This is Gavin Newsom - And, This is A Republican Without A Country with Frank Luntz

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00:02:38.520 Coming up next on This is Gavin Newsom, I'll be talking to legendary Republican pollster and communications strategist, Frank Luntz.

00:02:46.840 We'll be talking about the state of the Democratic Party, Trump's first hundred days, and perhaps most importantly, the state of our union.

00:02:54.760 This is Gavin Newsom.

00:02:57.820 And this is Frank Luntz.

00:02:59.800 You look casual.

00:03:02.640 You know, Frank, I wanted to dress up for you.

00:03:04.660 By the way, throughout all of this, you've been the most interesting person to me.

00:03:11.140 I haven't always agreed.

00:03:12.700 You've always been really kind to me.

00:03:15.520 And even though we disagreed, I've enjoyed that.

00:03:19.660 It's not even been a back and forth.

00:03:21.000 You're just a good guy.

00:03:22.760 I love that, man.

00:03:24.380 I appreciate that.

00:03:25.700 You know what?

00:03:26.320 Let's start right there because, you know, we're at a point where none of us are talking like that.

00:03:31.820 I mean, you've been studying this stuff for decades and decades.

00:03:35.300 I've been listening to you lately.

00:03:36.620 I mean, you think it's as bad as it's been in our lifetime, meaning we're at each other's throat.

00:03:43.600 This country has never been more divided.

00:03:45.520 Is that an overstatement or is that about it?

00:03:48.420 That's exactly it.

00:03:49.380 And to me, and this is what's frightening about it, is that we want to fight.

00:03:54.620 We want to argue.

00:03:55.980 We want to disagree.

00:03:57.920 We're looking at a reason to be able to say, I'm insulted.

00:04:03.520 Or worse yet, I'm offended.

00:04:06.160 And that's the kind of culture that we're in right now.

00:04:08.880 And no one's trying to get us out of it.

00:04:11.640 And I give Cory Booker credit because for most of his 25 hours, it was uplifting.

00:04:19.380 He was talking about real people, real concerns.

00:04:23.100 And he did it in a way that isn't political.

00:04:25.120 And I think the guy who cut him off, the guy who jumped to that to make sure that he would always be remembered, Chuck Schumer, is so far past his sell-by date.

00:04:35.540 Because he doesn't really understand that now we're playing with fire.

00:04:39.980 So, Frank, I want to talk about Cory because I was struck by how complimentary you were of his 25-hour speech.

00:04:48.440 But I want to go back a little bit about, you know, you've been studying this.

00:04:51.780 You've been focused on this.

00:04:52.800 You've been, I mean, you've been a leader in this space and understanding communication, understanding emotion, understanding the nature of relationships, not just the relationship to one another politically through the lens of ideology.

00:05:05.140 But has this been, I mean, has this been decades in the making?

00:05:08.560 Is there a moment that you would mark that sort of led to this moment?

00:05:12.780 And, you know, what's your sort of over-under in that respect?

00:05:16.740 Well, the moment that it started was the day that Newt Gingrich got elected speaker in 1994 because that was Republicans winning something that they had not won for 40 years.

00:05:28.020 And the Democrats didn't like it and never got used to it.

00:05:32.580 And Gingrich was provocative.

00:05:34.400 He pushed you.

00:05:35.560 He prodded you in an intellectual basis.

00:05:38.440 But sometimes he used language that hurt himself.

00:05:42.180 If you remember that Christmas of 1994, they had on the front page of Newsyk Magazine, the Gingrich that stole Christmas.

00:05:50.520 Well, you're going to get negativity if that's how the media treats you.

00:05:54.580 Now go forward to Bill Clinton's impeachment and the feeling that what he did, while horrific and inappropriate, did that really rise to the level of impeachment?

00:06:09.020 Now go forward to 2000 and I'll go on George Bush actually tying.

00:06:14.540 And how one side, some people on that one side, never, never awarded Bush the presidency and always said that the election was stolen.

00:06:26.960 And then go forward to 2010 and the rise of the Tea Party and 2016 to the rise of Trump.

00:06:34.540 We've been going through this now since 1994, five or six different moments.

00:06:39.160 And here's the issue to me.

00:06:42.280 In almost all those moments, there were calm heads.

00:06:45.240 There was somebody who would say, enough.

00:06:47.760 In the next summation point, just stop doing this.

00:06:50.420 Just shut the hell up.

00:06:52.960 Yeah, you may be right.

00:06:54.540 But the country's more important.

00:06:57.440 And now there's no one doing that.

00:06:59.480 There's no one saying it.

00:07:01.000 There's no one, look, I'll say this to you.

00:07:04.120 And I like you.

00:07:05.180 I said this.

00:07:05.940 I really do.

00:07:06.820 And people make fun of me saying it.

00:07:09.160 But when you caught yourself, the resistance, my head exploded.

00:07:13.820 You're the opposition, but you're not the resistance.

00:07:16.760 Right.

00:07:17.300 You're the challenge.

00:07:20.840 You're the check as a governor.

00:07:24.220 But that's very different than saying I'm going to oppose everything that you do.

00:07:28.420 And I just feel like we've reached the point on every side, I want to emphasize this, on

00:07:35.060 every side, that we're insane.

00:07:37.640 And now our country's at stake.

00:07:39.520 I really do believe that our democracy is at stake right now.

00:07:43.060 No, I appreciate that.

00:07:44.680 And also, you know, it's interesting, just this notion of resistance.

00:07:47.220 When we did a special session, what was remarkable to me is what I did not say, but what was attributed

00:07:53.220 to me as it relates to the purpose of that special session after Trump won.

00:07:57.920 And we talked about an open hand, not a closed fist.

00:08:01.000 That never got any attention.

00:08:03.580 Folks focused on that in the context of sort of zero sum, which I think is so much of the

00:08:08.360 politics.

00:08:08.680 But I want to go back a little bit just because 1994 and it sort of marks a little bit of your

00:08:13.180 history.

00:08:13.600 And, you know, just for folks that don't know you as well as folks like myself that have

00:08:18.920 been following you for decades and decades, you've been traditionally aligned with Republican

00:08:23.440 causes and you were aligned with Gingrich as it relates to that 1994 effort, as it relates

00:08:29.760 to that effort to take back the House, as you say, for the first time in 40 years.

00:08:34.540 And that contract with America, that infamous contract with America, you worked with Gingrich.

00:08:40.840 Did you not sort of help him develop the language around that?

00:08:44.640 Do you separate that from what came after his successful ascendancy?

00:08:50.900 Truthfully, it's the best thing I've ever done.

00:08:52.860 I should have quit while I was ahead because it's the first time that that elected officials

00:08:58.200 actually put an agenda on the line.

00:09:01.960 What was important to that contract was what they were going to do in the first hour and

00:09:06.380 first day, which is something that still politicians need to tell voters.

00:09:10.520 They want to know.

00:09:12.220 Second is that it itemized it.

00:09:15.140 Ten different issues from balanced budgets to term limits to fighting crime to welfare

00:09:20.520 reform to tax tax reform.

00:09:23.820 All the issues that matter to people.

00:09:25.980 And then there was an enforcement clause.

00:09:28.200 If we break our promise, throw us out.

00:09:30.800 We mean it.

00:09:31.940 With a 1-800 number to keep track of them.

00:09:34.340 It was the first time that anyone had offered accountability.

00:09:39.300 And of course, the Democrats demonized it.

00:09:41.220 They called it the contract on America.

00:09:44.700 But they were wrong.

00:09:46.260 And the voters said they were wrong.

00:09:48.740 And in the end, let's keep the record straight here.

00:09:51.240 Only 40% of Americans ever heard of the contract on Election Day.

00:09:56.500 A minority of voters.

00:09:58.360 But those who heard of it had a 4-1 positive rating towards it, which is unprecedented.

00:10:03.800 And it made a difference in the key states because it got Republicans to run for something,

00:10:09.820 not against it.

00:10:11.020 And I don't know whether they call you Gavin or Governor.

00:10:14.500 But Governor, the issue now is that no one runs for something.

00:10:20.420 No one tells you what you're for.

00:10:21.920 They tell you why the other guy's wrong, the other guy's evil.

00:10:25.100 And the other guy should be defeated.

00:10:27.620 And this is a really important conversation to have.

00:10:30.200 And I'm glad that you're hosting it.

00:10:31.400 And by the way, you've taken more shit than anyone.

00:10:35.560 I would not have brought on Steve Bannon.

00:10:37.840 Steve Bannon scares me.

00:10:38.920 I knew him before he was Steve Bannon and before I was Frank Luntz.

00:10:44.320 And the guy is, he scares me.

00:10:48.280 But the fact that you're willing to have these open conversations to engage with people who

00:10:53.260 you don't agree with, why aren't more people doing this?

00:10:58.860 Why don't we have more civil conversations designed to expose the truth, the relentless

00:11:05.320 pursuit of the truth?

00:11:06.900 What is so wrong about this?

00:11:08.920 You, sir, you've been criticized for doing this.

00:11:12.260 And I'm telling people, shut the hell up and listen.

00:11:15.500 You might learn something.

00:11:17.700 Why are we, I'm 63 now.

00:11:19.740 And you can hear it in my voice and how these have been some very tough months for me.

00:11:24.000 I'm learning more in these months than I've learned in the last 60 years of my life.

00:11:29.560 Why are we so sure that we're right and they're wrong?

00:11:33.080 Why are we so sure that we don't pick up another book that there's no reason to read it, to explore, to question, and to challenge?

00:11:41.560 This is why I teach at West Point.

00:11:43.980 This is why I'm wearing this shirt.

