Gavin Newsom: Trump admin. is a ‘CORRUPTION STORY’ on a scale we’ve never seen in our lifetime

[0:00] You know, a lot of people talk about democracy, but it's important to take risks for democracy. [0:06] And it's important to fight for democracy. [0:08] And that is exactly what Governor Newsom did. [0:10] So we are honored to have Governor Newsom from the great state of California to talk to us about what's happening in the country and how we can solve it. [0:22] Governor Newsom. [0:24] How are you? [0:30] Good. [0:31] Good to be with you. [0:34] Great to be with you. [0:35] Well, maybe we should just start fresh here. [0:39] Start fresh. [0:41] Unbelievable. [0:42] Redistricting is still fresh on my mind. [0:44] Great. [0:44] Fresh on everybody's mind. [0:46] It is remarkable what the Supreme Court just did. [0:50] I mean, no other way to describe it except Jim Crow 2.0. [0:54] What Governor Landry did was even more alarming in this respect. [0:59] He declared an emergency and suspended an election that already had been conducted at least for 42,000 people overseas in the military. [1:07] Literally suspended the election so he can redistrict out African-American representation. [1:13] That happened in 2026 in the United States of America. [1:19] What happened in Tennessee? [1:20] What's going on in all of these other southern states? [1:23] So, you know, my state of mind is very much on this unfinished work that we have in front of us as it relates to redistricting and waking people up from the somber, this sort of, you know, shock and awe, this overwhelm every day, being overwhelmed by another headline and another distraction. [1:42] But what lies underneath in terms of what's holding up our democracy is in real peril right now. [1:48] Speaking of peril, we hear we just have the news just just in the last day or so that the Trump administration settled with itself. [2:01] Essentially, Trump's Treasury Department made it negotiated with Trump himself over a $10 billion frivolous lawsuit to give a $1.8 billion taxpayer funded slush fund. [2:22] I would just call it a slush fund that will pay out to his allies who were involved in the insurrection. [2:31] So just penny for your thoughts on that topic. [2:34] Well, it's exactly why our founding fathers lived and died. [2:40] I mean, it's a hell of a thing. [2:43] The 250th anniversary where literally this declaration was conceived to stop this kind of corruption, this waste and this fraud. [2:50] This is I mean, it's it's it's so alarming. [2:54] 17, by the way, not 1.8. [2:57] It's 1776. [3:01] Joke's on you, I guess, or on all of us. [3:03] This is a corruption story, plain and simple. [3:06] Trump administration is a corruption story. [3:08] It's the great grift and it's taking shape on a daily basis in every way, shape, form. [3:13] You didn't even mention the $230 million at the DOJ that he's also trying to extract, not just that $10 billion, now $1.8 billion settlement. [3:21] We've talked a lot about the $400 million plan, which is not $400 million. [3:24] It was over $900 million in the Pentagon budget to retrofit the plan. [3:28] We talk about the eight large scale projects he has in the Gulf and around the rest of the globe. [3:33] The fact that he quite literally used the tariff regime in order to get those deals done, particularly the one in Vietnam. [3:40] We're talking about the kind of corruption at scale we've never seen in our lifetime, including what Wyckoff family's doing, what the Kushner family's doing, the Board of Peace, which is really about getting a piece of the Middle East. [3:52] All of this happened in plain open sight. [3:55] You saw last week the fact that finally he's delivering on the cell phones, another part of the grift. [4:01] Good old days when it was just about watches, $100,000, sneakers, $60, and cell phones. [4:07] This is happening at a scale we've never experienced in our lifetime, and he's just winding up. [4:14] And where's Congress? [4:16] Where's Johnson? [4:18] Where is Thune? [4:19] Supine. [4:20] Completely complicit in all of this graph and all this corruption. [4:24] Where are institutions? [4:25] Also rolling over. [4:26] Also selling out with respect. [4:28] As you know, and I know I offend people. [4:31] I've got a Patriot site, which in and of itself should be reasonably offensive because it mirrors and mocks a little bit of what Trump's doing. [4:38] But we sell knee pads. [4:39] And by the way, the last ones sold out, new ones just got in, but they sold out because our universities, remember that, were selling out. [4:51] Our law firms were selling out. [4:52] Media's selling out. [4:54] All those settlements. [4:56] And the corruption is, you know, what Brendan Carr is doing, what he's doing with the Tenga deal. [5:03] Nexstar, $6.2 billion. [5:06] He's going to get 80% penetration in our household markets. [5:09] The cap was 39%. [5:11] Brendan Carr is saying he didn't like the war coverage. [5:13] And he's considering now investigating certain media outlets. [5:16] This is all happening on