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Bryan Schott: Welcome to Special Session.
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Bryan Schott: I'm Bryan Schott with Utah Political Watch.
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Bryan Schott: Election Day 2026 will be studied for decades.
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Bryan Schott: Democrats won Texas statewide.
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Bryan Schott: They flipped a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina.
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Bryan Schott: And here in Utah, the wave hit the legislature
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Bryan Schott: hard enough to threaten the Republican supermajority in the House for the first time since
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Bryan Schott: 1992.
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Bryan Schott: So what happened?
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Bryan Schott: Reid Galen joins me to sort through the wreckage.
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Bryan Schott: Reid is one of the founders of the Lincoln Project.
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Bryan Schott: He has several projects ongoing right now,
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Bryan Schott: including Civic Forum and the Homefront. He's
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Bryan Schott: an adopted Texan who worked for George W.
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Bryan Schott: Bush and has been around national politics for decades.
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Bryan Schott: He now lives in Park City.
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Bryan Schott: Galen says the message from voters on election night was simple.
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Bryan Schott: Enough is enough.
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Bryan Schott: He also has some pointed advice for the new Democratic majorities in Congress.
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Bryan Schott: Bring accountability to the Trump administration and don't be afraid to make it a spectacle.
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Bryan Schott: Now, before we get to that conversation,
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Bryan Schott: if you're not yet subscribed to or following the show,
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Bryan Schott: please take a second to do that.
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Bryan Schott: And if you could like and share this episode wherever you're listening or even leave us a review,
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Bryan Schott: that really helps new listeners find this.
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Bryan Schott: I'm an independent journalist and your recommendations are the best way to get this podcast to more people.
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Bryan Schott: Thanks for doing that.
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Bryan Schott: And now here's my conversation with Reid Galen.
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Bryan Schott: Joining me now on the program is Reid Galen.
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Bryan Schott: He is one of the founders of the Lincoln Project.
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Bryan Schott: He has a great substack called The Homefront, great podcast called The Homefront.
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Bryan Schott: I enjoy that whenever he puts out a new episode.
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Bryan Schott: And he's also the head of a group called The Union.
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Bryan Schott: That is an organization,
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Bryan Schott: and I think the best way for me to describe it is you're just trying to get people elected to office who will get stuff done and work for the greater good for people,
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Bryan Schott: regardless of which party they're in.
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Bryan Schott: Reid,
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Bryan Schott: thank you so much for your time tonight.
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Reed Galen: No,
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Reed Galen: thanks for having me back.
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Reed Galen: Good to see you.
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Bryan Schott: Well, Reid, the reason I wanted to talk to you about this tonight is why do you think Democrats romped last night all across the country?
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Bryan Schott: Not only,
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Bryan Schott: I mean, they turned Texas blue,
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Bryan Schott: Mississippi Senate seat could go blue for the first time since the 1980s.
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Bryan Schott: They won all across the map.
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Bryan Schott: And even here in Utah, we saw the effects of that blue tsunami hitting the Utah legislature.
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Bryan Schott: Why do you think that that happened?
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Bryan Schott: Do you think it was Donald Trump?
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Bryan Schott: Do you think it was because of him?
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Bryan Schott: Or do you think that people were just fed up with what is happening in this country and they wanted to change the direction of where we are heading?
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Reed Galen: Well,
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Reed Galen: I'll take the cop out, Bryan, and say all of the above.
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Reed Galen: But I would say that in the last 11 years,
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Reed Galen: and I count 2015,
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Reed Galen: mid-2015,
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Reed Galen: when Trump first arrived on the scene as a presidential candidate,
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Reed Galen: he has been both the alpha and the omega of American politics and American political life.
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Reed Galen: And in many ways,
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Reed Galen: American social life,
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Reed Galen: American cultural life and American economic life.
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Reed Galen: And I think that what you saw last night, I think, look, there will be a thousand, you know,
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Reed Galen: a thousand think pieces.
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Reed Galen: Right.
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Reed Galen: And more analyses than we can count on.
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Reed Galen: But I think you saw what we have seen so far, which is probably since 1994,
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Reed Galen: the biggest just sort of repudiation of of voters just saying enough is enough.
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Reed Galen: And I really think that while Democrats were the beneficiary last night,
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Reed Galen: to me, it was really a wake up call to a still,
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Reed Galen: in my mind, rigged both political and economic system.
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Reed Galen: And they were saying, we don't want this anymore.
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Reed Galen: And I think the one underreported thing,
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Reed Galen: and I think it will take some time to really start to suss itself out,
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Reed Galen: is that even the candidates that were considered, quote unquote,
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Reed Galen: moderate on the Democratic side,
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Reed Galen: I think, Bryan, were moderate in the context of, say, social issues and the culture war.
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Reed Galen: But we're certainly leaning into economic populism that data centers and AI and cost of living were all at the top of the list and they're all tied together.
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Reed Galen: And let me say one more thing about Trump,
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Reed Galen: whether or not it's the tariffs or the Iran war, the two single things that have driven up costs for individual Americans the most and the fastest are his personal decisions.
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Reed Galen: Without him there,
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Reed Galen: those things don't happen.
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: He's,
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Reed Galen: he personally chose to do both of those things.
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Reed Galen: And I think that there were
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Reed Galen: Democrats who were,
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Reed Galen: you know, in the bunker after 2024.
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Reed Galen: I think there were independents who
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Reed Galen: came out in droves. I think there were young people for whom,
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Reed Galen: you know, many of them I'd say,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: young men,
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Reed Galen: you know, moved to the Democrats in a big way. I think they probably
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Reed Galen: thought they got sold a bill of goods,
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Reed Galen: college educated,
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Reed Galen: uh,
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Reed Galen: young people. I think what I call
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Reed Galen: the last sort of true believers,
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Reed Galen: Bryan, of the American dream think that their time is,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: what are they doing,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: What's this world going to hold for me? What's this country going
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Reed Galen: to hold for me?