00:11:45.980 Because I'm meeting with the best students.

00:11:47.900 And Governor, you've got to come.

00:11:49.880 The reason why I did this interview and why I wanted to be face-to-face is I wanted to invite you to West Point, reach over, shake your hand, because I know then you have to go.

00:11:58.640 There are more cadets from California than any other state.

00:12:02.600 Love it.

00:12:03.500 I want you to see the best and the brightest and the most ethical and the most devoted and the most civil.

00:12:10.740 They say, yes, sir.

00:12:12.480 No, ma'am.

00:12:13.740 Thank you.

00:12:15.280 They're appreciative of their country and they're willing to give the greatest sacrifice for it.

00:12:21.300 Just as you and I can have a civil conversation, please come to West Point and meet the best Californians you'll ever meet.

00:12:29.040 No, I appreciate that.

00:12:29.960 And full disclosure, you invited me and Wes Moore, Governor Moore from Maryland, at the National Governors Association.

00:12:36.660 We were there and you asked if we were available.

00:12:38.940 And the two of us had the privilege of doing a little roundtable with you where you did a mini focus group with these guys and they were asking us questions.

00:12:46.320 And that was a special.

00:12:47.660 I know for Wes and I, we left that meeting, Frank.

00:12:51.320 I mean, these guys, to your point, next level inspired by their service, their civic mindedness.

00:12:57.780 Their sense of duty and patriotism.

00:13:01.060 It really touched.

00:13:02.380 I know both Wes and I.

00:13:04.160 And so I appreciate your firm commitment to those young men and women that are truly among the best and the brightest.

00:13:13.300 And they loved you because the two of you didn't agree on everything.

00:13:17.980 And you talked with each other with civility and respect.

00:13:21.620 You had different approaches to some of the biggest issues facing the country.

00:13:25.140 And they were so thrilled that two of the most important governors in the country would give them an hour.

00:13:33.640 And I want to give you credit for this.

00:13:35.440 You promised me 20 minutes.

00:13:37.620 You stayed for an hour and 10.

00:13:39.880 Governor, thank you for that.

00:13:42.160 They noticed it.

00:13:43.160 They appreciated it.

00:13:44.420 And I want viewers to know that you give a shit, frankly.

00:13:49.600 No, I appreciate that.

00:13:52.200 And look, I think, you know, they sort of distill the essence of, I think, the path back and getting out of this muck.

00:13:59.280 And I want to go back, though, just a little bit, Frank, on your journey, because I'm really fascinated by this.

00:14:03.620 And I appreciate your firm defense of the contract with America in the context of, look, having a plan, having an agenda, being transparent about it as you're running, and then having some accountability framework.

00:14:16.440 And the merits and the demerits of that I'm interested in.

00:14:19.500 But moreover, I'm just interested in your own journey.

00:14:22.120 I mean, you were out there working not only for causes supporting Gingrich, but obviously other Republican causes, as I referenced, in helping messaging and languaging for George Bush.

00:14:32.940 And you worked the pro campaign a little bit, Giuliani and others.

00:14:36.420 Was there a point in your own journey where you realized, man, this is not going well for this country, that even you started to sort of soften the edges, started to reach out to the other side?

00:14:48.440 Well, I was always curious.

00:14:50.740 And it was Tom Dashley who brought me in.

00:14:54.720 And I created, well, I have not talked about, I've never talked about this, actually.

00:14:58.820 I don't even know if you know what I'm about to say.

00:15:01.140 But I created a phrase, the Dashiell Democrats.

00:15:04.940 And these are people who acted one way in Washington and a different way back home.

00:15:10.000 And Tom Dashiell is one of the most ethical people I ever knew, still around.

00:15:14.840 He's a really special human being.

00:15:17.200 But I demonized him using that Dashiell Democrat.

00:15:20.700 And it was John McCain who came up to me and said, do you really have to do that?

00:15:25.820 Can we find a way to disagree without labeling people?

00:15:28.760 Well, McCain, a Republican, dressing me down.

00:15:32.760 And John McCain's tough.

00:15:34.780 And he disagrees with you.

00:15:36.020 He tells you it.

00:15:37.440 And you have to scrape yourself back together and somehow leave the room with your tail between your legs.

00:15:43.400 And I felt really bad about that.

00:15:45.960 And Dashiell's the first person to bring me to a Senate Democrat meeting.

00:15:50.780 And this is maybe around 2000, I'd say, maybe 2002.

00:15:58.340 And I presented to them.

00:16:00.340 And I remember Barbara Boxer, California senator, giving me a hard time around the table.

00:16:08.740 And he leaned over to me and he said, let it go.

00:16:13.120 And it was the best advice I ever got.

00:16:15.640 Because she was ideological.

00:16:17.660 She's very political, very in your face, wanted to take you on because she believed in what she believed in and wanted you to know it and wanted to bring you over to her side.

00:16:27.300 And so here's the weird thing, how I handled her that day and how we got to know each other afterward.

00:16:34.260 And again, we don't agree on anything.

00:16:38.580 She invited me into her last campaign.

00:16:41.820 And I said to her, do you know who I am?

00:16:44.740 Do you know what I believe?

00:16:46.060 Like, what the hell?

00:16:47.980 And I talked to her chief of staff saying, this is wrong.

00:16:52.620 And she actually was serious about it.

00:16:55.300 And she wanted someone on the team to be a check, to be a challenge.

00:17:02.120 She wanted that perspective.

00:17:03.820 And she felt that her own team wasn't doing it.

00:17:06.600 So she said, I trust you.

00:17:08.640 And trust is the most important thing you can have.

00:17:11.360 And to me, it's the truth.

00:17:13.200 The truth, the relentless pursuit of the truth.

00:17:16.600 We have to be engaged in that.

00:17:19.260 And I said no.

00:17:21.400 But I really appreciated the invite.

00:17:23.540 And we still talked.

00:17:26.180 I think you know this Barack Obama on national television told House Republicans at their retreat.

00:17:33.100 And he calls me from time to time.

00:17:36.040 And they're all saying.

00:17:37.900 So he begins the conversation by saying, I see Franklin's right there.

00:17:41.500 He's taking notes.

00:17:42.640 And at that moment, I'm freaking out because I am.

00:17:45.460 He says, he's trying to figure out how to defeat me, how to make Nancy Pelosi look bad.

00:17:51.380 And that's exactly what I'm doing.

00:17:53.260 And all I can think of is a camera behind me shooting my computer.

00:17:57.020 So I reach over, pulled it down slowly so people wouldn't think I had anything to hide.

00:18:03.880 And they're all cheering me.

00:18:06.120 The House Republicans around me, way to go.

00:18:07.860 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:09.020 And then he says, but you know, Frank and I talk.

00:18:12.320 We have conversations.

00:18:14.020 I listen to him and he listens to me.

00:18:16.240 And then the same people around me are now booing me.

00:18:18.840 Shame.

00:18:19.700 How dare you?

00:18:20.440 And this is the kind of relationship that I've had to American politics over the last 25 years.

00:18:28.780 Just because we disagree doesn't mean we can't have really deep, philosophical, solution-oriented conversations over a meal, over a Coke Zero.

00:18:43.740 It doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't engage.

00:18:47.460 I'm going to out someone in this conversation.

00:18:50.440 I've had some very serious doubts about where our country is going.

00:18:55.000 And the person I shared that with more than anyone else wasn't a Republican.

00:18:59.540 It was Michael Bennett of Colorado.

00:19:02.540 Because he had the same doubts.

00:19:04.880 And I don't want to embarrass him or embarrass myself.

00:19:09.160 But those conversations were so meaningful to me.

00:19:12.840 We would book sessions for 15 minutes that would go on an hour.

00:19:16.360 My office knew, don't schedule.

00:19:18.140 When you go see Michael Bennett, Senator Bennett, don't schedule for an hour.

00:19:22.680 And his office finally figured out the same.

00:19:25.740 So, Governor, to a lesser extent, you and I have done that, to a much lesser extent.

00:19:30.740 But in the times that we've gotten together, I listen to you.

00:19:35.800 I listen to your ideas.

00:19:37.420 I listen to your solutions.

00:19:39.280 I listen to your leadership.

00:19:41.120 I read your speeches.

00:19:42.180 And I frankly wish we'd known each other better.

00:19:45.520 Because where California goes, the rest of America goes.

00:19:49.760 If we get it right here, we're going to get it right nationwide.

00:19:52.780 And if we get it wrong here, it's going to have an impact.

00:19:55.740 That's right.

00:19:56.520 I appreciate you probing.

00:19:59.720 Because that's a story I've never told publicly before.

00:20:02.400 I love it.

00:20:03.100 By the way, do you remember what notes you were taking when Obama called you out?

00:20:07.520 Yes, it was what the Republicans needed to say about Pelosi.

00:20:12.580 And it's that she doesn't engage with America.

00:20:15.840 She doesn't know America.

00:20:17.440 She knows her Democratic friends in Congress.

00:20:20.020 And what do they know about America?

00:20:21.780 I was trying to draw the distinction between a Washington Democrat, which I've always done,

00:20:27.120 and an American Democrat who's out there in the real America, working for a living, making ends meet.

00:20:38.180 That was the beginning of my playing around with the phrase paycheck to paycheck.

00:20:42.480 And I was doing a whole list of all the things that Pelosi or Obama were saying that did not relate to America.

00:20:49.140 And you know what?

00:20:50.140 I never gave Republicans that list.

00:20:52.740 Interesting.

00:20:52.960 I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating.

00:20:58.920 I don't feel emotions correctly.

