Trump Losing Midterms as Billionaires Turn Against Him; Total Disaster For Him

0:04All right, joining me on IHIP News today is our friend Tom Steyer. Tom, how are you? I'm great, Jennifer. How are you doing? Great. Let's dive into this. So you just ran for governor of California, which I appreciate that progressive people that are standing up to corporations are running. And as Bernie Sanders has shown us, it might take two, three, four political cycles to finally charge through. And so I think that your efforts are not done in vain because it takes time to change the culture of an electorate. And speaking of the culture of an electorate, there's reporting from Politico, pop this up.

0:44As AIPAC spending surges, it faces a big primary test. AIPAC is on pace to surpass its previous spending records. It's become an issue in Maryland and New York. Did AIPAC spend money against you? They're not. I don't think AIPAC actually acts in state races directly. That I believe they only act in federal races. So they'd act in Congress. They'd act in, you know, the presidency or. But I don't believe they act directly in state races. But I think 55 million in corporate PAC money was spent against you. It doesn't include what they spent on the other candidates. But yes,$55 million spent really not on debating any issues.

1:35Really not on saying that, you know, they didn't debate whether we should have single payer health care. They didn't debate whether we should build houses. They didn't debate whether we should break up the electric monopolies power. Or they basically do what, you know, what I believe these guys always do, which is they say you're a bad person. It's always an ad hominem argument as opposed to an argument about the future, about vision, about what we should do. It's always, you know, an argument about trying to disqualify the person. Yeah, it always seems like they're trying to put a shiny object out for the electorate to chew on.

2:19And we all have kind of shortened attention spans from our phones and the way we are consuming information and news. But they put this shiny object out there, like Tom Steyer's all of these terrible things, or Zoran Mamdani is all of these terrible things. And they do that because they cannot deliver for the citizens in material ways, where citizens are materially benefiting from their government? Well, you know, and the perfect example, because it's just so clear, is PG &E. I mean, they spent over$13 million attacking me as a person, but they spent no dollars, zero dollars and zero cents saying we deserve to have a monopoly and charge you twice as much as everybody else in the United States of America.

3:07That was never brought up by them for a single second. It was just to try and avoid that argument. And that was pretty much true across the board, that the companies that were coming after me never wanted to engage on the merits. They wanted to try and smear me. And critics have pointed out that you spent over 200 million of your own money on your gubernatorial campaign. What do you say to people who think that billionaires shouldn't fund their own campaigns? Look, I understand the idea about why that that's unfair. But let me say this. If someone isn't willing to spend a lot of money to fight these corporations, they will always win.

3:55And so the real question is, and this was true in my race, they spend a record amount of money against me because I had a very clear message that the people of California should come first, that it should be a place that people can afford to live, working people can afford to live. It should be a place. We're such a rich state. Why do we have such a terrible education system? You know, it should be a place where people get health care as a right at an affordable price. And so the stuff I no one ever came out and said we should have a terrible education system. That's what we're for. They never came out and said, we're happy that people can't afford health care.

4:33That's terrific. No one ever said that. They spent a lot of money. And so for me to push back against that was very expensive. So what what are your plans now, Tom, to do you have a lot of wealth and you have a lot of ideas and you have integrity? I mean, so what is your plan? Because I think it's going to take, I've seen the most bravery in everyday citizens, in grand juries that refuse to sign an indictment. We all know grand juries would indict a ham sandwich or so the saying goes, that refuse to indict Letitia James. And you see Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes bravely stand up and say, salary be damned, I will not do this.

5:16So you see everyday Americans standing up to this regime more than the billionaire class, which is what you're in. So we could call you a class traitor, which I commend you for. But what's the plan now? Well, look, the plan is to continue going. Look, this race was not an anomaly in my life. This race reflected what I'd been doing before. and it reflected what I'm going to continue to do. You know, I have been pushing on progressive policies for a very long time. And, you know, I talked about that in my race, the things that we'd gotten done individually, the corporate interests that we'd taken on and beaten, getting free breakfast and lunch for school kids in California, all the stuff we'd done.

6:07And I'm going to continue to do that. The difference is this, Jennifer, It's as governor, you can do it all. Like you basically have a platform to address each one of what I would think of as the policy verticals. As a private citizen, you don't have that luxury. And so the question for me will be exactly where will I engage? Not whether I'll engage, but exactly where are the places where I feel like I can make a difference? Who are the people who I can support, who I think will make a difference? You know, how do we move the ball forward as a private citizen as opposed to an elected official?

6:50And where do you feel called to do that? Like for me, if I had your kind of wealth, I see what the Supreme Court is doing with the Voting Rights Act. And I think that the lack of white allyship with our black community has been something that incubated this fascism. When we saw Renee Good get shot in the street, we were like, oh, my God, they shot somebody. Well, in the black community, they were like, we've been trying to tell you this for a long time, that our communities have been over police. So that would be something that I would want to invest in. Where do you want to invest? I think that's a great point.

7:26Jennifer, let me say, I think that what you just said is a great point. And that is this. One of the things that I've said consistently and that I said when I was running is the black community has been the moral leader of the United States for longer than anyone's been alive. And they continue to be. and partnering with that community is something which I think is critical for anybody who wants to make a moral argument in the United States of America. And so, you know, I always say people look back a pretty long way to Dr. King and to the civil rights movement. But I don't think you need to look that far back at all.