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Reed Galen: And Trump said,
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Reed Galen: treat me like I'm on the ballot,
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Reed Galen: and Democrats and independents did.
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Bryan Schott: I agree with all that you said. I was really struck by some of the things that came out of
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Bryan Schott: the exit polling,
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Bryan Schott: that the number one issue that brought voters to the polls was corruption.
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Bryan Schott: That was really striking to me because that's not something you hear voters talking about as a huge motivating factor,
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Bryan Schott: especially with all the other factors out there like gas prices and affordability crisis, which Trump said was a hoax.
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Bryan Schott: So what's your take on corruption being such a salient topic in the minds of voters?
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Reed Galen: Well, I think it is something to behold.
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Reed Galen: And I think it's the other side of the coin of my wages are flat, I can't get ahead, my kids aren't going to have as good a future as I want them to, maybe not as good a life as I've had.
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Reed Galen: While Donald Trump and all these other people,
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Reed Galen: including,
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Reed Galen: let's just say Washington or Wall Street or whoever you want to blame, the tech guys,
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Reed Galen: they seem to be getting awful healthy.
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Reed Galen: And everything is predicated on how much more can we do for them?
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Reed Galen: How much more do we have to give them?
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Reed Galen: How much more power or influence do we have to allow them to have,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: in a world
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Reed Galen: where I'm still trying to figure out, like,
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Reed Galen: left from right,
up from down?
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Reed Galen: But whatever I know, and Bryan, I've said this many times,
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Reed Galen: I've spoken to thousands
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Reed Galen: of voters out on the road in states all across this country.
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Reed Galen: I've never met an uninformed voter.
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Reed Galen: You know, every voter I meet is very well aware of what their world looks like,
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Reed Galen: and
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Reed Galen: they either want to punish the people who are in charge or they opt out altogether because they
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Reed Galen: think it doesn't matter. And I think that's the impressive part of last night was there a lot of
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Reed Galen: people who said,
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Reed Galen: I'm not sitting on the couch anymore.
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Bryan Schott: What's the result from last night that
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Bryan Schott: really made you go,
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Bryan Schott: whoa,
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Bryan Schott: this is wild.
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Bryan Schott: Was it, was it Texas turn,
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Bryan Schott: turning blue?
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Bryan Schott: You've been around
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Bryan Schott: this for a long time. And I'm wondering which one of those results really made, made you say,
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Bryan Schott: this is amazing.
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Reed Galen: So I, you know,
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Reed Galen: I am, I'm an adopted Texan. I did not, I was not born there,
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Reed Galen: so I can't be a native Texan. This is a very big thing for them, Bryan.
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Reed Galen: I went to high school and
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Reed Galen: college there and I was in high school the last time the Democrats had any statewide office holder
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Reed Galen: in 1994.
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Reed Galen: I worked for then governor George W.
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Reed Galen: Bush in 1998 when,
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Reed Galen: when Republicans swept all those,
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Reed Galen: those statewide offices.
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Reed Galen: And so for me,
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Reed Galen: I was not particularly surprised by James Tallarico.
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Reed Galen: I think he ran a good campaign. He obviously raised outrageous amounts of money.
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Reed Galen: Ken Paxton
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Reed Galen: was beyond a damaged,
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Reed Galen: not only candidate, but individual. I think that Elon Musk's money did not
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Reed Galen: help their cause.
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Reed Galen: Hinojosa was a little surprising to me. And then looking at the lieutenant
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Reed Galen: governor,
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Reed Galen: the comptroller,
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Reed Galen: the land commissioner,
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Reed Galen: the railroad commissioner,
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Reed Galen: Bryan,
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Reed Galen: which,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: goes to a Democrat.
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Reed Galen: And it sounds weird, but the Railroad Commission actually regulates the oil and gas industry
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Reed Galen: in Texas.
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Reed Galen: That went to a Democrat.
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Reed Galen: And so to me,
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Reed Galen: that was probably the most surprising.
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Reed Galen: But as I think about it,
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Reed Galen: Governor Greg Abbott has been in power there for 12 years.
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Reed Galen: He's really rigged the entire political system for his own benefit.
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Reed Galen: And I think there were a lot of Texans who just said, we've had enough of it.
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Reed Galen: We want a big change, and they certainly got one.
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Bryan Schott: And not only did they sweep those seats, they also got the attorney general's office.
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Bryan Schott: And I saw today that they flipped the state school board,
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Bryan Schott: which is another significant win.
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Bryan Schott: What do you make of what happened in South Carolina?
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Bryan Schott: I mean,
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Bryan Schott: obviously,
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Bryan Schott: Lindsey Graham's sister,
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Bryan Schott: who had no qualifications for that job,
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Bryan Schott: In hindsight,
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Bryan Schott: and I think a lot of people said at the time that it happened, well, this was a terrible choice for the Republicans to put up.
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Bryan Schott: And it cost them a seat that they should have won.
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Bryan Schott: What's your take on what went down there?
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Reed Galen: It's impressive that Ralph Norman is the very conservative congressman who was running against Darlene Graham in the primary.
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Reed
Galen: And she beat him singularly on the strength of Trump's endorsement.
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Reed Galen: and his insistence,
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Reed Galen: not only that she get the seat, but that she again run for it. Remember,
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Reed Galen: initially she was just going to be the caretaker for the balance of her brother's term.
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Reed Galen: And then
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Reed Galen: they forced her into that.