00:21:00.820 I am talking to a felon right now, and I cannot decide if I like him or not.

00:21:05.420 Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko.

00:21:09.720 It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist

00:21:17.320 and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives.

00:21:20.880 I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot.

00:21:25.620 Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show.

00:21:31.060 I live with my boyfriend, and I found his piss jar in our apartment.

00:21:35.860 I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails.

00:21:38.660 I have very overbearing parents.

00:21:40.900 Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house.

00:21:43.740 So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head,

00:21:49.080 search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:21:56.260 It's the one with the green guy on it.

00:21:57.940 Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte?

00:22:03.220 What we have all been waiting for.

00:22:06.040 Sarah Jessica Parker is here, and she is sharing stories from the very beginning,

00:22:11.000 like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode.

00:22:14.280 I remember some things about shooting the pilot.

00:22:16.520 Right.

00:22:17.120 I have some memories I can fill you in.

00:22:18.540 And that you're going to fill me in.

00:22:19.540 Yes.

00:22:19.800 But then you forgot about it?

00:22:21.420 I completely forgot about it.

00:22:24.480 And she reveals what she thought when she read the script for Sex and the City the very first time.

00:22:29.800 He said he wrote this like I was in his head in some way, which I found really interesting.

00:22:35.020 And does she think Carrie is too good for Mr. Big?

00:22:38.060 She had inexplicable feelings.

00:22:39.820 It is the human being that can't explain to her friends why somebody that might be beneath her is dictating the hunt.

00:22:48.420 You can't miss this.

00:22:50.200 Listen to Are You a Charlotte?

00:22:52.000 On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:22:57.940 What happens when we come face to face with death?

00:23:01.380 My truck was blown up by a 20-pound anti-tank mine.

00:23:04.180 My parachute did not deploy.

00:23:06.740 I was kidnapped by a drug cartel.

00:23:09.460 I just remember everything getting dark.

00:23:12.700 I'm dying.

00:23:14.420 When we step beyond the edge of what we know.

00:23:16.580 To open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that Western box.

00:23:21.700 In return.

00:23:23.020 I clinically died.

00:23:24.600 The heart stopped beating.

00:23:25.580 Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes.

00:23:28.040 My name is Dan Bush.

00:23:29.140 My mission is simple.

00:23:30.320 To find, explore, and share these stories.

00:23:33.280 I'm not a victim.

00:23:34.300 I'm a survivor.

00:23:35.380 You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable.

00:23:37.420 To remind us what it means to be alive.

00:23:39.560 Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off.

00:23:41.380 But I'm the guy who was smiling when he cut his arm off.

00:23:45.080 Alive Again.

00:23:45.920 A podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live.

00:23:51.880 Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

00:23:57.120 I have a question for you, and I want you to be honest with me.

00:24:03.040 How are you?

00:24:05.100 It's a really hard question to ask.

00:24:07.260 It's a harder one to answer.

00:24:09.000 But taking care of our mental well-being has never been more important.

00:24:13.020 All of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and on the Psychology of Your 20s podcast,

00:24:16.620 we are taking a vulnerable look at why mental health is so hard to talk about,

00:24:21.660 and all the science and psychology behind some of life's hardest moments and transitions.

00:24:26.660 Prepare for our conversations to go deep.

00:24:29.220 Everything from grief to heartbreak, career burnout, anxiety,

00:24:33.660 all of the things that you would only talk about with your closest friends.

00:24:37.160 I spent the majority of my teenage years and my 20s just feeling absolutely terrified.

00:24:42.820 I had a panic attack on a conference call.

00:24:45.160 Knowing that she had six months to live, I was no longer pretending that this was my best friend.

00:24:49.160 So this Mental Health Awareness Month, take that extra bit of care of yourself and your brain.

00:24:54.000 Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:25:02.800 Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.

00:25:06.240 On this week's episode of Math & Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones.

00:25:11.320 We're exploring the power of audio.

00:25:13.320 The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop.

00:25:17.840 But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country.

00:25:21.020 So I kind of never really had a place to fit in, but that's exactly how and why I fit.

00:25:26.320 I just embraced that.

00:25:28.040 Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole.

00:25:30.880 I think that is what endeared me to listeners.

00:25:33.940 That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me,

00:25:38.660 have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

00:25:41.420 Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app,

00:25:46.940 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:25:49.860 Speaking of, you know, just that list and looking back as you study the effectiveness

00:26:00.680 and Obama sort of in return, respecting the fact that you're a student of your craft,

00:26:07.880 you're always, you're sort of open argument, interested in evidence.

00:26:10.560 When you look back over the last, you know, 40, 50 years,

00:26:13.660 who you think have been the most effective communicators and why?

00:26:17.640 I assume Obama is on that list, or is he not, from your perspective?

00:26:21.520 He's on that list.

00:26:22.460 And there's a specific speech that everyone, I ask everyone to read,

00:26:26.260 because it's the best speech I've ever seen a president give.

00:26:30.200 And remember, I'm supposed to say Ronald Reagan.

00:26:34.100 Yeah, I was waiting for that, Frank.

00:26:35.940 It's not.

00:26:36.560 It's Barack Obama's speech in Selma, Alabama,

00:26:40.720 on the anniversary of what happened on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

00:26:46.160 And I had been made aware of this by John Lewis.

00:26:48.700 And I'll tell you another story.

00:26:49.660 Again, by the way, all my stories are with Democrats, not with the Republicans.

00:26:57.300 John Lewis invited me to join his trip, his civil rights trip,

00:27:01.200 a few years before he passed away.

00:27:02.740 And in every single location, and everyone who spoke,

00:27:07.040 he came over to me, sat down, and told me why this was significant.

00:27:11.540 And I kept saying to him,

00:27:13.060 Sir, you've got eight members of Congress here.

00:27:16.740 You had Jack Kemp, who was the presidential candidate.

00:27:20.240 You have far more important people.

00:27:21.860 Stop wasting your time.

00:27:23.980 He puts his arm around me, and I may get choked up.

00:27:28.760 He says, because they're going to forget this place,

00:27:30.860 and you're going to remember it.

00:27:32.740 Of all the people here, it's going to have the biggest impact on you.

00:27:36.440 And so I need to have the biggest impact on you.

00:27:39.200 I'm not wasting time.

00:27:40.800 This is an investment.

00:27:42.880 And you know what?

00:27:44.060 I'm telling you that story now.

00:27:47.840 It came true.

00:27:50.200 I tell people repeatedly how essential it is for all of America to see Selma,

00:27:56.380 and Birmingham, and Montgomery.

00:27:57.980 Not to read it in the history books, not to see the documentary,

00:28:02.680 but to go there and see it.

00:28:07.000 And, sir, I wish my voice was better,

00:28:09.520 because you're memorializing this.

00:28:13.000 But that was the most impactful weekend of my political life.

00:28:18.460 And it woke me up to things I did not understand.

00:28:21.460 It turned me into a mentor to a number of young African-American boys.

00:28:27.300 In some cases, did not have fathers to direct them.

00:28:29.980 And who the hell am I to give them any advice,

00:28:34.000 to give them any wisdom?

00:28:36.220 But they stayed with me.

00:28:37.800 After that experience, I knew what I wanted to do.

00:28:41.280 And they gave me the grace to say things I shouldn't say

00:28:45.180 and to make mistakes.

00:28:47.820 And I gave them the respect to teach me.

00:28:50.920 And those young men are now in their early 30s,

00:28:53.360 and every one of them is successful.

00:28:56.800 Every one of them is doing amazing things.

00:28:59.760 And I would not have engaged them when they were 19

00:29:02.380 if John Lewis had not engaged me earlier in my career.

00:29:08.100 So I have to admit, I don't know what the question was.

00:29:11.960 In the spirit, and I love it.

00:29:13.900 I mean, any time we can talk about John Lewis is worth the time.

00:29:18.220 But you were talking about Barack Obama

00:29:19.880 and that moment and that speech

00:29:21.840 and how you think that stood out to you as one of the greats.

00:29:26.320 And there have been other ones that have been just like that.

00:29:29.560 Tony Blair is, to me, the best speaker.

00:29:33.360 And he's not even American.

00:29:35.300 Yeah, former prime minister, UK.

00:29:37.600 And I've said this to him within the last 48 hours,

00:29:40.680 that of everyone alive today,

00:29:42.860 no one could have a bigger impact.

00:29:44.840 No one knows and understands the global implications of where we are

00:29:48.640 and what we're doing and how we need to get out of this mess

00:29:52.220 before we make it any worse than Tony Blair.

00:29:55.780 And my biggest political regret is that he was with the Labor Party

00:29:59.140 and I couldn't work for them because I was a conservative.

00:30:03.320 And in reality, it was what Blair's focus and what he tried to achieve

00:30:08.480 is very similar to what I try to do.

00:30:12.540 He only does it 100 times better.

00:30:15.560 And the effort that he's made in the Middle East and in Africa

00:30:18.800 to try to bring about understanding,

00:30:23.100 he's a statesman's statesman.

00:30:25.440 So he would be number two.

00:30:29.000 I want to give Cory Booker credit

00:30:30.820 because so many of Booker's speeches are so impactful.

00:30:34.460 And Westmore.

00:30:35.760 But let me give you one more.

00:30:37.000 Again, on the Democratic side,

00:30:39.140 and that's Mitch Landrieu.

00:30:41.100 Yeah.

00:30:41.500 Mitch Landrieu is the single best,

00:30:43.300 and you're not bad,

00:30:45.040 but Mitch Landrieu is the best retail politician I have ever seen.

00:30:50.180 He's good.

00:30:51.080 I agree with you on that.