our watch. [5:19] Society becomes how we behave. [5:22] We have agency. [5:24] We have a responsibility. [5:26] It's just like the issue of redistricting. [5:28] We could have decided to write an op-ed. [5:32] We could have decided, you know, hold hands, have a candlelight visual, win the argument. [5:39] These guys are ruthless on the other side. [5:42] Trump's not screwing around. [5:44] And nor can we. [5:45] Yeah, it's uncomfortable fighting fire with fire. [5:48] Yes, we all want the better angels. [5:50] Yes, we want the Sorkin sound and music, a little West Wing. [5:54] I do. [5:54] But we'll lose our country. [5:58] We will lose our country. [5:59] You saw today. [6:00] What is the President of the United States spending all his time on? [6:02] He had a big press conference about the new design for the ballroom. [6:05] The ballroom that he promised would be private in terms of its contribution. [6:09] Now he's asking a billion dollars of your taxpayers' money. [6:12] You saw what happened yesterday with Hexit. [6:15] This is the middle of a war. [6:17] 80 days in the middle of a war. [6:19] So what does the head of the Pentagon do? [6:21] He goes out there and campaigns in a partisan campaign for someone that didn't do the bidding [6:24] of the president. [6:25] This is happening in real time. [6:27] It's happening on our watch. [6:29] Again, society becomes how we behave. [6:32] For things to change, we need to change. [6:35] You need to change. [6:36] We all need to change and call this stuff out. [6:42] None of this normal. [6:44] Don't allow it to be normalized. [6:46] Do not allow this to be normalized. [6:50] It's a corruption story. [6:53] That's the Trump administration. [6:55] Period. [6:56] Full stop. [6:57] One of the differences we see in our country versus other countries, if you look at Orban's [7:05] Hungary or Putin's Russia, we are seeing a public opposition. [7:11] So when you talk about what people should do in this moment, what do you recommend to us? [7:18] Well, you don't give in to the fear of cynicism and anxiety and fear. [7:21] You realize that you're the antidote to all of that. [7:23] Again, it's not conditions, it's decisions that shape our fate and future. [7:29] You've seen that with the No Kings rallies. [7:30] People are showing up. [7:32] They're not falling prey to the system. [7:33] You've seen them showing up in statehouse races. [7:35] Over 30 have flipped from red to blue, not one blue to red. [7:41] We're winning. [7:41] People are showing up. [7:42] They're not giving up. [7:44] I showed up for Proposition 50. [7:45] It was a 90-day campaign. [7:48] We raised $118 million. [7:49] We also raised the consciousness from that was when you did the introduction, I was thinking [7:54] in the back, the reason people were reticent about that is polled at 48% when people were [8:00] talking about it. [8:01] We had to shapeshift things. [8:04] Again, decisions, not conditions. [8:07] So we've got to turn it up. [8:10] They're trying to rig the election. [8:11] Donald Trump knows he's going to get crushed this November. [8:16] That's why he made the phone call to Abbott saying he's, quote unquote, entitled to five [8:21] seats. [8:21] That should chill up your spine alone, that he's entitled to the five seats. [8:27] He didn't expect how he'd respond, didn't expect how Virginia responded. [8:31] But again, we saw how their court responded. [8:34] This is hard work. [8:36] And we're seeing how they're responding, not just Landry, but we saw within hours how Abbott, [8:41] not Abbott, but DeSantis responded with an exclusive on Fox News where the new maps [8:48] were shown, not the democratic process with the transparency of the people in Virginia. [8:53] But an exclusive with Sean Hannity on Fox News. [8:58] These guys are not screwing around. [9:00] Ask folks down in Fulton County, is Trump screwing around? [9:04] Trying to go after our voting rolls in California. [9:06] He's not screwing around. [9:08] Do you think a fair, free election? [9:10] You think that's realistic? [9:12] With Trump this November, after all he did on January 6th, and now the $1.8 billion to [9:17] take care of all, this is like, what more happened is we're dumb as we want to be, to think. [9:22] You saw what happened just on, forgive me, going back to Prop 50. [9:26] But the day of the campaign in Los Angeles, Donald Trump, of course, sent out on True Social, [9:32] the election was rigged. [9:33] He sent out the Department of Justice to oversee all of the corruption. [9:39] That morning, he sent out the BORTAC teams. [9:42] These are the Border Patrol tactical unit teams. [9:44] These are the Apache helicopter guys, all dressed up in front of Dodger Stadium for the morning [9:49] news so that our diverse communities wouldn't show up for vote. [9:53] You think he's not going to do that again all across this country? [9:58] Come on, what evidence, honestly, is there of what we're about to face? [10:04] We've got to wake up to this new reality. [10:07] So we have to be, dare I say it, I'm