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Reed Galen: Look,
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Reed Galen: in the debates,
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Reed Galen: she was clearly out of her depth.
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Reed Galen: I'm sure she's
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Reed Galen: a very nice person,
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Reed Galen: but she wasn't prepared for this.
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Reed Galen: I will tell you that even I was texting with
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Reed Galen: my friends in South Carolina. I was just there two or three weeks ago.
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Reed Galen: They held out hope that
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Reed Galen: maybe any Andrews had a chance.
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Reed Galen: But when they called it,
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Reed Galen: Bryan, like I actually I let out a
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Reed Galen: like almost a war whoop.
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Reed Galen: I mean,
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Reed Galen: I could not believe it. I mean, I have been to South Carolina
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Reed Galen: a lot.
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Reed Galen: This is not not a progressive state.
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Reed Galen: It is not a liberal state.
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Reed Galen: But when South Carolinians
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Reed Galen: had to make a choice between Annie Andrews, who's an upstanding person,
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Reed Galen: ran a solid campaign,
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Reed Galen: was outspent from the get go and someone who was clearly not up to the job,
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Reed Galen: they made the logical
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Reed Galen: choice.
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Bryan Schott: You know,
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Bryan Schott: I was on live last night going through the Utah results. So we were on for like
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Bryan Schott: three and a half hours last night.
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Bryan Schott: And my wife was in the other room watching the national coverage.
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Bryan Schott: And she just kept yelling at me and texting me,
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Bryan Schott: this has flipped and this has flipped and this
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Bryan Schott: has flipped.
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Bryan Schott: And like I said this morning,
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Bryan Schott: you know,
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Bryan Schott: I've never seen a night like that in my
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Bryan Schott: lifetime.
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Bryan Schott: And given my age, I probably won't see another one because it was truly remarkable.
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Bryan Schott: But I'm curious now, now that Democrats have control of the of the House and the Senate in Washington,
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Bryan Schott: how aggressively do you think they should go towards accountability for the Trump administration,
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Bryan Schott: investigations and and pushing back on the things that Trump has done?
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Bryan Schott: How hard do you think that they should go?
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Bryan Schott: And is there a danger that they might go too hard on this?
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Reed Galen: So it's it's a great question.
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Reed Galen: I think this is one where the newly minted House and Senate leadership,
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Reed Galen: they need to be able to walk and chew gum and maybe talk on the phone at the same time,
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Reed Galen: which is you have a very large majority in the U.S. House.
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Reed Galen: You're going to have a solid majority in the U.S. Senate.
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Reed Galen: And my guess is there are going to be a bunch of people,
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Reed Galen: a bunch of Republicans who are either A,
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Reed Galen: you know, the John Thunes of the world.
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Reed Galen: They still are the last bastions of the establishment.
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Reed Galen: or those up in 2028 who don't want to get blue waved again.
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Reed Galen: I think that they do need to bring accountability to the Trump administration.
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Reed Galen: I think to do otherwise is one, a betrayal of their political base at a very, very,
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Reed Galen: you
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Reed Galen: know,
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Reed Galen: sort of nuts and bolts level.
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Reed Galen: But I think it also speaks to the fact that,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: when Joe Biden was in office,
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Reed Galen: they
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Reed Galen: didn't hold him to account.
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Reed Galen: All the people who stormed the Capitol,
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Reed Galen: they all got a day in
court.
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Reed Galen: They all went to prison or got a fine or whatever it was.
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Reed Galen: The people who planned that stuff,
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Reed Galen: including Donald Trump, were never held to account for it.
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Reed Galen: And I think that the idea that you would not subpoena every last person in that administration and the Jared Kushners of the world doesn't make any political sense.
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Reed Galen: And here's what I would say.
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Reed Galen: I would not go screeching and carrying on and wailing in those hearings,
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Reed Galen: Bryan.
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Reed Galen: I would treat them very much like they did the January 6th committee.
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Reed Galen: Make it both a prosecution and a show.
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Reed Galen: Now, Mr.
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Reed Galen: Kushner, I want you to explain to me on page 68 of this book that just came out
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Reed Galen: exactly what it was you were doing getting this money from the UAE.
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Reed Galen: I plead the fifth,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: or he's not going to show up just as good,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: Every day you have a little thing that says,
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Reed Galen: Mr.
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Reed Galen: Kushner sitting at an empty chair,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: And this is one thing, Bryan,
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Reed Galen: that our Democratic friends aren't good at,
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Reed Galen: and they don't like it
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Reed Galen: because I think they think it's beneath them.
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Reed Galen: There needs to be some spectacle.
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Bryan Schott: That's why the whole J6 hearings were so good
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Bryan Schott: because they were informative,
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Bryan Schott: but there was also some spectacle to them as well.
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Reed Galen: Yes. And look, I mean,
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Reed Galen: how many of us of a certain age will ever forget Oliver North?
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Reed Galen: Think about how many times the House Republicans had something about Benghazi,
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Reed Galen: right,
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Reed Galen: for the singular purpose of damaging Hillary Clinton,
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Reed Galen: of keeping something that had no
business whatsoever being.
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Reed Galen: It was a tragedy.
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Reed Galen: Don't get me wrong.
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Reed Galen: But to bring it up all day, every day,
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Reed Galen: four years.
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Reed Galen: And that was something that they had to tie her to sort of tangentially.
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Reed Galen: I'm talking about things that you don't have to make up.
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Reed Galen: All of these things are happening and they're happening in real time.
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Reed Galen: I would haul.
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Reed Galen: You know what?
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Reed Galen: Maybe maybe I'm wrong.
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Reed Galen: You know, you need to find a House legal scholar.