00:30:51.360 I watched him.

00:30:52.500 We're having lunch in a restaurant that's closed,

00:30:55.580 and a woman comes in the door,

00:30:57.420 and she is frail and frazzled and crying,

00:31:04.100 and it's right around the inauguration.

00:31:06.920 I've never seen anything like it.

00:31:09.340 And they're trying to throw her out of the restaurant.

00:31:11.500 Landrieu sees this and says,

00:31:13.400 wait a minute.

00:31:14.380 He puts his arms around her and says,

00:31:17.300 what's your name?

00:31:18.640 Where are you from?

00:31:19.640 How can I help you?

00:31:23.320 And he calmed her down,

00:31:24.900 and he sat her down.

00:31:26.600 He said to me,

00:31:26.980 I need five minutes with her.

00:31:29.240 And she left the restaurant,

00:31:31.240 and she was okay.

00:31:33.800 And that's brilliant to me.

00:31:35.640 Yeah.

00:31:36.280 Because that's rhetoric on a personal,

00:31:39.500 individual, human scale.

00:31:41.960 So Landrieu is absolutely brilliant.

00:31:44.980 I love that.

00:31:45.940 So you've got to give me a Republican, Frank.

00:31:47.860 I mean, we're going to lose credibility here.

00:31:49.840 Who's, I mean, you talked about Reagan.

00:31:51.960 There's a lot of people have talked about the difference between a great communicator

00:31:55.300 versus a great orator.

00:31:57.420 Is that a distinction worthy of exploration?

00:32:01.280 Is that a distinction that could be made?

00:32:03.500 Even some have made it as it relates to Obama versus Reagan.

00:32:07.060 What's your assessment?

00:32:10.200 You can't forget Bill Clinton either.

00:32:12.780 And Clinton.

00:32:14.220 And, well, here's the amazing thing.

00:32:17.420 Ronald Reagan changed hearts and minds.

00:32:20.040 People went from being Democrat to being Republican because of Reagan.

00:32:26.100 And that's why he deserves significant credit.

00:32:28.840 To me, Gingrich, when he was optimistic and positive, was incredibly powerful.

00:32:36.020 And I have to go back to Jack Kemp, who's no longer with us.

00:32:40.420 Jack Kemp was an amazing orator because he saw the good and the great in America.

00:32:45.960 He was about freedom.

00:32:47.960 He was about opportunity.

00:32:52.740 Very much an economic communicator.

00:32:56.180 And for the social issues and the cultural issues, for me, it'd be Bill Bennett, who's

00:33:01.740 still with us.

00:33:03.160 And the two of them, the three of them, Gingrich, Kemp, and Bennett, communicated what was great

00:33:12.080 and good about America.

00:33:13.900 And we just don't hear it anymore.

00:33:17.180 Obviously, one of them has passed away.

00:33:19.120 One of them is essentially out of politics.

00:33:21.980 And the other one has gone full in on Trump and lost some of what made him so unprecedented

00:33:29.340 in terms of an intellectual mind better than anyone I ever met.

00:33:34.960 Not right.

00:33:35.480 Gingrich, you're talking about.

00:33:36.480 Yes.

00:33:36.740 Yeah.

00:33:36.840 The smartest elected official we've ever had.

00:33:40.700 And he never got a chance to demonstrate it because the people around him and his own

00:33:46.840 insistence on drawing a contrast between what he saw as good and evil undermined and eventually

00:33:54.180 killed him as speaker.

00:33:55.920 And if you ask me what my greatest regret is personally, it's not standing in front of him

00:34:01.640 in a camera, getting in front of him and saying, sir, don't say that.

00:34:06.560 It may be true.

00:34:08.140 It may be intellectual.

00:34:09.220 But the American people are not prepared to hear it, and they will turn against you if

00:34:14.280 you say it.

00:34:16.180 Newt was courageous, in your face.

00:34:20.700 And he could have done so much more for the country if somebody had just said, don't do

00:34:29.800 this because it will hurt your reputation.

00:34:32.700 So he's to you both and.

00:34:35.600 Obviously, he sort of marks that moment as you reflect on where our politics today and

00:34:40.060 you can connect that.

00:34:41.220 I'm curious, how much do you connect Bill Clinton's success to Newt Gingrich and that

00:34:48.120 contract with America?

00:34:49.180 Well, the best legislation that's passed in the last 30 years, this is the public saying

00:34:55.340 it, is welfare reform, to force people on welfare to get jobs, to say to them, we will

00:35:01.600 help you and we will not punish you.

00:35:03.840 But the single best welfare program is a job that we hope will become a career and that maybe

00:35:12.340 if you're lucky, will become a calling and that you should not if you're able to work,

00:35:17.680 you should not be able to collect money because that's not fair to other taxpayers.

00:35:23.700 And Gingrich pushed and pushed and pushed.

00:35:28.160 Clinton backed away and backed away, accepted it, voted into law.

00:35:33.900 And if you ask the American people, that was the single best legislation of their lifetime

00:35:39.940 because it did so much good for so many people.

00:35:43.620 Frank, I'm curious, and it's interesting, we can go down the welfare conversation, which

00:35:51.900 is fascinating to me.

00:35:53.120 And I don't mean to move off it because I want to sort of reconnect and re-engage and a

00:36:00.700 deeper understanding of what you said a moment ago about the need to have someone that can

00:36:08.160 speak in those aspirational tones, that has a strategy that is not only engaging, but is

00:36:15.820 willing to engage people across the aisle.

00:36:18.820 You've referenced on multiple occasions, and I want to get back to Booker, but you referenced

00:36:22.760 Corey as well.

00:36:24.120 But I'm curious, are we in an environment where we reward any good behavior whatsoever?

00:36:29.760 Or is this an environment where there's even the capacity to do what you suggest must be

00:36:37.000 done?

00:36:37.560 Okay, you're asking the correct question.

00:36:39.360 I'm going to give you an answer.

00:36:40.600 That is correct.

00:36:41.960 But it's not what I want to give, which is no and not.

00:36:46.200 We're not in that environment.

00:36:47.640 We punish people.

00:36:48.840 The kinder you are, the more we hate you.

00:36:51.520 The more we think you're hiding something.

00:36:53.740 The bigger your heart.

00:36:54.900 We ask the question, what's the most important attribute in a governor?

00:36:58.900 Kindness and compassion comes in second to last.

00:37:03.680 Intelligence is at the bottom also.

00:37:06.680 Wow.

00:37:07.180 We're rewarding bad behavior.

00:37:09.980 We're rewarding people, and we want accountability, which is good behavior.

00:37:14.340 We want someone who says what they mean, means what they say, and does what they say.

00:37:19.260 That's all good.

00:37:20.040 But that heart and that soul and that thing that's inside that allows us to feel people's

00:37:29.880 pain, not only do we not reward it, we even punish it, even suggest that that makes us

00:37:36.600 soft.

00:37:37.620 I want to point out, because I would have forgotten, and I would have been mad.

00:37:40.040 Your debate with Ron DeSantis.

00:37:44.460 I'm on his side 90% of the time, and you out-debated him.

00:37:50.240 You out-communicated him, because you added a human component to it.

00:37:56.380 Wait, your viewers should go back and watch that debate.

00:38:01.240 Was it just one on Fox?

00:38:03.020 Yeah, just one with Sean Hannity, yeah.

00:38:05.300 And Hannity was against you.

00:38:07.480 Yeah.

00:38:07.980 You had the moderator against you, you had your opponent against you, and you had an audience

00:38:11.780 against you.

00:38:13.440 Sir, you did incredibly well, because you added the human dynamic to it, which is not going

00:38:20.340 to get you nominated for president.

00:38:22.720 It's not going to raise your approval rating for California.

00:38:26.120 These are things that the public does not care about.

00:38:29.960 The Democrats want you to beat up on Trump.

00:38:33.140 That's right.

00:38:33.760 They don't want you to, they're not asking you for a better vision.

00:38:37.020 They want you to take him on and punch him.

00:38:39.880 That's right.

00:38:40.580 And guess what?

00:38:41.900 That'll solve nothing.

00:38:44.160 That'll get us nowhere.

00:38:45.420 And so the stuff that I do now, my, the Republican side thinks I'm way too soft.

00:38:52.260 Tucker Carlson calls me a traitor.

00:38:54.980 And on the Democratic side, they don't trust me because they know where my background is.

00:39:00.280 They know where my principles and my values lie.

00:39:04.180 And yet I'm right in the middle and I don't have a country.

00:39:07.680 I don't have people that I can get behind.

00:39:10.740 Where's Joe Manchin now?

00:39:12.080 He's out of office.

00:39:13.060 Of the former governor of, uh, of, uh, Maryland, Larry Hogan, uh, Joe Lieberman, the great Joe Lieberman, John McCain.

00:39:25.620 These are statesmen who are ridiculed and laughed at and condemned.

00:39:31.500 And they were the best of America.

00:39:33.280 And it's not a little bit of you, sir, and a little bit of me.

00:39:37.740 It's that middle ground, the center of the screen trying to get right there where we overlap.

00:39:44.360 We're not trying to get there now.

00:39:46.180 We're all on the edges.

00:39:48.360 And it's destroying the country.

00:39:49.860 Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko.

00:40:06.280 It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives.

00:40:17.460 I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot.

00:40:22.180 Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show.

00:40:27.620 I live with my boyfriend and I found his piss jar in our apartment.

00:40:32.440 I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails.

00:40:35.280 I have very overbearing parents.

00:40:37.460 Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house.

00:40:40.320 So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:40:52.840 It's the one with the green guy on it.

00:40:54.500 Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte?