sorry, Democrats, that we have to be as ruthless as [10:13] our opposition. [10:15] We do. [10:15] We have to win. [10:18] It's all on the line. [10:19] You just got to win. [10:21] I'm stunned winning arguments. [10:23] With all due respect to the niceties, it feels good, but we're going to lose our republic. [10:29] Again, the honey fathers do not live and die for this moment. [10:33] I can't celebrate July 4th, the best of Roman Republic and Greek democracy, co-equal branches, [10:40] co-equal branches of government, you know, popular sovereignty, the rule of law, not at the [10:47] time where it's the rule of dawn. [10:50] And if it hasn't dawned on you, I remember spending 90 minutes with Trump in the Oval [10:55] Office, and I think he honestly thought everything was his. [11:00] He was showing me the declaration, his declaration. [11:02] It's a prize, White House, a corruption story happening on our watch. [11:10] So, speaking of fighting, President Trump fights with you a lot, as you might notice. [11:17] Yeah. [11:17] He's also, like, basically waged a 10-year war on blue states and blue cities. [11:25] Now, here at the Center for American Progress, we do care about facts and figures, and we [11:29] know that California has grown to have the fourth largest economy in the world, that it [11:37] is an engine of economic growth. [11:39] But what do you say to people who worry about blue state governing? [11:43] Well, I don't know. [11:45] I mean, we're the economic engine of the United States, blue metros. [11:49] During the Biden administration, about 71% of the GDP in the United States of America emanated [11:54] in blue metros, 71%. [11:57] I mean, we're the tentpole of the American economy, blue states. [12:06] Many of these red states are donor states. [12:10] I mean, again, speaking of state of mind, there are also states with lower productivity, lower [12:15] wages, higher death rates, higher deaths of despair, the innovation index, not even interesting [12:21] compared other states, and there's some of the highest tax states. [12:24] And I really want to make this point. [12:27] The most regressive taxes in the United States of America are red states. [12:31] They tax poor people more than they do the very rich. [12:35] Think about that. [12:35] Who's the high tax state? [12:37] Florida or California? [12:39] Texas or California? [12:42] We tax, we have the highest tax rate, but I have the highest taxes. [12:45] But you fall prey to that, many of you, the punditry, lazy punditry. [12:51] We fall prey to that. [12:51] We're very happy with all the reporters that are here, however. [12:55] You do. [12:56] You got to update your facts. [12:58] By the way, we did update ours. [13:00] You know, Bloomberg just came out with a piece that should just disabuse everyone of this [13:04] California derangement syndrome. [13:08] The top performing economy of all the 49 others, the top performing economy of all developed [13:13] nations since 2019. [13:15] 40% GDP growth. [13:17] We have no peers. [13:19] We dominate in every category. [13:21] Dominic. [13:21] You talk about manufacturing, you're talking about my home state. [13:25] You talk to me about forestry jobs and hunting jobs, you're talking about my home state. [13:30] You talk about venture capital, come on. [13:34] $106 billion record-breaking venture capital. [13:37] You talk about every category. [13:39] There's not a single category, large-scale economic category, where California isn't the [13:44] dominant state. [13:45] We have more engineers, more researchers, more Nobel laureates than any other state in [13:50] the nation. [13:51] And we are the center of the universe. [13:52] We're writing the rules of the future. [13:54] And this is why the right hates us. [13:58] It's insecurity. [13:59] It's not our trajectory. [14:01] You talk about fusion. [14:03] You talk about quantum, you talk about AI. [14:06] You're talking about California. [14:08] 32 of the 50 top market cap AI companies in our backyard, the state of California. [14:14] So all of these areas, promise, peril, all of that is represented in all of what I just [14:22] said, that mosaic that is California, the future happening in California often first, America's [14:27] coming attraction, including the challenges of affordability, housing crisis that appeared [14:33] in our state decades before it's now become not just a trend line, but a headline across [14:38] the United States. [14:38] The issues of homelessness, poverty, relationship to the cost of housing, the original sin in [14:45] my state, so much of that now dominant in the consciousness and focus as we relate to [14:51] the American system today. [14:52] I will get to AI, but homelessness and particularly housing costs have been high. [14:59] You've taken some actions on housing. [15:01] We at CAP have been very focused on how to lower housing costs. [15:05] We looked at a lot of your ideas, a lot of synergies there. [15:08] Do you want to talk about what you've been doing on housing? [15:10] Well, we've seen a 