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Reed Galen: I would impeach Pete Hegson.
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Reed Galen: He is a disaster for the force and for the country.
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Reed Galen: And he's dangerous because he's the guy when Donald Trump says, you know what?
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Reed Galen: maybe it is a good idea to throw a tactical nuke at some mountain in Iran.
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Reed Galen: The Secretary of Defense
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Reed Galen: is supposed to be the one that says, Mr.
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Reed Galen: President,
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Reed Galen: that is a really bad idea,
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Reed Galen: and we should not do
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Reed Galen: that.
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Reed Galen: And none of the people that work for me think we should do it either.
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Reed Galen: I have no idea what
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Reed Galen: he's doing. Now,
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Reed Galen: I get the sense some clips I've seen today, Bryan,
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Reed Galen: that he thinks he's probably
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Reed Galen: short for this world. So he's trying to figure an exit strategy out.
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Reed Galen: But I think that they have to
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Reed Galen: match that desire.
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Reed Galen: Again,
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Reed Galen: if corruption,
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Reed Galen: as you noted a few minutes ago,
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Reed Galen: was at the top of the
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Reed Galen: list,
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Reed Galen: then you need to lay that bare while at the same time,
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Reed Galen: I'd say this for Congress and, you know,
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Reed Galen: and for the federal government,
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Reed Galen: they need to curtail the things that enrich them when they
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Reed Galen: go to Washington,
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Reed Galen: that they have frankly been very loath to do. Because of course,
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Reed Galen: if you make the
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Reed Galen: rules,
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Reed Galen: why would you ever make rules that make your life more difficult or don't allow you to do the
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Reed Galen: things you want to do?
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Bryan Schott: I saw this on social media today,
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Bryan Schott: and I wish I would have thought of this,
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Bryan Schott: But someone was suggesting because there are now ads in Washington where the House committees are trying to hire lawyers for investigative.
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Bryan Schott: This guy said,
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Bryan Schott: why don't you get investigative journalists to do this for you?
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Bryan Schott: There are a bunch of them in Washington who don't have jobs right now.
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Bryan Schott: They have the skill set to do this sort of thing.
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Bryan Schott: Why don't you do that?
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Bryan Schott: I think that's a tremendous idea.
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Reed Galen: I think it's a great idea, too.
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Reed Galen: I mean, Bryan, you've been a journalist most of your professional life.
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Reed Galen: And the thing that journalists have, I used to think about this,
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Reed Galen: you have the ability to
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Reed Galen: get information out of people,
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Reed Galen: not unlike spies,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: And I say this in the best possible way.
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Reed Galen: You all have a very keen understanding of a source's psychology,
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Reed Galen: if that makes sense.
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Bryan Schott: Yes, it does.
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Reed Galen: And you have that ability to ask that question and to let the silence hang and to have the
363
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Reed Galen: source fill the space for you,
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Reed Galen: right?
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Reed Galen: As I think it's a brilliant idea.
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Reed Galen: I think it's a brilliant idea.
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Reed Galen: Listen,
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Reed Galen: they're not going to make they don't make very much.
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--> 00:17:17,439
Reed Galen: So they're not going to be a huge bearing on the taxpayer.
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Reed Galen: You're going to put people to work who know this business.
371
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Reed Galen: They're going to know the sources.
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Reed Galen: And my guess is, Bryan, then there might be a bunch of people in the administration who might want to talk if they thought maybe down the line that there might be, you know,
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Reed Galen: maybe a little bit of,
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Reed Galen: you know,
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Reed Galen: safety on their side.
376
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Reed Galen: Maybe a little bit of not absolution.
377
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Reed Galen: That's not the word I'm looking for. But you understand what I'm saying,
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Reed Galen: that they might be protected from,
379
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Reed Galen: say, a prosecution or having to be publicized.
380
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Reed Galen: But they you know, they're look,
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Reed Galen: the rats are going to get off the sink and ship here.
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Reed Galen: The question,
383
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Reed Galen: you know, now for just to make,
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Reed Galen: you know, go back to staffing for a second.
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Reed Galen: Excuse me, is where the hell are you going to get staff for 260 members of Congress?
386
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Reed Galen: Right.
387
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Reed Galen: And all the committees and same within Texas.
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Reed Galen: in a lot of these places.
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Reed Galen: A lot of these places have not had Democrats
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Reed Galen: in state office in a long time.
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Reed Galen: They're gonna be looking for everybody they can
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Reed Galen: just to sit at desks.
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Bryan Schott: I agree with that 100%.
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Bryan Schott: Last thing I wanna ask you, Reed,
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Bryan Schott: you are a resident here in Utah.
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Bryan Schott: You live up in the Park City area.
397
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Bryan Schott: What do you make of the blue tsunami
398
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Bryan Schott: actually impacting things here in Utah last night?
399
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Bryan Schott: It looks like the Democrats might,
400
00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:29,520
Bryan Schott: they have a really good chance
401
00:18:29,530 --> 00:18:32,440
Bryan Schott: of breaking the Republican supermajority in the House.
402
00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:34,840
Bryan Schott: for the first time since 1992.
403
00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:42,000
Bryan Schott: The 1992 election is the last time the Republicans did not have at least 50 seats in the House.
404
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,400
Bryan Schott: They're on track to flip around 13 of them right now.
405
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Bryan Schott: Utah's probably going to elect a couple of independents to the House.
406
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Bryan Schott: They've never elected a nonpartisan candidate to the legislature.
407
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Bryan Schott: Looks like we're going to get two of them.
408
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Bryan Schott: And they were the only candidate running against a Republican.
