 Speaker 2: sci Fi dictatorship going right right.

16:14 Speaker 1: By the way, Jenny is also in the chat room

16:16 Speaker 1: and says, hello, Hi, Jenny, how are you. She wanted

16:19 Speaker 1: to be with us, but she's also taking a break.

16:22 Speaker 1: So okay, yeah, we all need you know, we all

16:24 Speaker 1: need uh, we all need to unplug sometimes, right, We

16:26 Speaker 1: gotta yet to think think about think about our health,

16:30 Speaker 1: which I don't always you know, I also am am

16:32 Speaker 1: a victim to uh, you know, thinking I'm Superman and.

16:36 Speaker 2: Oh myself included. You know, it's difficult right now because

16:39 Speaker 2: Sarah is basically asked to be in some respects, She's

16:43 Speaker 2: asked a kind of It's like a human being asked

16:46 Speaker 2: to play Wonder Woman, just like maybe we're people trying

16:49 Speaker 2: to be Superman. But you're right, the realities were not superheroes.

16:53 Speaker 2: We don't have superpowers, and so we got to do

16:55 Speaker 2: what we got to do.

16:57 Speaker 1: Right, right exactly. So what are you hearing, you know,

17:00 Speaker 1: out on the campaign trail, like, what are you what

17:03 Speaker 1: are you hearing from?

17:03 Speaker 2: This? Actually pretty pleasantly surprising. I mean, I think most

17:08 Speaker 2: people so it's a good time to be outside the

17:11 Speaker 2: system and it's a good time to be I would

17:15 Speaker 2: say a little more progressive of center like like center

17:20 Speaker 2: like still understand. I would call it a pragmatic progressive

17:25 Speaker 2: because you know, progress in the sense that a lowercase

17:29 Speaker 2: P progress where you support change and you support moving

17:34 Speaker 2: forward and you support so not a radicalized definition of

17:38 Speaker 2: progressive like you know, the alt right has tried to

17:44 Speaker 2: mark the Democratic Party with progressive right as in the

17:49 Speaker 2: but it's not. It's about change, right, so you know.

17:53 Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, who really it

17:55 Speaker 2: doesn't again, it doesn't matter and there will be some

17:58 Speaker 2: some differences absolutely, but you know, the Democratic Party is

18:02 Speaker 2: a big tent party and there is room for everyone. Uh.

18:06 Speaker 2: The only I would say non negotiable is democracy. I mean,

18:10 Speaker 2: it's just not negotiable, well said uh.

18:13 Speaker 1: Sarah also said can't save the world if you don't

18:15 Speaker 1: get any sleep. We're a team for a reason. Yeah,

18:20 Speaker 1: that's true.

18:21 Speaker 2: Although very true.

18:22 Speaker 1: Although my my caffeine addiction might disagree. But yeah, but

18:26 Speaker 1: my caffeine addiction might kill me eventually. I don't know.

18:29 Speaker 2: But sometimes you're just for you know, let me tell

18:32 Speaker 2: you from someone that knows, like, you know, look at

18:35 Speaker 2: you know the last time I was doing that whole

18:37 Speaker 2: voice thing. Yeah, I got my if I've got my

18:39 Speaker 2: button gear and got tested for you know, strap and

18:43 Speaker 2: treated it right away. Yeah, I would have had a

18:46 Speaker 2: voice a lot sooner. Right, Sometimes you have to give in,

18:50 Speaker 2: you know, as much as you don't want to.

18:51 Speaker 1: That is that, That is absolutely true. Absolutely none of.

18:54 Speaker 2: Us are good at fifty percent, right, Like, this is

18:57 Speaker 2: not a fifty percent level fight, So were better to say,

19:01 Speaker 2: you know what, we can't give one hundred percent or

19:04 Speaker 2: even seventy five percent right now, So we're going to

19:05 Speaker 2: have to unplug for a few even for a few days, yeah,

19:09 Speaker 2: because then we can come back in one hundred percent again.

19:12 Speaker 1: Right, right? Do you you know do you want to

19:16 Speaker 1: talk about specific Uh oh, actually, let me read this comment.

19:20 Speaker 1: Sarah made another comment and then this this might be

19:22 Speaker 1: a good jumping off point for what I was about

19:24 Speaker 1: to ask as a matter of fact, she said, we're

19:26 Speaker 1: hearing a lot of people that want policy that actually

19:28 Speaker 1: makes sense. We want change, but not this change. People

19:31 Speaker 1: are concerned and ready to step into help how they can.