59% increase in the number of new housing destruction since 2019. [15:15] We've seen a 56% reduction in the time for permitting, and it's still a low bar to crisis. [15:24] That said, we were aided and abetted by, he's here, Ezra Klein. [15:28] This abundance mindset, which is California. [15:31] It's not a scarcity mindset. [15:32] It's always at our best nation as well, an abundance mindset. [15:35] And we recognize we need the party that builds, period, full stop. [15:39] The Democratic brand should be a party building. [15:42] There's one word to define us. [15:43] There's destruction on the other side of institutions and allies and trust, truth on the other side. [15:50] Ours, building, liberalism that builds. [15:53] And so that's our mindset. [15:54] And we were able to carry through with much more aggressive actions. [15:57] Again, for things to change, you have to change. [16:01] And so rather than the usual pace of reform that took shape in my state, including my first six years on housing where we made progress, we weren't making a difference. [16:12] And that's when we decided to move these historic housing bills into the budget, which you don't do. [16:20] And I threatened to veto the budget unless we got the housing bills done and we were successful in doing so. [16:26] It's the mindset we need to take into the future. [16:29] Because at the end of the day, when you and I were briefly talking about this a moment ago, the system's broken. [16:35] It's broken, folks. [16:38] 10% of people own two-thirds the wealth. [16:41] Same 10% own 93% of the value of the stock market. [16:45] 30-year-old is not doing better than his or her father for the first time in history. [16:50] That is a five-alarm fire. [16:53] Doesn't work anymore. [16:55] We can't tinker anymore. [16:57] You can't play in the margins anymore. [16:59] There's a reason Donald Trump's in office. [17:01] There's a reason Bernie fills stadiums. [17:03] They're both right on the diagnosis. [17:05] And we can't, with respect, you know, fail more efficiently by managing more effectively the decline. [17:13] Doesn't work anymore. [17:15] System has to be reimagined. [17:17] It does. [17:18] Can't play in the margins. [17:20] Tax code is broken. [17:21] I'm sorry. [17:21] No offense. [17:22] Many of you. [17:23] It is. [17:25] Inheritance codes doesn't work anymore. [17:27] It's why we're having billionaire tax, wealth tax debates in my own state and all across the United States. [17:32] The pitchforks, yeah, they're here. [17:34] They're not just coming, you know. [17:36] And we saw with all the populism and authoritarianism that came from that because of our lousy trade deals and that, when looking back, we're all geniuses. [17:45] But the last 30 years and the rise of these authoritarian tendencies in terms of governance, you know, we ain't seen nothing yet. [17:53] Because now it's the blue-collar worker that sounds a lot like 25-year-old white-collar workers that I see in San Francisco that are wondering why they're not getting a callback on a job interview. [18:06] They're sounding the same. [18:08] That's a different kind of coalition, the white-collar and blue-collar coalition. [18:12] A lot of people are a little frustrated on a stepped-up basis where you can just borrow, die, no tax. [18:20] This is, you know, enough. [18:22] This is not working. [18:24] That's why I raised the minimum wage to $25 for healthcare workers, $20 for fast food workers. [18:29] You still have 20 states. [18:30] It's $7.25 an hour. [18:33] And you're subsidizing that. [18:35] That's madness. [18:36] And now, with these trend lines, we've seen AI is going to detonate all of this. [18:42] And it's happening in real time, and we're not talking about that. [18:45] I know we're talking about hyperscale data centers and the utility. [18:49] That's interesting. [18:51] But we're missing, sorry, a memo from the West Coast, the world I'm living in, absorbed by, consumed by. [18:57] Something big is happening in the plumbing of the world. [18:59] And we still have systems that were designed in 1935 that are no longer viable in 1925. [19:09] Unemployment insurance, you think that's going to work and hold up? [19:13] That doesn't work for clerical workers anymore. [19:15] You need employment insurance. [19:17] Universal Basic Income, you don't need charity. [19:19] We need ownership. [19:20] It's Universal Basic Capital. [19:22] By the way, those are the creators telling you that, not just me. [19:25] That's what Sam Altman, Dario, and others are saying. [19:27] They're the ones making that point, and the voters are demanding it. [19:30] You've got to have an ownership stake. [19:31] You cannot save democracy unless we democratize the economy, period. [19:38] It's just simply not going to hold up. [19:41] It's the exact same fight. [19:43] And so when I hear people say, well, you know, that Newsom guy, he's all about resistance. [19:46] We need to focus on renewal. [19:49] Sure. [19:49] But I think it's the same damn fight. [19:53] And so it's not just about