409
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Bryan Schott: What's your take on this state,
410
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Bryan Schott: the solidly GOP state voting that way and basically catching this wave that was sweeping across the entire country?
411
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Reed Galen: I think a lot of it comes down to two words, Bryan,
412
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Reed Galen: arrogance and corruption or the appearance of corruption or self-dealing,
413
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Reed Galen: whatever whatever euphemism you want to use.
414
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Reed Galen: if you don't want to go all the way to just flat out bribery,
415
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Reed Galen: that,
416
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Reed Galen: yeah,
417
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Reed Galen: look,
418
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Reed Galen: in this state,
419
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Reed Galen: voters really don't have much of an option in a lot of places.
420
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Reed Galen: And they said, well,
421
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Reed Galen: I don't want you anymore.
422
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Reed Galen: And so if I got to vote for that person, because that's the only other
423
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Reed Galen: option I got, that's the person I want.
424
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Reed Galen: Because as you said,
425
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Reed Galen: you know, this has been,
426
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Reed Galen: I've been in
427
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Reed Galen: this state 11 years, and the 11 years I've been here, Bryan, this is a dictatorship of the
428
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Reed Galen: legislature,
429
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:51,620
Reed Galen: right?
430
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Reed Galen: The governor has to go along to get along,
431
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Reed Galen: because he's going to get,
432
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Reed Galen: You know,
433
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Reed Galen: if if if something he vetoes something,
434
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Reed Galen: you know,
435
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Reed Galen: it's going to get overturned.
436
00:20:01,630 --> 00:20:04,760
Reed Galen: I think that you saw with what's his name,
437
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Reed Galen: the the Senate president.
438
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Reed Galen: Right.
439
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,080
Reed Galen: I think you saw Adam. Thank you.
440
00:20:10,780 --> 00:20:11,280
Reed Galen: Stuart Adams.
441
00:20:11,850 --> 00:20:13,600
Reed Galen: He lost, I think, because of corruption,
442
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:15,460
Reed Galen: because of self-dealing and arrogance.
443
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Reed Galen: I think that,
444
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Reed Galen: you know, we shouldn't overlook the you know,
445
00:20:19,700 --> 00:20:25,400
Reed Galen: the the both the public lands and the and the the data center.
446
00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:25,860
Reed Galen: issues,
447
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:26,780
Reed Galen: which is,
448
00:20:27,180 --> 00:20:29,480
Reed Galen: no, we don't want these things in our houses.
449
00:20:29,710 --> 00:20:29,840
Reed Galen: No,
450
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:31,620
Reed Galen: we don't want mining concerns
451
00:20:31,940 --> 00:20:33,880
Reed Galen: going into Grand Staircase Escalante.
452
00:20:34,580 --> 00:20:35,500
Reed Galen: And they showed,
453
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,720
Reed Galen: the Utah people showed, I think, what they
454
00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:38,520
Reed Galen: always have, which is,
455
00:20:39,110 --> 00:20:39,320
Reed Galen: you know,
456
00:20:39,500 --> 00:20:41,320
Reed Galen: a level of common decency,
457
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:42,900
Reed Galen: which I've always found in the years that
458
00:20:42,940 --> 00:20:43,400
Reed Galen: I've lived here.
459
00:20:43,980 --> 00:20:44,320
Reed Galen: But also,
460
00:20:45,540 --> 00:20:46,840
Reed Galen: as you know, as conservatives,
461
00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:47,960
Reed Galen: small C conservatives,
462
00:20:48,500 --> 00:20:48,820
Reed Galen: they don't
463
00:20:48,940 --> 00:20:49,820
Reed Galen: like massed power,
464
00:20:50,650 --> 00:20:50,800
Reed Galen: right?
465
00:20:51,020 --> 00:20:54,280
Reed Galen: The whole idea of conservative, remember back in the day how
466
00:20:54,300 --> 00:20:56,900
Reed Galen: quaint it feels now, Bryan, like local control,
467
00:20:57,820 --> 00:20:59,580
Reed Galen: right? We don't want people in Salt Lake City
468
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:01,020
Reed Galen: making decisions for us.
469
00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:04,640
Reed Galen: We don't want those unelected bureaucrats in the Capitol deciding
470
00:21:04,820 --> 00:21:06,000
Reed Galen: how we're going to live our lives.
471
00:21:06,540 --> 00:21:09,040
Reed Galen: Well, that's what the legislature has done since 1992.
472
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,320
Reed Galen: And I think it finally came home to roost.
473
00:21:12,620 --> 00:21:17,300
Reed Galen: Do I think it's a broader indictment of the Utah
474
00:21:17,620 --> 00:21:21,060
Reed Galen: legislature? I think it's too soon to say, but I think there's certainly room to grow there.
475
00:21:21,940 --> 00:21:23,100
Bryan Schott: I
appreciate your perspective.
476
00:21:23,300 --> 00:21:24,500
Bryan Schott: I've mentioned your other projects.
477
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,660
Bryan Schott: I've neglected to ask you about your new project, Civic Forum.
478
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:34,140
Bryan Schott: Talk about what you're doing there because it's really a fascinating idea,
479
00:21:34,330 --> 00:21:36,820
Bryan Schott: and I'm glad that someone is doing this.
480
00:21:38,140 --> 00:21:38,960
Reed Galen: Yeah, no, thank you.
481
00:21:39,020 --> 00:21:48,740
Reed Galen: So Civic Forum, Bryan, came from the idea of watching too many people like Alex Karp or Sam Altman or choose your banker,
482
00:21:49,380 --> 00:21:49,480
Reed Galen: you know,
483
00:21:49,700 --> 00:21:50,340
Reed Galen: Jamie Dimon,
484
00:21:50,770 --> 00:21:51,680
Reed Galen: sitting on a stage,
485
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,240
Reed Galen: you know, with a smug look on their face in New York City,
486
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:55,460
Reed Galen: talking to,
487
00:21:56,040 --> 00:22:03,100
Reed Galen: you know, a famous moderator in front of a couple thousand other elites about how the world works and how they know better than everybody.