00:40:59.800 What we have all been waiting for.

00:41:02.600 Sarah Jessica Parker is here and she is sharing stories from the very beginning, like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode.

00:41:10.840 I remember some things about shooting the pilot.

00:41:13.080 Right.

00:41:13.680 I have some memories I can fill you in.

00:41:15.100 And that you're going to fill me in.

00:41:16.120 Yes.

00:41:16.720 But then you forgot about it?

00:41:17.980 I completely forgot about it.

00:41:20.700 And she reveals what she thought when she read the script for Sex and the City the very first time.

00:41:26.400 He said he wrote this like I was in his head in some way, which I found really interesting.

00:41:31.580 And does she think Carrie is too good for Mr. Big?

00:41:34.600 She had inexplicable feelings.

00:41:36.380 It is a human being that can't explain to her friends why somebody that might be beneath her is dictating the hunt.

00:41:45.140 You can't miss this.

00:41:46.400 Listen to Are You a Charlotte on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:41:52.820 What happens when we come face to face with death?

00:41:57.960 My truck was blown up by a 20-pound anti-tank mine.

00:42:00.740 My parachute did not deploy.

00:42:03.300 I was kidnapped by a drug cartel.

00:42:06.000 I just remember everything getting dark.

00:42:09.480 I'm dying.

00:42:11.000 When we step beyond the edge of what we know.

00:42:13.300 To open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that western box.

00:42:18.200 And return.

00:42:19.560 I clinically died.

00:42:21.100 The heart stopped beating.

00:42:21.940 Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes.

00:42:24.620 My name is Dan Bush.

00:42:25.720 My mission is simple.

00:42:26.900 To find, explore, and share these stories.

00:42:29.860 I'm not a victim.

00:42:30.880 I'm a survivor.

00:42:31.960 You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable.

00:42:33.980 To remind us what it means to be alive.

00:42:36.120 Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off, but I'm the guy who was smiling when he cut his arm off.

00:42:41.640 Alive Again.

00:42:42.720 A podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live.

00:42:47.980 Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

00:42:53.700 I have a question for you, and I want you to be honest with me.

00:42:59.520 How are you?

00:43:00.400 It's a really hard question to ask.

00:43:03.800 It's a harder one to answer.

00:43:05.560 But taking care of our mental well-being has never been more important.

00:43:08.680 All of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and on the Psychology of Your 20s podcast, we are taking a vulnerable look at why mental health is so hard to talk about, and all the science and psychology behind some of life's hardest moments and transitions.

00:43:23.240 Prepare for our conversations to go deep.

00:43:25.780 Everything from grief to heartbreak, career burnout, anxiety, all of the things that you would only talk about with your closest friends.

00:43:33.320 I spent the majority of my teenage years and my 20s just feeling absolutely terrified.

00:43:39.380 I had a panic attack on a conference call.

00:43:41.820 Knowing that she had six months to live, I was no longer pretending that this was my best friend.

00:43:45.640 So this Mental Health Awareness Month, take that extra bit of care of yourself and your brain.

00:43:50.560 Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:43:59.340 Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.

00:44:02.240 On this week's episode of Math & Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones.

00:44:07.880 We're exploring the power of audio.

00:44:10.420 The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop.

00:44:14.400 But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country.

00:44:17.560 So I kind of never really had a place to fit in, but that's exactly how and why I fit.

00:44:22.880 I just embraced that.

00:44:24.600 Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole.

00:44:27.440 I think that is what endeared me to listeners.

00:44:30.240 That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

00:44:38.960 Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:44:46.420 Frank, is that because, I mean, society becomes how we behave.

00:44:56.180 We are our behaviors.

00:44:57.980 And everything we've talked about has happened, quote unquote, on our watch.

00:45:02.240 And I say that broadly, not as an elected official, but as, you know, as a father of four that lives in this state and wants to see a better future for my kids.

00:45:15.220 Who's responsible?

00:45:16.580 Are we responsible?

00:45:18.120 Are elected officials responsible?

00:45:20.380 Is it something more insidious?

00:45:21.940 Are the algorithms responsible?

00:45:23.500 I mean, what's your sense of the moment and how do we, I mean, we have to sort of, it seems to me, diagnose it more deeply to then begin to sort of work our way out of it.

00:45:36.100 No?

00:45:36.780 I'm not sure about diagnosing, because I think we all know.

00:45:39.700 It's John McCain, when a woman stood up in a town hall and said that Barack Obama was a Muslim, McCain quietly and calmly and civilly said, no, ma'am, that's not true.

00:45:55.420 It's a great moment.

00:45:56.560 Great moment.

00:45:57.960 In the debates between them, John, I remember in the 2008 Republican debate that John McCain was cracking a joke about Hillary Clinton,

00:46:06.440 saying that she wanted to spend a million dollars to celebrate Woodstock.

00:46:11.760 McCain didn't support it.

00:46:13.800 He didn't even get to Woodstock.

00:46:15.180 He was locked up at that moment, and everybody laughed.

00:46:19.640 This is the, we've lost that kind of campaign right now.

00:46:23.400 We demonize each other.

00:46:25.720 It's social media, but it's more than social media.

00:46:29.320 It's the fact that moms will not take away the phone, will not unplug the computer.

00:46:36.940 I say this to every parent watching, or grandparent.

00:46:40.560 Your child is getting addicted as we speak.

00:46:44.340 Your child is losing the ability to make independent decisions and thoughts and engage human beings in a real way because they're stuck on the web.

00:46:53.400 And you parents, don't disconnect that computer.

00:46:58.760 Don't say you're not going to be on your phone.

00:47:01.120 And I know how hard it is to be a mom right now.

00:47:03.260 I know that your daughter's going to say to you, I hate you.

00:47:06.700 I'm not coming to dinner.

00:47:08.960 Better that she says she hates you than actually grows to do so because of social media.

00:47:14.380 So you think at the core, I mean, that has, in more ways, on more days, that has more to say about why we're in this predicament that we're in.

00:47:25.200 It's our behavior magnified 10 times by social media.

00:47:30.900 And then, and I'm going to hold your, the woman who I think wants to take your job, I'm going to hold her accountable as well.

00:47:38.020 You're referring to Kamala Harris.

00:47:40.380 Yes.

00:47:41.000 We all know how Trump communicates to people.

00:47:43.220 And I ask a very simple question, and I'm trying not to get canceled by him.

00:47:48.920 But the fact is, you ask parents, you ask Trump voters, do you want your children to talk the way Donald Trump talks?

00:47:56.620 And they say no.

00:47:58.480 They love him.

00:47:59.900 They want his agenda.

00:48:01.700 But they don't want their kids to sound the way that he does.

00:48:05.140 And I know his response would be, he has the most wonderful vocabulary.

00:48:09.560 We've all put together videos of how he shoots down reporters, how he calls them dumb, how he says, it's not just a matter of being wrong.

00:48:21.880 You're an idiot.

00:48:23.520 Using that language.

00:48:25.340 We don't want our kids to talk that way.

00:48:27.440 But we also want our kids to tell the truth.

00:48:33.100 And to tell us what's right about themselves, not what's wrong about the opposition.

00:48:38.520 Vice President Harris never said what he was going to do in the first hour or the first day.

00:48:45.260 Her ads against Trump were brilliant.

00:48:47.300 But her, and by the way, she beat him in the debate.

00:48:52.120 Oh, yeah.

00:48:52.800 She played him in the debate.

00:48:54.720 Oh, yeah.

00:48:55.800 And everyone thinks so, except Trump has polls that show that he won by 30 or 40, 50 points.

00:49:02.260 He never showed them.

00:49:04.000 We never saw them.

00:49:05.940 But Vice President Harris had the opportunity to offer a different vision, and she never did.

00:49:12.340 She told us what was wrong about Donald Trump and never told us what was right about herself.

00:49:18.900 So she bears some of the blame.

00:49:21.220 You're the master pollster.

00:49:23.060 Is that not what the polls said she needed to do in order to get out the vote?

00:49:28.140 Or did you reflect differently on your own analysis, that they were looking for a compelling alternative vision?

00:49:34.320 They were looking for it in the polling.

00:49:37.320 The public said they didn't trust her.

00:49:40.160 If you don't trust her, there's a reason why.

00:49:42.740 It's not that they thought that she was a liar.

00:49:44.980 It's that they didn't know where she was.

00:49:48.040 They said this again and again in the CNN focus groups, in the stuff that was happening in the media polls that were being done.

00:49:57.060 Not my stuff.

00:49:59.320 Where does she stand on prices?

00:50:01.640 What's she going to do?

00:50:02.780 What is she going to do in immigration?

00:50:04.580 What was her most famous comment during the campaign?

00:50:07.820 It was her interview on The View.

00:50:09.760 And she said, I wouldn't do anything differently.

00:50:13.280 How can you say that?

00:50:15.580 Joe Biden was AOL.

00:50:18.380 He was not there.

00:50:19.680 He was not present.

00:50:21.060 And there's nothing you would do differently.

00:50:22.680 I recognize your need to be loyal.

00:50:24.540 I recognize your desire not to fracture the Democratic Party.

00:50:28.940 But the American people were struggling back then, as they're struggling right now.

00:50:34.420 And they needed to know what she would have done.

00:50:36.660 And Governor, I'm going to give you what she could have done.

00:50:39.880 It was three weeks from the election.

00:50:41.140 She chose not to go on Joe Rogan.

00:50:43.560 She never engaged with Stephen A.

00:50:45.500 Smith.

00:50:46.440 These are people who listen to beyond traditional politics.

00:50:51.420 They invited her.