19:36 Speaker 1: So I was and I was about to ask you

19:39 Speaker 1: about about policy as a matter of fact.

19:41 Speaker 2: So, yeah, I think this is the one thing I

19:44 Speaker 2: think also that's helping bring us all together. Whether you

19:47 Speaker 2: talk to Pappus, good Lander, Sarah, even some of our

19:51 Speaker 2: opponents in this race. You know, I would say the

19:55 Speaker 2: key word is affordability, and then that is literally partnered

20:00 Speaker 2: in parallel to human rights. So even if you have

20:05 Speaker 2: a very socially conscious focus or you have a very

20:09 Speaker 2: economically focused the two cannot exist in a vacuum. They

20:16 Speaker 2: both need each other. So lack of affordability means lack

20:20 Speaker 2: of human rights, and lack of human rights means people

20:25 Speaker 2: don't get the same level of resources and access to resources.

20:30 Speaker 1: Well, there's the three basic needs, right, and then there's

20:33 Speaker 1: a hierarchy of needs which is a little deeper about

20:35 Speaker 1: the three basic needs, food, clothing, and shelter. So you know,

20:38 Speaker 1: if people can't afford food, and they can't afford clothing

20:41 Speaker 1: and they can't afford housing, then yeah, then then they

20:47 Speaker 1: don't have they don't have rights and you know, basic

20:50 Speaker 1: human rights and dignity and all of that right.

20:52 Speaker 2: And so here's our goal. Our goal is to basically

20:54 Speaker 2: at least meet that baseline and make sure they can

20:57 Speaker 2: have all of those things right and they our rights,

21:00 Speaker 2: not privileges. And then once we do that, then we

21:03 Speaker 2: can go in and really start to like you know,

21:08 Speaker 2: organically grow the United States and the democracy that we want.

21:12 Speaker 2: And there's going to be some exchange of ideas and

21:14 Speaker 2: there's going to be some arguments, and there's going to

21:16 Speaker 2: be you know, a level of compromise. But compromise until

21:24 Speaker 2: this whole situation was not necessarily dirty word. As a

21:29 Speaker 2: matter of fact, it's almost the necessity.

21:31 Speaker 1: Now in terms of in terms of policy. And you know,

21:36 Speaker 1: you use out that word a very important word, affordability,

21:39 Speaker 1: which is something that people are very concerned about. I

21:42 Speaker 1: don't know, like, I don't know how into the weeds

21:46 Speaker 1: you want to get, because I want to know. I

21:48 Speaker 1: want to well, I want to know more, but I

21:50 Speaker 1: also I want to be conscious of I'm sure you

21:52 Speaker 1: don't want to get out too far ahead of Sarah

21:56 Speaker 1: and shall say about anything. So I want to know,

22:00 Speaker 1: but I also understand and respect that you know, there's

22:03 Speaker 1: only so far you can go as far as specific policy. Sure,

22:06 Speaker 1: but here's what you can tell us.

22:07 Speaker 2: But the other interesting thing about this, Matt, is that

22:09 Speaker 2: like our policies, I don't know how the other campaigns

22:11 Speaker 2: are doing it. But even our policies we do in

22:15 Speaker 2: like a you know, a forum type environment. So typically

22:19 Speaker 2: what we do, it's it's primarily I would say myself

22:23 Speaker 2: and Jason and then also her consultant Anthony, we kind

22:26 Speaker 2: of craft what we think are are good policies for

22:32 Speaker 2: you know, that makes sense that and then also are

22:35 Speaker 2: winning policies, you know, and then she will go through

22:38 Speaker 2: it and she will make sure that it's you know,

22:41 Speaker 2: sarahfied like it works for Sarah right, which is important.

22:45 Speaker 2: I mean, authenticity is super important. So I don't know,

22:50 Speaker 2: do that answer your question? So I guess back in

22:52 Speaker 2: the whole thing, what do you want to know exactly

22:54 Speaker 2: about the like what policies or what would.

22:56 Speaker 1: You Well, so when we're talking about affordability, like what

22:59 Speaker 1: are what are what are some of the ideas because

23:01 Speaker 1: obviously affordable when we say affordability. You know, we we

23:04 Speaker 1: mean we're talking about inflation, we're talking about housing, which

23:08 Speaker 1: you know is part of inflation, but obviously that there's

23:10 Speaker 1: also separate issues with housing. I mean, are are we

23:14 Speaker 1: talking about I heard an idea floated recently that I

23:17 Speaker 1: would support, you know, banning private equity, for example, from

23:21 Speaker 1: buying residential housing. I don't know, I mean, are are

23:23 Speaker 1: there things like that? I mean, any anything in you

23:27 Speaker 1: can give us?