488
00:22:03,220 --> 00:22:06,560
Reed Galen: And I said, why is it that only these people get to hear from really smart people?
489
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:08,320
Reed Galen: And so for me,
490
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:09,960
Reed Galen: my annoyance became an idea.
491
00:22:10,180 --> 00:22:10,920
Reed Galen: And that idea is,
492
00:22:11,340 --> 00:22:12,220
Reed Galen: let's take smart people.
493
00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:13,760
Reed Galen: Maybe they're not the most famous people.
494
00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:14,260
Reed Galen: Fine.
495
00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:16,320
Reed Galen: But in this time,
496
00:22:17,100 --> 00:22:21,020
Reed Galen: right, I think we have the next 18 months that is going to be the most
497
00:22:21,460 --> 00:22:23,120
Reed Galen: wide open ideologically,
498
00:22:23,340 --> 00:22:23,760
Reed Galen: culturally,
499
00:22:24,020 --> 00:22:24,440
Reed Galen: economically,
500
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,620
Reed Galen: politically that this country seen as we saw
501
00:22:27,820 --> 00:22:30,900
Reed Galen: last night in a long time and that we might see again, as you noted,
502
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:31,820
Reed Galen: in our lifetimes.
503
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:41,500
Reed Galen: Why aren't we using that time now to get out and talk to people not in New York City or Washington, D.C. or L.A., but in Toledo or Pittsburgh or Orangeburg,
504
00:22:41,660 --> 00:22:42,060
Reed Galen: South Carolina,
505
00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:43,360
Reed Galen: Albuquerque, New Mexico?
506
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,920
Reed Galen: And so, you know, I've already started. I've been to Richmond,
507
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:46,240
Reed Galen: Virginia.
508
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:47,460
Reed Galen: I've been to Columbia,
509
00:22:47,700 --> 00:22:48,200
Reed Galen: South Carolina.
510
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:49,660
Reed Galen: I'm going to Georgia.
511
00:22:49,940 --> 00:22:50,860
Reed Galen: I'm going to New Hampshire.
512
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,100
Reed Galen: And we're going to we're going to have these conversations about these issues.
513
00:22:55,860 --> 00:22:57,500
Reed Galen: And a friend of mine said,
514
00:22:57,820 --> 00:23:01,500
Reed Galen: you know, in a conversation the other day, you know, hard conversations are supposed to be hard.
515
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:09,560
Reed Galen: and it's not that i'm antithetical to this whole disagree better stuff Bryan but like i think it's
516
00:23:09,670 --> 00:23:14,840
Reed Galen: okay to disagree i think it's okay to have a perspective and for your perspective to be here's
517
00:23:14,900 --> 00:23:19,620
Reed Galen: what i believe do you believe that if you don't what is it okay if you don't have an idea then
518
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:26,220
Reed Galen: let's figure it out but i think also we have to get rid of a lot of the sort of happy talk and
519
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,060
Reed Galen: artifice that occupies so much of our discourse.
520
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:31,460
Reed Galen: It's like, oh, we have a wealth gap.
521
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:32,980
Reed Galen: No, we don't.
522
00:23:34,860 --> 00:23:38,600
Reed Galen: Talking about a wealth gap assumes that people on both ends of that spectrum have wealth.
523
00:23:39,020 --> 00:23:40,740
Reed Galen: Only one end of that spectrum has wealth.
524
00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:42,520
Reed Galen: The other people don't have enough money.
525
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:48,360
Reed Galen: And I think that what we're seeing now is where I have been, you have people who are willing to
526
00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:51,740
Reed Galen: talk. They want to talk about the issues that are facing us.
527
00:23:52,110 --> 00:23:54,200
Reed Galen: But I think, too, we have to have a
528
00:23:54,180 --> 00:23:56,600
Reed Galen: whole different conversation about where we're going here.
529
00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:57,940
Reed Galen: I think that, you know,
530
00:23:58,120 --> 00:23:58,600
Reed Galen: if you think
531
00:23:58,700 --> 00:24:00,340
Reed Galen: that the FDR era,
532
00:24:01,180 --> 00:24:02,820
Reed Galen: you know, to be a history nerd here for a second,
533
00:24:02,980 --> 00:24:03,100
Reed Galen: Bryan,
534
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:04,400
Reed Galen: lasted from about 1933
535
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:05,760
Reed Galen: to about 1975.
536
00:24:07,180 --> 00:24:09,780
Reed Galen: And now from 1975 to let's say 2015,
537
00:24:10,740 --> 00:24:11,740
Reed Galen: right, we had this sort of,
538
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:12,500
Reed Galen: you know,
539
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:13,480
Reed Galen: neoliberal,
540
00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:14,040
Reed Galen: you know,
541
00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:15,480
Reed Galen: globalization era,
542
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:16,620
Reed Galen: deindustrialization.
543
00:24:16,820
--> 00:24:18,360
Reed Galen: Trump has been God knows
544
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:19,440
Reed Galen: what, but the rich have got,
545
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,380
Reed Galen: the only, the only constant in that is that the rich have gotten
546
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,100
Reed Galen: richer and everybody else has been left behind.
547
00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:26,860
Reed Galen: Is that the system that we should still be operating
548
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:27,160
Reed Galen: under?