00:50:53.280 She didn't go.

00:50:53.820 And in the end, she was on Anderson Cooper on CNN.

00:50:58.440 And he begins the town hall with immigration.

00:51:02.300 And he's hostile to her.

00:51:03.980 It's tough on her.

00:51:05.460 And she should have said, and I quote, Anderson, I could answer your questions.

00:51:11.300 I can answer the questions of the American people sitting right in front of me right now.

00:51:15.760 And I'm going to choose them.

00:51:16.980 So let me do something I've not done before.

00:51:20.400 Let me give you five minutes on exactly what I'm going to do in the first hour.

00:51:25.120 What is the first piece of legislation I'm going to sign?

00:51:28.340 Then I'm going to do the first day.

00:51:30.040 And she would have this conversation.

00:51:32.640 And then Anderson would cut her off after five minutes.

00:51:35.000 And she turned to him and say, no, Anderson, I'm not done yet.

00:51:38.720 The American people have the right to know what I'm going to do.

00:51:41.160 And I have the responsibility to tell them.

00:51:43.580 And for the next 30 minutes, as he keeps trying to jump in, she keeps saying to them, y'all like this?

00:51:50.540 Y'all want this?

00:51:51.720 And of course, the answer would be yes.

00:51:53.860 And so she'd have this personal one-on-one engagement with 100 people in the audience.

00:51:58.840 Anderson trying to get in.

00:52:01.200 And that would have elected her president.

00:52:04.000 Do you really?

00:52:04.840 I mean, do you think you're of the opinion?

00:52:06.820 And I appreciate this.

00:52:07.900 It's always so, we're all, you know, looking back, you know, 107-day sprint.

00:52:11.900 And, you know, obviously the highlights, the view, everything else.

00:52:14.500 And there's been so many diagnoses of what went wrong was, you know, to your point about

00:52:19.220 distinguishing herself a little bit from the president.

00:52:22.960 Obviously, the amount of time, the fact there wasn't an open primary, more broadly beyond

00:52:26.900 her, the incumbent penalty, which some had assessed, issues around immigration, inflation,

00:52:32.360 interest rates.

00:52:33.220 And Israel certainly played a role, I imagine, in some respects.

00:52:36.740 But you think fundamentally, this was an election where Vice President Harris could have won.

00:52:43.180 Trump had 91 indictment counts against him.

00:52:46.620 He'd been impeached twice.

00:52:48.740 He was now the oldest president to run for office now that Biden was out.

00:52:53.040 And he had all these moments that won questions.

00:53:00.120 By the way, eating the dogs, eating the cats.

00:53:04.100 How the heck do you elect that?

00:53:07.460 He survived it.

00:53:09.540 Right.

00:53:09.840 And he still won.

00:53:11.260 And yes, he's a great communicator.

00:53:13.880 He knows how to talk to his supporters.

00:53:15.920 But she blew it.

00:53:17.820 And she should wake up every day thinking to herself, how did I lose to this guy?

00:53:25.020 Well, I hope she doesn't do that.

00:53:26.380 I want her to move on.

00:53:27.380 And we all do in context.

00:53:29.200 But I think all of us need to reflect on what happened, what didn't happen.

00:53:32.640 You were pretty pointed, weren't you, after that debate, not only that Harris won, but

00:53:36.800 that potentially Trump lost the election that night on the basis of some of those comments.

00:53:42.420 Were you, I mean, did you reflect, I mean, was just your point, I mean, why, there was

00:53:49.020 no movement in the polls, it seemed, regardless of Trump claiming he crushed it.

00:53:54.220 And Harris, I think, objectively did, but didn't seem to move anybody.

00:53:59.240 I never saw this before.

00:54:01.340 Never in American history has a debate been less impactful on the election.

00:54:06.500 And she crushed it.

00:54:07.740 I mean, she really did.

00:54:08.760 I was very inspired.

00:54:09.580 I was one of the spin room people, so I'm paid to say that, as they say.

00:54:13.760 But I really believe it.

00:54:15.000 And the further distance I have, the more impressed I was with her performance.

00:54:19.060 Therefore, therefore, the more critical you should be of her campaign.

00:54:24.640 On that night, she won the election.

00:54:27.520 Why did Trump win by such a big margin?

00:54:31.000 It wasn't even that for modern days.

00:54:32.800 It wasn't that close.

00:54:34.640 Why did he win Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin?

00:54:39.580 And other states, and Arizona.

00:54:42.360 He won them because people thought he said what he meant and meant what he said.

00:54:47.580 And while they didn't like how he articulated it, which is exactly what's happening right now,

00:54:52.240 they wanted that agenda.

00:54:53.920 Why did she lose when she had the election?

00:54:57.040 She had more money than God, had an amazing debate performance that everyone saw.

00:55:01.820 There was never another debate.

00:55:03.800 She'd gone into the lead there.

00:55:05.820 Why did she lose?

00:55:06.840 She lost because of herself.

00:55:10.740 In the end, it's not just what's going on around you.

00:55:14.220 You have to tell people what you are for.

00:55:16.640 You have to tell them what you will do.

00:55:19.060 And you have to be able to show that you can get it done.

00:55:22.140 I remember what a big deal it was when she was made the immigrations are.

00:55:27.080 I was around.

00:55:27.940 I saw this.

00:55:29.180 And then during the campaign, she tries to run away from it.

00:55:31.800 Oh, I wasn't important.

00:55:33.480 I had nothing to do.

00:55:35.560 Own it.

00:55:37.340 Be sincere with people.

00:55:39.180 Let them see you.

00:55:40.720 Acknowledge, as I'm doing right here, right now, I got that election wrong.

00:55:44.320 I knew Trump was going to win two weeks before.

00:55:46.280 But I knew he was going to lose after that debate because no one had ever recovered from such a bad debate performance.

00:55:54.300 Governor, the public deserves the truth.

00:55:58.380 The public deserves candor.

00:56:00.620 They have the right to know when we got it wrong.

00:56:03.260 And if you can't admit you got it wrong, then you probably don't deserve to have your position.

00:56:07.220 And they need to know what you're going to do so you don't get it wrong in the future.

00:56:12.120 I think we've lost not just the sense of civility and decency, but I think we've lost what made America so great, which was this pursuit of the truth, to acknowledge that separate but equal was not equal, to acknowledge that we could be a more perfect union.

00:56:30.180 The idea that we're always focused on doing better for our children than the next generation.

00:56:36.960 And now we try to cover stuff up.

00:56:39.300 And now we try to accept the status quo.

00:56:42.240 The same people who screamed and hollered about prices and voted for Donald Trump because he thought that he would make their life more livable.

00:56:50.040 Look at the stock market.

00:56:51.760 Look at 401ks.

00:56:53.440 Those same people are saying, well, we need an adjustment in the stock market.

00:56:57.580 It was too high.

00:56:58.580 You couldn't afford your food and fuel, and now you actually want your retirement savings to be reduced because it's artificially high.

00:57:07.240 We have to tell the truth just for once.

00:57:10.680 I want to use the F word, but I don't because I want you to put this out.

00:57:14.840 Bring it on.

00:57:15.880 It's been used often here, Frank.

00:57:18.280 Yes.

00:57:19.360 But I'm actually so serious now.

00:57:23.120 Embrace the truth.

00:57:24.600 Seek the truth.

00:57:26.120 Fight for the truth.

00:57:27.560 And demand that people tell you it.

00:57:30.540 And when they say to you they weren't wrong, make them prove it.

00:57:33.820 And when you say to them, I've got a better answer, show me.

00:57:39.580 Please.

00:57:40.020 I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating.

00:57:45.960 I don't feel emotions correctly.

00:57:47.880 I am talking to a felon right now, and I cannot decide if I like him or not.

00:57:52.460 Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko.

00:57:56.760 It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives.

00:58:07.920 I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot.

00:58:12.640 Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show.

00:58:17.900 I live with my boyfriend, and I found his piss jar in our apartment.

00:58:22.940 I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails.

00:58:25.680 I have very overbearing parents.

00:58:27.900 Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house.

00:58:30.800 So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:58:43.300 It's the one with the green guy on it.

00:58:44.960 Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, host of the podcast, Are You a Charlotte?

00:58:50.260 What we have all been waiting for.

00:58:53.060 Sarah Jessica Parker is here, and she is sharing stories from the very beginning, like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode.

00:59:01.320 I remember some things about shooting the pilot.

00:59:03.540 Right.

00:59:04.140 I have some memories I can fill you in.

00:59:05.560 And that you're going to fill me in.

00:59:06.600 Yes.

00:59:07.200 But then you forgot about it?

00:59:08.460 I completely forgot about it.

00:59:11.200 And she reveals what she thought when she read the script for Sex and the City the very first time.

00:59:16.880 He said he wrote this like I was in his head in some way, which I found really interesting.

00:59:22.060 And does she think Carrie is too good for Mr. Big?

00:59:25.080 She had inexplicable feelings.

00:59:26.860 Got it.

00:59:27.360 It is a human being that can't explain to her friends why somebody that might be beneath her is dictating the hunt.

00:59:35.620 You can't miss this.

00:59:36.900 Listen to Are You a Charlotte on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:59:44.900 What happens when we come face to face with death?

00:59:48.420 My truck was blown up by a 20-pound anti-tank mine.

00:59:51.200 My parachute did not deploy.

00:59:53.780 I was kidnapped by a drug cartel.

00:59:56.480 I just remember everything getting dark.

00:59:59.680 I'm dying.

01:00:00.620 When we step beyond the edge of what we know.

01:00:03.800 To open our consciousness to something more than just what's in that Western box.