populism, it's about realism. [19:56] I don't begrudge other people's success. [19:57] I admire it. [19:58] Can't be pro-job and anti-business. [20:01] But businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing, and it's failing. [20:04] I mean, you need GoFundMe page now if you have a major medical issue, literally. [20:09] I have a friend, God is my witness, Suleiman, yesterday, literally sent me a GoFundMe. [20:13] Guy has two or three jobs, and now GoFundMe. [20:16] The hell is that? [20:18] You have a healthcare system that's simply not viable. [20:20] You know that. [20:22] You may not like single payer. [20:23] I don't even know how the hell to do it in terms of how I get rid of all your private [20:27] health insurance, but it seems something's got to give. [20:31] This doesn't add up. [20:31] Debt and entitlement? [20:33] Seriously. [20:34] Energy and climate change? [20:35] Come on. [20:37] And democracy in this economy. [20:38] So there's these tectonic plates, and we've been slow to respond. [20:43] All bargain no longer applies. [20:45] My mom talked about 52 paychecks, and it required her 104. [20:49] I feel like those are the good old days, 104 paychecks. [20:54] So this is my mindset as I try to close out the last seven months of my administration. [21:00] I'm not running the 90-yard dash, and I'm thinking about universal basic capital. [21:06] I'm thinking about public equity funds and dividends. [21:08] I'm thinking about ownership. [21:10] I'm thinking about what you're seeing in places like Denmark that do 90% wage replacement [21:15] over a two-year period and scale it down. [21:18] I'm thinking differently about the WARN Act and doing early warning systems for displacement. [21:25] I'm thinking about the fact that we're entitled to a transition. [21:31] It's not just a severance in a LinkedIn post. [21:35] I'm thinking very differently about all these things. [21:39] And so we've got an executive order in this space. [21:41] We've got a very aggressive series of efforts to pilot at scale some of these approaches to [21:50] start to deal with some of these anxiety, deal with the inevitable displacement. [21:55] So just to zero in on AI, as you noted, California is the home base of AI, a lot of the AI companies. [22:05] In the United States right now, we have an administration that essentially, for the most part, [22:10] is people are on their own. [22:12] Then in some corners, people are basically saying we should try to stop AI, which is impossible to do [22:19] as a technology. [22:22] So we're also seeing that attitudes towards AI are becoming much more negative, in part because [22:29] I think people think they're just going to be on their own. [22:32] You have, as I understand, a new EO on impacts on the workforce. [22:39] Yeah. [22:40] Well, look, we were the first to regulate large language model frontier models, the first [22:45] safety efforts in the United States. [22:47] When people say no one's regulating, they're wrong. [22:50] They haven't focused on what California did a few years ago. [22:53] But Kathy Hochul, to her credit, just modeled a version of what we did in the state. [22:57] But you're right. [22:58] Trump has just let it rip. [23:00] He has David Sachs no longer there. [23:02] But I think, by the way, they may have a little regret. [23:06] My sense is best in others are like, OK, hold on here. [23:09] When mythos came out, cybersecurity issues, we're in a different space here. [23:17] It's not just about the clerical workers, which are geographically diffuse. [23:20] So it's really hard to look at white collar displacement at the moment. [23:27] But now there's a growing, I think, consciousness that we need to, yes, accelerate vis-a-vis China. [23:32] I get all that, but you've got to steer the technology, particularly large language models [23:38] on the safety side, transparency. [23:41] And that's what California is trying to lead on, has been leading on. [23:45] Just as we're dealing across the board with, you know, digital contracts around your likeness, [23:52] your voice, your writing and ownership in that space. [23:55] And we'll be very shortly doing 16 and younger on social media, a separate but connected issue. [24:02] But on the workforce side, we're just not, look, if Dario's wrong at Anthropic, [24:07] who says that within the next four and a half years, 50 percent of the entry-level white-collar [24:13] workers will be, just think about it. [24:15] If he's wrong by half, just consider the consequences of that. [24:20] You saw Sam, these are the guys writing the script and they're seen into the future. [24:25] There's a reason why Peter Thiel struggled for 17 seconds on a simple question around humanity [24:32] surviving. [24:34] I mean, I don't want to be pessimist here. [24:36] I think there'll be a lot of abundance, a lot of job creation. [24:39] I think there'll be a lot of classes of jobs will be augmented. [24:41] Nurses and others and designers will be profound and consequential. [24:46] And I think businesses are going to make a