549
00:24:27,700 --> 00:24:29,740
Reed Galen: I was even talking to a guy,
550
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,120
Reed Galen: frankly, as a donor of mine, as a private equity guy. I said,
551
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:34,820
Reed Galen: do you really think that in 2026,
552
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,340
Reed Galen: we can have the same discussions about American economic life that
553
00:24:38,420 --> 00:24:39,860
Reed Galen: we've been having for the last 50 years?
554
00:24:40,540 --> 00:24:41,560
Reed Galen: Nothing is the same.
555
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,200
Reed Galen: Why would we keep having those
556
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:43,580
Reed Galen: discussions?
557
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:44,700
Reed Galen: Here's a big one.
558
00:24:45,100 --> 00:24:47,080
Reed Galen: Let's say that AI does continue to grow.
559
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:48,380
Reed Galen: Like, Bryan, what are we
560
00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:49,020
Reed Galen: going to do with all the people?
561
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,020
Reed Galen: Like, it seems to me that we only talk about one side of that ledger.
562
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,140
Reed Galen: Like, oh, it's got the ability to build data centers and do this and do that and maybe blow
563
00:24:57,260 --> 00:24:57,620
Reed Galen: up the world.
564
00:24:58,080 --> 00:24:58,180
Reed Galen: Okay.
565
00:24:58,420 --> 00:25:00,900
Reed Galen: But it's also going to put all these people out of work. It could put millions
566
00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:02,180
Reed Galen: and millions of people out of work. Like,
567
00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:03,840
Reed Galen: are they going to starve to death?
568
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:04,720
Reed Galen: Like,
569
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:05,420
Reed Galen: what's the outcome?
570
00:25:05,940 --> 00:25:10,480
Reed Galen: And of course, nobody wants to talk about that because the answer is probably something that I
571
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,520
Reed Galen: would guess vested interests don't like.
572
00:25:12,820 --> 00:25:12,920
Reed Galen: Well,
573
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:13,620
Reed Galen: too bad.
574
00:25:14,540 --> 00:25:17,200
Reed Galen: And so, you know, Civic Forum is an
575
00:25:17,220 --> 00:25:19,900
Reed Galen: attempt to really start to strip away,
576
00:25:20,580 --> 00:25:20,780
Reed Galen: you know,
577
00:25:20,940 --> 00:25:21,740
Reed Galen: the BS that,
578
00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:23,600
Reed Galen: you know, occupies so much stuff and
579
00:25:23,700 --> 00:25:24,500
Reed Galen: ask real questions,
580
00:25:24,740 --> 00:25:25,220
Reed Galen: hard questions,
581
00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:29,120
Reed Galen: and then create a cadre of people across the country who can then
582
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:31,360
Reed Galen: ask those questions of people who would wish to lead us.
583
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:32,660
Reed Galen: And I think that,
584
00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:33,400
Reed Galen: you know,
585
00:25:33,980 --> 00:25:34,120
Reed Galen: we,
586
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:34,900
Reed Galen: if,
587
00:25:35,020 --> 00:25:36,560
Reed Galen: if somebody goes to a state,
588
00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:40,700
Reed Galen: you know, let's say they want to be president and they get up on a
589
00:25:40,820 --> 00:25:41,760
Reed Galen: stage and they talk about,
590
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,020
Reed Galen: oh, we're going to destroy the ballroom or I'm going to fix the
591
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:45,640
Reed Galen: Oval Office,
592
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:46,660
Reed Galen: sorry,
593
00:25:47,100 --> 00:25:47,500
Reed Galen: disqualified.
594
00:25:47,860 --> 00:25:48,980
Reed Galen: It's not serious enough.
595
00:25:49,660 --> 00:25:51,000
Reed Galen: Like, I don't, you know, like, fine,
596
00:25:51,260 --> 00:25:51,600
Reed Galen: fix the
597
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:52,920
Reed Galen: Oval Office. I don't really care.
598
00:25:53,100 --> 00:25:54,420
Reed Galen: Nobody's tearing down the ballroom.
599
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:54,920
Reed Galen: It's BS.
600
00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:56,280
Reed Galen: If somebody builds it,
601
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,620
Reed Galen: nobody's tearing it down so you can spend more money to rebuild,
602
00:25:59,240 --> 00:25:59,860
Reed Galen: right? I'm sorry.
603
00:26:00,060 --> 00:26:00,340
Reed Galen: That's the
604
00:26:00,500 --> 00:26:00,560
Reed Galen: truth.
605
00:26:01,260 --> 00:26:02,360
Reed Galen: And so I think,
606
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:03,360
Reed Galen: to me,
607
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,820
Reed Galen: it is like, let's take this opportunity.
608
00:26:06,180 --> 00:26:07,340
Reed Galen: Because if we don't take
609
00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:07,800
Reed Galen: it now,
610
00:26:08,540 --> 00:26:10,140
Reed Galen: and the same people who've been in charge,
611
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:11,700
Reed Galen: Republican, Democrat,
612
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:12,280
Reed Galen: or otherwise,
613
00:26:12,540 --> 00:26:13,000
Reed Galen: are going to
614
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,660
Reed Galen: keep being in charge and saying, no, no, no, everything's really okay,
615
00:26:16,060 --> 00:26:17,640
Reed Galen: then my worry is that
616
00:26:17,820 --> 00:26:17,920
Reed Galen: in,
617
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,380
Reed Galen: say, not 2028, but maybe 2032,
618
00:26:20,860 --> 00:26:22,920
Reed Galen: we're going to get something worse than we've got now.
619
00:26:23,799 --> 00:26:28,020
Reed Galen: And the answer to chaos is not calm necessarily.