23:28 Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, absolutely for sure. So I don't know

23:32 Speaker 2: her her stand exactly on the private equity equity side

23:36 Speaker 2: of things. I do know that we support, you know,

23:41 Speaker 2: a universal health care system. I do know that we

23:45 Speaker 2: support fair and equitable housing. The keyword of equity versus

23:52 Speaker 2: the quality, meaning everything is brought up to a baseline

23:56 Speaker 2: that works for everyone where they're at. So meeting people

23:59 Speaker 2: where they're as opposed to like this, no matter what

24:03 Speaker 2: the formula is, there isn't one size fit's all right,

24:05 Speaker 2: So you have to be open to adaptive policies and

24:10 Speaker 2: policies that kind of which is what makes doing policies

24:13 Speaker 2: so challenging.

24:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's one of the things that And again

24:17 Speaker 1: speaking as an outsider who's never been involved in a campaign.

24:20 Speaker 1: I would imagine that that's one of the most challenging

24:23 Speaker 1: parts because you have to you have to craft policy

24:28 Speaker 1: that makes sense, that addresses the problems, but also that

24:31 Speaker 1: can be communicated and articulated to the to the voters

24:37 Speaker 1: or prospective voters, and then if you win policy that

24:41 Speaker 1: you can follow through on because you'll be held to

24:43 Speaker 1: count the next time you run. So I would imagine

24:47 Speaker 1: that that's one of the most absolutely, one of the

24:50 Speaker 1: most challenging parts of this.

24:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, although I think that it's there's

24:56 Speaker 2: an interesting situation going on here, that's it what people

25:02 Speaker 2: don't realize, And I think we didn't realize this. I mean,

25:04 Speaker 2: I happened to have worked for the directly for the

25:09 Speaker 2: Harris campaign, and I think, sorry, hold on, yeah, no

25:14 Speaker 2: worries one of the biggest mistakes that we made. And

25:17 Speaker 2: that's why I now work with a actual campaign and

25:20 Speaker 2: not for the DNC directly, because there's a lot more

25:23 Speaker 2: autonomy and a lot more ability to like be yourself.

25:26 Speaker 2: But anyway, so I'd rather work with establishment rather than

25:30 Speaker 2: be part of the establishment. Sure, sure, but anyway, what

25:37 Speaker 2: was he saying? Oh, so, I think it's kind of

25:40 Speaker 2: going back to your analogy of Maslow's higherarchy of needs, right,

25:43 Speaker 2: I think it's unfair to ask people that haven't reached

25:47 Speaker 2: levels one and two, which is you know, subsistence slash

25:51 Speaker 2: baseline survival and then just living to then sit and

25:55 Speaker 2: pontificate about these higher level things that myself and say

26:00 Speaker 2: our own Jason and all the rest of us political

26:02 Speaker 2: junkies talk about. Right. And it's also sort of silly

26:05 Speaker 2: and kind of naive to think that we can convince

26:09 Speaker 2: people on these like abstract, sort of like idealistic things

26:14 Speaker 2: to support us. But but the but the other side

26:18 Speaker 2: of that coin is that if you give people those

26:22 Speaker 2: things and you raise their baseline, ay, they're more open

26:26 Speaker 2: to social progressive change and be they're not threatened by

26:30 Speaker 2: it because you're not saying we're gonna take this away

26:33 Speaker 2: to do this, right, You're providing them a good baseline

26:37 Speaker 2: and we're we're we want more than basics. And that's

26:40 Speaker 2: the other problem too. I mean, up to this point,

26:44 Speaker 2: I think a lot of people, certainly the current leadership,

26:49 Speaker 2: certain current administration, they're giving people just like baseline survival

26:54 Speaker 2: or a little bit better. It's like baseline survival with

26:57 Speaker 2: a package that looks a little nicer, but the day

27:00 Speaker 2: it's just gilded and it really is just baseline survival,

27:04 Speaker 2: you know. In that way, we like to look at

27:07 Speaker 2: like some European models and things like that, where people,

27:09 Speaker 2: you know, actually there their basic needs, they're met and

27:13 Speaker 2: then even some of their wants, right Like, you know,

27:16 Speaker 2: it's it's not about oh my god, like we can

27:18 Speaker 2: get by, It's about we all deserve a quality of living.