8:13I mean, I always like to point out that the only congressperson who voted against the Iraq war on a moral issue was a Black woman who's currently the mayor of Oakland, California. And so to a very large extent, that moral leadership is something which continues and is unbroken. And I think for anybody who wants to push a broad-based, human-based agenda allying with the black community, participating with the black community, partnering with the black community seems to me like a necessity. And I think that's really true. I think it's true in California. I think it's true outside California. And I think to a large extent, what we're seeing in America is a failure of values.

9:12you know the idea that people were fighting me about whether the people of california should be the biggest concern of the government of california i mean if you take a step back that's insane of course the people of california should be the primary interest of the government of california what else would it be and so you know what we're seeing is a pullback from that you know when you see corporate leaders say, you know, we have no response in whether some of them have said it explicitly, but their actions are all saying we have no responsibility to the community as a whole. We have a responsibility only to our shareholders and we'll do whatever it takes that covers anything.

9:56The bottom line justifies anything that's legal and that is not leadership. And so what we're really looking for is how do we reestablish the idea that people across the board, definitely political leaders, for goodness sakes, but also leaders in other parts of our society, see a responsibility to the greater society, see a responsibility and also a pride in the idea that we have a successful society with everyone participating in that success. And the idea that that was a strange idea or a controversial idea, it's like, that's very hard for me to fathom because that's the whole point. So each election cycle, I feel like on the left, we're getting closer and closer to true progressive candidates that are not beholden to corporations.

10:48And on the right, they're getting crazier and crazier. I mean, they're just off the rocker, right? You know, like whatever comes after Trump on that side, you know, it's going to be worse because that's their trajectory. How important is it that we keep putting up progressive candidates and keep pushing the, you spoke a little bit about the culture, the culture of our country and valuing human beings over money. It's really, really a cultural sickness. And you see that played out in the politicians that are chosen. So what are your thoughts about that? I think, Jennifer, I think you put your finger on something that's really critical.

11:27We're not changing this without people who can understand and explain a vision to citizens, to voters. And so when we look at it, I mean, one of the people who I met, I'd met before, but who I got to know much better in this campaign was Roe Conner. And I believe he's extraordinary. And I think he's extraordinary, clear eyed in what's needed. very, very practical, but moving the ball down the field. And, you know, to take a broader view for a second, there's no question that Bernie Sanders has changed the conversation in the United States of America. There's just no question. And, you know, he did it originally where he felt like I've got to run to make this point.

12:15And I think when you look now, when I look, so I don't want to speak for everybody, but when I look at candidates, my question is, okay, where are we trying to go? What is the vision? What are the changes that you see we need to make? And what are the values behind those changes? But until that's just seems to me incredibly obvious, because as this country leaves so many people behind, leaves behind its own sense of community and shared progress, that is not the America that I grew up in. That's not the California that I want to live in. And I think that it's a recipe for failure. And that's what we're seeing is that idea of every person for themselves, dog eat dog, no sense of community, just focused on them.

13:10That is a recipe for failure. And we're seeing it happen. And I think Donald Trump's failure as a president, which we can go into, but it's very clear. is a reflection of that kind of extremely short-sighted, self-interested way of thinking about life, which does not lead to success in any meaningful way and is really, in my mind, a contradiction to the spirit of freedom, community, equality, shared progress. All right. Last question. So you mentioned Congressman Ro Khanna, and he was on my podcast over the weekend he was yeah we were talking about elon musk i read i did not realize that was on your podcast that was on my podcast about kind of that force elon musk panties are in a big wad and he is just wound up like a cheap clock as we say in oklahoma he is so mad at rocona because he is saying that there is a ucla report that shows that the pulling of usa id um can cause deaths and i think we all knew this so he's going bananas and so i had rowan again last night and i said okay if you if hakeem jeffries gets the hammer and listener don't go bananas we could have another podcast about who should be speaker but if we you know that's just the way it's going to be for right now what will you do on day one are you intimidated by elon musky said no on day one we will launch an investigation of oversight into what he did at doge how important do you think holding these wealthy people, which, by the way, get a lot of government subsidies, which, by the way, he's also an immigrant, which I don't have a problem with.

14:55But according to MAGA, that's their big thing. How important is it the Democrats, when they get the hammer back in the House or if they get the Senate, how important is it that we hammer down on accountability and fight back? Look, I think that we have to change the narrative about what's going on in the United States and the idea that we should have cut out aid around the world to people who are starving, sick, and especially kids, which because this is overwhelmingly kids, that we should do that. And that's a smart savings of money when we're spending. They want to spend a trillion and a half dollars on armaments, on guns.

15:49Seems to me to be an absolute description of how this administration and that party has gone so wildly off the rails. And the result of it is, if you look at the United States around the world, Trump is always saying, now they respect us. It's like, no, now they revile us. Now they look at us as untrustworthy, dishonest, selfish, and corrupt. And they're not wrong. So to me, showing the world that someone who is all about money and is willing to kill children in the millions or to be fair, to take the money away that would save children in the millions. is that is a value statement that has to be reversed.

16:38Because if that's what the United States stands for, we are going to scare you, we are going to bomb you if you don't do what we want. And it's all about our bottom line and our power and our, you know, sense of overweening pride and arrogance. That is a absolutely opposed to my idea of the republic that started 250 years ago about the citizens and about equality and about freedom. That is the exact opposite. That is a bunch of people whose egos have gone massively insane and they've lost any touch with what I think are basic American values. Tom Steyer, thank you. Let's keep fighting the fight together.

17:20I always love having you on. Right on, Jennifer. It's so great to see you. Bye-bye.

17:31Thank you.