fortune. [24:48] And that's why you cannot continue to have a payroll tax system that taxes jobs and then [24:55] subsidizes automation. [24:58] And so part of the EO is on that side. [25:02] We have tax credits for automation. [25:04] And then we burden everyone every time you hire someone with the damn payroll tax. [25:09] Again, the whole system has to be reimagined. [25:11] And we're not, I don't think we're having those accelerated or advanced conversations [25:15] right now. [25:16] We're still discussing who's going to pay for my increased electricity because of the data [25:20] center, which is a legit issue, but it's not the issue. [25:25] And you're right. [25:26] The tech genie is not going to go back in the bottle. [25:28] Just saying that you're should not or cannot build a data center is not going to slow this [25:33] technology down. [25:34] What can be, will be nature of technology. [25:38] And so we just have to steer it and not make the mistakes we made with social media. [25:42] But we have to do a scale and scope that we are not prepared for in our national politics. [25:47] And that's why states matter. [25:49] States are on the front lines of the rights battle. [25:52] States are the front lines of these tectonic changes. [25:56] And that's why governors matter. [25:58] Legislatures matter. [25:59] That's why our party needs to be bottom up, not just top down. [26:03] That's why we got to get away from the guy or gal on the white horse to come save the [26:06] day in 2028 and focus on 2026 and getting speaker Jeffries, the gavel and focus on accountability [26:17] and trust, and then turn the page on a compelling vision, a journey that we can go together in [26:23] American people where everybody feels heard and included. [26:26] Some respects, that's the easier part of it. [26:29] As we continue to fight the situational battles of the corruption and the rot of our institutions [26:36] and the decay that Donald Trump continues to promote on an hourly and daily basis. [26:42] We're going to go to audience questions. [26:44] So just type in your questions. [26:45] We have some already. [26:46] I'll just ask one last question. [26:48] You're right that states are leading in many, many directions. [26:53] One way states are leading is in fiscal responsibility. [26:57] You just had a budget that actually balances your budget and addresses structural deficits, [27:07] something we could do in the United States. [27:10] I wonder what you'd say. [27:12] Just talk to us about the kind of investments you've been able to make while balancing your [27:17] budget, but also, you know, perhaps share some thoughts on the deficit at the federal [27:22] level under Trump. [27:23] Well, look, I don't know, maybe I'm an 80s kid or something, but I was a little alarmed [27:28] when I saw the debt larger than GDP. [27:32] Well, maybe I'm a little old fashioned. [27:33] You start to do the math. [27:34] I do math all the time. [27:36] I spent two and a half hours in my budget presentation. [27:38] We balance not just for this year, but next year, the year I'm gone. [27:41] I believe you don't have to be profligate to be progressive. [27:44] And I'm incredibly proud. [27:45] No other state's done more in child care. [27:47] Almost half a million subsidized slots. [27:50] I mentioned the work we have done in terms of wages, not just the issues of cost, the [27:56] work we did with $11 insulin, not subsidizing it, just lowering the costs, using our market [28:01] power to be more competitive in the marketplace, which is a mindset. [28:05] We have universal health care. [28:06] We expanded it. [28:07] I know it's, you know, you don't have to support this, but I campaign on it and I believe [28:12] in universal health care. [28:13] And so we delivered it, not just on the basis of pre-existing condition ability to pay, [28:16] but also on your immigration status. [28:18] Otherwise we pay for it in the back end, in the emergency room. [28:21] We were able to broadly deliver on that. [28:23] We were able to also create a brand new grade pre-K for all. [28:27] We created a hundred. [28:28] This is, I'm really proud of this. [28:30] Now it's 5.5 million child baby bonds. [28:34] By the way, we didn't name them Newsom accounts. [28:36] I was an idiot. [28:40] Everyone's like, wow, Trump accounts. [28:41] What a great idea. [28:42] I'm like, Jesus Christ. [28:44] 5.5 million of these up to $1,500. [28:47] By the way, that's these things. [28:49] And by the way, Cory Booker hats off and even Ted Cruz for being out there promoting. [28:53] This is, those bonds will be, I think, incredibly critical in terms of the UBC framework and [28:59] the universal basic capital and looking at compounding, looking at ownership. [29:02] I believe there is a structure there that should be celebrated despite the name, which [29:07] needs to change. [29:08] But we should make sure we institutionalize that. [29:11] But my whole point is we're forced to balance budgets. [29:15] That's table stakes. [29:17] But I'm also proud we're