27:22 Speaker 1: Right right. Uh. Sarah commented in the chat room to again,

27:26 Speaker 1: regarding policy, we are working with community leaders to put

27:29 Speaker 1: together policy that's not pie in the sky, things that

27:32 Speaker 1: actually makes sense and can be put into action to

27:35 Speaker 1: make a difference.

27:36 Speaker 2: Yeah. That that's a good point that she brings up,

27:38 Speaker 2: and I'm sorry I should have remembered that too as well. Yeah,

27:42 Speaker 2: how we're formulating our policy is sitting down with the experts.

27:45 Speaker 2: So like I'm not going to sit down, and Sarah's

27:48 Speaker 2: not going to sit down, although she happens to be

27:50 Speaker 2: in education, so maybe that's not a great example. Well,

27:52 Speaker 2: let's say, like the current CALF and Human Services secretary,

27:57 Speaker 2: we're not about to go tell doctors how they should

28:01 Speaker 2: be handling a pandemic, right or like, we're not going

28:06 Speaker 2: to write policies that ignore medical and scientific evidence. We're

28:11 Speaker 2: going to listen to the experts. We're going to look

28:13 Speaker 2: at the studies, and then we're going to base policies

28:17 Speaker 2: on those things.

28:19 Speaker 1: Right now, that that makes sense.

28:22 Speaker 2: You know? And if we're making policies about changing and

28:25 Speaker 2: getting police and policing in a better place, then we're

28:29 Speaker 2: going to talk to both sides. We're going to talk

28:31 Speaker 2: to this to the people and the communities that feel

28:34 Speaker 2: over policed or whatever it is and they feel like

28:37 Speaker 2: there's a police biased and the police activists. But we're

28:39 Speaker 2: also going to talk to the police themselves and ask them, like,

28:43 Speaker 2: you know, how can we build a bridge? See, it's

28:45 Speaker 2: really all about building bridges. It's not about like like

28:48 Speaker 2: let's pick one side and really run hard at that

28:51 Speaker 2: one side.

28:54 Speaker 1: Right right?

28:57 Speaker 2: Does that make sense? No?

28:59 Speaker 1: It does? It does. What is is there anything that's

29:01 Speaker 1: really surprised you again, in terms of being out on

29:04 Speaker 1: the campaign trail and talking to people, Anything that that

29:06 Speaker 1: maybe people are concerned with that you didn't expect, or

29:10 Speaker 1: maybe that you didn't expect quite so much, or oh yeah, yeah,

29:14 Speaker 1: go ahead.

29:15 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest I mean, as far

29:17 Speaker 2: as Maslows hierarchy of needs go, I've been very lucky,

29:21 Speaker 2: and I've been around a lot of people that are

29:23 Speaker 2: very lucky and frankly relatively privileged to live in that

29:26 Speaker 2: like third rum. So I can sit around and self

29:29 Speaker 2: actualize and I can think about the big picture, macro

29:33 Speaker 2: ways to make the world a better place. And what

29:37 Speaker 2: shocked me is that because I have come from the

29:41 Speaker 2: environment that I've come from, even young people around me

29:44 Speaker 2: live still relatively privileged you know, life lives, so they

29:50 Speaker 2: were able to sort of like, then we're you're able

29:52 Speaker 2: to sort of save the world when all your basic

29:55 Speaker 2: needs are met and then more than met, you know,

29:57 Speaker 2: like right. So I think I think it's it's really

30:01 Speaker 2: getting that pragmatism down that even amongst the activists there

30:07 Speaker 2: still is a root line in act in in pragmatism.

30:12 Speaker 2: But then again, it's actually not shocking because then when

30:15 Speaker 2: you talk to the older, more established people, they tend

30:17 Speaker 2: to fall or not even ai the older, but people

30:19 Speaker 2: are just more established and more comfortable, then they do

30:22 Speaker 2: tend to go to the save democracy side. So I

30:24 Speaker 2: think the thing that's very interesting is that I think

30:29 Speaker 2: a like a bilateral message or a multi lateral message,

30:34 Speaker 2: A multim you know, directional message is so much more

30:39 Speaker 2: effective and more realistic than certainly that a singular message.