01:00:08.660 And we turn.

01:00:10.040 I clinically died.

01:00:11.640 The heart stopped beating.

01:00:12.600 Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes.

01:00:15.040 My name is Dan Bush.

01:00:16.180 My mission is simple.

01:00:17.360 To find, explore, and share these stories.

01:00:20.300 I'm not a victim.

01:00:21.340 I'm a survivor.

01:00:22.420 You're strongest when you're the most vulnerable.

01:00:24.440 To remind us what it means to be alive.

01:00:26.460 Not just that I was the guy that cut his arm off, but I'm the guy who was smiling when he cut his arm off.

01:00:32.140 Alive Again.

01:00:33.180 A podcast about the fragility of life, the strength of the human spirit, and what it means to truly live.

01:00:38.920 Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

01:00:46.080 I have a question for you, and I want you to be honest with me.

01:00:50.080 How are you?

01:00:52.080 It's a really hard question to ask.

01:00:53.920 It's a harder one to answer, but taking care of our mental well-being has never been more important.

01:01:00.060 All of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and on the Psychology of Your 20s podcast,

01:01:04.180 we are taking a vulnerable look at why mental health is so hard to talk about,

01:01:08.680 and all the science and psychology behind some of life's hardest moments and transitions.

01:01:13.680 Prepare for our conversations to go deep.

01:01:16.260 Everything from grief to heartbreak, career burnout, anxiety,

01:01:20.120 all of the things that you would only talk about with your closest friends.

01:01:24.180 I spent the majority of my teenage years and my 20s just feeling absolutely terrified.

01:01:29.840 I had a panic attack on a conference call.

01:01:32.300 Knowing that she had six months to live, I was no longer pretending that this was my best friend.

01:01:36.120 So this Mental Health Awareness Month, take that extra bit of care of yourself and your brain.

01:01:40.640 Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app,

01:01:45.260 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:01:50.120 Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.

01:01:53.260 On this week's episode of Math & Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones.

01:01:58.340 We're exploring the power of audio.

01:02:00.880 The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop.

01:02:04.860 But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country.

01:02:08.040 So I kind of never really had a place to fit in, but that's exactly how and why I fit.

01:02:13.340 I just embraced that.

01:02:15.080 Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole.

01:02:17.620 I think that is what endeared me to listeners.

01:02:20.980 That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me,

01:02:25.700 have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

01:02:29.120 Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing,

01:02:32.580 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:02:36.860 All that being said, Trump voters, you've been doing the focus groups.

01:02:45.060 You did the assessment of his first 100 days with everything you just said,

01:02:48.820 everything you laid out, and the imperative of being honest and accountable and speaking truth.

01:02:55.320 No one's moved.

01:02:56.360 His base has not moved.

01:02:57.860 Right.

01:02:58.080 I mean, remarkably, despite their 401ks, despite the impacts on prices, the uncertainty as it relates

01:03:04.780 to the tariff, and all the other sort of chaos that one would have otherwise expected, perhaps,

01:03:10.280 but to, I think, the degree that certainly is alarming.

01:03:13.640 Because they'll say to you, as they did, in a very articulate way, we want action.

01:03:21.500 And Joe Biden was four years of inaction, four years of empty rhetoric,

01:03:28.020 without the intensity of getting it done.

01:03:32.220 And they, Frank, and forgive me just for cutting you there, but they didn't see the Chips and Science Act.

01:03:37.780 They didn't see the infrastructure bill.

01:03:39.440 They didn't see 400 bipartisan bills.

01:03:41.140 They didn't see the Saver Community Act as relates to gun violence and mental health.

01:03:44.600 They didn't see the IRA.

01:03:46.000 They didn't see those as accomplishments.

01:03:48.500 Is it because the rhetoric didn't back it up?

01:03:50.740 Why was he, from your perspective, missing in action?

01:03:54.060 Or were all those things trivial in the context of the American people?

01:03:58.100 They're not trivial.

01:03:59.880 And normally, I try to look at the camera, but now I'm looking at you in my screen,

01:04:04.100 so I can see a reaction here.

01:04:06.440 You actually hit it right on the head.

01:04:08.960 They didn't see it.

01:04:11.140 They didn't see the jobs from the Chips Act.

01:04:14.300 They didn't see the roads getting built from the infrastructure.

01:04:18.860 They didn't see efforts and accountability.

01:04:22.260 All the things that you just mentioned, no, sir.

01:04:25.300 They didn't see it.

01:04:26.660 They heard about it, but it wasn't in front of their eyes.

01:04:29.340 What did they see?

01:04:31.260 People coming over the wall.

01:04:32.920 People coming across the border at night.

01:04:37.380 New York City, where illegal immigrants were seen as murderers.

01:04:45.040 That's what they saw.

01:04:46.160 They didn't see prices coming down.

01:04:48.860 They knew the price of eggs.

01:04:50.340 They knew the price of a gallon of gas.

01:04:52.120 That's what they saw.

01:04:53.180 In your question, you actually answered it.

01:04:56.420 They didn't see it.

01:04:57.880 And this is a challenge for you in the last two years of your administration.

01:05:02.960 If you want people to see how California's changed, they have to internalize it.

01:05:09.320 It's not enough for you to say it.

01:05:11.080 You have to show them visually.

01:05:14.340 And they have to believe that it's true.

01:05:17.900 I love that.

01:05:18.980 One more thing about Trump.

01:05:20.520 Please.

01:05:21.240 They supported his agenda and still do.

01:05:24.020 They want an end to illegal immigration.

01:05:26.340 And so they're willing to turn a blind eye if some people get kicked out of Xi Jinping.

01:05:31.100 They desperately want the U.S. on a level playing field versus China.

01:05:36.140 So they're willing to support tariffs.

01:05:38.120 If that's what makes China give American products, American services, and the American workforce an even shake, which they do not do.

01:05:48.920 No, they didn't see waste.

01:05:51.560 And they desperately want an end to wasteful Washington spending.

01:05:54.800 They don't like Elon Musk with a chainsaw.

01:05:58.780 But they do like the fact that agencies that cannot prove that they're delivering, they do want those agencies cut.

01:06:06.880 Now, that's why they support Trump, not for the execution, but for the agenda.

01:06:13.200 So, Frank, what is your, you know, and I love just in the limited time, just pivot a little bit, because I think what, you know, where we are and where we're going.

01:06:22.900 I mean, I think about the reflect you're reflecting on on on Harris's campaign a little bit and in trying to seek some truth telling, particularly from the Democrats to understand and own it.

01:06:33.660 Where do you see the Democratic Party right now?

01:06:37.440 And where do you see Donald Trump and the Republican and perhaps separately, where do you see the Republican Party independent of Trump?

01:06:45.700 And if I may, just to extend the long question, any advice for the Democratic Party?

01:06:53.520 Any advice for the Republican Party, independent of MAGA, perhaps, and Trump and Trumpism itself?

01:07:01.440 I have to start somewhere, so we'll start with the Democrats.

01:07:05.560 The public supports Trump's agenda.

01:07:08.000 They just don't support the execution.

01:07:09.580 So, tell me, how are you going to address immigration, but do so in a way that delivers better results?

01:07:17.500 How are you going to address the unleveled playing field between the U.S. and China that has genuinely hurt American manufacturing,

01:07:25.760 but to do so in a way that guarantees that factories can open up here,

01:07:30.640 and where American, the workforce, is respected for what it does?

01:07:34.880 Because they do want cuts to wasteful Washington spending.

01:07:39.720 They just want a scalpel and not a chainsaw.

01:07:43.340 So, I'm looking for the Democrat who surrounds himself with the word better,

01:07:48.240 who emphasizes we can do it better than that.

01:07:50.700 We hear you.

01:07:51.900 We understand you.

01:07:53.060 We know you're pissed off.

01:07:55.260 We know you want us to fight.

01:07:57.380 Don't get mad.

01:07:58.800 Don't get even.

01:08:00.220 Get ahead.

01:08:00.860 Who focuses on leapfrogging the current resistance to, and it's not acquiescence.

01:08:11.180 It's not Chuck Schumer at all.

01:08:14.700 It's Hakeem Jeffries at his best.

01:08:18.300 Because Hakeem Jeffries at his best offers solutions that will address Medicare and Medicaid.

01:08:28.820 That seeks to hold Washington accountable without punishing the hardworking taxpayer.

01:08:36.600 And in the end, and this is the great way to end the Democratic part, respects the hardworking taxpayer.

01:08:42.600 Democrats just want to tax.

01:08:43.980 You say you just want to tax the rich, the wealthy, the affluent.

01:08:47.700 But every time you call for raising the debt tax, for example, that punishes family businesses.

01:08:54.800 Every time you set that number, the people who actually hire, who create jobs, are those who are successful.

01:09:03.580 I live in a beautiful home in L.A., as you know.

01:09:05.900 I will only be here this year, maybe 25 days.

01:09:12.120 And I really wanted to do this face-to-face, because I appreciate you, and I wanted to express that.

01:09:18.660 You're going to be a leading Democratic candidate.

01:09:23.120 Don't punish success.

01:09:25.960 Find a way to share it.

01:09:28.280 Find a way to spread it.

01:09:29.840 But if you punish it, you'll never get elected, because in the end, Americans will not support that.

01:09:37.880 They do believe that we have a wealth gap that's out of control.

01:09:41.160 It's one of the best Democratic issues, this income gap.

01:09:44.780 But they don't want to take the wealthy down.

01:09:48.160 They want to bring the paycheck-to-paycheck voter up.

01:09:52.080 And I don't think Democrats fully understand that.