able to do it. [29:18] We have a progressive tax system, which I embrace. [29:20] I don't defend. [29:21] I support. [29:22] I promote it. [29:23] And I think that's the approach this country needs to face. [29:26] You and I were talking about these four or five major tax cuts in the Bush and Trump. [29:31] But come on. [29:32] You talk about debt. [29:33] Look in the mirror. [29:34] Or CBO, is it 3.4 trillion, 10 years or 4.7? [29:38] Depends on which CBO report I read. [29:41] I mean, it's madness. [29:42] It's madness. [29:44] We're spending more interest than we are national defense. [29:47] So this is not sustainable. [29:49] Entitlement issues. [29:50] And again, you talk about displacement, white collar workers, and then start to look at [29:54] the entitlement question. [29:55] So debt and entitlement, energy, climate change. [29:57] I'm sorry. [29:58] I know polls at 2%. [29:59] I'll keep talking about it. [30:01] You can have a debate with a thermometer. [30:03] I'm not going to. [30:04] And, you know, it's financial risk, climate risk. [30:10] It's uninsurable. [30:11] You talk about housing, you need to talk about climate. [30:14] We're connected. [30:16] So as we build all this back, build that scaffolding, you're right, states are on the front lines. [30:22] And, you know, I think it's why I'm very proud of CAP and the work you're doing. [30:26] I'm proud that you continue to remind us that governing matters, delivering results matter, [30:34] visual results. [30:36] Our biggest failure in California was the encampments. [30:39] We weren't producing visible results. [30:43] Unsheltered homelessness is down 9%, but you don't feel that. [30:46] First time in two decades. [30:47] Visible results, results people can see and feel. [30:53] Increased wages, lower costs. [30:55] Focus on mobility, housing, not just wages. [30:59] And radically alter our system of taxation that simply is not sustainable. [31:06] Our first trillionaires, they're coming soon to a headline near you. [31:11] Likely in a few months with SpaceX. [31:14] Trillionaires. [31:16] I mean, Plutarch reminded folks, what was it, 2,000 years ago, 50 AD, longer than that. [31:25] The imbalance between the rich and the poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. [31:33] Businesses can't thrive in a world that's failing. [31:37] And so we have to fundamentally address that structure problem. [31:45] So we have a question. [31:46] You've been talking about the corruption story of this administration. [31:49] But how can we stop corruption in future administrations? [31:53] How can you get political politicians to tie their own hands once they've seen what this administration can do? [32:01] There's the old adage, once a mind is stretched, it never goes back to its original form. [32:06] So I understand that. [32:07] I mean, seeing this corruption at scale creates a permission structure and slip. [32:12] But we just simply can't demand that. [32:16] Our institutions need to function again. [32:20] We need a functioning Department of Justice, a functioning IRS, a functioning FBI. [32:26] Not allow them to become power ministries for the dear leader, which they've become. [32:30] We need to call all of this out. [32:32] We need to hold ourselves to a higher level of accountability and expectation as well. [32:37] And so all of these things will be at play as we move forward. [32:42] And so it's about action. [32:46] It's also about passion. [32:48] I think it was Oliver Wendell Holmes said, as life is action and passion, it's required all of us to share the action and passion of our time. [32:54] At peril of being judged not to have lived. [32:57] I think the fight matters. [32:59] A year ago, my sense was in this country that our path back as Democrats, weak and ineffective, the two bubble words, was through the center. [33:13] I think there may be some truth to that. [33:17] But I think increasingly I'd argue it's through the fight. [33:21] And people want fighters. [33:23] People want people with conviction and clarity. [33:24] Not ideologues, open argument, interested in evidence. [33:28] I don't think we are well served by tearing other people down. [33:34] But calling out the villains on a tax code, calling out the villains as it relates to the monopolization of capital. [33:43] And I'm sorry, that's a real issue. [33:46] I think we would do very well. [33:49] Talking as FDR talked in 1944 about a new social compact. [33:56] Talking about a floor where no one falls below. [33:58] Talking to that blue-collar and white-collar worker that are both asking the same question. [34:02] What happens when I do fall? [34:04] Will you be there to hold me up? [34:07] I think those fundamental truths and values will be part of the comeback for the Democratic Party. [34:13] But that comeback starts with Speaker Jeffries this November. [34:18] You're here. [34:22] Time for just one more question. [34:24] In light of America's worsening global reputation, how should the United States work to rebuild trust with our allies and restore