30:47 Speaker 2: So you know, it's looking at all those variables. But

30:50 Speaker 2: it's also what I love is there's this little game

30:53 Speaker 2: out there. It's like, you know, I like to say

30:55 Speaker 2: green is very green, you know, because I'm very environmental, right,

30:58 Speaker 2: But rather than it and argue, you know, until you're

31:04 Speaker 2: out of breath about saving the whales, which is important,

31:08 Speaker 2: there's actually arguments out there as to how saving the

31:12 Speaker 2: whales creates this whole like biodiversity and biosystem within the

31:19 Speaker 2: ocean that supports the food chains that supports like like

31:24 Speaker 2: ocean agricul like all this amazing stuff. Yeah, we're so

31:28 Speaker 2: much more interconnected even with other species than we think

31:32 Speaker 2: we are, right, absolutely, and I think that's so important.

31:36 Speaker 2: So we can almost create the same eco system within politics.

31:42 Speaker 2: I mean, we can have a like a multi ecosystem,

31:45 Speaker 2: and I think that that's something Sarah really seems to

31:48 Speaker 2: support too, is this idea. I mean, she works in

31:50 Speaker 2: defense and she works in international relations, so you absolutely

31:54 Speaker 2: are going to be talking to some Republicans And although

32:00 Speaker 2: the maga people would like us to feel like, you know,

32:04 Speaker 2: and when I mean the mag of people, I mean

32:06 Speaker 2: specifically the the mad King and his his his nutty

32:10 Speaker 2: court gesters, you know, the administration itself, not that not

32:15 Speaker 2: even necessarily all the people that even voted for him,

32:17 Speaker 2: because of course that's not the case. But these you know,

32:20 Speaker 2: they they don't understand that it's really not this this

32:27 Speaker 2: voice that he's it's not the narrative he's spinning. Like

32:30 Speaker 2: we're a lot more like than we think. Most people

32:33 Speaker 2: want the same things, and most people will actually go

32:37 Speaker 2: for it if you tell them that's what you're gonna

32:39 Speaker 2: fight for.

32:41 Speaker 1: Yeah, he he spends it. Uh, the mad King as

32:45 Speaker 1: you refer to him as, uh, you know, from all.

32:48 Speaker 2: He's kind of mad. I mean, this is all this is,

32:50 Speaker 2: this is nuts.

32:51 Speaker 1: Yeah. He puts everything, you know, from a presentative, from

32:55 Speaker 1: a position of division and and and fear, very fear.

33:00 Speaker 1: You know that the immigrants are taking you know, the

33:02 Speaker 1: migrants are taking all your jobs and all that kind

33:04 Speaker 1: of stuff, and you know, just you know.

33:06 Speaker 2: It's also very verbose, and it's very like out of

33:10 Speaker 2: like like out of the world, out of worldliness. It's

33:15 Speaker 2: like he wants to create this like this echo chamber

33:19 Speaker 2: that is like, you know, the apocalypse, almost like he's

33:22 Speaker 2: rescuing us from the apocalypse, which is not what he's

33:25 Speaker 2: doing at all, If anything, he's But here's the good news.

33:29 Speaker 2: He's a lot more and his administration is a lot

33:32 Speaker 2: more fragmented and a lot more disjointed than people think.

33:38 Speaker 2: I mean, the most power people have or the most

33:43 Speaker 2: powerful people, and their biggest weapon is convincing you they

33:46 Speaker 2: have a lot of power. So you realize that they

33:48 Speaker 2: don't have as much power as we think they do.

33:51 Speaker 2: You're disarming them right there.

33:54 Speaker 1: Well, he did say only he can how did he

33:56 Speaker 1: put it? I don't know, only he can do it

33:59 Speaker 1: or only he can say. Well, here's the thing.

34:01 Speaker 2: The problem with that mindset is even people amongst his

34:05 Speaker 2: leadership don't agree with that now and they're starting to

34:07 Speaker 2: voice that. So he's got a power grab within his

34:11 Speaker 2: power structure. That's never good.

34:14 Speaker 1: Right, Well, so we can now.

34:17 Speaker 2: Win by actually unifying and then just like exposing and

34:24 Speaker 2: not even exposing them as individuals and their characters because

34:28 Speaker 2: everybody knows it's buffoonery, like we're gonna not get you

34:31 Speaker 2: where by constantly saying, you know, Trump's a clown. Hences

34:34 Speaker 2: the clown, they're all pre you know, that's not going

34:36 Speaker 2: to how we're going to win votes. We're gonna win

34:39 Speaker 2: votes by saying, look, you know, this is what he's

34:42 Speaker 2: doing to you know, immigrant populations. This is how it's

34:47 Speaker 2: affecting red and blue states in the areas of agriculture

34:53 Speaker 2: and the building into