01:09:54.620 So you think it's a big mistake where Bernie and AOC are going, in terms of just the oligarchy frame?

01:10:01.700 You think it just reinforces a frame that you don't think is more broadly well-received, despite polling?

01:10:09.820 Even your own polling are estimates saying 62%, 3% of Americans support a wealth tax.

01:10:14.900 It gets them.

01:10:15.740 And someone was—you saw the presentation.

01:10:18.300 I was in public about this.

01:10:19.800 Because, yeah, it gets them noticed, gets them crowds of 20,000 or 30,000 people, which is a lot, and makes them relevant to the debate.

01:10:30.800 But it doesn't get them elected president.

01:10:33.640 And that's the difference.

01:10:35.820 And there needs to be someone who says, look, this is a great country.

01:10:41.200 We just have a few of our—we need to fix what's wrong without undermining what's right about America.

01:10:48.120 And that's not what they do.

01:10:50.880 They're too negative, and they're too on the nose.

01:10:54.240 And it will bring about significant Democratic support.

01:10:59.060 But it will not put them in the Oval Office in 2028.

01:11:03.240 You're reminding me of Bill Clinton's famous line,

01:11:06.420 there's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America.

01:11:10.660 Yes, and I believe that that's his line.

01:11:12.300 I believe he wrote that.

01:11:13.280 And that's an understanding of where America is at right now, because we're very pessimistic.

01:11:19.440 We believe the future is going to be worse than the present.

01:11:22.720 We believe that the present is worse than the past.

01:11:25.780 But we're not going to vote for someone who's inherently negative.

01:11:29.240 We're not going to vote for someone who's going to take.

01:11:32.900 We want someone who's going to give.

01:11:34.560 And on the Republican side, there has to be a better message than we need to get even with them,

01:11:41.740 than we need to punish them.

01:11:43.920 Because in the end, that does not bring the country together.

01:11:47.600 There needs to be a message that says, yes, they got it wrong, and you got hurt.

01:11:54.060 But you're not forgotten.

01:11:56.400 You're not ignored.

01:11:57.740 And we haven't betrayed you.

01:12:00.900 We will right this country.

01:12:03.380 Remember, governor, it's the working class union voter that put Donald Trump in office

01:12:10.320 and took that election away from Kamala Harris.

01:12:14.660 It's the Latino who said, you want to take all this to help the black community.

01:12:21.040 What about us?

01:12:22.680 Latino men voted Trump for the first time ever.

01:12:26.680 Yep, yep.

01:12:28.240 These are fundamental changes that have not happened.

01:12:32.460 And the last thing I'd say is, among young men, they've come to see more in Trump

01:12:37.500 that's better for their future than Vice President Harris.

01:12:42.700 I don't know if it's what Trump got right.

01:12:45.580 I don't know what Harris got wrong.

01:12:47.740 But these are big, fundamental shifts that the Democrats have to address.

01:12:52.560 And I don't see them addressing it.

01:12:54.160 And this is why, and by the way, at your best, you address it.

01:13:01.380 At your best, you talk about this and you engage it.

01:13:04.180 You kicked DeSantis' ass in that debate.

01:13:09.200 And I think he had the issues on his side.

01:13:12.420 They had the moderator on his side.

01:13:14.100 But every time you go, and this is California, and we don't want to get into California, but

01:13:22.440 this is part of the Democratic Party.

01:13:24.480 You have a group of Democrats that get you to stand up and cheer and give you standing

01:13:29.560 ovations and you're pumping your fists in the air, and that gets you noticed, but that

01:13:34.820 will not get you votes.

01:13:36.980 God bless.

01:13:37.520 And I want to end, as I promised, as we began, and that's going back to Cory Booker.

01:13:42.980 You know, you were outspoken in your praise, and you've referenced it a few times in this

01:13:48.320 conversation.

01:13:50.080 That was a 25-hour marathon.

01:13:53.100 Cory's, I consider him sort of extended family.

01:13:56.360 I've known him forever.

01:13:57.560 He's an actual friend, not one of those political friends.

01:14:00.720 So I have a strong bias towards him, and he's just deeply sincere.

01:14:04.700 I think he's a wonderful human being, most importantly.

01:14:07.000 Forget politics for me.

01:14:08.540 My judgment is about the character of the person.

01:14:11.140 So I love the fact that you thought that was a special speech.

01:14:14.420 But let's end.

01:14:15.500 Why did you think that was a special speech?

01:14:17.620 And what did it represent in this moment that you think needs to be more represented more

01:14:22.160 broadly in moments to come?

01:14:24.300 He told stories of real people.

01:14:27.140 He told stories of real life.

01:14:30.040 And he didn't just bash the president.

01:14:32.820 He spoke in favor of them, of uplifting them, of celebrating them.

01:14:38.760 Cory Booker has the most positive message for the country, which is not what Democrats

01:14:45.640 wanted to hear in 2020, which is why he didn't get the nomination.

01:14:49.860 My challenge to Senator Booker is, can you put that 25 hours into a bottle, have the guts

01:15:01.780 to say, I'm not going to beat up on Trump.

01:15:04.100 I'm going to tell you where we could be as a country, where we could be as a society.

01:15:10.060 And I'm going to celebrate the positive that's America as I address the pain and the suffering.

01:15:16.520 If he can do that with the discipline of not getting drawn into Trump.

01:15:23.560 And if Democrats realize that they're going to get elected in 2028, they rise or fall based

01:15:30.480 on their own positions, not Trump, based on their ability to do it better and more favorably

01:15:38.100 and more hopefully and with greater celebration.

01:15:41.000 We don't celebrate anything anymore.

01:15:43.800 We condemn and we dismiss and we disregard and we hate.

01:15:50.220 If Booker can be the antidote to that, he'll be the Democratic nominee and he'll be the next president.

01:15:58.520 And if he can't do it, maybe Mitch Landrieu can.

01:16:02.180 And if he can't do it, maybe Wes Moore can.

01:16:05.200 And if they can't do it, sir, maybe you can.

01:16:08.860 But it's not taking the easy road.

01:16:12.860 I hear you.

01:16:13.820 It's taking the better road.

01:16:16.280 Well, what a way to end, Frank.

01:16:18.220 Thank you for all your insight.

01:16:20.080 Thanks for the history.

01:16:21.040 Thanks for joining us today.

01:16:23.800 I'm very grateful for this opportunity.

01:16:26.200 And Governor, the idea that this idiot from West Harvard, Connecticut,

01:16:31.480 who flunked calculus as a freshman in college,

01:16:34.920 who had trouble holding his first job,

01:16:37.060 gets invited to have this conversation with the governor of California.

01:16:42.980 What a life.

01:16:44.900 Thank you.

01:16:46.000 I love it.

01:16:47.080 What a life.

01:16:47.840 I appreciate that, Frank.

01:16:49.240 Thank you.

01:16:49.980 Thanks for being with us.

01:16:51.020 Cheers.

01:16:51.340 I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating.

01:16:59.760 I don't feel emotions correctly.

01:17:01.700 I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails.

01:17:04.440 Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko.

01:17:08.800 It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist

01:17:14.800 and try to learn a little bit about their lives.

01:17:17.260 I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting.

01:17:21.180 Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app,

01:17:26.320 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:17:29.480 Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, host of the podcast Are You a Charlotte?

01:17:33.680 Sarah Jessica Parker is here.

01:17:35.340 And she is sharing stories from the very beginning, like the time she forgot we filmed the pilot episode.

01:17:42.000 I remember some things about shooting the pilot.

01:17:44.220 Right.

01:17:44.840 I have some memories I can fill you in.

01:17:46.240 And that you're going to fill me in.

01:17:47.280 Yes.

01:17:47.660 But then you forgot about it?

01:17:48.940 I completely forgot about it.

01:17:51.760 Listen to Are You a Charlotte?

01:17:53.740 On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:17:57.860 I think it's a sign of great mental health to acknowledge the dark wolf inside you.

01:18:04.280 It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and on a recent episode of The One You Feed,

01:18:08.580 Josh Radner from How I Met Your Mother joins us to talk about fame, self-acceptance, aging,

01:18:14.780 and finding peace in discomfort.

01:18:16.960 That is the mercy of time.

01:18:18.400 That time, it is a healer.

01:18:20.320 To hear this and more on healing, identity, and the wisdom of slowing down,

01:18:24.800 open your free iHeartRadio app, search One You Feed, and listen now.

01:18:30.040 Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia.

01:18:33.040 On this week's episode of Math & Magic, I'm sitting down with the one and only Bobby Bones.

01:18:37.900 We're exploring the power of audio.

01:18:40.420 Yeah, I don't fit into one specific whole.

01:18:43.080 I think that is what endeared me to listeners.

01:18:46.040 That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me,

01:18:50.760 have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

01:18:53.540 Listen to Math & Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing,

01:18:57.020 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

01:19:01.340 What happens when we come face-to-face with death?

01:19:04.720 My truck was blown up by a 20-pound anti-tank mine.

01:19:07.400 My parachute did not deploy.

01:19:09.120 I was kidnapped by a drug curtail.

01:19:12.120 When we step beyond the edge of what we know...

01:19:14.420 I clinically died.

01:19:15.980 The heart stopped beating.

01:19:16.940 Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes.

01:19:19.280 ...in return.

01:19:20.020 It's a miracle I was brought back.

01:19:21.720 Alive Again, a podcast about the strength of the human spirit.

01:19:25.100 Listen to Alive Again on the iHeartRadio app,

01:19:27.240 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

01:19:30.380 You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.

This is Gavin Newsom - May 14, 2025

And, This is A Republican Without A Country with Frank Luntz

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