620
00:26:28,580 --> 00:26:32,800
Reed Galen: And the answer to a system that we all came up in
621
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:37,480
Reed Galen: that no longer works is not, well, let's try and put the education department back the way it was.
622
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,680
Reed Galen: And so Civic Forum will not only be live events,
623
00:26:40,860 --> 00:26:42,920
Reed Galen: we're going to put out information so people
624
00:26:42,940 --> 00:26:43,980
Reed Galen: can have their own meetings.
625
00:26:44,620 --> 00:26:45,060
Reed Galen: Yes,
626
00:26:45,340 --> 00:26:46,100
Reed Galen: you mentioned the podcast.
627
00:26:46,340 --> 00:26:47,580
Reed Galen: The podcast is relaunching
628
00:26:48,140 --> 00:26:50,120
Reed Galen: next month or next week.
629
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:50,680
Reed Galen: Sorry.
630
00:26:51,380 --> 00:26:52,660
Reed Galen: Under the Civic Forum banner,
631
00:26:52,860 --> 00:26:54,420
Reed Galen: I will have all sorts of fascinating
632
00:26:54,620 --> 00:26:54,800
Reed Galen: guests.
633
00:26:55,470 --> 00:26:56,560
Reed Galen: And so I'm very excited.
634
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:57,480
Reed Galen: I'm hitting the road.
635
00:26:58,140 --> 00:26:58,260
Reed Galen: You know,
636
00:26:58,500 --> 00:26:59,440
Reed Galen: I love talking to people.
637
00:26:59,620 --> 00:26:59,980
Reed Galen: I've been
638
00:27:00,340 --> 00:27:01,400
Reed Galen: I've been to 48 states,
639
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,380
Reed Galen: so I'm hoping I can get to Kentucky and North Dakota on this deal.
640
00:27:05,830 --> 00:27:05,980
Reed Galen: Those
641
00:27:05,980 --> 00:27:06,720
Reed Galen: are my last two.
642
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:10,220
Reed Galen: And I'm really excited about it. I certainly appreciate you asking. Go to
643
00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:12,160
Reed Galen: civicforum.org. We're a nonprofit.
644
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,080
Reed Galen: Certainly always could use the help keeping us on the road
645
00:27:15,260 --> 00:27:17,320
Reed Galen: and certainly hope to be able to talk about it again.
646
00:27:17,580 --> 00:27:19,220
Bryan Schott: Well, I think that this idea that you've
647
00:27:19,380 --> 00:27:21,840
Bryan Schott: had a pit upon, I think that there's a hunger out there for that.
648
00:27:22,060 --> 00:27:23,800
Bryan Schott: I think people want to be
649
00:27:24,679 --> 00:27:27,900
Bryan Schott: knowledgeable about what's happening in there in the country,
650
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:29,160
Bryan Schott: what's happening with their
651
00:27:29,460 --> 00:27:31,540
Bryan Schott: government. I really think that there's a hunger out there.
652
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,340
Bryan Schott: And this is at least one way to help
653
00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:39,180
Bryan Schott: feed that. And one of the reasons I do this live stream is because people come in and they want to
654
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:45,480
Bryan Schott: ask questions about what the hell is happening and how government works that people want to
655
00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:46,200
Bryan Schott: understand.
656
00:27:46,820 --> 00:27:51,900
Bryan Schott: And if you meet people where they are and offer them intelligent conversations,
657
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,660
Bryan Schott: I don't think that you can really go wrong. So that's why I'm really excited about this project.
658
00:27:56,780 --> 00:27:57,940
Bryan Schott: And I'm giving you really,
659
00:27:58,380 --> 00:28:02,400
Bryan Schott: really big kudos for launching it because I think it's something that
660
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:03,300
Bryan Schott: we really need.
661
00:28:03,940 --> 00:28:04,820
Reed Galen: Thank you so much, Bryan.
662
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,220
Reed Galen: Always great to be with you. Where can people find you
663
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:07,600
Bryan Schott: on social,
664
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,000
Bryan Schott: especially your TikTok.
665
00:28:09,310 --> 00:28:11,120
Bryan Schott: We need to get you some more followers there.
666
00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:11,260
Bryan Schott: Oh, yeah.
667
00:28:11,790 --> 00:28:11,880
Reed Galen: Okay.
668
00:28:12,010 --> 00:28:12,100
Reed Galen: So,
669
00:28:12,260 --> 00:28:12,320
Reed Galen: yeah.
670
00:28:12,460 --> 00:28:18,660
Reed Galen: Most places at Reed Galen, R-E-E-D-G-A-L-E-N, except for Meta Products,
671
00:28:19,420 --> 00:28:20,500
Reed Galen: at Reed underscore
672
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:21,800
Reed Galen: Galen USA.
673
00:28:22,140 --> 00:28:22,240
Reed Galen: Yes,
674
00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:25,140
Reed Galen: I am bad at this.
675
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:26,860
Reed Galen: I'm good at Twitter.
676
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:28,140
Reed Galen: I'm bad at everything else.
677
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:29,320
Reed Galen: So please be gentle.
678
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:30,020
Bryan Schott: Anyway.
679
00:28:30,430 --> 00:28:30,520
Bryan Schott: Okay.
680
00:28:30,610 --> 00:28:30,700
Bryan Schott: Well,
681
00:28:30,860 --> 00:28:32,400
Bryan Schott: thanks for your time so much, Reed.
682
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,040
Bryan Schott: It's been a pleasure to have you on, and we'll talk to you again soon.
683
00:28:35,740 --> 00:28:36,100
Reed Galen: Thanks, Bryan.
684
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:36,500
Bryan Schott: All right.
685
00:28:36,570 --> 00:28:36,660
Bryan Schott: Cheers.