confidence in American leadership? [34:33] I saw you at the Munich Security Conference, where a lot of leaders were asking you, leaders from other countries were asking you this question, as well as, I know, your remarks at Davos. [34:44] Yeah, I was there because of that. [34:46] America is not its, you know, just situational leader. [34:49] Trump's temporary. [34:51] Trump's temporary. [34:52] He is. [34:52] You know, I went there a little selfishly, saying California is permanent. [35:00] But we'll get through this, and we'll be repairing the spirit of Father Kaz, my great Jesuit priest and I revered. [35:09] You know, Isaiah, we have to be repairs to the breach. [35:14] Build truth and trust back. [35:15] By showing up. [35:16] Open hand, not a closed fist. [35:18] I think the bar is pretty damn low for the next president, next secretary of state, as it relates to restoring our alliances. [35:26] I know that back to once, a mind is stretched and never goes back to the original form. [35:30] But Trump's an invasive species. [35:33] I don't see Trumpism lasting beyond Trump, period, full stop. [35:38] It's a cult of personality. [35:40] With all due respect, J.D., you don't have it. [35:42] And so I guess I'm a little more damn optimistic, as long as we own up to our own complicity. [35:57] We've been too timid. [35:58] It's not about tinkering anymore. [36:00] It's not about I doubled the earned income tax credit. [36:02] If I give him that speech, you're in trouble. [36:05] It's not about retraining. [36:07] This is something different. [36:10] I'm sorry. [36:11] I don't know. [36:11] I'm not going all Elizabeth or Bernie on you. [36:14] See, maybe I am a little bit. [36:16] You know, in terms of understanding that, we're all Trump and Trumpism understanding that. [36:24] You know, it's just, it is remarkable. [36:29] And it's, you know, and I'll end on this. [36:31] I know we've got to go. [36:33] This, the anxiety is manifesting in real despair for people. [36:41] I mean, their pessimism is pretty profound. [36:45] And that's, you know, an AI, as I say, is going to detonate that. [36:49] And so we have to fundamentally understand that. [36:51] And, uh, and that's why as Democrats, I, uh, this is not, you know, I'm not here, uh, for forgiveness. [37:00] But I, I get why, well, I was out there stumping for Biden and I revere that man and, uh, we'll have his back to my last breath. [37:10] I do. [37:11] Um, and I'll never regret a day out there, but I was, you know, I was defending the economy's booming, inflation's cooling, you know, best jobs market since 1960s, lowest unemployment for black women and Hispanics. [37:24] And talking about industrial policy that's worker centered and the four big, you know, the, the, but people weren't feeling it. [37:33] And, you know, Trump's making the same damn mistake. [37:35] And, and it's because they weren't experiencing it. [37:39] We don't live in the aggregate. [37:41] We don't. [37:42] And so I'm out there trumpeting 40% GDP growth, the fourth largest economy in the world. [37:46] It's like, I mean, we just said it was really good. [37:51] Yeah. [37:51] No, thank you. [37:51] I appreciate that. [37:53] Uh, so I think we, we started to buy our own story. [37:57] We started taking the wrong lessons from Biden's first victory. [38:00] We didn't learn it. [38:02] And so I just, I feel like we talk about forces of transformation versus the forces of restoration. [38:09] Thank you, um, Brownstein for that, quoting that phrase. [38:14] And that's really the dialectic Trump wanting to bring us back to a pre 1960s world. [38:19] That's what's happening in real time. [38:21] We saw with LGBTQ rights, saw women's rights. [38:23] Now we're seeing it with civil rights and voting rights. [38:26] They want to bring us back to a pre 1960s world, censoring historical facts, rewriting history. [38:31] We need to be the party of transformation. [38:35] And we have to talk in those terms, but in a way that doesn't alarm people and that that's [38:42] the balance because change is hard. [38:45] Change not only has its enemies, but change people right now too much change. [38:52] And so that's going to be, I think the dance and that's the dance that I am here to celebrate [39:00] with you because cap is one holding that dance party and bringing the best and brightest [39:07] together so we can figure out exactly what new ideas will animate a new and fresh conversation [39:14] in this country. [39:15] Thank you. [39:16] Thank you so much. [39:17] Thank you so much. [39:18] Thank you so much. [39:19] Thank you. [39:20] Thank you. [39:21] Thank you. [39:22] Thank you. [39:23] Thank you. [39:24] Thank you. [39:25] Thank you. [39:26] Thank you. [39:27] Thank you. [39:28] Thank you. [39:29] Thank you. [39:30] Thank you. [39:31] Thank you. [39:32] Thank you. [39:33] Thank you. [39:34] Thank you. [39:35] Thank you. [39:36] Thank you. [39:37] Thank you. [39:38] Thank you. [39:39] Thank you. [39:40] Thank you. [39:41] Thank you. [39:42] Thank you. [39:43] Thank you. [39:44] Thank you.